Prosperitea State of the Game: June 19, 2021
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 02:34:20 AM

Greetings, Beauteaful People!

Today I am coming at you with a quick video update going over today's talking points: Unfinished Surveys, Locking Orders, and Manufacturing! This update is short, but dense.

The TL;DW for those who don't like videos:

Unfinished Surveys

We have 86 people who have not finished their survey! This means we probably don't have your address and we don't know exactly what you are planning to order. This doesn't matter for the machine manufactured stuff, but for the hand made goods we need an exact count, so please fill out your survey! We are going to start making all of the hand made items next month.

Locking Orders

I have locked Backerkit orders today! This means no changes from here until delivery. (but we WILL open our online store for new orders soon) However, you can still change your address! You will always be able to change your address until the day we ship your order, so don't worry about moving until we ship.

Manufacturing!

We are going to write checks NEXT WEEK! All of our files are ready to go. The boring part is over. Now we start the fun process of MAKING STUFF! Expect many more photos of us making things in the next few months. If you want to keep up with us for small, granular things give us a follow:

@Menthadesigns (IG, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter): The business account. I only put polished ads and work related things here.

@BardofManyThings (IG, TikTok): This is where I share more stream of concious stuff relating to my work. If you want to see what I'm up to day-to-day, this is where to go. A mix of art, music, and outdoor adventures.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to those who celebrate. Make sure to spare some kindness for the fathers in your life, whether they be your own or your friends who have children. Being a parent is HARD and I happen to live in a country that refuses to offer assistance to parents. Chances are your friends and family with children are pretty stressed, so remember to check in on them and let them know they are loved and not forgotten. <3

Thank you all for your support and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Stay Safe, Stay Sane, Be Kind to Each Other,

Aven

Prosperitea State of the Game: Manufacturing and Backerkit FAQs
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 09, 2021 at 12:46:32 AM

Greetings, Beauteaful people!

It's been a while since the last "State of the Game," and we've been getting a few questions about Backerkit and our timelines. Now that we are past Memorial Day (and a lot of pressure from my day job), I finally have some time to come up for air and address a few of those questions. As always, I will keep things as short and sweet as possible.

Backerkit/Timeline FAQs

We have been getting a few questions about Backerkit timelines and dates, so I will address them below:

1. When will the Pledge Manager orders lock?

We have been experiencing some delays in getting the final pieces in place for manufacturing, so I will be leaving the Pledge Manager open until June 18. On that day, orders will lock and we will close the pledge manager so we can focus on moving everything over to the new Prosperitea website.

2. How Long Do We Have to Change Our Address?

Addresses in Backerkit can be changed up until our games arrive from the manufacturer, which is a long time! So don't worry if you move before we ship. If we are VERY lucky, the earliest we will be shipping is in November of 2021, so there is plenty of time to make changes. And we won't lock addresses before posting an update.

3. Will the Pledge Manager Re-Open so I can buy (insert item here)? I want to see physical samples before I make an order.

Once we close the pledge manager, we will NOT reopen it. However, when our order lands in the US we will reopen the Prosperitea website to sell retail editions and any overstock we have of the game extras. (Coins, Expansions, Luminary Boxes, Tea, etc.)

Overstock is fairly common since we need to order enough of an item for it to be worth a manufacturer's time to produce. So don't worry about missing out on Backerkit! There will be limited stock available after our games land.

Manufacturing Updates

We are getting very close to effectively writing the check for the primary manufacturing run of Prosperitea. It's taken a bit of back and forth and a lot of e-mails and phone calls to respond to the Pandemic fallout, but things are looking good! If everything goes very well, we should be off to the presses by the middle of this month.

Small Updates

In other news, we've received the backer pins from The/Studio and they look fantastic!

I also just got a few pieces of sample wood so we can begin the testing phase of the Luminary Boxes and the tea strainers are on their way! Once we get the game to press, we should be back to a more plentiful amount of updates for the different aspects of the project.

Thank you all for your patience and your support during this project. As always, if you have any questions feel free to send us a message or fire an e-mail off to [email protected] (make sure to mention "Prosperitea" in the subject!)

<3

Aven Gonzalez

Master Barista of Prosperitea

State of the Game: Out of the Office, Small Updates, Service Advisories
almost 3 years ago – Sun, May 16, 2021 at 04:23:13 AM

Greetings, Baristas!~

Today's "State of the Game" is going to be short and light on images because my week has been SUPER BUSY. Mostly with non-visual stuff. So for starters I want to apologize for any delays in customer service questions. My part time and contract work has been pretty busy this week with big deadlines coming up, so I've been off the social media and e-mail radar. With that out of the way, Updates!

Out of the Office Until May 19th

I just want to give you all a heads up that I (Aven) will be effectively "Out of the Office" from Sunday, May 16 - Wednesday, May 19. I will be back on the radar on Thursday, May 20. I am taking a few days to camp in the Sequoia National Park with friends, my honorary nephew, and our pets. And I am going to turn my phone off so I can decompress before the next big stretch of business on all fronts of my life. Jason will be continuing to work behind the scenes to get our manufacturing ducks in a row while I am away, so the game will continue to roll forward. Which gets into the next topic!

Small Updates: Backer Swag, Manufacturing, "New" Game

On the Project front, the First Player pins are being crafted and sample wood for the Luminary boxes has arrived! I will be able to share some updates when we return from the Sequoia trip. If things go well, one of the three hardwoods I've soured will be used for the luminary boxes, which will be much more eco-friendly than using plywood!

BESPOKE BACKERS: I left a question out of your survey! It has been brought to my attention that I forgot to ask what everyone's caption should be. I've added the question to the survey and will send out links to everyone by hand to update. You have my apologies for the slip up!

On the manufacturing front, we are nearing our final negotiations and should be able to start the presses in June. When i return from the forest I will begin the final leg of design and editing work to the core game before sending things off to press, which should make for some interesting visual content to share! And on that note there is one more thing to announce...

"New" Game: SOS Titanic

Outside of my part-time work at REI, then thing that has been taking a lot of my time is a very exiting project. I was approached by TGG Games to be the Art Director and Graphic Designer for the new edition of SOS Titanic! I've been quietly working on this since the end of 2020 and the final stretch of design and illustration work is getting close.

I am stupendously excited to be part of the team tackling the update for this modern classic by the designers of some of my favorite games. I have been given a lot of freedom and trust to make the best version of this game possible and we have been crafting the new art with a mind for immersion, history, and diversity. It's been an honor to work on this and I am super pumped to be involved with TWO fantastic games entering the space.

Service Advisories

To close up shop, I also need tomention that I will be slow to respond to e-mails and messages for the remainder of the month. I work at the largest REI in the LA metro area and our big sale starts on the 21st, which means I will be working...A LOT. So I ask for a bit of patience as I focus my energy on making sure Prosperitea and SOS Titanic get to press as soon as possible. Things are a bit chaotic with international freight right now, but I am going to do my best to make sure we get you your games as soon as possible, and to do that I'll need to put an emphasis on prepress work.

Thank you all again for your patience, support, and understanding. I wish you all the best and will keep you updated on news and changes as they happen!

<3

Aven Gonzalez

Master Barista of Prosperitea

Prosperitea State of the Game: Backerkit is LIVE!
almost 3 years ago – Sat, May 08, 2021 at 11:45:19 PM

Greetings, Tea Folk!

I am making this update to let you know that after getting some very good feedback from the smoke test and squashing a few bugs, the Backerkit Surveys are now live! Everyone should have received a survey by now. If you DO NOT have a survey by the end of the day today it is likely in your Spam or Promotions folder.

If you have checked your spam folder for anything from Backerkit and still do not have an email we may need a new e-mail address for you. If this is the case, please send an e-mail to:

[email protected] - Subject "Backerkit Email Update"

Do NOT comment with your e-mail here unless you want a bunch of strangers to see your contact info! With that out of the way, on to some updates from today after the first wave of surveys:

Important Dates

Now that the surveys are live, here is the basic timeline of when things will happen. I'm going to keep this dry and straightforward to minimize confusion.

JUNE 4th, 2021: Orders Locked, Cards Charged: We will be closing the Pre-Order store on June 4, 2021! Your cards will be charged and orders will be locked on this day. We need to do this so we can place our final order with the various manufacturers making our merchandise. We also need to make sure we have plenty of time to hand-blend and package all of the tea and boxes for you!

BONUS POINTS: We are going to do our best to get this game into your hands by December of 2021! With international freight still in chaos this is not something we can promise, but we want the best chance of making that happen so we need to be quick. This brings us to the next point:

NOVEMBER 15, 2021: Address Lock: If everything goes VERY WELL and we are able to ship in November, we will send a request to lock and/or change your address on this day. We want to have the very latest shipping info for you when we are ready to ship orders. If we are unable to ship early, you can expect this date to move closer to our promised date of Feb 2022.

MAY 31, 2021: Prosperitea Website Launch: I am currently working on building our permanent store over at prosperiteagame.com. This will be the main hub to purchase and Pre-Order all things Prosperitea related after Backerkit closes.

FAQ: What's in the Tea?

It has been pointed out that I forgot to add the ingredient lists to the Tea Add-On. This has been fixed! You will now see a list of ingredients for all of the teas when you click the "1oz Tea Pouch" add on.

FAQ: How do I select Local Pickup?

This one is, admittedly, tricky. Backerkit doesn't make it obvious, so I will spell it out here:

And there you have it! You have my apologies for any confusion and I hope this guide helps clear things up! Remember to include your address even if you select Local Pickup! In you miss the pickup event, we will ship your order to you or work out an arrangement with one of our local LA FLGS.

Oh and one more thing, Backerkit is going to get angry at you for choosing a country that doesn't exist.

FAQ: Why isn't US Shipping Free? Kickstarter says it's free.

This came up and, unfortunately, is something I can't fix. Apparently the automated Kickstarter language claims that my project ships for "$0," which is contrary to all of the messaging we have been using in our ads, graphics, and the shipping grid I posted on the project page.

You have my apologies if this has caused confusion for anyone, but unfortunately this is something I had no way of knowing from my end as a creator on Kickstarter. This is just one of the many issues with the platform that are out of my control as a creator, and it doesn't feel great to be put in a position where the perception is that I am misinforming my audience. Kickstarter does this...A LOT.

But this is still the best platform for indie creators to get their project funded outside of the traditional publishing model, so it is something we are just going to have to message better on our next project. For now, I hope you can understand that I did not know this was going on, nor did I have any control over this messaging. For what it's worth, we've been as open and forthcoming as we can be about our shipping rates and the fact that we would be collecting shipping after the campaign, but I understand that it is VERY easy to think otherwise given the checkout information presented by the platform.

If anyone has an issue, please feel free to send us a DM or send an email to [email protected] for support. We are a tiny team, but we are dedicated to making sure all of our backers are taken care of to the best of our ability. And in cases where we can't, we will learn and grow from the experience.

Limited Product: Cantankerous Cats Luminary Box!

While I was putting the finishing touches on the Backerkit store I had a thought. That thought was "I mean, we are already making Prosperitea Boxes...should I just...put the Cats boxes up as well in case new folks want them...?"

So I asked a few friends on facebook and the answer was "YES. YES YOU SHOULD." So...now they are up! Since they use the same pattern as the Prosperitea Box and they are all hand-made anyway, it isn't too much work to add them into the mix. They are $55 and come with wooden Pounce Tokens to replace the paper ones in the game! I hope this will bring joy to any newcomers to Cantankerous Cats. =3

That about wraps it up for updates on Day One of the Backerkit surveys. I will be monitoring emails for the remainder of the day to address any other issues as soon as possible. Thank you all again for your patience, support, and all of the tweets and retweets! Small Businesses can only thrive with the strength and goodwill of the community, and so far we seem to have a pretty great one for this project.

Be Well, Stay Safe, and Take Care of Each Other,

<3

Aven Gonzalez

Master Barista of Prosperitea

Prosperitea State of the Game: Backerkit Update, Luminary Details, Metal Coin Update
almost 3 years ago – Fri, May 07, 2021 at 02:56:53 PM

Greetings, Tea Folk!

In today's update, I have a few major things to briefly talk about. The first one is that our Backerkit Pledge Manager is waiting for approval! If everything checks out, we will be allowed to send the Backerkit invites in 2-3 days. This comes with some granular points below:

Backerkit Update: Timelines

I have had a few folks ask if they can still purchase the "Kickstarter Edition" of Prosperitea in Backerkit. Generally speaking, the answer is no. But I will leave the KS Edition available on the Backerkit Store for ONE WEEK after we launch it. Then it will be "Retail Editions" only. We need to have our final numbers in as soon as possible for all of the extra goodies we are delivering.

That being said, we will be leaving the Backerkit Surveys open until May 31. We need to put our orders in for all of the tea so we can start bagging and processing the single serving bags as quickly as possible. We have A LOT of tea to make and lots of Luminary Boxes to cut and assemble. And everything is being blended, bagged, and assembled by hand, so we can't leave the order window open forever. On that note, Luminary Editions details are below!

Luminary Edition Details

People have been asking about the Luminary Box and I am here to answer those questions! You can find the basic details below:

The Luminary Box is based on the design I used for Cantankerous Cats. In fact, the schematic is going to be EXACTLY the same with some minor adjustments to accommodate a slightly bigger game. You can check out the video below to see how the Luminary box slides together. (The "Aqua" color is featured in the video.)

The Luminary box is designed to live on its back OR stood up on its foot to keep everything closed. The extra girth provided by the wood sealant also helps hold the lid in place with friction. The cards pop out by pressing on one end of the deck, which reveals the chambers underneath holding the loose components. It's a pretty elegant design and so far many people have been happy with their Cantankerous Cats Luminary boxes!

If you did NOT pledge for a Luminary Edition, you can still get the box as a standalone purchase in TWO Formats: Assembled (as shown in the video) or DIY (flat packed parts that you will have to assemble, glue, and seal on your own).

I am still working on an environmentally friendly source for wood, but my fallback option is to use standard birch plywood as I've done in the past with eco-friendly stain and sealant.

Metal Coins Update!

So remember how we added that last minute stretch goals and I didn't know what it would cost or how we would implement it? Ya know, the Metal Favor Tokens?

Well, in the last round of quotes re reshuffled the coin counts a bit and saw that it did NOT cost a lot of extra cash to make the Favor Tokens, so....we wrapped them into the Metal Coin set for no additional fees!

So that's the big news. Metal Favor tokens are a thing, and to keep things simple and affordable for the whole project we made them a part of the coin pack for the same price. After testing a bit more we also realized we had TOO much cash in the game for the economy of most games, so we retooled everything a bit. The 10m coins are now 5m, so those big coins are an easy way to track Prestige Points in your cash pile.

And that about does it for this edition of the State of the Game! I hope you are all doing well and having a wonderful start to your week. Things are going to quiet down for me a bit at the part time job next week, so I will have more time to dedicate to these updates in the near future.

I really appreciate all of your support and am excited to be launching our Backerkit survey soon!

<3

Aven