Timeline , Production and more
over 3 years ago – Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 10:16:14 PM

Dear Backers,

Today, we have another small intermediary update for you. We are still working on unboxing video(s) and some additional images of the production copies - unfortunately I was incapacitated by an (ultimately small) health-scare for quite some time. 

These will drop in about a week. Meanwhile, we have also received the production line copy of the playmat, as well as the final production timeframe. Regarding the playmat: Surface quality and colors were very good in the preliminary samples, but Panda was able to improve saturation and surface structure further for the production sample - I hope it is visible in this image:

The production version is the one on top.

Also since Thanksgiving:

* Last minute quality updates to the wooden pieces in the Standard Edition were made and approved by us.

* Taito has received the production line samples and approved mass production

* All editions are in production since a week and the games will be ready to ship from China in 10 days, a few days before Christmas. 

* Sirus is working on the updated logistics of shipping them to the individual backers, ETA is, as before, January.

That's it for today, we'll be in touch with videos and more images shortly. 

As always, thanks for being on board!

Happy Thanksgiving!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 01:44:50 PM

Hello everyone,

MPCs just arrived. Playmat is a couple of days behind. We'll post a more comprehensive update shortly. Stay safe & Happy Holidays!

SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARD GAME - THE VIDEO GAME
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 27, 2020 at 10:44:32 PM

Dear Backers,

We are happy to announce that the video game, which became a board game, will become a video game again:

SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARD GAME - THE VIDEO GAME is currently in development for PC (other platforms are still tbd) and will be released on Steam in the near future. The game will feature local and remote multiplayer. All backers of this campaign, at all pledge levels, will automatically get first access to the game for free - the exact release date and public sales price is still undetermined as of now. The distribution will happen in the form of a Steam key, via backerkit (our pledge manager). We will alert you with a separate mail once the key is available on your personal backerkit page and the Steam page will be live. For now, please check out the announcement video, accessible through the game's website: 

Thanks for being on board!

Timeline Info
over 3 years ago – Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 09:35:14 PM

Dear Backers,

Just a very short info today: According to Panda, we will receive MPCs (Mass Production Copies) of the various editions Mid-November. These also need to be approved, which will take a few days, the rest of the production run will then take up to 2 weeks. That means we can have the games shipped to local distribution centers in early December. As this will take 4 to 5 weeks depending on region, it looks like the games will in fact ship to backers in January, as anticipated in the last update.

That's it for today, more info will follow during the week regarding the bonus game.

Thanks for being on board!

All Signs on Go!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 01:19:20 AM

Dear Backers,

Part 1 - More Photos

We'd like to begin this update with some photos of the remaining component samples:

This is a clay mold for the box inserts, the final version will be made of metal, this was just used to produce samples and measure the slots. The slot you see here is filled with 20 cards.

This slot is filled with 20 cards as well, but these are sleeved. With the exception of the resource cards, the maximum number of cards per type currently used in one slot is only 15 - so even if you were to laminate your cards, they would still fit without problems.

This is the pre-production sample of the insert as we received it, placed into the SPACE INVADERS box. The mass produced version will be more even and will be made from slightly thicker plastic.

The card slots will hold the shrink wrapped decks in vertical orientation when the games are delivered.

The remaining components will be stacked on top of the plastic tray.

We also received V2 of the Deluxe Edition box. We made some minor adjustments after this, so the mass produced version will be a tiny bit nicer (and include anti scratch coating as well).

The Deluxe Edition box features a partial coating that changes the appearance of the Invader on the cover depending on the viewing angle…

…as is visible in this image.

Unlike the Standard Edition, the inside of the deluxe box features a decor. At the bottom of this image you also see multiple magnets which hold the box cover in place when the box is closed. The standard editions have a traditional two-part box.

Should you decide to store the game upright on a bookshelf, you'll be able to home in on your Deluxe Edition immediately by looking for the UFO image on its side.

And finally, in this image you see the plastic tray version used for the Deluxe Edition.

Part 2 - Approval & Timeline

Now the important bit: We had all components shipped in parallel to Taito and the games are approved for mass production since a few days. We have since then received and approved (this weekend) the last outstanding "proofs" for production from Panda. Manufacturing is underway. They have promised to update us on the timeline for shipping this week, and we will forward the info as soon as we have it - for now our best estimate is that the games will ship in January.

Part 3 - There is more

This has taken much longer than anyone expected. We originally planned to start the manufacturing of these games for you pretty much exactly one year ago.  And while nobody could have predicted a pandemic slowing down the global economy, we know that many of you are disappointed, and we bear the ultimate responsibility for that, as we dragged you into this adventure. While we can not turn back time, we will be able to give you a little bonus to make up the long wait. We have worked on another SPACE INVADERS related product, quite close to this one, in the background. So: While we can not quite reveal the details about the new project yet, we have discussed with Taito that all backers of this project on all pledge levels will automatically receive a copy of the new product as well - which is planned to be released before Christmas. The product announcement will happen within the next two weeks and backers of SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARD GAME will get first access.

That's it for today. As always, thanks for being on board!