The Pit: The Board Game!

The Push To Final Product
almost 4 years ago – Fri, May 15, 2020 at 11:58:01 AM

Hello all,

It's been a few weeks since the last update and we hope everybody is well. Our last update was that figure molds were complete and we were moving towards the test print, and then from that into final production. That is still the plan, but as we said last time, putting a timeline on things wasn't going so great up to 2020 and now it's super weird. But, oddly, now, we think we can take a shot. We can't pinky swear, but we are looking for the production run to be done end of June. That's printing or printed. On a ship or flying to your hands is still a bit of a question, but one hurtle (the biggest one) at a time. More importantly, it has to be by the end of June - every time news out of China suggests they may find themselves with more outbreaks, we worry what happens if they catch a second wave and restrictions interfere with factory production again? It also never helps watching China and the US interact right now, which keeps us worried tariffs may be less of a problem than shipping just stops between countries, which, considering that's where our fulfillment partner is. So, with some confidence that the way things are going currently, we're looking at the end of June. If not, then finger's cross something slipped by a bit, rather than something bigger happened and we're stuck.

While we're being optimistic, we will also be sure to check back inside of May, as we should also be somewhere between holding the test copy and it's couriering its way to us. One end of that spectrum will come with excellent pictures of a game finally ready to see the light of day, so we're hoping it's that one.

As always we appreciate everybody's support, take care of yourselves and others right now, and we'll post again shortly.

LORE BOOKS! As far as we know, everybody that was supposed to receive one, has one, but we had one person where it went AWOL and another person where there was some confusion that we're trying to sort out. Further, shipping is close to a crap-shoot right now. Canada Post will insure and track items, but they will not guarantee a delivery date. We've had some items arrive as normal, and a few that took months when it should have been a week or two at most. It's the new normal for now we're afraid, but we'll make do as best we can.

Factory test figures arrived amidst the madness...
about 4 years ago – Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 08:12:48 PM

Hi! Let this count as our "What we are doing in the face of this pandemic" email. We have moved to working remotely and washing our hands, same as everyone else. We've spent most of this week getting a virtual office flow going, but in the background, our factory partners in Shanghai had begun working on orders again and prepping our figs is part of that. Today, test figures arrived. 

This is just the first look, we'll have the artist who modeled the figs have a look at anything he'd like to tweak, and as well we've asked the factory for their feedback as well.

Now, moving ahead, there are a lot of questions. We will continue to work with the factory towards the final project, but we're not sure what impacts current affairs will have on the shipping side yet. For the moment, we'll proceed as if nothing has changed and with luck, nothing will. More likely there will be some hurtles, and we'll definitely be checking with our fulfillment partner about what concerns exist regarding shipping packages during an outbreak, and what steps are being taken to address risk.

Everybody stay safe.

Lunar New Year, Coronavirus, and making little figures
about 4 years ago – Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 10:42:49 PM

A quick update - in our last update we mention we were working on our molds and figures and while we'd have loved to have proofs before the lunar new year celebrations started, it was an outside chance. Then in the middle of the holidays, when our manufacturing partners were on break, the coronavirus outbreak started to ramp up, and right in the middle of the holidays it was announced the holidays would be extended in a handful of cities. Of all the cities, Shanghai had the longest extension. Shanghai is also where our manufacturing is being done. So, we left that alone and reached out just recently to see how things were on their end and how much time they needed before they'd be in a position to start working with us again. The good news is that as they tell it, that time is now - apparently there is a lot of screening going on, but their employees are alright, screened as not affected, and they are powering things back up - SO! We are going to continue to cross our fingers that Shanghai is in recovery and we will start showing off test printings shortly and will be in a position to report where things are - literally, where the game is - and where we can, start assigning timelines. First up, test pressing our player figures. The factory says the models we sent are fine and shouldn't present any pressing problems, so it's just a matter of finishing the molds and checking what they look like once the come out of the mold.

Anyone that hasn't gotten their lore books, Steam keys, 3D model files, please continue to let us know so we can make sure those are taken care of. 

Thanks!

Let the test printing begin...
over 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 07:10:43 PM

Hello, Everybody!

It’s been awhile since we updated – we know we still haven’t found the comfortable balance between updating too much or too little when there isn’t much new or interesting to talk about. We have been listening to those that have contacted us, but our instinct has always remained that substantive updates are the majority preference. We also sent out keys to our recent PC game, The Pit: Infinity (a digital cousin to The Pit: The Boardgame), at the suggestion of some backers, as it was a relatively easy thing for us to do, and a token of our appreciation for everyone’s patience. Most of you we didn’t hear from, so we hope you found a use for the key, and a few of you we did – some were upset by the key, others were fine with it. It's hard to please everyone, but we try where we can.

We also said we would respond to feedback questions at Thanksgiving and we didn’t – the main reason is that for all the waiting, we wanted to not only answer what has been going on, but have something solid for where things are now, and like every other thing we’ve ever estimated on this game, it went long by a few weeks, but we got what we were waiting for.

As of this week, we finished our protracted back and forth with manufacturers, we made sure everything we wanted was understood, achievable, and we pulled the trigger on the order! For all the back and forth, the order was never placed until now, as doing so would have locked everything in. Why be legally bound to pay for something that wasn't right?

So, questions;

Where is the project?
Prototyping. The factory will be taking our art assets and producing the first test copy of the game, which they will send to us to open and check and send feedback. If there’s something way off, corrections will be made and they’ll do another. If it’s minor and we don’t need to see the fix, then we may not ask for the test copy. We are aiming for the next few weeks, however the time to test print and ship a copy to us is a couple weeks, and the factory is in China and the new year celebrations are in the end of January. 

Why has this gone long?
Well, it wasn’t our intention, that’s for sure, and we’ve all seen or backed projects that go long so as a team that has backed projects personally and as a company,  we know what we didn’t want to do. However, we are also new to making boardgames and for as much research as we put into it, and for all the help and advice we asked for and got leading up to our campaign, we still discovered there was a big learning curve. A big learning curve for a big game. But the bottom line is that in a choice between speed and accuracy of estimates and final product, we obviously have to go with the end product.

Manufacturers? Plural?
Yes – while we had a manufacturer we liked (still like) throughout this project, we discovered that the proven path of Chinese factory to US fulfillment to backers had a potential flaw in it, and that’s a trade war with China. Our fulfillment company themselves warned us about the matter, the problem being that nobody knew when, if at all, tariffs on boardgames produced in China would happen, but it was known that the cost increase would be substantial, and if you look at The Pit campaign, our margins are not that big. So besides continuing with our preferred manufacturer, we began discussions with manufacturers outside of China (a whole new learning curve for us), in case we would have to produce in, say, Poland.

Ultimately, the tariff never dropped (as of this past weekend, the most recent date it was supposed to go live, it was halted), so with things sorted with our manufacturer, and with options worked out, should something change in the coming weeks, we’re finally going from pre-production to prototype.

When then can people expect their game?

We’ve all gotten burned by this already, so for the moment, our preference is to focus on the prototype getting to us, making sure the game we will be sending to you all is what we want it to be, at which point we have - thanks to Planetary Control! (the other, waaaaay smaller game we produced concurrently) - firsthand experience on time for the order to be produced, shipped to fulfillment, and sent to backers. With what we learned there, we can build a time estimate. It will also, unlike the last months of vague and boring (for you the backers – it’s been a rollercoaster ride on this end), be something we can update on regularly as the boxes move along.

We hope everyone has a good holiday break. As ever, we appreciate everyone’s support of The Pit and our grand plan to make a big box game as our first title. We will see you all inside the new year!

The Pit: Infinity on Steam
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 21, 2019 at 10:31:57 PM

We sent out emails to all our The Pit: The Boardgame backers, containing a Steam key to our recent PC title, The Pit: Infinity. Kerberos began as and continues to be a game studio making desktop video games, and it seemed reasonable to provide our backers with a chance to try it out. It's a first-person hybrid with the original roguelike title, so there are familiar elements and monsters and so on that all The Pit games include. And if you are not a PC gamer, the key is yours to pass along to friends who are.

If you didn't get an email with a key, please let us know.