Hi Everyone! Alan from Gallant Knight Games (GKG) here. GKG is Biohazard games publishing partner on the Blue Planet Recontact project. Now that layout is done, a good portion of the project has moved to my purview as publishing partner. So let's go through where we are...
Page XXs and Feedback
These are being rolled in and updated. Once they're done, Jeff will review them and Robert will implement them. This should be done by the end of May (at the latest), which means a final PDF will go out to backers then.
Printing
Once the final PDF is done (end of May), we finalize the quote with the printer, and they give us the templates so we can approve the covers, do color checks and complete other prepress items.
This generally takes 2-3 weeks, though if there are lots of complex parts (in this case, that would likely be the case), it can take longer. Once those are approved, we pay for the print run and they produce proofs.
Proofs
Sometime in mid-June, GKG (and then Jeff) will receive print proofs. These are unbound pages that we check for color, text, layout and more. Alan will review, then mail to Jeff, so we're looking at 1-2 weeks.
Pledge Manager
This is mostly done. We're finalizing shipping costs (having resolved the EU and UK fulfillment issues) so at last, we can lock those prices down. At the same time, we are working with the GameFound team to build a walkthrough and tutorial for backers on how to manage their pledge, provide and update their address, make changes to their pledge for add-ons and more.
Our goal is to have the pledge manager rolled out by the end of May. We'll want to know how many add-ons or changes there are so we can accurately assess our print versions. We intend to allow access and upgrades for any physical changes folks want (adding extra copies, upgrading to slipcase editions, etc.)
Basically folks will have all of June to make any pledge manager add-ons, changes, and more. This will also allow for preorders.
Production
Assuming all of the above aligns as projected, the books start printing in June/July. Generally, printing takes 4-8 weeks, which puts the books arriving at GKG for fulfillment around September. This is the most likely to slip. International freight can be complex and cause issues/delays (we're at the mercy of customs, weather, and more). However, we plan to split Blue Planet at the printer so the shipments don't have to come to the US then go to the UK and EU, but instead, overseas orders can travel directly from China to the UK and EU.
Fulfillment
Once the books arrive in September, we'll split the packages, dispatch some to our fulfillment partners, and then fulfillment will begin. This means (theoretically if everything works out) that fulfillment will begin in September/October.
Now, in my personal experience (having fulfilled over 100 Kickstarters over the last decade), while these dates are likely to slip, they are unlikely to slip much. I would be shocked if fulfillment slipped into the holiday season (nor do I want it to). Could it happen? Yes. Will we do our best to avoid that? Absolutely. We'll keep you updated.
Some questions we anticipate...
GenCon pickup?
Unfortunately, no. We're not going to be there with a booth this year (just attending for work) and likely won't have the books anyway by that date.
If shipping is more than I expected, will I get a refund?
It hurts to say, but probably not. We don't want to set false expectations. We're doing our best to honor the Kickstarter projected shipping costs, but there is a reason we labeled them as estimates. We knew they were likely to change. We can't promise you a refund if shipping is more than you planned (we deliberately did not charge shipping up front because we knew it was so volatile), and we have communicated this frequently in the updates. That said, if costs are exceptionally shocking, we'll try to find the best solutions we can. We've never had to refund someone for shipping before, and we'll always try to find the best fix we can (GKG is a small company, and we always try to put the customers first).
