November
about 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 06:04:28 AM

Hey folks!

Gosh it's gotten real cold, real fast here in the UK. We had snow this morning! It's dark all the time! It can feel a bit grim, especially with the state of the world at the moment, but I hope wherever you are you can find a little warmth and joy. If nothing else, it's a good excuse to stay inside and play games 🤓

On with the update!

PPC PART TWO 💕

After much too and fro-ing and colour frustrations, I finally got the second set of physical proofs for the game in the post this week. Hoorah! 

I noticed two more very minor changes to make to the files from this prototype (I had to increase the size of a couple of barcodes, and add some admin info to the back of the book) but we are now ready to print! 

I should get my place in the queue confirmed early next week, and then we'll be on our way 🚂

It's delightful to see how everything has come together, and in particular I'm really happy with the paper wrapping. It looks super smart and yeah, just, why would you want to wrap your books in single-use plastic when you could do this? Big thanks to the team at Panda for being on-board with my many requests for environmentally-friendly options.

SHIPPING UPDATE 🚢

With everything lining up for printing, it's now time for me to lock orders and charge shipping. Here's an update on costs depending on where you are in the world:

•  🇬🇧 If you're a UK customer, hello! The fulfilment house we're using only send stuff tracked within the UK, so it's going to cost me about £7 to send you a book. This is more than double the £3 I'd estimated, and I'm not going to increase it by that much. I'm going to charge £5, hopefully that seems fair to you. It also means your order will be sent tracked, which is a nice bonus.
   
•  🇪🇺 If you're an EU customer, your order will be sent DDP (delivered duties paid), so you won't get any nasty customs fees. Your order will also be sent tracked, since I have now learned we must provide tracking information for the IOSS system to work properly. I had originally estimated £7 for book shipping, but as they need to be sent tracked I'm now spending £13-18 (depending on country). This is a lot more than my estimate, and I'm not going to increase it by that much. I'm going to charge £10, hopefully that seems fair to you. It also means your order will be sent tracked, which is a nice bonus
   
•  🇺🇸 If you're a US customer, my estimate of £10 for shipping your book still stands, and your orders will be tracked. Neato!
   
•  🌏 If you're not in the UK, EU or US, boy howdy it can be expensive to ship things to you with the way the world is at the moment (often £20-30!). Fortunately the number of orders going to these countries is relatively small, so I can soak up most of the difference. I am going to bump the base book shipping cost up to £12 though, to soften the blow a little. I hope that's ok.

Okay, with those updates out of the way, let's get on with the costs. BackerKit will provide you with shipping costs based on the weight of your orders, but here are the costs for the two most common items:

Koriko Book Only 📖

• UK: £5
• EU: £10
• US: £10
• RoW: £12

Koriko Box Only 🎁

• UK: £10
• EU: £15
• US: £16
• RoW: £18

Add-ons will increase the weight of your order, and might push your order into a new band depending on how much you've added. For example, if you're a US customer and you've got a Koriko book and a hardback copy of The Slow Knife in your order, this pushes your order into the 0.5 to 1kg band—so your total shipping cost would be £16.

I'm adding these costs into BackerKit now, and they should show up in the next day or so if you want to check early. Otherwise, you can wait until you get an email from me next week, which will give you advanced notice of the final cost.

If you notice anything strange about your shipping costs, please let me know. Sending me a message on Kickstarter tends to work best, as I can see all your order info alongside your message :)

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ⏭️

Early next week, you'll get an email from BackerKit notifying you that your order will be locked in 48 hours. This means you have two days to make any changes to the contents your order, such as adding or removing items. It's also your last chance to upgrade to the boxed edition for £5! You should see the shipping price update accordingly as your order weight changes.

Once your order is locked, I'll be charging the cards that you have saved in BackerKit. If your card is declined for any reason, you'll be notified and you can go in and update it.

Neither of these actions affects your shipping address—you can continue to edit that until addresses are locked, which won't be until we're ready to ship. If you need to update your address at any point, head to http://koriko.backerkit.com/ and recover your survey link (I wrote a little guide in a previous update).

OTHER STUFF 🥪🎹📦

I've been continue to work on the bonus content this month, and A Magical Sandwich (the wizard-themed alternate content) is almost finished. It's been fun to dive back into the prompts again, though I am never doing rhyming suggestions ever again 😅 

I've also been noodling away on the soundtrack, but I'm finding that much harder to work on (getting long blocks of quiet time in our house is a challenge!). I have a rough sketch for most of the tracks now, though. Working on my little portable synth on the sofa is very helpful.

Oh, and we've also been wrapping orders for the stock that I'm sending from home (the card-based version of the Slow Knife and the small number of Artefact zines I have here). It's pretty painstaking work, and completely impractical at scale, but there is a part of me that will always miss the little touches that you can add when you're packing stuff yourself. I'd quite like to do Kickstarter's make/100 project one year, just as an excuse to make something with my hands.

~

Right! That's it for this month. Expect an order locking email next week, with cards charging soon afterwards. Thanks again!

Jack

October
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 06:57:09 AM

Hello everyone! 

This month's update will be brief—we've been wrangling a series of very frustrating colour issues over the past few weeks, which seem to be some combination of a bug in our publishing software and good old human error. It's remarkably difficult to turn a picture on your computer screen into something that will be printed onto paper if you want the two things to bear any resemblance to one another. I think we're at the end of those issues now though, and I know that I never want to look at Affinity's export menu ever again... 

I'm also still waiting for final shipping costs in order to notify you all of final fees and charge cards. Shipping to the EU remains a complete pain in the ass (thanks Dave), and we want to make sure our IOSS solution is perfect so you don't end up with parcels stuck in customs and exorbitant fees. Again, I think we've worked this out now but I don't quite yet have final pricing.

This means that cards will not be charged until after the next (November) update, in which I will (hopefully, please!) notify you all of final costs.

I do have one cool thing to show you at least! We've finalised the wrapping paper that will be used to protect your boxes and books during transit. This will be used instead of shrink-wrap, which will mean a sizeable reduction in the amount of single-use plastic associated with this project. Plus, I think it looks a million times better anyway!

Apologies for a boring update, but that's October nonetheless. Happy Halloween/Samhain to all those who celebrate it! 🎃

Cheers,

Jack

September
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 02:33:45 AM

Hey everyone, how’s it going?

We took a trip along the coast to Brighton for our youngest’s birthday last week, and while it was mostly grey skies and insane winds, we had a lovely time. Lots of tea was consumed (he’s a big fan of tea, caffeine-free of course!). 

It really feels like we’ve entered autumn here—jumpers are coming out, raincoats organised, shorts feel like a carryover from another age. The cozy phase is upon us…

Physical Proof 📖

We’re almost at the anniversary of the project launch, and I’m very happy to finally have the game in my hands!

It’s really wonderful to see it in the real after so long staring at the various files behind a screen. I’m being a little coy with the photos here, because I want it to remain a bit of a surprise when you receive it.

And when is that going to be? Well, I still can’t quite give you an exact date. We’ve gone through the proof with extreme attention, and there’s a small but meaningful list of changes that need to be made to the game before it goes into full production—nothing unexpected really, things like ribbon colours, paper finishes, tweaks to margin sizes, print alignment, illustration positioning and the like. These changes necessitate a second physical proof, or a partial one at least, where some of the important changes I’m making are reflected in physical form. You can only check so much before it’s printed, bound and in your hands—that’s what this stage of the production is for. Better to get it sorted now than after printing 10,000 of them!

Given the volume of books that we’re printing and shipping (thanks again, ha!), there's a 3-4 month process between ‘print run commences’ and ‘arriving at your door’. If the printed proof had been absolutely perfect, we could’ve gone straight into production this month and had a good shot at delivering to you before the end of the year. It wasn’t quite perfect, and I hope you’ll all agree that it’s better to wait a little longer for the best possible version of the game.

My current best estimate for shipping is Feb/March 2024. Once the game is in the production queue, which should be in October, I can work out the rest of the dates and give you a firmer update.

Charging Cards & Shipping 💳

With the game almost ready to enter production, I’m expecting to charge cards next month for any extra items you’ve added in BackerKit.

I’ll also be charging shipping next month, as I have the physical version of the game so I know how much the book and box weigh. I’m currently working with my distributors to figure out the most cost-effective and environmentally-friendly way to get you your books—minimising air freight wherever possible and working with local hubs instead to provide rates that are closer to domestic shipping. This is also impacting my previous plans to ship some stuff from home, as we work out what's best for you & the environment.

¡¡¡No charges will be made until after the October (next) update!!!

I’ll let you know the final costs before I charge cards in BackerKit, as promised. I’m just giving you an extra bit of heads-up here.

Changing your address 🏡

I’m still getting quite a few messages from folks who have changed their address since filling out their surveys originally.  

Here’s how you can do that yourself:

1. Head to koriko.backerkit.com.
2. Enter your email address and click ‘Get My Survey’.
3. Use the email link to go into your survey.
4. Click ‘Edit Your Order’ in the top right.
5. Click ‘Edit Shipping Info’ on the left-hand side.
6. Enter your new address, and hit next.
7. Hit ‘Place My Order’ to confirm the changes.

The sheer volume of messages and emails I get from this project is still kinda wild (💀), so if you're able to do this process yourself it'd help me out a lot.

(if you’ve moved countries, you might still need to send me a message)

What’s next ✍️

I’ve enjoyed working on some of the Koriko stretch goal content this month, and will continue with that through October. The production & fulfilment conversations are taking up a lot of headspace at the moment though, I’ll be glad when it’s all finally signed off.

Since we have the physical game now, we’re also intending to record a ‘how to play’ video. Unfortunately that relies on Team Mousehole (me and Rachel) being together, in daylight, without the kids—a rarity! 

Working with kids around remains a challenge... some of you might've seen an early preview of the proof over on our IG, with 'help' from our youngest ( sound on! 🤣).

That's all for this month, thanks a lot you lovely bunch,

Jack

August
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 30, 2023 at 03:00:20 AM

Hey folks!

I hope you’re having a lovely summer, those of you in our hemisphere anyway. This is our first proper ‘school summer holiday’ experience with our eldest, and we’ve definitely felt the routine-breaking, endless-seeming, patience-testing chaos of having everyone at home all the time.

Childcare is hard work. The miserable, oft-grey British summer hasn't helped!

It’s had its highlights for sure, but I think we’re all glad that it’s nearly over—and we’ll be back to a more predictable, comfortable routine soon. Anyway, on with the update!

Slow Knife / Zines Early Shipping

If you’ve got one of the following products in your order, this section is for you! Otherwise, please feel free to skip it.

• The Slow Knife (Playset Edition)
• The Slow Knife (Boxed Edition)
• Artefact Beak Zine
• Orbital Zine*

These games are printed and in my house, ready to ship. I had originally planned to ship everything (including Koriko) from here, but now I will be working with a US distributor and one in the UK to fulfil your orders. It makes more sense for me to pack these items I have ready here and send them out directly to you ASAP, rather than pay to have them palletised and sent around the world.

*I only have a couple hundred Orbital zines, which I’ll prioritise to those of you who are ordering other items I have ready here—the rest will be shipped with your Koriko orders.

If you have one or more of these items in your cart, your Backerkit order will be split. This means I can lock your address for the items that are shipping now, without affecting the rest of your order—as some of you might move house between now and when the rest of your order ships.

You’ll get a 48-hour warning before your address is locked, so you can change it if you need to (FYI: you can head to koriko.backerkit.com to recover your survey and edit your shipping info whenever you like!). Unless you’ve changed your address, you don’t need to do anything.

I’m charging reduced shipping for these items, in line with what you’d pay to add it to your Koriko order (it’s cheaper to add a book to an existing package rather than sending it alone, but this is my choice so I’m not passing that cost on to you!). I’ll add shipping charges to your final fee when Koriko ships, as follows:

•  The Slow Knife: £6 international, £4 UK
•  Artefact: £3 international. £2 UK
•  Orbital †: £3 international. £2 UK

†If you added a copy of Orbital in Kickstarter, you’ll have been charged shipping for it already (an error on my part!). This amount is reflected as a positive balance on your Backerkit order, which will be deducted from any final shipping costs.

Fulfilment

Briefly, I thought I’d let you know that I’ve almost signed off on a US and UK/RoW distributor for the game. It feels good to know that I won’t have to do it all myself, as we did with Artefact

Better to leave it to the professionals!

Production

Not much to say on production this month—the ‘Pre-Production Copy’ (PPC), a near-final physical prototype, is being made so I can give final sign-off on the book and boxed game before we move to full production. Once that happens, I can get a lot firmer about the timeline for the delivery as we’ll get our place in the production queue. Until then, thanks for your patience on production!

Briefly, on shipping, I have had some quotes from our fulfilment partners and so far everything seems in-line with my initial estimates. I’ll share more when we’re further along the process, but all is currently on-track.

What’s next

I’m really excited to jump back into Koriko stuff when the kids are back at school and start hammering out the stretch goal content that I’ve put on the back burner while we get the physical product into production. In a way, it’s been nice to have some distance from writing and design—now I’m pumped to start!

Cheers!

J

July
over 1 year ago – Sun, Jul 30, 2023 at 12:28:08 AM

Hey folks! We’ve been in Spain for most of July for a friend’s wedding, and it is hot. We’re keeping cool in the pool, mostly, emerging from the water each evening into the (slightly) cooler night air.

Stickers + Bits

You might’ve seen over on our Instagram we’ve been sharing some behind the scenes videos of the stickers that will come with the physical version of the game. You’ll actually end up with two sheets of stickers, containing all of the confidant icons in the game and some other useful labels for your journal. They’re really cool!

I’ve also finalised the design for the dice, bag, box, cards, tuckbox, postcard and bookmark—meaning that all the physical files are now ready for production (in addition to the book itself, which was ready last month!). I'm excited for you to see all the bits in person—until then, I'll keep them shrouded so you can experience them for the first time when they arrive on your doorstep :)

Release

Though the road to the physical product is still pretty long, it’s been really fun see- ing many of you begin your journeys using the digital version of the game.

The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive! Thank you so much if you’ve taken the time to comment on itch.io or write a review, or even send me pictures of your journal and doodles (lots of this happening on our instagram!). It takes a hell of a lot of work to get these projects out into the world, and seeing your responses makes it all feel worthwhile :)

If you’ve enjoyed the game, I’d really appreciate it if you wrote a comment on the game’s itch.io page and/or left a review (weirdly, written reviews aren’t public on itch.io 🤷 ). It makes a big difference to the game’s visibility, and I’d love to get even more people playing it (we have over 10,000 community copies too, so you can recommend it freely!).

You should all have access to the digital version by now—if you don’t have your code yet:

• 1: Check your emails + spam folders for Backerkit or itch.io emails.
• 2: Go into your survey (go here if you’ve lost your survey link) and you can access all your downloads there (help article).
• 3: If they don’t show up there, drop me an email (jack at mousehole dot press) with your name and I’ll sort it out for you.

What’s next

I’m done with The Slow Knife layout, so now I’m moving on to tidying up the Orbital files. I’m also beginning to play around with ideas for the soundtrack—a little treat for me after so much layout work...

That’s it for now—¡hasta luego, amigos!

Jack