Hello everyone!! I've been getting a few very justifiable emails and comments about a production update and unfortunately the sample still isn't ready. :(
Since we've last spoke I've been passed to two more factory reps and I can only attribute the slowness to the fact that I'm probably a small time customer who's just not top priority. I just want you all to know I'm not sitting on my hands over here and totally understand your frustration and deeply appreciate your patience!
So far the box, cards, manual, tokens, premium tokens and dice have all been sampled and look great (YAY) but for some reason it's been three weeks and they're still working on the printed sleeves. I am told they will be ready next Wednesday, which means they'll be able to ship everything out to me for approval before mass production.
I do at least have some new things to show you!! I'm so psyched about how the premium tokens and the die turned out!! I'm sorry the photos aren't the best, when I have it in hand I'll take a video and show you everything up close!
Just a quick note about the add-ons, the stickers and fabric tags are ready in my studio. The pins and playmats are in production AND THE PLAYMAT IS HUGE and looks so cool. Even if you're not playing Underleaf on it, I think it will make an awesome deskmat, craft mat or like pet food mat. Idk, I really love it!!
Thank you all again for your understanding!! I said it last time but making a board game is a totally different beast from a pin or plushie campaign and I'm learning lots so next time ;) things will go a lot smoother.
Hello! Hope you all had a happy holidays! :) Underleaf is long overdue for an update - thanks for sticking with me everyone. Board game manufacturing is a new thing for me and I am learning lots, haha.
In early December I jumped on an opportunity to move Frog Tree (and me) into a larger space but needed to make sure Black Friday/Christmas orders went out first before I could start packing as well as take some time off to spend with family over the Holidays. This is super exciting but has taken up a lot of time. This combined with the slow progress and back-and-forth communication with the factory I have committed to continues to drag things along. Particularly with safety testing and certification processes - this is very new to me as an artist.
Some good news though - I have partnered with a US fulfillment warehouse for my pin club and plan on using them for this project to. This should bring down US shipping fees quite a bit as well as speed up shipping when the time comes.
All that to say, things are getting there and I'm very grateful for your patience and support as I figure things out. Laura
Hello everyone - I figured I owed you another update! Unfortunately there isn't much big news. :< TLDR: Last update I said I was expecting copies before the end of the year, and I think that's still true but shipping will get pushed until after the New Year. It seems like a lot of little things keep pushing back shipping the whole sample by a week or two and it's really adding up. I finally got photos of the cards a while back and they needed to be resubmitted, reproofed and reprinted with the new files - takes time unfortunately! I am expecting more photos of the wooden tokens, rulebook and the box next week! These aren't the best photos, haha but here they are!
US Shipping On this front I have made some progress and am shipping US orders out with relative ease! I'm hoping things keep stable!!
Thanks so much for all your patience!! I really appreciate it. Laura
Hello!! Thanks so much for your patience - Underleaf is long overdue an update! Thanks to everyone for filling out the surveys!
TLDR:Progress is ongoing but slowed down a bit following some hiccups with the manufacturer. Copies are expected before the end of the year. (Depending on how tariffs play out.) Through Frog Tree I've had the chance to work with a lot of different kinds of manufacturers for a lot of different kinds of products. Tabletop games however are new and I didn't have the experience or relationship with a factory to follow through on a very speedy production. Before I launched Underleaf I collected a handful of quotes and ended up placing a deposit on mass production before I was ready with the files - committing to this one factory. Since then I've been bounced between factory reps - literally four or five people now and communication has been slow. I've raised this issue with them and been connected with someone who's been very responsive and progress right now is progressing. It's very important to me to get the samples perfect before mass production. It hasn't helped that I've been going full throttle on conventions and events over the summer to supplement lost online income from the tariff madness. So I apologize for the delay and for the delay in updating you all! All of the add-on merch has been designed and sampled - some of it ordered so when the games are ready that won't hold me back!
US Shipping Again, it's hard for me to comment on this right now but I am looking more at hiring a US fulfillment warehouse if tariffs/de minimis charges aren't reasonable when I'm ready to ship out.
I'll share a video showing off the sample when I receive it! Shouldn't be too much longer.
Thank you all again, I am so grateful for your support. Laura
Hi! Quick update: I mentioned previously that surveys would be coming this week but I'm going to push that to next week. There's a beta Backerkit feature that might let me postpone making a decision on the shipping fees while still getting surveys out for item counts for manufacturing. This would be useful for my American backers, given all the madness described in update 2.1.
I'll need a bit of time to see if this will work for Underleaf, how it will work for me for fulfillment and how it will work for you as a backer! If it's straightforward I'll likely go ahead with that, either way I'll update you all next week!
