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

Standard Box Update (with Pics)
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 01:57:05 AM

Greetings woodies

As promised, here is an update now we have received some pics from the factory.
(Apologies for the image quality, this is how they came to us)

As you can see, at first glance, everything looks great. Especially the external parts of the box.  But when you get to the inside, even with this picture quality, we spotted a few things we're not happy with and we also think you will not be happy with too in a final product.

1) The white inside the box.
As you can see in this image, the internal 'sticker' that goes inside the box does not reach the bottom of the card containing section. It should.

2) Offset Internals
In this images, you can clearly see the main internal art does not line up at all, with a large empty space to the left and the spine very obviously off to the right.
Also, it might be the blurry image, but it also looks like the instructions pocket is attached at a slight angle.

3) Paper stock too heavy?
Very blurry pic, but it looks like there's 'cracking' when the instructions are folded.
Not only that but it looks like when the instructions are folded, they're simply too fat.
We have asked for more clarification on this due to the image quality.

Yes, it's very disappointing to find out that a 2nd prototype is needed, and that will again add some extra time to the delivery date.
But we also think you'll agree with us that the issues outlined above are simply things we cannot let go when we're dedicated to making this product the best it can be.

So where are we currently at?
Within an hour of these pics being delivered to us, we fired off an email back to the production guys essentially asking 2 very important questions.
* Can those issues be fixed?  (Actually these look like relatively easy fixes, simply resizing and re-positioning the internal pieces)
* Considering you have now made 1 box, how fast can a 2nd fixed prototype be made because we really need everything doing ASAP.

We're still awaiting the answer and will write another update as soon as it comes in.

From Shanghai with hugs from American, Martin and Lulu.

- Cheers

Production Update
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 02:35:20 AM

Dear Woodies,

We've recently and vigorously poked the guys over at AdMagic asking them to please provide us with SOMETHING we could tell our Kickstarter backers. After several weeks of "we're waiting for a response from the factory," we finally got something... 

Here's the short but sweet reply (about the standard game box production):

"The plant got back to me and advised that your sample should go out around July 25th. Photos will be sent beforehand."

So there we have it.  
Direct from the horse's mouth as they say.
The sample is almost done and pics should be with us within the week.

Based on this info, let's make some future predictions.
July 25, Sample sent out. 
Should probably arrive with us in Shanghai by August 3rd.
And assuming the sample is great and the factory can start straight away, we have also been told that production should take an estimated 35 days. Let's say 40.
So production finished by around September 12th.
The games now get sent from the factory to the distribution centre (sending stuff from within China to within China is usually VERY fast, but hell, let's predict 1 week as an excessive guess.
This puts us at September 19th, and even adding another 1 week for unforeseen issues still puts us at shipping within September.

We hope everything runs as smoothly and quickly as it was just outlined.
(it is worth nothing that there IS a national Holiday in China from Oct 1st to Oct 7th and that could potentially affect things in case of extra slippage)

As mentioned at the top of the post, there are pics coming soon and we'll post something as soon as we have it.  :)

We do genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding. The final stretch of getting the game (cards and boxes) intro production has taken a LOT longer than we ever could have predicted - even using 'worst case scenario' type thinking. When we're done (and shipping) we'll write a timeline post-mortem laying out the process, where it went wrong, and how we could avoid those slips in the future. 

We'll be back soon with photos of the game box prototype and updated shipping info based on review of the prototype!

- Roasting hot Shanghai hugs from American, Martin and Lulu.

Shenzhen bound !!!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 26, 2018 at 02:16:06 AM

Dear Woodies

We hope you're all doing great and navigating the woods of life as well as you can   :)

We have a couple of bits of info to share with you as we're approaching the finish line of the OOTW project.

Firstly, we have given the factory the go ahead to make the production prototype of the game now.
There was a potential 2 week delay as we were asked if we'd like to see "Sheet Proofs" however after talking to the factory about what exactly would be the point in seeing them, we decided to forego that step.

Simply put, if we get the proofs and then make a prototype, this is adding extra time than if they just make a prototype and get it right on the first go.
Worst case scenario is that the prototype is not good and they have to make a 2nd one and then that's not taken any longer to do than if we'd asked for the proofs anyway.
I hope I explained that clearly  :D

Secondly, we plan to take a trip down to Shenzhen at the beginning of July and personally run through the packing process with the shipping company to...
A) Try and ship the books faster
B) Make sure everything is well protected as it's travelling around the world to you.

Seriously, we want the OOTW game/books to arrive to you in as pristine a condition as possible. Although we cannot control how rough your postman is, we can do our best to give the items the best protection possible   :)

(I'm sure we'll take pics and vids to document the journey for y'all)

And for those of you who didn't see recent updates and comments, we're trying our best to have September shipping on the final product.
Apologies for the lengthy delay.  We really misjudged how long the 'back and forth' between various parties takes as well as other factors (such as prototyping).
Sorry again   :(

Ummm.... we don't really have any art or new pics to show off, but I guess I should add something to stop this just being a wall of text.

Here, have a creepy piece of art from our current Alice Asylum endeavours over on Patreon   :)

 From a sweltering Shanghai, with sweaty hugs from American, Martin and Lulu.

- Cheers

Shipping Books? + Patreon Stuff
almost 6 years ago – Sun, Jun 17, 2018 at 02:13:11 AM

Dear Woodies  

As you might know, pretty much everything is made and manufactured except for the games, so we're going to look into sending out all the books and play-mats and scarves and posters etc..  early to those people who aren't waiting on a game.

Soooooo, please take this time to check your Backerkit account and your inboxes to make sure that everything is filled in and all your addresses are right and you haven't missed any important emails. ;)

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In other news.

If you're interested in supporting our other endeavour to bring Alice 3 to life, consider supporting our Patreon.

Recently for hitting 1000 patrons, we made embroidered patches.
Although you can no longer get the patches on Patreon (since the goal was hit months ago), you can get them over on the Mysterious shop.
(Hurry, only about 180 left)

 ------

The next Patreon goal for hitting 2000 patrons is the Chaos Coin.
Those people at the $35 and above level on the month we hit 2000 patrons will get a Chaos Coin sent to them AND they also get their name in Alice Asylum as part of the coin collecting feature.
To learn more about this awesome item and also how to 'hack' our Patreon to get the coin in the cheapest/best way possible, please CLICK HERE !

- Big warm summery Shanghai hugs from American, Martin and Lulu.

Pallets of Goodness
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 11:58:32 PM

Dear Woodies, 

We thought you'd like this... 

That's one of three pallets which just arrived with our shipping partner in Shenzhen. This shipment contains all of the Illustrated Books and Coloring Books. Designed, printed, and delivered!  Amazing!

Look what your support has accomplished! THANK YOU :) 

The factory is making the Card Game production sample as we speak and it should be delivered to us in a few weeks. Once that's approved we can start production on the games and should have those in Shenzhen about two months later. 

In case you missed it here's a LINK to the recent YouTube live stream where we discussed Out of the Woods production and shipping in great detail. Please take a listen - lots of info in there. Consider it a sort of Video FAQ ;) 

Now that the books are in hand we'll look at shipping to backers who only selected the book(s) as their backer reward. We cannot split the delivery if you ordered book(s) + game as this would significantly increase shipping costs. Expect an update on this topic once I get back to Shanghai (next week).

From Dallas with Yee-Haw, 

-American