Pirates are Shipping, Wildlands Horde here any day, Demons and Spacefarers finished
over 6 years ago – Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 06:00:16 PM

When it rains it pours!

Both Spacefarers and Demons Blood are finished! We're doing a last minute correction on a few pieces of art, and these will both be ready to print as well.

There's currently a bit of a 'queue' in our printing, but it should be sorted out in a week or so, and then they'll be sent to me for assembly and shipping.

Many of you will be receiving several packages from us in the near future!

Pirates / Wildlands Horde Split Shipping

Just a reminder, if you had Pirates or Wildlands Horde in your order, and you're a domestic order, we're splitting your order automatically.

Do NOT be alarmed if you receive a partially complete order, with a packing slip that only shows the items in the box. The packing slip is not an indicator of everything you'll be receiving, just the items being packed for this shipment. Of course, it should include anything that's already in production, but will not include Spacefarers, Demons Blood, Dragonborn, Cyberpunks, Customs, or the 12 New Legendaries. These will come separately when they are completed.

Pirates - Finished, Printed, and on their way for assembly!
over 6 years ago – Mon, Jan 08, 2018 at 09:39:00 PM

So, we didn't quite make it by Christmas, but the Pirates are done!

Here's some photos of their die-cut sheets held in hand. Also a quick note, the child/mermaid piece that is a custom figure of my daughter did not make it into the Pirates final. It was the odd man out, since all the humanoid / pc / non-monstrous fish people were pulled from the final cut, and we assume will be their own merfolk / underwater horde pack in the future.

However, since I know a lot of you probably wanted that piece, it'll be printed in the upcoming Customs, and 90% of you will get it that way all the same. It just doesn't belong in the Pirates pack.

 Pax South 2018 - This weekend in San Antonio TX

They'll be arriving in the warehouse in a few days, but by then I'll be gone for PAX South in San Antonio, Texas. BTW if you're attending PAX South, come check us out in the Tabletop section! We'll have a huge 10x20 booth that we're hardly making use of. Seriously, a 10x10 has felt a little cramped, but bumping it up to a 10x20, we'll be swimming in booth size, haha.

I WILL have about 30 copies of the Pirates set that have been sent to the show for sale.

At the same time, any of my part-time assemblers that are available at the warehouse will begin getting orders ready to ship. When I get back from the show I'll begin pushing these out (which includes splitting orders, so this will really un-log about 300 orders from the system!).

Amateur Professional Photos

When I have a moment, I'll pop some of these out and take a "nice photo" on my cell phone to use for the online store, and try to get the lighting acceptable enough. I don't have a professional photographer and don't intend to prioritize one anytime soon.

That being said, if any of you would like to take nice stock photos of a pack in exchange for free product, I wouldn't say no! I'll mail you the pack, you take nice photos and send me the photos, and you keep the product, easy peasy. My leverage will be that if the photos aren't nice, I won't send you any more free product.

You'd only be competing with the photos I'd be taking, which is pretty much just putting them on a white costco table and praying the glare doesn't kill it.

Storm King's Thunder - Community Curated Pack

As another aside - you may or may not have heard of a promotional pack we recently created with SlyFlourish called the Dm Starter Set.

It wasn't specifically part of this campaign, didn't create any "new art", but we let SlyFlourish pick through all the finished art that existed and design his own set. He made one for the 'starting GM', a 167 piece set for $80 ($60 on sale for the first 3 months, expired now but I'll give you a voucher for $20 off if you want it at original price since you're a KS backer. He put a bunch of random stuff in it, including some Tiefling and Dragonborn from the FPM2 campaign that are already finished. It's neat stuff, if you haven't seen it you should check it out here.

Now that it's done, we're itching to do it again, and make a new "curated set" so we've got the idea to try something new. We've talked to a number of people about doing full support for Hardcover WotC modules anyway, and this will be our first step into that realm, a realm which might be the next 'obvious' thing to do in terms of Kickstarters and big-picture projects in the FPM line.

The idea is to propose a "community curated" pack in support of Storm King's Thunder. We've created open access google doc files, and people who are interested in helping can jump in, and help us select the ideal pieces to fill in the packs. If certain key NPCs don't have valid art, we'll put it on a sub list of missing artwork, and even create it.

We're proposing it's similar to the Starter Set, with 3 pages of plastic for $80 MSRP, on sale for $60 at launch. That gives it somewhere between 140-160 depending on size, and gives us huge flexibility because SKT needs a LOT of giants. 1-2 of those pages could be legendary or massive sized dies with less pieces, but giving you just the assortment of giants you'd need for SKT - along with another 1-1.5 pages of smalls and mediums to round it out.

If you'd like to help, take a look at the google doc or click here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ccZ5draBJuL9sFbzq5QxC2waP6Fa38jyN0DoZsaYamY/edit?usp=sharing

Anyone with the link can edit, there's a Admin-Notes page with guidance, monsters.arcknight.com has gobs of thumbnails for already-existing pieces, and there's nobody more in touch with the various packs and random pieces of art we've got than the FPM2 backer pool anyway - if I don't have a thumbnail up for something you want, I'll push it out.

Digital Files

If you're interested in VTT / Digital files, they're coming along via 3 routes that are all intentionally colliding.

1> We'll continue to finish all the VTT processing for entire packs and list them on our website, Roll20, FG, and other places when they're ready. This already exists for about 12-13 older packs.

2> We've launched a slow-drip Patreon, and for $1 a month we process 4 miniatures a week with a new system. This system takes even longer per miniature, and seems bad on the surface. Instead of processing 62 VTT files at once, I process just 1 piece at a time in a multi-symbol artboard that extrapolates the same art into different formats. Now instead of 4 hours of work to get 62 pieces of VTT files, I spend 20 minutes of work and create just 1 piece from our huge list of art - but it creates that individual piece in every single possible format we'll need for the foreseeable future. So I get VTT files, raw book files, web promos, portrait files, papercraft files, online thumbnails, all named correctly (which is huge, just renaming those 62 VTT files, in 6 formats, was a multi hour chore - causing me to not bother finishing other formats at all).

This new system is great, but if I were to just sit at my desk and process random minis it would be a mountain with no end in sight. Patreon lets me capitalize on this process, by having a release schedule and only needing a few random pieces at a time, and 'which pieces come next' can be largely driven by the pool of supporters.

www.patreon.com/arcknight

Realistically, we'll fall behind at times on the Patreon. We're about 2 weeks behind right now, but IMO this isn't important at all. It's a $1 monthly boon, and we WILL catch up, and accelerate the program as more patrons join (we're only behind because of Christmas + PAX South anyway, then we'll get ahead going into the mid-year cons). So each week we're releasing a teaser something like this:

 And at the end of the month, we bundle all the weeks together, and release download links via patreon. It's neat IF we set patreon up to be as slow burn and "on the side" as possible, and since it happens naturally with the new VTT file processing, this is exactly what we've done. After the initial setup, I estimate that keeping up with the new file conversions will only take me 1-2 hours a week, which I can do. This also feeds into itself because part of my 'job' is to keep promoting our products. Now, when I make these VTT files, the pinterest and online thumbnails and tumblr images and download links are all done as well. Would I have sat down and processed a Batiri image and released it on the internet? NOPE, what a waste of time, even if it's good PR. But, now that happens as a tangent, so why not.

You might also have recognized these Batiri from the Wildlands Horde! That's exactly another thing I'm capitalizing on. Processing the 31p Wildlands Horde art wouldn't have happened this month otherwise, but piggybacking the process it was done 'for free' since I needed some promo images for the DM Starter Set.

Over November and December at a 4/week pace I've converted 90% of the Wildlands Horde digital art to be ready. You could just wait until the full pack is finished and buy it for $3 and not do the Patreon thing. But the Patreon has an upside too, since the "theme" of the week might be something interesting, and I pluck pieces from 4 different packs, and of course you got ~16 pieces for $1 anyway, with occasional bonuses and goodies. Even just as a kicker, the $1 a month is nice.

3> Things like the SKT curated packs are PUSHING for those specific pieces to be digitally processed sooner. For example, the SKT pack should have a Fire Giant Dreadnaught from the Legendaries 2 Pack, because it originally appeared in the SKT hard cover. Then we notice there's no thumbnail on monsters.arcknight.com, and if I go ahead and process it to create the thumbnail, I've got the VTT files as well.

And this is what I mean when I say all roads lead together, and these 3 concepts are colliding. It's all the same pool of Art Debt, but it's getting tackled and I'm optimistic that I can streamline this new process even further and make it efficient enough to someday even catch up.

Spacefarers

Lastly, Spacefarers art was fully delivered and Alex Siwek has completed his contract. We're very happy with his work, and I'll put out a post after PAX South with final art.

Overall State of the Campaign - Shipping Estimates for Phase 3+
over 6 years ago – Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 10:47:58 PM

Hello everyone! I'd like to answer as many questions as I can and give everyone a comprehensive reminder/update about the project at large. Individual art updates will continue in their own posts, but that does lead to a lot of unanswered questions about the overall status.

Overview

FPM2 funded the creation of 7 new packs from Arcknight. 5 full packs with 62-64 pieces (Dragonborn, Demon's Blood, Pirates, Spacefarers and Cyberpunks). 1 half-pack of 12 oversized pieces (Legendaries 2). And a 'pile' of custom minis which will likely be printed 64-per page, and clock in around 1.5 pages.

We also unlocked 3rd party packs for the Legendary Games Sampler, Deadlands, Deadlands Horde, Printable Heroes x4 (Heroes, Monsters, Giants, Oddballs & Extras), and Girl Genius.

Art Completion

The following is a completion chart for all packs in the FPM2 campaign, and also an indicator of "Phase 3" shipping.

Phase 3 Shipping

Pirates are printing this week, and using the above chart, every order that can be completed will be pushed and shipped. We're referring to this as Phase 3, and it's very exciting, since this is the first real new pack we've finished from this campaign.

Additionally, we will automatically split all domestic orders that include Pirates for free. So if you're waiting on other packs, and you have Pirates in your order, your Pirates will ship and bring other finished packs with them.

After Phase 3 completes, the only Pirates remaining to be shipped will be either in the EU block, or international orders waiting on other new packs to be complete, who have not paid for split shipping.

I believe I'll have Pirates in the warehouse this Thursday/Friday, along with a restock of many regular packs that routinely go out of stock. I believe many Phase 3 shipments will be going out on Monday the 18th, and some of you may even get them before Christmas, although it's likely past the USPS guaranteed delivery range.

Phase 3.5 Shipping

Wildlands Horde art is also finished, so after the Pirates ship to me, we'll start producing these. They will follow a similar pattern, and automatically split any domestic shipments that include Wildlands Horde.

Phase 4, and beyond

Since Damien is now finished with Wildlands Horde, and Demonsblood only needs a handful of revisions, we expect Demonsblood to be finished in early January and again will follow a similar pattern. We'll also split domestic shipments that include Demonsblood - but beyond that we'll probably hold off any more unpaid splits, in the hope that 2/5 complete packs is a good indicator that the other 3 are short behind.

Individual Packs and their estimates

Pirates - This week
Wildlands Horde - Next week
Demons Blood - Early January
Dragonborn - About 70% finished, in good communication. No specific ETA but I would estimate art in mid January, delivery by early February or sooner.
Spacefarers - A LOT of finished art, wouldn't be surprised to see this deliver in full in the next 30 days, but I don't actually have any finished .png files. Hard to estimate, but hoping for late January.
Cyberpunks - Most/all Sketches, infrequent communication, no revised ETA. No clear estimate for completion, but hopeful it will be delivered only shortly after the others. All indications say this pack will be last to deliver.

Girl Genius - Effectively cancelled, still no communication or art. If you have Girl Genius packs in your backerkit, we suggest you contact us and work out another pack or refund.

Stretch Goals - Legendaries 2 and Custom Minis

Legendaries 2 and Custom Minis will be on their own timetable. They will ship separately in most cases, in thin envelopes and will ship as soon as complete (or piggyback whatever Phase is nearly ready.)

Pirates - Art Update #3 - FINISHED!
over 6 years ago – Wed, Dec 06, 2017 at 09:18:04 AM

Pirates - Art Update #3. Art by Yadong Wang

62/62 piece are Complete, with fronts and backs for all art. Yadong Wang had a busy November and fulfilled a promise to finish the Pirates pack by the beginning of December.

Yadong has done a fantastic job and we couldn't be happier with the outcome, and I believe with the contrast and color range, the finished pieces will be wonderfully vibrant.

We're currently swamped with Christmas deliveries and such, so it's hard to know exactly when we'll be able to finish the art files and print, but if we can manage to squeeze it in there it will make a great Christmas surprise so of course we'll try our best to get that accomplished.

Here is the final art sampler with all 62x pieces - keep in mind these samplers are auto-generated and they are NOT to scale! The system scales them all together, so the small pieces like the Monkey and the large pieces like the Killer Whale and Marid end up the same size, of course in print this will not be the case.

This is the first of 5 completed packs funded entirely by this campaign, and it's going to open the floodgates as finished pieces come pouring in from all the artists. All orders that could ship if Pirates were in-hand are already pushed into Shipstation, where we'll split the orders so that your Stretch goals (Customs and Legendaries 2) will remain as live orders in our system to be delivered at a later date - while the Pirates + other Finished packs will ship.

Also, I just noticed a few pieces may have had their front + back labels swapped, particularly the Octopus, so his back made it into the sampler instead.

Here's his front in all its kooky glory =p

Legendaries 2 Update

Yadong Wang is also creating a Kraken for the Legendaries 2 set, which will be stylized in the same way as the tentacle pieces in this pack, and should make a great effect when used alongside each other (remember, most tiers included the Legendaries 2 pack as a stretch goal for free!).

Here's the current piece-list for the Legendaries 2 pack:

• 1 Balrog (finished)
• 2 Fire Giant Dreadnaught (finished)
• 3 Rhemorhaz
• 4 Cloud Giant
• 5 Death Tyrant or similar Undead Monstrosity
• 6 Cloud Giant Hero (finished)
• 7 Diseased Giant (finished)
• 8 Storm Giant Hero (finished)
• 9 Twin-Headed Dragon
• 10 Dragon-Turtle
• 11 Kraken
• 12 ???

This means we're still open for suggestions for the 12th and final Legendary piece, so if you've got any ideas of something that should be included on this list, let us know!

Just for reference, here's the 12x original Legendaries as well:

• 1 Black Dragon
• 2 Blue Dragon
• 3 Red Dragon
• 4 Green Dragon
• 5 Silver/White Dragon
• 6 Terrasquish-thing
• 7 Behemoth
• 8 Fire Giant
• 9 Ice Giant
• 10 Ballista
• 11 Hero on Gryphon
• 12 Hydra

Also also, in the Dragonborn pack, Akeiron is filling the short-wide slots with 4x elemental drakes (air, forest, water, fire) and filling the giant slots with a Wyvern, Gold Dragon, Brass Dragon, Copper Dragon, Bronze Dragon, and Shadow Dragon - SO that's why more dragons won't be necessary here. We'd prefer something unique and missing in our current offerings.

Wildlands Horde - Final item on the FPM1 backlog is hat-tip to Tomb of Annihilation
over 6 years ago – Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 10:30:37 PM

For those unaware, the original Flat Plastic Miniatures campaign promised a LOT of art, and had only a single artist slated for all of it. It wasn't really by design, it's just how stretch goals can go sometimes. It was far too much commitment for a single artist, and after an outstanding job with our 5 "Core Packs" she left the project. This left a backlog of art with a long road ahead to fruition.

With the near completion of the Wildlands Horde, the end of that road in sight, and ironically, if Wildlands Horde had been made earlier, it would look nothing like it does today...

The hardcover release of Tomb of Annihilation brought us the jungles of Chult - an exotic location with strange new beasts and creatures. And with new creatures, comes new demand for miniatures. Wild and jungle-themed miniatures. Right around the time we turned our gaze to the Wildlands horde - meant to be an expansion to our existing wildlands pack with themes that include Orcs, Nomads, Tribals, and Dinosaurs.

Well, we couldn't NOT take the opportunity to revamp the concept for this 31-piece expansion and veer it in support of jungle-centric campaigns and ToA. Without further ado, here's some art!

There will be final edits, and to those counting there's 32 pieces here including the female Half-Orc we made for the DM Starter Set, curated by SlyFlourish. We've yet to decide where the final piece will end up, and whos moving over if the half-orc is to be included.