Post-Campaign Update #1: CONTEST + General Updates
about 3 years ago – Tue, Feb 07, 2023 at 11:07:59 AM

Hi everyone! It's been 1 month since our Kickstarter funded, and we've been busy! Here's what's going on with Bah! Humbug! and the 12 games of Christmas right now:

FUNDING & FINANCE

• January 6: the campaign ended, with a total of $25,272 pledged.
• January 23: We receved $22,748.43 in funds from Kickstater.

DEVELOPMENT

• As of Jan 31: a physical prototype of the cards and components, and the digital rulebook, are now in the hands of the developer, who is going over the games one by one for final checks and recommendations. 
• We discovered a couple weeks ago that one of the games in development had evolved to resemble an already-published game, so we are working with that designer to see if we can include a different one of their designs. (We also have a back catalog of many alternate games we can add in if needed.)

ART & GRAPHIC DESGN

• We have run a pre-press check on a sample card and a single spread of the rulebook, and made some changes that should speed up the proof approval process for the rest of the game, and minimize the risk of delays when we go to print.
• We've received new vector art from the artist, so we can easily create low-ink and full-color PNP files, extras, and promotional materials. 
• We are finalizing our box dimensions this week, and will begin work on graphic design for the new box this month.

MANUFACTURING

• In mid-January, we requested updated manufacturing quotes from our shortlist manufacturers. We have received responses from most of them, but are waiting on 2 more before we make production choices and sign an agreement. Chinese New Year has delayed some of the communication, but we anticipate we'll have updated quotes soon and be able to choose our manufacturer by the end of the month. 

FULFILLMENT

• One of the fulfillment partners we were counting on is closing its doors this spring. So we are reworking our fulfillment plans. We have already contacted a few companies, and have some options, including receiving the games and shipping them ourselves. Regardless, shipping charges will not exceed the estimates we published during the campaign. 

LATE PLEDGES

• We don't currently have a late pledge option for Bah! Humbug! but if you missed the campaign, you can join our email list (linked on our website) to learn when and how you can pre-order. 

THE BORING BUSINESS STUFF

• We are working on getting Small Furry Games organized in terms of bookkeeping, customer service, and email campaign managment. It's clear that our company and our fan base are now big enough that we need to have a more holistic solution to managing all the info and orders with a very small team. I'll be working on getting us set up this month.

CONTEST!

• We are announcing a Bah! Humbug! community game design contest next week. You get to hear about it first! Here are the details. 

That's all for now. If you have any questions about the campaign, feel free to reach out anytime! We'll keep providing updates at least monthly until Bah! Humbug! has been delivered.

-Emily

🥳 Box Inserts, Box Makeover, and What's Next 🥳
about 3 years ago – Mon, Jan 02, 2023 at 07:08:47 AM

THANK YOU to everyone for your pledges, pledge upgrades, and bonus support over the past 2 days! With just 1 day left, we've surpassed our next big stretch goal, and "decorated" another section of the Stretch Goal "tree."  At this level...

All printed games will include a box organizer

•  The box insert will be made of cardboard or other sturdy, sustainable material.
•  There will be plenty of room for rules and pieces we release in the future.
•  There will be room for sleeved cards, for backers who like to protect their cards this way. (The cards are bridge-sized).

The box art will get a makeover

•  We look forward to working with the original artist and the graphic designer who created the new Bah! Humbug! cards. Together, they'll help us make sure the box shines on a shelf, for collectors and retailers alike. 

We'll invest in further game development

• Game Developer Jon Gilmour (co-designer of Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game, Dinosaur Island, Kids on Bikes and more) has been a huge help to us over the past 9 months, and we're looking forward to playing, playtesting, and finalizing all the games with Jon before they go to print. 
•  The rulebook will be thoroughly tested and improved. We'll do some extra "cold" playtesting to make sure the rulebook and its visuals are crystal clear for a variety of players learning the games.
• After the Kickstarter, we'll be announcing a design contest for future games! Anyone who backed for $12+ will be able to submit a game idea, and finalists will be voted on by our backers during 2023.  The winning game(s) we choose will be offered a place in a future Bah! Humbug! release, along with other games to be announced. 

Looking to the future

For the game: Our last big stretch goal is $29,000. Anything can happen, but Kicktraq is showing us trending toward less than that. So it looks like other upgrades might have to wait to be add-ons or future improvements to the collection. If so, we'll keep working on those in the background, and we hope to be able to offer you some Kickstarter-exclusive upgrades in the pledge manager in early 2023. Then you can get them before the general public, and receive them at the same time you receive your game(s).

For our company: With the projected success of "Bah! Humbug!" Small Furry Games plans to begin professional development on our next 1-2 games for Kickstarter. Possible games include Ion Award finalist Beetle Island and Cardboard Edison finalist Pentacular Word Circus. (Pssst...did you know Pentacular, already has a Kickstarter pre-launch page?) More info about future games is coming soon. As backers, you'll be the first to know about our next releases.

We appreciate you.

We know we've said it a lot over the past month, but WE APPRECIATE YOU! Running a Kickstarter isn't just about raising money, it's about building a community. We know that now more than ever. 

We have loved receiving your messages of support, your questions, and your ideas about the games. We're especially inspired by the numbers of backers outside the U.S. who want to see this collection travel around the world, be translated, and available at their local stores.  It's hard to imagine that a year and a half ago, "Bah! Humbug! was just bits of construction paper on a dining table. By this time next year, it's going to be much bigger, and being played around the world. And we can now credit that, in big part, to our backers. 

Thank you for your support and your trust in us as we release our first game to the world. We appreciate you.

Here's to Bah Humbug's final day on Kickstarter!

Emily at Small Furry Games 

🐔 THREE DAYS LEFT 🐔 and THREE NEW STRETCH GOALS! 🏆🏆🏆
about 3 years ago – Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 06:56:26 AM

Support has continued to build since we launched Bah! Humbug! more than 3 weeks ago, and together with our backers, we are (Geese a-) laying the foundation for an even better print run of this game collection! You could say things are going (Swans a-) "swimmingly..."

Together with backers, we've unlocked:

• Bulk manufacturing
• Sturdier, black-core cardstock
• A double-thick game box

In addition, because we have reached 500+ games, shipping estimates have gone down for nearly every country! We anticipate being able to offer VAT-friendly and/or DDP shipping to most countries. New estimates are shown on the campaign page. We are continuing to work on lower rates for the UK and EU.

Content creators are talking about Bah! Humbug!

We received positive attention in the past 3 weeks from Bower's Game Corner, Board Game Gumbo, The Cardboard Cantina, Everything Board Games, GameEnthus, and The Wynners Game Room.

Stretch Goal Survey Results - Top 3

Over 100 people responded to our stretch goal survey, and as a group, backers want to see these upgrades to the game:

• 1 - a sturdier game box (NOW UNLOCKED!)
• 2 - upgraded, black-core card stock (NOW UNLOCKED!)
• 3 - a cardboard insert, to organize the cards and pieces in the box (ALMOST THERE!)

Here are the 3 more things needed by JANUARY 3!

We are VERY close to our next goal of $21,750 or 750 games, which will unlock that box insert, and also allow us to continue improving the game collection and develop new games. But it could be close! Here's what's needed before noon (EST) on Tuesday:

• $2,516 more in pledges (to total $21,750)
• about 120 more games (to total 750)
• 8 more YouTube subscribers (to total 150) - subscribe here!

(We'd also love to see a ~$138 more in bonus support, to help us reach $500 in bonus support and unlock the heart ornament on our Stretch Goal tree.)

Thank you!

Even if we didn't raise another dollar, this campaign would already be a success. So thank you to everyone who has made a pledge so far. We wish you all a very happy new year, and hope you'll continue to share and back the project through noon on Tuesday, January 3, so together so we can make Bah! Humbug! the best it can be in 2023!

VAT-friendly shipping, lower shipping estimates for select countries!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 03:52:06 PM

🎵 FIIIIIIVE...DAYS RE-MAIN! 🎵 

Greetings backers! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, whatever and wherever you celebrate. 

We are in the home stretch of the Bah! Humbug! campaign, and one of the amazing things about this project has been seeing so much interest and support come in from countries around the world. We anticipated we would have a few dozen backers outside North America, but it turns out we now have 100 or more games going to other parts of the world! For the past week, we have been busy obtaining quotes and making connections for international shipping.  And we have some news for backers outside North America.

First, a disclaimer: The numbers below are our best estimates for what shipping costs will be in 6 months, but they can still change. 

Also...if we recently quoted you a special shipping rate via a direct message, we will still honor that rate (or a lower one, if a lower rate is available when we collect shipping fees).

UK and EU Backers

We now anticipate being able to ship to the following countries in the EU and UK, directly from China,  Delivery Duty Paid (DDP). Your exact shipping cost and pre-paid VAT will be collected after the campaign, via the pledge manager.  Then you shouldn't have to pay any additional fees when your game arrives. Estimates shown below are for shipping 1 copy of the game in 2023. Most of these estimates have gone down. 

•  France, Germany, Italy, and United Kingdom (~$17)
•  Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden (~$20)
•  Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Malta, and Romania (~$33, but lower rates may be available if you prefer not to prepay your VAT.)

Australia, New Zealand, and Elsewhere

For the following countries, we anticipate being able to provide Customs Clearance and VAT-friendly shipping. Your exact shipping cost and pre-paid VAT will be collected after the campaign, via the pledge manager.  Estimates shown below are for shipping 1 copy of the game in 2023. 

•  China and Hong Kong (~$8)
•  Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam (~$18)
•  Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, New Zealand, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (~$29)

Bulk, retail, and other estimates

If you would like an estimate for shipping multiple copies, please reach out to us directly via messages. There are also some new pick-up locations coming on board, and a few possible group sales being organized by region. So Joy to the World backers, please send us a message if you have any questions at all about shipping estimates! 

Thanks for your patience

We're a small business, and international shipping is new to us, but we're learning a lot!  It turns out that this might not be as complicated as we thought.  I want to send a special thanks to Tim Eisner (Weird City Games) for chatting with us last week and introducing us to several folks in the industry who will help us send "Bah! Humbug" around the globe. I look forward to staying in touch with you about our progress, and offering the lowest available shipping rates at the time we ship the games next year. 

I'll do my best to update these estimates on the campaign page in the next 24 hours. 

-Emily at Small Furry Games

🎁🎄 WE DID IT! Bulk Manufacturing, here we come! 🎄🎁
about 3 years ago – Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 10:55:39 AM

Leapin' Lords! This morning, we hit our stretch goal of $14,500 and 500 games reserved! 

What a wonderful Christmas surprise! Thank you to EVERYONE who has supported the project so far, especially our 10 retail backers and the growing list of pick-up locations who will help us continue to get "Bah! Humbug!" into the world after the Kickstarter ends. 

Manufacturing and Production

We are now in deeper conversations with our board game manufacturer (and getting updated quotes from 2 others). We look forward to talking to them next week about production details, but here's what we know so far:

• We can now meet the minimum order quantity (MOQ) for bulk printing
•  The game box will be 2x as thick, so the collection can last for many years
•  The cards will be upgraded to thicker black-core cardstock, to help resist wear and tear
•  We now have a wider range of stretch goals available to us. Please take the stretch goal survey here, to tell us what matters to you. We've had over 60 responses, and are beginning to get a clear picture of what might come next. I plan to announce new goals and improvements after Christmas.

Let's keep going!

We still have 10 days left in this campaign, so please continue to share and invite friends! 

Wherever you are, I hope you stay warm this week, and find time to play some games and spend quality time with loved ones! 

Full of gratitude and leaping for joy, 

Emily at Small Furry Games