Survey Game STRONG!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Nov 08, 2021 at 10:56:00 PM

Wow! 20,000 of you have completed your surveys already!

THANKS everyone for being so quick about it.

I Still need about 3000 of you to complete the surveys.

If you did not get your survey. Try searching your email inboxes and even spam folders.

I believe the email should be from Ten Hundred (or [email protected]) 

The subject should be something like "Response Needed — Get your reward for Vivid Kingdoms - Playing Cards"

If you think you did not receive your survey or lost it, you can try requesting another one here:

https://vividkingdoms.backerkit.com/

*Side Note: everyone who has AppleID hidden emails, should have got a separate message via Kickstarter from the Backerkit Team on how to access your survey.

Thanks everyone!

Peter

[Ten Hundred]

Surveys are Heading Your Way!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 04:11:50 AM

Hey Folks!

The surveys are rolling out!

It was quite the task getting the Backerkit set up with all the different options and making sure everything was set up correctly. But I think I got it!

I sent out the "Smoke Test" a couple days ago to 5% of the backers and everything seemed to run smoothly.

Now I am starting to send out the surveys in batches of 5000 backers.

The folks over at Backerkit told me to send out about 5000 surveys every 12 hours so we don't overload the system. So it will take a few days for everyone to get one.

Keep an eye out for your surveys in your email inbox!

-----------

A couple things:

1. On the surveys, you can enter in all the details about shipping and the details about the pledge level and add-ons you selected! You can also add-on additional items from the campaign if there is still something you want! 

2. There is also a Backerkit Exclusive item! 11" x 17" prints. These are not quite as large and fancy as the Giclee's, but they are also more affordable.

3. I have gotten a lot of emails and dm's from folks who missed the Kickstarter.

There is a Backerkit shop page where you can still get stuff from the kickstarter campaign. Also backerkit takes PayPal (unlike kickstarter). I know a lot of folks (especially international backers) don't have credit cards, so paypal is an option. You can check out the shop page here: https://vividkingdoms.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

4. For those that ordered Giclee Prints... on your survey question there is a link to view the jokers. The jokers are intended to be a surprise when you get your decks, but also they are an option for Giclee prints. So I figured folks might want to see them before they selected them as a print option. So you can click that link if you want... but if you want to be surprised, don't click it if you don't want spoilers.

5. Once you have filled out your survey, you will be able to go back and change it until I officially lock the surveys. I will probably lock them right before I am ready to ship everything out. So if you move and need to change your address, you still have time to do that. I will probably post an update on here a few days before I am ready to lock the surveys. So don't stress.

Well I guess that is it for now.

The sooner you get your surveys filled out the better. It gives me important info on your pledges and exactly how much inventory to get and all that jazz.

Thanks so much!

Peter

[Ten Hundred]

Well. We found some flaws in the surveys... but I think we fixed them.
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 04:01:07 AM

Lots of surveys have gone out. I have been trying to keep up with your feedback and some issues were found.

Let's jump straight into it.

1. For some reason XL hoodies were not available for the Vivid Kingdoms Hoodie.

We have added that size option back in. I don't know why it was missing, but it is there now!

If you needed a size XL you can select it now. You can go back and edit your survey if you already completed it

2. The original King of Hearts is now added as a Giclee Print option! 

Some folks said I mentioned adding the original King of Hearts as a giclee print option. Honestly, I forgot about that. It is now on there. If you want the original King of Hearts as a print you can select it now. You can go back and edit your survey if you already completed it, you can also add-on a giclee print to your order.

(SIDE NOTE - The Top Giclee Print pledge tier comes with 20 prints: All kings, Queens, Jacks and Aces from the Vivid Kingdoms Deck + all 4 jokers. This new Original King of Hearts Print is the 21st print and is not included in that tier. If you pledged with that tier, this print would be something you need to add-on to that tier if you end up wanting it.)

3. Sales Taxes have been removed

For some backers in the United States, you were charged additional sales tax on Backerkit. 

It was not my intention to charge backers additional taxes. The price you pledged on Kickstarter should have been your final price, unless you added on more items via backerkit.

 I worked with backerkit to turn off the USA sales taxes. 

- For those who paid via Stripe (Debit/Credit Card) you have not been charged yet and the taxes will drop off the transaction and you will not be charged for them.

- For those who paid taxes via paypal, I am working with Backerkit to get those refunded to you. About 640 USA backers paid via paypal and were charged taxes. 

4. AppleID Backers with hidden emails:

This is a message from backerkit:

"Backers who have pledged to the campaign using their AppleID will most likely have their email address hidden.  This creates a unique private relay email address instead of their real email address. These backers with @[email protected] email address will not receive the survey reminder emails until they update their email address on the survey.

I've gone ahead and pulled a Segment of Apple ID Backers and submitted this to my Dev Team. They have the ability to send these backers a message through Kickstarter asking them to reach out to have their email address updated.

The message that is sent to backers will be:

We need more information from you to deliver your rewards. Please fill out out your survey here: [survey link]

Note: We are reaching out via Kickstarter because we do not have a valid email for your pledge. This is most likely due to hiding your email address by using Sign in with Apple through Kickstarter. We recommend you reach out to [email protected] to change your email in order to receive future correspondence after completing the survey linked above.

You can learn more about hiding your email when signing in with Apple here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210425

This type of request takes 2-3 business days to process, but I'll let you know once this has been completed."

5. Long Addresses

Some backers might need to enter more characters to ship their rewards out. Those backers should contact Backer Support by clicking "need help" on their survey. Someone in Backer Support can assist those backers with lots of characters to add to the address.

( I have also seen some superbackers saying you can just use address line 2 to put in longer addresses)

Besides this stuff, it seems like everything is working pretty well.

About 60% of you should have surveys by now.

Thanks for all the awesome feedback.

I appreciate everyone's patience and understanding!

Cheers

Peter

[Ten Hundred]

P.S.

Size Charts.

These should be on the items in backerkit, but here they are again:

T SHIRT:

HOODIE

The Kickstarter Campaign is over... now what?
over 2 years ago – Thu, Oct 07, 2021 at 11:38:10 PM

Hey Folks!

Well the Kickstarter campaign is complete.

Wow... just wow!

You all absolutely blew me away with the insane support for this project.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. What an insane month it has been.

So what's next?

SURVEYS:

I have partnered with Backerkit to handle the surveys.

Backerkit has a much more robust set of tools for sending out surveys and fulfilling your rewards than Kickstarter does.

They connect directly to kickstarter and are going to make this process so much easier.

Already, all of your pledges are imported into my backerkit.

This campaign has gotten so big, I figured I needed the best set of tools possible in my toolbelt to make this go as smooth as possible.

I am in the process of setting up everything on backerkit so it is as easy (and hopefully confusion free) as possible.

The surveys I will be sending out will let you answer questions like:

- Shipping address

- Garment Sizes and colors

- Which deck you want signed (if you were able to get a signature add on)

- Which Giclee prints you want

- A bunch of other stuff

Please keep an eye out for those surveys towards the end of this month.

- Why do the surveys take that long?

• This is my first time using Kickstarter or Backerkit. The Learning curve is real and I have lots of questions I keep asking Backerkit. Luckily they are super responsive and insanely helpful.
• I Want to make sure the surveys are all good and give me all the info I need so I don't need to keep circling back with you folks
• Full disclosure: I have a trip to NYC this week for an art gig that I have had planned for a while. I am gonna try and continue working on all this stuff while I am traveling, but that's always a bit more tricky.

MANUFACTURING AND FULLFILMENT:

The ball is definitely rolling with all the manufacturers. This whole last month while the kickstarter campaign was going, I have been on many a phone call, email and zoom meeting. I feel like I am in a really solid place with production and I have awesome manufacturing partners for every piece associated with this Kickstarter. Those who have been following my YT channel or know my art career, know I am kinda obsessed with making awesome art merch. This part is the most fun for me. I am equally, if not more, excited to have this stuff in my hands as you all are.

I have also been in discussions with Fulfillment partners.  Right now I am in the process of deciding if I will handle fulfillment as originally planned, or if a fulfillment company will handle PART or ALL of shipping out the rewards.

The folks I am talking to have been filled in on every little detail of this campaign and I am just getting all the final details to make my decision on that.

Which ever option I go with, I am gonna make sure I have lots of help and make sure I have all the resources I need to deliver an awesome backer experience.

I will keep y'all posted on this development.

Anyway, I just wanted to update you wonderful backers on some of what is going on behind the scenes.

Keeping you all up to speed on things is one of my goals with this project.

Thanks so much!

You guys are the freaking best!

Peter

[Ten Hundred]

The Inevitable Delays we were all expecting... and let's talk about the Special Edition.
over 2 years ago – Sun, Oct 03, 2021 at 01:56:37 AM

Hey Folks!

Soooo...

I have been talking with USPCC (the playing card printers).

They told me that any orders submitted at this time will not be shipped in 2021. So for now the estimate is looking like early 2022 for them to ship them to me.

Also with the way this campaign has blown up, the sheer volume of the decks and other items has affected the production timeline for my manufacturers.

For instance, USPCC told me this is the largest order of uncut sheets they have ever produced as a company. In fact it is currently 6 times more uncut sheets than they've ever produced before for a single order.

They had a meeting with their production team to figure out the logistics, they actually have to get refrigerated trucks and special skids to ship that many together. I guess they use a special coating, and when that many are shipped together, certain climates could effect the coating.

For me, when I heard that... I was like "Whoa, that is kinda epic!"

Also when I get the cards and other rewards I have to sign well over 10,000 items. That will be quite the gauntlet. I am gonna have to make a crazy YouTube video out of that experience or something. But it will absolutely be a labor of love! Each signature represents someone who supported this project and made this a record breaking playing card campaign.

***So I am letting you folks know this now, before the campaign is over, in case anyone needs to cancel their pledge.*** 

If some of you folks were really relying on this shipping by December 2021. That looks like it is not going to happen. :(

Kickstarter asks creators to enter in their estimated shipping dates before the campaign launches and I was going off the information I was provided by the manufacturers at that time, and I was also not anticipating the incredible support this project has received. 

I will keep you all updated as the timeline becomes more certain, or changes.

-----

Ok.

The Special Edition Black Deck.

Yeesh.

Here is what happened.

I created a new add-on on Kickstarter. I set the decks to a limit of 2500. 1 deck per backer, and for them to go live at 12:00pm EST.

Side note: During the launch I was on the road driving to Kansas City to go paint a 5 story mural. (it turned out epic :)

At 12:00pm I pulled over at a gas station to monitor the launch of the new deck.

I logged onto my Patreon Discord server to monitor the activity of the chat cause my patrons are always super active on there.

I started to see lots and lots of comments about how it was broken. I also saw these comments on all my social media platforms. Everyone was saying they were just getting an error message.

I was freaking out.

I logged into Kickstarter and saw about 300 had sold and no more were selling.

Gas station parking lot. More comments. More messages. More freaking out.

I emailed my contact at Kickstarter and then eventually got on the phone with him. He told me their team of engineers was working on the issue. He told me to sit tight and wait for his next call... more freaking out. 

For me, as an artist and creator, it was incredibly stressful. I knew my fans were sitting there trying their best to get their hands on the deck. I knew international backers had stayed up really late to try and get one. I knew people were getting more and more frustrated just hitting refresh and getting the same error message.

I ended up talking to my guy at Kickstarter many times throughout the outage. 

He explained that basically there were many many many thousands of people trying to buy the deck at once. A number that far exceeded the limit of 2500 decks, and the servers could not handle that many simultaneous requests.

Eventually, the solution of setting the item to unlimited, and then manually stopping it at 2500 decks was discovered. For some reason, just because of the way Kickstarter works. We had to switch if from 1 per backer to 2 per backer. I really don't know why. Just a bug in Kickstarter's design.

So, I sat in a gas station parking lot, on the phone with my Kickstarter guy as he manually read out the numbers of the deck sold. It was kind of surreal sitting on the phone with him as he ticked away the numbers. I said "I bet this wasn't how you were planning to spend your afternoon". 

He was super helpful and all the folks at Kickstarter were stressed out by this too.

He turned back on the limiter at 2498, then the final two decks sold. And they were gone.

I realize (especially in retrospect) I could have cancelled the drop and tried again. I was forced with the decision of upsetting the folks who were there right on time, or upsetting the folks who sat there for 4.5 hrs. hitting refresh. I also knew that if I did another launch, and it went perfectly smoothly, they would have sold out in 1 second anyway, so a huge chunk of people would have been disappointed anyway.

I am super sorry for the frustration this caused. I can honestly tell you, that day, driving to Kansas City, trying frantically to get the issue resolved, was one of the most stressful days I have had as a creator. It all felt so completely out of my hands. I kept asking "Can you just give me more servers?!"... They were like "It doesn't really work like that."

I know folks are disappointed, and frustrated at how broken the launch was.

I am super sorry about that.

Side Note: I have seen some absolute legends who got two decks, giving up their second one so others would have a chance at one. Those folks are freaking heroes. (actually a pretty small percentage actually got two)

So yeah. If you wanna cancel your pledge, or you are pissed at me, or frustrated... I get that.

I really wish it went smoother and I hate to disappoint anyone.

On the positive side. Thank you all so much for so much insane support that we broke Kickstarter. Holy cow. That is crazy!

Anyway...

Sorry if this is kind of a bummer update.

I just figure communication is key and I hope to be as transparent as possible through this process.

Thank you all so much for your support!

-Peter

[Ten Hundred]

P.S. Sorry it took me a bit to post this. That 5 story mural in KC was no joke and I am just getting back to the flow of things.