Final pieces!
about 7 years ago
– Tue, Feb 07, 2017 at 06:07:08 PM
Hey, everyone. Wow, do I ever have an exciting update for you this month.
First of all, check this out. These are the final pieces that are going to be in Spirit Island, and we could not be happier with how they turned out.
They feel sturdy in your hand, and they look really great. Even those dastardly Explorers hold up under a lot of torture.
Now, check this out. Cities have three hit points. What if there were an easy way to keep track of how many hit points Cities had left? There is! If you set it on its side, with the appropriate number of buildings up, it keeps track of that for you! How neat!
So here's what this means. The factory has sent us these for final approval. Once Chinese New Year ends and they power up the presses again, they'll get rolling on actually making Spirit Island a reality. They have everything they need to start churning out games for all of you. It's moving ever closer to completion!
Thanks, everyone! Enjoy your February!
Mini prototypes!
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Jan 03, 2017 at 07:10:12 PM
Hey, everyone!
Welcome to 2017! This is really going to be a huge year for you and Greater Than Games. There are so many exciting things happening!
Not the least of which is this! Check out these prototype minis the factory is working on.
From left to right, that's the Town, City, Explorer, and Blight. Now, that's not the color that the final version is going to be, but the sculpt is pretty much dead on.
We're really super excited about how these have come out, and we're certain they'll look great on your table.
Enjoy your new year, everyone!
Production samples are coming!
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Dec 06, 2016 at 08:17:54 PM
Hey, everyone!
It's the first Tuesday of the month, and you know what that means!
There's been a really huge development. The factory is getting us samples! Apparently we really shocked them with the scope of this project, and they've been scrambling to get something great put together.
So we should should be receiving those here in the office soon. As soon as we get them, I'll take so many pictures to show you that it'll require a "you might not want to do this on your cell phone data plan" warning.
Stay tuned!
Timelines
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Nov 01, 2016 at 10:00:44 PM
Hey, everyone.
Many of you have noticed that October has come and gone, and Spirit Island has yet to release. In the interest of transparency, I want to talk about the process behind Spirit Island and let you all know why this is.
First of all, when we started this game, we knew it was going to be the most complicated project we’d ever tackled. Art, design, and production were all way more than projects we’d previously done.
We’d finally gotten all of those things together, as mentioned in last month’s update, and sent them to the printer! Success, right? Well, it turns out Christopher noticed some really glaring inconsistencies that needed to be changed before anything could get a final quality approval. He spent time poring over every detail, checking and double-checking and fixing anything that needed it. These fixes, of course, needed playtesting, so he handed them off to Eric, the designer, and our playtesters for evaluation. That’s taken some back and forth, making sure that everything works as needed.
We’ve put together a timeline of past, present, and future for Spirit Island so that you can see how our time has been spent.
- October 2015
- KS Ends. Art 60% complete, 90% commissioned.
- Nov-Dec 2015
- Commission remaining 10% of the art.
- “Final Testing” version of game sent to playtesters
- January - February 2016
- Work through feedback on Final Testing version
- Start assembling print files
- March 2016
- Check in on overdue art. Receive some, discover delays with other pieces
- April - May 2016
- Re-commission a wide swath of art
- Start in on final adjustments to sculpts
- Begin assembling rule book
- June 2016
- Review the status of the project in depth.
- Realize that the art delays are holding up other down-stream aspects of the project (assembling final files for proofing, assembling rulebook with examples, etc)
- July 2016
- We announce the delay and confidently project an October delivery date
- Receive the remaining re-commissioned art
- Create the Gen Con demo from the final playtested rules
- August 2016
- Gen Con. Final print file assembly
- Begin sending files to the printer for digital proof assembly
- September 2016
- Send “final” files to the printer
- Printer begins laying out files for digital proofing
- October 2016
- We receive digital proofs and look them over
- Christopher sees detailed card layout and rule book examples for the first time since April
- Christopher decides that much of the wording and layout on the final cards is not clear
- Christopher stops working on OblivAeon, prints out the Spirit Island proofs, and returns them with lots of red pen marks
- Jenn and Rae rebuild every card in the game, and all of the rulebooks
- Actual, final card proofs are sent to the printer
- 1st through 4th editing pass on both rule books (The core game plus Branch & Claw) completed
- November 2016
- In the next week we plan to approve the final versions of the remaining files (the rulebooks).
However, since this is Spirit Island, our realistic projections are probably wrong. To be safe, we should assume that this will take all month.
- December 2016 - January 2017
- Production. This should only take 4-6 weeks. However, since this is Spirit Island, we need to add in another 2-4 weeks for weird, unforeseen delays.
- February 2017
- Shipping from China. This has never taken more than 6 weeks, and usually takes more like 4. Let's say 6 weeks here.
- March 2017
- Games start shipping to backers after PAX East. We should have a preview copy at PAX East for you to look at, but we won’t sell the game to customers until we’ve shipped rewards to all backers.
Spirit Island is coming, and we’re making it the best possible product it can be. It slipped past our projections in this regard, but you won’t be disappointed. We’ll keep you up to date on the progress as we have been doing. Thank you all so much for your continued support and excitement; we greatly appreciate it.
Misty forms begin to coalesce
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 11:27:10 PM
Hey, everyone!
It's status update time! Where are things?
Well, there are literally two things left. First, we have a couple small tweaks to be made to the rulebook, just to make sure everything is as perfect as it can be. Secondly, the final layout of the cover art needs to be sent to the factory. Apart from that, the rest of the components are with the factory and undergoing preparation for mass production! It's all very exciting!
Here's something you've not seen before, as well. This is the cover art for Branch and Claw, the expansion that you all made happen and are getting with your pledge! Enjoy!
