Vampire Hunters

Backer Questions
over 7 years ago – Sun, Feb 05, 2017 at 11:58:04 PM

Hello Backers!

We’re still beating our two week commitment – today we have some great news to share.

Even though miniature production is a long complex process with many steps, we can announce an important milestone for the project, but we have to be very careful how we say it: we have taken the first steps in miniature production! Let me explain what has happened already:

• We have sent final 3D digital models of all the miniatures to Ludofact.

• Ludofact has started to process these digital models to get them ready for their system.

• Ludofact has sent us 3D printed prototypes of some miniatures for inspection.

• We have approved the 3D printed prototypes.

• Ludofact has started to optimise the layout of the miniatures in the steel molds. Fewer molds would be better.

Making the steel molds is by far the slowest step in this whole process, so you can see we are really in the early stages of this task. But it’s great news that a small part of production has started.

We can show you the prototypes. Don’t forget these are not production minis. They are created with 3D printers using different plastic, so it really is quite different. But these are representative of the final quality and allow us to see what Ludofact can do with our sculpts. We are really pleased with the quality and it was an easy decision to go ahead with the manufacturing.

We have prototypes of Alexey from the East European Priest set and two Vampires, the Elder Evaki and a Warrior. This first picture shows them together for scale - you can see the bulk of Alexey’s armor and the impressive size of Evaki.

The close up pictures show more detail. A picture paints a thousand works, so we’ll let you look and see for yourselves.

We have two other prototypes, but they were broken in the mail. They still allow us to see the detail, but we do not want to show them here, for obvious reasons.

On a different topic, we had two good backer questions that we would like to answer publicly, so that you all have as much information as possible when you complete your pledge in the Pledge Manager.

What are the translation plans?

Our translation plans have not changed significantly since they were announced during the campaign. We will be supporting four other languages (German, French, Spanish and Italian). We will translate the rule book and scenario booklet for all expansions. This will be provided as a PDF download that will be released at roughly the same time as the game is delivered. These will be formatted like the English documents, with the images and graphical backgrounds – they will not be plain text documents. We will enlist the help of many people to do the translation, including enthusiastic backers (thank you all!), and we will show drafts and include a round of editing with backer feedback and corrections.

Note that other game materials, for example card text, will not be translated.

Will all expansions be available at retail?

Obviously, we want to go to retail. However, we are totally focused on fulfilling backer rewards at the moment and we have not started looking for a distributor. Finding the right company for an important long term relationship is not a quick task. We may even need several distributors, if we have different distributors for different regions.

A distributor will form a relationship with us, meaning they will be involved in some of the decisions, including which products are marketed heavily, the release schedule and the regions we enter. Since we don’t even have a short list of distributors, it’s much too early to answer this question. We do not want to twist your arm, but the only guarantee we can make is that you can get these products now.

Please note that this is related to the first question. It is often the distributor that organises the full translation of the game into different languages. If you are wondering if it is better to wait for a complete translation of the game, with printed rule books and translated cards, all we can say is, again, we have no idea what the distributor will choose to translate, if anything. The only thing we can say for certain right now, is that any retail distributor will not translate and distribute the KS exclusive material that is part of this Kickstarter.

We are entering information into the Pledge Manager and the testing is going well. At the moment we are waiting for the size and weight for each individual component, which is used by the PM to calculate shipping charges. We should be able to enter this information quickly, once we get it.

Good Hunting!

More Minis and the Pledge Manager
over 7 years ago – Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 08:49:29 PM

Hello Backers!

We have lots to tell you, so you’ll be getting frequent updates for a little while, and then we will settle into a more regular schedule. Today, we have pictures of the minis that you have not seen and we’ll talk about the Pledge Manager in more detail.

With your enthusiastic support, we added more content to this project than we could have possibly expected. Towards the end of the project, we even had to use concept art for some miniatures. What an amazing result! We have now tweaked and finalised the sculpts for all our miniatures, so we will show you the last four sculpts.

Here is Henry, a Hunter for whom the Turned Hunter cure failed to work completely. He will be the most distinctive looking Hunter in the Order and we hope the painters out there have fun with unique colour schemes for him.

Vibora and the 6 Jararacas added more female Vampires to the mix. They look suitably horrific and Culebra, Vibora’s snake companion, looks particularly powerful.

 Don’t forget the Jararacas are minions: there will be six in the box.

Finally, a personal favorite of mine, Marku. Mini is not the right word, as he is about 60mm or 2.5 inches tall. You can see we have reworked his lower half. Although it is less distinctive than the “Skull Skirt”, the robes are less distracting from his face, which should be the center of attention. I really like the final result. Marku was not unlocked in the regular campaign, but we’re letting Late Pledges and Pledge Manager contributions add to the final total. To be honest, we are almost there already, and we really expect you’ll be getting one more mini!

We have also been working on the Pledge Manager. Here’s a brief description of the Pledge Manager for backers who are new to Kickstarter. Pledge Manager software is commonly used after a Kickstarter campaign ends to allow backers to complete their pledge:

• Enter a shipping address.  
• Select the actual optional buys you want.  
• Add funds for additional optional buys, if you so wish.  
• Add funds to cover the shipping, which is calculated by the Pledge Manager based on the size and weight of your selections and your location.  
• Review all options and confirm your pledge is correct.

This process starts with us sending all backers a personal invite to the Pledge Manager via e-mail. We will post a clear update just before this happens so that you can make sure to get the invite. Sometimes, these bulk mailouts are treated as spam by your e-mail tools and hidden from you, so you might need to check your “junk” folder.

We are using backerkit to create the Pledge Manager. Quite a lot of work has to be done and we want to check it very carefully before we send it out. The current plan is to send out it in February, but we’ll start sending invites as soon as the PM is ready. We think it will be open for about 3 weeks.

We will check the comments and try to answer common questions about the project before the PM closes. We want you all to make informed decisions. We will describe the translation plans in the next update.

Good Hunting!

NEW DAWN
over 7 years ago – Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 09:37:50 PM

Hello Backers!

With your support, we ran a wonderful Kickstarter campaign and we have been working hard to turn that support into a great game. The work is going well and we will share our progress here and in the next few updates.

However, we want to start this update by saying we want to improve communication. While we have had our heads down working hard, we have not communicated with you as effectively as we did during the campaign. Today marks the turning point and we will focus on being better. We want to share some recent changes that we have made that will make us more effective.

Here at DGG we have created two internal teams to help focus on two very different tasks:

Games development, including rules, art, and miniature creation. Think of this team as creating everything that is sent to manufacturing. This team will be managing these Kickstarter updates too, so we can show you the new material as it becomes ready.

Game manufacturing and delivery. These logistical tasks are very different from game design, requiring different skills and knowledge. However, they are no less important.

This change will help everyone be more concentrated on important tasks. We will be able to operate a little faster, with fewer people attending every meeting and being involved in every decision. Both teams are totally focused on Vampire Hunters and are not working on new projects. We will not take on anything new for quite some time.

Another change is to bring back the contractors you first met during the Kickstarter, Tony and Tracey. As you will soon see, much of our recent focus has been on the art and now that we are focusing on polishing the rules and cards, we need them back. They will also be here on Kickstarter, writing updates and comments.

Let’s take a moment to clarify our previous update. We can tell from the comments that the crossover with Archon was poorly explained. Archon will be using the name and likeness of Kophas in their new game Vanguard of War. Archon will be sculpting a version of Kophas that fits their game and producing it themselves. Beyond the use of our character, there is no overlap with Vampire Hunters. This is a separate game system that does not integrate with VH in any way.

This collaboration will not draw any DGG resources away from Vampire Hunters. Also, we are not approaching them for any help with Vampire Hunters production; the two projects are completely separate.

For us, this is an important moment and we are sorry we did not stress this before. This is the first time another games company has approached us to use our game content. Kophas does not just appear in their game, but he is the main character in an expansion. We think this is a great compliment and is confirmation that we are creating strong characters and great art in Vampire Hunters.

We want to re-commit to making updates at least every two weeks, so that you can see the progress that is being made. Let’s start with something that we know is close to everyone’s hearts: our miniatures.

We have already said that we selected Ludofact from a very short list of manufacturers that could do Vampire Hunters justice. Ludofact has created some highly detailed PVC miniatures and have a robust system for this. It’s not just the way they operate their machinery, or the effort they go to in making their molds. They are actually prepared to work with their clients on the sculpts to maximise the detail that can be created.

They examined all 73 of our sculpts and told us ways we could improve them. The good news is that we will have better minis. The differences are subtle, but you know the edge Ludofact brings to their miniature production. Of course this also means that we had some work to do, editing the sculpts.

The changes were fairly simple, just a few repeated suggestions. We made certain parts thicker, to give them more strength and hold more detail. We moved or twisted parts, so they release from the mold more easily, without losing detail. We exaggerated some details, so they would show more clearly on the miniature. This image shows one small section of Alexey, and you can see the effect of several small changes that we made.

Even though this was a lot of work, it is complete! Even better, because we spoke to Ludofact early in the process we knew about this step, and the work did not cause any delays.

In the next update, we will return to the minis and we will also talk about the pledge manager, which is coming in February. Late pledges will be closing soon, so if you have friends that want to get in, please let them know.

Good Hunting!

CROSSOVER
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 10:41:36 PM

Today we are pleased to announce the cooperation between our Vampire Hunters, and the successful game, Vanguard of War, in the form of a crossover miniature! They will be taking our very own evil-monger, Kophas, and making him a part of their own gameworld.

Vanguard of War (VoW) has been successfully funded, achieving its goal of $45,000 in less than an hour. With 15 days remaining, the campaign has risen to $209.000 and we hope to see them rise even further. The Kickstarter campaign for VoW can be found at www.kickstarter.com/projects/1915792245/vanguard-of-war-archon-studio

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and A HEALTHY NEW YEAR
over 7 years ago – Sat, Dec 24, 2016 at 07:48:50 PM

You are going to need your health as we are hard at work making Vampire Hunters the deep, dangerous and engaging game our Hunters have been waiting to sink their stakes into!

After we take a few days to share in the Holiday spirit with our families, there will be much activity across a number of countries as we begin adding the rich content and flavor that will help make Vampire Hunters a "Cut-Above-the-Rest."

With the Final Rulebook nearing completion, the Terror Cards have already been prepared for an atmospheric upgrade. Every corner of Vampire Hunters is being challenged for ways to get our Hunters deeper into the world our characters are stalking.

As always, be sharp, be safe, and be careful of the shadows that lie near the chimney, because you never know...

...it may not be Santa Claus and he won't be looking for milk n'cookies!