Package Revisions, New Art, and Print Progress
11 months ago – Fri, May 19, 2023 at 02:16:56 PM

Hi All,

It’s been a very busy month. You’ve seen the prototypes for the Core Categories, and the Epic Fantasy and Horror & Urban Fantasy Companion Decks. I now also have (with a slight color improvement) prototypes for the Contemporary, Steampunk & Victorian, and Sci Fi & Cyberpunk Companions.

An unexpected Design Change

After getting the prototypes and having a conversation with the printer, it was clear I had to change the configuration of the packaging for the 224 card Companion Decks. The original concept for them was a square 2 piece box, and I made all 7 pieces of cover art to fit this configuration. However, the square wasn’t a perfect fit for the card count. There was too much room left in the box, and it would’ve cost more to create some kind of bumper on either side of the cards to keep them in place. So we pivoted to a tuck box that could be designed to fit the card count exactly. Problem is, the result was more of a rectangle, and so I needed to convert my square, 3-character cover images into rectangular compositions that would accommodate the logo and title information. So now, one character each for the top, front, and back panels. We’re busy finalizing the graphic design side of this, but here’s a look at the new final art:

Many of the characters needed areas of their bodies completed or filled in, and I pulled in project artist M. Wayne Miller to assist. In some instances, it also gave us the chance to give existing characters some upgrades:

For some of the characters from the 3-character compositions, I felt they just weren’t strong enough conceptually to stand completely on their own. So, they got replaced with all new, cooler-looking characters. I’m very happy with the results:

I want to mention that the new Companion Deck packaging will still feature spot UV.

I’m also working with a new design group that should be able to help me with any remaining layout tweaks, and also, with getting both the color and BxW home printer versions of the decks laid out and available for you. Up until now, the choice for me has been between working on the printable files, or continuing to drive the final project forward. Now, the design group can work on the the digital download versions while I continue to get the printed cards completed.

Reassurance

Here’s something I’d like to address. I’m still seeing comments that claim this project is dead, that I’ve lied to you, scammed you, or stolen your money. I want to make it clear in no uncertain terms that this is not the case. This is still very much a live project that I have every intention of fulfilling, and I’m working every day to move it closer to that goal. Though there are things about this that remain outside my control, I’m still striving for fulfillment to happen this summer. Please ask yourself: would I have spent the last month re-working 21 pieces of packaging art if my intention was to skate off with your money and not deliver? I’ve been forthright with you that there is indeed a funding gap. I’ve also let you know there is a solution: an interested investor, who's given me a clear goal regarding proving market viability. Work on that is going swiftly and successfully:  I’m out there promoting the product, and in response, I've gotten serious interest and excitement from college and university bookstore buyers and game retailers. As far as an availability date, I'm telling them the same timeline I’m telling you.  Meanwhile, calls and meetings with the printer are still happening. Designs are getting adjusted, and final costs and payment schedules are getting established. If you’re frustrated and impatient about the rate of progress, I understand, and I totally get it. But if you’re going to be frustrated, at least be frustrated about the right things. I’ve poured too much love, care, and creative energy into this project to even consider not seeing it through.

I’ll aim to update you again right after Memorial Day weekend.

Cheers,

Clark

Prototypes Video 1
about 1 year ago – Sun, Apr 16, 2023 at 06:04:43 AM

Hi All,

Here's a look at the prototype decks I told you about! In this video, you'll get a look at the Core cards, the Epic Fantasy Companion, and the Horror & Urban Fantasy Companion. I give you a category by category look, and then put some character combos together for both the Fantasy and the Horror sets.

Sorry for the shaky camera work! I couldn't find the mount I needed to make my poseable phone arm work. Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll have prototypes for the Contemporary, Steampunk & Victorian, and Sci Fi & Cyberpunk sets, and when I shoot video for those, I'll try and get my mount properly set up.

Please let me know what you think of this first look at the physical cards.

Cheers,

Clark

End of March Update
about 1 year ago – Sat, Apr 01, 2023 at 09:39:40 AM

Hey all,

I know this update is way late, especially after my all-too-zealous announcement at the beginning of the year that you’d be getting updates weekly. You have my sincere apologies for the radio silence. But, during this time, there’s been a LOT of movement in on the project, and much of it required very time sensitive work on my part. I thought that, given the choice, you’d all approve of me prioritizing pushing the project forward (even though I have lots to tell you!) If such a grace period existed, it’s clearly expired by now, and I absolutely wanted to stop and update you.

As you all know, I’ve been actively seeking outside funding to get us over the finish line. Though I can’t report confirmed success yet, I feel I’m definitely on the right road, and making serious progress. Our Interested Party has given me one last quest - and that’s to quantify interest in PSYCHE on the retail level in college bookstores. Based on my prior experience with college bookstores with the original Reckless Deck, I’m feeling very positive about our odds. Prepping for this run at university bookstore buyers is one of the things I’ve been focused on. My hope is that this last bit of market research is the key to getting the presses moving.

For these buyers, we don’t need actual orders, or a particular quantity of units. All we’re looking for is for them to express serious willingness to place the product in their stores. If we get enough schools to commit, our goal will be to get them their product in time for them to put it on shelves for the start of the Fall 2023 semester. From that, you should be able to tell a lot about the timing I’m hoping for for production and fulfillment of your Kickstarter orders. (the intent would be to get the Kickstarter fulfilled BEFORE shipping to colleges and universities, in case that wasn’t clear.) I can’t give you any firm dates or confirm any of this is definite, because there are still too many variables that are outside my control. But I’m hoping we’re getting really close to the final print run getting underway.

Here is another instance of where some of you might be able to help. If any of you work in bookstores (college or non-college-related), game and hobby shops, or museum gift shops - or are friends with people who do - any confirmed retailers willing to place Psyche on their shelves once we have the product in hand would be a win towards proving market strength to our Interested Party. Like I said, there’s no commitment to order or payment needed at this point. If you know a buyer or a store you think might be interested, I would send along the same supporting materials and sample kit I’m sending to the schools on our call list, and they would be able to make the assessment for themselves about whether they think Psyche is a good fit for their store.

If you or a retailer you know would like to get in touch about this, you can leave a comment here for me to follow up with you directly, or email me at [email protected].

I have MUCH more to tell you, but its clear to me this content back-up is going to have to come in several installments.

• I have PROTOTYPES I’m dying to show you! Yes, actual, physical Psyche cards. They’re RAD.
• I’ve made decisions on what to do regarding the format for the downloadable versions we’ve been talking about. We’ll discuss further, but the answer seems to to both the simple BxW and the color versions.
• Do you remember last year, I raised the idea of us doing Psyche Zoom workshops, where we can use the decks to create some stellar characters and stories together? I’d like to re-visit this, and try to get our first one on the calendar (you’d all be invited to attend, but I think it’s only fair that we start with the original 3 backers who were the first to say that’d like to be participants. If they’re not available, I’ll work my way up the list.) How about one evening Eastern Time, the week after Easter?

OK, more very, very soon. I hope you’re all well, and thank you again for your continued patience and faith in the project.

Clark

End of February Update
about 1 year ago – Mon, Feb 27, 2023 at 05:48:51 AM

Hi All,

Sorry this latest edition is a bit late. I’ve had a sick kid home from school this week (who is now thankfully on the mend).

Update on Printing

I am being as proactive as I possibly can regarding getting production moving. I have investor-related meetings on the books that have unfortunately been delayed briefly, due to health concerns on their end. I want very much to report instant results for you, but instead I’m trying to be as Jedi as possible with my patience and faith in the universe as these events unfold. I will of course keep you posted on any and all developments.

Additional Orders & Pricing Info

Some of you have messaged me saying, “I wish I hadn’t missed the window on some of those expansions”, or “I wish I had ordered more during the campaign”. Though your original Kickstarter and Backerkit orders are all locked, anyone who wants to place an additional order still can. The pre-order platform is still open, and all the campaign items are still available. Additionally, any preorder funds raised (literally every cent of it) will go directly towards completion of the project.

In the last update, I let you know about some of the cost specifics of individual items. Based on the current, post-Covid, US-based manufacturing rates, the prices for 224-card Companion Decks and 60-card Mini Companions need to be raised in the pre-order store. But, I will leave them at their current prices for one week for any of you that want to place another order. So, the morning of Monday, March 6th, the main Companion decks will be going from $20 to $26, and the Mini Companions will be going from $10 to $14. (This DOES NOT AFFECT any currently placed Kickstarter or Backerkit orders - this only applies to NEW orders that come in after 3/6.)

Designs for Printable Version

I’ve been working on the downloadable versions of the decks many of you have been asking for. These are the simplified backgrounds I’ve come up with so far:

Here’s the thing, though: I checked in with Mary Ann, the project’s graphic designer, and she believes that even though these are simplified designs, the fact that they’re in full color like this is going to suck up a TON of your printer ink. And, it’s going to make the file sizes for the PDFs really large. The color Print & Play sampler for original RD available on our website is only 85 cards. The Psyche Companion Decks have nearly three times that number.

My question is (and yes I’d like to hear from you in the comments about this), is this still what you want? Making black & white versions of this content, like the downloadable ones for the Core Set and the Epic Fantasy Companion is still an option (like this):

These clearly won’t have the same aesthetic punch, but they'll still get you all the content you’re asking for (and more quickly), and have a much lower impact on your home printer.

I understand though that choosing this simpler option will require a decent amount of trust that the final versions of the cards will indeed happen. Please let me know in the comments which version of the PDF content you’d like to see, and I’ll pursue it.

Anthology Update

Here’s a first look at the layout, featuring the opening page spreads of three stories, and their awesome art by Reiko Murakami!

The final layout for the anthology is the very last bit of design work Mary Ann and I are finishing up. Compared to the cards, this is relatively easy. I am writing the foreword now, and assembling the info for the copyright page (all publication rights revert back to the individual authors after this edition is completed). Mary Ann already has a complete first draft of the finished book except for these remaining last details. This thing is gonna be FAT - close to 400 pages - so make room on your shelf.

Community Call to Action

Some of you have been messaging me asking how you can help. First, I have to say I appreciate this beyond belief. Thank you for your sustained (or rekindled) interest in this project after so many ups and downs.

The easiest and most helpful thing at this point would be for you to follow Reckless Deck on Instagram (if you haven’t already), and interact with the posts. Please also consider posting your own Reckless Deck-related creations with the hashtag “#RecklessDeck”.

Afew months ago, I asked you to potentially ”say something nice” on RD’s social media. I realize now that out of context, this was a preposterous ask. What I knew then that I couldn’t yet tell you was that, a) I was most likely getting legal control of RD back in my hands, and that b) I soon would be seeking outside investor funding. To help that succeed, the best grassroots thing you as the backer community could do would be to provide consistent evidence on social media that, even though there’s frustration and even anger at the state of things, there is also still a real desire and enthusiasm for the finished product, and an engaged community that is still willing to express positivity, despite the setbacks.

I hope this provides some context for that oddball request a while ago, and I hope you’ll join me on Instagram to help me lock in the additional funding.

I’m attempting to post as consistently as possible, with cool art, Creative Hacks, and character-creating challenges. Soon I hope to be working in more videos, and more PSYCHE-based writing challenges. I really do think you’ll like what you see, and that it‘ll be worth your while. Have a little look:

I’ll have more for you in about a week or so. Thanks for hanging in there.

Cheers,

Clark

First February Update
about 1 year ago – Thu, Feb 09, 2023 at 03:34:25 PM

Hi All,

First, let me say thanks for all of the positivity and support around getting Reckless Deck back in my hands again; it means a lot. And to those of you who aren’t feeling quite so positive, I understand why that is, and I hope I can allay some fears over the coming weeks.

PDF Request

The first thing I want to address with you is your very clear asks for PDFs of the content. Yes, this is something I can do. From what I understand, you want something with some aesthetics to it, instead of the plain black & white ones I made for the Core Set and the Epic Fantasy set, that all of you already have access to (To regain access, you need to sign back into your Backerkit account. Any problems, please start by recovering your Backerkit Survey.)

On the Reckless Deck website, there are downloadable print & play options for both a combination of Volumes 1 and 2, and a Descriptor Deck. These have card face designs that are  more simplified, home-printer-friendly versions of the full-scale card art. Like this:

 In order to get you the PDF's you're asking for, I need to:

• Generate card face art for all 8 Psyche categories in this style
• Place each set of card content in an 8-up layout, and add the new card face art
• Connect with Backerkit about making the new PDFs available for you all to download

This will take me a little time, but I will get going on this for you. I’ll also find out whether Backerkit will support delivery deck-by-deck, or whether it must be done all at once.

Some Financial Infoo

The other very clear ask I heard from you all was some insight into the project’s financial situation.

I want to reassure you again that the money was not “blown”, or “burned through”. The Kickstarter funds have been spent on:

• Kickstarter fees
• Backerkit fees
• Backerkit’s pre-launch and marketing services
• Playmat and coin manufacture
• Artists, writers, and designers

And of course, Shuffled Ink, our printer, has nearly all the funds they need to complete the printing.

OK, so why aren’t the presses turning?

Much of where we are is the result of trying to launch a big campaign in the middle of a pandemic. A LOT changed during and after the campaign, including:

• Shipping costs for both international freight and individual domestic US packages
• Cost of materials
• Moving the manufacturing from China to the US

Due to increased supply chain costs, the original campaign pricing structure was not what is needed to clear each and every present day hurdle. Prices for EVERYTHING have gone up in the past 2 years.

Once the inventory is manufactured, many of the individual PSYCHE items will need to retail at 26-30% more than what you were originally charged to account for manufacturing costs.

• The 224 card companions sold for $20 each in the campaign, and they’ll need to retail for around $26 each.
• The 60 card mini companions, which were originally $10 each, will be retailing for $14.

In the original campaign, I put the larger “Passport Tier” packages together to offer a discount to encourage more all-in backers. But I couldn’t foresee quite how large a discount that would end up being once we finally got to the (now US-based) manufacturing.

The revised, present day retail price for all the items in the Passport Tier is $501. Which means:

• “Cards Only” tier backers received a 39% discount compared to this total
• Passport Tier 2.0 backers received a 40% discount
• For original Passport Tier backers, it’s a 60% discount.
• And for those 25 people who got the Passport Tier at $150? It’s a 70% discount. 

According to Kickstarter, we are not the only project that has run into both delays and soaring costs following a launch during Covid. I get that it’s little comfort, but hopefully this helps show this is a larger problem beyond this project, that many creators are having to tackle and invent workarounds for.

That’s not to say I haven’t made mistakes. I’ve made several decisions I’d love to time machine my way out of. The amount I agreed to produce within the scope of this one Kickstarter was ambitious, and in hindsight, could have been broken down into several smaller campaigns. That level of “do it all in one” excitement didn’t offer any extra runway to manage Covid and inflation-related cost increases. Welp. There’s nothing I can do about it now other than see the project through and deliver, which I’m absolutely committed to doing.

Ultimately, I have no intention of asking any of you to cough up more funds. Given how much time has elapsed since the actual campaign, and the wild ride of the past year, I think more than enough has been asked of all of you. I have other funding options, and I’m pursuing them. I will for sure keep you up to speed on any and all developments.

We’ll talk again next week, when I should have some preliminary printer-friendly card face designs to show, and news on the (extremely awesome) Anthology. Thank you for hanging in.

All the Best,

Clark