September Update
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 03:41:33 PM
Hello Everyone,
We hope all is well. Just thought we will give you an update on what is to come and what has been going on.
Funded
Now that we have been funded we will be sending out surveys very shortly for your order of Collabescape. These will be from BackerKit. We have chosen BackerKit to operate as our pledge manager as we can give you more. We have added on some items you may like from us if you like games like Collabescape. These will be our Escape Advent Calendars and A Puzzle A Day calendar Add ons. As we are using BackerKit they offer a split delivery so you can order these for November 2021 ready for Christmas. Collabescape is still on schedule for February 2022.
We are just waiting on BackerKit to review our setup and then will be sending out surveys.
Artwork/ Manufacturing
We have been working on making the artwork look nice and crisp, we have also been in talks with another manufacturing company that has been producing top quality board games for years. They are able to offer a better board and even a box inlay to secure all the components. We are waiting on samples and won't proceed unless it is up to quality, we will keep you updated on this during the next months.
Thank you again for supporting us and we will keep you updated.
Regards
Jason
We did it!!
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 02:11:16 AM
Now it begins...
First of all, a huge thank to everyone who supported this project, from the smallest pledge to the largest. You have got yourself the game of ‘Collabescape’ for your next games night. Due to your support we have been able to reach our goal and more. You will now receive an expansion pack, an extra 15 minute game inside the box with some nice looking tokens and coated cards.
Now, it comes down to the manufacturing. Our artwork has been approved for the main game already; because of the stretch goals we are going to order a sample with everything in one box to make sure it is correct for you and can continue onto mass production. The sample will be ordered in the next couple of weeks and will take some time (about a month) to be delivered. This will give us time to collect surveys and plan for shipping. We aim to ship these at the beginning of 2022 to get to you by February, we will be in touch with updates on production.
For those who have pledged for the behind the scenes add- on, we will get this up for you when we receive the sample back as this would be a great reflection point on how far we have come.
What now?
In the next two weeks, Kickstarter will begin collecting funds from you. Now is a great time to check and make sure your payment details are all up-to-date. If payments fail, it could cancel your pledge, so please check before it becomes an issue, we don't want you to be disappointed.
We have now joined with Backerkit to handle our pledge manager and new pre order page coming soon. We may add some of our other products that may interest you, the ‘Escape Advent Calendars’ and the ‘Puzzle-a-day calendar’. If you would like to see them appear on BackerKit, please ‘like’ this update so we know you want to see them.
We will be sending out surveys to all our backers to collect addresses to be delivered too. This will happen in the next two to three weeks and we will send an update for when we send them so you can check your email addresses.
A huge thank you
A big thank you to everyone on Kickstarter who backed us, we would not have been able to make this game without you. We would also like to give a special shout-out to the lovely couple who met us at the convention last weekend. You had played our Escape Rooms and have been following us on our journey. Meeting you was a pleasure and you have inspired us to keep pushing on and make more.
We appreciate all of your support, keep puzzling. We will be in touch shortly.
Regards Jason
Stretch goal Update
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 04:58:01 PM
We are up to 274 backers. That is incredible! We are so please that there are so many that want to play our game.
We have also reached all of our stretch goals so far, which is fantastic news. We are wanting to make our game as professional and long lasting as possible. As the stretch goals were nearing complete we had ideas for the next steps. This is what has happened during our last week....
A few hiccups and a few solutions.
When ordering the new acrylic figures (Update 2) we discovered that they can only be printed on one size of plastic slug- huge. The size of the slug would be larger than the current box provided and the manufacturer is unable to pre-punch them to go into the box. So we have decided to go with the original plastic meeples and use this stretch goal to help towards creating more for your replayablity.
Our idea for the next stretch goal was to make the board mat the game comes with into folding cardboard boards. Unfortunately when organising this with the manufacturer they have stated that the boards would not fit within the box. We had ordered these separately from the main game for our prototypes and did not foresee a problem as they fitted inside the box ( along with the expansion pack.) Although we have fitted them in ourselves and sent photos of this, the manufacturer has stated that it is too close and they cannot do this.
So unfortunately we are unable to provide this for the next stretch goal. So we have made this a further stretch goal and this would mean the box size would expand to.( See campaign)
What's next?
So for our next stretch goal we have decided to help create more replayablity by adding our smaller game ‘Escape the Office’ which gives you a 15 minute starter/ tutorial game. The main game is for 60 minutes games so now you can try out Escape the Office game first and get used to the mechanics. Or if your game night is running short you will have a quicker version of Collabescape to play.
Because of the acrylic figures hiccup, we can put this stretch goal lower (£10,250) to add an extra mat into every game.
We have been emailing the manufacturer back and forth for the past week to try and find out our options, we hope you can understand our delay in updates as we wanted to give you an exact stretch goal to aim for.
We have just over a week left of the Kickstarter to go, so please tell your friends, your neighbours, your game group about Collabescape and let’s get to that last stretch goal to make it bigger and better.
Thank you everyone for your support.
Jason
UK Games Expo and Stretch Goal Update
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Aug 05, 2021 at 11:16:37 AM
What a week it has been!
We have been at the UK Games Expo and also made it to two of our stretch goals. That's fantastic!!
We are now able to have all cards with UV coating (making them last longer) and be smoother to handle, we have also made it to the stretch goal to make the components nicer. We are able to make the door tokens into chits ( a lot easier to handle) and change the player tokens. More on that down below.
UK Games Expo
First, we were so excited to exhibit at the UK Games Expo, it was nice to get out and see people again. We brought along our 15 minute version of 'Collabescape' to play for players to get the feel of how the main game works. Everyone enjoyed 'Escaping the Office' and left the stall with smiles on their faces.
We will also add some some of these pictures and more to our campaign page for everyone to see.
Stretch goals
There has been a bit of a discussion in the comments about the token (meeple) vs standee debate, which one is better? The reason for the choice to go to standee is because it has a picture of the character which relates to the character sheet. This gives it a 'presence' on the board and able to be noticed quickly as 'your' token. The small meeples have the possibility of getting lost and also be an issue for any colour blind players. We actually asked this question to all our players, "which do you prefer?" and the answer was 50/50 on standee vs token.
So we hope we can reach a compromise, we have arranged the standees to be made from clear acrylic, this will enable the standee to be long lasting, more visible and more sturdy on the board. They can be more accessible for young players, new players and be more identifiable for hard-of seeing players.
Unfortunately we do not yet have an example of these standees to photograph, however we have ordered some from the manufacturer and hope to get them (estimated delivery) near the end of the campaign.
We know we cannot please everybody and hope you understand why we are making this choice. We want to give you the best possible game we are able to manufacture.
More updates to come. Let's keep pushing to the next stretch goal and gain the expansion pack. If we reach this, we have an idea for the next stretch goal that we are sure you will like. :)
UK Games Expo Links
The Escape Room / Puzzle Games are starting to appear more and more in the gaming world which is great! We would just like to mention a few we saw (and may have purchased) at the expo that might interest our backers. We are not getting anything for this, we just feel that we should spread the love. Here are some links that might be of interest.
The Detective Society - Mail order packages that can be solve at home, solo or with friends.
The Puzzle Card - Birthday cards that contain an extra challenge for you to solve.
Smart Games - Solo player puzzle placement games. With up to 60 challenges in each game.
Thank you again for your support.
Regards
Jason
We are funded!
almost 3 years ago
– Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 09:19:50 AM
Thank you Thank you Thank you so much.
It is fantastic to see so many people interested in our game. We have been funded within 48 hours, that's incredible.
Sorry to keep this update short, we are currently setting up for the UK Games Expo this weekend,showcasing Collabescape and our other products. Now that it is funded, I am sure it will get alot of attention. Thank you so much everyone for pushing this project forward. We will be back in contact next week ( after a rest) regarding stretch goals and perhaps pictures from the Expo.
Regards Jason
Insync Games
