Hey backers! How’s it going?
We’re moving along and we’re still striving to have all design work for this entire campaign done by the end of the month.
And so far, it’ll be tight, but it’s definitely doable.
This means that our goal is to have every card, every Encounter and every piece of fiction done by December 31st.
What this won’t include is an internal review, some layout, and playtesting.
Playtesting: A Slight Change Of Plans
With Chapter 6, Chapter 8, Chapter 11, Pirates, Trail of a Princess, and The Collector, all designed and ready for internal review, we’re finding ourselves being pulled in multiple directions.
When we say internal review, this is quite a process.
We’re making sure that all flags line up, all cross-referencing between pages is correct, all Encounter interactions work, all Hidden Cards are revealed correctly, nothing breaks the game, etc.
Right now, our priority is efficiency. And this back and forth between design, dev, and layout shifts our focus from design-mode into develop-mode and back again, multiple times in a week.
So, to hit our goals, we’ve decided to shift gears a bit and compartmentalize our resources.
This means that we will be 100% in design mode for the remaining 2 weeks of December, finishing everything in the game without spending resources in other areas.
So What’s The New Plan?
The rest of December will be heads-down, purely design work.
Then, if we hit our goals, we will then spend the majority of January graphically blinging out and internally reviewing everything, packaging all the files, and submitting them to be put into Tabletop Simulator for playtest.
Chinese New Year takes up the entire month of February. Since we won’t be able to submit any files anyway, this will be the perfect month for us to run our open-beta playtesting, collecting as much final feedback as we can get.
Our goal will then be to implement all changes and submit all files for digital proofing in March of 2024 and go into production shortly after.
What’s Left To Design?
In the entire Kickstarter campaign, this is what’s left to design:
- 6 Encounters (of 95)
- 33 Items (of 505)
- 7 Disciplines (of 50)
- 2 Exalted Espers (of 4)
- 32 Large Cards (of 231)
- 10 Companions / Familiars (of 10)
Since the uploading of files to the beta-testers goes toward the percentage of completion of this project, the latter 10% of this project will wrap up in playtesting.
White Copies Received
Last week we got our white copies of Wave 2. These are just blank boxes that represent what the actual product will look like.
Here's a video comparing Wave 1 with Wave 2...
The results will shock you!
If you went all-in on this campaign, your Wave 2 will be about 60lbs. of product!
As you can probably see here, there's only one big box there at the bottom.
You may have assumed this already, but we will most likely combine Acts 2+3 into on box that is of equivalent size to Act 1. And yes, we'll be working on a proper insert.
Wave 1 Fulfillment
All the replacement tiles and cards have arrived in their respective warehouses worldwide and fulfillment will begin soon, if it hasn’t already started by the time this update goes live!
Asia is currently fulfilling, Australia should be a close second, EU and US will likely begin late next week!
Canada has been fulfilled, sans the reprinted components. These components have been received by our fulfillment center there and should begin shipping next week.
We’re expecting everything in Wave 1 to be fulfilled just before Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!
Lupercalia 2022 - 2023 Fulfillment
We're sorry for all the delays with these kits. We're looking into more efficient ways of getting resin kits delivered to you in the future...
But here's where we're at based on our last chat with our local fulfillment center:
Lupercalia 2023
EU has been picked up and is on a boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean with our German warehouse as it's destination. We imagine these kits will fulfill in mid-to-late January.
AUS has also been picked up. It's scheduled arrival time is on January 15th. We expect this to be fulfilled by late January, early February.
CA - Shipping hit a snag but should resume next week. We hope to have Canada fulfilled before the end of the month.
Lupercalia 2022
These kits are currently in production.
Here are the latest delivery timelines from our fulfillment center:
US and CA should begin shipping throughout February.
EU and AU should be delivered in March.
We will have a very limited amount of these kits that we'll put up on our webstore after fulfillment!
Webstore Restock
Our plan is to relaunch www.middara.com on January 1st, 2024!
The website will have a brand new look and will be fully stocked with everything Wave 1!
This means:
- Middara : Unintentional Malum - Act 1
- KS1 Promo Pack
- Art Book Vol. 1
- Playmats (set of 4)
- Playmats (set of 6)
- Extra Act 1 Dice
- Adventurer Tuckbags
- 5x6 Sleeves
- 1.2 Update Pack
- Extra Rulebook
We will also have resins in stock!
- Institute of Elenia
- Kreshaka, Apollyon of Vanity (Lupercalia 2023)
- The Erotes (Lupercalia 2023)
- Somoe, Deep Sea Naiad (Lupercalia 2023)
- The Dark Mother Aspect (Lupercalia 2023)
- Vestalia Kit A
- Vestalia Kit B
- Vestalia Nyx
- Lo-fi Nightingale
We’ll even be offering a couple of bundles!
Plus some other goodies!
- Lo-fi Nightingale Pinny Arcade Pin
- Remi and Gage Pinny Arcade Pin
For Fun, Some Trail of a Princess Splash Art
We thought these illustrations were rad and wanted to show them off.
Sign Off
Thanks for checking this week’s update! We hope that our more consistent progress updates will gradually restore your faith in this project.
This whole campaign has been a huge undertaking and we’re so excited to get it finished and into your hands!