Canopy

A Very Exciting Day in the Rainforest!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 02:40:33 AM

Greetings Rainforest Fans!

Yesterday the Canopy Preproduction copy finally arrived. Getting the PPC is a big and exciting day as it is the first glimpse of what the final product will look like. This will be a long update, full of lots of photos and details but the short story is that the game is looking fantastic. I have done a quick review of all the components and found a few issues that will need to be resolved which I will outline below. Seeing the artwork for the game in person is a real treat and I cannot wait for you all to get to appreciate the incredible art that Vincent Dutrait created for this game.

Most Anticipated Game Voting Final Round

Before we jump into PPC I wanted to invite you all to help Canopy become one of the most anticipated games of 2021 on Boardgamegeek.com. With your awesome help and support, Canopy made it into the top 50 games during the nomination process.  We are now in the final round of voting and we would love your help getting Canopy to the top of the list.  Canopy is nominated in the categories of Best Overall, Best Science, and Best Quick Game (30 minutes or under).

Voting started on Sunday and will run through February 6th. To vote follow the link below and give a thumbs up for Canopy in each of the categories it is listed in. It takes a little bit to scroll through all the categories and I really appreciate your time and help. With enough votes I feel confident our rainforest game can earn a place in the top 20, which will help us receive a lot more attention when the game is released. 

Link to Voting

Preproduction Copies Review

I have a lot of pictures to share and will intersperse some observations and details in between the pictures. At the end I will sum up the issues I have found so far and our plan going forward.

The Deluxe box is looking gorgeous and the larger size makes the art that Vincent created for the back of the box even more stunning. 

As you may have noticed the wooden Wildlife tokens and the screenprinted cloth bag are both missing from the box. I had already been sent samples of the Wildlife tokens and they come from a different factory so it makes sense that they did not include them. I am unsure of why the bag was not included and have already communicated with our project manager about that as it will need to be reviewed as well and we will need to make sure it fits. 

The Deluxe Board looks fantastic and creates a very luxurious table presence. 

The 3D first player token is lovely and it is cool to have a tree standing upright. One issue I noticed is that the punchboard tab in the bottom is too small and makes the tree quite tippy. I will be increasing the size of the base for stability. 

Issues

When doing a first printing of a game it is quite common to have some issues with the PPC that need to be worked out and Canopy is no exception. Below is a list of the current fixes that are needed. Our team will be doing a more thorough review of all the components this week and I will meet with the project manager from Panda Games Manufacturing on Friday to go over the list. 

•  Cloth Bag: I will be requesting a physical sample of this to make sure it fits in the Deluxe box and to make sure it is up the desired quality. 
•  3D Tree: Base too small.
•  Box Stickers: It was really great to open a boardgame with no plastic enclosed. Our plan with the Retail is to have paper stickers to hold the box closed. I need to see a sample of these to ensure that they can be removed cleanly without tarnishing the box. For the Deluxe version we will be doing a paper wrapping and I will need to see photographs of this to insure it properly protects the games. 
•  Sizing Issues: Both the Art print/Postcard and the storage envelopes are quite small. With the increased box size we can now increase these to a more reasonable size that will be much more functional. 

•  Cleaner cuts on the Punchboards:  As you can see on the picture below many of the punchboard shapes have edges that are slightly jagged and do not have clean cuts. This may be due to the PPC not being made in the same way the mass produced games are, but it could also be that the angles on some of the punchboards are too tight. Regardless of the cause we will correct this as we want all of the punchboard to be clean and have pristine cuts. 

The Puzzle

The puzzle is looking great and Vincent did a fantastic job on the box. We will we working to assemble it over the next week to make sure all the pieces are included and the quality is up to our desired level. I'll include pictures of our progress in the next Update.

Box Sizes, Card Sleeves and other Notes

On the last Update we had a lot of questions about whether the boxes will accommodate sleeved cards. This is something we are working on and that I hope we can find a solution for. The current inserts for the boxes do not accommodate sleeved cards, but this week I will be testing out various options that might work for both sleeved and unsleeved cards. I will share my findings with you all in the next Update. 

On the topic of sleeves I wanted to let you know that the final card counts are as follows:

176 Cards - 54 x 80 mm (Canopy cards, Seed Deck, Shifting Seasons)

7 Cards - 120 x 70 mm (New Growth/Season Cards, Player Aids)

The updated box dimensions will be:

Retail - 175 x 125 x 45mm

Deluxe - 216 x 154 x 45mm

Next Steps

I will most likely write a short Update for you all next week, once I have discussed all of the issues with the manufacturer and have a more solid idea of how resolving all of the issues will affect the timeline. In the comments feel free to ask any questions about the PPC and let me know any other photos your would like to see of the PPC. 

Until then take care, vote for Canopy on BGG, and play board games!

Tim 

Vote for Canopy as the Most Anticipated Game of 2020 here: Vote!

Bigger Boxes Needed and Most Anticipated Game
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jan 09, 2021 at 09:21:36 AM

Hi Canopy Friends,

Happy New Years to you all! Here are Weird City Games we are getting back into the swing of things after a break over the winter holidays. We are finalizing the freight shipping plan and administrative portions of Canopy and are planning what games we will be working on in the next year. 

Where is the PPC?

We had hoped to show off pictures of the Pre-Production Copy of Canopy, but unfortunately I drastically underestimated the box size needed for the components. In these first photos you can see the retail and deluxe components not fitting in their respective boxes. 

I've worked out with our manufacturer the needed box sizes and have passed those on to Vincent. Once he has adjusted the box sizes I'll get those back to our manufacturer and they'll get them made and ship out the PPC. While not getting the the delay of the PPC is a bummer, because of the Chinese New Year holiday, it shouldn't have much of an effect on our overall timeline. Our manufacturer should be able to ship out the PPC before they go on holiday and we'll have it reviewed and ready to go as soon as they return from holiday. 

Here are images of what the updated box sizes will look like. As you can see they will hold the components much more comfortably, and will display the gorgeous cover art at a larger size. We should hopefully have the full PPC by the time I write the next update and I'll share pictures of all the components. 

Vote for Canopy for Most Anticipated Game

Canopy has been nominated for Most Anticipated Game of 2021 on Boardgamegeek (BGG) and has already received 68 votes. Thank you to the person who nominated it and to everyone who gave it a thumbs up vote. If you have a BGG account we would love your support and help in getting more interest and excitement for Canopy. To vote follow this link and click on the "Thumb" icon under the Canopy image. 

Link to BGG

Next Steps

We will be eagerly awaiting the PPC and reviewing it in depth once it arrives to ensure that all the components are included and of high quality. I'll have more news and photos of the PPC for you all once it arrives. Until then stay safe, play games and enjoy nature.

Tim 

Pre-Production Copy in the Works
over 3 years ago – Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 11:15:31 PM

Hi Canopy Friends,

I hope you all are doing well and weathering these winter months (if you are in the northern hemisphere) as best as able. We here at Weird City Games are hunkering down, getting work done and playing some games when time allows. 

PPC

The Pre-Production Copy (PPC) is now in the works. This is a one off copy of the game made by the manufacturer to ensure that all the components are made as specified and look like they should. This is an exciting step as it means that in a little over 2 weeks we should be holding the first "real" copy of Canopy. It won't be the same production techniques as the final mass produced version, but will still be  a huge step towards that. 

Once we received the PPC, we'll review every detail to make sure everything is included exactly as it should be. If everything is looking as it should we will give approval for mass production and the game will be off to the printers. Unfortunately, our timing is such that we will be approving the PPC right before the Chinese New Year holiday, so our manufacturer has advised us that they won't start production until the start of February. 

Timeline

With mass production starting in February we will hopefully be able to get the games onto ocean freight by the end of April and arriving at fulfillment centers in late May or early June of next year. So I am optimistic that we can still hit our estimated delivery of June 2021. And of course, I'll keep you updated throughout the process. 

I'll send the next update after we receive the PPC so I can share pictures and details of how everything is looking. That should be sometime in the first week of January. 

Great Thanks

I've said it many times before, but I want to thank each and every one of you for helping bring this game to life. Making the game and running the Kickstarter is one of the high points in an otherwise very challenging year. Your support and enthusiasm for this game has really buoyed my spirits and makes me excited about the future. 

Take care of each other and be kind to yourself.

Happy new years to you all!

Tim

Passing Through Pre-Press
over 3 years ago – Fri, Dec 04, 2020 at 12:47:17 AM

Hi Rainforest Friends,

Two weeks ago, with a massive push, I was able to get all the files finalized and sent off to the manufacturer for pre-press approval. Unfortunately, I had foolishly rearranged my desk setup before doing 50 hours of computer work and I injured my back. I ended up having to take a week away from my computer which put us slightly behind in the pre-press process. 

Good news is I have converted to a standing desk and been able to work all week and have now corrected all the flagged issues in pre-press and submitted what are hopefully the final final versions of all the files. The files will be reviewed today and if all goes well we will be done with pre-press and onto PPC. 

The First Glimpse

The PPC (pre-production copy) is the next step in getting Canopy approved for manufacturing. The team at Panda Game Manufacturing will create a one off of all components in the game. This will be the first physical copy and I will check it to make sure all the components look good and are ready to print. We should receive the PPC before the end of December and once it is approved we will be able to start mass production of the games!

Final Changes

During the final file preparation we made a number of adjustments to the cards and rules. Here are a couple of the larger changes that occurred:

•  +1 Canopy. We added 1 additional Canopy to the base card set and removed 1 Philodendron. Not being able to finish a tree, which can occasional happen due to the random card distribution between the 3 Season piles, proved frustrating to players and we wanted to increase the number slightly. At the same time, Philodendrons which can score 8 points for a set of 3, were relatively easy to come by and we wanted to make collecting them a bit more of a risk.

•  Philodendron name change. One of our scientific proofers informed us that the plant pictured on the Philodendron was in actuality not a Philodendron, but rather a Monstera. The plant is often incorrectly referred to as the Split-Leaf Philodendron, but that is not scientifically accurate so we corrected it.

•  Solo Rules. We put the solo game through a few more rounds of testing to make sure it provided a fun and challenging experience. Solo rules are available here if you are interested in seeing them in their final form. Link to Solo Rules  

Next Steps

I'll be standing by to answer and correct any issues Panda runs into making the PPC. In the meantime, I'll be working to finalize our shipping plan and getting everything set up Kickstarter fulfillment and retail distribution of the game. 

I'll be back in two weeks with more Canopy news! 

Tim

Pre-Press Continues and Final Files Proofing
over 3 years ago – Thu, Nov 19, 2020 at 09:04:34 PM

Hello Backers,

The last few weeks have been busy and productive and we are working non-stop here at Weird City Games headquarters to get all the final touches on the files completed. 

Pre-Press Report

Tomorrow we will submit our final drafts of the cards, rulebook, token sheets, and boxes for the game to the manufacturer. Their pre-press specialist will then review the files and will get back to us with any needed revisions. In the meantime I am sharing the final cards and rules with backers who have volunteered to proofread and I will then incorporate all the pre-press revisions and proofing notes on my final pass of the files.

As long as no unforeseen obstacles arise, we are looking good to complete the pre-press process by the end of November. Our manufacturer will then prepare a PPC (pre-production copy) and send it to us for physical proofing of all the components in the game. As soon as we get the PPC approved manufacturing can commence! 

Final Proofing

I want to say another huge thank you to everyone who lent your eyes and minds to proofing and reviewing the cards and rulebook. Creating a game is a massive undertaking and it was really awesome to read and apply your notes and feel the community investment in this project. 

The final files are now uploaded on my Adobe Cloud for proofing by anyone who is interested. I will be implementing final changes on Sunday, November 22nd so the deadline for any suggested edits is Saturday, November 21st. 

To proof files follow this link: Canopy Final Files

Playtesting

Our online testing and in person testing here in Portland has wrapped up. Many thanks to everyone who tried the game and shared your thoughts and feedback. Everyone was very positive about the game and we are feeling great about where it is at. 

The digital version of Canopy is still available to play in Tabletop Simulator. If you are interested in checking it out you can find all the info in the previous Update.

We will be accepting playtest feedback until Saturday, November 21st, but feel free to play it anytime.

That is all the Canopy news for now. Stay safe and I'll be back again in early December.

Tim