Kickstarter Goodies, The Pledge Manager, and Components In-Progress
over 4 years ago – Wed, May 11, 2022 at 05:02:04 AM

Hello, everyone! We have a LOT to share with you in this update, so let's get started. 

First things first, though! The pledge manager is OPEN - please be sure to fill out your pledge survey and to read on for information about pledge manager add-ons or missing survey invites. 

https://earth.backerkit.com/

Kickstarter Goodies in the Pledge Manager

As you may remember, throughout the Kickstarter campaign for Earth we revealed “Kickstarter Goodies” which include the following:

• 1x Wooden Active Player Token (58x36x5mm)
   
• 25x Wooden silk-screened Leaf Tokens (16x12x3mm)
   
• 75x Wooden Soil Tokens (14x7x5mm)
   
• 1x 12-card "Calendar Pack" of promo cards
   

These Kickstarter goodies are our thanks to you for supporting Earth on Kickstarter! Everyone who pledged for a copy of Earth on Kickstarter will receive these goodies automatically. You do not need to add the Kickstarter goodies to your pledge in Backerkit unless:

• You did not pledge for a copy of the game on Kickstarter, but are late pledging and would like the Kickstarter Goodies.
   
• You would like an extra set of Kickstarter Goodies, this is not necessary as you will have enough components to use in your game. However, if you’d like extras you’re free to add another set to your pledge.
   

Shipping to Hungary

Thank you all for making us aware of the shipping glitch for pledges being sent to Hungary, the shipping cost has been fixed!

Change in Payment or Address

We will be leaving the pledge manager open for as long as we can to accommodate any backers or late pledgers who may need to update their credit card information or shipping address.

Please submit your pledges as soon as possible, however, rest easy knowing that we don’t plan to lock addresses or payment information until Q3. We do not have a specific date yet for which the pledge manager will be locked, however, as we get closer to that date we’ll send out reminders!

That means whether your card is expiring in the coming months, or you plan to move to a new address, you can revisit your pledge and update that information if needed.

Missing Surveys and Apple ID

Kickstarter makes it easy to create an account by using your Apple ID, unfortunately, this can mean that we aren’t able to successfully invite you to the pledge manager.

Whether you’re an Apple ID user, or you simply haven’t received an invitation to the pledge manager yet, please email Chris at [email protected] so that we can get you access!

If you have lost your survey link you can always use this one: https://earth.backerkit.com/

Play Mats in Play!

We’ve received samples of the playmats for Earth, and are excited to show you a few photos of what they look like in action!

As a reminder, the playmats are not required, but are available as an add-on in the pledge manager for those of you who’d like to add them to your pledge! They’re a great way of keeping your player area and tableau organized.

*Note that all components are samples, and are being updated.

Not Quite Inside the Box

We’ve also received a sample of the game insert and thicker player boards. As you can see from these photos, the player boards are a little bit too big to fit snugly inside the box.

This is why we do lots of tests and trial runs for the components and storage - the box depth will be increased to better accommodate the wooden insert and player boards. 🎉

We’re quite happy with the sturdiness and quality of the player boards, and happy to make adjustments to the box to better accommodate storage for them.

Updated Insert Design + Tweaks

Similarly, towards the end of the campaign, we asked backers which wooden insert design they liked best. We believe the new insert will be a great upgrade and make setup and gameplay even easier.

Right now, the layout isn’t as stable as we’d like for it to be. The insert seems to work for vertical storage, however, we will confirm once the insert has been finalized. Our team is working on tweaks to the insert that will make it more stable without compromising ease of use.

Here are a few photos of the insert - please note that while this sample does not have laser engraving, the final insert will!

What’s Happening Now?

In addition to the adjustments being made to the components listed above, the IUG team and our partners are working on the following:

• Rules and artwork are being revised for the new active player marker
   
• Game files are with localization partners for translation
   

Retailers - This is For You!

If you are a retailer, you do not need to take any action in the pledge manager. You should have received an email from Chris ([email protected]) with instructions about finalizing your retailer pledge.

Unfortunately, we have had some problems with our emails going to people’s spam folders. If you haven’t heard from us, please reach out to Chris at the email listed above.

Thank you!

Our team continues to be amazed at the support raised by the gaming community for Earth! With each passing day, the game gets even better, and we’re so grateful to have the opportunity to work on such a fun project for you all.

Thank you for your questions, your ideas, and your support! We realize this update is a bit long, but hope that we were able to answer the majority of questions that have been asked. Please don’t hesitate to send over any Q’s we may have missed.

Until next time, best from the Inside Up Games team!

Pledge Manager Launching! Finally!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 09, 2022 at 06:57:35 AM

Hello and thank you so much for your patience :)

We sent the "smoke test" through BackerKit last week, and found a few issues - thank you to those who reported them so they could be fixed. The survey is now ready to be completed, so you will be getting a separate email from Backerkit. 

Pledge Manager Info

• Backerkit is different from CrowdOx in that backers are not charged when they complete the survey but instead when surveys are locked. (Surveys won't be lock until later this year, around the time of freight.) 
• Some of you who completed the smoke test have been asked to complete the survey a second time, that is because there was a glitch in the shipping charts, it was caught and fixed so some shipping prices have been reduced! (None have increased!)
• For Kickstarter backers, prices did not increase for the base game, or the add-ons in the pledge manager. 

Play Mat Add-Ons

The play mats will be increased in size from 250 x 375mm to 260 x 385mm as I found the cards were too close to the stitching. There is no change in price! 

• In the survey you can select which print you want for each play mat you purchased. There are also 2x, 3x and 4x playmat options as requested. 

New Wooden Insert Add-On

The vote for the wooden insert came back and the new "2 trough" design was much preferred over the original design. You will see in BackerKit that the description and photos have been updated.  There is no change in price! If any backers pledged for the original design and are not happy with this change, please send a PM and we will refund you for that amount. 

Dropped Pledges?

Some of you (especially those in the UK) had issues with your pledges getting dropped by Kickstarter. Do not worry, BackerKit will attempt to email you so that you can reconnect to your original pledge, if you'd like.  If for some reason this doesn't happen, please email chris(at)insideupgames.com and forward your original "You just backed Earth" email from Kickstarter so we can get it sorted!

Local Pick Up?

For those of you wanting to pick up your games in person in Thunder Bay, this is a possibility. We will have a number of cartons shipped up, and those who pick up their games will have a 50% discount on their shipping fees. The refund will be issued when the games are picked up (this way if they aren't we can still ship them out.) Please note that getting the games into Canada and up to Thunder Bay still has a substantial cost, which is why local pick up isn't "free" :) 

Retail Backers

This is just a reminder that Inside Up Games can only speak to the English version of the game - for those interested in other languages you need to contact that localization partner directly. 

Retail backers of the English version can ignore the pledge manager as we will be reaching out to you directly through email. You can expect that email later this week, or early next week.  Questions can be sent to chris(at)insideupgames.com

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Family Update

Just a mini but exciting family update here! 

Last Friday Inside Up Games signed a lease for our first office space! After 6 years in the industry I am finally moving out of my home office, LOL :)

Thanks to the low costs of living in Thunder Bay, I found a place that is only a 5 minute walk away from our house, and on the walk to my kids' school. And it's 1,100 sqft for only $1,000/month! (Or $796USD.)

It has needed some renovations and updates... which is how the family and I have been spending our evenings and weekends - hence the excited, yet exhausted, look on my face. And why I am sending an update and surveys at 12:30am!

There will certainly be more "before & after" photos shared on social media, so if you are curious to see our new setup feel free to check them out there! 

**Vote on Insert ** and Pledge Manager Update
over 4 years ago – Sat, Mar 26, 2022 at 01:19:31 AM

Hello everyone,

I am just going to jump right into it :)

Wooden Insert Design - Votes Needed!

Near the end of the campaign, it was asked if we could look at tweaking the design of the (add-on) wooden insert. The original design was for 1 card tray and 4 "bowls" to hold the resources. 

The new design would have 1 card tray and 2 resource troughs, each divided into 4 sections so that you could have all 4 types of resources in each, and one on each side of the table. 

Before we launch the pledge manager I want to confirm which style people want, so Please vote here before midnight (EDT) on Monday March 28th.  Thank you!

BackerKit surveys are coming next week!

Next week you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to order and fulfill your rewards.

Please note that BackerKit sends out a small "smoke test" to a limited number of backers as a way to test the surveys and make sure there are no issues. Once that is done, any adjustments are made (if needed), and then the remainder of surveys are sent. 

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available next week via email!

After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://earth.backerkit.com

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://earth.backerkit.com/faq

What's Next?

We will be sending another update next week when the majority of the surveys will be sent, and with more information on some improvements and photos of the samples we just received, but have not fully reviewed! 

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Family Update

For those of you who may be new to Inside Up Games, this section will not include important updates about the game/campaign and you’re welcome to skip this section if you’d like :)

Last weekend was supposed to be Breakout Con in Toronto so my wife and I had planned to fly her and the kids down to help out and have a mini-vacation visiting my older brother and his family. Unfortunately after we booked the hotel and flights the convention was moved to July.

We decided to keep the plans, and just enjoy some more family-time after the craziness of this amazing KS.  With no convention and our weekend completely open, were treated to tickets for Medieval Times!

Although I had heard about it, and even seen it in movies (like The Cable Guy), I hadn't been THAT interested, but now that I have kids, and they are still at an age to enjoy the spectacle, I was excited to go. So the 5 of us joined my brother's family of 4 and we headed off to the tournament grounds!

Once you walk in you are hit with the "earthy" smell of horses... not a bad smell, but certainly a recognizable one ;) And once we got our badges, and were assigned the "Black and White Knight" they had us kill time in the gift shop (now that is genius marketing!) With new foam swords and plastic jewelry we made our way to our seats to enjoy the show!

And we had a BLAST. All nine of us, kids and adults alike were hooting and hollering, cheering and booing as the knights competed, the horse promenaded, and the falcon swooped overhead. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and had even more fun watching the excitement, shock and awe dance across the faces of my kids, niece and nephew. 

The highlight for me (and likely for Dahlia, my youngest) was after our Black and White knight had won a contest and was award his bouquet - He rode by our section and tossed one white carnation 3 rows up and directly into Dahlia's hands!! I thought she might explode with excitement!

From then on she cheered louder, and waved her flag harder than anyone else in the entire section - I was worried she might have fallen in love. Until... a few contests later when our knight showed his true colours and insulted the queen - telling her she needed a King, and that a woman was not fit for "a man's duties."

My poor Dahlia was so conflicted, HER knight, HER champion had just turned out to be a chauvinistic jerk!  The drama was wonderful! 

The evening ended with our disgraced knight in a final battle "to the death" with the remaining Yellow and Red knight - who we were now enthusiastically cheering for! 

All said and done, everyone enjoyed themselves and I would highly recommend it for anyone with kids (mine are 8, 10 and 12).

Although he was rude and ultimately defeated, Dahlia of course kept her champion's flower, and carried it with her everywhere :)

Have you ever been to a family-friendly spectacle like this? Which would you recommend?

THANK YOU for Such an Incredible Campaign! What Happens Next? 🥳
over 4 years ago – Wed, Mar 09, 2022 at 12:39:12 AM

Yes there is still 55 minutes left, but the Inside Up Games Team, Maxime, and everyone involved in Earth behind-the-scenes would like to share a huge heartfelt thank-you!

Thank you, all 10,400+ of you for believing in Earth and for being excited to bring the game to your table to enjoy with friends and family.

Thank you for sharing this campaign, sharing your ideas, and sharing your enthusiasm for this project.

Thank you for helping us show partners around the globe how special Earth is, and helping us to get it localized in 12+ Languages!

Thank you for playing Earth with us on Tabletop Simulator, and for helping fellow gamers learn how to play the game, too!

THANK YOU for joining us on this incredible, overwhelming, exhausting, and rewarding journey.

We absolutely cannot wait to get Earth to all of you incredible backers - we know you’ll love it! 💗

What Happens Next?

For anyone on Facebook, Conor and his family will be counting down the final 30 minutes of the campaign to celebrate Earth's enormous success - you can join us here and say hello!

Then our team is going to celebrate with one another tonight (virtually in 4 different time zones!) Tomorrow we will continue working behind the scenes to make sure the pledge manager is ready for all of you and that Earth is as great as it can be.

• First up, Kickstarter will process your payment for the pledge you’ve chosen as well as any add-ons. This process takes two weeks, please make sure that your credit card information is up-to-date! If for some reason the transaction fails, Kickstarter will alert you and allow you to update your payment method.
• After Kickstarter has processed payments and taken their fees, we will be sending out invitations to complete your pledge using BackerKit. Here, you’ll be able to select options such as the style of play mat you’d like to receive, add items to your pledge, and pay for shipping.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for a message from Kickstarter confirming the payment for your pledge has been processed!

Once it’s ready, we’ll send out an update when the pledge manager is open and share the late pledge information with those who weren’t able to join us during the campaign.

See You in About 2 Weeks!

It’s likely we won’t have much news to share until Kickstarter has processed the funds and the pledge manager goes live. That should happen in about two weeks, so expect another update from us then! The good news is that Conor should get some samples in that time, and he can share some photos, like this one sent to us from the factory!

We will still  be available to answer questions in the comments section, and you’re always welcome to join our community on Discord!

One more thank you!

From funding in 2 hours, to raising over CA$723,250 this campaign has been amazing and we’re so grateful to be a part of the board gaming community. THANK YOU!

Conor is a hugger, so virtual hugs from us to all of you around Earth! 🌎

All the best from the team at Inside Up Games.

Colour me intrigued! And some photos of samples!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Mar 07, 2022 at 10:52:08 PM

Hello all you wonderful backers, new and old!

I (Conor) cannot believe we are closing in on 9 THOUSAND backers! Thank you, each and every one of you!

Just a little update today as there have been a few questions I wanted to address here!

First of all, did you see today's reveal?

 I am pretty happy about it! 

We chose these colours as they best represent the various colours we find most often on the cards including trees, mushroom, bushes and herbs. This way players can have a more varied, and beautiful growth section.
Please note, the number of Canopies stays the same (70), but there will be an assortment of these colours. We cannot guarantee that everyone receives the same number of each colour, like nature, this could vary. But you will always have 70 pieces! And regardless of the colour, they are all considered a "Canopy" for gameplay!
And remember, we have not received these samples yet, so the shapes and colours could change!

And what about yesterday's reveal?

The 1st player token is simply given to the starting player. The game has an even number of rounds, so some backers were worried about losing track of who went first. We had room in the punch board so I included it :)
The active player token, on the other hand, is passed around the table to show who the active player is. Because of the simultaneous major/minor benefit, some players find it helpful.

One more reveal planned for tomorrow morning!

For that, you'll have to wait and see ;)

 Photos of Product Samples!

Some backers have asked for photos of components before the campaign has concluded, which is normally pretty tricky, but our manufacturer has been amazing and was thinking ahead! 

Please note that these photos were sent from the factory, so I do not have the pieces yet, I did not take the photos, and these are from the prototype files, so they do not have some of the recent changes/improvements that have been made. 

Hang out for the final 30 minutes of the campaign?

For the past few campaigns, my family and I have live-streamed the final 30 minutes. It's a nice chance to chat with backers and celebrate all the amazingness that was this campaign!
 If you would like to stop by and join us, you can do that here! The video will also be saved to Inside Up Games' Facebook page and you can watch it later.

Friendly Reminders :)

• If you would like to receive the complementary KS goodies (including the wooden active player, soil, and leaf tokens, and 12-card month pack) you must pledge for a copy (or copies) of Earth during the campaign. Otherwise they will be at an additional cost in the PM!
• If you would like to add anything to your pledge simply select "manage my pledge," select the language you want, and then add any add-ons.  (On mobile, look for the 3 dots ... )
• All prices, for all items (Earth, KS Goodies, Earth add-ons and other IUG games) will be increasing in the PM!
• There will also be options for 2, 3 or 4 play mats in the PM. There you will also be able to select which print(s) you want. And everyone who purchases 1 or more play mats will receive the storage box for free!
• All of our titles are CVD-friendly, and are tested by both Adobe and our testers. 

Let's have an epic ending to an epic campaign!  

Thanks a million, from the Inside Up Games Team. 🌎

  ---------------------------------------------------------

Family Update

  We have had a crazy amount of snow again this year - check out this "snow-blower" for reference!
 So it's a good thing our kids, and our dog, love playing in it.
  Growing up in Northern Ontario loving "the outdoors" is a must, or I guess it's a must if you want to enjoy living in the north! LOL :)
 As many of our past backers know we love to be outside and especially love canoe-camping around our beautiful lakes. In the winter we love to ski, sled, play and build in all of the mountains of snow.
 Recently we were out at my parents for a bonfire and a "river walk." (The river is frozen over so we go for a nice long meandering walk and let the dogs run wild.)
 My sister and her family came out as well and all the kids had a blast playing in the snow and jumping off the 2nd storey of the 3 story tree house.  And believe it or not, no one got hurt! (A rarity when my kids and I are involved!)

  But the highlight for me was once the adults headed inside to prepare dinner and we could see the kids playing in the back field. The cousins wanted to play "on the sheds," so Kilianne and Caleb (my 12 and 10 year olds) worked together to help the littler ones get up. And then Kilianne squatted to the ground and let Caleb climb on her shoulders, then she STOOD UP! All the adults watching were shocked, because I don't think any of us could go from a flat foot, deep squat to standing with almost equal weight on our shoulders!

Then she dragged over a chair to get higher up and the other kids helped pull her up safely! 

This kind of semi-dangerous and exciting behaviour reminds me so much of being a kid! Sure, it usually ends in blood and bandages, but not this time! That's a win :)

As mentioned, the kids weren't the only ones having a blast...

  What activity does your pet love to do?