Payments:

   Over the last week, Amazon has been steadily charging people's cards the amount pledged.  We are at 99.73% funded.  I'm going to email the couple of people who Amazon hasn't charged yet to follow up on.  Never fear, we'll get everyone their games.  99.73% is actually a phenomenal number considering that other pre-order systems normally run into a higher rate of issue.

Graphic Design and Layout Work:

  As mentioned earlier, we are proofing the rules for spelling, grammar, etc.  Once we have completed the first 10 or 15 passes through the book, we'll be posting the rulebook, sans artwork, for people to read through.  During this time, if you notice any spelling, grammar or areas that you just don't understand, all you need to do is email me and we'll fix that part of the rulebook.

   The box top and bottom have been templated and our graphic designer will be working on it over the next few weeks (She told me she absolutely refuses to work on it tomorrow, something about Christmas, shesh). 

  As Howard completes artwork, we'll be laying out the punch boards and moving forward with those.  The main work, beyond the Rulebook, will be the artwork from Howard.  He'll be very busy over the next 2 months.

Updates:

   I want to limit the number of times I spam 1,111 people with updates.  I love updates and will be doing them frequently.  To that end, I'll be utilizing KickStarter's Update system for major updates (When major portions are done, rulebook revision time, etc).  

  The rest of the time, i.e. the minor information, for those who like to see work in progress, I'll be posting pictures and status updates on Facebook (Mainly because it is easy to post to and I can throw stuff up there).  Now, you don't have to join Facebook, you should be able to just view it without logging in, or liking.  So, for informational viewing only, you can go to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-Worlds-Games/133664403347382

  I'll try and have updates as much as possible, but give it a week or two due to the holidays.  If you have any questions related to the game, ask via Facebook, via KickStarter or simply email me at livingworldsgames@gmail.com and I'll answer as soon as possible.

 
Surveys:

  We have set out All surveys with the exception of those for people who pledges less than the price of a game.

   For those people, beyond our thanks, we may have some extra game related promo items, i.e. the punchboards, character sheets, etc that we can send out depending on stock levels.

Game Related Promos

   In the future, for those who didn't get in on the KickStarter deal, we'll have the game-related promos available.  This includes the Punchboards, extra scenario, additional character card for Flying Schlock.  You'll be able to pick them up at conventions, through Board Game Geek website or with other orders. 

   For the rest of the stuff, dice, dice cup, bags, Howard may have them in the future through his normal store since he already deals with Schlock related awesomeness.

Sunday's midnight into Monday brought us a stellar conclusion to our KickStarter campaign for Schlock Mercenary funding.  We raised $82,056 and will be pouring that money into production at once. 

Promotional Items:

The following is a list of the extra promotional items we will be shipping to you with each copy of the game purchased.  For those that did not get in on the KickStarter, these will be available at some point in the future as convention items or giveaways.  They are available to our KickStarter supporters early and in full because of their support.

 - Tagon Dice: 5 custom dice that includes Tagon's logo in place of the 6.

 - Extra Character Sheet + Token: Andy, our multilimbed friend.  He has a lot of actions.  This is an advanced copy of the character that will be included in a future release, but you get to play with him early.

 - Name in the Rule Book: Your name, in the rulebook, visible and readable for all to know you are a fan of the webcomic, the board game or both.

 - Updated: 1 Tagon Patch

 - Updated ($30,000 Overfunding) An additional promotional Large Floor Tile (6" x 6", double sided) that will be part of the 2013 Convention Give away promotions.

 - Updated ($30,000 Overfunding) An additional Connecting Floor Tile (1.5" x 3.0") featuring a secret room onboard the ship where you can pick up extra Power Ups.

 - Updated ($36,862 Overfunding) A Schlock Mercenary Die / Tile bag.

 - Updated ($40,000 Overfunding) An Extra Scenario

 - Updated ($45,000 Overfunding) A Second set of Extra Dice with Partnership Logo.

 - Updated ($50,000 Overfunding) An Alternate Plasma Gun Flying Schlock Character Sheet

 - Updated ($56,174 Overfunding) A Blank Character Sheet for Funsies

 - Updated ($64,000 Overfunding) Dice Cup + Punchboard

 - Updated ($73,103 Overfunding) Wood Tokens for Characters & Head in Jar Tokens for a number of Toughs.

 - Updated (Because all of you are awesome) Schlock Success buttons.  Also, we'll be providing the Blank Character sheet as a PDF, so you can print out additional copies and make your own characters as often as you want.

Now, just the promos are a lot of work, so we've begun to work on getting them rolling at the same time we're working on the game.  Luckily, the promos utilize a lot of the same art resources as the game, so it won't be much extra work for Howard.   We're fully committed to getting this game rolling into the Printer's ASAP.  To do that, Howard will be chugging along producing top notch artwork and Living Worlds Games will be working on taking those art files and the game design and getting them ready.

RuleBook:

  Today I spent the majority of the morning laying out the rulebook.  I've completed about half of the layout and am going to be working on the rest of the layout shortly.  This is actually one of the longer and harder parts of publishing a game.  Once I'm done laying it out, it'll go to our wonderful graphic designer, Haley Ross whose work you can see in 1955:The War of Espionage, who will take what I laid out and make it look professional by lining everything up and adding the artwork.  Afterwards, once we have the beta version of the rulebook, I'll be posting it so that everyone can read it and provide feedback.  We want your feedback on the rulebook because if you don't understand, well, we've failed to adequately teach it to you via text and images so we'll want to make changes.

Survey & Shipping Information:

  Within a few days, I'll be sending out Surveys.  These Surveys will ask for such information as your Name, Shipping Address for the games and promos, what Name you want on the Rulebook, what name you want on the Box if you pledged at that level.  It'll ask for what name you want for your Bot and we'll ask those at the higher levels what sub-title name you want for the Scenario.

  We are aware that some people may have missed adding International Shipping to their pledge.  Have no fear.  In the survey, under comments, just add that you forgot and we'll work with each person individually to make sure it gets rectified.  We'll also be doing a quick check to make sure the Country matches up with the pledge.  Everyone will get their game, that you can be sure of.

  In addition, because I'm a geek and I want to make sure we can do better in the future, the last few questions of the survey will include some standardized questions such as Where did you first hear about the KickStarter campaign for Schlock, what prompted you to pledge, etc. 

Future Information:

  I will be posting future updates here to inform everyone as to the status of the Schlock Mercenary Board Game.  Please don't hesitate to contact me at livingworldsgames@gmail.com if you have a question.  Howard will be busy arting it up, so if you'll direct questions related to the game to me, I'd be more than happy to answer.  I'll see what else we can do to get the information out there as well.

Thank you again for your support, we look forward to providing you with a great tactical shooter and many many more scenarios to come.

Good morning / afternoon (and evening/night for our friends across oceans),

Maxim ?:

"No maxim yet to describe this"

  We are at $72,577.16 as I type this.  We are heading towards $73,103 goal now where I get to have nice heavy wooden character discs to send to everyone.  This project adds a nice glow to our Christmas and I want to thank everyone who supported and who participated in the comments section.  We'll be reviewing all the comments just as soon as my surgery is over and I can actually move again.  You'll start seeing some questions come up in those areas as well.

  We will also be bringing you updates on the status of the project as we move forward.

 Now, I like goals and metrics mainly because, in my normal non-awesomely fun job, I work in Quality Assurance.  So, $73,103 puts Schlock Mercenary near the top of the Top 10 most funded boardgames on KickStarter.  This is something that is tracked on BoardGameGeek.com (If you haven't been there, it is a great resource for all boardgames).   The link to the thread is HERE.  By hitting this milestone, we'll be pushing past one of the great games that I love (Glory to Rome).  We'll also be within grasp of the #2 position ($76,079 needed) but that isn't what we are shooting for. We already achieved what we set out to do, get funding to product a great tactical shooter for Schlock Mercenary fans.

  No matter which position we end up, it is a testament to the great writing and art of the Schlock Mercenary universe that we have come so far.  Without everyone's support, Howard wouldn't have such a great webcomic and I would have the chance to build boardgames.  Because of that, with no goal or metric needed, I'm going to have buttons made as a gift from us to you for your support.  Thank you for supporting the Schlock Mercenary board game.  The button will also reinforce this. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to Mail me through here or comment.  I have my phone with me and will answer ASAP.

Good Evening,

  With 30 hours remaining, we'd like to answer some questions that have been asked:

1) For the Name in the Rulebook / On the Box, how will we collect them?

 - Within a week or so of the end of the KS campaign, we'll be sending out a survey.  One of the questions in the survey will be what Name(s) you'll want to use.

2) How will we get the address to send the shipment to once the game is finished being manufactured?

 - Included in the survey will be a question relating to where you want the game(s) shipped to.

Also, very IMPORTANT, if you are an international supporter, please be sure you have added the extra shipping needed for your pledge level so we can make sure your order gets to you promptly.  Remember that within 24 hours of the KickStarter ending, Amazon will send out the charges.