December Update - My House is a Box Fortress
over 2 years ago – Sun, Jan 02, 2022 at 05:07:42 AM

Happy New Year my most awesome and amazing Insiders!!! I have tons to share, including an Unboxing video, metal coins, the Neoprene Mat, and more!!!

Unboxing Videooooo!

Your first look at the physical metal coins, the Neoprene Mat, and the latest version of Deliverance that Archangel Investors will receive!

Thoughts on the coins

 So I received the metal initiative token, and instantly loved it. There was one error in the mold, which is captured below. I wanted the scars on the one side to show deeply in the metal, but the first mold I was sent just had the scars on the gold surface plating. We're updating this so they extend 2-4mm deep into this massive metal Initiative Token.

My absolute favorite thing in the entire box is this massive metal token. It is 8mm thick and seriously is such a showpiece. You could use it to track which angel's turn it is, use it in poker to keep track of your cards, knock out bad guys from range if they try to rob you, or even use it as a slammer in the POG world championships (that has to be a thing, right? 😂)!

All in all, I am SO excited about this as a gamer -- It is something I can't wait for you to actually hold in your hand. It's so amazing.

The Courage tokens were a different matter for me.

They totally serve their purpose as is, but they just didn't feel awesome enough... The gamer in me just wasn't impressed with the small tokens. They were a bit thicker, but what I really felt like we needed was something iconic that would stand out better on the table.

I loved clinking these in my plays, and so I decided to make a significant change to the design!

New Courage token design

 The metal Courage Tokens are now iconic spiritual fire tokens! They are going to be single-sided, so we're going to give 24 tokens instead of 15 for the same price! How can we do that? We cut the metal thickness from 3mm to 2mm, because the thickness didn't make enough of a difference to matter, and 2mm metal coins are super sturdy. We're going to round the points a bit more, but still, you shouldn't let your toddlers or dogs eat these 😉

We polled this in the past and the old circular coin design won the popular vote, but my opinion totally changed after holding the coins and playing with them. I usually go with your guys' opinion, so hopefully you all trust me and are on board with this -- as you know by now, I can't often resist your input! That's why we have minis, metal coins, a Neoprene Mat, acrylic standees, and soooo much more 😊

It turned out that 3mm thick made little difference on the awesomeness of these metal tokens. We cut the token thickness down to what a "normal" coin thickness is like, and we're going to do single-sided tokens. These are really such bling that we wanted MORE of them in the box. Playing with these is going to be a lot more thematic and awesome. They're much more of a show piece that, as a huge gamer myself, I see as more appealing than a coin-shaped token.

The Neoprene Mat

This wasn't actually a sample from China -- I had a bit of the design left to adjust, but I wanted to see a prototype in person before giving our artist final requests. I really wanted it to be amazing on the table for you all. I LOVED the feel, and decided to make it a bit thicker for everyone at 2.5mm. My first instinct as a gamer was to look at and appreciate the little details of the mat. I felt like I was reading a "Where's Wally" book, as there was so much to discover. This brought to my attention that some of the spots had a little lack of detail, and so we're going to tighten this up with our artist.

One question many of you had was if the mat looked great with the tiles, and I really think it adds a lot when you're playing with it!

The art on the Neoprene mat is covered in fog. When you put a tile on top of the board, it looks like the fog has parted and zoomed in to reveal what was there -- I felt a thematic bump in my own plays when we used this.

I also found the size of the mat to be appropriate. It's 44" x 27" but it still fits on all our tables in our house. Any 4x3' surface will easily hold this mat, which will support player boards, cards, map boards, and everything else.

Taking my designer hat off and putting my gamer hat on, I believe this mat is worthy of a spot in my collection. I'm really proud to offer a product that elevates the experience like this!

My house is a box fortress.

I shared an unboxing, so here's a re-boxing. I am packing up my whole life and moving it 1,300 miles to New Braunfels, TX. We found a home and it's awesome! I can't wait to finally have a dedicated office with a door on it, and enough rooms for all my kids to grow. 

Here's what my life looks like right now:

Artist rendering of me moving that giant table: (╯°□°）╯ ┻┻

As I shared before, the move will impact our timeline. We close escrow on January 21, and work can begin to prep files for manufacturing once we move into our house.

For now, we're working on the campaign. I'll be finding a local game store that I can work from for a few weeks, because I love those places! If you happen to be in the area between Austin and San Antonio, TX and want a preview of the fun (or to even test a game), let me know!

What's next?

January will be a thin month for activity as we navigate through the rest of our move, but we also have the start of Chinese New Year happening early! With all that is happening in freight and China, I do expect delays. We are doing our best to make progress through the miniature molds and coin molds which will be a major help, but stay tuned to our monthly updates or our Discord Server or Facebook Community for the latest info!

We are hard at work on the campaign, so expect more on that in our next update! I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm having a lot of fun with this :)

Thank you all for your support and encouragement!

Kind regards,

Andrew

November Timeline Update, Awesome Campaign Mode Details, & A Personal Thank You
over 2 years ago – Wed, Dec 01, 2021 at 08:19:03 PM

Hey Insiders,

It's been a crazy month, as expected, but I have some good stuff to share about Deliverance! In this update, we'll dive deeper into the Campaign and discuss what differences you might expect to see from the Skirmish mode of play, and we'll give an update on timelines, too. Read on for details!

Timeline Update

Let's get the important (and less interesting) stuff out of the way first. We're currently still targeting an August delivery, though things may vary based on the myriad of things that could go wrong and require timeline adjustments in the future.

Here is the current plan:

November - January:

- Receive & compile the final pre-production Prototype 

- Deliver REALLY AMAZING PROTOTYPES to my Archangel Investors!

- Tighten up the gameplay as much as possible

- Finish the Campaign

- Receive and approve miniatures, coins, and the Neoprene Mat for production

- Finalize production files for manufacturing samples

February - April:

- Manufacture Deliverance

- Print our T-Shirts

- Coordinate Fulfillment w/ Partners (final fulfillment prices are determined here, so pray for us!)

May-June:

- Deliverance travels across the oceans to fulfillment warehouses

July-August:

- You get your game, and share pics and videos of you enjoying this thing we worked on for half a decade!

August can't come soon enough! :D

The Campaign

We have been working and thinking through how to make the campaign feel as awesome as possible. If you're like me, a campaign that feels too easy, too hard, or comes without a sense of progression is a letdown. With the Deliverance audience ranging from people that have never played a board game before all the way to industry veterans that eat challenge for breakfast, that can be a complex answer.

All this said, I think we have crafted a campaign system that every type of gamer can customize to their own preferences and skill levels!

Let's go over a few things you'll love about the campaign, regardless of your experience level.

First, here's the latest Campaign Tracking Sheet!

When you gain experience (XP) after beating a mission, you get to apply this to your angel card however you like. If you want to build an angel that is easy to play with high stats, go for it! Or if you want to play an angel that uses clever skill combos for epic turns filled with righteous wrath, you can go that route too. With the exception of your Talents, skills may be unlocked in any order.

Bonuses provide added benefits that are unlocked at the start of each game. You can gain the advantage of starting each game with extra Courage, or a Prayer card (or two).

Heavenly Treasures and Talents are acquired differently in the Campaign than in Skirmish mode. Treasures are acquired at specific points in the campaign, so you'll need to make progress through the story to gain these powerful upgrades. Talent "slots" are unlocked through spending XP. 

One of the most interesting differences in the Campaign is the way you can use Talent cards. If you'd like to equip a Level 1 Talent, it just takes spending 1 XP to unlock your Talent Slot 1 (the first Talent slot on your character card). From that moment on, you may choose and equip any Level 1 Talent in that slot. You can even change your equipped Talents in between missions if you think you'd be better off with a different strategy (as long as you have them unlocked)! If you unlock multiple slots, you can combine Talents in new ways, gaining access to very powerful Talents early or using multiple Talents of the same level!

Challenge Yourself (At Your Leisure)

A "Campaign Challenge" is an extra tough mission that you'd typically play for greater challenges (and rewards!) after you finish the Campaign. It adds a whole new dimension to the angel you build over the Campaign, and it will give you that little added bonus experience to truly complete your character or get better equipped to take on the most difficult scenarios that Deliverance has to offer!

If you have been following our past Campaign updates, you'll notice something interesting here:

Each Challenge now has an experience value you get to add to your character sheet after you earn victory, and you can attempt it at any time. When you beat that mission's Challenge, you gain a bonus +1XP that you can apply however you like to your character.

I love the idea of giving players the opportunity to enjoy the game in as free a format as they like, so Challenge missions may be attempted at any time -- even after you beat the final mission in the Campaign! After all, for the veteran gamers, you didn't *really* beat the true last boss unless you crushed the Challenge in that mission, right? 😉

You will probably want to gain XP and Treasures by progressing through the normal missions before attempting Challenges. You can always visit the mission again to complete its Challenge, but you can unlock bonus experience if you dare to try them early!

As a veteran gamer, I love challenging myself at my own pace! I also love finding ways to "get ahead" early if the game will let me. And I love a reason to keep playing the games I love after the Campaign is complete!

A Personal Update

I wanted to say that I think you are the most amazing advocates in the world. As an avid KS backer, I have always done what I can to support the companies that make the things I love. You have gone above and beyond -- You have given me so much encouragement during this tumultuous time, and I wanted to say thank you!!!

To reference a word I have used a lot, it is a "Challenge" to move for us... We're a family of 8, and we're moving 1,300 miles. We have two businesses to keep running during all of this (my marketing gig and my board game company), and a newborn baby.

We knew what we were taking on before we did all this, though the decision to move came as a bit of a curve ball. My wife and I were willing to go through the difficulty of holding it all together with God as our strength.

But on behalf of Christy and myself -- you made it a pleasure to do this. The outpouring of kindness and support we have received from YOU has made our year! We even have Deliverance Insiders that live where we are moving (New Braunfels, TX) to game with!

Though it's a little past Thanksgiving, I am thankful for your support of both my company and my family! To that end, here's a few pics of our shenanigans over the last few holidays:

To God be the glory. He is the reason for the season!!

Kindest regards,

Andrew Lowen & the Deliverance Team

Shipping + Future Plans
over 2 years ago – Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 11:38:07 PM

Hi all, 

In this update, you'll see exclusive gameplay of Deliverance with its' iconic character models, you'll get an update on the Neoprene Mat, and you'll learn about our manufacturing and shipping plans. It's a big one -- read on!   

Azrael, Christine, and Uriel walk into a bank... 

Let's start off with the fun stuff -- I recorded a video a while back of a playthrough with two special people: I know them as Christy and Brighton, but you would know them better as Christine and Uriel! 

Along with yours truly as Azrael, we play a 3-angel game against the Demons of Fallbrook on Heroic difficulty. We recorded this playthrough in an abandoned bank building for fun and as a backup just in case we didn't have a reviewer video done in time. It ended up that we had plenty of content, so this was put on the back-burner. 

If you'd like to get a deep look at the gameplay of Deliverance, we take our time in this video to talk through our play decisions out loud for you (for better or worse). What I love about our experience here was that the game itself regularly forced us to alter our plans. I always love when decisions are meaningful in a game, and when the right moves change based on what the enemies are doing.

I won't spoil the end for you, but many angels were defeated in the making of this video... 

The Neoprene Mat -- Updated Art + Feedback Requested!

I know many of you are very interested to see progress on this, so here is our latest Neoprene Mat graphic! 

The Neoprene Mat replaces the need for the Darkness Board and provides a really thematic backdrop of the town covered in fog. When you place map tiles on this, it will be as though you're parting the fog and seeing the details of the town more clearly as you explore. 

I'd love your feedback on a specific elements of the mat before we call it "final" -- In particular, if you'd answer these two questions: 

1. I'd like to add some more highlights and feature interesting parts of the map with lights -- is there anything you'd suggest that needs to be featured more than it is with contrast like this? 

2. What do you feel needs to be adjusted on this mat (if anything)? As always, thank you for being involved and helping make every element of Deliverance the best that it can be! 

Status Update + Shipping Plans

So the meat of what I'd like to share is here in this section. I'm writing this free-hand, so I don't know how long it will be, but it's the most important stuff as far as fulfillment of the project goes! 

So let's address the elephant in the room first -- the shipping situation! 

There are currently over 500,000 shipping containers sitting off the coast of California. Many of you probably know something about the situation by now, as the common advice is "Buy your Christmas presents early this year!" Supply lines are very strained due to labor shortages and COVID protocols in the United States, and this has led to the backups. There is a short supply of containers and of the ships themselves. Freight across the ocean has turned from a $3,000 expense per container to upwards of $45,000 per container in some cases. Currently, the latest quotes I have are $27,000 per container. 

I will likely need at minimum the equivalent of 2.5 containers to properly deliver all our orders to the various regions for fulfillment, so the expense is quite costly for us. There does seem to be some coming relief though! The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach just moved to 24/7 operation, and ports in Florida have started attracting some cargo ships (because in some cases, it is a shorter trip to sail to Florida than wait for the port of Los Angeles to take your cargo). In addition, they are building new containers as fast as they can. As a result, I expect shipping prices will drop significantly in the new year. 

What does this mean for Deliverance? We want to make expansions, and we want to print a large enough order that we can fulfill all your orders... and you know... have a product to sell! Therefore, we're delaying the bulk of our manufacturing by 1-2 months (based on the shipping outlook). This technically doesn't put us behind schedule since we added 3 months of wiggle-room, but I do expect this may cause a delay in fulfillment since there are certain to be other hiccups on the road in the future. As an added benefit, we are continuing with our current shipping estimates -- If the market experiences further relief on the price of freight shipping, we will eat the cost without passing any of it on to you. For our Archangel Investor backers, this doesn't affect the shipping of the coming prototypes to you as we are short-run printing those in the USA! 

What we are doing now to keep to our timeline is getting our miniature sculpts and metal coins finalized since those tend to take longer, and we're using this bonus time to fine-tune the Campaign. I expect this will have a net positive result on the awesomeness of the campaign and the clarity of the cards and rules as a result of greater testing. 

In addition to this, we decided to make a state move -- If any of y'all live in Austin or San Antonio, we're moving to New Braunfels, TX. The chaos of this present day isn't enough for our family of 8 I guess 😂 To all my friends in San Diego area, I'd love to do a meetup event at a local game store before I go! We could probably explode a board game night with fun. Stay tuned on that one. 

For those of you wondering where I have been on Discord or Facebook, I have been painting, sorting, landscaping, fixing, screwing in light bulbs, cleaning, and packing with every spare moment to make sure our home is ready to list next week. I am just thankful that I have an actual office I can drive and get work + progress on Deliverance made, too 😋 

I expect the chaos to continue in my personal life until we settle in a new home for our family of 8, but my wonderful wife and my awesome staff at my company have given me the grace to continue to make forward progress on all things Deliverance in the meantime. 

Thank you all for your support and kindness on this journey!

Postpartum, Minis First Look, + More!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Sep 21, 2021 at 04:31:24 AM

It's been a quiet month from me thus far, but I'm back for an update on Deliverance! We have a first look at Mini sculpts, baby pics, and more in this latest update! Read on for details.

Angel Minis: Pure & Beautiful Eye Candy

The minis we showed on the campaign looked good, but these look even better than the 3D renders! My thanks to our amazing 3D modeler, Russ on these. His experience really shines through.

Our minis are ink-washed, so you'll be able to see the details even if you don't plan on painting them.

Keep in mind, these are just our first sample pics from the factory. They mailed them to me to check for errors and areas of improvement, so I'll get some better pics for you in our next update! They are scheduled to arrive September 27.

Development Progress

This last month has been a slow month for development, because our family welcomed my firstborn son into the world! More on that later :)

What are we doing now? We're working on rulebook edits, the development of the campaign, and optimization of our shipping + retail offers.

A note on shipping -- We're estimating a $12 per Deluxe game freight cost (4x our original estimated number), which I *think* we might be able to absorb due to the wildly successful t-shirt sales... As a marketing nerd, I have always recommended against selling shirts in a Kickstarter campaign, but it seems the "higher calling" has paid dividends (the higher calling was you, my backers, demanding shirts)! We have currently sold over 500 shirts!

That said, it would really help our shipping situation if you were willing to jump in for a Deliverance t-shirt of any sort (or the bundle of 3). I'm aiming to not charge extra shipping once we get our final numbers, and this is how we get there! Just go to the BackerKit Pledge Manager and add a t-shirt on to your order. You can also send me a message on Kickstarter requesting your link if you wouldd like to support but lost your link!

Family Matters

I shared once before, but in case you haven't met my son, say hello to Isaac Andrew Lowen! Bonus pic of my family. 

These are the people that I love whom you supported (and are supporting) with your pledges in addition to making something special in Deliverance!

Projects of Note

I love to lift up initiatives that align with the vision I have for Deliverance (High quality + solid theme). These are not compensated in any way -- I legitimately think you guys should know about these people and that they are worthy of support.

Animo: Red Letter Day-- I own all their stuff, and if you have kids like I do (age 2-12), they'll love this. It's basically like Pokemon TCG, but with a Christian theme that really adds to the gameplay experience. They have about a week left on Kickstarter, and you can learn more by clicking here.

Dungeons of Infinity -- This is a true "infinite" dungeon crawling experience that can be played competitive or co-op against the dungeon. I recommend you checking this one out if you love dungeon crawlers, because the folks at Sky Kingdom Games do great work, but AND a very genuine supporter of Deliverance (Jack Spoerner) has poured his heart and soul into the design of this project. They also have about a week left on Kickstarter, and you can learn more by clicking here.

IMPORTANT: Pledge Manager Details + A True Deliverance
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 17, 2021 at 09:20:25 PM

Greetings everyone! This update is especially important for a few reasons -- First and foremost, you need to do something if you want your rewards! Also in this update are some very helpful FAQ's, a short progress update, and some special personal news I want to share with you... Read on for details.  

Important: Fill Out Your Pledge Manager Survey! 

We are completing the final test for our pledge manager surveys today, which you will use to confirm your rewards and select any additional add-ons you may want (like one of those amazing Kickstarter Exclusive T-Shirts)! 

 We have already sent a small number of surveys out, and will send the rest out by tomorrow, so be sure to watch your email for an email from BackerKit with the subject: Response needed to deliver your reward for Deliverance: The Game of Spiritual Warfare.

You will access the Pledge Manager from the link in that email, which functions a lot like a typical e-commerce website. The Pledge Manager will be loaded with the total amount of your Kickstarter pledge, and your selected reward will be in your cart to confirm.  

Before you get to that, you'll be asked a few questions -- some of which are just important bits of info (like how our shipping price is an estimate that could change based on our final quoted prices before we ship).  

Next, if you're adding the discounted "3 T-Shirt Bundle" to your order, you will select your styles and sizes as soon as you begin the checkout process (the PM made us do it that way).  

If you have other questions or issues with your order, please feel free to use BackerKit's support system (which is awesome btw), or reach out to me via Kickstarter msg or e-mail at [email protected]. We'll get you sorted!  

Also, if you ever lose your backer survey and need to find it, you can recover it at this link: https://deliverancegame.backerkit.com

The "Plague, Fire, Water, Air" Expansion 

Some of you will see the "Plague, Fire, Water, Air Angel Expansion," which is what we decided to call the 4 new Angels -- These are the stretch goal angels that are already included with the Deluxe Edition and above, but for those that wanted the base game only, this is how they would get all the gameplay content.

It is important to note that the Deluxe Edition comes with additional component upgrades not included in this expansion like the 4 angel health dials, the Prince health dial, a larger box, a removable components tray, and the custom plastic insert.  

You can choose to upgrade to the Deluxe edition or the expansion. There *is* enough room in the base box for the expansion cards, standees, and angel boards.  

Extra Angel Minis

Some also wanted the ability to get an extra set of angel miniatures, which has been made available as an add-on in the Pledge Manager.  

How do I get everything for the best price? 

To keep things really clear, if you're looking to get all the content and cosmetic upgrades, you want to be sure to upgrade your pledge to the "All In" Edition. 

This will help you save about $90 off MSRP (and a lot more on shipping) -- $45 savings for all the gameplay items (minis + deluxe angels + component upgrades) and $45 additional savings for bundling the cosmetic upgrades (metal coins, acrylic glass standees, and the Neoprene Mat). 

In addition, if you want to get the best deal on shirts, you'll save $12 and a bit of shipping by getting the "3 T-Shirt Bundle" over a single shirt.  

Progress Report 

We have accomplished 3 major goals since we finished our campaign. The first two were the Tabletop Simulator mod upgrade and starting the Miniature Molds with our factory -- Longpack Games. We discussed these in the previous update, which you can read here.  

The third major goal was finishing our Pledge Management system.  

The next thing to expect is a rulebook update (it is nicely polished now, as it has been tested over 1,500 times in the last ~month by Tabletop Simulator players on our Discord Server). 

Now that we're finished with a lot of our fine-tuning and polishing (thanks to hundreds and hundreds of dedicated play testers), our attention turns to polishing the Campaign! Expect spoiler-free updates in the future on this exact subject, and maybe if you're paying attention, an opportunity to test some of the scenarios early!  

A Special Deliverance

My son Isaac arrived Aug 14th!

His "Deliverance" happened at 2:09am, just TWO MINUTES after we got to the hospital bed. We woke up at 1am with my wife going through crazy pain, and we had to wait a few critical minutes for our family to arrive to take our kids before we could leave. Thankfully there were no cars on the road, or we may not have made it! When we got to the hospital, we found an abandoned wheelchair in the middle of the parking lot, and I used it to expedite my wife to the delivery room. It was a crazy experience, and all worthwhile as Christine, Voice of Thunder and baby Isaac are free of complications and doing well at home.

A last note!

If you're looking for a really engaging card game with Biblical tones that your kids will love, I recommend Animo. My kids go silent for an hour playing with and looking at these cards (I have 6 kids ages 8 and under). We can play with them and enjoy it too -- it reminds me a bit of Star Realms as far as complexity goes, so it's not bad, but it's also interesting enough for me to enjoy as an adult! Those of you with kids know how few legit games are out there that are *actually* able to entertain kids like this. They have a Kickstarter coming up that you should know about. Check out Animo: Red Letter Day, which launches September 7!