PNPs are on the way! And other Updates
about 5 years ago – Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 01:28:46 AM

Hi Friends! It’s update time again and we have some exciting news for you!

The Print and Play is done and the emails have begun sending!

It may take some time to send them all, but if you don’t receive an email with a download to your respective PNP in the next 48 hours reach out to us and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.

PNP

Who Gets the PNP?

If you’ve ordered a hard copy of the game you will get the PNP file that corresponds to your hard copy. Eg. if you selected a tier that includes the Dungeon Royale or Dungeon Royale classic games, you’d receive the PNP for the base game. However, you would only receive the expansion Print and Play if you also ordered the Solo/Co-op Expansion deck of cards. And of course, if you selected a tier that only included the PNP you will receive the PNP for your respective selection.

Extra Characters

If you selected the extra characters as an add-on you'll soon be enjoying the 3 additional, exclusive characters + all of their additional powers (not included in the base game). These were also just sent out with the other PNPs.

Production Updates

After many back and forths and late nights we're like this🤞 with our friend Bian (our DR manufacturer) and he continues to ensure us that they are on track for a beginning of October shipment, which would put us right where we need to be to deliver your games on time!! The time is nearing and we're getting antsy to get these games out to you!

Minis Update & Sneak Peek

We checked in the other day with our friend Mina (our minis manufacturer), who has also informed us that she is ON TRACK to meet our deadline for production of the minis. 🎉

As far as the minis themselves go, we wanted to be transparent about what the journey has looked like over the past couple weeks (it's been quite the adventure). This is our first foray into minis manufacturing and we've gone through a lot of stress worrying about Mina's ability to produce the pixelated mini according to our high standards.

The quote we received for double sided minis increased the cost by over 50%, and we were trying to decide whether or not to go that direction as the minis were already a bit more than we had budgeted for. In the end, we reflected on how much we really, really have appreciated all you've done to support us as our very first group of Kickstarter backers, so we made the decision to bite the bullet and pay extra to go double sided.

Draft 1: Next, Mina sent us these minis samples. This picture doesn't take much explaining to see why our hearts sank when we first received it:

I mean, come on Mina.... You just printed the design on a flat surface, which did not at all reflect what we gave her in our design file. Draft 2: So we explained that it needed to be 3d, and our hearts sank once again when she showed us the next round of samples:

Ok appreciate the effort Mina, but these look dirty, the materials don't look great, the design is different than our files, and dimensions don't look quite right. Draft 3: So we asked her for another round of samples. And this is what we got:

Ok we're making progress Mina, these are finally starting to match our design files, but many of the parts look dirty/burnt. Draft 4: So we once again expressed our concerns and received images of the following samples:

Getting really close Mina, but let's keep this PG rated; blondie may be a little inappropriate for our younger audience🙈. Not to mention many of the details are clearly missing (eyes, clothes, etc), and some of the colors look a little burnt. Latest draft: So we expressed our concerns for the 4th time and just yesterday we received this image as an update on where they are in the manufacturing process:

As you can see, it's still missing a few of the details. We wish Mina would have shared how they planned to address any deviations to our design files before moving forward, but to Mina's credit, she has come a long way from when we first met her. She then expressed her concern that the smaller details were very difficult to cut, assemble, and they added on A LOT more pieces, which in turn ads a lot of cost. So she proposed printing the details on the pieces. Had we known this from the beginning, we likely would not have been able to afford the additional cost to make the pieces look exactly like our design files, and we probably would have opted for printing those details on the pieces anyways. So it was a little frustrating that this wasn't communicated to us initially, but no use crying over spilt milk and the end result will likely be the same.

Overall, while we spent a few days biting our nails and worried if we were in over our heads or had picked the wrong manufacturer, we're pleasantly surprised with what Mina's pulling off, and we're pretty stoked about how cool the minis are looking! Plus, gotta give to Mina, she has come a long way. The standees also look awesome but at the end of the day the minis are turning out awesome and we'll definitely be playing our personal Dungeon Royale games with the minis!!!

That's all for today folks but tune in for the next episode of the Adventures of Dungeon Royale.... or the Adventures of Mina the Manufacturer... or the Adventures of Boardgame Brad & Wes the Wizard... or whatever you want to call it...? We'll catch you on the flip side!

Much Love,

💌

Brad and Wes

Off to the races🏇 & KS Exclusive Goodies 🎁
about 5 years ago – Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 03:10:57 AM

Kickstarter Exclusives

For those of you on the Fb group, we sent out a post to get your feedback before we sent this update. As many of you know, we've had a lot of demand for the grey box from customers and retailers. So we've decided to make the grey box available after the Kickstarter!!! The response on the Facebook group was generally positive/supportive, but we have some even better news for you!!!...

Your Kickstarter exclusive just got even more exclusive!🎉🎉🎉

We couldn't have brought this project to life without you, so we wanted to do a little somethin' somethin' for you in return. Here's a few special goodies we've added for you to look forward to:

1- A digitally signed note from the creators (Wes and Brad) that will ONLY be included in our shipment to our Kickstarter/Pre-order backers.

2- And drum roll for this last one cuz it's a good one🥁🥁🥁..... By popular demand we've decided to include both Minis AND Standees in the game! And for the foreseeable future, the minis will ONLY be included in the Kickstarter/Pre-order editions of the game!!! Our parallel print run for our online/retail launch will only include standees. So get ur' minis while they're hot!

And of course, you'll still get your special edition print number if you ordered the Grey, Kickstarter exclusive box as was already promised!

Production Updates

Wes and I have been working extra hours (but not without our fair share of midnight Smash Bro parties/breaks in between😉) and spending a lot of late nights on the phone with China to make sure we hit our deadlines. But we are now off to the races and in production🎊! Our buddy Bian (our manufacturing rep) is probably a little tired of us asking him every other conversation if we're still on track to hit our production deadlines. So bad news is we can be a little annoying sometimes... but Good news is he continues to assure us that we're on track!

The minis are the one hang up that puts our target delivery date most at risk, but our minis manufacturer has also continued to assure us that they will meet our production timeline. We were waiting to send out an update until we could send a picture of the final samples but that's still pending so we'll share a sneak peek of the minis once we have pictures.

The Game-Plan

Production Completed: The production deadline we've set with our amigo Bian is to have the game completed by October 3rd.

Shipment to Fulfillment Center: It'll take about one month to send the sea shipment to our other friend Sol (Fulfillrite), who is our Kickstarter fulfillment partner in New Jersey.

Fulfillment: This puts us at the beginning of November to begin fulfilling orders. Once our fulfillment partner has received the shipment, it'll take them about 2 weeks to fulfill and ship the orders. Then plan on two weeks of shipping time (probably more like one week) to get your game. And then........

In other words, if all the moving pieces fit together according to plan your game should arrive in plenty of time for Christmas for those looking for an early Christmas gift! 🎁👾 

Let us know if you have any questions!

💌

Wes & Brad

PS: Print N/ Play should be on its way soon!  🙏🙌

Updates & Sum' Sneak Peeks
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 02:29:50 AM

Update!

Getting close to submitting our files for production! Our goal was to have it submitted by the end of the month to hit our November shipment deadline. While we still have some work to do, chances are looking good that we'll hit our goal!

Sneak Peek Into the Game!

2nd Side of the Board

You earned it! Here's a sneak peek into the 2nd side of the board we earned when we hit that $80k stretch goal! It includes a pit, upstairs, lava, and secret tunnels! Wes killed it on this side of the board and we're super stoked for the added elements of strategy it'll require as well as the variety/replay-ability it'll add to the game!

3-D Minis

It's no secret that this was our most highly anticipated stretch goal and after getting our first draft of the 3d render back, we don't think you'll be disappointed! The rendering still has a bit to go, but here's a screen shot of the first draft of our first hero, Flora Plumlee. She'll be a double sided miniature with the black background you see in the image. Keep in mind this is just the 1st draft and we've requested a number of adjustments (eg. the base is way too tall) but this will be the general look/feel of the minis:

Once we've honed in the model for the 1st mini and made sure it's doable on the manufacturing end, the other 6 (6 total characters + the Dragon) can be knocked out in a matter of a couple days.

Flora Plumlee

Here's a draft/teaser into Flora Plumlee's story and character powers: 

Flora's Story:

Born and named Janice Stump, her future looked about as good as her last name - Stumpy. Her family was large and poor. She barely received any education, and because she was a girl, she was only able to secure dishwashing, cleaning and cooking jobs. She was good at it, and so she became a barmaid at a rundown local tavern, following in the footsteps of her two older sisters.

But she had dreams, dreams of doing things that no woman was expected to do. She dreamt she was a hero, she dreamt she owned the nicest Tavern in town without the rough, dirty men who insulted her day in and day out. But mostly, she dreamt she wasn’t named lame Janice Stump. So she began introducing herself as Flora Plumlee. It sounded like a beautiful, purple flower to her.

Returning to the local Tavern, the Tavern owner, Duff, was mean and crude. He didn’t care about people, nor did he care for her name – he called her Stumpy #3 instead. One night he beat her harder than usual for dropping a pint of brandy, but her older sister Jane stepped in to stop him. He was so enraged that he pulled out his knife and stabbed her sister, killing her instantly. Her sister died, but no one stood up to him, or seemed to even care. Even the constable did nothing when Flora told her story and pleaded for justice.

So it was time that Flora take justice into her own hands and fight back against the cruel, corrupt world she was born into. After hearing of the King’s call for heroes to retrieve the stone, she began training every spare moment she had, determined to bring back the stone. Fight the Dragon. Gain wealth and influence. And most importantly, use her newfound influence to bring justice to Duff. She might even buy his tavern, clean it up, and call it Jane’s Place in memory of her late sister. But first, she would have to be victorious amidst a slew of other heroes with their own stories and burning motivations for seeking after the stone.

What's Next?

Rules, character stories, and character powers are almost done and we'll continue sending little updates and teasers periodically before we email out the finalized Print and Play!

The manufacturer has given us a 2 month production timeline (August & September), meaning the game will ship via sea freight at the beginning of October. It usually takes about a month to get here, which puts us at beginning of November to begin fulfillment. Our fulfillment partner expects about 2 weeks to fulfill all of the orders, then expect about a week or so for shipping. Everything's currently on time, but if anything changes with that timeline we'll notify you as soon as we know! You won't be kept in the dark... pinky promise😉

Thanks once again for all of your support! We couldn't have done it without you. Can't wait to get this game in your hands!

💌

Wes and Brad

PS: FAQ

Does the Print and Play (Pnp) come free with a pledge for the physical game?

Yes! You get a free digital Pnp that corresponds to the physical game you backed.

Congrats to us all!! $125k is no small feat.
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jun 22, 2019 at 12:13:24 AM

Congrats to us all!

You guys this was such an incredible, hard fought campaign! What a story!! We fought, we felt a little beat down during the mid campaign slump, but we picked ourselves back up and we not only conquered, but we blew our goals out of the water!!! What a feeling!

And we've received lots of congratulations but we want to make clear this was a joint effort. This was all of our campaign and your support was well deserved. You earned every single one of those stretch goals!!🙌

No Rest for the Weary

We're both headed out of town a bit early this weekend but we'll be back in the office on Monday hard at work to make sure we can get this fulfilled and out to you by our target date! If we do hit any snags that push that back we promise to keep you updated as soon as they happen.

Thanks! (for the Millionth time!)

I know we say this a lot, but we really can't say enough how grateful we are for your support. Seeing your enthusiasm in the comments and on the Fb page has us more jazzed than ever about what we're building together. Can't wait to get working on the next "Retro Cartridge Series" game and you better believe we'll include you in the process. Except this time you get to be involved even earlier!🎉

Make sure to request to join the closed Fb page if you want to continue to be involved between Kickstarters: https://bit.ly/2IwBUu7

What's Next

For those of you wondering how to add your Solo/Co-op expansion or wondering how we know where to ship your game, we'll be sending out our survey/pledge manager in the next week or two after the Credit Cards have all been processed to collect that info. And you'll definitely be in the loop throughout the manufacturing process, as we get the mini renderings, tie up loose ends, etc.

💌
Wes and Brad

PS: Credit Card Declines

Like every Kickstarter project there are always a few CC declines. If you forgot to add funds or your CC was declined you should have received an email so make sure to update it before next Wednesday so your pledge doesn't get dropped.

Steamrolling our way to $100k! And other important updates...
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 12:00:52 AM

Steamrolling our way to $100k!!!

You guys at this pace we may even hit $100k today! To those of you who clicked that little "Remind Me" button. We see you🙈... and we know you're listening/getting these updates (there's over 4,000 of you). The train is picking up steam so don't get left behind! Can we get some support from the peanut gallery to encourage the fence sitters in the comments?

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

You guys have rocked this project! We're overwhelmed by the support, feedback, and positivity of such an incredible community and we can't wait to get this game into your hands!

$90k Stretch Goal

You've unlocked the High score card!!! You'll be able to track/show off your high score to your friends just like the good ole days! We're still working on the design but it'll likely be stickies you can write on and move up and down as the High Score changes! 

$100k Minis Stretch Goal

Daaang!! You guys have really pulled through. Every minute is looking more promising for the minis stretch goal, especially if we can convince our fence sitter friends. Now that it's starting to get real, we've been working back and forth with our manufacturer on the renderings for the 8-bit mini designs. We'll send images along for your viewing pleasure as they develop!

A really stretch goal: $120k

We've heard rumblings of support for a custom dice. If we hit $120k we'll throw in an 8 sided custom dice for determining the artifact placement.

Thanks Again!

We can't say this enough but thank you, thank you and just... thank you! We can't say enough how grateful we are for the buzz around the game and all the support we've received! You rock! Every one of you!

Also, if you haven't joined the private Dungeon Royale Facebook group, feel free to request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2251620951768769/?source_id=1007153189355362

Backer Spotlight

Give it up for our fourth and final featured backer Tyler Adam who correctly found the easter eggs and has been an awesome, supportive member of the community!

As another show of thanks, we also want to recognize 3 more backers we'll be featuring in the rules. Drum roll...🥁... John Cross, Matt Crawley and Tim & Julia Greenwaldt! Woot woot🙌! All of you have been active, positive, and supportive participants in the comments section! Even when it looked like things were slowing down. Really means a lot.  We'll reach out to each of you privately!

Happy Backing!

Wes and Brad