Progress Update and Pre-Production Copy!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 04:59:02 PM

Hi Backers and Followers!

If you're a backer and haven't read the previous Kickstarter updates - the most important thing you need to have done at this point is complete your BackerKit survey. If you've already done that, you're all good for now! In the future, I'll be updating the shipping costs and processing remaining balances (more details on that toward the end of this update).

And if you've been following our project but missed the campaign, it's not too late to pledge for Necromolds on our BackerKit page! As a tiny indie developer, we appreciate the support!

Alright... now let's get to the good stuff!

Pre-Production Copy

A little over a week ago, I received what is known as the Pre-Production Copy (PPC) from our manufacturing partner Panda Game Manufacturing. Reviewing and approving the PPC is typically the final step before mass manufacturing!

For those on Facebook, click here to watch a video of me live unboxing and commenting on the PPC.

As you may have read in past Kickstarter updates, I've been receiving and approving various game elements like the command dice, combat dice, terrain stands, and more.  This PPC was focused on the print materials for Necromolds - something I've never seen before!

Included in the Necromolds PPC:

• Necromolds Battle Box Packaging
• Collector's Edition Sleeve Packaging
• Necromolds Monster Packs Packaging
• Mystery Caster Ring Pack Packaging
• Clay Container
• Punchboard Terrain and Distance Tools
• Punchboard Shared-Play Cards
• Battle Map
• Rule Book
• Spellbooks Stickers

Since the PPC represents what the final game elements will look like, I needed to review them for color accuracy, file versions, finishes, materials, sizing, spacing, alignment, and layout.

Necromolds Series 1 Battle Box

The Battle Box looks and feels wonderful. The size is perfect and the final version is going to feature a black tray inside to hold all components.  See the window on the front of the box?  In the final retail version, a caster ring and the Mud Mumps spellbook will be displayed in the window!

The Collector's Edition Sleeve

The collector's edition sleeve is freaking fantastic! For the collector's sleeve, I wanted it to feel different from the rest of the Necromold's artwork while still following the Necromolds' aesthetic. I wanted something more minimalist, abstract, and premium. To achieve this, I hired artist Nathan Motzko and worked closely with him as he illustrated and designed this sleeve. Oh, and did I mention this thing is bedazzled in green foil!

I love how Nathan uses composition and shape within his illustrated work - and he brought all that skill into the final design. Check out Nathan's Instagram here.

Spell Clay

Our final spell clay container is transparent, compact, and features a twist top for an air-tight seal. The entire container is wrapped with Necromolds illustrations. The Panda team took a lot of time searching for the perfect container that fit our specs and budget - and I couldn't be happier with the final!

Monster Packs

The monster packs turned out great and look even better when displayed with the Battle Box. Seeing all the products together shows how much Necromolds' "look" has grown from its 80s and 90s inspirations. Hopefully, you'll see a Necromolds section at your FLGS later this year!

Like the Battle Box, the monster pack will have a black tray insert that helps display the spellbooks inside!

Terrain Pieces

Punching out the terrain pieces was almost as fun as playing a battle with them!  Although simple, the fully illustrated terrain offers a lot of battle diversity on the map. The fortress entryway and short walls can be used to make funnels or other challenging scenarios!

So how did the PPC approval process go?

Fantastic! With so many individual elements to review, it took a bit of time.  Overall, the PPC is excellent. If you watch the unboxing video, you can hopefully see the excitement on my face as I open the battle box for the first time!  There were, however, a few changes I wanted to make for the mass-manufactured version.  Those changes are what I've spent the last week working on.

Key feedback/changes to the PPC included:

• Increased saturation on the spellbook stickers
• Slight color adjustment to the collector's edition sleeve foil
• Revised the clay container renders featured on the packaging to match the final clay container.
• Revised the rule book for easier reading*

*This was a pretty big change and took up most of my time over the last week. Seeing the rule book in person, I realized that some of the pages were more difficult to read due to the page width (the rulebook is 11"x11"). By reformatting those pages to a two-column layout, they are easier to read and use the space more efficiently.  This change reduced the final rule book page count from 40 pages to 32 pages!

All of the changes listed above have been completed, submitted, and approved by the manufacturing team!

What's next?

With the print materials reviewed, revised, and approved, there isn't a whole lot between Necromolds and mass manufacturing! And in some ways, we've already started the process. Right now, the final steel spellbook and caster ring injection molds are being machined out. This machining and tuning process is one of the most time-consuming aspects of manufacturing.

In the near future, I'll be receiving:

• The final command dice and combat dice
• The revised collector's edition sleeve
• The final spell clay
• The battle box and monster pack tray inserts
• The final injection molded samples of the Necromolds spellbooks and caster rings!**

**Back in June, I received final prototypes of all the plastics.  This time, I'll be receiving the actual plastics from the injection molds!

Timeline/Delivery Update?

I haven't received any timeline updates for manufacturing yet.  I'm hoping to receive the components listed above as soon as possible so we can keep the project moving. As we finish the approval process, there are fewer "unknowns" that could delay our timeline. Once I get a clear update on that timeline, I'll be sure to share it here on Kickstarter.

BackerKit Shipping Update

Within the week, I'm planning to update the Necromolds BackerKit with the final shipping costs. As you may recall, right now there is a placeholder cost entered into BackerKit. Underestimated shipping costs are one of the main pitfalls that can sink a Kickstarter financially. I've been working with some of the top fulfillment companies to get full estimates on freight and fulfillment. 

This process has been time-consuming, but I want to make sure both domestic and international backers are getting the best price they can for shipping. I'm close to a final fulfillment partner decision, but am waiting on one final estimate before committing.

That's all for now!

Thank you all again for helping make Necromolds a real game and for following along during this first-time manufacturing journey.  As always, if you have any questions (or want to express your excitement!) just leave a comment below!

Clint

DEADLINE: July 29th to complete BackerKit survey! Also P.O. BOX warning!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 12:05:38 AM

On July 29th, I'll be locking orders and addresses in BackerKit. This means you MUST complete your survey before July 29th. Not doing so could create a delay in your order fulfillment and/or extra costs.

Link to BackerKit survey: https://necromolds.backerkit.com/

If you are having trouble accessing or completing the survey, comment on this post or message me.

Quick Stats

• 155 out of 1158 backers still need to complete their survey.
• 65 $1 No Reward pledges have until July 29th to upgrade and complete their survey.

PLEASE NOTE: Although the orders and addresses will be locked, credit cards will not be charged at this time. I will not be charging cards until I've locked-in and shared final shipping costs with you.

P.O. Boxes

I have been warned by some of my fulfillment partners that P.O. Boxes can cause problems with fulfillment for backers.  This is because the package is sent back after being rejected or sitting too long at a P.O. Box location. If this happens to your package, you may be required to have it re-shipped.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to use a non-P.O. Box address for fulfillment. 21 Backers currently have a P.O. Box listed as their delivery address. You can change your address anytime before July 29th by updating your BackerKit survey. Send me a message if you have any questions or concerns.

Shipping and VAT

As we are getting closer to fulfillment, I've been working on finalizing shipping costs with our potential fulfillment partners.  It has taken a ton of time and research, but it is very important that I calculate the costs correctly. I want to give backers the best price on fulfillment possible while making sure an accidental oversight doesn't cause financial issues for the entire project (I've seen this happen to too many Kickstarters!).

Because I'm located in the US, fulfillment within the US is pretty straightforward - while international fulfillment has more pitfalls to learn and avoid. The bulk of my time now is spent finalizing the logistics for international backers to get them the best shipping and VAT tax rate possible.

Shipping and VAT will be handled within BackerKit before we charge cards.  As mentioned above, on July 29th I'll be locking orders and addresses.  That will allow me to share our order information with our fulfillment partners and lock in the logistics.  At that point, I'll be able to update BackerKit with the correct shipping and fulfillment costs for each backer based on their order weight and country.

So what's new?

Since the last update, I've continued to work with Panda GM on the final stages of Necromolds manufacturing. From my current understanding, we're only 1 final review away from beginning the mass manufacturing process! I'm eagerly awaiting our printed material to review. I'm constantly pushing and working to keep things moving as efficiently as possible.

One part of Panda's process that I've been really happy with is their thorough review procedures. For example, our print materials go through two different levels of review and analysis. The first is by Panda's design team and the second is by Panda's overseas manufacturing team. Between each of those reviews, I review the files to make sure no errors have occurred. Although these checks add turnaround time, it shows a commitment by the entire team to bring you the best version of Necromolds!

SPELL CLAY

Last week I received a sample of our spell clay container. Sourcing an awesome and affordable container has been a process and at times I've felt like I'm in Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

"This container is too flimsy. This container is too bulky. This container is just right!"

Our final container is shown on the right in the image above.  An older sample is on the left.  Please note that the label on our final container needs some sizing adjustments, as it was accidentally resided in the print process.

The spell clay container sits 2.5" tall, is airtight, and features a screw-top lid! It took a lot of searching and sampling, but I'm really happy with our final spell clay container.

DRYING OUT MINIATURES

Above is an image of two dried out Graveghouls.  The one on the left was created with Necromold's Spell Clay.  The one on the right was created using a 3rd party art dough.

I wanted to learn how Spell Clay dried compared to other soft clays. So far I'm really happy with the results. The art dough, along with the other soft clays I've tested, tends to shrink and sometimes crack when drying. The image above shows both models side by side. The Spell Clay on the other hand doesn't seem to shrink or crack - preserving the model's details.

Whether you use Necromold's Spell Clay or another brand, I'm sure you'll have a blast drying and painting your minis.  I have a full collection of monsters to paint over the next few weeks.

That's all for now!

Thank you for your support and patience as Necromolds becomes a real-life product! If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.

Most importantly... complete your survey!

Clint

A Lethydra Triple Attack! Plastics Samples, Spell Clay, and a Timeline!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 10:36:50 AM

Today's update is a big one that I've been excited to share.  Below you'll see our amazing plastics samples, the monsters they mold, and our most anticipated announcement... an updated timeline!

Plastics Samples

The most complex development process for Necromolds has been our custom plastics.  A game and collectible like Necromolds is a pretty big investment, so our manufacturing partner Panda has been dedicated to helping make everything look fantastic.  After spending a week with the new samples, I can honestly say that the Necromolds have never looked better (or more monstrous!)

Thomas Grave, Necromolds' 3D monster modeler, did awesome work turning Thad's illustrations into something you can play with.  And with the help of Panda's production team, we've been able to make sure all the details that Thomas designed come through clearly in the molds.

You can find Thomas's personal work on Instagram @thomas.grave.

The image above shows the rest of the series 1 monsters in their full detail. They are paired together based on their monster pack and included spell clay!  It's tough to capture all the details in the vibrant clay, so I cannot wait for you to see them first hand.

The above image is what the plastics samples look like. Opening a big box of Necromolds Spellbooks and Caster Rings was like opening a much-anticipated birthday present! The samples included swatches of the actual plastics that will be used when injection molding.

Starting at the front left you can see the black spellbook plastic, the dark grey caster ring plastic, the green spellbook and caster ring plastic, and the glitter purple deluxe distance tool plastic.

In the back, you can see the transparent glow-in-the-dark plastic used for caster rings found in the mystery ring packs and the Kickstarter exclusive toxic glitter plastic.

The toxic glitter ring sets are going to look wicked!  Just close your eyes and picture watching your enemies monster be crushed and molded within the transparent plastic of your favorite caster ring!

Spell Clay

One pre-production battle we've been fighting is finding a Necromolds Spell Clay container that meets our cost and needs. After reviewing options and samples that missed the mark for various reasons (too large, too weak, etc) we've finally found a container that looks great and will keep your spell clay fresh. I'll be receiving a sample of the labeled container soon and will share photos once I do.

There are a lot of soft clay/dough brands out there and they all work great with Necromolds. Each brand has different properties - some are easier to mold and remove, some dry better - but I've found Necromold's Spell Clay to be a great mix of mold-ability and dry-ability.

The image above shows a Sigurath and Batadactyl that have been molded out of spell clay and air-dried. Unlike every other brand I've tried, Necromolds' Spell Clay doesn't really crack and has minimal shrinkage.  This means that the dried models are more solid with finer details.

Some may find that they prefer to mold and play using other brands of clay and that's completely fine! I designed Necromolds to be compatible with most soft clay but wanted to include spell clay in each box to allow for instant play.

Small Product Change (UV Spot Removed)

If you've followed along with Necromolds production, you know that the game has improved in a ton of ways.  Our terrain pieces were overhauled, our combat dice system has been streamlined with custom dice, and our spellbook model details have improved. We've also slightly increased the amount of spell clay included and packaged it in a quality container. Some of these critical changes have raised our per-unit manufacturing cost.  To stay on target, we've removed the UV spot from the battle box package and map for this first print run.  If we can run larger quantities in the future, we'll for sure bring it back!

Next Steps

Today, Thad and I are wrapping up work on the packaging for all four Monster Packs. Although the boxes are meant to be tossed and recycled, I think the packaging is looking cool enough to collect!

Once we deliver the final packaging files (again, hopefully by EOD Thursday), Panda will have everything they need to print and build a final sample of the entire product line.  This includes all boxes, packages, punch boards - everything!  They will send it to me for approval, and once I do, we move into mass manufacturing!!!

With the final samples in hand, I'll be able to get an accurate product size and weight to calculate final shipping costs.

Timeline

Here it is - the much-anticipated timeline update.

There are a lot of complex steps that happen during mass manufacturing.  The plastic molds will be tooled.  Everything will be assembled.  The products will go through safety testing for US and EU standards.  With all of those steps in mind, our best estimate is...

Shipping to begin in mid-September!  That means the final products will leave the manufacturing warehouse destined for the world-wide warehouses of our fulfillment partner - and from there will be packaged and shipped to you!

As we get further in the mass-manufacturing process, I'll keep you updated on any timeline changes.

A Note For Our Retailers

If your one of our awesome retail backers, or have connections in the board game retail space, I'd love to hear from you!  I'm currently working through our distribution and marketing strategy for post-fulfillment. Necromolds is a mass-market product line intended to make the miniature gaming hobby more accessible to kids and adults. To grow the line, I know I'll need strong relationships with retailers.

I've been doing a lot of research on consolidators and distributors - trying to find a retail distribution solution that will work within the margins of our first print run. The more retailers and fans Necromolds can reach, the more monsters, terrain sets, and expansions we can create! I want you to know that I'll be putting a ton of energy into generating marketing content for Necromolds - and doing my best to support our retail supporters.

With all that said...

Thank you all again for reading and following along on our manufacturing journey. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below!

Clint

All Playtesters - Please Read!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Jun 06, 2020 at 06:49:18 PM

Thank you all for playtesting the Necromolds rules back in January and providing me your feedback!  We're getting ready the print the final rulebook.  Before we do, I have a favor to ask:

Please review this list of playtesters' names on Google Drive and confirm your name is there! If it is spelled incorrectly or is missing, please message me asap.  I'd hate to have a playtester get their copy and learn that they're name was accidentally left out of the credits.

 Playtester List on Google Drive 

Thank you!

Clint

Tabletop Simulator and New Combat Dice Update
over 4 years ago – Tue, Jun 02, 2020 at 03:48:03 PM

I hope you're all doing well and staying safe!

It has been almost a month since the last Kickstarter update, so I wanted to briefly keep you in-the-loop on where things are at.

Manufacturing

Every week over the last month, we've been making progress on Necromolds' manufacturing.  A week ago, I jumped onto Tabletop Simulator with our production partners to play Necromolds while discussing the manufacturing timeline and next steps.

Although we recognized that it has taken us longer than originally estimated to get there, everyone is excited about the next stage of manufacturing we are entering.  That stage involves building a final and complete manufacturing prototype to approve so we can go into mass production.

A little over a week ago, I received and approved the digital plastic proofs for the creation of the spellbooks and rings.  The plastics team made some small but important modifications to the files to make certain the miniature's details look great post-injection molding.

I'm still awaiting the physical plastics prototypes I mentioned in the last update.  Once I receive them, I'll create an update showing them off as I'm excited to check them out myself!

I'm still pushing to get an accurate revised delivery timeline and will be sure to share that as soon as I do. Getting through this final stage of plastics approval will allow the manufacturing team to provide that estimate to me.  Keeping in mind the time it takes to mass manufacture and ship to our fulfillment partner, I'm feeling like delivery will happen end of summer or early fall - but again I'm working to get more information and put together a comprehensive timeline update.

Necromolds on Tabletop Simulator

In early May I built Necromolds in Tabletop Simulator - which is a digital boardgame platform available for PC on Steam.  The build is currently private - but you can watch some gameplay on our Facebook page to check out the new combat dice I'm about to mention!

New Combat Dice

One update some of you may have seen on our Facebook page over the last few weeks is Necromold's new combat dice!

I wanted to turn Spring's unforeseen production delays into sometime positive for Necromolds and all its backers. So three months ago I began development on future Necromolds monsters, scenarios, and more.

During that development process, I realized our previous combat dice created some unintended limits.  With that realization, I put our combat dice under a microscope. A dice combat calculator was created (with the help of a math-wiz friend) that mathematically linked clay volume, number of units, and dice odds to figure out the balance of our combat dice and monsters.  These new combat dice are the result of much analysis, revisions, and playtesting.

The goal of these new dice was to preserve the character balance, the decisiveness of contested rolls, and the dice simplicity while allowing for deeper strategies and monster designs in the future.  I'm excited to say that these new dice accomplished those goals and more!

The new custom dice have less swing so there is slightly more emphasis in team-build and strategy for advanced play.  The dice have simplified combat so steps between melee and ranged are streamlined and easier to remember.  Finally, they created a more unified gem system making the spending and risking of gems more fun and complete within the game.  All that without taking away from the basic version of play for younger players.

As someone who always tries to find a silver lining in every situation, I can say that because of this extra time the copy of Necromolds you'll be getting is even better than originally envisioned.

Backerkit/Shipping/Payment Processing

As of right now, there are 171 backers who must complete their Backerkit surveys.  If you have any questions about this, please message me.  If you had reached out earlier about an issue completing your survey on BackerKit and it hasn't been resolved yet, please message me as well.

I won't be locking addresses or processing payments on BackerKit until I have the final product size, weight, and shipping costs.  I'll make a Kickstarter Update specifically about this once we reach that step in our fulfillment process.

Thanks again and please let me know if you have any questions!

Clint