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This week we've been working towards meeting deadlines. The
ultimate deadline is in early October, when we're expecting to
receive the first batch of injection-molded
plastic Icehouse pieces from KLON. By that time, we need
to have everything else that will go into the product, finished,
in-hand, and ready for assembly, so that we can put all the elements
together and begin selling Icehouse sets the moment the actual
pieces arrive.
What this means is that we are up to our eyeballs in work
right now, finalizing the text for the rules, working up cover
illustrations and other new diagrams, doing the page layout,
creating artwork for 4 different stickers, plus reference cards
and other inserts, etc etc etc... but things are coming along
extremely well, and this product is going to rock!
However, amidst all the actual production work, we've also
had to find time to create marketing materials. One of the earliest
deadlines we faced came at the start of this week, when we had
to have the artwork for the Pre-Release postcard in the hands
of the printer. They're being printed now, and barring any problems
we'll be sending those out at the end of next week, as an announcement
of the imminent release of Icehouse and with all the details
of our Pre-Order special. We plan on sending this mailing out
to everyone on our accumulated mailing lists of friends, fans,
family, supporters, business associates, and past customers,
so if you're on any of those lists, you'll probably get one.
 The
postcard we designed features the concept drawing of the product
I did a few weeks ago (with some improvements by Alison,
who added the sizing pips and
also gave the pieces some transparency). This illustration is,
naturally, accompanied by some text, which gives an overview
of the product, short blurbs on the featured four games, and
the pricing schedule, which we finally settled on a few days
ago.
One of the first questions everyone asks about the new Icehouse
sets is "How much are they gonna cost?" After months
of speculation, the numbers are finally in, and the answer is:
$29.95 each. However, we do want to give some kind of break to
our long time fans who've been ready for years to order a set
just as soon as we were able to sell one, so from now until Halloween
(the official release date) we will be offering the sets at a
pre-release price of only $26.95. For those who like to buy in
bulk (the holidays are coming, after all), we'll also be selling
a 6 pack of Icehouse sets for $144. Furthermore, if you order
before September 20th, we'll even pay the shipping! (Why September
20th? Because that's when we have to make the final decision
regarding the size of the initial print run.)
We will begin accepting pre-orders through our online gift
shop in one week. All pre-orders will be filled as soon as we
have finished sets, and your credit card will not be charged
until your set is in the mail.
Last week I mentioned that a guy in California named Kory
Heath had tinkered up both a java version of Aquarius and a new
Icehouse game. Kory says he's not ready to release Javaquarius
just yet, but is eager to enlist some help in playtesting Pantopia.
He's already got the first version of the rules online, so if
you've got an Icehouse set, 2 Aquarius decks, and some free time,
give Pantopia
a try. He'd love to get some feedback.
I've only played it a couple of times so far, but I think
it's really cool. It's got a great feel to it, and after we've
had some time to really shake the rules down, I think it'll become
a favorite.
I should warn you, however, that his initial draft of the
rules is very long, and it reads like a technical manual. Kory
is discovering that designing games and writing rules for them
are very different challenges, and just as John
Cooper has shown us repeatedly in the past, being good at
one doesn't necessarily make you good at the other. (Which is
why Andrew Plotkin is currently re-writing the rules for Zarcana
for us... Thanks, Zarf!)
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