Ready, set, go?!
almost 7 years ago
– Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 10:50:50 PM
Hi folks,
I've seen a few comments requesting an update. Panda has come back with a miniatures quote that is much more competitive, although still more than my original quote/budget. I have decided that one way or another, I will be making the game WITH the miniatures at the same time. I am waiting on an updated price on a few of the other components from Panda, but they will most likely get the project.
I will be short money, which will need to come out of my own pocket. As much as it will hurt, I am willing to do what needs to be done to get you what I promised.
I have been looking into a few options to raise some extra funds to help offset this somewhat. Since I do a fair bit of woodworking, and metal working, I was thinking of offering some custom, hand crafted wood and/or steel boxes, as a collectors item to go along with Whelps to Wyrms, or Nautilus Industries. These would be of my own design, be hand crafted, and would last a lifetime. They will also be expensive as each one would be made individually, with care. If I made something like this available, would anyone be interested? I have even considered making boxes for other games, but I first need to know if it's something people want.
I think I'll work on a sample box to demonstrate what one could look like. If this would help me earn back some extra funds, I have no issue putting in the time and effort.
Onward and upward we go!
Mike
Update
almost 7 years ago
– Tue, Jul 04, 2017 at 01:24:42 AM
Hi Folks,
I have been exploring my options and I'm trying to figure out which is the best one. Since every game includes the Dragons I would like to get those done by the same company as the manufacturer. It will just make things so much more efficient for shipping. On the other hand, not everyone ordered the slayer miniatures, so not every box was going to get them. The plan was, to put the slayers inside the original box for whoever ordered them, thus greatly reducing the shipping costs for the backers.
One Idea I have been working on is us (Lamp Light Games) making the slayer minis. I've looked into injection molding before, and even thought about eventually printing, crafting game components as part of my business, both for myself, and for others.
I can purchase a decent injection molder for less than half of what it's supposed to cost me to get molds made. This would mean me making resin molds of the minis and doing it myself. It would take a lot longer than the factory, but I'm willing to give my time to get the minis made.
This would mean the Slayers would ship separately from Canada, and I would have to charge shipping. Are you guys wiling to pay shipping? What are your thoughts? I know it will cost more for some of you than others, and there may be some VAT charges if we don't ship them from within the EU. Thoughts?
I'm still looking at other options but my plan right now is to get the games made, as well as the dragons, and then get the slayers going.
Bump in the road
almost 7 years ago
– Sun, Jun 18, 2017 at 12:18:41 AM
Hi folks!
I know it's been a quiet few weeks, I should be keeping you in the loop but I've had a rough couple of weeks and have been trying to come up with a solution on my own. It's been a challenge all along working with US CAD dollar transfers and trying to work from Canada while most of the board game world is elsewhere.
When I started this project I really felt like this game would be greatly enhanced by miniatures, so, I worked out costs for sculpting and molding ahead of time, and did my budgeting accordingly. Along the way it's a constant fight with the dollar exchange as I had to run my campaign in Canadian Dollars, and the board game industry runs off of US dollars. I tried to take the exchange rate into account, and for the most part it has been ok. My first game, Space Junk cost me about 20% more than budgeted because when I did my budget the dollars were on par, and when I finished printing the game the Canadian Dollar was 30% lower.
Anyways, enough of that. The big risk with this game was the miniatures, but I knew this, and budgeted for it... or so I thought. Until I got an email the other day from the manufacturer that I was planning on using that stated my "new" mold cost was now $22,000 USD instead of the $8700 USD that they had quoted me, and I had budgeted for. For those of you who like math it adds up to about $17,500 CAD more than I had anticipated. Also, I pay some money each time I exchange from USD to CAD so it's actually more in reality.
The bottom line is:
I don't have enough money to make the game. It's as simple as that, although I'm not willing to fail without trying every possible idea first. Because you all have a vested interest in this project I would like to ask for some advice, or suggestions from you. I have a few ideas that I'll put forward for feedback, while inviting your suggestions as well. Because things have already been costing more than anticipated, I had expected to have to invest some more of my own money into getting this one out to you. I'm not a rich man by any means, so the extra $25,000-$30,000 is just not doable.
As a side note, everything is done that needs to be to make the game. All of the sculpts, graphics, rules, punchboards ect are done, and ready to go to print.
There is enough money in the coffers to produce the game without miniatures and ship them out.
1. We have been working on a game for a while that is a legacy rpg/war/town building game. Since we started Whelps to Wyrms I have been working on building the game into the world of Whelps to Wyrms, with the intention of using many of the same characters, and therefore miniatures, from Whelps. I have been trying to figure out a way to use this as a way to fund the remaining cost of Whelps, but I'm not convinced it's a good route unless there is an angle I'm not seeing.
2. Produce the game without miniatures? I would hate this because the sculpts are done and most of you have paid extra to get the minis. Maybe we could make the miniatures after the fact?
3. Find a company to partner with to complete the game. This would mean turning over control of Lamp Light Games to someone else, which I would be ok with if it meant getting you guys this game. If there is any chance that we could continue on as a design team instead of dealing with the printing and distribution logistics, that would be a dream come true. We have a great design team, and several really awesome games in the works. They have just stalled out because of dealing with all of the cross border logistics, it has almost killed my creative side...
Gen Con
I have been playing with the idea of coming to Gen Con solo (on my $) to try to talk to different game companies about buying out LLG. If you know anyone who may be interested in partnering with us please send me a message. Also, if anyone has a room at Gen Con, and has space, please let me know.
All comments, suggestions welcome. Please don't be too harsh, I'm dying over here trying to make this work out!
