Wow! What a response. Not only did I get three or four times more comments than a single response has received before, but the most hits for the blog ever in a day, by a factor of three too. I hope some of you hang around and continue to read!
Sumeria is moving along fairly swiftly now. I've signed Harald Lieske (Sutter's Mill, ...aber bitte mit Sahne, Dominion) to do the art and I've started getting the bits together for the prototype copies. I've placed an order with Spiel Material to get the necessary wooden bits (there's quite a lot) and I've got a manufacturing quote from LudoFact, the Germans who did a great job on Carpe Astra. I'm getting enough bits to make five prototypes. I'm sending two to the US, one to the UK (there's already another couple in the UK, mine and Steve's) and one to Europe (there's already another in Europe too). I'm trying to hit my main markets where I already have distribution (hence no Asia or Australasia - sorry!). The fifth set of bits I'll hang onto and use to make a prototype with the finished art to submit to the UK Game of the Year award which is given out at the UK Games Expo.
With an artist decided and a manufacturing quote I've been able to finalise the price at £25 - higher than Carpe Astra because of the large number of wooden pieces and the quad-folded board. I've started taking a few pre-orders too.
I'll decide today where the prototype copies are going, then I can start getting them together. I'll knock up a rough box, add the wooden pieces from Germany when they arrive and add a board and the tiles which I'll have to paste-up and cut out by hand. It will be a return to my roots, making games by hand :-)
In other news, I've just signed a distribution agreement with Alliance Games Distributors, the largest distributors in the US to carry my games. They are going to start with It's Alive! and then hopefully take some Carpe Astra shortly. I've also received an order from a Taiwanese distributor, so things are looking up. January is looking to be my second best month ever, after October which got a huge boost thanks to Essen.
Posts
6 comments:
Just looked at Harald's website - I think his style will be great for Sumeria. I'm getting nearly as excited as Paul about the finished version. (I'll leave it to your imagination *just* how excited he is)
Hiya Lisa,
I'm hoping that Paul's excitement level is currently 7 (on my 1-4 scale :-) ).
Cheers,
Jack
Signing up Harald Lieske sounds great (not that your previous artwork wasn't great, too). The quad-fold board also sounds good, although I'm already growing strangely fond of my flat A4 printout.
Have you decided on a box size? I've got this feeling I asked that question at Essen, but I can't remember the answer.
I'm bucking the trend of boxes the size of small planets mostly full of air*.
Cheers,
Jack
*It'll be the same size as Carpe Astra.
Beautiful. You can probably imagine how short of shelf space I am.
I can imagine! Glad to do my bit, both for your shelf-space and reducing my effect on the environment by limiting the use of raw materials and reducing the fuel use transporting my games to market.
Cheers,
Jack
Post a Comment