LMD Pre-Freight Update + Final Form Livestream
17 days ago
– Wed, Aug 21, 2024 at 09:59:05 AM
Hello backers!
We wanted to pop in to share some production updates and invite you to join our
"We've Reached Our FINAL Form" Unboxing Livestream, where we'll be showcasing the deck in its FINAL FORM - the one you'll all be receiving in a few months when fulfilment begins!
We couldn’t be more excited to be sharing the finished deck with all of you. We hope you'll join us at
3pm ET on Friday, August 23 to get your first look at the true
Lore Master’s Deck, followed by some improvised lore-weaving guided by the chat!
At the end of this update, we'll share a few teaser photos from a shoot we just did with the deck and accessories. But first, a quick progress update!
Progress Update
We're pleased to report that all freight has been sorted into pallets according to the four fulfilment hubs we'll be using: US, UK/EU, Australia, and Canada. We're just securing freight quotes and preparing to book our freight for transport to the hubs.
Things continue to move along and we remain on track for our fulfilment goals! We'll be able to offer a more specific timeline once our freight dates are booked and we can confirm preparations with our fulfilment partners.
Deck Photos
We did a 4-hour photo session yesterday capturing the new deck, expansions, and accessories. We'll share our favourite photos during the livestream, but for now, here are a few pics as a teaser.
Production complete + next steps + win a signed alpha deck + Gen Con
about 2 months ago
– Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 01:41:43 PM
Hello backers!
We're excited to share that we've passed another major milestone and we have a few big updates to share!
Here are the headlines, which we'll get into in more detail below:
- All production on Lore Master's Deck, expansions, and accessories is complete!
- Next our printer is packing everything for ocean freight.
- We're giving away a free signed alpha deck if you fill out our customer survey.
- We'll be at Gen Con and we hope you'll come visit our booth!
Also, in case you missed it, you can
catch the replay of our 100%-from-scratch improvised TTRPG session created live using only card prompts.
Let's get into the details!
All production is complete
That's right! We'll share the final production samples with you have a chance, but for now we're thrilled to announce that production is finally complete on everything: the deck, the expansions, the journal, the storage boxes, the sleeves, the playmats, and the pins.
Which brings us to…
The next step: preparing freight
The next phase of fulfillment is preparing for ocean freight, which involves a few steps:
- Packing decks into labelled shipping cartons.
- Bundling expansion sets and sleeve multipacks. Plus a new tactic we're trying: pre-bundling common pledge tier combinations during production to streamline fulfillment once freight arrives at our local hubs.
- Preparing pallets for sea shipping, including dividing product allocations to each hub.
- Finalizing freight quotes and arrangements.
- Sending freight to port to await pickup.
A lot of spreadsheets are involved to ensure all the numbers are correct for bundling, splitting freight, and cost analysis. So. Many. Spreadsheets.
Depending on the state of global freight, this process can take 4-8 weeks. After that, the next steps are waiting for the freight itself to be loaded onto a ship, traverse waters, arrive in port, clear customs, be transported to our hub, received and inventoried, sample-packed for approval, and finally be greenlit for fulfilment!
We'll keep you in the loop as we continue to pass milestones. The good news is that we are still on schedule for our original timeline!
Win a free signed alpha deck
We released a customer survey this week to learn more about how people use our decks (or plan to use our decks), and what people would like to see us develop next.
Come see us at Gen Con Aug 1-4
We'll be at Gen Con again this year. If any of you are coming, we hope you'll swing by booth block 1237 to meet the team!
Bonus update
As always, feel free to send us a DM, leave us a comment, or reach out through the
contact form (including your details) if you have any questions!
Digital print sample unboxing sneak peek + full livestream tomorrow
3 months ago
– Mon, Jun 03, 2024 at 07:07:39 AM
Progress update: digital print sample approved + livestreams May 18 & June 4
4 months ago
– Fri, May 17, 2024 at 01:41:13 PM
Hello Lore Master's Deck backers!
We wanted to give you a quick update on our progress as we continue to complete project milestones.
Since our last update, we received, reviewed, and approved the digital print samples from our printer. Our notes from the review are summarized below, but in case you want to get a look at the samples yourselves (including extras like the journal and Leviathan Boxes),
we'll be hosting an unboxing livestream at 3pm ET on June 4. Subscribe and click the "Notify Me" button on YouTube to make sure you don't miss it!
Okay, let's get into the print sample details!
Print Sample Review
If you're not familiar with print production, the digital print sample is a close estimation of what the final product will look like, but hand-made as a one-off using print-on-demand quality methods before we commit to the full quality mass production.
The digital sample helps us and our printer get aligned on the fine details before we commit to mass production methods. Once mass production starts using full-quality offset printers, it gets expensive (if not impossible) to fix mistakes or make adjustments. We like to make sure everything is just so before we get started, and that we're all on the same page about every detail from box dimensions down to print finish and paper weight.
The good news is that the digital samples looked fantastic! We had some minor notes, most of which were due to imperfections caused by using digital print methods that won't be relevant to final production (e.g., imperfections from hand-gluing a single demo box, using a different paper stock due to limitations of the digital printer).
We did make some minor changes that the print sample helped us catch:
- Upscaling the resolution of the textures we apply to our images, logos, and box borders
- Organization of components inside the box
- Upgrading the vegan leather cover material of the Lore Master's Journal and switching to a brighter, more-like-real-polished-leather color and finish
- Fine-tuning the color matching on the bridge expansion cards
- Fine-tuning the standardization of the drop shadow effect on our box logos
Our notes were so minor because otherwise, everything looked fantastic!
Here are a few photos of details we were checking during our review to tide you over until the
June 4 livestream.
Thanks so much, and as always, let us know in the comments if you have any questions or concerns!
The Story Engine Team
🌳 Let's Write Dystopias Rather Than Make Dystopias + ⚙️ Progress Update (Who doesn't like colour swatches?)
5 months ago
– Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 08:22:43 AM
Happy Earth Day Backers!
Most of us are no strangers to fiction that speaks of a planet run dry, drained by the avarice of its inhabitants. The story either follows the survivors learning to respect and rehabilitate the land, or a journey to find a new home with the lesson to not repeat their mistakes.
I often think about these stories, and how they apply more than ever to our own world. But more than me being a self professed tree-hugger, reducing our environmental footprint is also a core value at The Story Engine. This is why as part of our campaign stretch goals, we vowed to plant 3,000 trees!
Planting the next 1,000 trees
Thanks to you, today we plant another 1,000 trees with Eden Reforestation as part of our stretch goals, bringing our total to 2,000 🌳 of the 3,000 we've committed to planting!
Eden Reforestation is our charity of choice because of the specificity of their work, clear and transparent objectives, dedication to damage prevention, scientific research and commitment to community.
Read more about why we picked Eden Reforestation
here.
Of course, we all can also do our part to reduce our footprint. For one, I keep all my scrap paper (like when I print my eco-friendly PDF decks incorrectly 😝) and use them for doodling notes and ideating.
Have cool ways of being more sustainable at your writing desk or tabletop gaming session? Drop them in the comments!
The perfect shade of purple
I am infamously known for being the kind of visual designer that will change a graphic by a micron of a shade, and screech "IT'S SO DIFFERENT" when asking for opinions.
Thankfully, our project manager on the production side shares the same eagle eyes to detail, helping us pick a higher quality, richer royal purple vegan leather for the
Lore Master's Journal after creating the first hard sample.
We also discovered that the magnet tab overlapped with the logo. Our PM came up with a solution by switching our closure to a snap, which does not require as much coverage while still keeping your pages nice and secure.
We're thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to holding the first samples in our hands! Once we have them, we will thoroughly review, send back notes, implement last changes and then it's off to the races!
As always, if there is something you'd like to us to cover in our updates, if you have a question, or if you just want to share your creations, you can leave a comment on our posts or shoot us an email at
[email protected]. We always look forward to hearing from you!
Til next time!
