Logistics 🚛 🚛
over 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 15, 2022 at 04:00:52 AM

Dear People of Pangaia 🌱

Another three weeks went by in a blink of an eye! The good news is: all games have arrived at our warehouse in Hong Kong safely. But of course - everything was more complicated. ⛅️

TLDR: Shortly after my last update, Eastar's extended QA revealed a higher rate of missing components than stated in their first quality report (slightly above 1%). We decided to postpone the delivery to the warehouse by another 10 days to double check the components again to avoid complaints down the line. After all, it's a terrible experience to wait so long for a game - only to find out that you can't play it because pieces are missing. 🌧

After the (third and last) inspection we finally loaded all the games on 2 trucks and sent them on their journey to Hong Kong. At the Chinese border the customs process took unusually long due to another Covid case (yes there is customs between Hong Kong and China) and that held up the trucks for another few days. But eventually the goods were released and all games are now safe and sound at our warehouse. ☀️ 

Timeline 🗓

🚨 Please note: The quality inspections and numerous iterations added another significant delay to our schedule and my current estimate of the ETA changed to November/December 2022. 🚨

I'm fully aware that the timeline is now dangerously close to the logistical EOY bottleneck and I will do everything possible to avoid any further delays. We are in the process of booking containers and will start the sea freight process asap. Once the containers are booked I will be able to share more accurate estimates.

As a reminder: All orders will be bulk-shipped in 3 containers via sea freight. After arriving at the respective ports in Europe, US and Australia the packages will go through customs and then be handed over directly to a local courier service for last-mile delivery. Orders from Asia will be shipped directly from Hong Kong.

Last but not least...

I decided to visit the Spiel '22 in Essen this year - although without a booth, just as a visitor. If you want to meet up please ping me via PM. 🎲

The next update will come on Wednesday in 3 weeks - by then I will be able to share some news on the sea freight logistics and updated ETA. Until then I wish you a wonderful beginning of autumn 🍁! 

All the best,

Tommy ❤️

First unboxing! 🐣
over 3 years ago – Thu, Aug 25, 2022 at 05:42:44 AM

Dear People of Pangaia 🌱

Before we dive into the first unboxing video I want to share the current state of the quality assurance process.

Over the past 3 weeks our manufacturer Eastar worked on correcting their mistakes and running an inspection of the game parts to sort out parts with defects. Faulty components were replaced and partially reproduced to meet the final quantity. This week we ran the 2nd external QA inspection (kudos go to Gameland for their diligent work and report 👍) and the results are significantly better than before. It's still not 100% perfect but the majority of the issues are resolved and we are good to proceed with fulfillment. 

All games have been assembled by now and the truck to our Hong Kong fulfillment center will depart on Friday this week. Our logistics partner is currently booking the containers and next time I will be able to share the updated delivery timeline with you. 🍀

Unboxing 🐣

Now - I have finally received the first couple of MPCs (Mass Production Copies) at my house for review. I've received a lot of samples before but never the final product as it will be sent out to all of you. I inspected all components and apart from some minor color deviations on the wooden pieces everything looks correct and by specification. My insert was slightly damaged but this didn't pop up in the QA report and I will investigate. However, I'm very happy to share the following video with you to give you an idea of the final product that you will receive soon. 

(Please excuse the crying baby noise towards the end - my family suddenly conquered the living room 😄)

To answer some frequently asked questions:

• The first card deck contains 32 cards á 70x120 mm. The second deck contains 45 cards á 59x91 mm. 
• The cardboard insert and the wooden insert both support the use of premium sleeves.

That's it from me for today! I hope you enjoyed the quick peek into the box and are happy with the result - next time I will share more details on the delivery timeline and the fulfillment plan.

Cheers, Tommy ❤️

Quality Control & Inspection 🔍
over 3 years ago – Wed, Aug 03, 2022 at 02:38:32 AM

Dear People of Pangaia,

I was planning to write about the shipping timeline but instead I must inform you about a setback in our assembly process causing some delay.  🌧

Last week I received the quality control report from a partner company that is acting as an independent inspector on my behalf. They visited the manufacturer on-site and inspected the first batch of assembled games. Unfortunately the report showed some significant quality issues that left me no choice but to stop the assembly process to prevent larger damage.

Our manufacturer Eastar is taking this issue very seriously and is currently running an inspection of all components to sort out parts with defects. Faulty components will either be replaced with spare parts or need to be reproduced if there are no replacement parts left.

The actual report is very detailed but I will just share the most severe issues with you. 

Top 3 Defects ⚠️

❌ Sticky tokens - We found a very high occurrence of wooden tokens sticking together. After detaching them there were some visible marks left. After checking back with the manufacturer this was most likely caused by an insufficient drying process. This was exacerbated by the high air humidity in the factory due to the current weather conditions. 

❌ Broken Tokens - Some tokens show some structural damage, specifically dents and gaps. The high temperature of the laser cutting process is applying a lot of stress to the material that can cause some tokens to break later down in the production. This is nothing out of the ordinary but the broken pieces simply shouldn't make it into the final game.

❌ Cloth Bags - The screen printed cloth bags showed several defects where the print was either not fully applied or misaligned due to folds in the fabric. Again this is not acceptable for the final product and needs to be sorted out.

These issues didn't show up at any point during the sample process but are typical scaling issues that start appearing once you run a mass production (e.g. we produced over 800.000 wooden resource tokens to cover all Kickstarter orders). The report also listed other minor defects and misalignments, although most of them were within a ratio that is considered 'acceptable'.

To be honest I'm shocked that our manufacturer didn't catch those issues internally and I was lucky enough to have a partner acting as external QA to detect these issues. It's even more frustrating for me because I specifically selected one of the most costly and quality-focused manufacturers for this product to avoid this exact situation. 😠 Another lesson learned. Another delay for the project.

Again I must apologize for the bumpy journey and thank you for your continuous support! I will keep you in the loop on the progress and will do my best to deliver a great product.  🍀

I will share the next update in 3 weeks - until then have a wonderful time and enjoy the summer!

All the best,

Tommy ❤️

End of Production 🎉
over 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 04:33:19 AM

Dear People of Pangaia,

I'm very happy to announce that our manufacturer has finally finished producing the last game components and is currently preparing all units for the transfer to our global logistics center in Hong Kong. I'm eagerly awaiting my first copy and will share with you an unboxing video once it arrives 🎉

With this major variable out of the way we can now start booking the container(s) and enter the last phase of this project. That being said - it's a bit 'from the fire into the frying pan'. The travel times of container ships are still very hard to predict because of container shortage and general port congestion. So far I only got vague estimates ranging from 1 (normal) - 3 (worst case) months travel time for sea freight between China and the EU/US. Once the container booking is confirmed I will update my estimates and share the detailed timeline with you again.

Local Pickup in Berlin 📦

Some of you asked me about the exact location where to pick up their games in Berlin. I'm happy to announce that my favorite Game shop Spielwiese in the Friedrichshain district offered to keep the games in stock and allow pickup during any regular opening hours. Once the games are on their way to Berlin I will reach out to all backers who selected Local Pickup with a personal message containing all details needed for the pickup process.

... and I just realized - almost 4 years ago I started testing the first versions of Forests of Pangaia as part of a weekly prototype event at Spielwiese. I've met with a mixed crowd of game designers and players gathering every Monday night to play prototypes of various stages. Unfortunately during the pandemic I needed to switch to online testing - slightly less fun but equally efficient 😄

Shipping Address Locked 🗝

FYI - in order to prepare the shipping data for fulfillment I have locked all shipping addresses. In case you still need to do last minute changes, please reach out to me via PM or use the Backerkit support channel.

Again - apologies for the late update this time. I just recently moved to a new apartment and was intensely packing and moving boxes from one house to another. Unless you prefer otherwise I will switch to a 3-weeks update cycle as there is currently not a lot of new information to share on a regular basis. 

That's it from me for today. Enjoy your well deserved summer vacation wherever you are! 🌴

 All the best, Tommy ❤️

Trees & Treetops 🌲
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 24, 2022 at 07:27:35 PM

Dear People of Pangaia,

Apologies for breaking the rhythm and posting a few days later than usual. I was visiting family and needed some days to get back on top of things.

My update today is about the last missing component - the trees. 

Tricky Trees 🌲

The final step of the mass production of trees was recently completed - but during the QA phase of the components we identified a "bad batch" of trees that were produced with slightly misaligned measurements 🥴. Those trees had slightly looser treetops and unfortunately deteriorated significantly the stability of higher trees. It was only visible when stacking multiple treetops on top of each other.

In the video below you can see a tree on the left side from the batch with the misaligned measurement and for comparison a tree on the right side with the correct measurements. 

We isolated the production error to a single batch that needs to be reproduced. All other batches fit neatly and have been fully tested and approved 👍. By design it's a tight fit and some treetops need a gentle push to properly stack when used for the first time. But in case of doubt I'm in favor of stability, rather than risking trees to constantly tip over. 

As much as I'm frustrated by this unexpected issue I'm quite relieved that we found the problem now before moving forward. 

🚨 The manufacturer will reproduce the missing components at their own cost and will prepare all games to be ready for pick & pack in HongKong by July 14th. This production error is affecting our timeline and pushing the ETA by another 3-4 weeks to the end of September /  early October. 🚨

Final Address Changes  ✉️

To prepare the shipping data for fulfillment I will lock all addresses (yes - again) on SUNDAY JUNE 26th. If you still need to change your address, please click here and modify your shipping details. 

As usual you can always reach out to me via PM or use the Backerkit support channel if you need assistance.

That's it from me for today and again I was the bearer of complicated news. I truly can't wait to finally tell you that everything is perfect and the games have been shipped ... 🙏!

Until then - enjoy these beautiful summer days outside, wander through the woods and relax under the shade of our wonderful trees 🌳. 

All the best,  Tommy ❤️