Latest Generally Good News
over 2 years ago – Mon, Oct 04, 2021 at 06:51:50 PM

The Story So Far

As many of you are aware, this is my first self-promoted Kickstarter project, and it has been a crazy ride. Notwithstanding the complexities of coordinating the international effort of designing, manufacturing, shipping and distributing Zodiac War, a little thing called COVID-19 decided to join the party. As I've reported before, the pandemic has hit world logistics hard, and shipping freight costs in particular have sky rocketed. I have been actively backing projects on Kickstarter for years now and I'm officially designated a 'Superbacker' but I've never seen so many projects suffer this much from delayed manufacturing and costly and slow shipping freight. I presently have about six games I backed on Kickstarter hoping for delivery by Christmas and they are all delayed until 2022.

So What About Zodiac War?

Well, despite the desperately steep learning curve I've been climbing this year, it seems I've made some really good decisions. Somehow, by luck and judgement, Zodiac War is still on schedule. To avoid making mistakes I have chosen to work with companies and individuals who know what they are doing. I am hopeful this strategy will see us all across the finish line, on schedule, with the minimum of fuss.

Manufacturing

The manufacture of Zodiac War was completed and delivered to the Port of Ningbo on 22 September 2021 with all the necessary paperwork. Below is a neat little video of the production line in action. China has two Golden Weeks in the year... the first is Chinese New Year around the end of February, and the second is now, between 1 October and 8 October. I fortunately completed the manufacturing of Zodiac War before Golden Week, and delivered the games to the port.

Shipping

 I am dividing the worldwide distribution of Zodiac War between three renowned and competent fulfillment companies. The distribution will be handled as follows:

UK/ EU/ Europe - Spiral Galaxy. Spiral Galaxy is a UK based company specializing in the fulfillment of Kickstarter projects. They have been super helpful to me, and helped me navigate the logistics of delivering my game in Europe and particularly all the rule changes associated with Brexit and the new VAT rules. The ship destined for the UK is at berth in the Port of Ningbo as I type this. It should be heading to Europe soon, but I am not sure of the projected arrival date as the ship is still at berth.

USA/ Canada - Quartermaster Logistics. Quartermaster Logistics (QML) is the premier Kickstarter fulfillment company in the USA. I have been speaking to a few USA based companies but have decided QML can guarantee me the level of service I need to deliver the games efficiently. They are a little bit more expensive, but I've decided they are worth the investment. The palettes destined for USA were picked up from Port of Ningbo and the ship departed today (01 October 2021) and is presently heading to Shanghai. The ship is expected to arrive in New York on 31 October 2021 with a final destination of Jacksonville, Florida a few days later.

Asia/ Australia - VFI. VFI is based in China and specializes in fulfillment services in Asia and Australasia. As VFI is located in China, no sea freight is required. However, as mentioned above, it is Golden Week, so VFI will not collect the games until week commencing 08 October 2021. Due to the geographical area VFI covers I will learn more about their delivery logistics once the games have been collected.

Summary and Disclaimer

Long story short, everything is going to plan despite the hurdles the world is throwing our way. I am expecting all games to be delivered to their respective distribution centers by the beginning of November with the intent to have your games delivered to you by Christmas as always anticipated.

I should note that I have no control over shipping schedules, weather delays, labor impacts from COVID, alignments of the planets or other external factors that may influence the delivery dates... but I can say everything is going to plan so far.

Thank you for backing Zodiac War. I am excited that you should be receiving your games very soon. If you know anyone who wishes they backed the project and missed out please let me know, because I should have some games left over.

Regards

Paul Starr 

Important Payment Request
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 11:55:42 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Orders Locked
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 18, 2021 at 04:17:45 AM

This is a very brief note to confirm that I locked all orders today. The system has sent out a 48 hour notice in case you want to make any last minute changes (like buying more games, for example, or even adding sleeves, or changing your address).

I was going to charge cards today, but I will wait for the 48 hours to expire.  Cards will be charged on 18 August.

Many thanks for your patience.

Paul Starr

Ready to Charge Cards for Shipping
over 2 years ago – Fri, Aug 06, 2021 at 04:32:35 AM

Quick Update

I gave the green light to begin production of Zodiac War on 1st August 2021. The estimated production time is 35 days. Once production is complete the games will be shipped en masse to distributors. Due to COVID reshaping the world, shipping containers is unpredictable and costly at the moment. This is the biggest unknown in terms of schedule, because once the games reach the distributors the process of mailing to individual backers should be fairly quick.

Add-on Costs

Several of you have requested prior notification of when cards will be charged for shipping, add-ons and preorders. I will be locking orders and charging cards on 16 August 2021. So please make sure your billing information is correct.

Final Call for Missing Backers

We are really, really close to 100% completion of the BackerKit Survey. Of the 1,181 backers, only 8 have not fully completed their survey.  As a reminder, for your survey to be deemed complete, I need:

• Confirmation of your order (theoretically, everyone receiving this update has confirmed their order either through Kickstarter or BackerKit)
• Confirmation of your address (I am missing 5 addresses)
• Confirmation of your billing information for shipping and add-ons (I am missing info for 8 payments)

I cannot ship your game without an address and billing information.

And that's it for now. Thank you for your patience. Although this process is very exciting for me, it still takes time, I'm afraid.

Regards

Paul Starr

Production Imminent
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 06:02:46 PM

Hello backers. Surprisingly it has been a whole month since I showed you the manufacturer's sample. Where did that time go? Just to keep you all informed here's a quick update on where we are now.

Changes to Sample

Those of you who watched my unboxing video will know that although the sample looked great, I thought it needed some adjustments; and I needed to communicate some clarifications to the manufacturer. Communications with China can be laborious, and there are slight language misunderstandings coupled with the perfectly out of phase time difference of 12 hours that makes progress slow. Consequently I often have to provide visualizations of my requirements to avoid these misunderstandings and to maximize the benefits of the time difference. Also, I am an engineer, so I am focused on the detail and quality of the final product which also takes time.

Following my review of the sample I have instructed the following changes to the game components:

• The box was too big, so I have reduced the size to 12" x 12" x 2".
• I have improved the plastic insert to better store the game components including ensuring the wells will fit the complete decks without splitting the cards, stretch goals, extra devotee player boards; and each of the piece types (tokens, crystals, markers) now have their own separate compartment.
• I have brightened the color of the artwork. Printing with ink is always darker than what you see on a monitor, so I made adjustments to improve the visual appearance.
• All cards will have rounded corners, as always intended but not provided in the sample.

Production Proofs

The manufacturer addressed my comments on the sample (the full series of communications took a couple of weeks), and made a rough sample to verify their understanding by the end of June. They then started to prepare the proofs (images showing exactly what they will print and where the cut lines will be). I received the proofs on 13 July 2021. Review of the proofs showed the need for some slight adjustments to color and cut lines. I made adjustments and communicated this information today, but the manufacturer won't see my comments until Monday. I think everything is now ready for production.

Next week the manufacturer will update the proofs and I should be able to give the green light to start production. All this continues to be in accordance with the schedule I estimated in the Kickstarter.

Next Steps

The next big step is to start manufacturing, which is most definitely imminent now. I estimate production should be approved next week for a beginning of August start. Of course this would be subject to where I am in the queue. I am told that the production period is 40 days from green light.

In the meantime I need to finalize my arrangements for distribution. This means that despite me procrastinating about locking orders, I will be locking your orders and charging for shipping in the middle of August. So I am effectively giving you a month's notice. Please finalize your order, order sleeves if you want them, and verify your mailing address. You can still change you address without any limitations, but I cannot be responsible for costs if you give me the wrong address.

Some Statistics

Most of you responded to surveys about where you live and where you heard about Zodiac War. Thank you for your responses. Below are pie charts showing the results of these surveys. It is interesting that most backers first heard about Zodiac War on Kickstarter, and most backers live in North America.

Last Plea for Missing Backers

There are 10 backers who have not completed their Backerkit survey. That's not bad considering we have over 1000 backers who have completed their surveys. These are backers who have paid for the game but have not paid for the shipping. Please contact me if you have lost your survey. I will be shipping any games that do not have shipping costs pre-paid to my home in Tampa, and will have to charge shipping at a higher rate than that offered in my campaign to another address, which will be particularly costly to non-USA backers.

As ever, thank you for your patience. We are getting close now.

Regards

Paul