Conventions

I'm back from the UK Games Expo.

I'm knackered.

But it was so good.

We had our box manufacturer, W. MacCarthy & Sons, hand-deliver some Xeno Wars boxes to the Expo, from London!

We sold more games than ever before!

We demoed FlickFleet to loads of new people and could see how much fun they were having.

I had a few really useful business meetings.

We had a crowd of spectators for most of the time.

We had people go out of their way to come to our stand, just to tell us how much they love FlickFleet.

And someone even came up to us during dinner, to tell us how much he loved it!

I've done conventions in four jobs now.

Games ones with Reiver Games and Eurydice Games.

Scientific ones in the day job.

And during my PhD.

I really enjoy them.

Games ones in particular feel like I'm among my people.

And I love meeting so many people I know.

Missed

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've a lot on.

So has Paul.

Our laser-cutter failed.

Two weeks before the Expo.

So Paul took up an offer from the amazing team at Harps Corp.

To use their laser-cutters for a couple of days.

So we had stock for the Expo.

And fortunately, our laser-cutter has been fixed already.

Meanwhile I've been working on the graphic design for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

Dashboards are almost done.

And preparing for the Expo.

The Expo deadline cannot slip.

And it was Daughter the Youngest's birthday and party this weekend.

That couldn't slip either.

As feared, that means the graphic design had to, despite burning the midnight oil.

The P&P rewards are due on Saturday.

I think they will be a couple of weeks late :(

Guesswork

We crowdfund to raise money for print runs.

We print everything that we need for the next year.

In runs of 100-800 copies.

Tiny print runs.

Because they are small, they are expensive.

So we need a decent campaign total.

Some of that comes during the campaign.

Some during the pledge manager: shipping, extras, and late pledges.

We need to kick off manufacturing early. Boxes and wooden bits have long lead times.

Before we know what we’ve raised in the pledge manager.

We need to ensure the total raised is enough to fund the print runs and cover campaign shipping.

And VAT.

And Gamefound fees.

And royalties.

But also order enough to keep us in stock until the next campaign.

It’s a guess.

We’ve made our guesses.

Ordered boxes accordingly.

Now we are waiting to see if the pledge manager ends up where we guessed.

Or not.

Deadlines

I’ve got two pressing deadlines the moment.

The UK Games Expo.

We’ll be in Hall 2, stand 2-494

And Print and Play rewards for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

The Expo starts on the 29th May for us - driving down to Birmingham and setting up.

The print and play rewards are due on the 31st.

The Expo deadline cannot move.

I really want to hit the other one too.

Lots to do still on both though.

I see some late evenings on the horizon…

Meanwhile Paul is down the laser-cutting mines. 

Cranking out copies of FlickFleet and the expansions.

To cover web sales. And the Expo. And the start of fulfilment.

He’s finishing last year’s print runs.

We’re running low!

Production

It’s going to be a very busy month. 

I’ve got to do the graphic design for the Xeno Flicks rules and dashboards. 

I've made a start!

Work out all the quantities of things we need. 

Then get the manufacturing orders started. 

Boxes are being made as we speak.

Xeno Wars reprint has gone to the printer. 

Ideally, we’d like to have some Xeno Wars stock at the Expo. 

Need to place several orders for that though. 

Also need to finish Expo preparations. 

Progress is being made at least.

Pledge Manager

Now I’m back from my holiday it’s time to focus.

It’s a busy time.

The print and play rewards are due by the end of May.

Which is also the UK Games Expo.

And I need to begin ordering materials for the physical copies.

First up was the boxes.

The print run has been ordered and the files sent over.

I also need to finish off the pledge manager.

We’re adding planets!

It’s almost there.

Should go live in a day or two I hope.

Diversify

I’m back from my holiday.

Rested.

And raring to go.

I have two things to focus on.

The pledge manager for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

And global diversity.

55% of our sales go to the US.

Trump’s tariffs don’t affect us yet.

But he’s unpredictable and anything could happen.

So we need to diversify.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Away from the US.

And our reliance on FlickFleet.

We have three other products. All print at home roll and write games.

Which are tariff-free.

And easy to sell to anywhere.

I’m advertising those in our top fifteen countries.

The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a chunk of Europe.

Added bonus: there’s no cost of goods sold or shipping to pay for.

So the ads don’t have to cover those costs.

But I also need to focus on the pledge manager.

Coming within a week or two I hope…