Pledge Manager Locking... Artbook Cover reveal
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 06, 2021 at 09:53:37 PM

Pledge Manager Locking

We started locking Backerkit earlier this week and will move onto charging cards in the coming days.  This is the first time that we're using Backerkit, so please bear with us.  I'm not a huge fan of this process and would prefer that your cards were charged at the time of survey completion, but that's not how this one works.  I actually wrote a lengthy blog post to help other creators pick a PM.  The point is that Backerkit works more like Kickstarter where we will be locking and then charging pledges over the next few weeks as we make sure everyone's orders are completed and charged correctly.

It's important to note that we're not in a huge rush to lock and charge cards (we just wanted backers to be able to plan for it), so if you have any concerns or need to change/edit your order, please message us on Kickstarter and we'd be happy to assist.  We will be keeping late pledges / preorders open for the coming months while we work on finishing up all the elements and components of the game and its many rewards.

Game Progress

I just got back from Origins Game Fair.  It was my first convention in almost 2 years and was honestly the perfect place to start.  It was pretty low key and it was great to chat with attendees and have them discover some of our games that came out (and were sort of lost) during pandemic.  As far as the game goes, I focused most of this month on Maximum's Few and Cursed Expansion.  We've got all the files prepped and the missions written for this expansion product and just want to playtest it a few more times to make sure we didn't miss anything.  It's a mini campaign that covers the first story arc of the comics.

Gustav has been focusing on the artbook this month and has drafted a unique cover for the book. He says  that this is a work in progress, but it looks pretty darn good to me.  I love seeing the return of the robot scout from the core game.

That's it for now!

- Mike

September Update
over 2 years ago – Mon, Sep 06, 2021 at 11:44:32 PM

Art Progress

Gustav is making progress on the remaining card art.  We're mostly focusing on filling out the character decks with their last few unique cards, but we have some stretch goal art to do as well.  Gustav typically sends me line work first and then colors it after we have the composition correct.  Here's a look at some of the most recent Thief cards (her deck is the largest survivors' yet at 50 cards):

He's working on a new cover for the Art Book as well (that should be about 2 weeks away), so I hope to share that soon before the Backerkit closes.

Game Progress

We've made some great progress with the development of the game this past month.  We got some great playtests in on the new Wasted Wilds missions we've written, edited the original missions I shared with you last time (thank you to everyone that provided feedback), and have made a lot of progress on the final campaign stretch goals (described in this update).  

I hired the same designer we used for the Maximum Apocalypse RPG to take a look at my character sheet for the board game campaign.  This character sheet still has a lot of placeholder perks and text but it gives a good idea of the overall look of the printable PDF sheets:

These sheets will take up half of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper so you can print out 2 per page and should give you lots of ways to explore all the content when Wasted Wilds arrives.  

It's Fall Y'all: Pledge Manager Reminder

We still have about 20% of people who need to finish the pledge manager.  We are still planning to lock pledges and charge cards on September 30th.  You will still be able to update your shipping address until we lock addresses at a later date.

This month we're heading to our first convention since early 2020!  Rock Manor Games will be at the Origins Game Fair at the end of this month in Booth 643! We plan on demoing Lawyer Up and the Few and Cursed, but will likely mix in some games/expansions we're developing as well for previewing/playtesting.  If you're going to Origins, be sure to stop by to say hello.

That's it for now. Enjoy the Fall and Back to School! We'll be streaming Swords of the Coin live on September 9th at 1pm on our Twitch channel.  If there's interest, I can work on streaming/uploading more playtest and video content for Wasted Wilds too.  

August Update
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 05, 2021 at 08:21:22 PM

Pledge Manager Reminder

First of all, thank you to the 78% of you that have already filled out the Pledge Manager.  As a reminder, you HAVE TO complete the BackerKit survey to receive your rewards.  The last day to make final updates to your order will be September 30th. After this date, we will lock your reward selections and charge cards for add-on item purchases, pledge upgrades, and pre-orders. You will still be able to update your shipping address until we lock addresses for shipping which will happen at a later date.

Game Progress

We have made some great progress on developing the campaign, specifically we spent most of last month going through all the old missions. We not only streamlined their map tiles and adapted the scavenge decks, but also wrote a lot more narrative to tie all the missions together into two 13 mission campaigns: one for the original game and one for Gothic Horrors. The Supplemental Mission Log is coming in at 36 pages long!

If you'd like to help with developing the game, I'm currently working on some free downloadable character sheets, campaign mission tracking sheets and more that will hopefully give everyone plenty of ways to enjoy and challenge themselves.  If you feel the hankering to play some Maximum Apocalypse over the next few weeks, I'd love for you to try out these adapted missions so here is a link to download a draft of the mission book. If you happen to play any of these missions (or have feedback), it would be super helpful to log your play (remaining health, etc) using this form here: https://forms.gle/SyJGxk8EAdQswoys6 

This data will help me balance some of the campaign elements and missions that I hope to introduce. I'll be sure to share more on this in a future update.

In Art production news, Gustav recently returned from his summer vacation and will be getting back to work on the remaining game illustrations and artbook.  We look forward to sharing you sketches, line art and pictures in future updates. 

IMPORTANT: BackerKit Surveys are coming soon!
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jul 07, 2021 at 10:24:35 PM

Soon, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.

You must complete the BackerKit Survey to receive your reward!

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!

After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://wasted-wilds.backerkit.com/

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://wasted-wilds.backerkit.com/faq.

Potential Frequently Asked Questions:

How long will the Pledge Manager stay open?

We will post another update with an exact date for its closure, but  I would estimate that the PM will stay open until September 2021. That being said, please fill out the pledge manager in as timely a fashion as you can as it is essential for us to finalize production quantities. Keep in mind that the Pledge Manager will lock for orders but will stay open until addresses are locked at a later date.

How can I change my address or add a product to my order?

BackerKit allows you to update your shipping address until the shipping addresses are locked by the project creator. To update your address, go back to your BackerKit survey by inputting your email here.

When will my credit card be charged?

BackerKit operates differently and your credit card will not immediately be charged when filling out your survey. Your card will be charged for any additional funds when the PM closes in September.  At that point, BackerKit will charge your card.  Rest assured, we will post updates reminding you about the PM deadlines and when credit cards will be charged.

That's a Wrap! Time to sleep.
almost 3 years ago – Sun, Jun 13, 2021 at 12:16:02 AM

Thanks to the passion, trust and enthusiasm of more than 3200 people,  Wasted Wilds will be hitting your tables some time next year. It's Rock Manor's most funded Kickstarter ever, breaking $300,000... almost double the original's funding.

I am so proud of the community surrounding Maximum Apocalypse and would have never even thought some these things up without our amazing community and your great feedback.  I thought the BGG feedback thread was really fun and will continue to use it to post my ramblings and nitty gritty development updates.

What Happens Next?

Now comes the hard part: the waiting…

Over the next 1-2 weeks, the credit card attached to your Kickstarter account will be charged your pledge amount. If there is a problem, they will continue to retry for 1-2 weeks. If you have a problem with payment, please contact Kickstarter support, as we will not be able to assist you. You will have these 2 weeks to correct the problem before you are dropped as a backer.  If you're new to our campaigns, Welcome! We pride ourselves on communication so you'll hear from us about every month or so with progress updates.

The Pledge Manager: BackerKit

For this campaign, we are using Backerkit.com as the pledge manager. If you missed the campaign, the late pledge is already live on their preorder store. We have to a minimum of 2 weeks until everything is done on Kickstarter's end (2-3 weeks) before we can send out surveys.  When the Pledge Manager launches, you will receive an email at the email address you have on file with Kickstarter.  All of the money you pledged during the Kickstarter will be honored and imported into the pledge manager. If you have a nasty spam filter, it doesn't hurt to whitelist backerkit.com and rockmanorgames.com. To get your rewards, you must fill out the pledge manager and pay for shipping in a timely manner.

We will have A LOT MORE information about how to fill-out and proceed with the pledge manager so please be sure to read that update when it goes live. We will mark it IMPORTANT and pin it to the top of the updates page.

Production

We have a lot of work ahead of us! Gustav is still working on some art and laying out the artbook and I have A LOT of missions and campaign writing ahead of me. Don't worry though, we will be sharing our progress with you all right here on Kickstarter.  Once the final pieces all come together, we will enter preproduction in full force, get samples, make tweaks, approve them and get scheduled to manufacture the game.  An important part of this is producing the right number of each product, so filling out the Pledge Manager is very important. We will be posting updates here on the entire process, so stay tuned! We love sharing pictures as things start coming together.

Fulfillment

It’s very important to us that backers get this game into their hands as soon as it's ready, but shipping this past year has been a nightmare. After the games are finished at the factory, they will take a long journey across oceans to our fulfillment depots in China (okay no ocean involved there), Europe, Australia,  Great Britain and the US. They will then be shipped out to you. Our goal is to have the games in your hands about this time next year, but keep in mind delays can happen (for example COVID delayed a lot of our recent projects) and we can only control so much of the process. That being said, we will ALWAYS keep you updated on things.

Now it's time for some much needed rest. Enjoy your weekend and play some games. 

Thanks again,

- Mike