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GandalfPC wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:08 am Well spoken - and with you sticking to those guns as strongly as you have, I’m in for a deck.

Thank you.
I've been a graphic designer for a while and an artist for even longer.

Gotta be strong in your convictions to make it.

Lol

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:50 am

veil wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 6:43 am

Disenchanted_11 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 4:56 am Go with your artist vision mate. Unfortunately, it's impossible to avoid Karens in here.

The creator literally asked for feedback. Are you saying that offering suggestions for improvement when asked makes one a "Karen" (whatever that is supposed to mean)? How bizarre.

I mean, to be fair I asked for feedback on the kickstarter page. Deck design feedback is a different thread.

To be fairer, you said exactly "FULL PAGE PREVIEW, FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED"; that doesn't specify that you only wanted feedback on the design of the Kickstarter campaign page itself as opposed to the substance of the project displayed thereon.

veil wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:30 am

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:50 am

veil wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 6:43 am

Disenchanted_11 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 4:56 am Go with your artist vision mate. Unfortunately, it's impossible to avoid Karens in here.

The creator literally asked for feedback. Are you saying that offering suggestions for improvement when asked makes one a "Karen" (whatever that is supposed to mean)? How bizarre.

I mean, to be fair I asked for feedback on the kickstarter page. Deck design feedback is a different thread.

To be fairer, you said exactly "FULL PAGE PREVIEW, FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED"; that doesn't specify that you only wanted feedback on the design of the Kickstarter campaign page itself as opposed to the substance of the project displayed thereon.

I guess I assumed people would follow context clues and give feedback on the full page preview, which would be appreciated.

Thanks for the feedback, but the deck stays as it is. I will keep your comments in mind when I decide to make a deck like the one you are suggesting.

Take care.

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 9:35 am I guess I assumed people would follow context clues...

It doesn't work that way anymore, haha. Always assume the average consumer is dumb af.

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 9:35 am

veil wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:30 am

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:50 am

veil wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 6:43 am

Disenchanted_11 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 4:56 am Go with your artist vision mate. Unfortunately, it's impossible to avoid Karens in here.

The creator literally asked for feedback. Are you saying that offering suggestions for improvement when asked makes one a "Karen" (whatever that is supposed to mean)? How bizarre.

I mean, to be fair I asked for feedback on the kickstarter page. Deck design feedback is a different thread.

To be fairer, you said exactly "FULL PAGE PREVIEW, FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED"; that doesn't specify that you only wanted feedback on the design of the Kickstarter campaign page itself as opposed to the substance of the project displayed thereon.

I guess I assumed people would follow context clues and give feedback on the full page preview, which would be appreciated.

Thanks for the feedback, but the deck stays as it is. I will keep your comments in mind when I decide to make a deck like the one you are suggesting.

Take care.

I'm not sure what context clues you mean. I've seen and been presented with many Kickstarter preview pages, and people comment both on the page itself and the substance of the project as one would expect when unspecified general feedback is requested. Also, just to be clear, I'm still not sure if my initial comment has been completely understood; I'm not for or against one-way or two-way designs, I was suggesting that the courts consistently be one or the other. Obviously that isn’t going to change, but I wanted to dispel any confusion.

I wouldn’t say that that average consumer is particularly dumb, especially since “dumb” would seem to imply dumber than average, otherwise they would just be… average. I certainly wouldn’t be so unnecessarily rude and ignorant as to suggest that consumers in general (or any particular consumer) was dumb for not being able to read someone else’s mind and somehow discern that they meant something different than what they wrote. I would also avoid needless vulgarity.

I think the only thing that remains true in the world is that common sense isn’t that common.

That being said, everyone has different life experiences and interprets words on a screen based on those experiences. What seems straightforward isn’t necessarily so unless explicitly outlined. Any room for interpretation becomes an opportunity for a misunderstanding.

We're LIVE RIGHT NOW

the t-shirts look pretty great. this is the first time i have really been tempted for a t-shirt in a KS campaign. i did not read all of the print but i am assuming these are a regular screen print type t-shirt. if they were a sublimated ink t-shirt i would probably jump on it. screen print with a large graphic like that just feel like wearing a sheet of plastic. especially uncomfortable in hot weather and they tend to crack. the prints are very tempting as well. i would love to have the KoD and QoD on my office wall.

STLBluesNut wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 8:50 am the t-shirts look pretty great. this is the first time i have really been tempted for a t-shirt in a KS campaign. i did not read all of the print but i am assuming these are a regular screen print type t-shirt. if they were a sublimated ink t-shirt i would probably jump on it. screen print with a large graphic like that just feel like wearing a sheet of plastic. especially uncomfortable in hot weather and they tend to crack. the prints are very tempting as well. i would love to have the KoD and QoD on my office wall.

The apparel is DTF Printed, I could do cut & sew sublimation but the costs would all have to increase by double almost to make it worth it, unfortunately.

The design I created has a lot of break points where the fabric shows through, so it wouldn't feel like a sheet of plastic on your chest! Each shirt is 100% ring spun cotton, and pre-shrunk for maximum longevity.

Fenrir wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 12:35 pm I have to say, the uncut sheet may be one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. I’ll be keeping an eye on this. Tuck box could maybe use some work but I can’t put my finger on it.

Spirits are not my genre but I agree about that fantastic uncut sheet

Congratulations in meeting your funding goal!

The cards are just not for me, but congrats on funding and unlocking lots of goals. I just can't help but think maybe it's getting too much for a first project? I thought it was 500 decks and done. This will hurt bad if things go sideways on fulfillment. Goodluck anyways!

For a first time project, it is really overextending and I'd be really upset if this doesn't fulfill as I've backed all 4 versions of the deck so far. I'm loving how communicative Ben has been and he assured me the cost for these low prints is doable.

It's incredible how much people are supporting this, surprising actually. Considering the recent talks about trusting first time creators, I'm still not sure when and what to trust. This project didn't even shown prototypes, for all I know the designs we're publicly ongoing for quite some time. And the creator said it's 500 decks at first, maybe just to test waters and gain trust. But now it's blown out of proportion, and even asking backers for more stretchgoals idea. I don't know but this doesn't look solid to me.

I messaged Ben on IG to hop on UC and share some insights as I have my trepidations too. Hopefully he can provide some assurances. This is my first KS where I'm Backer #1 so I feel I have some skin in the game.

I really don't understand how this is over-extending but I'll try to be as transparent as I can be.

Everything has been priced out and very closely monitored. If I go into the red over this project, then that's what happens. This WILL get fulfilled. There's no way it won't be.

Having said that, we will be getting I touch with Gambler's Warehouse if the amount of backers reaches a certain threshold that we think we might have trouble getting done ourselves. That's not saying 'we know we cant' I'm saying even if we think for a second we can't, we will go with a distro.

The only problem I have had so far is just being a first time user of Kickstarter and not knowing that you can't reduce amounts of things once they've been backed.

If I had known that, I wouldn't have put as many way to get decks as I did. As it stands there are less than 400 SPIRITS decks sold, and that number has stayed very stagnant for the past 2 days. I am not increasing anything anymore. The increases were mainly due to misinformation and assumptions on my part, and If I have to announce that I had made a miscalculation and there are in-fact 650 decks, then that's just how it has to be. However I am not very confident that we will get to that point, and that's okay.

I have already learned from this mistake and didn't make it again with the 3rd and 4th decks.

The 2nd layer of stretch goals was unplanned. I did not think for one second that I would go anywhere past just getting funded, and the weeks leading up to launch I didn't even think I'd get funded at all. So yes, I was very surprised and taken aback by the reception of the deck being so strong.

We as a team have over 8 years of shipping large quantities of orders across the world. My partner and her handmade soap business, and I used to be a dice-maker. We are no stranger to the fulfillment of impossibly large orders by ourselves in a short time-frame.

All the extras I am putting in as add ons are mainly there to create more opportunities for brand awareness. This being my first kickstarter and first deck of cards, seeing how much people wanted it, I want there to be as many ways for my decks to become part of everyone's collection and to be enjoyed. I could have just made a deck and let people buy and and cash out when it was all sold out. But I wanted this to be a statement; PlayTheVillain are serious.

I have not worked my ass off these last 6 months between 3 jobs, having a toddler and a dealing with a recently diagnosed disability to not go big.

I do not do anything half-assed.

I don't have 'prototypes' because I don't have the money to print them. I wanted to make a deck of cards, I want to make cards.

That's it.

I haven't bit off more than I can chew, in fact, this seems very trivial in comparison to making 1000 sets of dice by hand in a month and shipping them all over the world.

I asked people about stretch goal ideas because I have no clue what people even want to see, besides decks of cards. Why would I put time and effort into something no one, or like 4 people want?

I am 100% sure that the next 2 goals are unattainable. And that's perfectly fine.

I set out to make a deck of cards and make a name for myself. And that's what I intend to do.

If you have any more issues or questions, feel free to message me on instagram or the kickstarter. I'm more active on those.

I understand the concern.
But I do not smurf around.

From the beginning the community has been so important to me, so it felt only natural to get their insight on what they'd like to see as well.

To add on. We have a team that will be doing fulfillment, not just my wife and I.

A further note on fulfillment; I have a very strong relationship with the production company of the cards, so I know the quality and specifications are there. Once the decks get to me, its a TEAM that will be tackling getting rewards into backers hands. Quickly and efficiently.

While my goal in fulfillment is to add personalized touches that a distro wouldn't do, my partner has experience with her own business before mat-leave and still has her logistics, quality assurance and shipping connections to make every go as smoothly and properly as possible.

The only thing new for us in this whole thing is it being playing cards and for a kickstarter.

I will say that those thin borders will be a problem for most printers - going full bleed or choosing a printer that can handle that level of alignment (few can) being the options - not sure if anyone covered that yet and if its been addressed, but its been on my mind.

GandalfPC wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18, 2023 9:36 am I will say that those thin borders will be a problem for most printers - going full bleed or choosing a printer that can handle that level of alignment (few can) being the options - not sure if anyone covered that yet and if its been addressed, but its been on my mind.

It has been addressed. Hard proofs copies are in production right now, if they're not up to my standard, then I have an alternative that is a happy middle ground.

AI?

montenzi wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18, 2023 8:27 pmAI?

If you're talking about Adobe Illustrator, yes, everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing.

If you're talking about Artificial Intelligence, I have no qualms with using AI as a reference generator or for idea curation. But straight up, AI generated images as 'artwork' is not my thing.

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:41 pm
If you're talking about Adobe Illustrator, yes, everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing.

If you're talking about Artificial Intelligence, I have no qualms with using AI as a reference generator or for idea curation. But straight up, AI generated images as 'artwork' is not my thing.

I am not against AI (Artificial Intelligence), but it feels very familiar. That's why I asked specifically, as there were no warnings about AI (Artificial Intelligence) artwork in the campaign.

BTW what do you mean "everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing "?

montenzi wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 5:33 pm

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:41 pm
If you're talking about Adobe Illustrator, yes, everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing.

If you're talking about Artificial Intelligence, I have no qualms with using AI as a reference generator or for idea curation. But straight up, AI generated images as 'artwork' is not my thing.

I am not against AI (Artificial Intelligence), but it feels very familiar. That's why I asked specifically, as there were no warnings about AI (Artificial Intelligence) artwork in the campaign.

BTW what do you mean "everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing "?

I do all the design work in photoshop in raster RGB, then export to Illustrator, make it vector and change it to CMYK for best print quality.

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 7:06 pm

montenzi wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 5:33 pm

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:41 pm
If you're talking about Adobe Illustrator, yes, everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing.

If you're talking about Artificial Intelligence, I have no qualms with using AI as a reference generator or for idea curation. But straight up, AI generated images as 'artwork' is not my thing.

I am not against AI (Artificial Intelligence), but it feels very familiar. That's why I asked specifically, as there were no warnings about AI (Artificial Intelligence) artwork in the campaign.

BTW what do you mean "everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing "?

I do all the design work in photoshop in raster RGB, then export to Illustrator, make it vector and change it to CMYK for best print quality.

Whatever happened to pen and paper

Honeybee wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 8:30 pm

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 7:06 pm

montenzi wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 5:33 pm

PlayTheVillain wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:41 pm
If you're talking about Adobe Illustrator, yes, everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing.

If you're talking about Artificial Intelligence, I have no qualms with using AI as a reference generator or for idea curation. But straight up, AI generated images as 'artwork' is not my thing.

I am not against AI (Artificial Intelligence), but it feels very familiar. That's why I asked specifically, as there were no warnings about AI (Artificial Intelligence) artwork in the campaign.

BTW what do you mean "everything gets put into CMYK and Vector form using Illustrator before any printing "?

I do all the design work in photoshop in raster RGB, then export to Illustrator, make it vector and change it to CMYK for best print quality.

Whatever happened to pen and paper

I suck at drawing without Undo and the Pen Tool. Lol

Exhibit A: The sketch for Spirits King of Diamonds.

Got some proofs from Shuffled Ink
Not really too impressed to be honest.

The backs of the cards are offet to the right, the faces are full bleed (which I said I didn't want. I wanted the thinnest border they could give me) AND the border on the backs are HUGE. Wtf happened. Tuck boxes look okay though.

I might have to look at getting all the decks done by another company now. It doesn't help that they didn't get me proofs for 2 weeks.

if you arent impressed we probably wont be impressed. Go with your instincts if something seems off.

Delayed decks people will get over, bad decks...they won't

Evilgamer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 30, 2023 6:17 pm if you arent impressed we probably wont be impressed. Go with your instincts if something seems off.

I'll say that the print quality is great, colors are all there and there's no flaws with the print quality.

Just the back end of quality assurance and listening to clients specific needs.

Idk how bad it'll hurt my kickstarter if I make an update stating I'll be going with a different printer due to quality concerns.

WJPC is my secondary but they take 4 days to respond.

Why can't Canada have a PCC? Lol