BrookM wrote:
Also, ho-hum, they did a small update on the material:

Spoiler:

JULY 18 UPDATE: OUR QUEST FOR THE PERFECT MATERIAL

The most common question you've asked so far is “What is it made of?”

During our one-year journey in the development of WarStages, we tried A LOT of things, both technically and artistically. And we came to a conclusion that may surprise some of you: the most effective, good-looking, affordable solution to build our large-scale epic scenery was the use of high-quality, super-dense coated color-printed cardboard.

You've already seen how good it looks in our video, let us tell you more about it.

It took many months and an extensive trial-an-error period to get there, but boy are we glad we took that time, because we are so pumped up about its possibilities, its qualities, its robustness, its visual impact, and its reasonable cost compared to the alternatives.

What are card board unique set of qualities?

First it looks awesome! Right out of the box, you get a super detailed building full of complex textures, details and color. It allows for a crazy level of details.

No need to paint! Painting such huge scenery could be on the near side of forever. We've done awya with that.

It ain't flat! You might think that it would look somewhat flat, but as we first designed all the parts in 3D and then enhanced them with loads of photographic textures, it looks incredibly deep and tri-dimensional. On top of that, we use many visual tricks in the assembly of the structures to give them even more volume.

Easy to put away: Since most parts are not glued together, you have a lot of freedom in how to put it away once you're done gaming. You can completely break it down, or just disassemble the largest parts and keep the rest ready to go for your next battle. An under-bed plastic sweater box or two should do the trick.

It's quite light: Card board wins hands down compared to resin, plastic or MDF.

It's cost-effective: We wanted to make sure that tis epic scenery would remain affordable. Sure, like always with printing, you need large runs to keep cost reasonable, but once above certain quantities, the kits become very affordable compared to their actual size.

It's a very strong material: To our surprise, it is also extremely strong and resistant! A single sheet of card board may not feel like a strong object, but once it is assembled into a structure, it is super robust and can withstand heavy loads, in any case more heavy than any large mini you might place on it. If you are unsure about that, just browse the internet and see for yourself how people build real furniture (and even houses!) in cardboard...

Here's the story of how we got here:

Our goal with this project was to offer you incredible scenery that would feel epic and massive, the kind of scenery we've all seen displayed on the tables at conventions that one can only dream of

for it feels impossible to build or afford.
because we know we will never be able to afford or build.

Our goal was also to give you something that would have a cinematic mood, a movie stage quality for your games. Something that would make you feel like you suddenly got dropped into a siege scene in Lord of the Rings, or fighting your way through Gotham City, or in the many other great settings of your favorite movies and series.

Other materials

Our initial plan was to build this scenery in resin. But the sheer mass of the structures we wanted to make made it very clear that it would be a titan job to produce the casts, and that the costs would be absolutely prohibitive.

From then on, we started testing all other options. We looked into injected plastics. But to make it a viable option, it meant that it would have forced us to ditch variety and get a product that would look very repetitive, because the number of basic elements had to be reduced considerably to make it viable commercially.

We then looked into MDF and Plasticard. MDF is a popular option today, and a good one too. But it was not adapted to our plans, if only because of its weight. You would have ended up paying as much for shipping as for the cathedral due to the epic size of the kit. Plasticard was decidedly too expensive for our needs as well.

We even tried combinations of all these materials. But every approach left us with mixed feelings. Something was always missing and the prototype kits would always come out too expensive, too long to produce, or end up with a super limited set of very small bricks that would take countless hours to assemble into a big scenery.

Onwards to another solution

However, by that time, we had already designed many buildings and elements, and so just to test their size and mass, we started simply printing renders on paper and making mock-ups in cardboard.

And it was a revelation...

It was better than everything we had before: it was detailed, it was fully coloured and textured, it was fast to assemble and simple to store. But the biggest thing was that, even with mock-ups, the structures looked gorgeous on the table.

Best option

So here we are today with what is, in our opinion, probably the best option for scenery. When you set it on your table, it is hard to believe that it's just cardboard, it has so much tri-dimensionality and texture and depth! And all the accessories give so much life to it! It's just great!

Also, all these elements come together with a super nifty, nearly invisible assembly system. (Please note that it slightly differs from what you see on the photos and video of our prototype). We'll tell you all about it in a coming update, but know that it allows you to create an infinity of crazy combinations.

Schmapdi wrote:
Wasn't there a line of terrain like this made for Malifaux a few years ago? Terraclips or something like that?

I remember thinking it looked neat at the time, but they only ever made the initial 3 kits and no more.

 Alpharius wrote:
Hopefully it really is 'affordable' and that the almost inevitable delays don't make delivery stretch out the near side of forever.

 BrookM wrote:
IIRC the price for the sets was a sore point for many, as you didn't get a lot of terrain for what was asked. Though I could be incorrectly remembering it.

 BrookM wrote:
Detail on the screens looks good, less chuffed with how the spikes on top look and the lower arch in the middle. I get that it's for sturdiness, but it looks off.

We're now just days away, WarStages: The Gothic Cathedral Kickstarter will launch this week! We’ll tell you exactly when as soon as all the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted. Look for a countdown clock about a day before. New images on WarStages.

It's ALL in the DETAILS...

We spent A LOT of hours crafting detailed textures to dress up the Cathedral and the Gothic Daedalus. Most were 3D-sculpted first to be sure you'd get a maximum sensation of depth and volume. Then we carefully added and altered photographic textures for even more richness and realism.
For example, the WarStages' Furniture beautifully shows the intricacy of the design and texture work. On the computer console above, the panels appear engraved with gothic tracery combined with super detailed retro high tech components. They'll look as intricate as jewels on the gaming table. See more on WarStages.

It's Gonna be a LIMITED EDITION

The Cathedral and the Gothic Daedalus Extension will be a Limited Edition. This is due to the nature of printing works, where costs are kept reasonable only by ordering large runs at a time. So we'll cover the campaign's Rewards plus a small extra stock, and then that's it. So get onboard during the campaign as it'll be a lot more complicated to get your WarStages once crowdfunding is over... Read and see more on WarStages.

However, we do have plans for a few more projects, so there will be new and compatible scenery to comes so you’ll be able to expand and vary your WarStages in the future. Some gothic, and some non-gothic...

Hello BrookM,

Remember the great games you played? The ones where the deployment phase didn’t drag on forever, the dice rolls were great, the moments, epic? When everybody had such a great time?

Well, we want this campaign to feel the same for you.

We want it to be exciting, with unlocks everyday. We all want to skip over the weeks in the middle where nothing really happens and you start to wonder “Is this going somewhere?”. It's summer, so together, let’s make this a unique moment where things keep moving all the time, where you'll see your pledge get bigger and bigger with freebies. And when it is over you'll think “It was short, but boy, it was great!”.

This is why we chose to do a short campaign, trim the fat, and only keep the best moments: the excitement of the launch and the rush of the final days...

JULY 26 UPDATE: One-Week WarStages Kickstarter Launches July 29 at 6PM (Paris, France time)

It’s finally happening! We are launching this Saturday! It will be a VERY SHORT campaign, full of FREEBIES, and with exciting EARLY BIRD Pledges.

Time and Date Worldwide: To know exactly the hour at which it launches in your city/country, click here.

And keep your eye on our countdown clock.

A 7-day Campaign!

You read this right! The Campaign will only run for ONE WEEK. It will end between Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 5th (depending on where you live in the world).

Why So Short?

If you’ve already experienced a Kickstarter campaign, you know that there’s a lot of excitement at the beginning, a lot of excitement at the end, and not so much happening in the middle. Usually, project creators plan longer campaigns in the hope of attracting more people during that time. This is a wise strategy on specific project types that are more geared to the general public such as technology or music projects.

But in the Games category and with the backers we are looking for, we know that people are aware of the project’s existence and we don’t need to wait for several weeks for the general media to pick up on the campaign.

We thought about this long and hard. If you're concerned about this, remember that our first campaign was about 34 days and did $698,000. Our second campaign was about 16 days and was even more successful with $801,000.

In truth, we realise now that A LOT of the excitement has already been happening in the past few days with our revealing new info and images on this project. And so we thought we’d cut to the chase and shorten the quiet days between the beginning and the end of the campaign, especially since it is summer. So let's have this blitzkrieg!
Stretch Goals: Freebies and More Freebies

95% of the Stretch Goals planned for this campaign will be Freebies, so get ready for the ride! The better the campaign does, the more Freebies you’ll get as part of your pledge.

And that’s not all. The bigger you pledge, the more Freebies you’ll get!

In this campaign, we have the opportunity to give you more free stuff when you choose a higher tier, so that’s what we’ll be doing.

In fact, it will be fun for you to come back daily and watch your pledge get more and more Rewards!

And there's lots more info on our WarStages page...