A ferocious feline card game filled with cunning, mischief, and schadenfreude for 2-6 Hoomins!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Post Kickstarter Update #3: Progress and Setbacks
over 7 years ago
– Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 10:45:18 PM
Greetings, Hoomins!
We are a little more than midway through October and we have another batch of news and updates for you. While we have a few great bits of news, we also have some curve balls that have caused delays. First off, some good stuff:
MILESTONE: Digital Proofs
We received the digital proofs for the game on the 19th! We made a few last minute adjustments after catching some typos and noticing a few places we can bring more life into the components.
After seeing the proofs from AdMagic, we decided to add a bit of color to our player tokens. =3
Once this art is cleared by the printers, we should have some solid estimates of when, exactly, we will begin shipping games. We should also mention we are printing with AdMagic! They are some of the fastest in the business so production will happen very quickly once the proofs are locked and ready to go.
Proof sheets from AdMagic's factory.
KICKSTARTER GOODIES
Now that production is on the horizon, I can announce what we KNOW will be happening with Kickstarter goodies.
The final postcard designs for the Kickstarter Edition!
As promised, we will be delivering a set of three adorable postcards and a limited edition letter press print as a "Thank You."
We also decided to include a copy of the Promo card we announced for the Labyrinth Masquerade to ALL backers.
Lord Phoenix joins the fray for Kickstarter Backers ONLY!
This card will have an elegant satin finish to distinguish it from the rest of your deck. It can be used with the "Phoenix" token to add a bit of fantasy flare to your game of Cantankerous Cats.
These cards will NEVER be sold and will only be given to Kickstarter backers.
We also have one more component we are trying to squeeze in, but we will have to wait until we have the first physical proofs before we can estimate the cost and viability for it.
DELAYS and HICCUPS
Unfortunately, delays happen in a project with this many moving parts. To that end, October has been a bit of a rough month for us personally, and me (Al) in particular. Thankfully, none of this has been a huge financial burden, but there were a lot of emergency scenarios that have all required my immediate personal attention.
Because of these things, I have been personally unable to stay as on top of this project as I would like. There were more than a few times where a simple phone call would turn into a series of events that were too urgent for me to ignore. During those times our printer and my team were left waiting for decisions only I could make. For these things, I apologize.
I still think we can have games to our backers by the end of the year presuming the next round of proofs go smoothly. Retail, however, might have to wait until 2017. This last note bring me to the final portion of this update:
BACKERKIT UPDATES
As many of you may have noticed, our lock in date for BackerKit has passed. This process is something that has to be personally looked after by me and I have been too sick to work for most of last week.
Now that I am healthy, I will be sending one FINAL reminder to backers with outstanding surveys so we can begin locking orders ASAP. I will begin the lockdown process tomorrow starting with BackerKit. Those with outstanding surveys will have until NOV 1st to complete them.
That about wraps up the latest update for Cantankerous Cats. I hope you all can understand our situation and thank you in advance for your patience. While seeing the project come together is exciting, it frustrates me that we have had a rough time keeping everything on track for December.
The only thing I can promise you all is that I will endeavor to stay open about the process and keep you posted about any developments as they happen.
I thank you all for your time, support, and good will on this journey.
Until next time, Al Gonzalez Alpha Hoomin for Cantankerous Cats
Milestone Update: Artwork Complete!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 10:13:07 PM
Greetings, Hoomins!
We are back from our extended radio silence to bring you a few major updates. We know many of you have been waiting on pins and needles for the next update, so I will dive right into the news:
Artwork is Complete!
As of Monday, Sept 19, 2016, Elise has completed the FINAL painting of the game! It did take a touch longer than we had hoped to get all of the paintings finished, but the end product is worth the wait.
Tribute Cats (left to right): Walter, Matisse, & Shabby
We have some very high standards for the art in this game and we were wrestling with some details on a few of the card illustrations. Some of the toughest ones turned out to be a few of our favorites:
Tribute Cats (left to right): Glitch & Sugar, Smokey & Lacey, Pablo
We want to extend another big thank you to our Tribute Edition backers. Part of the reason we were able to knock 20 paintings out in about a month is because having great reference takes a great weight off of the design process and you all came through in spades.
Tribute Cats (Left to Right): Chu Chu, Momma, Martini
BackerKit Preorders & Surveys
A few of you may have noticed us working through some issues with BackerKit. BackerKit themselves has been great with walking us through our problem areas and sorting things out with the shopping cart features. Everything seems pretty smooth as of last week, so you all have our undying gratitude for sticking it out with us.
On that note, we are EXTENDING the survey deadline to October 16th! There are a few factors that are allowing us to do this. We will detail some of the reasons in a behind the scenes update, but for now we will just say that this is a good thing. The important note is BackerKit preorders will NOT be charged until October 16th when we lock in our surveys.
We also finished the box art! Featuring our own Sir Phoenix and Tribute Cat Chu Chu!
We know times have been quiet around here lately, so we appreciate your patience and understanding as we plow through our last milestones as we race for the finish line. As always, if you want the most up to the minute info, we highly encourage everyone to follow us on Instagram: @menthadesigns
Most of what we are working on right now involves a lot of phone calls, paperwork, lawyers, and haggling. That sort of material does not generally make compelling reading, but we are constantly posting bite sized updates on our Instagram account.
Thank you all again for your support. Things are getting very exciting over here and we will be talking about Kickstarter Exclusives, Printing, & our event schedule in the next update.
-Al, Elise, & Co.
Post Kickstarter Update #2: Surveys, Art, & Charity!
over 7 years ago
– Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 10:35:48 PM
Greetings, Hoomins!
Today we have a bevy of fantastic announcements to make. The first of which is the moment you have all been waiting for...
Our funding has cleared the banks!
This means we will be sending out your BackerKit surveys as soon as tomorrow and no later than Monday. The surveys will collect the following information from you:
Name and Address (so we can send your game(s) to you!)
Secondary Shipping (In case the game you are buying is a gift.)
Local Pickup Option! (If you are in Southern California, you can pick up your games from us when they arrive to help us save a few bucks and get them faster)
Tribute & Portrait Edition images (we've been diligent in collecting what we need, but we are triple checking to make sure we don't miss anybody)
Choose Your Painting! (For ARTIST EDITION Backers)
ADD-ONS! (You can purchase additional copies of the game and extra goodies)
We will also be announcing what, exactly, we are stuffing into the KS Edition boxes. We have been talking to our printers and racking our brains to figure out how we can put that extra shine on the game while staying within the budget we have. We will, of course, post an update when we lock everything in. That being said, we have made a bit more progress on the art!
Tribute Cards: Sunbathe and Tummy Trap
"Sunbathe" and "Tummy Trap" by Elise Spacek
Elise just put the finishing touches on these gorgeous updates for our Tribute Edition backers! "Sunbathe" has been updated to feature Tribute Cat "Teckie" and "Tummy Trap" now features Tribute Cat "Samson." The flesh and blood kitties are presented below and I think Elise has done a masterful job of capturing them both.
We will be raffling off the last remaining prototype of Cantankerous Cats at Meltdown Comics to help her raise money for Reach Out & Read, a charity that specializes in spreading reading a literature to children in hospitals all over the USA.
This copy of the game will come in a hand assembled, laser cut wooden box with wooden tokens. All of the components will be laser cut from sturdy art board like the copy we carry around with us for show.
The best news? You don't have to be in Los Angeles to win! Every donation of $10 at celebritychariD20.com will snag you a chance to win this and other amazing prizes from our friends at Geek & Sundry, Hero Forge, and other big names in geekdom and gaming! Most importantly to us, it also supports a charity that spreads reading, literacy, and the love of storytelling to small Hoomins all over the United States.
The event starts at 10:00AM Pacific on Sunday, August 28th and runs until 8:00PM Pacific. If you are in the LA area, you can drop by Meltdown Comics to play a round or two with Al! If you are not in the area, you can check out the live stream of the event on the CelebrityCharid20 website.
Thank you all for your support and we hope you have a PURRFECT weekend! -Al and Elise: The Mischevious Minds behind Cantankerous Cats
Post Kickstarter Update #1: New Art!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 07:55:15 PM
Greetings, Hoomins!
We've been on radio silence since the end of Kickstarter to catch up on client work, return some favors, and push ahead with art for the final game. We are having a meeting tomorrow to plan out the rest of the art timeline and pose a few questions to you, our backers, in the form of Google Surveys!
The first of these quandries is related to something we've been wrestling with since day one: The Score Board.
"The Neighborhood" by Elise Space (paints) and Al Gonzalez (pencils)
The big debate has been whether to use numbers or paws on the board. There are great arguments for both, so we thought we would put the subject up to vote for our backers.
We will be sending a link to a Google Survey after our meeting tomorrow to let the community voice their opinion on this crucial part of the game. While we will not be bound to the results, they will heavily influence the decision.
We also have a few new cards to show off, but we will save that for tomorrow. For now, we just wanted everyone to know that we are indeed working on the game and that we haven't forgotten about this lovely community that stepped in to help us reach our dreams.
Thank you all for your support and we will see you in tomorrow's update! -Al Gonzalez Project Director
We are funded!
almost 8 years ago
– Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 04:27:14 PM
Greetings, Hoomins!
First off, we want to thank you all for the amazing support you have all shown our project. With your help, we raised just under $23,000 and that is no small accomplishment.We thank you for everything and are excited to start on the next leg of our journey. While the next couple of weeks are going to be quiet on the update front, we can lay out the basic framework in this update:
Funding & Production
It will take two weeks for Kickstarter to track and transfer all of the funds into our account. During this time, we will be talking to our printer, finalizing production schedules, and producing the paintings featuring the "Tribute Edition" cats. Elise has already finished FOUR of them during this campaign. Three of which you can see below:
"Feeding Frenzy," "Peace Offering," and "New Dog"
BackerKit and Backer Surveys
We will be sending out our surveys using BackerKit after the two-week waiting period for funds is complete. We are doing this to help us organize, track, and better manage the fulfillment side of this project. BackerKit also gives us the ability to easily track and allow our backers to order multiple copies of the game. It also allows you to easily change and modify information up until the moment we ship.
In a nutshell, it gives us everything we and our backers wish he had the flexibility for from Kickstarter's tools. This should make the experience smoother for everyone involved.
Stretch Goals
While we did not hit any stretch goals, we ARE going to continue taking funds through BackerKit. Any funds we take will count towards those goals. HOWEVER...
We are talking to our printers to see what special goodies we can add to the KS Edition without breaking the budget. We may not have hit any stretch goals, but we DO have extra budget and we want to stretch it as far as we can. We will keep you posted on what the final KS Edition will include.
Thank you all again for your support. We could not have made it this far without every single one of you and we are eternally grateful. This is only the start of this journey and we hope you will enjoy taking it with us.
