Dear everyone,

I can’t believe it’s the 22nd of January already, where did the time go? Anyways, I’m wishing you a very happy (belated) new year, despite all the pandemic-related craziness, and I’m here to share lots of good news concerning the game. Here’s a quick index of what I’d like to tell you about:

  • Shipping and fulfillment – Delivery of rewards around the world is now the TOP PRIORITY
  • Titan pledge level rewards – What’s going on with these illustrations?
  • OlympusRaces.com – My plans for the future of the website
  • Suggestion box – A few words about the importance of community feedback
  • Brussels Makers Market – An event for belgian creators in the iconic Gare Maritime, and I’ll be there!

Here we go.

My pweciousssssss.

Shipping and fulfillment

This is inarguably the most important point at this moment, which is delivering the rewards to all of you around the world and fulfilling the Kickstarter campaign. You may have read about this in previous updates, but here’s the latest breakdown:

For Belgium: I have already started to give some games to friends and backers from Belgium, and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. Not only that, but yesterday I shipped all the national rewards for those who chose to have their game delivered. So this is very much a work-in-progress. As the COVID situation in Belgium is not exactly rosy, I’m not sure yet about the launch event in the ABC-house, but perhaps this will be possible sometime at the end of February. We will have to wait and see.

For Europe (excl. Romania): I have already contacted Aimplify, the company responsible for shipping in Europe, and I’m planning to drive with my partner to Germany (he is the invisible hero behind this project!), and personally deliver all the games to the distribution center. Because of a busy work period at the moment, we will do this in the weekend of the 19th of February. Once we deliver the games, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks for them to arrive from there to your door. More news will come closer to that date.

For USA: There are two steps to shipping to the US. First, I am in touch with Intime Delivery, the company which will be responsible for shipping the crates overseas, to the distribution center in the States. We are talking to see what the best delivery option is, and whether we can avoid or diminish customs taxes, which most of you are aware as the sad reality for all products going out of the EU to USA. I plan on sending the crates to them at the beginning of February. The fulfillment company in the US is called Funagain, and once they receive the crates they will package and distribute the games to individual backers. I’ll keep you posted on the estimated delivery as soon as I know more.

For Romania: I will ship the games in mid-February via AtlasSib, a company commonly used for shipping goods between Belgium and Romania. I will then be flying to Bucharest in the beginning of March, and will organize the shipping and delivery of all rewards during that period.  If the COVID situation allows it, around that time I will be organizing a launch event at Modul Carturesti, in the University of Architecture of Bucharest where I did my studies. Stay tuned for confirmation.

And there you have it. If all goes well everyone should have their game by the end of March at the latest. I want to thank you all for your patience and support, despite the delays, and I hope we’ll have nothing but blue skies from here on out. Almost there!

Shiny happy Gods and Goddesses. But which one doesn’t have their game??

Titan illustrations

Okay, now for the most sensitive point. Full disclosure: I haven’t had much time to work on these illustrations yet. Between my regular job, a side project in graphic design, planning the shipping of the rewards, delivering the games to backers and a couple of weeks of rest and relaxation, I didn’t have the head space to actually sit down and finish these.

I’m truly sorry for taking so long, I didn’t really anticipate just how many things I’d have to take care of. After this weekend, everything else will be more or less set up and only require a regular follow-up, so these illustrations will be my next priority. Stay tuned, I I PROMISE you will receive them, and they will be glorious!!!

Cards are pretty.

OlympusRaces.com

Many of you already know that olympusraces.com exists, and I’m very happy with the way it looks now. When the rewards from the campaign will safely reach their rightful owners, I will focus most of my attention on the official website. I intend to create more content so that the page evolves over time: unboxing and how-to-play videos, and expanded FAQ section, an updated version of the rulebook etc. I already have a Facebook page and Instagram account, and in the future I will probably set up an online shop (I mean, I only have like 1200 games left over…).

Not only that, but I am even now thinking about future expansions and add-ons for the game. As the game is so flexible, it will be easy to add more content and explore even more gameplay possibilities. So make sure you follow the game on your platform of choice and keep up with the news.

Playing, playing…
…and more playing.

Suggestion box

Now that the game is slowly making its way into people’s hands, I wanted to take the opportunity to say that I am and always will be interested in all of your feedback, be it positive or negative. Constructive criticism is essential in further refining the game in terms of clarity and ease of play. Should you have any questions when playing, related to the structure of the rulebook, uncertainties or missing information, the way some cards work etc. please share it with me so I can have an overview on how to develop the FAQ section and the web page in general.

I have also set up a BoardGameGeek page for the game, so anyone using the site can follow the game and leave reviews. It takes a community to refine a game, as you’ve all showed me over these past years, so I hope you’ll help me take it even further! New ideas for cards, characters, gameplay variants – throw ’em at me and I’ll be happy to discuss them with you.

And, last but not least, I’m also starting to develop translation sheets to make the game friendlier for non-English speakers. I’m currently working on the French translation, after which it’ll most likely be Romanian, but if you’d like to volunteer for any language I’d appreciate the help 🙂

Playthrough at Carpe Diem in Brussels.
Playthrough at the Outpost in Brussels.

Brussels Makers Market

I also have some more great news: I’ve officially been selected to be a part of the Brussels Makers Market, which offers belgian creators a chance to exhibit their work in the fantastic Gare Maritime on the site of Tour & Taxis. I’m super excited about this, as it will be the first time I’m going to publicly exhibit my work, so I prepared a selection of postcards and bookmarks, as well as the book and notebooks from my first project, The Island of Lost Things – and Olympus Races of course!

The event is happening every month until June, and I will be participating on Sunday the 13th of February and then on Sunday the 10th of April. So don’t forget to save the dates and come check out my little shop for a chat and a coffee (please bring coffee, it might be freezing in February!) 🙂

Oh, and if you are a belgian creator, I highly recommend that you apply for a spot. They are still assessing the artists so hurry up and get in touch with them! BMM onInstagram

Aaaaaand that’s about it for this very long post. Stay safe and healthy everyone, and don’t forget that a day without laughter is a wasted one 🙂

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Tudor