Backerkit Surveys Live
almost 3 years ago – Mon, May 17, 2021 at 02:07:20 AM

Hello, dear Remarkable backers! 

We are glad to let you know all Backerkit surveys have been set. Please check your mail (and spam) inbox. In the Backerkit pledge manager, you can finalize your pledge items, address, and shipping. 

Upgrader Pledge Level

If you have chosen the Upgrader pledge level, you can change it to a pledge level of choice, using the link below the green button. Depending on the chosen pledge level, you will see a selection or all available add-ons. 

Pledge manager Lock Date

You will have quite some time to fill out the survey, choose add-ons, and update your address. We will notify everyone in time when we are closing the pledge manager. This will be somewhere near the end of this year, so plenty of time left. 

Shipping Rate Over 9.000 :-) 

We have a fallback range of + $500 built into our system that is used on orders where it is not clear what the weight or destination of the order should be. We've set up the Backerkit system so it defaults to that crazy high number as a "trigger" your you to let us know, and we will look into your order to select to correct shipping rate. If you happen to get a shipping rate of $500 or even $1000 dollars, don't fret. This is just our "alert" to look into the order together to figure out what's up.

Support

If this is your first time using Bacerit, please know that you can contact their support with questions, or reach out to [email protected] should you have any questions. 

The pledge manager link: https://remarkablecults.backerkit.com/

Until we speak again!!

Chris VDL. 

Backerkit Smoke Test Sent.
almost 3 years ago – Sat, May 15, 2021 at 02:45:09 PM

Hello, 

Over the weekend we have sent the so-called Backerkit "smoke test" which means a small percentage of backers get their email to fill out their pledge survey. This is to test any issues remaining in our setup, before sending it to all 5.000 backers. 

We like to ask if you encountered any issues to post here in the comments. We are making a few changes and then things should be ready for everyone. Appreciate it! 

We will be back with a development update next week most likely, we are excited about how the book is shaping up and lot's of things to tell. In the meantime, you can join our Discord if you like to talk there! 

Regards,

Chris VDL. 

Backerkit Smoke Test starts this week
almost 3 years ago – Thu, May 06, 2021 at 10:24:10 PM

Hello, dear Remarkable backers! 

Hope everyone is doing well in this continuing pandemic period. How are you hanging in there?

Remarkable Cults - Backerkit Smoke Test Soon

With all of our recent Kickstarter projects, we use the Backerkit service as our partner for pledge managing and fulfillment. After the campaign ends on Kickstarter, things shift to Backerkit, where you can manage all things such as pledge changes, address changes, purchasing add-ons, shipping charges, and more. 

We are almost finished with setting up the Backerkit Pledge manager tool for Remarkable Cults. We expect to be able to start the so-called "smoke test" at the end of this week and over the weekend. This shoots out a limited amount of surveys to randomly chosen backers. If no problems occur, we are going to open up the surveys to all backers next week or the week after. We are taking a moment to double-check our shipping settings (always a party cracker!) and the add-ons section. 

• If you have never used Backerkit before and have questions you can reach out to their support as well via the Backerkit tool. 
• If you have the Upgrader pledge level, please change it to at least PDF or higher, in order to see the add-on store. 
• Shipping charges are calculated based on your pledge items' weight and your country. Internation shipping is increasingly expensive and customs charges may apply.
• In some rare cases, you may see a shipping charge of $500 or more. This is an arbitrary fallback "warning cue" in our system to inform us we need to check your order, as it falls outside of the normal parcel procedures. Contact us if this happens and we correct the order to display the correct cost. 

If you have any questions now or in the future, please reach out to [email protected] 

Talk On Discord

We continue working on the Remarkable Cults book and we will be back with a development update as well once the Backerkit pledge manager is live. 

In the meantime, we like to invite you to join our Discord community, which is a great place to hang out and chat!

Talk soon,

Chris van der Linden

Cults Development Update - Art Previews
about 3 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 12:27:02 AM

Hello, dear Remarkable backers!

We hope everyone is doing fine and staying healthy. Here's the first proper development update after our Kickstarter campaign successfully finished recently. Exciting times! 

Development Progress

Pre-Kickstarter Development - As part of our ongoing process of becoming a more professional and growing business, Remarkable Cults was the first book that was already in development before we launched the Kickstarter. In the past, we did not do this, because investing a lot of money in writing and artwork on a project that may not fund was too risky for a fledgling company. Instead, we started producing the book directly after funding, meaning it takes a pretty long time before backers get their finished products in the mail. Fast-forward a couple of years to now, and we already have big parts of the book under construction and looking great.

Writing Status - Many of the core chapters of the book, and unlocked stretch goals have been written as a first version, with some already getting revisions and a first draft layout with illustrations. Certain parts of the book we need to start writing still, as these require creative meetings before the writers can dig in. As a "test case" we maystart sharing a % indication of how much of the total writing is in In Progress or Done. 

Artwork & Illustrations - With an illustration on about every (other) page, there are up to a hundred items to be created, and we also unlocked stretch goals to feature more full-color artwork in the book this time around. We are happy to inform you that a team of talented artists has been working on this for a couple of months now, and the progress is fantastic. Production on this aspect will continue for the remainder of the book development, as the illustrations and art often are tailored towards specific writing on the page. We try to raise the bar on our books each time, and Remarkable Cults is already starting to look very, very good.

Maps - In addition to the above, we have Jon Pintar working on map/floorplan artwork and the first deliverables are super cool to see. We will continue the production on these in the coming months as well.

Wondrous Expeditions Delay

If you are also a backer on our previous Kickstarter campaign for Wondrous Expeditions: Forests, you will likely have read our big update from yesterday about the delayed delivery. Some of you asked about whether this was caused by launching Remarkable Cults, or if this project is also at risk of getting delays. 

Both good questions, so allow us to explain: 

1. The Wondrous delays were not caused by Launching Remarkable Cults

In the past year, we hired additional staff and invested in improving expanding our workflows to manage two Kickstarters and product developments per year. Having now done 11 Kickstarters to date, you will know we typically have a very good track record of delivering on time, good quality, and good communication. The Remarkable Cults Kickstarter was already planned and prepared a long time in advance and did not impact Wondrous.  

2. The Remarkable Cults project is separate from Wondrous Expeditions

While it is us, the same company and people making both productions, they are not dependent on each other. As mentioned above, we updated our workflows and staff capacity to be able to consistently do two productions per year, and until now that has worked very well. The delays on Wondrous Expeditions were mostly caused by things outside of our control (for more details read yesterday's update and comment section). 

3. Remarkable Cults development is on schedule and going well

We are happy to say that the Remarkable Cults development is on track and going very well. This is in part due to our improved workflows, increased capacity, and also because it is an established product format, which makes it easier to hit the ground running and have fewer unknowns. 

Backerkit Pledge Manager Setup

We have started setting up the Backerkit pledge manager. We estimate to need 1 to 2 weeks more to finalize it and make it available to you. We will keep you up to date in our next progress reports. 

If you have any questions, we love to invite you to join our Discord community, which is a great place to hang out and chat! 

Talk soon,

Chris van der Linden

193K EURO - WAITTT??
about 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 03:03:34 AM

Hello, dear Remarkable backers! 

Oof, what a last day of the Kickstarter campaign it has been. In the last hours, the funding shot up from 170.000 to over 190.000 euro. What can we say? Your support on this one has been amazing! 

What Happens Next?

We are taking a little breather and will come back to you after the weekend with a new development update. Also, we will start setting up our Pledge manager (Backerkit) in the following weeks. This always takes a while to configure and test, but we expect to start to open up the pledge manager towards the end of April. There's really no rush, as the book is still in development and we have many months ahead of us to finalize things such as add-ons and addresses. We will keep you posted on this topic going forward. 

Thank you Again

On behalf of everyone at Loresmyth, I'd like to thank all returning and new backers one more time for your amazing support. It is fantastic to see close to 5.000 backers on this project. We are excited for Remarkable Cults and what the future brings! We are just getting started...

I also like to take a minute to thank all talent involved in making this book, such as our writers, artists, editors, support, and product development team! You know who you are! A special shoutout to Anna at Backerkit and Laura and Christopher at Nord Games for promoting our Kickstarter and just being non-asshole people.

On that note, if you have not already joined our Discord, do so now cause it's a good place to change out and it's for non-assholes only, so what do you know! 

That's it for now. Talk soon! Have a great weekend. 

Chris VDL.