Carts, Horses, Carraiges
over 9 years ago – Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 05:21:35 PM

After going back and forth a few times on how we wanted this to work, we've got for you what we believe is the 'perfect' single sheet that appeals to virtually every tabletop GM / enthusiast out there:

By adding this 1 sheet to your repertoire of tabletop gaming goodies, you can instantly cut out and drop onto the table a full cart with 1, 2 or 4 horses, cut the horses off to have a SLEW of individual horses which your pieces can stand on top of for mounted combat, and plenty of extra carts so you can make a version with and without horses attached. This gives you an incredibly amount of variety, and of course by flipping the carts you can represent different types (loaded, unloaded, covered, inside view, etc).

I believe everyone will appreciate and get use out of this as a game aid, and of course since it's printed onto transparent plastic, you can dry erase cross bars if you wish, and since the space between the horses and carriages are clear, you can place these carts on any map or landscape without ruining the aesthetic or grid underneath.

The sheet has been added to our current Backerkit for Clear Map Grids, in the "Objects" section, and is labelled CMG-OCA100

Backerkit updated with Furniture, Wilderness Objects
over 9 years ago – Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 02:08:42 PM

Backerkit updated with Furniture, Wilderness Objects

Not a whole lot to say, but there are now 4 more listings in the Backerkit list;

Home Furnishings, Dungeon Furnishings, Tavern/Inn Furnishings, and Wilderness Objects.

Spell Effect Textures, Backerkit
over 9 years ago – Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 02:15:57 AM

Backerkit will be submitted to go live sometime tonight, as soon as I finish adding 105 new items for the Spell Effect pages. Backerkit themselves will then take a day or two to review everything, and since I'll be out of town, I'm planning on it going live Monday when I get back to push the button.

Some things you need to know : 

1> I've created an icon and marketplace item for all 7 versions of each 'type' of effect. The first one will be the "full sheet" of that effect, followed by 6 layouts. The layouts are 100% finished, and you can see in the icon how they will look.

The full sheets are NOT 100% final.

I've created an icon using the base texture, but there will be final edits to it's transparency, extra effects and such, so that each full texture PRINTS as good as we can make it print. The icon will generally represent the texture, but results for the full textures may vary. If you'd like to wait and see prototypes, by all means delay your backerkit submission. If you trust us to make it 'awesome', by all means add them to your cart and finish your order, and we'll start producing.

They WILL be awesome, but we're making no promises to how transparent they end up being, and what other affects we end up applying to make them look as good as we can.

2> Here is a style sheet for your convenience. It's on white so you can clearly see what is what, but you should refer to the larger marketplace icons for a better example of how they will actually look.

We currently have 15 spell effect types, and 7 versions of each pattern, for a grand total of 105 different spell effect pages. While we have more art conceptually finished, and we could sit here and make 50 more patterns for EACH spell effect, we've decided that this is all we're going to do for THIS CAMPAIGN. Our initial pitch was to focus on something we can produce rather quickly, and we wanted to start producing it 60 days later. Since spell effects are an endless opportunity for more more more more art, we've gotta stop somewhere. You'll notice that several of the things we know we 'want' to make didn't make this initial cut (like webs). Remember that we're planning a followup 'spell effects' kickstarter, where we can develop even more stuff, and with your feedback from this campaign. So if you want more, it's coming, but not right now.

Spell Effect Layouts

Each spell effect style comes in 7 different layouts. These are labeled 100-106, and are as follows:

CMG-SXX100 (Full Sheet) - Full sheets are a full pattern over the entire sheet, so you can cut out ANY spell effect shape you want in the given element. These sheets are easily cut with any strong scissors, and this is the ideal way to get exactly what you want.

CMG-SXX101 (Geometric) - Geometric sheets have circles, arcs and rectangles, with all measurements displayed in the corner of the icon.

CMG-SXX102 (Circles and Cones) - Circles and Cones have circles and cones, with all measurements displayed in the corner of the icon.

CMG-SXX103 (Hex Assortment) - Typical AOE shapes with a hex design, all measurements displayed in the corner of the icon.

CMG-SXX104 (Circle Assortment) - Various circles and radi, all measurements displayed in the corner of the icon.

CMG-SXX105 (Classics Assortment 1) - Various shapes from classic RPG spell effect patterns, all measurements displayed in the corner of the icon.

CMG-SXX106 (Classics Assortment 2) - Various shapes from classic RPG spell effect patterns, all measurements displayed in the corner of the icon.

And here's some assorted additional icons, so you can see a better look at all 15 patterns (all of these icons are in the marketplace as well).

Furniture, Carriages, and other Object sheets

Lastly, additional sheets such as Furniture, are still being worked on. Not many, maybe 4-6 extra pages with furniture, carts, and other top-down items.

Here's an example : 

 If these interest you, we'll be adding them to the Backerkit marketplace as they're ready. If you think you want them, simply wait, and fill out backerkit later. I'll post another update once EVERYTHING we plan to add is finished, but we don't want to hold up the backerkit any longer for these.

If these don't interest you, you can fill out your backerkit as soon as you get your survey.

Backerkit - 8+ Sheet discount and new Spell Effects
over 9 years ago – Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 08:23:13 PM

Backerkit Changes

We've promised from day 1 if you had 8+ sheets, you would be able to get ALL of your clear map grids, spell effect sheets, template sheets, and basically anything else produced in our transparent plastic at $9 a sheet instead of $10 a sheet.

We're absolutely honoring this, but backerkit is unable to automate this change, giving us some limited choices.

Solution 1 is to duplicate EVERY item in the system, toggle their visibility so only backers in the 8+ tier can see them, and make the new (fake) items at $9, which also screws with our item counts. Additionally, backers who are in the 4+ tier, and ultimately GET 8+ sheets never receive the discount unless they back out of the marketplace and upgrade their "pledge" to 8+, and then repurchase the new duplicated items. This is a messy solution. We've decided we do not want to do this.

The second solution is far simpler, but requires communication and trust.

In backerkit, I have the power to create 'complimentary credit'. I can use segments to determine which backers have purchased what. I can apply the discount to every backer ordering 8+ sheets - but when you're actually selecting the sheets you want to purchase, confirming your order, and even putting in your credit card information (when applicable) you will still see $10 a sheet.

I will be applying the discount after I lock the orders, and before I charge your credit card.

The most difficult part of this will be communicating clearly to all of you that this is happening; that we're keeping our campaign promises, that the sheets are 'supposed' to be $9 each, but we have no other means of making that a reality in the system. They ARE $9 a sheet, even though you're confirming a final price that is not correct.

To make this as smooth a process as possible, I'm posting this update, I'm going to mention it in the comments, I'm going to be sending it as a private note to all backers already in the 8+ sheet range

AND

When you log into backerkit to make your selections, there will be a nice big survey question re-explaining all of this, and confirming our promise to give a complimentary discount to all backers getting 8+ sheets. So, everyone will ultimately see it, I just hope as few of you as possible will be "surprised" by it.

New Spell Effect samples

Here's some new icons for various spell effects which Philip is currently creating.

Catalog is underway, with 61 styles
over 9 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 11:13:41 PM

Backerkit isn't ready yet, there's a lot of icons yet to make. The first 61 Clear Mag Grid offerings are done however, which will probably cover almost everyone's needs on the 'grid' side of things.

I've compiled the marketplace icons into a .pdf listing, which you can browse at your earliest convenience : 

http://www.arcknight.com/cmg/cmg_catalog.pdf

There's just far too many of them to post images of them all here in the update. Keep in mind, inside backerkit ALL of the offerings will have full icons, so you'll know that you're selecting the right items.

We're currently making similar icons for the rest of the templates, objects, and spell textures as well.