This project is not finished yet.

The amount of effort that has gone into each and every miniature is akin to squeezing a diamond from a lump of coal. Metaphorically speaking, I’m covered in soot, my finger nails are cracked and I’m coughing up black chunks.

I’ve been busy, more busy then I’ve ever been in my life, trying with every ounce of myself to keep the plastic production on track. It has been a huge challenge and has required more of my attention than I anticipated. When I tried to step back, I had to balance it against more lost time or worse yet, a loss of quality and thus, I’ve just had to keep my nose to the grindstone.

I could not step away from the tasks at hand and thus, could not get this update out any sooner. Between preparing it and getting my brain ready to respond to the follow up messages, I decided to finish the time sensitive stuff, and then return to the public surface.

And well… here I am!

Core Game Printing
We have approved many digital proofs and are moving into the next stage, which will be approving physical proofs. There are… a lot of cards. Its sort of insane.

Continued Development 
And while the season quietly changes are hearts don’t waver. I don’t think any of us expected to be spending quite so much time together… not playing the game or building miniatures… Yet, the KD team’s commitment is absolute. Much to the chagrin of some of the staff, I have continued to stuff the expansions silly with content. Later this update I’ll be showcasing the Dung Beetle Knight expansion and how its evolved as we await the plastic production to be finished.

This translates directly to more value for the people that matter the most. You backers. You helped lift this vision into reality and the only way to thank that is to continue polishing and improving while our hard plastic manufacturing wraps up.

If I have to make you wait, I will make it better.

When you don’t have to wait, I will destroy your postman with the heaviest box they’ve ever had to deliver!

Lantern Armor Kit
The quality of the Lantern Armor kit is astounding. I am really pleased with how it turned out. The kits are fun, there is defiantly a balance you need to strike depending on the gear and the subtle adjustments of the joins in order to get a strong pose. Getting absorbed in model building was a nice change of pace for a bit!

Oh, the lantern topped shoulder pads are fully optional. You can add them to most other kits and you also don’t need to have them on these to complete them. Each arm and torso piece is fully independent.

Plastic Progress + Gift!
As of this moment, there are only 3 core game tools left to be cut. The Pheonix Armor kit, the Lion Armor Kit and the Screaming Fur armor kit. This DOES mean, that the Stone Face Base insert, Screaming Antelope and Hand are done! I squeezed yet another gift, (“who cares we want the project to be done already!” Yes I know… me too ;_;) onto the tool with Antelope and the Hand. Two new miniatures that I simply will not reveal. They have been publicly posted anywhere. You’ll just have to get your box and open it up to find out whom they are.

The Great Game Hunters translated very well. And the Twilight Cloak, its hands are armor kit compatible so you can add whatever weapons you like to em. And the Scribe! The Scribe is intense! It came out really well, although the build on it is a real process. Took our poor intern about half a day! He was working without instructions which made it a real puzzle for sure. We increased his size about 3% from the original and as promised both the scribe and the lectern lady have optional privacy fabric.

The plastic scribe is amazing. I am just glad we have instructions for it now.

Dung Beetle Knight Upgrade!
The DBK has received a lot of love from yours truly. Everyone here had to pry the project away from me as I was simply pouring too much into it. I guess that’s what happens when you have a personal favorite. Dung Beetles are just soooo cool! They are like the little try hard of insects, watching videos of them struggle made me think of myself. Working so hard to just get my ball of poop from one side of the yard to the other. Ah.

Anyway, the fight with this monster is nuts. It will totally stuff you inside the ball, then blast it across the board leaving your friends with the difficult choice of either saving you, or attacking it while they are separated. Included is an Errant Badge that nets you one of the 3 random knight tactics cards ( a theme that is carried across the other expansion knights) and if you meet the right conditions you can bury gear for a few years, to later unbury it and access its more powerful calcified side! It’s a pretty big time and resource investment tho! And naturally you can always fail.

Here is the teaser! Next week it’s off to editing and then can be added to the DONE pile. Yeah we actually have that now.

Manning Up
There is actually some content I had prepared that I have cut for today. The reason for this, is that I have decided that every other wednesday I will post an update. I’ll wake up that morning, check in with the crew, then dedicate the morning to you. You have show me nothing but astounding amounts of patience, respect and kindness. The slew of encouraging emails I get from you backers, even when I haven’t posted an update for what… 9 weeks?! Is just too flattering to handle anymore. The real reason I delay updates, isn’t because of the amount of work that goes into it. Its because I have to switch gears and go from art directing / game writing / factory yelling / day dreaming and suddenly… gulp… communicate to thousands of people! Its really tough!

But, that’s enough whining about it. Every other Wednesday morning. I am yours. Even if there has been no signifigant factory progress I’ll just fill you in on whats been going on at our internal studio. I might, might turns these smaller things into blog posts, unto which I will notify everyone about. I don’t want to just flood the kickstarter with anything but serious milestones. We shall see.

Regardless of it being a blog post or an update. I will create it and I will notify you. That time will become SACRED BACKER TIME.

P.S. The game is amazing. We just went through a round of interviewing more play testers (yes more!) and they were blown away. And throughout the day I can hear the cries of triumph and defeat from the various play test areas. It is exciting!

I know our factory is doing a stellar job. And I am so thrilled to stand behind the plastic we’ve produced together. But let me go on the official record and say that WE (me and you) REALLY NEED THEM TO HURRY IT UP!

CUT THOSE TOOLS! INJECT THAT PLASTIC!

GO GO GO GO GO GO !!!!!!!!!!

P.P.S

Omg, I almost forgot about that thing everyone was asking for!!!! The production list! AUHG! All new entires are in blue. Yeah.. the core game crew by another full tool. Ugh. I don’t know how we are going to afford producing these outside of the kickstarter. You backers are fine of course. It’s just the future stuff. Hehe. Too much ambition.

Too much want!

http://www.maniacworld.com/too-much-want.jpg

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, for the sake of speed I didn’t spell check or copy edit this or anything. Anna is going to yell at me soon as she finishes reading it.