Pledge Manager (PM) Open to All
over 2 years ago – Sun, Nov 19, 2023 at 07:12:43 AM

Smoke Test Successful, PM Open

Smoke test went off without a hitch. The Pledge Manager is now wide open, and all the details you need to know about navigating BackerKit is in the previous update HERE. A couple reminders:

• If you have a group pledge of greater than about 25 games, email me first at [email protected] just to chat about it; you will likely need a custom shipping quote.
• You will not be charged VAT in the PM; per this Update, I will be paying all VAT taxes.
• EDIT: There is no link to click. You will get an email into your InBox with a personalised link to your PM. It will use the email that is part of your Kickstarter account.
• EDIT 2: The email will come from BackerKit using the address [email protected]. 
• Remember that to move on from the second page here, you must answer the non-question by clicking the bubble; that enables the Next: Add-Ons button.

• If you prefer dogs to cats, you will be charged a 40% nuisance fee.

Good luck!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

IMPORTANT: Pledge Manager Details & Smoke Test
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 16, 2023 at 02:36:36 PM

Pledge Manager Details

The Pledge Manager is set to roll. Before I explain the Smoke Test (for those new to this), it is important you read this section.

For 95% of you, the pledge manager will be a snap. You simply plan on confirming your pledge, entering your address, and checking out (where you pay for shipping). I foresee no issues for you. For those who want to...

• Upgrade a pledge, 
• Change your $1 into a pledge, or 
• Do a group pledge, 

...Stern Police Cat says pay close attention.

The opening page is important. The 95% will get to this page and click the GET STARTED! button. For the rest of you, look beneath that green button.

Notice the small print immediately below. This is key if you want to change your pledge and have whatever amount you pledged in the campaign ($1, $21, etc.) count towards the great Kickstarter Pricing. What do I mean by this? 

Let's say you pledged for the Coins (Constable Pledge above) and want to upgrade to the Coins + Characters expansion (Dowager's Gratitude). You breeze past the "Switch your Pledge Level" and find yourself a couple pages in at the Add-Ons spot, which looks like:

Now, you might say, "Dan, look you have your excellent Kickstarter prices there for me to add-on. Why do I need to change my pledge? I will just add the Characters expansion to my coins right here." 

Because look what happens if you do that:

Your Dowager's Gratitude bundle will be $49, not $39 (with shipping for Germany here, $65 total instead of $55 total)! You wanted to transform your Constable into a Dowager's Gratitude, but you didn't do that because you added the Characters expansion a la carte at a higher price ($21 coins + $28 expansion = $49 total, not $39). 

You certainly could get a $39 bundle price here in the add-on section, but only as an add-on, like so:

But you may not want two sets of coins. So, that's where the front page comes in. Note that you only need to click the back arrow in your browser to return to the front page, like so:

If you switch your pledge, your $21 goes towards your Dowager's Gratitude bundle like so:

Now when you are checking out, you only pay the difference between your new $39 pledge level and the $21 you already paid in the campaign.

You are paying, including EU Group A shipping here, $34 instead of the $44 above for the same thing. Note that this is also true for the backers who pledged $1; if you do not change your pledge level, then you will end up putting your $1 into the tip jar.

Sorry to belabour this, but this is the area where the most confusion arises.

Group Pledges

As a final demonstration, let's look at a group pledge for someone who pledged $1 and wants to increase this to 26 copies of the Dowager's Gratitude bundle. Here is their front page:

Start by switching to the Dowager's Gratitude:

Then move on to the Add-Ons and add 25 more bundles:

Your shipping is calculated and you are set to go. You will see, however, that if you go over 25 bundles, the shipping comes up as $500!

This is to stop you in your tracks; if you want a larger group pledge than 26, you must email me at [email protected] so that I can give you a customised shipping quote. 

(Note that in the U.S. the $500 stopper comes up at 44 Dowager's Gratitude bundles.)

Your Moment of Zen

Keep in mind that nothing gets charged until I lock the pledge manager some weeks ahead. You could sleepwalk to the computer, enter 1000 coins (who wouldn't a 1000 of these coins, amirite?), put in your credit card and stagger back to bed. You have no worries. Your filled out information sits there like a granite statue until I lock the pledge manager. Just email me, and we will magically take care of anything that alarms or annoys you. Except dogs.

Smoke Test

The smoke test is where I open the pledge manager to a random 5% of the backers so that I can confirm all is running smoothly before opening it to everyone. That will follow later today. If you miss the Smoke Test, do not worry, you will have roughly a month (with me nagging the whole way) to change and complete your personal pledge manager.

The Carriage of the Dowager Marchioness

The metallic gold carriage handily won the vote.

Any of you worried about this choice, trust me! It will be divine.

Thank you!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

Pledge Manager Delayed
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 14, 2023 at 10:46:44 AM

Given the negative Title, I shield myself with a puppy.

Pledge Manager Planned for Thursday

It is the puppy's fault. Sorry, but the 4 year layoff in setting up a pledge manager has me a bit rusty. I forgot about the approval step (which now takes up to 48 hours). In our modern world, there are no people, only tickets and portals, so expediting has gone the way of the Parasaurolophus. 

Co-Op

We have some interesting new Characters (pun intended) in our cooperative game:

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

Pledge Manager Update
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 09, 2023 at 02:16:18 PM

Quick Pledge Manager Update

My plan is to open the pledge manager next week (and it will stay open for one month). I hope to send out a 'smoke test' on Wednesday morning, which is when a random 5% of backers will get their email, and I can make sure all is running well before opening it to everyone. 

There will be a comprehensive update with instructions, an FAQ, and how you can personally contact me if anything is amiss. Nothing is charged until the pledge manager closes, so we will have all the time we need to make sure everything is purrfect. 

Stay tuned!

Variant Catalogue

I have my first draft of the Variant Catalogue, and it is spectacular. I will be reviewing it carefully, doing some edits, and hopefully sharing it with you by the end of the month.

Thanks!

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games

Why Dan, Why? (Carriage Again)
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 07, 2023 at 08:18:47 AM

It is difficult to find a feline of low intelligence, but I persevered because I am of low intelligence for resurrecting the carriage colour issue. 

BUT OMG WILL YOU LOOK AT THESE? LOOK AT THEM!

Yesssssssssssssssss, I found the metallic gold in Panda's portfolio (actually, Tyler from Panda found it). The Terra Mystica yellow was already in the works, and the new yellow (really gold) from the last survey is on the right...

All right, no cooking the books here, most votes win, runs for 1 week. BUT all votes must go through the BGG poll (for my sanity). Comment away, but don't expect a vote in the comments to count. If you don't have a BGG account, you can do double duty by opening one, voting and also rating Obsession.

Poll

Here it is.

Dan Hallagan, Kayenta Games