With all regions fulfilled, we wanted to follow up to offer a look back at how the project went, and to share a minor misprint we discovered.
Here's what we cover in this update:
We discovered that our printer accidentally printed two copies of the "PIKE" Object card, replacing what was supposed to be the "CLAW" card. We're offering to mail a free replacement card to any physical deck backer who would like one. Please sign up via this Google form by midnight ET on March 29 to receive one. If you miss the form deadline, you can still request a card via our contact page by sending us a message with the following details: 1) your name and mailing address, 2) your BackerKit-linked email address, and 3) your backer number (if possible). We'll make sure it gets sent out!
We wanted to offer a post-project debrief sharing the lessons we learned from delivering Lore Master's Deck. This is something we like to do after every project. We appreciate the level of trust you gave us by supporting us through crowdfunding. We like to honor that trust by making sure that we document and learn from any challenges so we do our best not to repeat them for our backers.
Let's get into the details!
Replacing the duplicated card
We were disappointed to discover that a minor mistake was printed in the main deck, despite our team going through our files with a fine-toothed comb.
Two copies of the Object card with "PIKE / CHEST / SATCHEL / HELMET" were printed, with one of those copies replacing what should have been "CLAW / TELESCOPE / SHIELD / THREAD." The same is true of the secondary cues on the reverse side.
We've confirmed that the error didn't originate with our team. We reviewed all our print files and confirmed that all cards were correct—all cards accounted for with no duplicates. The print-and-play PDFs we distributed were also correct.
Our printer has now confirmed that they introduced the error after receiving our files and laying out the cards to be printed in large sheets. We did review digital copies of the print sheets, and we did check for duplicated cards by confirming the correct number of each card type was present on the sheet, and that the card faces and backs were correctly aligned to match.
If there were any missing cards or extra cards, or if the card fronts and backs were misaligned, we would know a card had been dropped or duped. Unfortunately, because this error had one card replacing another without affecting the card count or card alignment, and because the duplicates were in different areas of the print sheet, we missed it.
It's frustrating.
Between our various teams, we put in well over 100 hours into reviewing our files. We've been working in print for 15 years, and this is the first time we've seen this kind of error introduced at this late stage in production after the files left our hands. Now that we've seen it happen and figured out how it got past our final checks, we'll be updating our review process to make sure it doesn't happen again.
We're grateful our printer has jumped in to make things right. They've printed the missing card for us, and we'll be mailing these to anyone who signs up via the form.
What we learned from this project
We're very happy that aside from the duplicated card, we haven't discovered any misprints or production issues. The production quality turned out excellent, other than some isolated issues with damaged or defective product.
For fulfillment, we managed to stick close to our original timelines in all regions except the US, where our partner had trouble keeping to their estimated fulfillment timeline in November and December.
What happened?
Miroki flew to Maryland for a post-project visit with Flying Cloud Fulfillment to meet their team, review the issues we experienced, and discuss how we could work together to ensure they didn't happen again.
Photo of The Story Engine packing area at Flying Cloud Fulfilment
We've come up with a few solutions to make future fulfillment smoother:
Flying Cloud is training key staff to specialize in our product line. This will help them receive and record new inventory faster next time, and will reduce the ramp-up period they spend practising picking and packing our decks and expansions.
These key staff will also be better equipped to train other seasonal staff who may need to support during busy periods.
Flying Cloud will give us more heads up if they see the estimated timelines slipping so we have more time to forewarn backers and discuss alternative solutions (e.g. mailing some parcels ourselves, or hiring additional staff).
In the future, we'll also be aiming to fulfill outside of the holiday season, which is the most stressful time of year for carriers and fulfillment partners. If we do fulfill during the holidays, we’ll clearly communicate and manage expectations around timelines and possible delays.
This project was unaffected by the trade war between Canada and the US, but for future projects, we will be updating our budgets and projections to account for any changes as the situation evolves.
Other than that, we're happy with how the project hit its milestones and delivered to backers! We hope you've enjoyed this process as much as we have.
Thanks for turning up for the community!
We also wanted to take a moment to say that we're so proud of and grateful for how you showed up during the challenges with US fulfilment! As Flying Cloud fell behind schedule, we asked for volunteers to drop to the bottom of the shipping queue so we could prioritize the most urgent shipments, and also invited backers to request placement at the front of the shipping queue if they needed their rewards by the holidays.
Over 200 people volunteered to delay their own shipping.
We were deeply touched that for every person who needed their parcel prioritized, we had 14 volunteers ready to give up their place in line so a stranger could have the holiday they'd been hoping for.
It's a beautiful, humbling gesture.
Mr. Rogers said to "Look for the helpers" when times are tough. We looked for our helpers and they showed up in spades. You make us so grateful to have you as our community!
That's all for now!
Thanks to everyone who has helped to make this project a success! Your feedback, excitement, patience, and support has made all the difference for us.
