Happy New Year! Progress Update
4 months ago – Mon, Jan 08, 2024 at 02:19:09 PM

We hope you have all had a lovely break and that your 2024 is off to a great start. Here’s to a good year ahead. 
We’ve got lots of exciting developments with The Old King’s Crown that we’ll be discussing via these updates over the next few months that we can’t wait to share with you. 

Pledge Manager update

Pledge manager surveys have now all been sent out, with 67% of you completing it so far. If you have still to complete your survey you will still have a little while before you need to lock this in. Backerkit will automatically send out reminders so keep an eye on your inbox for the pledge manager invite if you haven’t yet completed the survey. Please note that the email will be addressed from Eerie Idol Games via Backerkit. 

If for any reason you haven’t received an invite yet, please get in contact with [email protected] who will be able to provide you access to the Pledge Manager. 

As a quick reminder to those who backed at the £1 Supporter tier, you may find that the default shipping price will show as £56, however, rest assured, once you fill in your shipping details the price will update to your region accordingly. 

We’re also aware of some instances of shipping prices also not correctly showing for some US Army postal addresses but our fulfilment manager is working to ensure the correct prices are being shown. 

Progress Update

Since the end of the Kickstarter campaign, the team has been hard at work in the background, playtesting internally and with our incredible Discord community, iterating on several Tabletop Simulator builds. This has allowed us to refine the game balance and polish the player experience even further. Although this has been a long process, we’re incredibly happy with the latest results. We are now moving very close to the final version of the game. 

With this step wrapping up we move on to the next important stage; formalising all the amends, polish and additions into a final rulebook and sending it to our rulebook editor for review. 

From there we will be ready to release the latest rulebook publicly along with an accompanying build on Tabletop Simulator build - which will essentially be the final beta build of the game before we finalise it.

As always, if you’re interested in playtesting/playing the game online - whether you have tried the game prior or would like to try it for the first time, don’t hesitate to join our friendly community made up of players from all parts, over at:

DISCORD

New components in all versions of the game

Thanks to all of your incredible support making the Kickstarter a huge success, we’ve been able to upgrade the quality of several key components for every game copy of the game. These upgrades will come as standard, whether you backed the Base Game or the expanded set with the Wild Kingdom Expansion. 

• EXPANDED COURT - A major part of our development and testing that we mentioned above has focused on the Court and the Sites of Power. Two key areas of the game that you’ll now not only have more access to, more consistently but that have also been upgraded.
  Take the Court - it now has expanded to house three distinct Councils. Players can now hold these Councils, accruing not only influence but new special abilities based on each seat they hold. This, along with some other tweaks to the system, mean there is now a lot more courtly intrigue, as players vie for control.
  As a result we’ve expanded the Court tile, which will now be a dual-layer illustrated board able to house up to three cards at once, allowing multiple cards to occupy different councils within, complete with slots beneath to tuck the cards for extra room at the table.
• PRESTIGE AND NEW CARDS TO GAIN - Similarly, each player's Site of Power has gotten an upgrade, specifically through a new secondary currency to the game called Prestige. This can be accrued each round, as well as acquired from many abilities, to be spent on cards at your site. Speaking of which - each faction now has access to new cards at their Site of Power - powerful additions to your deck if you can gather the Prestige. Now you’re able to create markedly different builds of your Faction, depending on which of these cards you choose to acquire in a game. More deckbuilding, more options, more strategy.
• HAND SIZE TRACKER - Instead of tracking player hand size using multiple double sided card tokens which we had always felt was a slightly fiddly compromise, after a punch of development and product design meetings, we feel we’ve landed on a much neater (and fancier!) solution. 
  We’ll be upgrading this feature to include silk-screened wooden discs, matching the size and quality of the other wooden components. This component will slot into a groove in your dual-layer player board, allowing you to easily read and adjust your hand size, without the need for cardboard tokens.
• Finally, there’s a whole number of smaller additions, too many to list here but which we’ll make sure to highlight as we move forward.

That’s it for this update but we’ll be back in two weeks to deep dive into these latest refinements in further detail!

Have a wonderful week and as always if you have any questions, let us know!

Andrew, Pablo & The Eerie Idols team

PLEDGE MANAGER LIVE FOR ALL BACKERS
5 months ago – Fri, Dec 22, 2023 at 02:14:10 AM

Hello everyone!

We’re happy to announce that we’ve completed the smoke test phase of the pledge manager and we’re now excited to roll out the pledge manager to all backers!

Expect to receive an email invite from Backerkit, now and over the course of the next few days. Be sure to check your spam filter as these invites can sometimes be flagged there. Although we have endeavoured to catch as many issues with the pledge manager as we could with the smoke test, if you do spot a mistake with your pledge calculation*, or if you still don’t see your invite by next week be sure to send an email to [email protected] who will be able to check and rectify any issues.

* IMPORTANT NOTE: Your shipping amount may display at some default amount (often £56), this is simply a placeholder amount and does not reflect the final shipping amount. Once you enter your shipping address and details and reach checkout, the shipping price should reflect your region appropriately. 

Any questions regarding this, can be clarified with our dedicated fulfilment manager at:[email protected]

Please note that it is vital that you complete the Backerkit survey as without it, we cannot ship your rewards.

As a quick reminder to those that have signed up to Kickstarter via Apple ID, we may not be able to send your invite to you directly via your Apple ID. Please send an email directly to our fulfilment manager, [email protected] with the subject line: The Old King’s Crown Apple ID. This email should be sent from the email address you used to sign up for Backerkit (or if you haven't yet set this up, the email address you intend to use).

How long will the pledge manager be open?

We will keep the pledge manager open as long as we can to ensure you are able to change your address, or purchase any further add-ons. We estimate a closing date of around April / May 2024, with cards being charged around this time (Don’t worry, we won’t be charging any cards right before the Christmas period). We will also be sure to give plenty of advanced notice of when cards will be charged via a further Kickstarter update.

A Short Break

We will be taking a short break over the Christmas period but will be right back to the studio after the new year with a brand new progress update on the exciting developments that we’ve been playtesting. This will be followed by a new Tabletop Simulator build, which is going through its final paces as we speak. This version forms the first of the final builds - and introduces some exciting new features and adds some great balance improvements (plus secret stuff like an expanded Court board - but that's for a future update ; )

We wish you all a wonderful festive break and look forward to sharing the exciting developments in the new year.
 

Thank you for all for your incredible support and best wishes from Pablo, Andrew and the Eerie Idols team.

PLEDGE MANAGER GOES LIVE THIS WEEK + NEW ADD-ONS & LATE PLEDGES
5 months ago – Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 11:36:49 AM

Hello everyone,

 We hope you’re all well. As mentioned in the last update, the pledge manager is the next big step on the road to getting The Old King’s Crown into your hands. We have now had the all clear from Backerkit to launch the manager but to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible, we are going to send out a smoke test. This involves the pledge manager survey being sent out to a random 5% cross-section of backers. This allows us to catch any issues with collecting shipping addresses and payment details, before rolling out the final version to the remaining backers. This should only take a day or so and after that everyone will receive an email invite from Backerkit to complete your pledge manager survey. We will post another update when the pledge manager goes live to all backers, so don’t worry if you don’t immediately see your invite. However, if you do not see the survey in your inbox by the end of the week, please first check any spam folders, and then send an email to [email protected] who will make sure to rectify any issues you might be having..

Please note that it is vital that you complete the Backerkit survey as without it, we cannot ship your rewards.

The pledge manager is your hub for managing your order. From here you will be able to:

• Provide your preferred shipping address.
• Pay shipping fees.
• Pay any outstanding tax and VAT associated with your region.
• Choose your preferred language for the game (English, French and Spanish).
• Upgrade your pledge level by selecting add-ons.
• Purchase additional copies of the game.
• Purchase any further add-ons.

Note for Apple ID users: If you used your Apple ID to log in to Kickstarter, the BackerKit surveys will not be able to be sent to your email address. Please send an email directly to our fulfilment manager, James at [email protected] with the subject line: The Old King’s Crown Apple ID. Please send this email from the same email address you used to set up your Backerkit account (or if you haven't yet set this up, the email address you intend to use). 

Late Pledges

For anyone who missed the Kickstarter campaign but would still like to back the game with the exclusive content, a late pledge option will be available via the Backerkit Pledge manager. A link to this will become available directly from the header of the Kickstarter page soon. If you know anyone who missed the campaign and would like to back a copy, please feel free to share the link to the Late Pledge page and we can welcome them to the kingdom. All rewards and exclusives will be available, at the same prices as during the campaign!

New Add-Ons

After listening to your feedback regarding potential add-ons, we are incredibly excited to announce that we have partnered with LaserOx to produce a beautiful laser cut birch plywood insert for the base game box.

The insert features thematic engravings from each faction in the game with enough space for fully sleeved cards. LaserOx are also aiming to be able to fit both the base game and expansion materials into this organiser.

We had the pleasure of first meeting the team at UK Games Expo 2022 and have continued to be impressed by their work ever since.

We also pleased to announce that we are able to offer a pack of high quality clear card sleeves. Each pack includes tarot, bridge and mini sized sleeves, enough for every card in the Base game and Wild Kingdom expansion in one convenient add-on. 

All-in Art Print voting

As part of the all-in pledge level, a community vote will be held to decide the artwork that is included in the art-pack. All backers who pledge at the All-In level, whether it was during the campaign or through the pledge manager will be eligible to vote. This will be sent as a later survey in the new year.

Next steps

Whilst we’ve been preparing the pledge manager, we’ve also been hard at work polishing and balancing the game and we’re excited to share more soon. We’ll be back with another progress update soon, along with a short update to announce when the pledge manager goes live to all backers.

Thanks from Pablo, Andrew and the Eerie Idols team.

Pledge Manager on the Horizon
5 months ago – Thu, Dec 07, 2023 at 01:53:32 PM

 Hello everyone!

We hope you’ve all been well!

As promised here is the first of our fortnightly updates, as we begin the last long leg of the journey to complete this game and get it on to your tables - all shiny and new.

Once the campaign dust and debris had settled, we set right to work again. Whether tweaking faction balance, beginning insert design, rulebook layout tests or new pieces of artwork (some of which you’ll see in this very update), it has all been full steam ahead over these last two weeks.

A big part of this has been preparing to launch the Backerkit Pledge Manager, which will be opening its doors to you within the next two weeks. This is where you’ll be able to add any additional elements to your order, including a couple of extra add-ons requested by the community, as well as complete your shipping transactions.

Whether you’re familiar with the Pledge Manager process, or are backing a campaign for the first time, we’ll make sure to include all the necessary information you might need to coincide with the Pledge Manager going live.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us and we’ll hopefully be able to clarify any details you might require!

Ahead of that, two questions that many of you have reached out with, that we’d like to quickly cover here:
 

Will people who missed the campaign be able to join in through the Pledge Manager, as a late pledge?
Yes, absolutely! We want to make sure that people who might have missed the campaign, or otherwise weren’t able to join at the time, have a means of accessing what they might have otherwise not been able to get a hold of.

Will the game/extras cost more than during the campaign and will I miss out on any exclusives?
The game and any additional elements, such as the Kickstarter exclusive metal active player marker and the Wild Kingdom, will all be available, at the same prices as the campaign. Certain elements will not be available later at retail but for the duration the Pledge Manager is open (essentially until the game is finalised, ready for its print run) you’ll be able to have complete parity with the original campaign.

Thanks again for the support and we look forward to this next step!

Until then, you can find us on our Discord, as well as our social media channels, which will, in the coming weeks, start to feature the new art work and developments mentioned here.

Until then, have a wonderful rest of your week and enjoy your weekend!

Pablo, Andrew and the Eerie Idols team.

Thank You All!
6 months ago – Thu, Nov 23, 2023 at 09:48:31 AM

Wow.
What an incredible and inspiring experience this has been - a campaign full of kind words, thoughtful questions and uplifting positivity.
Our small team has been blown away by your support, and your encouragement throughout has been nothing short of special indeed.

We’re so thankful to each and every one of you and we can’t wait to get this game into your hands and onto your tables.

There’s always a degree of uncertainty with crowdfunding, especially as first-time developers. After years of designing this,of slowly bringing this game and its characters to life, we couldn’t have wished for a more generous reception.

We look forward to welcoming all 7000+ of you into the kingdom in 2024.

With that said: What’s next for The Old King’s Crown?

A Short Rest (to recoup some health and spell slots)

The whole team are going to take Friday off and this weekend to rest up - able to return refreshed and raring to go come Monday 27th November.
We’ll make sure to catch up with any messages then and start as we mean to go on, with regular communication and activity as we start the march to completion.

Communication 

Going forward, we will be posting Kickstarter updates every two weeks, to make sure we are keeping you in the loop with the development process. Expect to see a lot more of the kingdom and its inhabitants, as the remaining artwork is completed. We’ll be covering the final steps of the game balance and project development and, as we near the manufacturing process, we’ll begin showing off pre-production samples of components. We’ll also have behind the scenes developer diaries and live streams, where you’ll be welcome to join us in the chat and ask any questions you may have.

Additionally, if you’d like to join our Discord, you’ll be able to arrange games with other players on Tabletop Simulator, join in the discussions around the game and connect with other folks from around the world who are also there chatting all things board-gaming.

The Pledge Manager

The next major milestone for the project will be the launch of the Backerkit Pledge Manager in mid-December (a big thank you to their team who helped us along the way in the lead-up and throughout the campaign), at which point you will receive an email invite allowing you to access it.

Rest assured, we’ll be sure to post a big update when emails start to go out.

From the pledge manager you will be able to choose your preferred language from the available choices (currently English, French and Spanish), as well as provide your delivery address and finalise any VAT and shipping fees. With these details confirmed, we’ll be able to get you your order when the time arrives next year.

All the Best

It is rare that you get to work on something you truly love - and thanks to you all we are able to do that. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. We look forward to rolling up our sleeves come Monday and beginning the next leg of this wonderful adventure.

Until then, all the best, from -

Pablo, Andrew & the Eerie Idol Gang