Dear everyone,

It’s been a while since my last update, but that’s because I was super busy organizing the fulfillment part of the campaign shipping, planning launch events and participating in the Makers Market. Instead of one super long post, I will share two smaller updates with you. One update will be related to events in Belgium and Romania, which I will prepare for Sunday, but today let’s talk about international shipping!

ALL international games have been shipped yesterday!

That’s right! Excluding backers who opted to pick up their games in either Brussels or Bucharest, I have posted all other games! How long it will take until they reach you will depend on how far your country is from Belgium, if you’re living outside the EU or not, and if the postal services in your country are efficient or less so 😁 With the current shipping situation, it may take quite a bit of time, so don’t despair if your reward doesn’t arrive tomorrow on your doorstep. However, it’s definitely on its way 😊

Obviously, I’m super happy to FINALLY be able to share this news with you! That was the most important part of this update, but if you want to know more behind-the-scenes happenings, read on.

Distribution centers vs. regular post

Okay, so I had everything planned out for the shipping phase for more than a year now (as you may know from my previous updates). I was in contact with the distribution centers from Europe and USA, had a list of prices and multiple Excel sheets to estimate the shipping costs, a detailed planning to follow… Everything was perfectly under control, until a couple of weeks ago, when everything changed.

First, I decided to drop my collaboration with Aimplify, the European distributor. I contacted them several times over the past year, and the person responsible for my file was slow to answer, if the answer came at all. A couple of months ago I had to send three reminders before I got a reply to some important questions, and my last message went completely unanswered until today (it was a message where I was trying to organize a direct delivery to their factory, and needed to know what was possible so I could organize myself). I was extremely frustrated by their unresponsive behavior, so I decided to ship out the European games by post myself (even if it turned out to be more expensive). I had heard good reviews about Aimplify from other creators, so perhaps I was just unlucky, but I don’t appreciate this kind of professional neglect and I don’t regret my decision.

As for US shipping, both Funagain and Intime Delivery were extremely professional and available, so I warmly recommend them for projects with lots of parcels to ship. However, for a smaller project such as mine (around 60 games to the US), the cost of sending everything by regular post was roughly the same. I therefore chose to do this instead, and marked each box as a gift to avoid customs taxes. I could also put the production cost of the game as its value, which is lower than the retail price. I believe that this is a justifiable, legal approach, as ultimately each of you helped me physically produce this game, and in return you received a gift in the form of one or several games, illustrations etc. Without you there would be no game!

Packaging and posting

This change of course meant that I had to quickly organize myself to stick to my shipping schedule. I started by ordering online all I needed: boxes of different sizes, duct tape (transparent and FRAGILE warning tape), paper wrap, sticker paper for labels, envelopes etc… I then created and paid for the labels online, printed them out and wrapped each reward individually (around 120 boxes in total), so last weekend my apartment turned into a veritable shipping factory! I finished everything on Sunday evening, when I could finally enjoy a glass of wine to celebrate 😁🍷

Then, on Thursday my partner and I drove to the main distribution center of the post office, where we dropped off the parcels and sent them on their way to you. The staff was really friendly, and it was impressive to get a glimpse of the huge warehouse and machinery, so it was a really fun day! Admittedly, it felt and still feels a bit strange to know that the game is finally out there, but I couldn’t be more excited for you to receive it and finally get to play! 🥳

The unlucky package

I feel that this is something I needed to address at this point, as it might unfortunately happen to some of you. This issue is due to a mistake I made when packaging the games, and was brought to my attention by Cindy, whose box arrived with a damaged corner…

I thought I took lots of care to make sure the game is not damaged during shipping: I used boxes made of sturdy cardboard, I added rigid wrapping paper to make sure the box doesn’t shift during transport, I added the FRAGILE label on each and every box… However, I failed to realize that I should have added an extra layer of rigid paper not only on top, but also on the bottom of the box. Because of this oversight, this means that if the box happens to be dropped directly on one of its lower corners, the impact will damage not only the wrapping, but also the game inside!!! This is a horrible mistake on my part, as I had naively hoped that the packaging and FRAGILE label will ensure that the package is handled with care.

Alas, it seems like that might not be the case, but I will say it here and now: if your game arrives severely damaged, please send me some photos at olympus.races@gmail.com and I will send you a replacement copy as soon as possible. We learn some things the hard way, but I am responsible for the game making it safely to you. Still, I am hoping that there will not be too many people impacted by my mistake. Fingers crossed that this is an isolated incident, and big big thanks to Cindy for her thoughtfulness and kindness!

Until Sunday…

In conclusion, this is it for the shipping phase! Hope you’re excited to finally receive the game, and stay tuned for Sunday’s update, in which I will tell a bit about my experience at the Brussels Makers Market, as well as my upcoming trip to Bucharest and what I have in mind for my Romanian backers 😉

Enjoy the weekend everyone,

Tudor