Status Update on Status Updates

Hey everyone, I just wanted to pop in here as it’s been a while. There have been some requests to get the status updates going again and I’m working on the best way to do that. Basically a less-depressing way to post that things are running behind, every time. It’s always a bit painful to write that and I'm sure it's painful to receive it, so I think we just need to shift the goals a little. 

NEW PATRONS: Before that a quick welcome to new patrons as we haven't done this in a while. Thanks for joining us! If you have not received a package since your first payment, this long winded message will explain a bit of that. But the short version is, your payment comes out on the first of the month. Patreon will call that the previous month (say May), but we call it the current month (say June). You will receive that package and every package after that you pay for. Since we are running behind, that package might not get here for 2 months. There's no easy way to bring you into the most current package that is going out (next up is April), because of the way that the payments work. But if you want to start receiving packages immediately, we can setup a separate payment for those packages that aren't shipped but have already been paid for. I hope that makes sense.  

So here's how I think we should shift the goals. When we originally started this, we would get the payouts on the 5th of the month and place our orders. Everything would be here in about 2.5 weeks and we could technically get the packages out the door by the end of the current month.

If there were delays with one of the parts, it would set it back a month. But things have changed a lot since then. Our printers have doubled their production times in the last few years. So now if we order on the 5th, we will likely have it on the 5th of the next month. The other part that has doubled/tripled/quadrupled in time is our production timelines in house. When the games arrive here, we need to split the cards up, cut the rules, assemble the games, and then assemble these packages. Each of those steps has gotten way more complex over the years just because of our growth. We have a few full time employees working on it, but it really just takes a lot longer. If there are delays now it will push us into the second month, or even the third.

An example is splitting the cards. Since we’ve grown, our card decks are much much bigger, consisting of more and more games. So a split of 1000 216-card decks can take a few weeks. Back in the day, we only needed to get through a few hundred to do the BGOTMC packages, but nowadays we need all 1000.

Another example is making the packages. They really take a while, especially the limited level envelopes. It’s generally a few days for 2 employees. There are just so many parts. And don’t get me started on packing and mailing the wallet game swaps. Those are all custom orders that require 1:1 handling, instead of working in bulk like the others.

So with that in mind, I think it’s best to assume that each package should arrive about 2 months after the payment month. If we got our act together, we could order these way in advance and get them out the same month, but if history proves anything it proves that we haven’t been able to do that consistently. Juggling the timing of Kickstarter fulfillment and incoming shipments, and even just getting ahead while trying to keep up with the backlog just proves very difficult. We’ve even hired a handful of people specifically for BGOTMC packages and for whatever reason it’s just never worked out. Maybe it’s just their inconsistency that is both the nature of the project (once a month we need to work on it) and the biggest issue (once a month things go wild when everything finally arrives).

Let’s look at the current status:

April Packages:
These include River Wild which is starting to arrive. I feel like we can get these going in the next few weeks. I’d love to hit June as it would be right in that

May Packages:
These include Ancient Realm which is right behind River Wild. July is 100% doable for these, and I don’t see any reason they’d take any longer than that.

June Packages:
These include Super Slopes, which is expected to arrive early July. August is 100% doable for these as well. If not late July.

July Packages:
This is where we start to look at our catalog as nothing is already ordered for it, and it’s really all about what comes in the door next. There are a few options, including some recently signed games that might fasttrack their way into the packages.

Now the above is just talking about the wallet line. The bonus material is a little all over the place right now as we’ve been shifting some things in our release structure. We used to release one off expansions all the time and add them to the $10+ packages as bonus material. Lately we’ve moved the Kickstarter bonus expansion to the $18+ levels and we have been saving expansions for things like expansion collections. So there is a little bit of a disconnect at that bonus material level. We have some things that are planned for the above packages, but we’re really looking at a plan for the ones that follow.

And then there’s the limited postcard line. We have been doing some one off games for the postcard line and will likely continue for a little bit. The yearlong / half year games are problematic as we’ve discussed before. Stopping the postcard line is also problematic, so we’re currently in a period of individual games that are mostly on the light end. I hope you still enjoy them as we work things out here.

Oh And Let’s Not Forget The Long Lost December Packages:
If you remember, we pulled the December packages as a last ditch effort in catching up. Has that worked? Not really, but we are in a better position than if we didn't. I can say that the held December package is getting closer. The wallet games are on their way here. The rest is still in the works, but closer. The role playing game is part of our next order. We’re probably a few weeks out from having everything here (except for the role playing game) and we can start assembling and shipping those.

I think that’s everything for now. Going to spend this week looking at better ways to track the status here, mostly just trying to not repeat “delayed” over and over and over. That’s not fun for us or you.

Hope all is well with all of you!