Manaforge - A Game of Crafting Magic Items

Post-Kickstarter Status #4: Manufacturing Update
almost 7 years ago – Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 10:27:37 PM

Hello everyone!

I haven't posted in a little while, mostly because there hasn't been much to report. I did recently get one piece of good news, tho: Production has started on Manaforge! I've been informed that the production should be wrapping up around the first week of August. Manaforge is one step closer to becoming a real game! Yay!

I am, however, a little unhappy that I haven't received a pre-production copy of the game yet. I've been told that I will get a look at everything before the final assembly is done, but it would really be nice to have some components in hand now, just in case there is a problem. I'm still talking to the manufacturer, tho, so we'll see.

With the manufacturing done in August, we're set for the next leg of the journey: getting the games shipped to the fulfillment center. Once we get closer to that point, I'm going to start finalizing the orders; locking down the surveys and charging cards for any add-on extras that were ordered after the end of the campaign. (If you haven't filled out your survey yet, please considering doing it soon. If you haven't received the survey email for whatever reason, notify me and I will have it re-sent and/or I will get you a manual link, as needed.) I will also be closing the pre-order store, so that will be the last chance to get Manaforge at the Kickstarter price. Look for all of this to occur sometime around the end of August.

In other news, Dice Tower Convention 2017 was a few weeks ago. While we didn't have a big presence this year (we mostly went just to have fun), I did get some interest in Manaforge and managed to host a couple of playthroughs. For this event, I was able to have a prototype deck printed that contained all of the final cards, including final artwork and rules tweaks. It seemed to be a hit; it's always a good sign when I get people actively trying to track me down so they can play a round of Manaforge. :)

That's all for now! I will post again when I get more info about the manufacturing.

Thanks!

Post-Kickstarter Status #3: Surveys & Wallpapers
almost 7 years ago – Sun, May 28, 2017 at 06:22:24 PM

Hello everyone!

Here's a look at what's been happening over the past week:

Backer Surveys

The campaign survey invitations were sent out on Monday, May 22nd. As of this update, approximately 85% of the surveys have been responded to.

If you have not received your survey email, please let me know. I've only received notification that a very small number of surveys did not go through due to email address problems; I have contacted all of those backers and discussed other arrangements. If you have not received your survey invitation and I have not contacted you, then please send me a message on here. We will work it out.

Digital Wallpapers

Since a good number of the surveys are in and the wallpaper images are ready, I'm going to start sending those out within the next day or two. The wallpaper files will be distributed through BackerKit, so I expect that you should see another email from BackerKit with a download link. Note that these are only getting sent to people who have completed their surveys; another incentive to get those done. :)  If you missed this pass, I will be sending them out again to people who filled out their surveys after this, but please don't wait too long.

Card Tweaks

I'm still double and triple-checking, but I believe all of the card tweaks are completed. Only two cards needed balance fixes, but some other cards have had minor wording and clarification changes along the way. If you're interested in what changed, I will be posting the new cards to Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator in the next few days.

Manufacturing

With the card content finished, I'm back up to speed on converting game assets to the manufacturer's format. The cards, gem/prism tokens, game board, and player mats should be completed. (Just needs double-checking.) That leaves some cleanup on the game box and the rulebook left to do. My goal is still to have the manufacturing process started by the end of the month; with the month almost over I don't know if I will make that exactly, but I should be very close either way.

Pre-Order Store

The pre-order store for Manaforge is now open! I have a BackerKit link that allows people that missed the Kickstarter entirely to still order a copy of the game. (Of course this won't help current backers, but if any of you know someone that wanted to pledge but couldn't, this is a second chance to get in on getting a copy of Manaforge before it goes to retail.) I expect that this store will remain open until I need to start locking pledge tiers down and charging cards, sometime around the beginning of September.

https://manaforge.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

And that's it for now! I will post more once the manufacturing is underway.

Thanks!

Post-Kickstarter Status #2: Surveys Soon
almost 7 years ago – Sun, May 21, 2017 at 10:48:49 PM

Hello everyone!

It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last update. Here's a glimpse into what's been going on:

BackerKit

I've almost finished setting up the campaign details in BackerKit. For those of you who aren't familiar with it (I wasn't before this), each person's pledge becomes a 'credit' that can be spent in what is essentially a store. If you pledged $40, and you're buying a $40 item, then there's no difference and you get what you pledged for. But Backer Kit gives you the option of switching up your pledge level or adding on extra items, so that your credit pays off some of the total and the system prompts you for payment info for the rest. (The only add-on item I have is extra copies of Manaforge at $5 off, but this does give me ideas for a future campaign. :)

I know this is may be old news to a lot of you, but it's interesting for me when I see how it works up close like this.

Also, for any of you who did the no-reward or $1 pledge levels, you have the option to switch your pledge level to something that gives you a reward. Especially if you've pledged more than just a dollar or two; might as well get something for your contribution, right? :)

Backer Surveys

With BackerKit almost locked down, I expect I will be able to send out the surveys very soon, most likely within the next couple of days. I request that everyone complete those as soon as possible. Note that your address information does not need to be final; if I understand it correctly, you can log back in and change your address right up until I start shipping. Especially helpful if you move before then.

Digital Wallpapers

I'm happy to announce that the desktop wallpaper pack is done! If I have it set up correctly, these will be distributed through BackerKit as well using their digital download service. I will start sending those out to people that have completed the survey, probably a few days after the survey goes out. (Yes, this is an incentive to get those surveys completed quickly!)

Manufacturing

Work is still progressing on getting Manaforge's asset files properly formatted as per the manufacturer's specs. At the moment, we're finalizing exactly what sorts of markings and verbiage needs to go on the outside of the box. It wouldn't do to miss something that's important to having the game imported to various countries.

I'm also working on setting up the manufacturing payment details. I've successfully received the Kickstarter funds and we're just working out the final costs for everything.

The goal was to have the manufacturing started during the month of May, and I think we're still on target to have everything ready by the end of the month.

Timeline

I've gotten a couple of queries as to how long I expect before copies of Manaforge start showing up on people's doorsteps. While I don't have exact numbers, here are the estimates I'm working with:

Manufacturing is expected to take up to two months. Freight shipping (China to U.K.) is also expected to take up to two months. If I can get the manufacturing started by, let's say, June 1st, that means manufacturing should be completed by August 1st, and the games should arrive at the fulfillment center around October 1st. From there, I can start shipping out to backers, which should take about a week.

Now, I don't expect that everything will go perfectly smoothly. I've been told to always expect there to be a delay of some sort. Still, I will be happy if people start receiving their games around Halloween. I put November 2017 as the target delivery date because I think that Halloween to Thanksgiving is a reasonable delivery window.

And, of course, I will keep everyone updated if there are any changes to these dates.

Balance Tweaks

I'm still working on getting the changes to two of the Talent cards ironed out. One of them I'm happy with and am ready to lock down. The other, I'm still trying to figure out. I like the ability as it is, but I'm questioning the wording; it seems like there should be a way to make what the card does easier to understand. Still working out the kinks.

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That's all I have for now. Keep an eye out for the backer surveys; they should be going out soon.

Thanks!

Post-Kickstarter Status #1
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 04, 2017 at 09:46:53 PM

Hello everyone!

Since the end of the campaign, we've been working non-stop to get everything organized for production. I wanted to post an update letting everyone know what's happening.

BackerKit

When we first set up the Kickstarter, I was determined to not use a pledge manager. I figured I didn't need the extra expense, and there shouldn't be much demand for tacking on add-ons since I didn't have any. Everyone would just pledge for a game, and that's it, right?

Apparently, I was wrong.

I've had a lot of people contact me after the end of campaign, asking if they can increase their pledge or pre-order if they weren't part of the KS. Well, you'll be happy to know that I'm working on it.

I've been chatting with the people at BackerKit, working on getting their system attached to my campaign and able to accept funds. I will be posting another update once all that is set up, but I expect it will take at least a week to get it all straight.

Backer Surveys

Tying into that, I'm hoping to have the surveys start going out in about a week and a half. Since I'm going with a pledge manager now, the surveys should include the ability to make additions to your pledge, and that is a lot easier to deal with if Kickstarter has finished gathering and digesting the pledged funds.

Manufacturing

We've started getting file templates and specifications from the manufacturer. The work begins on making sure that we give them what they're looking for. My goal is still to have the manufacturing started during the month of May.

And for those of you wondering, we chose to not go with the linen finish option on the cards. Even though we didn't make the stretch goal, doing a linen finish on the cards anyway was a possibility, since it was inexpensive. However, we also determined that the cards wouldn't have looked as good; textured cards may feel better, but gloss finish makes the art brighter, and isn't the art quality some of Manaforge's appeal? :)

Balance Tweaks

In case you didn't notice, there's been a little bit of discussion in the comments and on Manaforge's BGG forums about fixing a couple of the cards. Nothing major, but it's been pointed out to me that two of the Talent cards in particular are rather lackluster and could use some attention. So I'm currently working to rebalance those cards, make them into something that someone would use.

As a side note, I will be needing some playtesting done on the changes before I send them to production. Depending on scheduling, I might be able to set something up online. Any takers?

And that's it for now. I will definitely have another update in a week or so once the surveys are close to going out.

Thanks!

FUNDED!
almost 7 years ago – Wed, May 03, 2017 at 01:13:32 PM

Hello everyone!

We did it! Just a scant $500 over the amount we needed, but it's enough. Manaforge is going to become a thing! Yay!

I'd like to say thank you to all of Manaforge's backers, and especially to those of you who went the extra mile, telling others about the campaign, posting and reposting constantly when I wasn't able to. It took a community to get this far, and I intend to prove that it was worth it.

The next step in the chain is to get the manufacturing started on Manaforge. I've been working closely with the manufacturing company, ironing out the product specs and other assorted bits. Now that we're across the finish line, I can start talking with them about getting my files converted to whatever format they need.

There is also a bit of last minute of tidying up that needs to be done to the game; minor color changes, updating the rulebook to the production version, and making one last sweep through the appearance and iconography to make sure there are no needed changes.

All things considered, I expect that the production run should start sometime during May. I plan on keeping everyone posted if there are any changes.

Time to go forge a board game. I wonder what the mana cost on that is? :)

Thanks again!