Holiday Slowdown, Proofing and forward motion!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Nov 30, 2019 at 10:33:30 PM

Well peeps, for whatever reason, things are/have slowed down production wise because... we are waiting on the dice proofs. Though we expect them soon, it's still a waiting game on seeing the new updated dice (sans mud). We can say that we were much happier with the integrity of the new Insert, and think it will make the journey without harm!

Once we get the new samples dice wise, we should have a clearer picture on the final timeline. As it is right now, if we assumed that everything was going to go right, we would hope to have everything wrapped up before the spring fulfillment and manufacturing wise. Of course, that would be assuming everything goes right.

Now, in the previous updates and social media posts, we have dropped the cards, the play mat, work on the insert, really all that is left is for us to upload the final rules for everyone to view, and get these dice wrapped and we are good to go!

Stay vigilant fellow guardians as we move forward :D 

US Customs and the Next Sample
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 01, 2019 at 03:12:18 AM

Short October Update for everyone. 

We cleaned up the "muddy" looking dice and resubmitted some files that they have been working on for a week now. They were all approved and we hope to have new ones to show in the next update!

Our Manufacturer for the insert took 1 week off in October, but then has sent us another sample. The sample reached US Customs on the 29th of this month and we hope to see it here in Minnesota too. It's material should be reinforced but also a tad more flexible, meaning we should be able to avoid the shattering of the plastic when stressed and shipped. 

Like we said, the idea of any of you unboxing Guardians and seeing shards of plastic and insert that needs replacing would be problematic for all parties so rest assured, we are working with them and hopefully this iteration is solid... so to speak ;)

Rulebook

Big time plus side, the final rules should be out soon on BGG and linked here as the game is nearing fulfillment! We hope that gets everyone reading and then RE-Hyped! 

Until then, remain vigilant!

Examining a Sample
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 11:48:46 PM

The Good Stuff

So the first thing we want to address is all the stuff that turned out right and/or great!

You boys and gals saw the play mat the last time. This one has all the glam and shimmer of the previous one, which we think is wildly important given the "darkness" this games theme bring. BUT the thing we are really excited for is how this mat's stitched edging is so dang high quality!

Now, of course the cards turned out fine, all of the proofing you all did was nothing short of fantastic! And for those that did, David specifically, thank you for getting all the edge cases smoothed out and getting all of our errors corrected! Your work will not go unnoticed, and like Lee Altpeter, expect a thank you in a big way!

Now the Bad

The bad is, we had to clean up the dice. So many things were so much muddier than we wanted. One of the main constraints of this at the table at conventions is often people's ability to read the dice, as is the issue with other dice heavy games and values. So how muddy the dice look is key. We have communicated this with the manufacturer and expect a new round of samples mailed out soon.

the other bad, and this one is MORE egregious. We wanted to offer the game, as you know, with a base plastic insert that would be serviceable for the base set, while holding MORE dice for the next 2-3 expansions.  But, the material of the insert is NOT the kind of quality we wanted to put forward, and despite being shrinked and sent to us, it was heavily damaged in transit while the box seems to be in great condition. 

So while we do not have the ability to re-engineer the insert, we actually like the way it is, we do have the ability to change the materials in the insert to be stronger and withstand more pressure and weight. You can imagine opening the box to find a shattered and busted insert :/ 

Anyways, please stand by Guild Mates as we correct these issues, we will keep you posted as we get each item. This may lead to consecutive updates again (possible but not certain), and we apologize for that inconvenience, but we want to keep you posted as they resolve the issues.

Until then, remain vigilant!

Sample Time Sample Time
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 03:06:00 AM

So we promised 2 Updates this month, this one will be a shorter one, but fun nonetheless!

We did in fact receive the first sample of the game in Minnesota and will be digging into it, once we inspect this and error proof this thing, we will start posting some sneak peaks :D 

We are a bit behind currently because the US Customs held the sample for an excessive period of time, which did not allow us to communicate and sign off on the materials in the timeline we had hoped. We are re-calibrating our timeline but progress is at hand! 

Who is getting psyched :D 

Guardians Future

As we are getting closer to the release of Guardians, we will, the week after people begin getting their game, start talking about what comes next for the franchise. 

The team has another Local Convention on the 21st and 22nd of this month, the weekend after should be our 2nd update for Guardians so here we go! 

August Update with the September Plan
over 4 years ago – Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 06:21:05 PM

Designing Guardians Blog #2 - The Way Forward

After the campaign, we added Ben Martin to our Team. A dynamic developer and someone with design ideas of his own. This is important because many of his ideas on deck building from his cyberpunk went on to influence small economic improvements we made to the game, as well as interactions with the public cards.

Originally our public cards were influenced by those of the public cards in dice masters. Now they still have some of that flavor, with them being tied to the Guild you have chosen, but influence combos the way other dice do now as well.

The other way forward is the "Story". The original vision was that we wanted to have a campaign book in the future that told a story as you played through. But, one thing we really began to feel post campaign at conventions, was how much we wanted people to be able to tell their own stories. 

We have seen games like Edge of Darkness come out recently that utilize a "story" for players really well, but we really believe that maybe it was a good thing this goal wasn't hit, as now in the future, we are looking at ways for players to tell their own story with more dynamic events and "stages" of enemies. We think this kind of "tell your own story approach" to the setup and game play is going to make YOU and others love the characters and each play more and more. 

Pledge Manager Addresses

The last day to inform us of any address change will be September 30th 2019. This is important leading into the next month because next month we will have 2 UPDATES! 

First, we will be starting next month, from early to mid month, with the updated and final rulebook and breakdown, the production window and region fulfillment plans, and we are going to schedule an impromptu unboxing with Ben when we have everything together. 

Currently, the trade relations between China and the US have been causing us problems with things slowing down, costing more and the US Customs taking longer. Last thing for August, we closed out this month in MN doing 2d Con and had a blast demoing Guardians for Backers and others in the general public all weekend!

And if you were curious, yes, many of you backed Beast Masters Duel: Sun and Stone, which fulfilled in June/July, and are running a give away and campaign currently. If you want, more details can be found here.