Update on the BACKERKIT Survey
almost 7 years ago – Tue, May 02, 2017 at 07:20:36 PM

Hi All - 

This update is going to be more bullet point-style, as I'm pressed for time (it's my son's second birthday).  So sorry for the lack of artwork, clever & amusing GIFs, and the usual pomp & circumstance. BUT, I have a lot of information for you, and you're all overdue for an update.

WHERE THE F%&@ IS MY BACKERKIT SURVEY?

I'm sure this is EVERYONE'S first question (don't lie). Especially since I thought we'd be launching the post campaign survey tomorrow (we're not). But, I just had a great call with my Backerkit "handler", and we got a lot accomplished. Here's what we're setting up the post-campaign survey to be able to do:

• Allow for late backers/pre-orders (tell your friends!)
• Allow the entire Passport tier to be an Add On
• Create accurate incremental shipping updates that correspond to each Add On
• Create a local pick up option that is shipping exempt
• Create special pricing for buying the minis and other boxes in multiples

And, here are the things that are taking a little more time: 

• Data entry. Each item (and we have a lot) needs the correct price, a SKU number and correct shipping info.
• Getting the shipping right. My trip to the post office during the campaign wasn't comprehensive enough. And, since then, we opened like, seven stretch goals. I've purchased a postal scale that will be arriving tomorrow. I will be doing much more exhaustive shipping & pricing experiments based on the final line up of what's in each rewards tier, so all shipping is as accurate as I can get it.

The goal for placing the order with the printers & manufacturers has always been around the end of May/first week of June, so we still have PLENTY of time. But, I know you're psyched to claim your rewards and grab your add ons, so I'm hoping the new sort date will be Monday, May 8th.

More from me tomorrow about the final revisions to the Expansions content, the minis contest, and how the WORLDS deck is shaping up. (hint: things have gotten really since-y really fast.)

Talk Soon,

Clark

Back from SPECTRUM LIVE!
about 7 years ago – Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 09:05:56 PM

 Hi All!

Sorry for the radio silence! And no, I didn't steal your money and head to Costa Rica (though it did occur to me...) - If you recall, I mentioned I was hopping on a plane the morning after the campaign ended to head to Kansas City for the SPECTRUM FANTASTIC ART LIVE Convention. So, that's where I've been all weekend, and I just got back last evening. I've been catching up on all of your new comments, and the onslaught of post-campaign emails. I'm making notes on what you guys are thinking and saying (MAN, you guys are chatty!), and I'll be seeing where I might be able to work in some of your ideas and requests as we go forward.

SO, SPECTRUM!

Spectrum Live is the companion convention event that paints with the published SPECTRUM annual, the premier Fantastic Art annual in our industry. At the event, they have a large show floor with artists and exhibitors (which included me this year), panels & discussions, portfolio reviews, and demos by guest artists. They also have a gala ceremony on Saturday night, where they award silver & gold awards to winners in several art & illustration categories. They also select a "Grand Master" each year - kind of like a Lifetime Achievement award - and present him or her with an award. This year, to my IMMENSE pleasure, it was this guy: 

 Artist BILL SIENKIEWICZ. Bill was hitting high notes in the comics industry when I was just in middle school. I was a HUGE fan, and was buying anything and everything he had a hand in as they were just hitting the shelves. He's been well known for his work with characters like Daredevil, Elektra, and Batman - but to me, he will always be the artist on my all time absolute favorite comic, THE NEW MUTANTS.

 Anyway, I staked out a spot like a weird stalker when I heard he was giving portfolio reviews, and, in what was the standout event/highlight of my weekend, I got to hang out, & talk shop with him for a really long time. And, I gave him a Reckless Deck! Which he was SUPER PSYCHED about, and said he loves to draw weird stream of consciousness stuff before bed every night, and that he'd be putting them right into service. 

Here are some other related post-gala shots you might appreciate: me hanging with two of our three RECKLESS DECK artists who did the art that helped make our campaign such a success!

CHESLEY AWARD NOMINEE

Another incredibly cool thing I get to share with you (for both myself and also for Reckless Deck as well) is that this weekend, I found out that one of the magazine ads I ran for Reckless Deck (in UK concept art magazine IMAGINE FX) was nominated for a Chesley Awardin the Product Illustration category (you can see the full list of nominees in all categories here). 

This is a HUGE honor, and definitely the first time I've seen my name in a small group alongside Donato Giancola, John Picaccio, Cynthia Sheppard, and Greg Spalenka. It's also a really big win for Reckless Deck, since everyone who sees that nominee list will get the chance to say, "Reckless Deck? What is this fascinating product that clearly I need in my life?" (I kid, but ASFA president Sara Felix has actually been a huge supporter of Reckless Deck ever since the first, ill-fated Kickstarter. And, ASFA is one of our educational outreach partners as well, which makes this that much more special.) And finally, It's exciting to me that I got my first Chesley nomination for a piece I used Reckless Deck to create. I hope that gives you all a bit of a hungry, fire-in-the-belly feeling when you think of all the things you're going to be making once I get these cards into your hands.

Speaking of getting you your cards, I'm aware that I've covered NO ACTUAL BUSINESS WHATSOEVER. I'm going to go answer some of the project messages that came in over the weekend. Expect the surveys with all the Add Ons to come out in about a week to 10 days. It's a complicated thing to put together - this campaign is very Add On & Stretch Goal heavy. I've got to enter in each individual thing in addition to each rewards tier, and I have to make sure I get the shipping right for all of it. 

OK, back to work for me. Expect updates on final APPRENTICE PACK design decisions, and content for the WORLDS deck soon! 

Cheers,

Clark 

Congratulations on a Fantastic Campaign!
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 09:49:28 PM

 Hi All!

So that was absolutely thrilling and totally amazing! Thanks for making that a) a lot of fun, and b) a huge success. I wanted to touch base with you all as we wrap up the live campaign and transition into production & fulfillment. The first thing I want to do is keep plenty of open lines of communication with you. Backerkit I'm told makes this a lot easier that the standard Kickstarter post campaign service, so that's good. But the first thing I would encourage all of you to do is to FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA. both through Reckless Deck, and also at my own pages & whatnot. Doing so will help you stay informed, and also help make the Reckless Deck community & its online presence stronger and more dynamic. Heres the run down:

FACEBOOK:

Friend me! Clark Huggins. LIKE & FOLLOW Reckless Deck's page, LIKE & FOLLOW Clark Huggins Illustration

INSTAGRAM:

@clarkushuggins, @recklessdeck

TWITTER:

@clarkhushuggins, @recklessdeck

The comments forum on this campaign has been through the roof, and MANY people have commented on it to me. It's become its own little art, writing, & creativity chat room - and that kind of community and energy is one of the reasons I made Reckless Deck in the fist place. I'd like to migrate that off Kickstarter and into a permanent Reckless Deck forum, where we can all talk about our creative projects, blocks, & challenges, and what cool stuff we're making with Reckless Deck. RD has a Facebook  PAGE, but maybe it needs a Facebook GROUP, that people can join, & post art & writing, and get critique and creative support. Thoughts?

As far as updates go, Expect to hear from me maybe once a week. We have some design decisions to finalize, & I'll be sharing those designs as we do them. We also have the MINIS CONTEST to stay on top of, and there should be some great art & character design coming out of that for us all to enjoy. You also will be kept up on the Education Outreach part of this, and now we have 1300 Decks to give to youth arts programs!

I'm thinking the Backerkit survey will happen early in the first week of May. I have a lot of data entry to do to get all the decks, expansions, & accessories all in there. And, I'm leaving for SPECTRUM FANTASTIC ART LIVE in Kansas City, MO in the morning - if you're attending, definitely stop by my booth and say hi! We'll do a victory dance together. Not sure what that looks like, but we'll make it us as we go.

Something else I'd like to do is refer you to our friend Ryan Lesser's current Kickstarter project! He's OUR friend because he's our 3D artist - he's sculpting our minis in ZBrush for the competition. In addition to being a great artist (& an awesome neighbor, as luck would have it he and his wife Jen are pretty much around the corner from us), Ryan is a game designer in his own right, and has conquered Kickstarter before with his tabletop game HIGH HEAVENS. He has a fabulously fun T Shirt design up for grabs right now, & you should check it out here.

So go celebrate, people! Keep in touch, and keep telling me what you're most excited about getting your hands on. Talk soon!

Welcome to THE FINAL 48!
about 7 years ago – Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 07:05:22 PM

 Hi All!

Well this is it - home stretch! And so far, it's nothing short of AWESOME. Everyone was saying to watch out for when, at at 4 pm yesterday, the alerts would go out to everyone who had earmarked this campaign. Man, was that ever true. To all of you new backers, welcome! We're glad you've decided to come on board. And to those backers who have been with us for weeks now, thank you for being outgoing about welcoming new backers in, and for answering a lot of their question before I can even get to it myself.

DARK FOREST and URBAN LEGENDS

We have two new Expansions to celebrate! And both of them have a little something to do with getting lost in the woods, heading into the house on the hill on a dare, not looking behind you when you get that creepy feeling on your way up the cellar stairs, or otherwise getting in over your head with things outside the normal world. 

One of them is full of ideas and imagery from classic Fairy Tales and Folklore. And the other is straight up Contemporary Horror, Americana-style. Heading to a small town in the middle of nowhere to investigate that tall tale the locals tell? We've got you covered.

TWO STELLAR STRETCH GOALS TO GO

We're not even to our final 24 hours yet, and already the set of four exclusive minis is set to unlock! For those of you who are new and don't know about it, Reckless Deck, ArtOrder, and Infected By Art are teaming up to present a great new ART CHALLENGE.  Anyone is welcome to enter (including you), and offer up a new character design based on Reckless Deck card prompts. Three wining designs will be made into the gaming minis we're offering for this Stretch Goal! Click the link for all the details, and to see a bunch of then new cards spoiled from Volume 2 and the Expansions! 

And after that comes the coveted GODS & MONSTERS Expansion. Personally, I think we've got this. Though it was never my intention to cause everyone so much undue stress, I'm glad to see that there's some excitement and drama to the close of the campaign. I invite you all to continue to share on social media, and pull in as many friends as you can that you think might be interested. Heres to a fantastic final day and a half!

Some Further Shipping Information
about 7 years ago – Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 07:07:01 AM

 Hi All!

We've had a steady stream of Project Updates celebrating Stretch Goals unlocking, and while that's awesome, we probably should talk some business now and again. I know you guys needed some more informed shipping answers - so, I built myself some dummy rewards boxes, and headed to the post office. 

A couple of things about the Passport Tier. First, I put dummy items in the box for stretch goals up to $40,000. That includes both the single deck and the 5 deck boxes, and the Good & Evil Coin. As items continue to unlock, the weight will continue to change (though not by much - I found the Expansion Packs don't affect the weight individually terribly, and if we unlock the minis, they're pretty light, too.) Second, it's important that I mention that the samples I took in to weigh are only stand-ins for the real thing - I don't have actual prototypes for either of the magnetic boxes, or the Coin. So the actual weight of the items is subject to change. But I did my best to put together decent mock ups of everything to give you guys a better idea of where the shipping was going to land.

DOMESTIC SHIPPING ESTIMATES

I was pretty happy with what I found out about both the domestic and the international shipping outlook, all things considered. I hope you are, too. 

For one deck (5 oz), shipping has been pretty consistently around $3.50 or so, depending on USPS rates (which are always subject to change.) Now, all backers get the single deck Magnetic Box & Coin, but I didn't find that either of my dummy items for those had an impact on the shipping cost. 

Adding a second deck (10.2 oz) raised the cost to approximately $8.

Three decks (15.5 oz) with the Box & Coin appears to be approximately $11.

The Passport tier package I put together weighed 2 lbs, 4 oz, and looks like it will cost between $13 and $16 to ship, depending on the zip code. you can consult the USPS shipping calculator online for that weight sent from zip code 02940 to your zip code for more accurate rate if you wish.

INTERNATIONAL SHPPING ESTIMATES

The first thing I learned about shipping internationally is that the rate doesn't change all that much from country to country - except for Canada, which always seems to get off a little easier than the rest. In addition to Canada, I did shipping tests for The UK, Australia, and Indonesia, and they were always within 50 cents of each other.

Shipping a single deck (presumably with a single deck box & Coin as well) consistently costs $10.00 to Canada, and $13.50 to any other country.

Two decks is approximately  $15 to Canada, and $20 all other countries.

The cost of shipping three decks doesn't seem differ that much from shipping two - and this rate seems to remain the standard for shipping even with several add ons thrown in - approximately $16 to Canada, and $22.50 to all other countries.

The $99 Passport Tier, currently weighing in at 2 lbs, 4 oz (but subject to change as more stretch goals unlock), looks like it will cost approximately $24.50 to ship to Canada, and between $33.00 - $34.50 to ship everywhere else.

I hope all of this is helpful, and no one is finding these rates to be a deterrent from the rewards tier you wanted. If I get any different or more specific information for you, I'll definitely post it in a new update right away. 

Thanks for bearing with me through some boring Adult Talk. Hoping to write another celebratory Update in honor of unlocking that 5 Deck Magnetic Box - which we are rocketing towards even faster than I expected we would be this weekend!