Hello everyone -  Khai’xur here! (you can call me Khai) and today I am excited to bring you our most recent updates for VKS products and some new ideas from Tim.

I just recently joined the team here at Vite and I am super excited to be getting hands on with the VKS project! I will be working together with Tim to provide updates like these, as well as narrative and character designs, and using your feedback to help us improve.

So let's get to it!

Tools:
The cutting board has new added grooves, for additional grip power! 

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Tim will be providing an update for all the shipping as well as The Grey Market Initiative, so keep reading!

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Hey, Tim here!

What’s going with the actual knives, cutting board, and all that other stuff? Also, what the hell is the Grey Market Initiative?

Here’s the good news: The VKS, VKP, QRC, VKS Sharpening Stones, VKS Honing Rod, VKS Peeler, are all done and floating on the great Pacific Ocean somewhere! Not literally(I hope). But rather, they’ve been packed on a boat, and are slated to arrive in 3-4 weeks, depending on how the sea treats things, and the customs process.

Bad news: They’re affected by the tariffs. But, we knew that, and even though it’s still a hit, we’ve been able to absorb it with your help!

Secondary bad news: That did wipe out the remaining funds we had for things like artwork, animation, etc. 

Somewhat good news: Despite all the additional costs, we only spent $2,000 more than what we raised on BackerKit, after all the fees. To be fair, we DID basically double the amount of wood being used in the cutting boards(see the previous updates), and add new, free bamboo drying stands, and also bottles of mineral oil, but also those were all done before the tariffs, so...

Overall, coulda been worse. But that does bring up a bit of a problem. While all the physical items will arrive, our ability to fund the scope of what we originally wanted to incorporate in the launch has been diminished significantly.

Well, sorta.

Here’s the thing...

I’m Putting Together A Team

You’ve already been introduced to Khai, who was brought on as our loremaster and head writer. Doesn’t mean I’ll be not writing anymore at all! Just means that I’ll have more freedom to do all the other things associated with this project, like putting together the lessons, testing recipes, managing the art and animation, strategy, broad storyline stuff, kitchenware design, etc, etc.

We also now have a Full Time 3D Animator as well as a 3D Asset Artist to move the project forwards.

All of this is currently funded through the other projects we have going on at Vite. But here’s the thing... We have a lot of product that’s just kind of... sitting there. And importantly, we don’t have the final packaging for them, because the final packaging will require finalization of some of the story elements, artwork, and other things.

Right now, they’re in... well, cardboard boxes.

What we’d like to do, then, is to open up pre-orders in a Grey Market Initiative that allows those who missed the initial BackerKit to buy in. They will not be able to be an Alpha Tester, nor enjoy the kinds of discounts that BackerKit people got. They will also not receive the apron, stickers, and diamond sharpening stone that BackerKit Backers received.

Alpha Testers will be deciding what the Grey Market Initiative members see as behind the scenes as well... and more importantly, this will allow us to increase the scope of our planned content.

There’s also an interesting sub-project for knife skills that only Alpha Testers and BackerKit Backers will have access to as well, to be revealed later!

Here's a taste of what's in active development:

Every grey market sale directly supports our team, and more development time, more polish, more of what makes VKS special.

Grey Market users are going to get one of two options for how they can get involved.

Option 1: Get it now! You get the knives in simple, unmarked boxes, ready to go. No bells, no whistles, just pure cutting power.

Option 2: Pre-order the Grey Market kit and you’ll get the full experience once all items are ready to go! This option will likely be cheaper once all the pricing is done, and gets you the most stuff, without repeating what is already planned for Alpha Testers and Backers.

These options are a work in progress and we will be able to provide more updates as soon as we get more information on customs times, shipping costs, tariff adjustments, etc.

Right now, we're trying to target Q4 for the full launch of VKS, but it also kind of depends on how fast everything is moving.

Thank you for your patience and support!