Starlight has Shipped!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 07, 2023 at 01:03:28 PM

Which will not come as news to many of you, who have already received your copies.

Thank you all very much for your support and reports back, we couldn't have done it without you!

If you have gameplay questions or spot any typos, production problems etc. please feel free to drop us a comment or message. All feedback will feed into a second edition printing. 

As a bonus, here's one of the card designs that, due to an unfortunate mixup, we didn't get to use in the final game:

We hope you enjoy and play many games of Starlight!

Updated Box Prints Have Arrived.
over 2 years ago – Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 04:24:42 AM

...and these are much better in all ways*: crisp, clear and colourful. Not sure how the previous mixup happened, as poster-print wasn't even an available option, but it's now all cleared up.

We now need to check sizing, make up templates, construct the finished boxes, pack and check all the bits are present,  wrap, label and post them.  We are expecting to start dispatching copies next week, beginning with our higher tier and VIP backers. 

We have made a up a confirmatory copy to check there are no more print issues, and it's looking great: 

 *Except water resistance, of course.

Boxes have arrived!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 01:41:40 AM

Our plain game boxes arrived yesterday! These are substantial rigid boxes with a lovely, space-invoking matte-black recycled paper coating*. 

The sharp-eyed among you will note however that they don't have any of the usual information you might expect on a box (barcodes, title, information, pictures etc.). This is because that is all printed on separate, large paper sheets, then wrapped around the lid and base. There are ways to combine the print and box in one step, but that only works for fairly flimsy, flat-packed boxes and these are chunky, proper game boxes.  

The box cover sheets have also arrived! But unfortunately, due to some mixup at the printers, they have baffling received an exciting waterproof laminate coating. This makes them highly suitable for outdoor display as posters, or perhaps if you were playing on the Flood Worlds of Q'Snyk, but doesn't work well for normal Earth conditions**.   

Here's one:

The coating also gives it some unpleasant horizontal banding, speckling and blur***. All of which means that we've had to send these back to the printers for another go, as these are unacceptable. They're pretty quick at turning things around, but unfortunately we're now not expecting any reprints until next week. Fingers crossed that the next batch is OK, otherwise we'll have to switch to plan B**** with a slightly modified design.

So our new target is to try and send these out next week. This is literally the very last component we need now, but as it's the thing that you'll see on your shelf for (hopefully) years we want it to look good.

Thanks for your patience, and we can't wait to get the finished product into your hands!

*The mailer sleeves (technically 'Book Wraps') are also here as seen on the right in the picture where one seems to be eating a box. They arrived on Tuesday, but 'Mailers are here!' would have made a really dull update.

** Well, normal human-inhabited Earth conditions. It'd work well for the 70% of Earth that's also covered in water.

*** That barcode is practically unreadable, which rather defeats the point. Not obvious from the picture, but it's also unpleasant to touch and it smells bad.

**** Actually about Plan M or so. Boxes are the absolute bane of short print-run game manufacturing. They are by far the most expensive component to produce, you usually don't get a preview of what the finished item will be like, and when you delve into them in detail you find all kinds of weird limitations. 

Things Are Coming Together!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 09, 2023 at 08:39:47 AM

Hi All, 

As a follow up to my status answer the other day I can now report that the last major items for the actual game arrived with us from the printers on Friday!  We can't dispatch them quite yet as we don't have the game boxes or the mailers to post them in, which are expected next week.  

Here are some pictures. I've taken some components out and arranged them artfully, as this is more visually appealing than a photo of a stack of cardboard boxes.  Fingers crossed that we can start sending them out within the week. 

The box shown here is the same size as the final box, but is an unfinished prototype. 

Looks like it's going to be an action-packed week ahead!

And that's a Wrap!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, May 11, 2023 at 12:49:53 PM

Thank You, Everyone!

Thank you all very much for supporting us, we couldn't do this without your support.

Next Steps

There's a short hiatus while Kickstarter collects everyone's pledges and passes them on to us, but we can spend the time preparing our production orders for the non-custom components.

We will also be sending out surveys to higher-tier backers shortly to find out what they would like to put on the cards, and which card they'd prefer to appear on*.

Once everything is gathered and we get the custom production quotes we can put out the orders. 

We will keep you all posted on progress and expected dates.

Upgrades Still Available!

There's still a chance to upgrade any pledges, get your friends signed up or order multiple extra copies using our Backerkit pre-order shop. 

There are still some customisation options available too, but only for the next couple of weeks.

Once again, thank you all for supporting our little indie games company! 

*Along with some backup options in case someone has beaten you to your top choice. Earlier backers win preference clashes. Luckily on Llama Farmer all our backers had a different favourite, so everyone got their top choice.