Premortem and Experimentation
over 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 12, 2018 at 01:08:30 AM

Today, the team sits down for a final review of the Legacy Edition box. We will examine every component, making the last corrections and preparing the game to go to the factory on Monday. By this time next week, all but the Companion will be officially at print. Since the Companion is being printed in the U.S., we've not stressed over it; work on that book will start in a week or two.

Experiments

One of the requests we've seen a few times has been for option cards. In the interest of "let's explore the things that players would like to use," we've assembled a set of option cards for internal testing. We may print a handful of decks to take to Gamehole Con next month and get some real-world testing. None of this is final or even decided, but for now, we have a question for all of you:

Would you be interested in seeing option decks for The Fantasy Trip in the future?

Illuminati Coins Update

In other news, the coins project continues to build steam and, at the moment, a single set is 15 coins for only $15 +shipping. We're close to unlocking another stretch goal and want to be sure that all of you get a chance to check the project before it closes; we can guarantee that the coins will be pricier once we post them for sale at Warehouse 23 next year.

- Phil Reed

Status Report and Illuminati Coins
over 5 years ago – Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 01:35:18 AM

We're zeroing in on the final stages and preparing the files for the factory, with several members of the team hard at work on the last pieces of the Legacy Edition box. Yesterday, Steve and Ben reviewed the box, the character and reference booklet, the pre-generated character cards, and several other components (including the pocket folders, which are looking incredible).

We have a pre-mortem for the Legacy Edition (including In the Labyrinth) scheduled for tomorrow and, if all goes well, we'll upload the last files to the factory on Monday and officially move the project to the "at print" stage of the process. And after all of your assistance with proofreading the various bits of the game, we can honestly say that the finished game is better than it would have been without your help. Thank you.

PDFs?

Once we've submitted the files to the factory, then we'll proceed through the jpeg proofing stage and, once that is complete, we'll update all of the PDFs that are included in the zip collection on Warehouse 23. That should happen before the end of the month.

Illuminati Coins

In other news, you'll want to check out our ongoing Illuminati Coins Kickstarter campaign if you're a fan of metal gaming coins. This set of 12 coins (Now 13! Stretch goal unlocked!) can be used with almost any game that uses money, tokens, or props, including in The Fantasy Trip if you'd like to track your character's coins using real objects.

If you've never used them before, it's important to note that metal coins can be useful for all sorts of things in a game. Last weekend, while running TFT demos at TsunamiCon, I used metal coins as triggers (whenever a figure ran over a hex with a coin, a door in the dungeon opened) as well as objectives; in one session, the character exiting the dungeon with the most coins won the game. 

Check them out today! The project runs for only one week.

- Phil Reed

BackerKit Goals Closed
over 5 years ago – Wed, Oct 03, 2018 at 01:39:51 AM

It's October 2, and we must now officially close the BackerKit goals stage of the project. In the end, thanks to your continued support of the project, you have added to the Legacy Edition box:

• One 9" x 12" player folio.
• 16 pre-generated, dry-erase character cards.
• 8 dry-erase blank character cards.

Thank you for completing your survey and making it easier for us to finish the project and finalize our print quantities. If you have not yet completed your survey, please take care of that in the next few weeks. All surveys will lock on November 1, and we will charge credit cards at that time.

The Fantasy Trip PDF Adventures

As the team at the office works to finish the game and send the last bits to print, Guy has been hard at work with a group of authors and preparing the first five new adventures for The Fantasy Trip. At the moment, each adventure is planned as a 12-page PDF, and the first is about to enter the art and production process.

Our current plan is to release one of the five adventures each month, starting in November, through Warehouse 23. At one PDF a month, this first wave of five adventures will see us through to March, which is when we expect to deliver the printed games and, more importantly, when we hope to be ready with a much larger surprise for The Fantasy Trip.

We'll be back with more news as we finalize the files and send the game to the factory. And, of course, we'll be sure to announce here when the first PDF adventure is available for sale at Warehouse 23.

Thanks!

- Phil Reed

One Last Facebook Goal!
over 5 years ago – Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 10:38:53 PM

Tomorrow, we close down the BackerKit goals and lock the project's components. At the moment, we're roughly 50 surveys away from the 95% of surveys complete by October 1 goal. We've messaged the missing project supporters and asked that they complete their surveys ASAP, but to increase the odds of adding more cards to the game, we have decided to give all of you a second way to unlock those last four pre-generated character cards.

• If this Facebook post reaches 500 shares before October 1, we will unlock the 95% of surveys complete BackerKit goal and add four more pre-generated character cards to the Legacy Edition box.

To help us unlock this final Facebook goal, all you have to do is share this post and encourage your friends to also share the post. We will review the status of this and the BackerKit goals tomorrow, and post an update to let everyone know the final results of our BackerKit stage goals. Let's make this happen, gang!

- Phil Reed

First Printing Exclusive Components and I Want It All Packaging Update
over 5 years ago – Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 12:08:35 AM

With every day, we grow closer to completing the game and sending the last bits of the project to print. Already, we can report that we have officially submitted the Melee, Wizard, Death Test, and playmats to the factory and each are now moving forward. The first step, jpeg proofs of each component of each product, is in the works. What's that step for? This is where the factory converts our submitted PDFs to images -- one page/piece at a time --, and we get another chance to proof everything to make sure that the files translated correctly.

As the team works away at finishing the game, Darryll and I are in close contact with David, our rep at GPI, as we continue to nail down the project specs. It's that stage of the project that we'd like to share with you today.

First Printing Exclusive?

First up, as we work on the Legacy Edition box, we can safely state: You did a lot to pack this game with goodies. Thanks to your support of the project we were able to jam a bunch of accessories into the box, and we're now at the point that we're about to identify some components as exclusive to the first printing. While the list is certainly not final, we can say that the following are all in the running as "first printing exclusive" components.

• treasure generation card
• dry erase pre-generated character cards
• dry erase blank character cards
• 14-hex dragon counter
• custom player folio
• custom megahex storage box
• double-sided, four-color 11" x 17" lair map
• 2.5" x 3.5" Melee 50-sheet character pad
• 3 5" x 3.5" Wizard 50-sheet character pad
• two extra acrylic six-sided dice
  

We'll finalize our decision in a few weeks. For now, the above looks like the components that will not be included in later printings of the Legacy Edition box.

I Want It All Packaging

For about an hour last week, David and I worked at Tetris-packing the I Want It All carton. We tried several different ways of stacking, arranging, and twisting the I Want It All bits to fit safely inside a shipping carton, but the unusual mix of shapes and sizes had us stumped . . . until we located an idea that both solves our problem and gives you some added functionality.

First, though, let's talk about the way that the I Want It All rewards will be packed. At the factory in China, all but the Companion book will be packed into a shipping carton that measures 24.75" x 14" x 5.75". 

The carton will be sealed at the factory with some packing material that approximates the space necessary for the Companion. Once the games reach our U.S. fulfillment center, the boxes will be opened so that the packing material can be removed and the Companion dropped into place. The box will then be retaped, and a custom sticker placed over the tape to show that the game is unopened and fresh.

Now, how did David and I solve our space issue in a way that adds functionality? By adding an 11" x 11" x 3.5" B&W storage box into the I Want It All carton. This new storage box will be printed with the TFT logo and will be of the "pizza box" variety; that is, the box is hinged and tabs slide into slots to close the box. 

This new box both fills the troublesome void so that items do not shift/get damaged in shipping and gives you bonus storage for your game accessories.

BackerKit Goals

We're down to the last few days to unlock those last BackerKit goals. If you've not yet completed your survey, or know of someone who hasn't completed their survey, now's the time to make that happen! And if you have any friends who did not already join in the project or preorder the game, this weekend is the perfect time for them to place that preorder and help push us closer to that last financial goal.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience and understanding as we continue to push the last parts of the game to print!

- Phil Reed

NOTE: All measurements are subject to change as we continue to work at the project. So far, we're still in the "we think this works" stage; the factory tooling samples and test pieces will help us to solidify our measurements.