Fulfillment Is Complete -- If You Still Have an Issue....
As the title indicates, general fulfillment for this project is complete. We know there are some folks who have had issues with their shipment. If you have a problem and have not already emailed [email protected], please do so. We will make sure we get everything sorted out for you.
If you have already emailed us, we will be working to get caught up on all our emails that came in over the holidays. Additionally, I'm happy to report that Josh Heake will be moving to full-time with us for customer service to make sure we are providing you the best and most responsive service we can. Rest assured, if you don't have your game or need a replacement part, we will work with you until you get it.
This was a very exciting project, and we are happy to see folks enjoying their games. But don't rest easy ... the Tower never sleeps.
Lots to cover in this update, so buckle up. Let's start with...
Fulfillment
US and Canada are underway. It should wrap up by the end of the month. They are probably about halfway done, so no need to worry or reach out if you haven't gotten a shipping notice or received your game yet. Rest of World will process after those go out.
UK/EU and Asia should start shipping out by the end of this week or next week. Keep in mind that different locations within these regions will take longer to process and ship. In particular, the shipping process for Asia can extend out for a longer stretch than some of the other regions. As always, patience.
As I mentioned before, Australia had some COVID-related staffing issues to deal with. They are largely over the hump but behind in general. They expect to start shipping in "early November".
Reminder: If you have an issue with a lost or damaged shipment or missing or damaged parts, please contact Quartermaster Logistics directly via the Contact form on their website.
App Conflict with Android 14
EDIT: Our developers were able to fix the problem and have already released the new build. So, no worries. Appreciate everyone's patience and understanding while we got that sorted out.
As you might have heard, an issue has popped up with a conflict between Android 14 and the RTDT app. This is well beyond my understanding, so I asked our app developer and lead engineer to break down the issue in "plain" language:
The recent rollout of Android 14 caused unforeseen conflicts with portions of the code used in the RTDT app ("libraries") that are necessary for it to function. While this currently only affects Google Pixel devices, the problem will expand as more devices move over to Android 14. The next steps are finding replacements for the affected libraries and testing them to make sure they don't cause other issues. Our programmers estimate this will take a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the app is playable on any device not using Android 14 that meets our minimum specifications.
I want to be clear, this is not an issue that we had any warning was going to pop up, but we jumped in immediately to start working on a solution. And, of course, I'll pass on updates from the team as I get them. We're sorry for the inconvenience -- especially for those you who can't find an alternate way to play the game until then.
And Other Stuff
Now that you all are starting to get your hands on the app, you will undoubtedly find a few typos or UI glitches here or there. Please report any bugs, typos, or other issues with the app using our bug reporting form. Having them all come through the same channel will make sure we don't miss something on a future update.
Those of you who got Coffers 2 might have noticed that the upgraded offering tokens pictured in the image are not in the set. During final pre-production, we determined that the size of the token did not work well for the regular coffers treatment. In lieu of that, we have provided swirly, golden cubes as alternate offering tokens in the Covenant box proper. To be clear: There are no offering tokens in Coffers 2.
Finally, Makeship are heading into the homestretch on their Tower plushie campaign. They're cute, and they come with a felt skull you can tuck into the portal pocket. Give it a look before the campaign ends.
I'm seeing a couple of folks saying they were shorted sleeves. That is most likely not the case and is just a situation of using the wrong sleeves for the wrong cards. This happened with the original campaign as well, and honestly we probably should have added something to the label to clarify.
The Covenant sleeves pack contains:
11 small, printed sleeves: These are for the Astromancers spells/invocations (and includes 1 extra) 21 small, clear sleeves: 8 blessing cards and 12 corruptions (1 extra) 21 large, printed sleeves: 20 treasure cards (1 extra) 9 large, clear sleeves: 8 monument cards (1 extra)
If you are indeed missing sleeves, you can always request replacements through Quartermaster Logistics contact page.
Makeship works a lot like Kickstarter or BackerKit, but it's on their own website. They put up the plushie design for 3 weeks. If enough people pledge to get it, they go ahead and make them and ship them out. Importantly, Makeship have been doing this for 5 years now, and their process is well tested and refined. If you back for the Tower plushie, you'll get it in January. For full disclosure, we get a very modest cut if this is successful, but we really just thought it would be a fun thing for the fans of the game. As part of the design process, I received a production copy, and, well, it's as adorable as it is evil (and as big as my head):
As for the Covenant campaign, as some of you probably noticed, the shipping emails are already going out. In good news, Quartermaster Logistics informed us that they were able to push up the starting ship date for US/Canada backers, and they will start going out this week! The international hubs (other than AU) are on track to start shipping out in the next week or so, and we continue to monitor the situation in Australia, which is looking like a November start date.
The Makeship campaign for the plushie Tower will be starting soon, but Makeship are doing a giveaway on Twitter/X right now! All you have to do is go to THIS TWEET, make sure you're following Makeship and us and then retweet. It's open to folks worldwide. So go do that right now, and then come back for the boring fulfillment stuff.
Just kidding, the fulfillment stuff is exciting too. We have confirmation from QML that they are making final preparations to start shipping to US/Canada backers in the next couple of weeks. All other hubs will follow shortly after that, except for AU. Aetherworks are apparently having some major illness issues at their warehouse. We are keeping an eye on it, but it could push the start date there to November.
Importantly: Address verification emails could start going out as early as this weekend. They will be coming from [email protected]. Please keep an eye out for them and feel free to whitelist that address to make sure it doesn't hit your spam folder.
[EDIT: Clarified that the giveaway is being run by Makeship, not Restoration Games.]
Well, that was quick. We're still on pace to begin fulfillment in October, and it's looking like sooner rather than later. In anticipation of folks getting their games, we went ahead and submitted the expansion update to the iOS App Store. They don't let you decide when to release, and you can't control how long the review process takes. We wanted to be sure that folks had the app when they received the expansion, so we submitted now. And they approved it almost immediately. (Who knows, maybe Tim Cook is a huge RTDT fan?) In any case, version 1.3.1 is now available in the App Store and should be up in the Google Play and Amazon app stores later today.
I hope it goes without saying, but you cannot play the Covenant expansion without the physical components. If you don't mind spoilers, you're welcome to select the expansion and poke around if that's your jam. In the meantime, though, you can still play with the app as normal without selecting the expansion.
In the update, you'll notice a little tweak to the UI for selecting expansions to make it a little cleaner. And of course, the Covenant expansion in all its glory: new main goals, monuments, wastelands, doom skulls, and more! It feels wrong to say somehow, but have fun!
As the title indicates, general fulfillment for this project is complete. We know there are some folks who have had issues with their shipment. If you have a problem and have not already emailed [email protected], please do so. We will make sure we get everything sorted out for you.
If you have already emailed us, we will be working to get caught up on all our emails that came in over the holidays. Additionally, I'm happy to report that Josh Heake will be moving to full-time with us for customer service to make sure we are providing you the best and most responsive service we can. Rest assured, if you don't have your game or need a replacement part, we will work with you until you get it.
This was a very exciting project, and we are happy to see folks enjoying their games. But don't rest easy ... the Tower never sleeps.
This was originally available at Secret Cabal 2023 Kickstarter campaign. Somehow I totally missed this campaign. So: Is there a way get this card when exclusive period ends (if there ever was such period)?
Finally got Covenant played and was very disappointed that it could not be played together with Alliances expansion. Did I miss an update because the campaign rules said that it could. This is extremely disappointing and I feel duped!!!
Now that I've played a few games one thing is very apparent - the Tower goes through batteries like a kid with a bag of Halloween candy. A brand new set of batteries will begin to get "Low Battery" warnings within a half hour of installation. In 1-2 hours the Tower will begin to "Jam" during rotations. Removing the batteries and checking them with a battery tester will still read in the Good range, although towards the lower end of that range. Apparently the Tower can tolerate very little drop in the 4.5V a fresh set provides.
Up to this point all of the batteries I've used have been regular Duracell copper tops because that's what I had on hand. I just purchased some
Energizer Ultra Lithium batteries to try so I'll see how those work out. I'd be interested on hearing from others on their experiences with battery life and what brand seems to have the longest durability. A high power battery pack like the RC planes and cars use would be welcome upgrade. As I'm planning to host two sessions of Return To Dark Tower at Owlcon next month I don't want to be caught short. It would be disappointing to the players as well as bad PR for the game if it doesn't hold up without having to repeatedly put fresh batteries in the Tower.
