Endangered Orphans of Condyle Cove

TO BE FRIENDLY, OR NOT TO BE FRIENDLY...THAT WAS NEVER A QUESTION!
almost 7 years ago – Tue, May 23, 2017 at 12:27:16 AM

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to let me know your thoughts on the shipping methods. Based on the responses to the survey, it's a pretty easy decision to stick with GamesQuest for the EU friendly guarantee. It will be a bit slower, but it is the safest way to ensure that our promises will be honoured. We will finalize our fulfillment plan this week and update everyone on the progress as we move forward.  

For those of you that have ordered translated versions of the game, coasters or books, we still intend to package everything together, especially in EU countries. Outside the EU, there may be instances where it is less expensive to ship separately, but this will be determined on a per backer basis. 

As we pursue our degree from the Kickstarter School of Hard Knocks, it's great to have a backer base that understands and appreciates the process.  Again, thank you for your help, and thank you for your patience.  More soon!

Rick

P.S. I realize this is my 3rd update in 4 days, and I do not intend to make this a habit. Tired of me yet?

EU Friendly?
almost 7 years ago – Sun, May 21, 2017 at 01:19:44 AM

First, I'd like to thank everyone for your patience and support as we get these Endangered Orphans in your grubby little hands!   

My update yesterday announced the decision to bypass the boat and use Send From China to fulfill the games. Per the norm, this has its upsides and downsides.  For EU, I've expressed the importance with Send From China that all packages arrive free of any additional customs or VAT charges.  They have guided me with their experiences, but that doesn't keep my nerves settled. Even so, my intent is to honor my EU Friendly stance, even if it means refunding fees on the backend.  But that in itself comes with its own backer aggravation, which I don't want, so I'd like to get your advice.  I always intended to use GameQuest for EU fulfillment, but I'm trying to get the game to everyone as soon as possible and around the same time.  Using Send From China will get the packages delivered about 35 days sooner than using GameQuest. So...what would you prefer?  Please take this survey and let me know. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EUFriendly

I know it's not always transparent through Kickstarter campaigns and updates, but Certifiable's number one goal everyday is a happy backer base.  Of course, we have also come to learn that some of you are happiest when you're unhappy, so please don't let us screw that up!  

Rick

P.S.  For those of you that got mad at me for going a month without an update...this is two in less than 24 hours! Of course, this is me asking you questions rather than answering yours, but it's still technically an update, right? 

WHY SO QUIET?
almost 7 years ago – Sat, May 20, 2017 at 01:27:39 AM

First, I'd like to apologize for letting an entire month go by without giving you an update on where we are with Endangered Orphans.  On the flip side, perhaps the neglect you have been feeling could serve as extra motivation to protect and coddle and save the orphan that has entrusted his or her life with you.  On second thought, the neglect was completely intentional!  (not really)

WHERE ARE WE?
Prior to final assembly of the games, Panda sent us our approval copy. It's beautiful...and heavy!  In fact, the first thing I did was weigh it, and my heart dropped. Turns out, they put all the add-on play mats in the box, so that was an extra 300 grams I wasn't counting on.  That's now fixed.  But then the real issue came to light. Endangered Orphans started out as a 54 card game for 2 to 3 players. As the Kickstarter grew, the stretch goals added more and more cards. Now, with the expansions, we have 102 cards to play with. That's all fine, but it's important to know the difference in the base game and the expansion.   The cards we received were all correct, but they weren't organized, and we were concerned this would cause a level of confusion that would make your first time experience with us less than fun.  Unfortunately, all 10,000 copies of the cards were already packaged and ready to be put in the box.  That means every single shrink-wrapped deck had to be opened and sorted to keep the base game separated from the expansions.  

Now that this has been addressed and final assembly is nearing completion.  In fact, it may be completed already, but I haven't received notification yet.  This puts us a week behind our timeline from the last update.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
As we wait on final notification that the game is packaged, the next step will be to get it to the fulfillment houses.  We were hoping to be loading everything on a ship this coming week, but with the card delay, we are now looking at the following week or into the next.  Based on my last update, I was shooting for mid-May departure from China to fulfill from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.  In the meantime, I have not been happy with my correspondence with Australia, so I started to look again at our options for Australia and New Zealand.  

In doing so, my stress level has grown as the actual shipping docket from China revealed that the cargo would take 42 days in transit, not to mention the window for even getting on the boat could be as long as 15 days. This means my hope for getting the game to the fulfillment houses in order to start sending to you could be more realistically mid-July rather than mid-June, which would mean a final delivery as late as August.  I think we have the best backers in the world, but I can't help but wonder which straw is going to break the camel's back. I know some of you are aggravated, and I don't blame you.  

With my need for a reliable solution for Australia and New Zealand still lingering, our friends at White Cherry Games shared with us their experience with Send From China to fulfill Family Plot.  By using SFC, we can bypass the boat completely and start sending the games directly to you in June.  Overall, it's going to be a little more expensive, (for us, not you), but I think getting the games to you sooner is well worth the expense.  

And that's where we are with Endangered Orphans.  It's not fun, but it's the truth. The most exciting part for me is we are learning more and more each day, and our next Kickstarter will have the benefit of bypassing all (or at least most) the mistakes we've made thus far.  I just hope our backers will still tolerate us. Speaking of...

WHO GOES THERE?
In three more rounds you'll have to eat, but the cook has been acting funny. Are you willing to take food from him? In four more rounds you'll have to sleep, but who do you trust enough to bunk with? Or will you risk sleeping alone? But for now, you are locked out in the cold and may have bigger problems to deal with. After all, its favorite place to hide is you.

While I've been inundated with fulfillment and logistics hell, Jesse and the guys have been putting the final touches on our next Kickstarter project, WHO GOES THERE?  I must say, this game is killer, and I can't wait to let you see it. In the meantime, here is a sneak peak at some of the elements.

Thank you, again, for all your support.  I'll try not to allow too much time to slip by before the next update. If you haven't completed your Backerkit survey, please do it now!  We still have over 100 unanswered surveys, and I won't know where to send these games until they are complete. The orphans are close, but the Boogeyman is closer! 

-Rick and the Certifiable Team

Another boring EO update? Indeed!
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 12:00:56 AM

Has it really been more than two weeks since I've updated you on your Orphans?  I'm truly sorry.  Apparently, time doesn't just fly when you're having fun, it also flies when you are trying to deliver a game to your backers before they come to their senses.  So where do we stand on April 18th, 2017?  

PLASTIC TRAY INSERT
Our new and improved tray is really working for us.  The pawns are placed more efficiently, which gives us room for more cards.  With the addition of the third card holder, we now have room for all cards with sleeves. This will also accommodate the additional cards from the boosters (if you purchased them), as well as all the mats. We are really pleased with how this turned out, and hope you are as well. 

PLAY MATS
The play mats have also made good improvements.  As I mentioned before, we've gone back and forth with Panda about the color values and have made adjustment after adjustment. We are pleased with the end result. And fortunately, we recently received a game with a great play mat from another creator that we backed on Kickstarter (insert cruel joke about how awesome it must be to actually receive a game on time), and we got a chance to contrast them. By comparison, our mats were simply thicker than they really needed to be, so we requested a thinner option.  It's everything we wanted, but with slightly less bulk.  

TIMELINE
We also heard from Panda regarding the timeline. They expect to finalize production on all items early May, then it will take approximately one week to assemble and get ready to ship. As of this moment, they are pushing to have the containers on the boat ready to set sail mid May. Based on the range of time they give us for the actual delivery once it's on the boat, this means we should receive the games in the middle of June. I will, of course, keep you updated as this becomes a reality.  

TRANSLATION
For those of you that purchased the French, German, or Spanish translated versions, they are about to be sent to the printer.  We are not printing these cards with Panda, because our quantities weren't quite high enough, but they will be ready to ship with the base game with no delay.  I just didn't want to place our order too soon, because I wanted to allow for any late orders that may come in. 

T-SHIRTS
For those of you that bought a t-shirt add-on, rather than having them shipped to us to ship to you, we are in the process of having them drop-shipped directly to your door.  I expect them to find their way to you by the end of April.  

OUR SINCEREST THANKS! 
Thank you for all your help and support through this process.  We've learned so much, and are really looking forward to applying all this "expertise" (insert another cruel joke here) on our next project.  We are closer to having these orphans in your care than ever before!

Sincerely,

- Rick and the Certifiable Team

WHERE DID MARCH GO?
about 7 years ago – Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 12:28:18 AM

Believe it or not, we've been working hard for you! But...as first time creators, we've had to take a few lumps as we've journeyed through the WHAT NOT TO DO's on our way to the WHAT TO DO's. Nonetheless, we are really excited about the product, if not the timeline.  So where are we exactly?

The different pieces have come and gone and been tweaked and approved and changed and altered and approved again, all with the goal of delivering the best possible product we can. Because you deserve it?  Sure. Why not. 

The pawns look fantastic.  They have all been mass produced and are anxiously awaiting being adopted by their new parents, who they are certain would never put them in danger.

The mats have been tricky for us.  Each time we would get proofs, the colors just haven't been what we wanted. So we've gone back and forth, changing the files and waiting for the next batch.  We got close, but felt compelled to hold off on giving them the thumbs up, which I'm sure delayed things. But this is Jesse's art we're talking about, so...  

We've been told the reason the colors haven't been perfect is because they are simply proofs using a digital printer.  They are now being mass produced with an offset printing process, and we're told the color values will be truer to the original art. Fingers crossed.  We already think they are great, but we want them to be better than great. All because you deserve it, of course. 

The last thing for us to bitch and complain about was the insert tray. The first attempt was pretty great.  All of our orphans have nice cozy beds in their new home, the cards are nice and secure in their little trays, the play mats fit nicely on top of the cards, and there is still room for the extra mats some of you ordered.  Beautiful, right?

Everything fits perfectly...F@#K!   Many of you requested we allow for the tray to accommodate sleeved cards, and I promised we would.  Testing the existing compartments, it kind of, almost, not really worked.  They fit...but it's tight.  And the extra thickness is an issue.  So we have requested the tray be reconfigured to add a little more width, length and depth.  Enough for sleeved cards, but not so much the non-sleeved cards would feel unsafe.  Additionally, we requested a third card compartment be added to allow for boosters and/or standees, or to simply allow for a little extra card organization. They are working on that as we speak, so I remain optimistic. 

WHEN WILL YOU SHIP THE DAMN GAME, ALREADY?  
APRIL? Obviously not.  MAY?  Sorry. 

The bulk of mass production is done (the pawns being the big piece, so that's good) We are now waiting on the mats and trays. We won't be getting any more proofs, though, so that's not slowing anything down.  Panda has not confirmed the timeline yet, but my understanding is everything will be finished and assembled within the next four weeks or so. Then they start their journey on the very slow boat from China which could take up to 5 weeks.  Revised timeline based on the information I have...we hope to ship the games to you sometime in June. 
Does this suck...absolutely.  Should you hate me for the ridiculous notion January was ever even a thought? Of course. Will you get your game and save an orphan this year?  Barring an unforeseen global Boogeyman catastrophe, YES. 

Thank you for your support and understanding.  We are doing everything we can to make this worth your while! 

- Rick and the Certifiable Team