Steady Progress
almost 7 years ago
– Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 11:29:47 PM
Hello Backers!
We have so much to tell you, but so little time! We are really busy.
We have uploaded all the cards to the manufacturer. Thanks to all those backers that reviewed and offered suggestions. We don’t want to review another card ever!
We uploaded them in batches, one SKU at a time, starting at the beginning of this week. So card manufacturing is definitely underway. This is an important milestone and we look forwards to seeing printed copies. Or not, because we do not want to review another card, ever!
These pictures show another achievement: we played the most boring game ever! It required a lot of imagination. Seriously, these white samples are one of the many review and approval steps. These are the actual materials used in the game, cut to size and in the correct quantities. This allows us to check the quality and feel of the material, as well as the weight. We received samples for the expansions, which we approved. They will send us white proofs of the core game later.
We received more resin miniature samples. Again, these were all approved. (Sorry this is not the best image, but the samples and our SLR camera are in different cities). Ludofact have been giving us regular updates on progress for the steel molds. They are all coming along well, although none are completely finished yet. We are told they are close and there is no schedule issue. Since Ludofact is very experienced, we trust them on this.
As we worked on background for the game, it was clear The Order was more important than we initially thought. The game name “Vampire Hunters” really focuses on the individual but with a stronger story, we think the group deserves more focus – the heart of the rules system is a co-op game, after all. So we have made a small change to the name of the game: “The Order of Vampire Hunters”. Don’t worry, this has no impact on the rules. You can still play with the optional competitive rules and Turned Hunters are just the same as before.
We firmly believe we are still on track for fulfillment at the end of September. We are in constant contact with the manufacturer, and they are confident that we are giving material to them fast enough to meet this date.
That being said, there is still some work to do, mainly finalising the rule books. We’ll apologise in advance if we are late with a few updates, but we are sure you’d rather have the game on time.
We are too busy to write a long paragraph telling the last few of you to complete your pledges. Come on guys, just do it.
Good Hunting!
Eye Candy
almost 7 years ago
– Tue, May 30, 2017 at 12:16:14 AM
Hello Backers!
We have some really pretty pictures of Filippo’s fingers. Here is the first one:
Oh, yeah. And he’s holding Nikolay.
These are resin miniatures created early in the manufacturing process. At this stage, Ludofact is using 3D printing technology, not the final production molds. The minis are sent to us for approval, allowing us to check the level of detail and relative scale. We are very happy with them and have approved them as is, without any change.
Here are the others. This is Akecheta:
Please remember these are not final production minis, which will be molded in PVC. The real question is how much of this detail will transfer to the production minis. Ludofact have assured us that the final minis will look very similar to these prototypes. They are using a new manufacturing technology and tell us to expect improvements over minis they have made in the past, which is remarkable. Those of you who have games that Ludofact has manufactured will know they are already making very detailed game components. We are really looking forward to seeing the results.
More prototype minis are on their way and we will continue to share pictures.
And there is more eye-candy!
Our friends at Ludus Magnus Studio are in the middle of a Kickstarter Campaign for their second game, Sine Tempore. They asked if they could include one of our characters and we gave them Marku, a Vampire Lord. You can see they have done a great job of reimagining Marku in their futuristic world. If you are interested in a miniature-based, full co-op sci-fi game with beautiful art, you should check out their Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lmstudio/sine-tempore
Thanks for your feedback on the first two batches of cards. Some of you made a lot of effort. We will take some time to carefully decide what changes to make. We are at the stage where we are not considering large scale changes to layout, etc. However, some suggestions were useful and we will see what we can do.
Today we have Special Ability and Combined Attack Cards.
http://www.darkgategames.com/special_ability
Special Abilities are learned during the downtime between Hunts, if the Hunters have enough Focus for the training. You do not lose them once you have learned them and cannot Trade them like Items and Equipment
http://www.darkgategames.com/combo
Combined Attack Cards describe special moves the Hunters can perform together. Multiple Hunters must be in specific positions to pull off the special moves and there is always a risk that the attack will fail with disastrous results. The cards with 3 boxes are combined attack cards for the Turned Hunters, allowing them to command the Vampires.
We want feedback on the card text, specifically on cards that seem ambiguous. Our focus will be on fixing cards that can be misinterpreted. There will be some supporting information in the rule book, but if you can understand the cards on their own, all the better. To help us, you must tell us what is unclear. The more specific you are, the more likely we can find wording that makes it clear to you. E-mail your comments to:
[email protected]
Good Hunting!
More Cards and Manufacturing News
almost 7 years ago
– Sat, May 20, 2017 at 10:16:35 PM
Hello Backers!
Thanks for your feedback on the first two batches of cards. Some of you made a lot of effort. With your help, we have made a few improvements.
More cards are ready and we will be showing them to you in small batches. Today we have Item and Equipment Cards.
http://www.darkgategames.com/items
Items are found while you are on the Hunt, by performing the Search Action. Some are usable immediately, others require a little assembly. The cards that require crafting are rotated to show whether they are active or not, and we have included both orientations in the PDF to make the cards easy for you to read. There are duplicates of some Item Cards in the deck, which are not shown in the PDF.
http://www.darkgategames.com/equipments
Equipment is similar, except that you get Equipment between Hunts in the campaign, so you start the Hunt with the cards, and you do not get more of these cards while you are on the Hunt. Use them wisely.
We want feedback on the card text, specifically on cards that seem ambiguous. Our focus will be on fixing cards that are misinterpreted. There will be some supporting information in the rule book, but if you can understand the cards on their own, all the better. To help us, you must tell us what is unclear. The more specific you are, the more likely we can find a wording that makes it clear to you. E-mail your comments to:
[email protected]
Some small news from Ludofact: more minis are in the mail. We will show pictures of them in an update as soon as we can. We hope you are as excited as we are!
Good Hunting!
Review, Review, Review
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, May 11, 2017 at 12:23:42 AM
Hello Backers!
Let’s start with something completely different. No more Pledge Manager updates! Production is progressing well. We have final text for all cards and this is being transferred to the final, graphical card layout. We are still play testing and tweaking the numbers on some cards, but we are making very few changes. We have reviewed the cards several times and we are happy with them … now it’s your turn. Click on these links to download PDFs of the Compulsion and Elder Influence Cards.
www.darkgategames.com/compulsion_cards
The Compulsion Cards are used if you play with the optional Turned Hunter rules and turn up the difficulty for the players who have Turned. You draw one Compulsion Card when you Turn and then try to complete that compulsion every time you activate.
www.darkgategames.com/elder_influence_cards
You draw an Elder Influence Card before each attack you make on an Elder. The card represents the Elder trying to mentally or physically prevent your attack or harm you in some way.
We want feedback on the card text, specifically on cards that seem ambiguous. There will be some supporting information in the rule book, but if you can understand the cards on their own, all the better. To help us, you must tell us what is unclear. The more specific you are, the more likely we can find a wording that makes it clear to you. E-mail your comments to:
[email protected]
More cards will be coming soon!
We tricked you … we are going to talk about the Pledge Manager. Thank you to everyone that completed the survey. However, there are too many backers that have been charged for the game by Kickstarter, but have not completed the Pledge Manager. We are well past the official date for being sent your game in the mass shipping. If you act quickly, you can still pay your shipping at the standard rate and get your game on time. If you wait too long, shipping costs will increase and your rewards will ship late.
If you have lost the link to your invite, you can recover it here:
https://vampire-hunters-0.backerkit.com/
Good Hunting!
Pledge Manager is Closing!
about 7 years ago
– Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 10:43:08 PM
Hello Backers!
Many thanks to all the backers who have completed their surveys in BackerKit. And the same to all the new backers that joined recently.
The Pledge Manager will close on Monday, 1st May. It will reopen for a short time much closer to shipping to allow you to update your addresses.
After 1st May, we will help backers complete their surveys and get their rewards. However, we need to focus on production and we can only help backers as a background task. If you don’t complete your survey before this date, you may get your rewards late and the cost of shipping may change, if we need to ship your reward individually, rather than in bulk. It will be best if you complete your survey in time. There are still well over 300 backers that have made significant payments but not completed the Pledge Manager.
If you have lost the link to your invite, you can recover it here:
https://vampire-hunters-0.backerkit.com/
If you only want a small number of miniatures, for example, if you are just collecting crossover minis, contact us directly and we’ll fix the shipping cost manually:
- Select the minis you want, but do not confirm the pledge.
- Mail us at [email protected], with a subject of “Shipping Quote”.
- We will look at your pledge and location and reply with the correct shipping quote.
- If this shipping is reasonable, confirm your pledge and pay the extra shipping.
- If you do not change your pledge after requesting the quote, we will refund the difference.
If you have done this already, your solution is being worked on. There is no need to contact us again.
If you are a $1 backer that wants to drop the project, we have created a new reward level with no rewards or add-ons. You can switch to this reward and complete your survey. Here are the instructions.
• On the first screen, click on “Want to switch your pledge level?” to start the process.
• Select the $0 Reward option and then click Switch. There will be a confirmation dialog, and then you will go back to the entry dialog, now showing you have $0 Reward. Click “Get Started!” to proceed.
• In the survey, you will not be able to add any Optional Buys. Just click “Next” to move on.
• Finally, click “Confirm” to complete your survey.
Whether you choose to get a reward or not, we would like to thank all our backers and we hope you are satisfied with your selections.
Good Hunting!
