Dark Souls™ - The Board Game

Shipping Update 18/04
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 12:50:09 AM

Hey unkindled,

We are still working through our global shipping of the core set to all our backers and have a few updates. We know this wait is always hard when we are so close and we once again thank everyone for their patience:

• UK Backers - Concerns have been raised on Friday by our shipping partners about the outer box the game was going to be shipped in. Quote: "After being able to look at your product at the UK Warehouse, the warehouse has determined that a better box should be obtained to create a better and safer shipping experience for the game. This new box will be tighter and better for safety and shipping."

• As always, we at Steamforged want to ensure quality throughout of our process - as such we have agreed with the advice from our shipping partners. This means the new boxes will arrive Thurs/Fri this week at the UK hub and will likely be in backers hands early next week (bar any other issues!)

• US/Canadian Backers - The US production is now fully caught up with the EU production and is loaded onto trucks today and heading to the fulfillment hubs. Once that arrives (we estimate later this week) it will be unloaded, checked in and the process of shipping out will begin.
• EU Backers - On track and should start to see delivery later this week, early next week - we are waiting on information to be pushed through BackerKit to our hubs which could add some delay to that time (but hopefully not!)
• Australian Backers - Production is complete on these copies and it will be leaving our manufacturing partner and onto the hubs shortly. There were some delays regarding customs information but we have sorted all this to ensure our backers are not charged in this territory.
• RoW Backers - these should start to ship once the above processes are all on the way/complete
• Italian/Spanish Backers - Translation work is fully underway and we are working closely with them to match the quality we expect - we will keep you updated as we know more once the rulebook is complete.
• The marketing copies that have started to land with various people are not sent through our fulfillment hubs - hopefully this explains why you may have started to see copies in the wild

Gathering this information accurately and feeding it back in a sensible manner (rather than constant, tiny updates) takes a little time - so once again thank you for being understanding during this. Soon you will be able to take on the Dancer...

Praise the Post \[T]/

Shipping & Translation Update: Italian & Spanish Rulebooks
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 01:26:20 AM

Hey Unkindled,  

Yesterday, the French, Spanish, German, and Italian rulebooks went live on our site as downloadable PDFs. Our international backers quickly brought the quality of the Italian and Spanish translations to our attention. We asked our distribution hubs to told the Italian and Spanish core games while we investigated the translations.  

Steamforged take very seriously the quality of our products - if work we have done with external agencies (in this case, translation) is not up to our internal standards we will act. As a result, the Spanish and Italian core games will be delayed. We understand and apologize for this delay, but we are working to correct it as quickly as possible without compromising quality. 

What is our solution?

• 1. Translators are rewriting the rulebooks to meet our quality standards right now. 
• 2. Revised Italian and Spanish rulebooks are estimated to be online in up to 10 working days as a downloadable PDF.
• 3. After this, we will look at correcting the printed assets as necessary in the core games for all Spanish and Italian backers.
• 4. We will keep you updated throughout this process.

What is the new shipment date for the Italian and Spanish core games? 

We will provide updated shipping dates as soon as the new translations have been completed and we've confirmed the details with our production partners for the next stages. 

We are continuing to ship everything out as quickly and efficiently as possible. French, English, and German core games are still on schedule. Their rulebooks can be downloaded at http://steamforged.com/dark-souls. And a rulebook FAQ is also available for download if you click here.

We are expecting the first copies to land this week in certain territories (UK being one!) and once again we thank our backers for their patience during this time.

Praise the Sun! \[T]/

IT BEGINS: ASSEMBLY AND SHIPPING
about 7 years ago – Fri, Mar 31, 2017 at 01:23:27 AM

Hey Unkindled,  

Our last couple posts showed you pictures of components with the promise of things to come, but they didn’t give you much meat in the form of details and specifics. Today’s update will pick up where we left off and shed some light on the last leg of this campaign.  

A TALE OF TWO FACTORIES  

Back in October, we posted an update after visiting our manufacturing partners in China. In that update, we outlined the what the production process looked like:  

• Models, Components and some Printed Products are produced in China  
• These items are then shipped to German Manufacturer & USA Manufacturer  
• Both these locations then complete the printing and assembling processes of the product  
• Once completed, these are then sent to [7] different distribution hubs around the world
• Once at the hub, parcels are pick/packed and then sent to our customers [in more than 100 countries]  

While this process is straightforward, each step builds in complexity. For point two, we had to map out (based on backer locations) how many components to send to each factory. And from there, how many copies needed to go to each hub. A lot of other details and decisions had a big impact on these numbers.  

For example, the German Manufacturer and the US Manufacturer use different sized pallets. No big deal? Wrong. Very big deal. You see, the pallet size affects the number of games you can fit on each pallet. That impacts how many copies each manufacturer can fit on a truck.  

And you know what else impacts how many copies you fit on a pallet? The size of the box. When we increased the height of our boxes (to make sure everything fit snug and sound), all these numbers had to be recalculated.  

Back to logistics. Our German manufacturer can get about 2500 games in one full truck, which is a different count than our US partners. So each factory needed a different number of trucks to complete their orders. And those trucks have to be ordered as well. 

With the size and scale of this project, nailing down these details were essential.

QUALITY CONTROL X 2  

With two factories producing copies, we invested extra time in quality control. We checked and double checked thousands of components. Our partners also made sure the die cut sheets, player boards, and tiles were consistent across the board. With thousands of these sheets, this was no swift process.  

Naturally, we caught problems, which brought delays. Like deep nicks in the punch outs for player boards (oh yes, these boards do have holes for those cubes!). To explain this in greater detail, we’ll quote our German partners:  

We had to make a few corrections to the tool [for the punch outs for the cubes in the player mats]. [They] were tilted a bit and each one had a slight "nick" where the steel ridges met. This is something [you’ve all likely] noticed before in several games: if you have a square token, sometimes you can see a small nick on one side, usually about the middle of one of the sides.  

In order to punch the pieces out of the board, a steel ridge called the "die" is inserted into a wooden board. That is used—with a pressure of several hundred tons—to punch through the board. Now, this die is one piece of steel that is bent into shape. Of course, the sides of the steel have to meet somewhere. That is the weak part of the die. The pressure of constant punching can lead to a tiny gap or shift in the die, [which] has to be corrected occasionally by the operator of the punching machine.  

Yesterday, that nick was too prominent and my colleagues have been adjusting the die. While we cannot always completely eliminate these nicks, we try to make them as small as possible.  

So they stopped and fixed it. These things take time, but are absolutely worth it.

TODAY: THE GREAT ASSEMBLING  

Now that everything is above board, the assembly process is well underway. For this process, each element of the game is assembled piece-by-piece in an assembly line. Guiding the process is the glorious “Master Copy.” This is a fully assembled game that shows everyone exactly how each box should be packed. Step-by-step they copy it exactly, down to the precise direction and order of the booklets.  

Completing the assembly process will take two to three days, but shipping is done as they go. Why? Because 50,000 games take up a lot of space. So they have to get copies out the door as they are finished.  

English copies will finish first and then the foreign languages are on track to start Monday. Our German partners estimate they can assemble 1000 to 1200 copies per hour right now.  

Once assembled, the games are loaded onto pallets and into trucks. Now, as these trucks go out, any number of things could happen—engine troubles, an accident, alien abduction, mutant wolves, who knows. OK, maybe not those last two. But sometimes forklifts go rogue and kill boxes with misdirected rage and fury..  

While many of these factors are beyond our control, we do have a plan for that last one. 

Each of the seven shipping hubs is getting an extra 5% of their assigned orders, so they can immediately replace damaged copies to keep the deliveries moving. From here, the trucks travel to their fulfillment center, where copies are boxed according to orders, slapped with shipping labels, and sent to you, our backers.  

With more than 50,000 copies of the core game to deliver, that’s a MASSIVE amount of Dark Souls™ to go out.  

OUR PROMISE TO OUR BACKERS  

Now that you’ve gotten a better picture of what’s been going on behind the scenes, let’s get to the big news. The first Kickstarter Backer copies have left the factory and have started their shipping journey!  

To honor our pledge promise of a four-week advanced shipment to our Retail Kickstarter Backers, the April 21 street date is the intended go-live date for those who backed the Retailer Pledge.  

We could not be more excited to have reached this milestone!  

WHEN WILL I GET MY COPY  

With a campaign of this massive scale—over 50,000 copies to deliver for just this first wave—we expect the full roll-out and delivery process to take up to 6 weeks for the core game fulfillment.  

We are doing our absolute best to fulfill our promises and get the game into your hands and onto your table!  

We’ll be back with another update next week to keep you up to date on how the assembly lines & shipping progresses.  

Praise the Sun! \[T]/

Shipping Almost Ready! Update from the Factory Floor
about 7 years ago – Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 11:49:10 PM

Hey unkindled!

Production of the printed materials is now well underway at our factories - as you can see from the images below:

Please NOTE! If you need to change your shipping address you must do it as soon as possible in the BackerKit! We will be locking them down any day to ensure a smooth delivery of product when assembly has finished.

We are very close now for the core set to start shipping around the world - once again we thank all backers for their patience at this stage of the project.

More SPOILERS?!?!?!?!?

While you wait, we did manage to sneak another spoiler out of Steamforged HQ...

Praise the Sun! \[T]/ 

Parts are Landing - Manufacturing Partner Visit Report!
about 7 years ago – Thu, Mar 09, 2017 at 12:17:19 AM

Hey unkindled,

We have just arrived back from our European manufacturing partner's headquarters to help ensure the smooth process of assembly then sending to our shipping hubs of the core game.

20,000 sets of miniatures had already arrived at the factory last week, with the rest due next week. Assembly is scheduled for 2 weeks time. Its so close now its still a little unreal for us as a team - we cannot wait until everyone has their core sets!

All your praising of the boat clearly has paid off - lets hope the final parts all arrive safely so the last stages of this project for the core set go smoothly!

Meanwhile...back at Steamforged HQ

Work doesn't stop on Dark Souls - we are currently deep in development of all the expansions - although we have managed to sneak a few images out of the office...more to follow in future updates!

 ...We also managed to finally get an image of one a lot of people have been waiting for:

 Praise The Sun! \[T]/