Production Is About To Begin!
29 days ago – Fri, Nov 03, 2023 at 09:30:15 AM

Hooray! We've given our final approvals to our manufacturer on the game and they are going to be starting production shortly!

So what does this mean for us—and you?! Well, several things...

Address Lockdown

We will be looking to lock addresses in the coming weeks as we prepare for fulfillment next year. However, do not fear; we'll provide an update and final notice before we do that, and if you have an issue updating your address before then, please contact us at [email protected].

A note for U.S. backers: If you're trying to change your address which involves a different state, you will need to contact us, as Backerkit doesn't allow backers to change states on their own.

Fulfillment Timing

As to fulfillment, we are about 6 weeks behind our original schedule for starting production, due to the changes we did on the insert and adding a lid. The irony is not lost on us that the one new component we added on the campaign (ie. the one thing not previously developed and tested with our manufacturer) is the one thing that caused us some delay. Still, from our perspective the addition of the lid was absolutely worth it; the components sit so safe and snug now that we never want to take the game out and play it. Ok, that latter part is completely false. 😆

What that means for fulfillment is we do not think we'll be starting in April, but if we do not run into freight issues, late May seems realistic for starting fulfillment.🤞We think that's still looking pretty darn good; especially for a first-time publisher. The fact that we had almost everything else already prototyped and tested thoroughly really has helped us stay close to our original timelines.

What's Next?

Firstly, we'll be getting an MPC (mass production copy) from the factory in the coming weeks. That is an actual production copy of the game for us to check before games eventually get shipped out. Technically, that copy shouldn't have any issues because, well, it is the final game, and we're looking forward to sharing that with you!!

Secondly, we'll have some cool news to start sharing in the coming months about our launch into retail and in other languages (don't ask; we can't say anything just yet!). This might not be of primary interest to all our backers awaiting their KS versions of the game, but we think it is important as we want this game to be successful beyond just this campaign, because... 

...we're ramping up work on expansion content! We have mentioned this before and it is something really important to us. We want people who have invested money in our game and who enjoy it, to know that they'll have the option to delve into new, compelling content in the future. We're really focused on producing some exciting things that will push the boundaries of what it means to battle in Weirdwood Manor! Expect to hear more about that next year! 

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

Late Pledges Closing & Survey Stragglers
2 months ago – Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 11:47:07 AM

This update is a short one, but an important one as we near the start of production!

Late Pledges Closing

For those of you still thinking about picking up a late pledge for the game, you're almost out of time. We will be closing the late pledge store at 5 PM PST this coming Wednesday, October 4th. So if you've been debating about getting in on all the Kickstarter goodies, it is now or never!

Incomplete Surveys

As we near starting production, we also want to encourage anyone who has yet to fill out their survey, to do so ASAP. We will be sending survey reminders again, and if you don't complete your survey, we can't send you the game you've already paid for, so... 

Charging Remaining Credit Cards

We'll also be charging any outstanding credit cards shortly after late pledges close. The vast majority of people have paid and there are only a few hundred orders to be charged. If you see a notice next week with an error or issue with your card, please reach out to your credit card company to resolve it, and if you need more help, please contact us at [email protected].

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

Production Update, Samples & Essen
2 months ago – Thu, Sep 21, 2023 at 09:51:51 AM

Hi everyone - We're back from some restful time and have been back at work on the project, focused on finalizing all the samples from our manufacturer. And speaking of which, we had a final set of those waiting for us upon our return last week, and we're pretty excited to share those with you, so... let's go!!

Quest Cards

These are a Kickstarter exclusive and as such, this is the first time even we've gotten to see physical samples. They look great, and like all the cards, include the linen finish we unlocked during the campaign. That's a little hard to see but we have to say that they sure feel nice in our hands with the linen finish!

Box Emboss and UV Gloss Finish

A little hard to show in a pic but we're pretty excited with the embossed logo on the Deluxe boxes, especially when that is paired up with the UV Gloss finish which is on the Deluxe and Standard boxes; another Kickstarter exclusive!

Final Rulebooks

The rulebooks look great. What else is there to say, other than share a pic! 😄

Backer Names

The backer names are in the rulebook (check out the unboxing video below), and the early bird backers look amazing on the back of the main board too!

Unique Fire/Rubble Tiles

You might recall an unlock that had us produce unique illustrations for each of the 5 Fire/Rubble tiles, and now we can see those in real life, and they look really cool on the board (though players never actually want to see too many of these on the board!).  🤣 Note that the samples below are actually only laser-cut, so they're not 100% final quality (they are a bit rough around the edges).

Box Back

This is a small improvement we've made which we've not previously talked about. We made a couple small design changes on the back of the box, adding a cool area at bottom for some of the game details. However, the reason we did this was really to allow us to print different things there, depending on the edition of the game. This means that each edition (KS Standard, KS Deluxe & Retail) will all have their edition listed, along with the components for that specific edition. We know that's a small detail, but we felt it was important to have that somewhere on the outside of the boxes.

What's Next?

Well, it's not all amazing news. One of the final changes being made to the tray and lid insert was missed by the factory and was not in the samples they sent us. This means we can't sign off on production yet, and we have to await a new sample from them. That should be the final item we have to approve, so we'll wait on that. As to our overall project timeline, well, we had some cushion in our original dates and so we might still be on track overall—and if this last sample takes a bit longer than anticipated, we're hopeful this might only push timelines out by a few weeks. Though, of course, we do still have to face freighting and shipping, the one area we can't control... unless we take our own boat over to China... 🚣 🛶 ⛵️... 🤔 ?!

Essen

A very disappointing piece of news for me (this is Mike, the designer, speaking) is that I cannot attend Essen. 😢 This is a last minute development related to something personal that has come up for me. The result of that is we won't be at Essen, as our convention attendance has always been me, and we don't have anyone else in our very tiny team who can go on such short notice. To our European backers, I'm very sorry and am personally very sad about this, but it cannot be helped; sometimes life gets in the way of things. You will have to wait to see us in 2024.

There might be a small silver lining in this as far as production goes. Hopefully the last tray and lid samples will arrive here roughly around Essen (if all goes well), and if so, at least I will be here to review those right away.

Unboxing Video

We didn't want to leave things on a bummer note, and so we're sharing an unboxing video of the final prototype of Deluxe version of the game! And for those card-sleevers out there, yes, your sleeved cards will fit! =) Enjoy the video! 

Production Update & Samples
4 months ago – Mon, Aug 14, 2023 at 10:25:53 AM

We're happy to let everyone know that all of our digital files have been proofed and approved with our manufacturer! And now we are starting to see some final samples—and today we're going to share the first set of those.

Kickstarter Wooden Tokens

We unlocked several new wooden tokens for the Deluxe game during the Kickstarter, and here they are! 

Acrylic Standees

As I'm sure all our Deluxe backers know, you're getting acrylic standees in the Deluxe version. We're pretty excited about these, and we've been showing them off at various cons the last year and people have been really loving them! And we love them! But we also want to try to make everything as great as we can and we decided there were a few aspects of them that could be cooler.

Item One

Our current samples have the artwork printed on one side of the acrylic. That means it is possible that the printing could get scratched. Now, to be clear, we have not seen that happen even a single time in our samples that have been travelling and bouncing around the world in prototypes for the last 6+ months. Still, we wondered if there was a way to improve this so they could not ever be scratched off... which leads us to issue two.

Item Two

It was our opinion, and pretty much everyone we asked, that the printing just looked cooler when you were looking at it through the acrylic. There's something really cool about it taking on a bit of the shine from the acrylic and feeling like it was preserved inside of it (even though it was just printed on the other side of it). So, we wondered, could we actually do that? Put the printed layer inside?!

Item Three

Ok, so now we're getting a bit nit-picky. That's ok, we're fine with being called nit-picky when it comes to our game components. We felt that the edges of the current standees weren't quite smooth enough. I mean, they're pretty cool but we wanted them to feel more polished on the edges; more finished. We wanted people to pick them up and um, dare we say it?... fondle them. 😳

So, we went back to our manufacturer with these ideas, and after some further work with them, we are super excited to say we've addressed everyone one of those! These things are awesome, and pics don't do them justice, but we know people are going to love them! And if you find you keep picking them up from the game board to hold and look at them, knock yourself out! It's your game! 🤣 

What's Next?

We've still got more final samples that our manufacturer has started working on and the next batch should arrive in September, so we're looking forward to sharing those with you. However, while we wait on those, we're taking a holiday break. Our team has been working pretty much non-stop this year and deserve some time off, so we're all heading for sunny spots, or just super long gaming sessions with Baldur's Gate 3 😄, and we'll be back in mid-September.

Mike & the Greyridge Team

Component Updates & GenCon
5 months ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 10:58:56 AM

As we await final digital proofs from our manufacturer, which will be followed by our final samples, we wanted to share a few cool things.

We've added all the submitted backer names to the final rulebook—and you can download a copy here if you want to check it out! It has been a tremendous amount of work to get it done (and thanks to the many people who read it and made suggestions along the way!). Perhaps our next game will be about designing a rulebook for that actual game, so we don't have to design one for the game, because the players will do it during the game... 🤔 Yeah, wrap your head around that idea! 🤣  

As well, we also laid out all the early bird backer names on the back of the main game board, which we think looks pretty cool (all you early bird backers will have to figure out how you're going to explain to friends that you want to play the game upside down so you can keep staring at your name!). 😄  

And lastly, we wanted to share a couple pics of the backs of the player and monster boards, where we've included some cool lore, helpful gameplay tips, and setup rules for the monster (the setup rules and monster advice are also in the rulebook). 

GenCon Update

We'll be at GenCon in the Exhibitor Hall at booth 1556 (PDF map). Come on by to say 'hi' to our designer Mike Cassie, or even take the time to try the game at our demo table! We'll be running 1 hour demos of the game, so you can get a chance to sit down, learn the rules, and play a few turns. If you're interested in playing, please visit this page to sign up. You can pick a day and time and just add a name and email to confirm it (your email is only used to confirm your spot and send a reminder email, and is not visible to others).

As well, maybe give us a thumbs up on BGG's GenCon preview list and help us move up the list there!

Thanks,

Mike & the Greyridge Team