Out of the Woods (Fairy Tale Card Game and Book)

Show the world your pickle!
over 6 years ago – Sat, Sep 16, 2017 at 12:09:13 AM

Morning Woodies

Who here enjoyed all the awesomely cute art that Jennifer D'aww did for our marketing campaigns?  We here at OOTW HQ central certainly did.  :)

We enjoyed it so much, and heard from you guys that you loved Pickle Wolf so much, that he gets to be the star of his very own T-Shirts.

If you like what you see, you can show the world your support for OOTW, Pickles and Wolves RIGHT NOW.  No need to wait.  They're available for purchase at this very moment.   :)
Available in various colours and sizes.

Head on over to American's Mysterious Shop and take a look.

Big hugs from American, Martin and Lulu (and Pickle Wolf)

- Cheers

3 Rough Sketches
over 6 years ago – Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 12:47:19 AM

Dear Woodies

Here's 3 more pieces of initial line art to whet your appetites for OOTW    :)

Enjoy....

Also, please add your email address to THIS LINK if you'd like to support the idea of Alice 3 getting made, and also subscribe to American's YouTube channel to show more support for Alice 3 and to join in all the fun we have with live-streams   :D

Big hugs from American, Martin and Lulu.

- Cheers

New art + YouTube + Alice 3 = Awesome
over 6 years ago – Fri, Sep 08, 2017 at 01:28:41 AM

Greetings People of the Woods

Here we are again with a delicious update for all you fans out there.

Let's not waste any time and get right into it. So here we go.....

ART!

2 brand new black and white sketches
1 Rough colour
2 Final colours

We think you'll be just as impressed with them as we were   :)

 As ever, we'd love to hear what you think about what you're seeing and hear your suggestions and opinions!

YouTube!

Please make sure you're following our live-streams that we do every Wednesday at 9:30am (Shanghai Time) over on American McGee's YouTube Page.
(If you can't catch them live, don't worry, they're available for viewing later)

Here we talk about what's happening in the world of OOTW production and we even do live art reviews from the new images we receive.
Not only that, you get to directly ask us questions in the live chat and also watch as American dies repeatedly in whatever game we're streaming at the time (although we're currently doing a lot of Alice: Madness Returns)

So be sure to hit that SUBSCRIBE button over on American's channel for alerts and to just join in all the raucous fun.

 

Alice 3!

As you may or may not have heard by now, we are also in the process of putting together a proposal for Alice 3 to send off to EA.
Part of doing this entails showing off how much support the project has.

If you also want to show your support for getting a brand new Alice game off the ground, please click THIS LINK, and pop your email address into our Alice 3 support list.  Every little helps  :)

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One final note is for all of you to check your email inboxes and spam folders for the Backerkit survey mail.
This should now have been sent out to all backers and we need you all to fill in your details, and maybe even add to your pledges if you like  ;)
You have until December to finalise your pledge and backing, then the system will be locked down and final.

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Hugs and Shanghai Snuggles from American, Martin and Lulu.

- Cheers

Shipping Things Costs Money
over 6 years ago – Thu, Sep 07, 2017 at 01:24:36 AM

People of the Woods, 

After seeing repeated comments, messages, and complaints on Kickstarter and via BackerKit regarding shipping costs on the neoprene play mat I feel compelled to write a detailed explanation. I did outline the why/how of the $10 neoprene mat shipping fee in a comment response on the project's main page, but that seems to be lost in the fog of time. So...

Here's the original comment reply: 

@Dominic - Here's a link to the HK Post website where you can calculate shipping fees. http://www.hongkongpost.hk/en/postage_calculator/ Sending a 500g tube from HK to UK is $9.26USD (7.15GBP). We're charging a flat fee of $10USD to all locations in the world and assume shipping costs will increase to some degree by the time we start sending out these items. At the same time, we've priced the mat itself at $5USD, which is essentially our cost. We're doing this to honor our backers and those who support the project prior to when we start shipping physical rewards. 

Scientific Inspection Time With Lulu

To help put this topic to rest I asked Lulu to weigh the 53cm x 53cm neoprene play mat and the shipping tube. The resulting weight is 634grrrrrrr. That's about equal to 634g.

In my comment response I suggested you could use the Hong Kong Post shipping calculator to get a sense of what something like this would cost to send from Asia to Europe or the United States. For example it's $10.59 (82.9HKD) to the UK.

But our true shipping cost derive from a process of picking-packing-shipping which also includes a shipping-packing material cost (tube, bubble wrap, labels, etc). We're going with a logistics company called Chinadivision who I've been using to fulfill some of the orders which go through Mysterious. They provide competitive prices and services and we're pretty happy with them.

Here are the price quote sheets they sent us earlier in the year upon which we've built our shipping cost model. 

You'll see in both instances the actual shipping cost for a 630g item going to the UK or US is more than the $10 we're charging. That's why I said in my original reply we're supplying the mat/shipping at cost - because the combo of manufacturing and shipping will average out to $15 per mat. We're charging $5 for the mat + $10 for shipping. $15.

I can't make this cheaper. It's just the reality of making stuff and sending that stuff around the world.

Someone also asked, "Was wondering if it might be cheaper to just send all things in one package?" The answer is "yes and no" but mostly "no." Because the "packet" method we're using has an upper weight limit of 1000g. If we try to stick a mat together with a game it'll go over 1000g in total weight - and that's ignoring the fact we can't jam a card game into the same tube we're using to send the mats. We've discussed this idea with relation to other order configurations and had several logistics companies tell us it's easier, safer, and cheaper just to ship items individually. 

Shipping costs and details aside, $15USD for a play mat shipped anywhere in the world is cheap. Compare our cost to a mat sent from Inked Gaming to either Hong Kong or the UK: 

So there you have it! Excruciating details provided by Lulu, the world's cutest Shipping Inspector General :) 

I hope everyone will understand we've tried to keep shipping costs simple and to price things as near to our actual costs as possible. We priced the neoprene mat aggressively in your favor by way of saying "Thank You" for all the love and support.

VAT and EU Shipping

On a side note related to shipping - Chinadivision have said they'll mark and price all packages going to the EU in such a way as to avoid customs and VAT. But what they're doing doesn't 100% guarantee your package won't be stopped, inspected, and hit with an import fee. We send stuff from Mysterious to the EU all the time and 99% of our packages go through without additional fees. That's about as close as I can get to saying we're "EU friendly" - and I hope that works for all of you on that side of the world!

A side note on the side note: Someone pointed out that my stating we're going to get around VAT could be searched/found by EU officials and get us in trouble. I responded: Thing is, we don't know just yet exactly how this is going to work. I am exploring various options - including working with a specialized shipping company out of Hong Kong to go through the FTZ and legally get past VAT/customs. So... to any EU officials reading this - we're doing our best to remain in line with the laws while also (legally) reducing these costs to our customers. Hope that all makes sense :)

From Shanghai with 630 Grrrrrrs,

American & Lulu :) 

Backerkit Update - Smoke Test
over 6 years ago – Sat, Sep 02, 2017 at 01:25:31 AM

Morning Woodies!

It's 8AM here in Shanghai and I've just finalized Backerkit details and hit "launch" on a 200-backer smoke test. That means a randomly selected group of you will receive surveys from Backerkit. Yay! 

A smoke test verifies we've got everything properly set up. If you're in the selected group and run into anything confusing or broken, please let me know ASAP via direct message or in the comment below.

Once we're certain everything's working as expected I'll launch the survey to the remaining 95% of backers. I expect that to happen in 48~72 hours (early next week). 

If you did not receive a survey today, don't worry! That just means you aren't in the 5% (200-backer) group. But I still think you're very special. 

What is Backerkit? It's the platform we're using to collect your reward info, provide a place for additional purchases (if you want more card games or to add a neoprene playmat), and to maintain your shipping details. Backerkit makes it easy for you to manage all this information all the way until the scheduled cut-off date (around December 2017). That means if you need to adjust your pledge or update your shipping address you can do so easily. 

This marks another significant milestone in our journey. I'm so happy to have you all along! And hope you're happy with the progress we've made thus far. If there's anything you'd like to see us improve by way of communication or process, let us know in the comments below. 

Also, remember to join our weekly live streams where you can chat with us live. Those happen over on my YouTube Channel. 

From Shanghai with Pickles, 

-American, Martin, and Lulu (who says, "Hurry up, I need to go outside!")