Custom Cards Completion Timeline and a Peek at a New Pup!
about 5 years ago – Fri, Apr 12, 2019 at 11:12:41 PM

Hello hoomans!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello at PAX East! We had a wonderful time and it was great getting Good Dog, Bad Zombie into so many happy new hands. 

Custom Cards Progress and Timeline

After returning from PAX, we jumped back in to work on your custom cards ($75+ backers)! As we mentioned in a previous update, the bulk of the work has been making sure we cut around the images of your pups with care. We use Photoshop to trace around the image of the pup, then we remove the original background. After that the pup gets a Photoshop pass to give the original image a more artistic feel, then each pup gets placed on an illustrated background.

Here’s an image of Evan’s work aligning Abby, one of our very good dogs, on an in-progress background image:

We have been working on the cut out work every day, and it's been a gradual process that has been helping us learn a lot along the way! To help move the process along, we brought on board additional designers who have been helping cut out about 100 dogs a day. It’s been amazing working with this additional team, who has been able to help us streamline the process. With their help we can put our efforts into working on your card text and placing your pup’s images onto your custom cards!

Here are some more photos of your pups, skillfully removed from their backgrounds by our helpful cutout team. Goooo TEAM CUTOUT!

With the additional help, we’re aiming to have your cards to our printer soon, in the last week of April. We’ll update you along the way, and after the files have been delivered, we’ll update again letting you know how long our printer estimates their work will take from printing your cards, to compiling the envelopes, to delivery! But this means we are in the home stretch, and the custom dogs will be to you ASAP!

A Peek at Sandy!

Next week, we’ll be sending out an update introducing Sandy, the pack’s newest pup! Sandy is a new free playable dog we’d like to share with you as thanks for being part of GDBZ and for being the best backers we could have asked for.

Sandy’s current ability is:

BE LOYAL

Move to any dog, then Herd that dog 1. OR Move to any hooman, then Howl.

While we’ve tested Sandy a couple of times, we’d like you to help us evaluate her ability more fully! Keep an eye out next week for Sandy’s card and join us in playing a game of GDBZ to take Sandy’s card for a test run. Or at least for a jaunty around-the-block walk. :)

Unlikely Ally Stands

Good news! For everyone that requested them, we've received the Unlikely Ally stands from our supplier. It was a bulk order, so it took them a little bit of time to fulfill. We are currently working on processing them in order to ship them to you, but we're so glad we now have them in hand and we can get to work on getting them to you. We'll have more info about that next week! 

Talk soon,

Brian, Evan, and Hannah

International Games Have Shipped ARROO-OUUUUT! (Plus custom dog progress and PAX East)
about 5 years ago – Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 05:28:12 PM

Hello hoomans!

Good news! If you’re an international backer, you may have received an email letting you know that games have begun shipping from Blackbox. As of this morning, it looks like the bulk of international orders have shipped and the rest should soon be on their way.

International Shipping Info

•  If you have any damaged or missing parts, please send us an email. If your game arrives damaged, or if any parts become damaged during construction or play, email [email protected] and we’ll straighten things out ASAP!
• Custom dog cards are coming later. We are working every day on making the custom dogs! Every international backer who is receiving custom dogs and custom hoomans will still get their base game and expansions now, and custom elements will be shipped later. We will ship the custom dogs all at once when we finish them. As a reminder, we made this custom dog tool that you can use to play the game as your own dog until the custom cards arrive!
•  You should receive a shipping notice shortly after your package ships. If you don’t receive a shipping notification by week’s end, email [email protected] and we’ll look up your info!
•  If you requested Unlikely Ally stands, those will come later as well! (See below.) 

Thanks again for the support and patience as we worked hard to overcome those unexpected obstacles in getting the games to our international shipping warehouse! We’re so excited to finally get your games to you, and we are now bona fide *experts* in international shipping. Okay, maybe not experts… but definitely aficionados.

Custom Dog Pupdate

We continue to work hard on making all your wonderful custom pups! Evan has completed the majority of the cutout pass for all cards detailed in the last update. He’s currently able to cut out 50 - 75 pictures in a full work day, depending on factors such as picture detail and us forcing him to take breaks. (Seriously, Evan, you’re doing awesome - thank you for all the time, energy, and attention you’re putting in to these special dogs!) 

Here’s a few of your pups cut out from their backgrounds, now ready to be passed off for a Photoshop pass on the foreground and their background art! 

Unlikely Ally stands are currently being processed! We are putting together an assembly and shipping plan to everyone who requested these. We purchased a large batch of them, and so it's taken our supplier a little bit of time to get them to us. We will be hand shipping them to everyone who requested them ourselves, and we hope to do so soon.  

International shipping is our big news of the week, so today’s update is brief! We’ll be back next week with Sandy, a lovable Golden Retriever bonus pup and more custom dog progress! In the meantime, we hope to see some of you at PAX East in Boston! We’ll be there this upcoming week at the Make Big Things booth (booth #11032) with Good Dog, Bad Zombie and other games!

Will you be there? Let us know in the comments and please do say hi!

Best,

Hannah, Brian, and Evan

International Shipping, Custom Pup Progress, and PAX East 2019
about 5 years ago – Tue, Feb 26, 2019 at 08:45:04 PM

Hello hoomans! A quick progress report and some convention news!

International Shipping

We’re beyond thrilled to announce that your games have arrived at Blackbox’s UK warehouse. All international, non-US and non-Canadian games will ship out from Blackbox UK. They’re in the intake process right now, but we’ll have another update soon when your packages have started shipping. Hurrah!

Custom Dog Card Progress

We are steadily working through your $75-and-above custom cards. Every card is custom created, with over a thousand cards total, and we want to give each one the same amount of care! Before every dog gets a stylized background, we first have to remove the background from the original photo. Removing the pup from the background is the slowest part of the process, as we have to trace the outline of each pup, being sure not to remove any important parts (keep ears and whiskers inside the vehicle at all times, please!). Evan’s been doing amazing work progressing through hundreds of pup photos. (And of course, he gets to look at adorable dogs all day!)

Here’s what that work looks like:

 First, Evan traces along the edges of the dog.

Next, the background is removed. 

The cutout doesn't have to be pixel-perfect, as all dogs will be placed on an illustrated background and every foreground pup will get an artistic filter pass in Photoshop to boost the vibrant colors!

We don’t have a ship date on these cards yet, but we’re estimating completion in late March. Thanks for your patience while we work through these photos of your sweet pups! It’s definitely a big task, and one we are proud to take on. We will keep communicating with you throughout the process!

PAX East 2019

One of the best parts of bringing GDBZ to life has been watching the game grow at conventions over the years. It was amazing meeting so many backers in person at PAX East and PAX Unplugged this past year, and we’re happy to share that Make Big Things will be at PAX East in Boston at the end of March—with our own booth! We’ll share a booth map and more details as the event draws closer. In the meantime, save the date!

On that note, a couple of small items:

• Our artist Fox Desfleurs has finished the illustration of the first bonus dog: Sandy the loyal golden retriever! We’re going to do one more playtest with Sandy’s ability, then we will be ready to share her with you all.
• The Unlikely Ally stands have not shipped yet! We’re still waiting on these to be fulfilled by our supplier. 

Until next woof,

Make Big Things

International Shipping Is GO and a Look at Our Custom Card Process
about 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 08, 2019 at 10:00:53 PM

Hello hoomans! 

Brian here. Apologies for the update delay. I’ve been sick on-and-off for the past 10 days, and I’ve felt like a total zombie. Luckily, thanks to a mix of dog snuggles and modern medicine, I’m starting to turn back into a hooman. 

So let’s jump right on in!

Custom Dogs

We have been working hard on the $75 and up custom dogs cards! And we’re excited about how they are coming along. Here’s a video from Hannah showing what our data merge process looks like in InDesign for processing over 1200 cards

We are currently working on the images for your dog cards - processing and editing the photos in Photoshop, placing your pups on illustrated backgrounds, and then placing them onto cards. That is a huge process, and we’ll have more information about that in a future update!

Announcing Sandy the Golden Retriever (Free Bonus Content)

Last update, we announced we were going to be developing free extra content for GDBZ throughout the year - and that included bonus dogs! We’ve started work on that content now. First up is Sandy, the Golden Retriever. Sandy’s ability, in true Golden Retriever fashion, is to Be Loyal. This is a new ability with a unique effect. We’re currently playtesting Sandy’s ability and our illustrator, Fox Desfleurs, will begin making a unique illustration shortly. We’re excited to share this bonus dog with you all!

Join us in Chicago to Play GDBZ and Fundraise for Charity

Want to playtest Sandy’s ability, or just meet up and play Good Dog, Bad Zombie and other cool games? We’ll be doing another Game Day fundraiser for the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund in partnership with Lagunitas Brewing Company on Sunday, Feb 17, from 1 - 5 PM! Details for the event are here. If you’re in the Chicago area, we’d love to play GDBZ with you!

International Shipping

There’s a lot to talk about here, so we thought we’d give you a short and long version: 

Here’s the short version: We were given some bad information from our shipping partners, and it took us quite a bit of time and work to resolve. So we had to find some new shipping partners. The good news is that we have found new shipping partners and they’ve been able to help us move forward quickly with international shipping. So we are paying extra for an air freight service to get the games from our US manufacturer to our UK warehouse so the games can get to you ASAP. (Estimated delivery to our UK warehouse is 7 - 10 business days, and the game should ship out from our US manufacturer early next week.)

Here’s the long version: Whew! Okay. This has been a doozy. After initially believing from our partners that our games were ready to be shipped to our UK warehouse, I ended up spending the past month emailing and calling our shipping partners every day, only to be given contradictory information by different companies about what needed to be done to get our games shipped, through customs, and then to our warehouse. Our partners were on completely different pages (even though they have worked together in the past), and no one could give me a clear path towards getting this resolved. Eventually, I came to the realization that our shipment was comparatively too small for our shipping partners to really care to solve the problem. I had to start the process over again, unlearn everything I was told, and find some new shipping partners. Ultimately, I found someone who gave us clear information and who was incredibly helpful in walking us through the process. On the bright side, I now know more about international freight shipping law than I thought I ever would! 

But this is all to say to our international backers: You have not been forgotten or ignored. We have been constantly advocating for you.

In addition, because of all of this, we have chosen to pay extra to have the games shipped to our distributor’s UK warehouse by air freight instead of ocean freight. This new shipper’s estimated delivery times were either 55 - 65 business days for ocean freight, or 7 - 10 business days for air freight. Our international backers have had to wait long enough, so we’re going to opt for the expense of shipping these air freight so we can get them to you ASAP.

Our understanding is the freight shipper will pick up the games from our manufacturer by early next week. Then, they will fly over the ocean, pass through customs, arrive in the UK warehouse, and be shipped to you.

We’ll let you know when we have confirmation that the process has moved to the next step! In the meantime, have a great weekend and we’ll be back next week with another update.

Best,

Brian

Free Bonus Content Incoming for GDBZ, International Shipping, and Project Updates
about 5 years ago – Sat, Jan 26, 2019 at 12:21:05 AM

Hey Hoomans! 

We hope you and your pack are staying warm this winter. We've got some updates!

Free Bonus Content Incoming! 

The more time we put into Good Dog, Bad Zombie, and the more we’ve heard about how you’ve been playing it, the more ideas we’ve had for the game! After discussing some possibilities, we’ve put together a plan to create additional content for the game, to be released digitally free of charge. 

First, we’ll be releasing more playable dogs with unique powers and art. We’ll share the beta versions with those who want to help with the design process!

In addition, we plan to release special scenarios, rule variants, and puzzles! We hope that, like us, you’ll enjoy trying out some new twists in the gameplay.

Being able to expand on the game post-release is a luxury for game designers, and it’s only possible because of your support. Thank you again! We’ll be in touch as soon as the first content is ready for you. Of course, the majority of our time at the moment is being spent on the remaining Kickstarter rewards. So we can’t provide exact timelines or release dates for this content,  but we’re excited to be able to offer you more playable content throughout the year and include you in the design process. 

International Shipping

Over the last month, we discovered that the information one of our primary shipping partners provided us for international shipping outside of North America was incorrect. This has been a big setback for getting the international orders out, and has required a ton of extra work to untangle everything. Thankfully, another game company with roots in the UK has stepped up to assist us, and we’re currently working with them to resolve this as quickly as possible. Right now, we are waiting for an update from them, which we will hopefully have by the start of next week. We’ll be in touch next week, hopefully with good news! Rest assured, we are doing absolutely everything we can to get these games into your paws. 

Custom Dogs 

With base games and expansions shipped domestically, we’ve been back to work on your custom dogs! Next week we’ll have an update detailing the process of their creation. In the meantime, in case you missed it, our free custom dog card creator is up online. Check it out here! You can upload photos of your own pup, download your cards as PDFs, and drop them into your game!

Reminder - Unlikely Ally Stands

In our last update, we mentioned that we are happy to send you card stands for Unlikely Allies if you'd like them, free of charge. If you’d like us to do so, please fill out this form. Initially, we’d said the deadline for filling this out was two weeks ago, but we’ll be extending that to Friday, February 1. We want to make sure everyone who wants these can get them! (If you’ve filled out the form already, you’re all set.) We’ll be receiving these in about a month or so, and we’ll ship them as soon as we have them in hand. 

Your Favorite Pawers So Far

For those of you who have had the chance to play Good Dog, Bad Zombie already: which dog has your favorite good doggo power? Have you found any fun combinations? 

We are, as always, enormously grateful to have such a wonderful pack of backers. We hope you have warm days ahead! (Or cooler days for any Australian hoomans!)