Parallax: Warband

Where the Game Stands and Next Steps
over 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 11, 2018 at 07:22:41 PM

Hi Backers,

I know it’s been too long and I am sorry, which really isn’t enough of an apology. Anything that I say other than that sounds like an excuse though, and I don’t want to make excuses just tell you the truth.

When a project is going well, It is easy to communicate, show pictures, and send happy messages but when it isn’t…it isn’t. Making this game has been a dream of mine since 1994, at that point it was a card game and although it has gone through many iterations it has always been MY dream to get this out.

Before the Kickstarter launched, I did my research…looked for the right printers, made sure the budget was adequate and launched it. I didn’t pad it, and I realized there would be a cost to me if it didn’t over fund and I was okay with that as the goal wasn’t to make money but to get my dream out to gamers and let them have as much fun playing it as I did making it. Not a wise business move, but a good dream move.

For those claiming I’ve run away….not true, just very depressed with what has happened with the game, and if I was a con artist I would have taken the BackerKit money too, which I have not – even though It would have been nice to use.

In addition to all this in my personal life my father-in-law passed away and my dad has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer that I am dealing with. I also changed careers. The three of those have also put a heavy toll on me and my family. Again, not using this as an excuse – just letting you know everything going on.

So, this is where we currently stand. I have received most of the miniature masters, but not all of them. When I spoke with the caster he said that about three-quarters of them are usable and the others need to be printed a second time for use with metal. This was supposed to have been taken care of by the printer.

At this point I have spent approximately:
Miniatures (3D and Hand Sculptured) – $12,000
Artwork – $2,500 Masters –$8,000
Writing – $1,000
Demo Models (Making sure everything fits) – $1,500

I have spent more than $25,000. The Kickstarter funded at 12,000…with bad backers and KS fees I netted about $10,000. So, I have spent about $15,000 of my own money, realistically more. To get this to you I am looking at another $15,000 -$25,000.

So what happens next? I have three options: 

• 1. Refund your money through PayPal as Kickstarter doesn’t have a refund procedure in place. This won’t happen instantaneously, as I will have to pay you back out of my paychecks. But everyone will get their full pledge back. 
• 2. Give the game to another company and let them fulfill the orders. 
• 3. Just give up and say thank you and I’m sorry – I’ve done my best, and I had the best of intentions, but I just can’t do it.

Option 1 is obviously the best one for you as it gets you at least your money back. Option 2 is a possibility, but it would take a while. Option 3 has never and will never be an option, but I had to put it out there.

For those of you that know me or have met me at conventions you know how much this game and the community mean to me, so to have failed at this and failed for you has me in the deepest depression I have ever been in and I can’t apologize enough. I have done everything I can and charged all my credit cards to the max trying to do everything right, but as this point I can’t do any more. Again, if I was a con artist I would have taken the BackerKit money too, but I haven’t as that was supposed to help with shipping and casting.

So please send me a message with your PayPal account and I will be refunding money in the order in which people backed.

The big failure was offering two scales and two materials. Just offering one of each and everything would have been fine, but the complexity those options multiplied everything out of control. Again, this failure is mine and I take full responsibility.

If a variation of option 2 does happen in the future, I will suggest that they only offer the smaller size in metal.

Again, I am sorry to have failed you, the game, and the community.

Adam

Back on Track
over 7 years ago – Sat, Aug 05, 2017 at 08:10:35 PM

Hi All,

Let me first start off by saying I’m sorry for the delay in the update.

I’ve had problems on a number of fronts on this game for a number of reasons, but they have been sorted out and I am moving forward to ensure that you get your miniatures and your game.

The primary delay was in printing and scaling. When I originally launched the game it was only for the large size in resin. Then I listened to what backers wanted and changed it to two different scales in two different materials. This seemed like a really good idea at the time, but the logistics behind it were a lot harder than I imagined.

No excuses, this is my project and the buck stops with me. I have the first set of prints back, which will be able to be cast in both metal and resin. The second set is being worked on. There are two sets or masters, one in small scale and the other in large scale.

The goal with printing, and getting the sculpts cast is about 4 months. I promise to be a lot more diligent with updates and letting you know what is happening.

Again, I apologize for the delays and even more so for the complete lack of communication. This wasn’t done out of disrespect, but out of embarrassment and I hope that you can forgive me and let me prove that this lack of judgment was in the past.

Thank you again for your support.

Best, 
Adam

Character Cards, Strategicon, and more....
almost 8 years ago – Wed, Feb 08, 2017 at 07:49:50 PM

Hi All,

A few updates to keep you apprised of what is going on in the world of Parallax and how the deliverables are coming along.

If you are in the Southern California area I will be at Strategicon on Feb. 18 demoing the game and working on characters if anyone hasn’t turned them in yet.  

Regarding characters, if you have built a character and would like a shield (a popular request I am finally acquiescing to), there are now two shields available for your character:

• Bucker - Cost 2 Renown Points (RP) - Armor 1- Minimum Form 3 
• Kite  Shield - Cost 7  Renown Points (RP) - Armor 3 - Minimum Form 6, Cannot be taken with any great weapons, or Claymore.

I’ve started laying out all the character cards that have been sent in.  If you haven’t turned yours in yet due to “insert your reason here”, I completely understand as we have all been there at some time or another.  Please get them to me as soon as possible.  On the positive side, we still have a little time so if anyone is thinking they would like to create a character especially a Tir or Devoid, please let me know.  I could use some help.  

I am also working an online character generator seen below.  It won’t be done in time for this part of the project, but will help when the game is out so you can create your custom characters.  A screen shot of the what the proposed finished project looks like is below:

In the next coming days I will be working with the printer to set up the final set of models to be printed.  This has taken far longer than expected due to the sizing differences of the scales as well as the printer being fully booked.  The negative is the delay, the positive is the quality of the masters that are being produced.  I apologize for the delay, it wasn’t something that I had planned on.

Thank you again for being a backer.

Best,
Adam

Parallax - 2016 End of Year Update
almost 8 years ago – Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 07:48:23 PM

Dear Backers,

A lot has been done since the last update including completing the first round of prints and the second round is currently being worked on. I am hoping to have all of the masters back in-hand by no later than beginning of February.

The delay for the print has been for a lot of reason, but sizing and printing are the two big things that have really delayed the project.

The fiction for the game is going better than expected. The world, thanks to Alex, had a solid foundation and my part was really just making sure I didn’t screw it up too badly, I will let you be the judges of that.

The biggest thing is the character cards…only a handful of the backer have given me their versions, which is a delay. So I am going to be sending out another reminder in January with a deadline of January 31. If anyone hasn’t gotten it back to me by then, the layouts will be done for the rest and sent to the printers. Anyone backing at that level can then still do one, but it will be a PDF add-on instead of a printed card. It also means that I will need to do a lot more work in creating the missing characters.

BackerKit. Hopefully you answered all of your BackerKit questions and decided on any other add-ons that you are looking for. BackerKit will be closed in mid-Janaury, allowing me to count models and find out missing answers.

Lastly, I would like to apologize. I’m not going to bore you with the details on my life, as honestly, you are my backers and deserve better than my spotty communications. I had a schedule of posts and updates but this has really been one of the worst years of my life. I promise to you that the project is fine and you will all be receiving your models and game in 2017.

Best,
Adam

Updates, Apologies, and Cover Art...(but really a lot of apologies)...
about 8 years ago – Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 10:40:03 PM

Hi Backers, 

First let me apologize for not giving an update sooner – bad form on my part and something I promised I wouldn’t do. 

I spoke to Paul  (the printer) yesterday as I’m still waiting to get the first batch of prints, by batch I mean 11 different prints. This is a huge amount and taking longer than expected, but we are still in really great shape to meet or beat the promised by date. 

I owe another apology to Tim Barry, who is one of my sculptors and who cut the models. He did a great job and in the last update I accidently credited Paul for this, who is the printer. What I get for doing too many things at one time. 

If you are interested in seeing some of Tim’s other work, please visit his website at: http://www.sculptorwanted.net/#!enginering-models--cut-up/c3vk 

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Jason Morgan who spent an inordinately amount of time going through the beta rules, making comments and honestly making it a much easier to understand and read game. Thank you! 

Now the apologies are done, I have three bits of exciting news:  
1) The character guide is completed for people who want to start making their own characters. I’ll be emailing it out to those that backed at the, “Create Your Character”, level. If anyone else would like a copy to try it out, please let me know. 

2) I’ll be demoing Parallax at Strategicon, in Los Angeles, on Saturday. If you are in the area and would like to get a game in – or work on your character – please stop on by and say hi. I will be in the miniatures hall. 

3) A big thanks to Rick Hershey who has done most of the artwork for the game and now the cover, which you can see below. I love it and hope you are excited about it too.  There are so many things going on and it really reminds me of the old D&D books.

Again, my apologies for not doing more updates, and I promise to do better. 

Best,
Adam