WHO GOES THERE?

FEELING FULFILLED YET?
over 5 years ago – Thu, Sep 06, 2018 at 12:45:41 AM

Hey everyone! It's me. Remember?  You said we were friends once. Wait...was that not you? Sorry. I get confused. 

I wanted to give everyone a quick update to let you know where we are regarding fulfillment for Who Goes There?, among other Things.   

ASIA:  I have been told all packages for Asia have been sent, but that's clearly not necessarily realized, because I keep getting requests for updates in specific areas.  It seems VFI did a good job with the packages they sent directly, but I am a bit handcuffed with little information beyond that.  Some backers have reached out to Games4Good and Battlefield among other secondary fulfillment houses and have been told they should be getting it soon, but beyond that I don't have much.  I am giving them until Monday to hopefully get more evidence it's in your hands before I apply more pressure.  It's become a waiting game and I am simply trying to figure out what buttons to push. 

AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND: Aetherworks has completed fulfillment and sent me the final bill.  If you still haven't received your game, please let me know.  You should have it by now.

CANADA: Lion Rampant has completed all fulfillment and you should now be happy. Or at least as happy as this infection of a game can make someone.  

EUROPE:  GamesQuest has completed the initial waive and is now helping me with some clean up.  There are a few of you that are still looking for your game that was not delivered as expected, and we are taking care of these issues now. Thanks for your patience.  

UNITED STATES  and REST OF WORLD:  I know this has been a frustrating experience for a lot of you, and I hope you know I have tried my best to push things along.  By now, I expect the majority of you have received notification of shipment.  For those of you still in the dark, this is the update I got a few minutes ago from Ship Naked:
"I spoke with Indianapolis. The bulk of fulfillment is complete, they are finishing off the last few hundred orders. These are the mixed orders that have different combinations of items that can't be batched together and are a bit more labor intensive.. They are hoping to have things wrapped up by the end of the week." If you are in the last few hundred, sorry it's taken so long, but I hope you'll find the wait worthwhile.  

THE GOOD STUFF: Beyond the headache called SHIPPING, we are absolutely loving all the stories being shared about the game experiences. Truly a thrill for us, and we hope you keep them coming. 

Also, we have been very impressed with the player's aids some of our backers have contributed to that can make your first experience with Who Goes There? that much better.  Truly next level work and we are so thankful for the time spent to make the learning curve that much smaller.  You can find them on Board Game Geek by clicking the image below, and make sure you rate the game while you are there! 

Do you follow us on Facebook? If not, please do. We've been posting some great painted miniatures that backers have submitted, seen pictures from backers of the infection spreading around the world, and have been shamelessly promoting our upcoming Kickstarter that we hope you'll be a part of, too. 

As a reminder, we do our best to keep your questions answered, but I'm not always on the comments section.  If you are looking for an answer from me, please send a direct message via Kickstarter or an e-mail to [email protected].  The community has done a great job of providing quick answers in the comments, but I don't want you to get angry with me if I don't see them all.  

Lastly, remember...Who Goes There? is a survival game first!  Stay alive...then you can worry about staying human!

- Rick

SOUND OF SILENCE
over 5 years ago – Sat, Aug 18, 2018 at 01:58:00 AM

If you watch this entire video, you are clearly not human. That, or you are punishing yourself for something you did as a child. 

For those of you that have a life, this is all you really need to know...
We sometimes struggle with how often to update, but also know you need to know things are moving. It's just a question of how often we should update you when there's not much new. That said, we're trying. 

US and REST OF WORLD
Ship Naked has begun the process of shipping games, but will only finally be making big strides starting Monday. I expect them to dispatch 400 to 500 games daily, so this will take 6 or 7 days to get through the initial wave.  We are very sorry this has taken so long, but we are excited it is moving.  Some backers in the US are starting to receive their games as of today, but these are most likely the games we fulfilled from Canada as I mentioned before.  This only accounts for 10% of the US backers, so don't get too excited.  

ASIA
It is my understanding that all games have been sent, but the receiving part is still taking some time.  Further, tracking these packages isn't as friendly to the cause as we'd like. I am still waiting on the final status report, but this is my understanding. 

AUSTRALIA, CANADA, EUROPE
If you haven't received your game yet, give it a few more days. Some packages simply take longer than others.  If you've received it and love it, please rate the game on Board Game Geek. If you've received it and hate it, feel free to download the Sugar Ponies print to play and walk the other way. 

RETAIL
We've been really excited to finally get on the retail map, but is proving to be somewhat frustrating.  We "mandated" through the distributors that the MSRP of $120 for the Deluxe game ($99 on KS) and $75 for the Base Game ($59 on KS) be honored. In the end, we are not finding much control, and are cringing when we hear or see the game marketed at a lower price.  The only way we know for certain we can control this is by not going the retail route. It's a painful decision, but our main win with retail is exposure, not profit.  If we had priced this game according to standard practices, the Deluxe version would have been $160, much more than the discounted prices we sometimes see. For now, we are going to stop the supply chain and focus on direct sales and backer support.  Once we feel the game has run its initial cycle with backers, we will consider giving retail an opportunity, but YOU are the reason we are here.  

PUNCH BOARDS
For those of you that have not yet received or opened their games, jump to the end of the video. Anthony has a few tips for some of the pieces that have been more troublesome than others.  

As you play the game and get to experience what we've labored over for the past two years, please let us know what you think.  And thank you for being a much better backer base than we deserve.

Have a great weekend!

- Rick and the Certifiable team

WGT? THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY!
over 5 years ago – Thu, Aug 09, 2018 at 01:43:50 AM

Going to Gen Con this past week was not something we exactly looked forward to like you may expect.  We knew it would be a fun experience, but we have so much going on at CS, it just felt like it was getting in the way of progress, not to mention that Thing called backer fulfillment. Not having a booth didn't help our excitement either, but once we got there...Things changed a bit.  We got a chance to share Who Goes There?, Stuffed and Endangered Orphans with backers and newcomers alike.  It was quite simply...amazing!  It was great putting faces and names together, and to see the excitement about a game we've been so passionate about pass from one person to the next. It was a thrill! We even got to share the infection with some of The Dice Tower crew, which was a huge success to say the least!  All I can say now to everyone that spent part of their Gen Con time with us is THANK YOU! 

Of course, in the midst of the convention as well as before and after, my focus stayed with fulfillment.  Has it been perfect? Absolutely not. But we are making good strides.  Here is what I know:

ASIA: VFI has been working on backer fulfillment for the last week or so.  They sent me a report that suggested about half the Asia fulfillment has processed.  I don't believe tracking has gone out, but I am hopeful some backers are beginning to receive their games.  One thing that I was a little surprised to see on the report was some packages being forwarded to Battlefield and Games4Good for regional fulfillment.  Not an issue, but this is one extra step I was not expecting. That said, many other backers were shipped direct.  We had to send a little more inventory to VFI from the U.S. to satisfy order counts we got late orders on, but this should only delay a very small amount. 

AUSTRALIA:  I've been told we are through the vast majority of shipments and are down to the last of the more complicated orders. These should hit the postal service by the end of the week. 

CANADA: It is my understanding we are down to the last of the shipments for Canada.  We are making a few changes and correcting a few issues now, but this should be completed this week. 

EUROPE: Looking at the reports, we are roughly 70% dispatched, with the other orders moving in that direction quickly.  We should near completion at the beginning of next week.  

U.S.A. and REST OF WORLD:  I had a long talk with Ship Naked today. It was a good talk with a resolution, but I know your patience is running thin.  Fulfillment was supposed to start this week, and the packing team started to assemble the orders. Unfortunately, a red flag was thrown with concerns of the box size. They allocated 16" x 16" x 4" boxes for the games, but after packing a few, deemed it too tight for comfort.  The game is 15.2" x 14.2" x 3.8", so we had plenty of room for the length and width to have padding, but not the depth.  They gave me two options to consider.  One option was to increase the size of the box to 17" x 17" x 6" to give plenty of room, but this would put the package over 10 pounds dimensional weight and add $3 per package.  In other words, I immediately was faced with a $10,000 plus overage that I was not prepared for.  The second option was to special order a 17" x 16" x 5" box which would magically keep us under the threshold of dimensional weight and would only add $1 per package, which is still an overage, but $3,000 is much more friendly than $10,000 plus. The issue is the boxes won't be ready until next week.  Even so, I hope you understand why I chose the cheaper option. We are still moving, however. Fulfillment typically starts with the smaller single SKU orders first, then progress to the bigger more complex orders.  In our case, we are going to start with the bigger boxes that are in stock and work our way down.  Still moving, just more slowly than I would have hoped to report. Again, I hope you understand.  

MISSING OR DAMAGED PIECES & PARTS : As with most games, there is a small percentage of pieces and parts that are damaged or simply missing.  If you are part of this group, fear not...we will take care of you.  Just send me an e-mail (with pictures if possible) to [email protected].  I just ask you to be patient as we work through the first wave of fulfillment.  I can promise getting you everything the way we intended is at the top of our priority list.  

Thank you for your excitement and passion for Who Goes There?!  I can't wait for you to share your stories of horror and infection for years to come!

- Rick 

TYPICAL BORING WGT? UPDATE
over 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 12:09:50 AM

Hey all!  It's a busy, busy, busy week for us, but wanted to shoot a quick update about where we are with Who Goes There?  Anthony, Jesse and I are heading to Gen Con Wednesday and will be in the middle of that until Monday.  Quite frankly, the timing of this sucks for us, but we will make the most of it. 

ASIA:  I'm trying to get an updated timeline on when these shipments are expected to be sent.  They have everything they need, but I'm coordinating this through Ship Naked. This is a good situation, but I'm finding myself frustrated since I don't get quick answers.  I know VFI was very busy getting other clients games to Gen Con for this week, but this should be done now, so I really hope to see the games moving soon.  Fingers crossed.  

AUSTRALIA:  We are starting to hear backers in Australia are receiving their games. This is exciting!  For those of you that haven't heard anything yet, don't fret. Aetherworks has told me they should have everything moving by mid-week. 

CANADA:  My understanding is most of the Canadian shipments should be sent by mid week.  I know a bunch were ready to go this past Friday, so I'm looking forward to getting evidence of the infection soon. 

EUROPE: GamesQuest has slowly started the fulfillment process today, but this will ramp up to full speed tomorrow.  I'm hopeful all games will be handled this week, but it may take a few days longer. 

UNITED STATES and REST OF WORLD:  Ship Naked has received everything and is in the process of organizing and giving me a final inventory breakdown. With Gen Con being this week, they are crazy busy trying to get all their customers taken care of for the show.  I don't expect them to go full force on fulfillment until next week, but I remain hopeful they can at least start the process this week.  Please be patient.  Anticipating this timing conflict, we are fulfilling 10% of the US backers from Canada, and these games should go out late this week.  So, if you start hearing about US backers getting their games, don't freak out and wonder if your game is lost.  It will get there soon. 

SHIPMENT ISSUES? : We have done everything we can to make sure your games are perfect, and I don't think anyone will be able to accuse us otherwise.  That said, we can only control what we can control. If your game arrives and has a missing or damaged component, send me a direct message via Kickstarter or an e-mail to [email protected].  I will take care of you as quickly as I can, but please be patient with us.  These issues will be addressed as soon as we can following the completion of initial shipments. 

That's it for now. For those of you that are pissed that we didn't have time for a video, you can enjoy the next best thing.   Pretty much the same anyways.  

Have a great week, and for the love of everything Certifiable, please stay HUMAN!

- Rick

BREAKING NEWS
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 12:10:30 AM

Thanks, guys (and Brian)!  

And with that...the world as we know it has come to an end!

Here's what we now know about the infection spreading to you:

ASIA:  The games arrived at the fulfillment center last week, and we should start seeing shipments go out next week.

AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND:  The shipment arrived at Aetherworks last Friday after clearing customs.  They have now inventoried everything and are going to start shipping to our backers Friday. Get ready! 

CANADA: The boat arrived late last week on the west coast and are making their way across the land on a train.  We expected the fulfillment house to receive them today, but haven't received confirmation.  May be tomorrow or Friday. Either way, we hope to start shipping to backers late next week.  

EUROPE:  The games arrived late last week and just cleared customs.  GamesQuest is picking them up tomorrow and will start the process of inventory quality control and integration.  This is a pretty big shipment, so they have informed me they will start sending everything to backers on the 30th.  Could be sooner depending on other variables, but the 30th is safe.  

UNITED STATES and REST OF WORLD:  The games made it to the train depot and are in transit now.  We expect them to arrive in Indianapolis early next week.  This is a giant shipment and will take some time to manage. I am pushing them to expedite the process, and they may start fulfilling the week of the 30th, but please don't expect this to be done quickly.  I would expect to have all packages shipped by the second week of August to be safe.  I do, however, have extra inventory in Canada that I will start using for US backers if it looks like it will be quicker. Time will tell.

GEN CON PICK-UP:  For those of you that are attending Gen Con and would like to pick up your game there, send me an e-mail TODAY to [email protected]. After today, I can't be certain I can alter shipping.  We won't have a booth, but will be there running games and would love to meet you! 

Please continue to be patient with us. We are close! 

In the meantime, we are already working on our first expansion...maybe? 

Have a great week!

- The Certifiable team