Slow & Mostly Steady
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jan 06, 2022 at 10:22:00 PM

Happy new year to all of you. I hope you all had a safe and fun holiday season. As usual, we'll start with fulfillment status. As many of you have noted, folks are starting to get their games. There should be a steady stream from here on out. So please keep an eye out for shipping confirmation emails from Quartermaster and shipping notification emails from FedEx (or other couriers as applicable). As a reminder, if you want to confirm or update your address prior to that shipping confirmation, you need to do so in BackerKit. (The walkthrough on how to do that is in this update.)

But there have been a few bumps in the past couple of weeks. I have updated the freight status sheet, which shows all the latest info. Obviously, the boats on the water have made progress toward their destinations. The add-on items for the US/Canada hub are off-loaded and on their way to the warehouse, and the playmats are not far behind. Unsurprisingly, we lost a few days here and there off shore, at port, and on the dock. Nothing major. I had anticipated that the majority of US/Canada backers will get their games by the end of January. That's going to stretch into February at this point. A little slower than expected, but still steady.

I had anticipated the remaining shipments to get on the water by the end of the year. That did not happen. Most importantly, there were COVID-related delays to inspection of the final goods at the factory. The last of these inspections are wrapping up this week. Shipments to the remaining hubs are listed as "WORKING" as we should get those bookings any day now. Except for the EU.

This is, unfortunately, the biggest "bump" I have to report. You'll see that the shipments to the EU are "ON HOLD". The why is a bit complicated, but the short version is this: After Brexit went into effect, our European fulfillment partner (GamesQuest) was forced to implement a "split hub" program, dividing the stock between a UK hub and a hub in Germany to handle the EU.  To import into Germany, however, we needed to get a special "license". We've been using a third-party vendor to assist us with this process. We started over three months ago and were assured it normally takes 4-6 weeks to finish. For whatever reason, we don't have our authorization yet. And, as with most things involving bureaucracy, there's not much we can do about it other than continue to wait for it to be issued. The problem is that, if the goods reach port without that number, they will be rejected and will have to be returned to the port of departure. A catastrophic result to be sure. So we cannot risk booking the shipment until we get the number. They are checking again as we speak to see if there is anything that can be done to expedite this process, and I will update you as soon as anything develops.

On a happier note, among the backers that have received their games are some content creators, who will be doing reviews, playthroughs, and the like. We're already seeing good buzz coming in. I'm so excited to see such a positive reaction to the game. One of my friends just got their copy, and he's already played it with his family, solo, and then his son taught it to his friends! We've worked on this project for so long, sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. I know you all are going to dig it. If you want to check out one of the reviews, you can see Dan "The Game Boy Geek" King's review here:

Slow and Steady
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 21, 2021 at 10:23:44 PM

Happy holidays to everyone. It occurred to me that if we had Santa's set up, we wouldn't have to worry about any of these logistics issues -- everything delivered overnight and no canals or ports to worry about. Alas, we're left to deal with boats and containers and warehouses. In that regard, things continue to move along. I've updated the RTDT Freight Status sheet. You'll see that a couple more ships have come in. I've tweaked the format a bit. The shipments that have "arrived" have been delivered at port but not yet reached the warehouse. We are seeing a bit more of a delay in this stage, but it's just a few days here and there. You'll also notice that the ETAs to port continue to get tweaked -- some now due a little later and some a little earlier. Again, nothing major. We haven't been able to book anything yet for UK/EU, but we're still confident those will depart before the end of the year.

As some of you have also seen, the first batch of address confirmation emails have gone out from Quartermaster to select backers in the US/Canada hub. This is a very small pool, so that QM can establish and test their picking, packing, and shipping process for the full run. But it does officially start the last stage of this process: getting games in your hands.

I continue to repeat our mantra for this stage: slow and steady.

Starting now, we will see a regular flow of games leaving the warehouses, starting with the US/Canada hub, with the other hubs starting up next month. Barring any hiccups, I expect most US/Canada backers to get their games by the end of February. Australia could be right behind since it's a smaller region. EU/UK backers should be completed by end of March. Asia should start fairly soon after the new year since there is no sea freight. We do know (as I'm sure our Asian backers do as well) that some destinations in that region can take a bit of time to complete delivery.

To answer some of the regular questions I get:

• If you are in the next wave of shipments, you will get an email from Quartermaster to confirm your address. This is extremely important, so make sure it's not going to get caught in your spam folder. You can continue to update your address in BackerKit until it is locked down. (For a reminder on how to update your address in BackerKit, check out this update.) If you need to change your address after it has been locked down, you can message me here on KS.
• Backers are not preassigned to specific waves. We pull the shipping list for the backers are are shipping to, and QM pull from that list as they work through the shipments. They can be grouped by region, items ordered, or other factors. We had been leaving open the possibility of splitting shipments for all-in backers to avoid undue delay. However, given that the test run is just starting and slowdowns during the holidays, it doesn't seem like we'll need to make that decision.
• Orders are locked at this point. We can't add stuff to your order. We will have some extra stock of all the skus available after fulfillment is complete. Most of that will be in the US warehouse. But we will also have some extras at the other hubs to deal with lost or damaged shipments. Whatever is left over we will try to make available for folks who want to pick up something.

(hat tip to Chad Merritt for his on-the-nose comment)

To wrap up, I thought I'd share a quick screenshot of the game stats screen in the app.

This was from my game group's prior play. As I mentioned on twitter, they continue to ask to play when we get together even though they've already played it a whole bunch. They're really enjoying the different main goal-adversary combos and have just started digging into Alliances. Having won two in a row, they insist on playing on gritty mode next time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Slow and Steady + Merch Discount
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 12:32:12 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Titan-Sized Update: More Ships on the Water, US/Canada Address Lockdown, App Update, and Merchandise Ideas
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 12:45:44 AM

For those who checked out the stream of the Alliances playthrough, thank you. Feel free to reply here with any feedback. I know the camera quality was not great, and that's something I'm looking at improving the next time around. For those who didn't catch it, the video is now up on our YouTube channel here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFHmRBC2GvI 

Beyond that, we have a lot of things in motion, so I want to get everyone caught up on where we are. The short version remains that we've had a few bumps in the road but nothing catastrophic. If we can keep that going, we should be in great shape.

Fulfillment Progress

Those of you following the EVER FRANK's progress will note that it has crossed the Pacific and is now off the coast of Mexico heading towards the Panama Canal. ETA is currently 11/23 to the port of Savannah. I know some of you have rightly noted that merely getting to port isn't the end of the story these days. I'm happy to report that we have had a few shipments (of our other titles) hit port and haven't had anything more than a few days turnaround to get the containers off loaded and to the warehouse. And we've got a lot more activity going on as well. Approximately 21,000 base games have now been manufactured.

I know a lot of you are eager to know the status of the non-base game items coming from Panda. I'm happy to report that all of those items have been fully manufactured. Most of them are also already in containers and on boats ready to make the journey. If all things go well, some of these items should hit the warehouse by the end of the month.

As we get more and more containers on boats to all the various destinations, I thought it would be easier to see the status in a google sheet. Behold, the Return to Dark Tower Sea Freight Status Sheet. I'll continue to update this sheet as we get more information. In particular, we are actively trying to book passage to the UK/EU and will continue to look to slot in the Asia shipment when we get a gap or in the next few weeks if things continue to run relatively smoothly. I expect information to pop in there frequently over the next couple of weeks.

US/Canada Address Lockdown

Because we have games nearing the fulfillment hub, we are locking down addresses for US/Canada backers in the next day or two. If you need to update your address, please do so ASAP. (If you need a refresher on how to update your address in BackerKit, please read this update.) Of course, you can continue to update with any changes until we actually ship. However, after we lock addresses down, you will need to contact us so we can make those changes manually. We'll be locking down addresses in other regions as we get shipments out to them in the next few weeks.

App Update

Bjorn (our superstar app developer) recently did a massive update to the app, putting in the last bit of spit and polish. This means that you will likely see the app appear in the Google Play store and iOS App Store in the next few days. Feel free to download and peek around a little bit. Keep in mind though that you won't be able to actually start a game until you have your Tower on the table. On the plus side, that'll keep you from spoiling too much content before your first play. On thing you can do though is find your name in the massive backer list.

Merchandise Ideas

Some of you might recall that we hit a stretch goal giving folks a discount on merchandise. Well, that's only really helpful if we actually have merchandise. So we are hard at work on stuff to put up in the store. We've got some fun ideas for mugs, shirts, etc. But we figured we'd open up the floor to you all for things you'd like to see. Whether it's just your favorite illustration on a tee or a funny tagline on a towel. Feel free to post any ideas in the comments below.

That wraps it up for this update. As always, thanks for your support and patience. It really feels like we're in the endgame now.

Live Play Stream with Alliances and a Couple of Hiccups in Fulfillment
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 02:08:11 AM

I got our production copy of Alliances in, and it looks great. I've been doing so many demos of the base game, I forgot all the goodies in there. I know you all have been waiting to see them too. So, I'll be streaming a live playthrough of the game with the expansion and all the other stuff: Dark Horde, Coffers, sleeves, and the mat.

I'll stream the game live on our twitch channel on Saturday, October 23, at 2:00 PM ET.

Please note that I'm doing this "on the fly". I'll be streaming through my phone in the middle of my living room with my regular game group. Obviously, there might be some technical difficulties. I'm not sure how good the video will be in terms of being able to show you details of the various components. (I'll plan on doing a full update on Alliances next time with close-ups of everything.) There's a good chance my dog, Shyann, will make an appearance. (Whether that's a feature or a bug is up to you.) My game group has also asked me to warn you that they have not yet won the base game, so their confidence level isn't super high. (They've been playing some harder matchups I wanted to test, and I'm planning on using one of the more straightforward matchups for the stream.) I'll try to keep an eye on the chat as best as possible. So please stop by if you can and check it out. And, if you can't make it, you can always watch the video on the channel afterwards.

Now, on to the less fun side of things. As some of you may have noticed, the EVER FRANK hasn't made any progress to this side of the globe. We're not sure of the reason for the delay. But the cargo is indeed on the boat, so we just need to continue to monitor its track. The carrier currently shows the ETA as mid-November, but my logistics contact says the thinks that will get pushed back.

From the factory, there was also a minor delay. You might have heard of the rolling blackouts in China. Capable got hit with that recently, which caused them to miss a week's production cycle. Annoying, but not catastrophic.

As always, we'll continue to pass on information as we get it.