Happy New Year! This update is for anyone who missed the info posted on the Dire Alliance: Horror and Lasting Tales respective Kickstarters and Gamefound update pages and have already read the last news post here.
Dire Alliance Horror Status
As you know, Dire Alliance has been in the factory’s warehouse in Ningbo, China since we finished mass production. It's temperature controlled and our factory has certifications for safety, quality, and keeping products stored in proper condition, with periodic mold and humidity checks. That said, my priority is to get them freighted to the ports, on a boat, and have our fulfillment source receive them in Asia, EU, UK, Australia, and the US. I’ve gotten updated quotes for this and will need to find a way to raise $140k in total to do so.
Although Horror: Series 1 Miniatures are no longer Blacklist Games’s IP and cannot be reprinted by Blacklist Games, through our agreement with the current owner of this property, we will be able to fulfill all inventory we currently have to backers when we are ready, regardless of and completely separate from the current owner, Wildspire Miniatures.
For future endeavors with the Horror: Series 1 Miniatures (not Dire Alliance), Wildspire Miniatures will have their own announcements and plans, as Blacklist Games no longer has any ties with that property outside of fulfillment of this campaign.
Dire Alliance Horror Plan
As mentioned in the last update, because Blacklist Games has not run a crowdfunding campaign for 3 years and QML has prevented us from having any inventory to sell since, there has not been any way to create capital. The fact and reality is that I need to do something or nothing will move. After the shipping crisis, price gouging quadrupled shipping/fees and even though they have come back down, they’re still over double the amount you paid. It’s not your fault and there was no way for anyone in Blacklist Games to have predicted this. Considering all feasible options, I think the best strategy, not unlike other publishers who faced similar situations, is to create/produce only 1 new “Backer Exclusive”, standalone expansion for Dire Alliance (that’s compatible with the existing game), Kickstart it and use the campaign to produce both the content and also go towards shipping all of the Dire Alliance items at once.
How would something like that work?
In essence, it would be something like this (please ignore these numbers as I’m just painting the picture of the process. If this is the best plan of action, I’ll get real numbers and share them with you to keep transparency open.)
Minimum Quantity to Manufacture (MOQ): 1,000 Units
Cost to Manufacture (based on low MOQ): $10 per unit
Tooling Cost (with no minis): $1,000 flat fee
Cost of production (Game Development/Art/Graphic Design): $8,000
Kickstarter Funding Goal: $50,000
Cost for Pledge: $35
Having a structure like this, funding would not only pay for the cost of the new expansion but net margins made through the kickstarter will go towards shipping the Dire Alliance: Horror campaign, added to the shipping cost of the exclusive expansion, allowing Dire Alliance: Horror and the expansion to be shipped together.
For those who never backed Dire Alliance and just want the standalone game, any profits made in the campaign from those pledges will go towards shipping Dire Alliance to backers as well. I will be absolutely transparent with the cost of the expansion’s production, cost of freight/shipping, and of course, show you the development/proofing/mass production of the game as well. This seems to be the only way I can get the Dire Alliance: Horror campaign items to you, while providing you value.
Of course, doing this will still receive negative backlash, which I fully understand and find reasonable given the situation. But now as sole owner, I need to steer this ship forward and not keep things stranded while hoping for a miracle. That said, those who are not interested in this standalone expansion do not have to back, but would realistically have to wait until I fulfill those who do. Any net profit after fulfilling to those who back will go towards fulfilling the remaining backers. That way it’s fair for everyone.
If this is the route that makes the most sense, then the product model will have about the same amount of content as the base game for Dire Alliance: Horror, though there will not be any miniatures offered, just tokens (though an acrylic standees could be a possibility as an add on). As mentioned, this would be a standalone expansion that is compatible with Dire Alliance: Horror but will be a completely different theme. It will also be an exclusive product for this Kickstarter so besides any extras created from the MOQ after fulfillment, it won’t be reprinted again to ensure this is exclusive to you.
In the next month, expect an update on this idea as I get actual quotes and possible timelines to share with you.
Lasting Tales Status/Plan
As mentioned above, all the Fantasy Minis: Series 1 and 2 have been acquired by Wildspire Miniatures (IP, files, art, and/or factory moulds for FS1, all corresponding rights, while moulds for FS2 were not acquired ). The reason for this is that Blacklist Games had a polarizing amount of debt and now as owner, I needed to fix this before we could move on. Through this acquisition, all of those financial institutions have finally been completely reconciled so any future funds gained can now go directly towards the progress of manufacturing, shipping, and fulfillment instead of interest and debt. Because of this acquisition, Blacklist Games is no longer the owner of FS1 and FS2 minis and cannot reprint or produce them. However, Wildspire Miniatures will be making their own announcements and updates about the future of these miniatures and their own plans on getting them to you, though the miniatures will no longer have ties to Blacklist Games. Wildspire will be providing updates of potential plans they have for these minis, and you can fill their short in-take questionnaire to provide your input.
That said, Blacklist Games still owns Lasting Tales content and I will focus on mass production of the book and accessories from the campaign and getting them shipped and fulfilled to you.
Being upfront, to get you these items I will need to raise $60k to manufacture everything and an additional $40k to ship/fulfill them to you. While I don’t currently have a concrete plan on how to raise these funds quickly, I am working on a solution to share with you by the end of February. I won’t have any dates to give you until I can raise the funds to manufacture/fulfill/ship, but I will be transparent, open, and prioritize this so I can get Lasting Tales to you this year.