Fantasy Facades 3D RPG Terrain by Bannerless Builds

Production!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Dec 12, 2018 at 11:51:01 AM

According to BackerKit, 68% of backers have filled out their surveys. If you are among the 68%, thank you. Based on the information in your surveys, Greg was able to estimate how many moulds of each product he'll need to make. With the moulds made, we can start mass producing. That's right, we've started production!  

 

If you are in the 32% who haven't filled out your surveys, you have until January 15th to fill them out. However, the sooner all surveys are filled in, the more confidently Greg can produce and therefore the faster the production phase can be. 

As production proceeds, expect some action shots of Greg and the moulds at work, as well as insight into the production process. 

PAX Unplugged and Fulfillment
over 5 years ago – Thu, Dec 06, 2018 at 03:17:00 PM

I’ve got good news and I’ve got fun news. Fun first! 

PAX Unplugged

Bannerless Builds made its game convention debut at PAX Unplugged. Blind Ferret Entertainment gave us a corner of their booth to display our goods. 

Greg got to meet and chat with many of our backers, as well as attendees who saw our facades and needed to know more. On a personal note, it was amazing seeing Greg humbled by the positive response to his work. Bannerless Builds is his first creative project so seeing and hearing how much people enjoy what he designed was a new and reinforcing experience for him. 

PAX Unplugged was an experiment for us. We weren't making sales but we were taking pre-orders to be fulfilled after our Kickstarter backers all receive their shipments. Speaking of which...

FULFILLMENT

A little more than half of you have filled out your BackerKit surveys. First of all, thank you all for that. As a former teacher and former student, I understand the habit of looking at a deadline as the start date so it is encouraging to see Bannerless Build Backers crit their initiative. It is also useful for us as we are able to gauge how likely it is that a Backer orders add-ons. 

Armed with that information, we have detailed our fulfillment plan, summarized below:

Step 1. Mould Making
Before the Kickstarter, we made production moulds for everything in the line, but just one of each. We need to make over a hundred of certain items (and in the case of the Connector Kits, several hundred). Not only will one mould not survive that many pours, it would take us months to fulfill all orders with one mould per product. Greg now has a good idea how many and which moulds he has to make to efficiently produce product. 

Step 2. Produce Product
Once we have our moulds, we can start batch producing. Greg estimates this can start by December 17th, and take about 15 days to complete. Those 15 days cross over the holidays and don't include weekends, so we're looking at mid to late January before we're done production of the Kickstarter orders and add-ons. Again, that's Kickstarter backers first. Any pre-orders placed aren't started until after our backers get their orders. 

Step 3. Customizing
Backers at the store level get a logo laser etched to the window of an Alchemist Shop facade. This happens once everything is produced. To the backers at that level, expect guidelines and instructions for the submission of your logo in another update before production starts. 

Step 4. Shipping
We start shipping. We expect to ship out in 3-4 waves, with priority based on the order that BackerKit surveys were filled out. The period between the shipping of wave 1 and wave 4 should be no more than 5 weeks, meaning wave 4 backers should still receive their orders by the March 2019 estimated shipping date. 

Why?

You might be wondering why we aren't producing based on Wave 1's orders and shipping those before producing the next wave's orders. While that's certainly one way we could do it, we asked ourselves what is the most efficient, fair, and appeasing fulfillment method. Even if every backer received their shipment by our estimated delivery date, if some backers received theirs in January the later wave backers would be justifiably frustrated. Instead of hoping to be lucky, we are asking everyone to be equally patient. 

Expect more updates and photos of the progress as they develop. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to comment below or email [email protected]. 

Now you know, 
Costello

Surveys, BackerKit, Pre-Orders, and PAX
over 5 years ago – Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 09:19:06 AM

Hello Backers, 

Hope all is well! Things are moving along nicely on our end. We have a few updates to share:

SURVEYS and BACKERKIT

During the campaign, we said we would be using PledgeManager to fulfill your orders. Unfortunately, they were not able to deliver the backer survey on the timeline we established and so we have moved to BackerKit. This should not affect you or our ability to fulfill your order, we just felt we should share that information to avoid confusion. 

That said, expect your backer surveys later today! Once you've decided which add-ons you'd like, your shipping will be calculated based on the weight of your order. Note that the bundle add-ons like Level 1 Add-On are for backers who would like additional pledge levels. The items from the pledge level you backed have already been added to your cart. Please complete this survey by January 15th, 2019. 

PRE-ORDERS

Around the same time you get your backer survey, we'll be adding a Pre-Order button the Kickstarter page that leads to an online store. I know there's a stigma about products being sent out to non-backers before backers get their orders. I understand and have personally felt this frustration. Other than delivery mishaps out of our control, I want to assure you that you don't have anything to worry about. The expected delivery date for backers was March 2019, and the expected delivery date for pre-orders is May 2019. Our plan is to fulfill all Kickstarter orders before starting to fulfill pre-orders. 

PAX UNPLUGGED

Finally, we'll be in Philadelphia this weekend for PAX Unplugged! We're sharing booth 1707 with our friends at Blind Ferret Entertainment. Our designer Greg will be at the booth showing off samples on hand. If you're at the con this weekend, swing by to check these facades out first hand!

THANK YOU!
over 5 years ago – Thu, Nov 22, 2018 at 07:00:05 PM

Let me start by assuring you that even though I am a fan of puns and playing the long game, I did not intentionally schedule the campaign to end on Thanksgiving so that I could thank you all on Thanksgiving. I’ll even let my Canadian show and admit that I intentionally tried to avoid Black Friday without it registering that the day before is one of the biggest holidays on the American calendar. Oops.  

That said, today, a day when so many of us are expressing our thanks, the Bannerless Builds team would like to thank you all for the success of this Kickstarter! As our designer, Greg Bowes, puts it: “I’m blown away by the support. I have a ton of work ahead of me and I’m excited. This has just been incredible and I can’t wait to see people’s tables!”  

FULFILLMENT  

In the next few days, our PledgeManager will open and you will be contacted with instructions on how to fill it out. Your pledge will be converted into PledgeManager credit, then you will have the opportunity to purchase add-ons before your shipping is calculated and you can complete your order.  

In the meantime, Greg will be hard at work creating high quality resin pieces for our backers, although we won’t know everyone’s exact order until after you’ve completed your PledgeManager. We will start shipping out in the new year.  

THE FUTURE  

Greg has been designing additional facades and terrain pieces in his own time (which you can see previews of by following our Instagram), but we are also going to base future releases on your feedback. What gets added onto orders will be a huge indicator as to what you’d like to see, but feel free to comment here or Facebook letting us know what you’d like to see from us. We’ve already heard that our fans want dungeon facades, interiors, and science fiction. We are listening, and as Greg puts it, “There’s already lots on the design board”

Painted Level Delivery Date
over 5 years ago – Thu, Nov 22, 2018 at 06:48:28 AM

When we added the two painted levels, we made a small mistake and set the delivery date to November 2018. Hopefully anyone who backed at those levels understands that this was a bug, not a feature, and that the turnaround time is obviously unrealistic. However, because people did back at that level, we can't edit it. Please understand that the estimated delivery date should be March 2019, not November 2018. 

While we're discussing the painted levels, there were two: Painted level 1 and Painted level 3, each limited to 5. Level 3 sold out and level 1 did not have a single backer. As a result, we've deleted the unpopular level 1 option and opened up 5 additional level 3 options. 

We're down to the last handful of hours. If you or someone you know would like to back Bannerless Builds, now is your chance!