Laruna: Age of Kingdoms

October Update
about 5 years ago – Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 02:55:29 AM

Here's an update on our plans in October into November:

Essen Spiel

While we not be exhibiting at Essen, our team is there, allowing us to meet directly in person with our manufacturer. We will be using this opportunity to put together a firm plan going forward. We will be able to discuss the elements of the prototype that we still need to receive, the issues that we need to correct, and how we can take our next steps. We are hopeful that this will be a productive meeting that will allow us to push the process forward.

Print and Play

In the meanwhile, we have been working on putting together a print-and-play package for the game. While we're hopeful some intrepid backers will decide to go forward and print enough components to play, at the very least we want everyone to be able to see all of the finished components. We expect the print and play to be ready for a November Update.

Tabletop Simulator

We also plan to publish the fully-functional Tabletop Simulator mod for LAOK in our next update.  This should provide even more backers an opportunity to engage with the material and hopefully get some game play under their belt.

While we know that these alternate methods of playing LAOK are not the same as having a finished product, we want you to be able to experience LAOK in some way while we work through this delay with our manufacturer.

We will update you all on the status of the manufacturer meeting once we return from Essen.

Speak to you soon!

Status Update
about 5 years ago – Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 06:48:47 PM

Backers,

We wanted to take this opportunity to explain what has been going on with this project, what we have been doing, and the status of Laruna going forward. Our goal here is to speak as plainly as possible so that we can all get back on the same page.

First, let's address the problems we've encountered with the project. As we've mentioned in previous updates, pre-production has been a very hard and long road. For months, we've gone through a cycle of being supplied new material by the manufacturer for review, finding an issue, fixing that issue, and then getting more new material that presents new issues. As we went through the latest batch of material, we discovered that we still did not have a complete prototype, even though we were told at Gen Con that we did. Some of the larger miniatures that we were given were not production test-shots from the mold like we thought we were getting, but instead the initial 3D-printed masters that were used to create the mold. While these masters look great, we still can't move forward without having the actual injected models to inspect. Unfortunately, the response time on getting this new material has been slow, which has brought production to a stand-still. 

This back-and-forth series of mounting issues has lead to the other major problem this campaign has encountered, and that is the lack of communication on our part. Every time we've stated any timeline, the delay in response from the manufacturer or the rise of new complications in the material they've sent us has made liars out of us, which we hate. Eventually we figured it was wiser to wait for solid evidence of change in status before posting things so we didn't create unnecessary confusion.

Due to the existing errors and the slow pace of getting new information and material from the manufacturer, we do not have a clear timeline for delivery date. While we remain hopeful that production will be able to start soon, we cannot promise that. We are prepared for a significant further delay in delivery. There is nothing we can do to change this. The majority of the production bill for this project has already been PAID, so we ARE fully committed to delivery. As a small publisher, the majority of our resources are tied up in this project, with no way to recoup what has already been spent since we're six months past the point where we thought we'd be able to start selling the game at retail. While this does mean that refunds are not currently possible, it also means that we are fully invested in making sure production is completed and LAOK is delivered as soon as possible. It is extraordinarily frustrating that there has been nothing we could do to speed this process along. We hope this at least clarifies for you guys who feel unsure about whats going on. We've done everything we can. As soon as there is any change or notice that mass production can finally start in earnest, we will immediately let you know.

New Model Pictures!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Aug 10, 2019 at 01:35:31 AM

While we're settling in from Gen Con and continuing our QA review on the full prototype we received, we wanted to share some pictures of some of the new miniatures that we received last week! We'll have a full report on the prototype in our next update.

Prototype Update
over 5 years ago – Fri, Aug 02, 2019 at 06:49:47 PM

Hey everyone,

Quick update from Gen Con. The manufacturer dropped off the new prototype yesterday with corrections and the missing miniatures. The minis look great and at first look, it seems that the print issues have been addressed. Once we're back at the office after the convention, we'll be able to go through the new material more thoroughly and give the whole project a once-over.

After we've returned and are going through our review, we'll have a new update with pictures of the new material.

As a final note, if you happen to be at Gen Con, please swing by booth #1254 and say hello and check out the new miniatures in person!

Prototype Update
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jun 29, 2019 at 11:09:28 PM

Hello all!

We've returned from Origins with a prototype of Laruna: Age of Kingdoms in tow. So let's get into what we've learned and where we are.

As promised, the manufacturer delivered an updated prototype version of the game so that we could take final looks and 'sign off' on immediate production.

It took us some time post-convention to go through all of the components of the game and check everything, some of which was very good and some of which not so much.

Here's an example of some of the printed material and the issues we encountered:

The New Agromosh player mat is beautiful--it has a great texture, strong colors, and a nice weight. But as you can see, somewhere in the printing process Mesadrin (and other) mats had major errors, with multiple elements flat out missing from the mat. This is a good example of why it's so important for us to look at each and every component individually before signing off on production--if we only checked one or two of the mats, then Mesadrin players would have been very unhappy. 

While less game-breaking, a similar error on the back of some mats would have seriously diminished the final product.

The unit cards look great and function as we wanted, but again crucial elements are missing such as the health tracker.

Now, for some miniatures!

The sculpts themselves have come out great! The miniatures have lots of detail and have a nice variety of sizes and designs. The great news about the miniatures is that even these are prototype pieces--the final product will have a harder plastic which picks up even more detail and keeps the minis protected during shipping.

While the miniatures they provided are fantastic as you can see, we were not given the complete set as we had previously discussed. The prototype given to us (in addition to the errors we've mentioned) only contained about a quarter of the actual sculpts that will be produced. This was not what we agreed upon ahead of time, but they informed us at the show that the missing miniatures simply could not be finished on time. This presents us with a problem, since you can now see it is NEVER desirable to sign off on producing the final product without carefully inspecting each and every component.

We explained our dismay to the manufacturer, and they are working on getting us a complete prototype as soon as possible.

That's the current state of affairs. As soon as we have concrete information and are able to get our hands on the rest of the material for approval, we will keep you update you so you can see the rest of the game as well as get an official timetable for delivery.

Obviously this is frustrating for us and you, but we believe that the evidence is clear that LAOK is going to be magnificent in its final state. Thanks for sticking with us for the ride. 

Speak to you soon!