Final 10 hours - Glowing news!
over 7 years ago – Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 03:25:39 PM

This will be a long update, grab a drink :)

Full glow-in-the-dark sets are now available!

Q Workshop  confirmed that they will be able to apply glow-in-the-dark paint to full sets in limited quantities (that is, I will not have to order 500 sets per color like that). 

The paint is expensive and applied by hand, so this will unfortunately almost double the cost per unit, but some of you will appreciate this option, as this is still mostly a limited edition collector's project. 

My current plan is to manufacture the following 7 dice polyhedral sets (with the Southern Sky Constellation Dice as d6): 

Regular: 350 Night Black / 350 Sky Blue
Glow-in-the-dark: 75 Night Black / 75 Sky Blue 

The remaining 150 sets will be split to offer individual dice later on: 

Regular: 50 Night Black / 50 Sky Blue  
Glow-in-the-dark: 25 Night Black / 25 Sky Blue

Moreover, they will also make the following d6 in Morning Sky color (light blue):

Regular: 400 Northern Sky / 400 Southern Sky Constellation Dice d6
Glow-in-the-dark:  100 Northern Sky / 100 Southern Sky Constellation Dice d6

The exact number of dice that will be made is presently unknown, as they may need to manufacture them in bigger quantities to allow for quality control (removing any bad dice) or you could end up ordering almost all the sets, and I would still need to make a few more to sell after the campaign (accounting for my costs).

Please check the Update #22 if you are interested in how many 1st edition dice exist.

...Backerkit, at last!

This campaign started small, and grew fast with far too many options/combinations.
I understand this has been confusing at some point, although I think the Chart of the rewards helped to clear up the... skies. I couldn't imagine such success :)

The peculiar add-on procedure also required some effort on both parts, but it's been necessary to let me evaluate the real amount of funding we could hope for, and accurately plan for the Stretch Goals. I have done my best to assist you in any way, and the reward for your patience is in the many great dice flavours that you will get in one single shipment. 

At this point anyway a pledge manager will be a very welcome commodity.
The chosen platform is Backerkit, where you should be able to add individual dice in an easier way, and get some additional treats. 

If you still want to use the current system to get the full glow-in-the-dark sets anyway, I have added an item to the list:
€35) 1 Polyhedral set of 8 dice (GLOWING) including two Constellation Dice as d6

Alternatively you could add €12 per each full polyhedral set in your reward that you wish to upgrade to glow-in-the-dark, and contact me. This upgrade will include up to 8 dice in a polyhedral set: d4 / d6 Southern Sky / d8 / d10 Planets / d10 Moons / d12 / d20 and a d6 Northern Sky (light blue) if that's included too in your reward.

Please note that this finish is not available for the Desired Constellation d6 (which are not made by Q Workshop, since the original design required a special custom mold).
The upgrade doesn't include blue/black Northern Sky dice which will not be reprinted.

Final Stretch Goal!

In the first survey at the beginning of the campaign you said it loud:
you wanted more colors, more design, and... free dice!

Since we are already around an incredible €23000 collected, we can hope for a last minute boost to €25000 from some more backers and a few 'glowing' add-ons.
If that happens, all rewards will include one bonus dice:

1 Desired Constellation d6 for all backers of the sample rewards.  
1 Constellation dice d6 (Southern Sky, or light blue Northern Sky) for all others. 

The color will be random for logistical reasons, but I will try to match your set.

Thank you!

It's been a long, windy, surprising and successful campaign that I hope all of you have enjoyed. I am committed to deliver your dice with the same dedication.  

Please be sure your credit card is in good shape to accept the amount you have pledged, and contact me if you have any further question, I'm here to help.

Warp speed engines... on!

Rare or well-done?
over 7 years ago – Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 10:08:20 AM

Today I am able to share some data regarding the 1st edition of Constellation Dice.
You may want to skip the introduction if you are not interested in how they came to be.

Some background

The project started in April 2015 when I launched a campaign on Indiegogo, which is apparently much less popular than Kickstarter, but was my only alternative back then as a creator from Italy. Knowing that, and since I was starting from zero, my goal was a mere €500 to manufacture the required minimum of 50 glow-in-the-dark dice I wanted to make.

Given the little quantity, I had to offer them for about €10 EACH, and I was still going to pay for the shipping myself... I just wanted some help to bring out my little design project to the material world.

The first backer turned out to be Mr. Kevin Cook, record holder for the largest collection of dice (about 60,000) who spread the word among his collector friends, and on the first couple days I reached about half of the €500... but then funding slowed down very much. These are too expensive, I thought, because of the hand-applied glowing finish. So I tried offering at about the same price a couple of non-glowing dice, which I called... Cloudy Night dice. It still took about a week to reach the goal.

Having still three more weeks, I hoped to gather enough backers to make at least 500 dice, and further reduce the cost. I set the Stretch Goal for that at €2000, and it took almost the full month to get there. Since I had also launched the Sky Blue color option, some backers wanted both, and in the end I was able to ship over 700 dice. 

Since I also contacted shops, I ordered about a couple hundreds more, knowing that I wouldn't be going to reprint the dice. Backers paid for a collector's item, and I didn't imagine there was going to be much more interest anyway...

One year passes

Little by little, the word spread and I was asked for these dice more and more. I forwarded buyers to the shops that got the dice during the campaign, and that was it.
But I kept thinking I could still do a follow-up project anyway... why not, the first dice featured the ancient Ptolemaic Constellations, which are all Northern... there is a whole other half of the sky to admire. When I found out that 2017 was going to be the 450th anniversary of the exploration of the Southern Hemisphere, I took it as a "go" signal!
Furthermore 2017 will also be the 40th year since the start of the Voyager mission...
the project found its theme, and I contacted Q Workshop again.

"We have a few more"

What happened next was a nice surprise. It is common for manufacturers to make more than they are requested, because part of the production may be discarded by their quality control. So I found out that they had a couple hundred more Constellation Dice in storage! This allowed me to buy back and offer those remaining few dice to you.
None are glow-in-the-dark though... I can only share the few ones I kept for me.

So... How much rare?

Today I got confirmation of the exact quantities left in both color, and can now extimate the total quantity of each variety manufactured:

• 400 Night Black dice (glow In the dark)
• 200 Sky Blue dice (glow In the dark)
• 400 Night Black dice
• 300 Sky Blue dice

I have also found out that I will get 50 more Northern Sky dice than I expected, that I will offer to you in the next few days, starting today with the Master Collector's Bundle.

It is a variation of the popular Master's SUPERSAVER Bundle, which offers two polyhedral sets. This new bundle, available to only 10 backers, is the doorway to get two sets of 8 dice (including the couple of Northern / Southern Sky d6) both as full monochrome versions in case we reach the next Stretch Goals:

• Monochrome Night Black set option at €16,500
• Monochrome Sky Blue set option at €20,000

I'd say... well done!

Unlocked! Now... advertise!
over 7 years ago – Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 12:01:44 AM

The Night Black option for the polyhedrals is now officially unlocked!

This means you will be able get your d10 in mixed colors, or both black, as well as your polyhedral set if you have chosen an Extended reward (which all include polyhedrals). I'm very curious to know how many of you will choose a monochrome set. It would look like one of these two options:

If you have chosen an Extended Collector's bundle including the original Northern d6 in Night Black color, or own one, and specify the Night Black monochrome set option, your reward will include the Collector's Night Black Polyhedral set: 

What if you don't like black?

The next goal is unlocking the Sky Blue option at €20,000 in just 5 more days!

To get there I'm actively promoting the campaign, and I can now show you the ads that are rotating on Board Game Geek since yesterday:

What are your thoughts? Would you do these differently?
You are invited to share any of these in your social media,
linking to: bit.ly/ConstellationDiceVoyagerEdition

I have also a few more for you...

You can download the whole package here (4mb zip).

Polyhedral Renderings
over 7 years ago – Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 11:59:56 PM

Let me hear your voice in the comments!

Directly from Q WORKSHOP...

...here you are their amazing renderings for all the dice they will produce.

Let me know what you think!

This are the renderings for the prototypes, so there is still some room for minor adjustments before production. Express your feelings in the comments :)

Visual chart of the rewards
over 7 years ago – Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 11:59:28 PM

Fellow space cadets, 

yesterday we hit the €12000 mark and we are still going strong towards the next Stretch Goal: all four Polyhedrals unlocked at €13000.

Work is going on to make a cohesive set, and since I am working on all the dice the manufacturing of prototypes has been delayed, but they should be ready in time.

As well as finalizing the new designs, I'm currently restructuring and cleaning up the campaign page to welcome new backers with a simpler layout, and three new convenient rewards that I assembled thanks to your feedback and requests:

• Sample Dice Colors (pick your favorite combination)
• Cartographer's Bundle (Northern/Southern glowing dice, or all colors)
• Master's SUPERSAVER Bundle (Northern/Southern glowing dice, two Poly sets)

If you have suggestions on how I could make the page better, let me know in the comments: I value your help! The next update will be about the new designs.

Visual chart of the rewards

This took a lot of effort, but should solve any remaining doubt regarding the content of the rewards, and how they are related (also available as print-ready PDF).

 

A full size reference version follows.

The new rewards are not included yet, as they will be advertised up front.