Monsters, Kittencorns, and...dragons? (An update of many things)
almost 5 years ago
– Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 10:52:04 PM
Mood:
I thought I was ready for the intensity of the campaign, but with over 7,000 backers in 2 days, this is beyond what I could've imagined. I'm so thankful for all the support so far - it is an incredible feeling to see such an enthusiastic response to something we've been working on for so long. Our whole team is trying to juggle a thousand things at once to get everything in order and make sure we account for every detail of the project!
I mentioned in the last update that I'm doing my best to keep up, and I can definitively say that I'm behind at this point (but working as fast as possible to get everything up to date!)
Since yesterday's update, we already unlocked the Monsters Expansion AND an additional new Kickstarter Exclusive Party Leader, and I have some exciting stuff to show you for both! I also have info about new stretch goals as well as a note about upcoming tiers at the end of this update, so please feel free to jump ahead if you're waiting for that information specifically.
Monster Expansion
The fully Kickstarter Exclusive Monster expansion cards are underway, and here's a preview of 3 of the new Monster cards! The Monster expansion will be available as an add-on for $10 (but please see information below about upcoming new tiers!) - The Monster cards don't all have names yet, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them along to help influence the direction this expansion takes!
New KSE Party Leader
The second KSE Party Leader is officially here and will be automatically added to all pledges. The artwork is nearly completed- below, you can see the new character (The Shadow Defender) in addition to the first KSE Party Leader that was unlocked earlier (The Brutal Bow)!
In addition, we've also designed a KSE play mat and a KSE acrylic standee to accompany this new adorable (and extremely dangerous) kittencorn character that will be available for purchase as add-ons. (Once again, though, I'll have more info about upcoming tiers after the new stretch goals!)
Stretch Goals
Since we're out of stretch goals, it's time to unlock more, and here they are:
The Dragons Expansion, which will be available as an add-on, introduces a new sorcerer class to the game. The expansion will include 8 Dragon Sorcerer Hero cards, 1 Dragon Sorcerer Party Leader card, 1 new Monster card, 1 new Magic card, 1 new Item card, 2 new Modifier cards, and 1 new Challenge card. I'm super excited to get a chance to release this expansion as part of the project!
In addition to the Dragon Expansion, at $500k we will also upgrade the tray inside all of the exclusive boxes to be able to accommodate all base game, expansion, and KSE cards in sleeves so you don't have to worry about anything spilling out or not fitting :) I didn't think that made sense to include as its own separate stretch goal, but I wanted to make sure I announced it to avoid any confusion or frustration.
New Tiers
We've gotten a number of questions about the inclusion of expansions as well as the new exclusive play mats and acrylic standees in our tiers. None of the current tiers will include these items, but I will be releasing new tiers if we hit $500k and unlock the Dragon Expansion that will account for all of the new content. At the rate the project has been moving, it's possible I'll have a second update on the matter today or early tomorrow! I'm doing my best to accommodate requests and feedback while also keeping in mind what I know is feasible and sustainable for the project to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Either way, I'll keep you posted as soon as there's more information on the matter so you can make a decision about what's best for you :)
Thank you again
No matter how many times I say it, I never feel like it's enough. Thank you for being a part of this campaign, for taking a chance on us, for contributing your ideas...your support means the world to our entire team. Even though it gets a little overwhelming at times, it is so incredibly rewarding to get to share what we've created and see it received this way.
5 Stretch Goals unlocked already, and 2 more announced...(and thank you for your patience!!)
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 09:08:06 PM
Hello! :D
In the last few hours, we cleared the $300k mark on the project and I hadn't even announced a stretch goal there yet! I am working to keep up with everything while also coordinating everything required behind the scenes to make sure the project doesn't fall behind, so thank you for your patience!
I added a couple of additional stretch goals now and will keep them coming as we go :D
The Monster Expansion pack, which will be available as an add-on to the campaign, will introduce 13 brand new Monsters. We are developing the artwork for these characters now, and I'll show more in the next update!
There have been some questions about items that are add-ons vs. included in tiers after the last announcement, and I wanted to be fully transparent about the fact that this expansion pack will not be included in any of the current tiers. Similarly, the exclusive Party Leader play mat and acrylic standee will not be added automatically to tiers, but the Party Leader card will be automatically included in every pledge that includes the Kickstarter Exclusive Edition of the game.
I am carefully assessing all of the requests that have come in about including stuff in tiers, etc. so that I can make a call this weekend on how to proceed. It won't be possible to include everything in the existing tiers, but I am going to work on new tiers that make sense and include everything (including anything that gets added in the campaign) in a way that's sustainable to make sure that the project can proceed without any hiccups.
Managing the art, the graphics, the supply chain, and the campaign itself takes a lot of coordination, and sometimes it takes a few days for me to catch up to everything that's happening. I just want you to know that you aren't being ignored if you've brought up any of these concerns- I am working on the best solutions I can find as quickly as I can, and I'll have more on this in a future update (hopefully this coming weekend!)
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Another question that has come up is related to card sleeves- there was an error on the card sleeve text on the add-ons section of the page- each standard card sleeve pack will contain 50 sleeves, which is NOT enough to cover the entire game. That said, the card sleeves that are included in the tiers ARE enough to cover the whole game because the tiers will include 3 packs of standard-sized sleeves in addition to 1 pack of oversized sleeves. That is what is considered a complete "set" of sleeves, meant to cover every card in the game. I hope that clears up the confusion, and I've updated the reward tiers graphic to reflect this modification.
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If you haven't submitted your Party Leader character suggestion in the campaign comments, please do so now! We are going to start drawing characters to add to the online Party Leader customizer tool (which already has 200+ characters in it!!) - Simply leave a comment on the campaign saying "my Party Leader character would be..." with a description of the character, and we will draw as many of them as we can throughout the campaign.
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Finally, a number of former backers have asked if we will be adding anything to pledges for anyone who has backed a previous project. We're working on something now and will have an update on this soon... :D
That's all for now- thanks!!
What a wild start...and already new exclusives!
almost 5 years ago
– Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 11:04:51 PM
So this isn't our first Kickstarter project, but somehow I still manage to forget how crazy, chaotic, and amazing it can feel as soon as the project goes live -- and this project is absolutely no exception.
As a warning, this update has quite a bit of information because I'm doing my best to keep up with the pace of the campaign. So first and foremost...
What an incredible start. As of when I'm writing this update, we are at precisely 2,300 backers already in just a few hours.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. Every time we post a project after putting our all into it, there's the rising anxiety that inevitably creeps up. Thank you for taking a chance on us and for allowing us to make this game a reality. I guess we're Here to Slay!
And that means we are already behind on stretch goals. So...time to catch up!
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The first stretch goal (which we announced before launching the campaign) was the addition of 3 Kickstarter Exclusive Hero cards to every Here to Slay: KSE Edition automatically.
Here's a preview of those three new characters!
I also added a few new stretch goals (several of which are already unlocked!!)
All of the Kickstarter exclusive boxes will be automatically upgraded with a magnetic closure construction.
We also unlocked a new Kickstarter Exclusive Party Leader card that will be also automatically included to every Here to Slay: KSE Edition.
This new Party Leader is half Fighter, half Ranger (and all badass)- more details to come on this character (as well as the 3 new exclusive heroes shown above).
To accompany the new Kickstarter Exclusive Party Leader, we also designed a new play mat and a new acrylic standee that will both be available as add-ons in the campaign.
The play mat will be available for $8 and the standee for $5 in Backerkit (and I'll be posting more information about add-ons in general very soon on the campaign). I'm super excited to see our Kickstarter Exclusives section of the campaign is already getting massive!
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We've also gotten over 80 submissions on our Party Leader customizer tool- if you haven't checked it out yet, you can use this tool to create your own Party Leader character that's fully playable in the game. Just design your character and either print it out or take a screenshot on your phone, then bring it to your game of Here to Slay! I know it'll still be a little while before you have the game in person, but you can get a head start now coming up with your character and checking out what the rest of the community has submitted.
We've included a lot of artwork that you can choose from, or you can upload your own artwork or photos for your character. I think this is one of the most exciting parts of the game since it creates infinite character possibilities, and throughout the project, I'd love to keep updating the customizer with more artwork.
If you haven't already, create your own Party Leader or check out the community's creations and vote for your favorites!
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Finally, we haven't put together our social stretch goals yet, but if you want to get a head start, please take a minute to share the campaign with your friends :) The more backers we can reach with the project, the more exclusive content we can keep adding to the game for everyone.
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And one more time, thank you for your support on this campaign. It's been an incredibly rewarding game and project to create, and it's surreal to have it out in the world now.
...thank you.
