Current Status Update - Nov 27
over 4 years ago – Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 11:41:11 PM

Hi Global Gladiators, I'm back with another update to give you the latest on what we know regarding ongoing Aftershock delivery.

Shipment of Upgrade/Errata Packs and Aftershock Stretch Goals

According to the fulfillment company, movement on these should begin in the next 3 business days. They seemed genuinely confident with that time frame, and so we are also confident enough to say so here.

Ongoing Shipments

We've been told shipments are still being pushed out, but as we've all noticed things seem slower than they are. Still, we have been notified of German, US, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian orders making it to doorsteps in the last few days.

We're also aware the Asian hub has been very slow to send out shipments, however we have also received word of a few backers receiving theirs of late.

Some of you have inquired if there is a "logic" to the way shipments are being handled, in other words if $109 tiers are going out before $209 tiers for example. The answer is no, there is no specific order, regardless of region, dollar amount, backer number, etc. They have multiple shipping queues and it seems to be random, based simply on which items they picked and packed first I suppose. As you can imagine, this also makes it a bit more difficult to get specifics or identify a pattern.

The fulfillment center is adamant that they will have more shipments going out in the coming days, so we are hopeful to see increased movement. They deal with third parties as partners for shipping from their various warehouses, so there are multiple instances of people waiting on people that we need to take into consideration.

We are continuing to push the fulfillment center as hard as we can, constantly nagging them day in day out to get more details. We have asked for detailed percentages with regards to specific regional fulfillment, but that information has yet to be provided to us. What we have been told so far is that we are currently at under 100 unfulfilled orders globally. We will try and get more specifics. There is sadly a large communication delay between us and the fulfillment company, and between the fulfillment company and its partners. There is also clearly a difference in expectations between said parties and how (and which) information should flow. Rest assured, we are doing everything in our power to get more details, poking around incessantly in order to extract as much information as possible.

Lately, we've occasionally been able to get a status of shipments for the day we happen to reach someone at the fulfillment center. But, only at the availability of the representative we happen to be put in contact with. This is what has prompted us to seek an alternate, more "dynamic" solution for future projects where we can get daily information, and overall information, more easily, more frequently, and hopefully more consistently without necessarily having to go through a representative (as stated in previous updates). We believe we have found that solution, but we will divulge more information on that when we have confirmed everything is in place.

At this point, we simply all need to "ride out the storm," as they say. The fulfillment center is doing what it does (albeit slowly at the moment), so we need to wait and trust they are doing what they can as quickly as they can. Considering they juggle multiple projects (not just ours) on a daily basis, and they have multiple partners worldwide aiding their efforts, there's a lot on their end that we can't see and we have to trust they are doing their best. We began delivery in October, and we are pushing them very hard to make sure it doesn't stretch into December. We want everyone to be playing before Christmas!

We understand some of you might be frustrated from the lack of specific information (we know we are), and that said frustration doesn't come from ill will but from a simple desire to play with your games you've been waiting oh-so-long for, but I hope you all understand we are doing our best to get information to pass along. This slower-than-desired fulfillment, combined with the unfortunate aforementioned omission of items, has surprised everyone and caused a lot of restlessness on all fronts. I can promise you, however, that all parties want this fulfillment to be completed A.S.A.P.

Your patience has been godlike during this endeavor and we cannot thank you enough for it. The whole Blacklist Games team thanks you for the continued support as we work hard to improve every facet of our Kickstarters with each successive project!

I'm hoping to bring you updates like these every week, if not twice a week (if new information comes in) until we get to the end of fulfillment. I'm just a messenger, but the moment the people in touch with the fulfillment center give me any important news, you can be sure I'll be letting you all know!

Street Masters Demo on Tabletop Simulator

While this is not a physical copy of the game you're anxiously awaiting, Adam crafted a 2-player Tabletop Simulator demo overnight in order to help those of you still waiting a chance to play the game!

Again, this is a 2-player demo, and with limited components and only one stage, but it should give you a chance to flex that muscle while you wait for your physical copy!

The great news is that Steam's "Autumn Sale" is on until Dec. 3rd, so those of you who do not own Tabletop Simulator can acquire it for 50% off! This is especially good news as we plan on using Tabletop Simulator more and more in future projects, both for demos and for playtesting, so getting it now is definitely a way to be able to participate in those when they’re available!

Link to Tabletop Simulator page on Steam

Once you have Tabletop Simulator installed, visit the link below to get to the Street Masters demo's page on Steam Community, then click "Subscribe."  Next time you boot up Tabletop Simulator, it will be available to play!

Link to the Street Masters demo

Until next time!

Current Status Update
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 21, 2019 at 02:21:55 AM

Hi Global Gladiators!

I'm back with a little status update to let you know where we're at with Aftershock fulfillment!

Customer Service Emails

Firstly, we are still working hard behind the scenes to get through the deluge of emails we received since fulfillment began. I'm even jumping in myself to try and help get everyone answered. I truly apologize for how long it's taking to get to some of your emails, but our very small team is working as fast as humanly possible to get to yours if it was sent.  

General Aftershock Fulfillment

We have indeed noticed a slowdown in general fulfillment of late, even though we were assured the reshipments of missing items would not affect this. We're currently investigating to find out what the hold up is and are hopeful we'll get answers shortly. We have noticed comments that are speculating that missing stock is causing delays, but we want to officially confirm that it is not the case. Rest assured we have the proper amount of inventory to satisfy all backers.

Missing Item Reshipments

From what we can tell these have yet to be sent out; we're trying to find out what the hold up is here as well because we are as anxious as all of you. From what we can gather, the reshipments are queued up but not going out yet. More on this as we get info.

Backers Contacting Blackbox

We've just been made aware of certain backers contacting Blackbox themselves to try and jump the queue and have their items sent to them. 

We cannot stress enough that this is something that must be avoided at all costs. We understand everyone is eager to get their goods, but we have had bad experiences in the past with backers trying to jump the queue by contacting fulfillment hubs and demanding action. These sort of actions lead to mass confusion on many fronts and issues that trickle down and affect all backers. We know waiting seems interminable right now, especially after seeing other backers get their pledges, but please have respect for the process and your fellow backers and let Blackbox operate as they see fit. While their current process isn't as fast as we'd like (and as we have said we will be looking at other options in the future), we need to let them "do their thing" right now so everyone gets their games one way or another.

We appreciate everyone's continued patience in this matter and promise we're doing everything we can to stay informed and speed things up, because we are just as anxious as all of you to have everyone receive their rewards.

Thanks everyone!

Missing Items Update #2
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 12:35:04 AM

Hi Global Gladiators! 

Just dropping in with some quick news on where we're at with the shipments for the missing items (please read our last update for more information) to make sure you're all in the loop!

Per our last update, Aftershock stretch goal boxes and Upgrade/Errata Packs are being prepared as we write this, meaning packing material for the reshipment has been ordered, the new orders for all affected backers have been entered and are being processed. We're now awaiting news that labels and tracking are taken care of. 

Things are pushing forward and we are anxiously awaiting the moment things head out to backers!

We'll be back with an update when we have further news to share!

Q&A with the Sadlers
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 08, 2019 at 12:09:46 AM

Hey there Global Gladiators!

Just dropping in for a few quick words to let you know fulfillment is still ongoing, on track and going smoothly! Also, we're still very much on track with the fulfillment partner to have the missing items error rectified as soon as possible, based on the projections from the last update! 

We truly appreciate your patience and continued support; it means a lot to us that we have such amazing backers!

While I'm here, I also wanted to let you know that the Sadler brothers will be live on our YouTube page very shortly (12PM EST) to discuss Hour of Need, our new game of comic book action and heroic feats! This is a great opportunity to engage with your favorite designers and also ask them questions, such as how different Hour of Need is when compared to Street Masters! Both games have hex boards, sure, but the gameplay experience is a different beast altogether!

BLG YouTube page: https://youtu.be/oz6J2ar9p6c

Come say hi!

Update on Missing Items
over 4 years ago – Tue, Nov 05, 2019 at 11:28:35 PM

Global Gladiators! I'm back to deliver some anticipated news!

As many of you are aware, there were two widespread errors during Aftershock fulfillment:

1. Missing Upgrade/Errata Packs 

All Aftershock Tiers were indeed missing this. Street Masters Tier and Super Street Masters Tier do not have to worry since they do not need it because all errata material is already incorporated in the reprints of all Street Masters content from the first Kickstarter (base game, Redemption 1, Twin Tiger, Legend of Oni, Stretch Goal KS1).

2. Missing Aftershock Stretch Goals

Not all, but a wide range of Street Masters Tiers were missing their Aftershock Stretch Goals box. Aftershock and Super Street Masters tiers were NOT affected.

We apologize in taking longer than any of us would have liked to get this official confirmation out, but among other checks, we had to get a configuration of items sent to us personally so we could see and confirm the issue for ourselves to ensure we caught these and any other potential errors. Following the receipt of this configuration, we went through every backer from each region individually to determine which backers received or had not received Upgrade/Errata Packs and Aftershock Stretch Goals, depending on their tier configuration as per above. 

Because of the large number of affected individuals, instead of handling things on a case by case basis, we've compiled a list of who needs to receive which missing items and are working with Blackbox this week to get these in the re-shipping queue. We are working with them both systematically and financially to ensure these items go to their rightful owners. 

Estimated time to begin re-shipping will be roughly 5-7 business days as this week will be mostly them getting these new labels into their system and buying additional packing material from whatever third party shippers Blackbox uses. They will most likely ship through the same channels they had the first time around since that is their trusted network.

Full transparency here: some of the issues stemmed from miscommunication with the fulfillment company. Unfortunately, the current setup with our fulfillment company does not allow us to check what goes out and when, or get realtime updates. While we do believe we should be able to fully depend on a fulfillment partner to take care of logistics so we do not have to worry about them while we produce more great games for you all, it's clear now that we need that ability and it is our indirect responsibility, as a publisher, to constantly be aware of these shipments' contents at any moments' notice.  

The unfortunate and unexpected issues we're experiencing popped up in the background while we were at Essen, forcing us to face all sorts of new experiences at once. Luckily, adapting to such experiences is an opportunity to further grow and learn how better to prepare for such events in the future. In other words, we've learned what we need in a partner for future projects and what is compatible with our size, strengths and weaknesses. Rest assured, we've taken all that we've learned to heart and are putting backers first in providing an even better fulfillment solution for projects in production and future ones to come.

So, to summarize: we understand the urgency of getting Upgrade/Errata Packs and Aftershock Stretch Goals boxes to those who are indeed missing them, and are working on it as we speak. You no longer need to message customer service or Blackbox if you are awaiting these since we have compiled a list and are doing this as a bulk re-shipment. If you have already contacted us and have yet to receive a reply, we will reply with an acknowledgement when we can, but you being on the compiled list is NOT dependent of you receiving a reply from us. If you are missing the items above, you are on the list.

For other, unrelated cases, please message [email protected]; though still massively swamped from the delay in us investigating this error, they will be happy to help you in the order they receive your e-mail. Thank you for your patience and giving us the opportunity to analyze the situation so we could provide backers the best solution we can. We apologize for an confusion or frustration caused by this mishap, but we are working hard to rectify it!

We will post another update once we're in the middle of the bulk re-shipment.

Secondly, if you had reopened your pledge manager to add additional items, which in BackerKit meant you had an additional survey created, you will get your different surveys in different shipments. We were originally told they would ship at the same time, but that is now not the case. Note that these shipments might be far apart in the queue as well, so you might not get them simultaneously and you might even have them days/weeks apart. We apologize for the conflicting information and any issues these split shipments might cause.

Lastly, if you are still waiting for your shipping notice: there is no need to worry, we are still in the middle of fulfillment for all hubs, so it is quite normal if some of your fellow countrymen and women have received theirs and you haven't.  We will post an update in the future to announce the completion of all fulfillment, at which point those who have not received their shipments can contact us. Prior to that, you do not need to contact our customer service team as we will simply reply with this same information.

Until next time!

Keep fighting!