Whew! Quite a bit of work to get to this point since our last update. But I now have 100 of everything (and more of some things) and the rest are supposed to get to me next week. Here is a pic from a video I just made: And here is the video all about it!
If you're following the project, but haven't pledged, our late pledging closes at midnight US eastern time Sunday July 20th (just as the clock ticks over to the 21st). You can pledge here.
Most of you reading this know all the details about the decks & tiles. So let me focus on the shipping details:
The rest of the decks and tiles will be coming to me on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, depending on the shipping gods. There's plenty that can be prepped though so if things don't come until Wednesday, I can be ready to ship faster starting Wednesday.
If you plan to be at Gen Con, we will have booth 150 and you can pick up there--we'll also credit you back your shipping fee towards anything else at our booth. (So if you paid $8 shipping, you'll get $8 off a purchase there.) To do this send an email to 'support at inkwellideas dot com' and list your name and the email address you use on Backerkit (if it isn't the same as what you're sending from.) You must do this by 9am US eastern time Monday July 21st. Put 'Gen Con Pickup' in the subject line.
If you are outside the US,look for an email from 'support at inkwellideas dot com' in the next 24 hours asking you if you want to take the risk of paying a tariff or if you'd rather switch to a digital only pledge and I'll refund the difference. You can also wait to see if/how much folks who have received theirs are paying, but it seems likely tariffs may be more next month. Unfortunately even though you've paid shipping & VAT, a tariff would be in addition to that. I hate it too. :(
OK, with that out of the way... Can't wait for you to have these! (Don't be surprised if you get another update soon if there are a number of questions for me to clarify.)
Hi Folks, We're getting into the final month! I was away on a trip last week (touring some colleges with my 17-year-old) but a lot has happened since our last update.
Digital Card PDFs Today, we just posted new files to the digital downloads of the Hexploration Decks. These are the same cards just set up such that 4 card fronts are printed on one page, then then next page has the backs for those same 4 cards (but set up so page 2 can be printed on the back of page 1)... then page 3 has 4 more card fronts, page 4 has those cards' backs, and so on. I hope/plan to have more combinations--maybe 9 per page without bleed, the cards as individual images, etc. I'll let you know in the next update in 2 weeks--but don't be surprised if you get some "updated file available" messages from DriveThru before then.
Card Deck PODs I have ordered proofs of the decks from DriveThru so I'll be able to give out codes to get them printed-on-demand once I get the proofs & inspect them.
Digital Tiles I have made new B&W versions of all the graphics. But I haven't yet been able to make page-size images with several graphics each for them. If you've already downloaded them from DriveThru, likewise don't be surprised if you get an update message for this.
Physical Decks & Tiles The static clings took a while, but I just approved the proofs for them in the last hour. We went back and forth a few times on the best way to lay them all out. Even now I wonder if there are some better options to save a sheet or two--it took 20 3"x3.46" sheets to get all the icons and coasts and rivers set up as clings. They are "kiss cut" so even though most have several clings on a sheet, you'll be able to pull them off individually.
And yesterday I finished the art for the overall box of the Kit if you're getting the physical tiles, clings, and decks.
Hexploration Kit Box top, front, & right side.
Hexploration Kit Box back, bottom and left side.
And the card decks, tiles, and smaller boxes for each of those have been at that printer and are being printed now.
So everything seems to be moving along without issue. I'm hoping/expecting to have it all around July 18th and will start shipping as soon as I have it all.
And on the 28th we leave for Gen Con (which starts on the 31st), where Inkwell Ideas has booth #150 at the Exhibit Hall. You'll be able to tell us what you liked, point your friends to them to get some too, see what else we have, etc. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone. Booth 150 is along the left side wall if you're looking from the main Exhibit Hall entrances--although there is also a side entrance right next to us (but I'm told it doesn't open until 15-30 minutes after the main doors do).
If you haven't done the survey yet, please do! At the moment 39 folks haven't. If you can't find your message about it, go here: https://hexploration.backerkit.com/ which will let you login to your Backerkit account. If you're one of the project followers who didn't back the project yet, you can also make a late pledge at that link!
Hi Folks, I think we're still in good shape to get these to you during the 3rd week of July. My printer says they are on track for that, so fingers crossed!
The printer has all the files needed except for some box art--but we're just finalizing the size of the boxes now. (BTW, if you've looked at the decks/tiles and have some Kudos that I could possibly use as quotes for the box, please post any quote you're willing to let me use/paraphrase as a comment!)
The clings are being done by a different company and we've been going back and forth sorting out the layout--fitting well over 100 clings on as few sheets of cling material as possible. Their promised turnaround time is 1-2 weeks, so I'm not worried yet.
If you haven't done the survey yet, please do! About 50 folks haven't. If you can't find your message about it, go here: https://hexploration.backerkit.com/ which will let you login to your Backerkit account. If you're one of the project followers who didn't back the project yet, you can also make a late pledge at that link!
Things I'm still working on:
Create the PDF files that will have multiple cards per page. These will be added to the DriveThru product, so you'll be able to just download the update. I hope/expect to get to these by the end of the month.
Order samples of the cards on DriveThru. At that point I'll be able to send those at-cost DriveThru codes. These will probably come out middle of next month--just to line up the release with the pre-printed decks.
Update the digital version of the Hex Tiles (plus the related features, coasts, and rivers). I also hope/expect to get these by the end of the month.
Hi All, I'm pushing hard to get the printed decks and tiles to you ASAP--I know the printer typically takes 4-6 weeks, and I want to have these at Gen Con to debut them to the general public there. But only after shipping to you all.
Thanks to several backers who did a deep dive, plus our editor giving a few bits an extra look, the files are ready.
I've now submitted them to the printer (as well as the tiles) so I've just updated the files at DriveThruRPG. We still have a bunch to do--here are the major things we have left:
More icons for features/points-of-interest, coasts, and rivers for the clings. (These are being printed by a different printer, so we have a bit more time.)
Black & White tiles (digital only, the printed tiles will be color only as that's the vastly more popular choice.)
Box art for the tiles set as well as box art for the overall Hexploration Kit box. (If you're getting physical tiles and all 5 decks, you're getting a nice box for all of it.)
Make versions of the Deck pdfs with multiple per page.
So I'll be working on the above over the next couple of weeks!
Please do check out the files. If you filled out the survey and redeemed your codes to get the digital files on DriveThru you should have gotten update notifications in the past hour or so. Even if you didn't see the notifications, the files were all updated--check your DriveThru library. The new versions have -20250529 in the filename.
If you haven't done the survey yet, please do! I'm waffling a bit on the final print run size and it will help me decide. If you can't find your message about it, go here: https://hexploration.backerkit.com/ which will let you login to your Backerkit account. If you're one of the project followers who didn't back the project yet, you can also make a late pledge at that link!
We've just sent the surveys via Backerkit. If somehow yours hasn't shown up, go here: https://hexploration.backerkit.com/ which will let you login to your Backerkit account.
We're excited to get these to you! Of course we want the final product to be amazing... so even though they've been through 3 rounds of editing now, if you notice something wrong (a typo, a game rule/guidance that seems incomplete, etc.) please send an email to [email protected]. I'll look for comments too as best I can, but often I check Backerkit's comments tab on the admin page and don't see anything then a few days later check an individual update and see a comment that had already been posted. We'll be sending these to the printer late next week, so please get comments to me by the 27th.
We're using these next 6 days to work on more of the Hex tiles and related icons--for example you'll note that the B&W versions that are large images designed for printing haven't been added to the zip yet. And there are a few more we plan to include.
We've set things up to be delivered via DriveThruRPG. This has the advantage that if you follow the links to get them there at no extra cost, you'll have them in your library and not need to do anything special to get the updated versions later.
