I am delaying fulfillment.
All the plastic kits must meet this project's high requirements and my personal scrutiny. Currently, the armor kits do not. They have proved to be more challenging than myself or the technicians at the factory expected.
To resolve this moving forward, I have had several long meetings over the course of this week with the factory boss. He is putting his other responsibilities aside to work with me directly, everyday, 1 armor kit at a time until they meet my approval. I realize I am the gatekeeper in this process and I apologize, but I can't produce something that does not meet my and your expectations.
So far, our project has produced some of the best hard plastic kits I have ever seen. It is, in all sincerity, a little mind-blowing that they are kits I directed and produced with your help.
The fan feedback and positive reviews we've received about the Pinups of Death hard plastic kit really crystalized the feeling that this uncomprimising approach is creating incredible results. Even the guys at Beasts of War were blown away by the plastic Phoenix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mfoe9atAgGQ#t=2347
Thankfully, production on all hard plastic kits I have approved has already been finished! There are 15,000 finished Phoenixes waiting for us! (among many other kits!) But… as all of you know, unless everything is 100% done, the project is not done. The reality of this project's scale means we cannot afford to ship plastic rewards in multiple waves and thus we must wait for every last arm, head, and skullcap hammer. Sadly, this is a bottom-line reality.
This is our project and its my job to make sure it's done right. If everything does not meet my requirements and the expectations I've given you, I will feel I have failed to deliver the very heart and soul of my efforts.
Blame Me
There are no excuses, this is entirely on my own shoulders. The commitment I made by running this campaign (producing 11 times the original scope of the content or not) is the real deal. I am putting every ounce of professional and personal effort, along with every penny of the money raised, into it.
I am always available, front and center, to answer any of your questions and address your concerns. You are my prized backers, the people directly responsible for making any of this possible. If there is something I can do for one of you, I will make an effort to do it.
You can message me thru kickstarter, or send me an email at adam.poots
AT kingdomdeath.com. Yes, sometimes my inbox is flooded, but I do respond to everything, eventually. If you have sent me a message in the past without a response, a gentle reminder would be appreciated. I imagine this will result in many messages, so please be patient as I sort thru them. Thank you in advance.
If you have pledge manager questions, email anna at kingdomdeath.com.
Technicality
So we are still "technically" beginning fulfillment in Q2 2014 as I estimated. The Kings of Death will have their Chest of Death collection and the resin beta sent in june.
The resin beta level will also ship out in june.
Estimated Fulfillment Update
I will return at the end of June with a more specific time frame. I respect everyone here too much to pull any "smoke and mirror" tricks, I just want to provide facts. And so I have decided to wait and provide exactly that.
The printing process for the projects many components has already started. The core game and its tutorial received an additional 3 weeks of blind play-testing before we handed it off to an editor and I am feeling very confident in it. (The edited version just came back yesterday!) There are still some good questions that play testers (yes we are STILL doing that) have raised and I think between them and the resin beta backers we will generate a solid
FAQ in support of the game that will be available online.
Shipping Address Changes
We have a new shipping address policy in place. When fulfillment begins, we will send you an email to confirm your shipping address. You couldn't believe how often people change their shipping address, I had no idea people moved around that much! So don't worry, we'll get your current addresses when the game ships!
EU Fullfillment
We have two options lined up. I won't be able to pull the trigger until our warehouse is at 100% accountability.
1. We pack everything domestically, the boxes are freight shipped to the
EU and then a label is slapped on to each one and its mailed from within the
EU.
2. We pack everything domestically and declare the lowest possible legal value (manufacturing costs I do believe) on each package. It is then shipped from Brooklyn NY. This will be the quickest way for backers to receive rewards.
The disadvantage to #1, is that it's an extremely long process. All
EU orders would need to be packed, then placed on a freight container. Wherein they will be received and shipped a second time. I have always stated, from the beginning, that international packages would most likely ship from the US, as it is the most controlled, manageable and efficient way for us.
Why can't you just work with a fulfillment company / partner?
As many of you requested, I spoke with several companies that offer international fulfillment. It was not my intent from the get go, but it was a great idea and I followed up on it in earnest.
The reality is this kickstarter is simply too complicated. There are too many items, some from different vendors, some frail, all of which would need to be individually combined in every unique order combination and the size of this task places it far beyond what the budget allows. Even with additional resources we collected from each international backer, the total does not even come close to the reality. We would be spending a crippling amount, to send out packages that we did not personally and carefully pack ourselves, with no way to oversee or hands on trouble shoot a number of logistical issues that may arise.
As promised, I will still keep an open ear and if something solid develops. I will update everyone on the matter. I need to keep the interests of all of the backers and also the project in mind.
Pledge Manager Reopened
By popular demand, Anna has retooled the pledge manager to accept further pledge additions.
Here's what you should know: You can use your original pledge manager details to login. We've removed resin and collectors edition items since their production numbers are already locked in and in production, or sitting in our warehouse. We've adjusted the MSRP (Our suggested retail price) of all kickstarter items to reflect realistic production and the future of Monster's retail life.
HOWEVER, we've maintained a tremendous discount for all backers. Items that you add to your pledge cannot be switched, swapped, replaced, or otherwise impact your original pledge. The pledge manager is optimized for the Chrome browser but should be fine in most up-to-date browsers. Any questions or problems please direct to anna at kingdomdeath dot com
Instructions
- To make additions to your pledge visit:
https://kingdomdeath.com/reopen/login.php
- Use your pledge manager details to login.
If you've forgotten your password enter your email on the left and click the Forgot Password link to reset your password.
- You will find a button at the top of the next page that will take you to a summary of your pledge options from your original pledge.
- You can browse the available kickstarter options using the categories on the left hand side.
- Once you are ready, click the ADD FUNDS button. A paypal link will appear that will take you through the PayPal bit. Once you complete the paypal process and press the close button in the popup you will be taken to an overview of your additions. An email confirmation will follow shortly.
*NOTE: I have not yet had a chance to change the images in the pledge manager, many of them will display the wrong prices and MSRP. I will take care of this tomorrow.
Progress Report
Allright, with that all out of the way I can finally talk about some things I am very pleased with!
Flower Knight
Here is the flower Knight in all his plastic glory. Again I decided to bump up his size a little bit. It really seems to help with all of the micro details that resin can render so well. I guess… its kind of a little bit like cheating! But its a lot nicer then the 3% shrinkage you'll normally see with PVC plastic.
The Flower Knight Sprue has a few surprises that we didn't initially plan on. Benefits of the delay. We added some extra weapons and a new instrument, A Chello! Which has been delighting everyone around the office.
Gorm
The plastic Gorm is awesome. I was really nervous we would lose all of the skin texture on his body and have to sort of "smooth" it out. The factory really shone thru and he came out great! Up close, it really feels more like something made form clay.
The Lonley Tree
Putting together this tree, is intense! A total of 4 sprues make up it's massive body. Everyone here likes the plastic tree so much, we've decided to extend the lonely tree expansion to include a small ai & hit location deck, so you can fight a rare breed of it! In addition the phoenix actually does rest on top of the tree, so when it lands on it during gameplay you can put him up there. This is more coincdence then design tho, so do it at your own risk!
Slenderman
I know this is going to tank the sales of the resin slender man units we still have but uh... I think the plastic one actually turned out better?! The sculptor, Jacques-Alexandre Gillois has such incredible talent and is able to craft miniature with such light and delicate features. Slender Man was scanned, and optimized digitally where we pulled all of the details out a little bit and bumped up his size. Actually he was optimized twice! First time was by myself and Hector Moran and the second time by the factory. The result well... its not frail like the resin and the bumped up details actually make it feel much more crisp. So... yeah I like this one more!
The King
Standing at 120mm tall, the plastic King makes me so proud! I was very worried he would have to be cut into a bazillion parts to preserve his detail and layers of mystery. I was however and very thankfully wrong. Of all the large monsters, the kit is the fewest parts! (oh and we totally bumped up the size from the original resin. )
The $666,666 Promise
During the kickstarter campaign I promised that if we reached $666,666 I would create a personal vision of Satan and release it at some point outside of the kickstarter.
The resulting miniature has received much controversy and it's collectors run was sold out in a mere 8 hours. Making it the quickest selling Kingdom Death miniature to date! Since the spirit of the project was rooted in a promise I made during the campaign, we are taking pre-orders for an encore run. Something we do not normally do, due to the logistical challenges involved with resin production. ( It's slow, and super expensive).
I wanted to make sure any interested backers did not miss their opportunity. Here is the link to them on the store. I understand this will not be for everyone, it is again, another unrestrained exploration and to me, it makes a lot of sense.
http://shop.kingdomdeath.com/collections/in-stock/products/satan
The Boon, The Delay and the Gamble
I am arranging for some kind of miniature related boon to help ease the pain of the delay. I realize that at this point it is a mere formality, but I feel it is the least I can do.
In addition, we will use the extra time to continue to polish and round out the content of the projects many expansions. Polish is a lot less tangible then say, an extra miniature. But the effort and time that goes into it, is often many many times more resource intensive. More art for additional story events, more gear and more interactive elements to make each expansion more satisfying to add to your campaign.
I realize that this might not make a lot of sense to many of you, but my perspective is to whole-heartedly gamble on Kingdom Death: Monster with everything we've got. This means, that our extra time won't be spent chasing new products or projects. Nor will we be planning a new kickstarter with the time. Instead we will be pouring it, an urn full of liquid creativity and effort back over everything like a thick gravy. More art, more content, and more depth, added in small thoughtful slices and scattered throughout the project as a whole.
While I cannot personally speed up the physical miniature production anymore then I have. I can certainly use every second and continue to squeeze in as much as possible while the window on manufacturing closes.
That is my commitment to you backers and to this project. It will continue to get, everything I can possibly give it, until it is finished and speeding towards your front door. This means a great deal to me.
Oh and another thing. You will get Kingdom Death:Monster before anyone else in the world. It will be, physically in your hands before I send even a single box anywhere else, for any reason. It will not be available at your local game store, while you are waiting for your rewards to arrive. And it won't be sold online via amazon at a discount while you wait either. I understand and can respect the business and logistical sense of moving product into distribution aggressively. And perhaps it's just getting really late / early. But I don't care! You come FIRST.
You are more important then distributors, more important then board game reviewers, and more important then retail stores. When it comes to Kingdom Death: Monster, you backers are the most important. We made a commitment together and beyond my most eternal gratitude I promised the utmost peak, the pinnacle of what I could reach with my team.
And that polished gem is exactly what I will deliver. The best I can manage, nothing more and nothing less.
Thank you~
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