Tabletop Gaming Awards - Please vote now!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 09:40:37 PM

Dear Backers, 

It must be awards season, because now Escape the Dark Sector has another chance to win at the Tabletop Gaming Awards 2021!

The shortlist for these awards is generated entirely by a public vote, so we're asking each and every one of you wonderful people to please take just a few minutes to VOTE FOR US in the BEST INDIE GAME category. 

HOW TO VOTE

CLICK HERE to go to the voting form, and then hit the VOTE NOW button. 

You'll need to enter your email address, then just scroll down to the 'Best Indie Game 2021' box where you'll enter "Escape the Dark Sector, Themeborne" so it looks like this: 

Then scroll down to the bottom, hit SUBMIT and you're done! 

You can vote for games in other categories while you're there, but it's fine to leave the other fields blank. 

WE CAN DO IT!

As you saw with the UK Games Expo People's Choice Award, your vote really matters. 

If you all vote, we'll be in with a real chance of being shortlisted and making it through to the final. 

These awards mean a lot to us. They help secure our future and our ability to keep making games for you to enjoy, so please show your support if you like our stuff. 

Together we can make it happen! 

Thank you all. 

We won!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 09:50:51 PM

Dear Backers, 

Escape the Dark Sector is now a double-award-winning game!

Making a clean sweep of the Best Dice Game category at the UK Games Expo Awards 2021,  Escape the Dark Sector won both the Judges Award and the People's Choice Award. There is no bigger prize in the UK gaming scene, so we're absolutely delighted. Thank you to everyone who voted. As you can see, your vote matters!

Of course we want to congratulate Tom, Alex, and James as the designers, and everyone else who has lent Themeborne a helping hand along the way, but most of all we want to congratulate you - our backers. 

The beauty of crowdfunding

You see, you did this.  Each and every one of you deserves a share of the credit and of the satisfaction for what has been achieved here. 

While some people are calling out Kickstarter for becoming 'a pre-order store', it's important to take a step back and look at our story as an example of how crowdfunding is 'supposed' to work, and how it can still work when done right. 

Way back in 2017, when no-one had heard of us, when all we had were ideas and determination, you backed our vision. We wrote these words in that original campaign: 

"If you back this project, not only will you be securing your very own copy of the first edition, you’ll be helping a talented new team of designers enter the industry."

Well, here we are five years later, and true to our word we have entered the industry and secured a foothold as a small design studio. We have one award-winning game series under our belt and on your shelves, and we're already working hard on top secret future projects. You did this. 

We've said it many times along the way, but at a moment like this when we just celebrated our 5th 'birthday' as a company AND won our first couple of awards, we simply have to down tools and give you all another round of applause. None of it would not have been possible without your support and enthusiasm. 

We love our crowdfunding community. We've always done our best to make you happy, and you will always be at the forefront of our minds when we create future projects, whether on this platform or another. 

We're working hard to battle through the current troubles the industry is facing, and to deliver the outstanding rewards we know you're waiting for. It is very difficult for small publishers, but we're making slow and steady progress and we're confident we'll survive. A large part of that confidence comes from knowing that we have you with us through thick and thin. That is the beauty of crowdfunding. Thank you for being part of it.  

The future is bright. We'll see you there! 

The most beautiful thing we've ever made?
over 2 years ago – Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 03:02:10 AM

Dear Backers, 

Manufacture is proceeding quite well and our pre-production samples have just arrived!

This is a major milestone and a great moment for the team, when all the designs and artwork we've spend countless hours labouring over come together for the first time. 

Not only do we finally get to see the overall effect in real life (rather than on our screens and mock ups), we also we get see if 'we got it right' in terms of all the practical things like the precise measurements for the boxes and inserts. 

We hope you'll enjoy this moment as much as we do!

Samples

As you can see everything is looking great: 

The Sector Collector's Box might just be the most beautiful thing we've ever made. It's exquisite. 

In terms of inserts, everything fits rather well (trust us, this part isn't easy) but we're going to make some small adjustments here and there to give you better quality of life as a user, and to make the box more durable and last longer. 

Here's a reminder of the layout (this diagram will  be found in the Collector's Box rule book) 

The Medical Dials are also looking pretty cool. Since our last update we added a second wheel so you can include your crewmembers name, and that also balances this component out and helps it sit on the table with more stability: 

We don't have the new dice to show you yet, and we won't show you any more cards to avoid spoilers, but the dice are on their way so we'll maybe do another update when those get here next month. 

Timeline

Based on these samples, and a few tweaks, we've given the go ahead to move into the final stages of production & assembly. We're happy to say that at this moment we don't feel the need to revise the previous estimated delivery date of Q4 2021. 

Unfortunately we can't narrow it down yet either, but currently that estimate still seems possible to hit, which in this climate we consider 'good news'. 

We'll update you again when production draws to a close and booking the ocean cargo becomes reality, at which time we'll also be able to confirm if additional contributions will be requested or not, as previously mentioned. 

For now, we press on!

Do you like what you see? Let us know in the comments below. 

We've been nominated - please vote today!
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jul 13, 2021 at 09:54:04 PM

We're thrilled to announce that Escape the Dark Sector has been nominated in the BEST NEW DICE GAME category of the UK Games Expo Awards 2021. 

 This is the first time we've ever been nominated for anything and we're hugely excited.

 It's an honour that the judges have put our game on a shortlist of just three, along with Paper Dungeons and Trek 12. Congratulations to our fellow nominees Alley Cat Games and Lumberjacks Studio. 

 To win this award would really mean a lot to us, and that is where you come in. The public vote is a very important part of the process. We're in with a good chance and just need your help to get over the line.

 Please CLICK HERE TO VOTE for Escape the Dark Sector !

You don't need to log in or sign up, and it only takes a few seconds.  Just scroll down to the BEST NEW DICE GAME CATEGORY and hit the 'vote now' button which looks like this:

The winners of each category will be announced at UK Games Expo on Sunday 1st August at 3pm. 

 Fingers crossed, and thank you for your support!

Files sent to print! (global shipping concerns)
almost 3 years ago – Sat, Jun 19, 2021 at 12:42:08 AM

Dear backers,

We're happy to announce the Expand the Universe files have been sent to the printer!

This is a huge and happy moment, marking the end of our creative input into this substantial project - and only a couple of weeks later than we were aiming for. Celebrations are in order! 

As always, we poured a lot of heart and soul into these designs. We're very proud of them, and we're sure you're going to have a lot of fun when it all finally lands on your doorstep.

Next comes the production and shipping stages, and we'll keep you posted as we hit the various key milestones of those. 

Speaking of which...

Global Trade Crisis

It's worth taking a few minutes to explain that since this campaign originally funded the world of production and shipping has changed drastically for the worse.

As many of you will already be aware from following other board game projects, we are in the midst of a global trade crisis which has already impacted our industry terribly, with more negative impact likely to follow. 

Please watch this great video from Quackalope which explains it well:

Many other of our prominent industry peers have also been speaking out about it, because the sheer magnitude of this problem means we're very much 'all in this together':

For Themeborne, the production and shipping of this project is going to cost more and take longer than we could have possibly planned for.  We don't know exactly how much extra cost we're talking about yet (but early estimates suggest it is 'thousands') or exactly how much longer it will take.  

Normally we just 'swallow' this kind of thing, and there have been plenty of painful cost increases during our past projects which we never mention. But, if the extra costs this time are substantial, we may ask our loyal backers for voluntary additional contributions to help us bear it. 

We certainly hope it won't come to that, but please let us know in the comments if that is something which would be acceptable to you given the circumstances. 

Revised Delivery Date

One action we do need to take now is to revise our estimated delivery date for this project. We obviously need to push it back from the original estimate of August 2021 but in truth we cannot know how far to push it back at this stage.  

This is totally uncharted territory, so we think it is more realistic to give a new, broader estimate of 'Quarter 4, 2021' (that's somewhere between October and December 2021) and then we can narrow that estimate down as we get more info along the way. To try and be any more specific would not be fair to you because we simply don't know. 

It goes without saying that we'll do everything we can to expedite things where possible. But this seems to be the brutal reality of the world we live in at present, and there isn't much anyone can do about it.    

Thank you all for your continued support, and rest assured one way or another we will battle through all this and get you the games you helped to create. 

Despite everything, there is still plenty of happy gaming ahead!

We're away this weekend to take a breath, but we will respond to your comments and questions on this update when we are back in the studio next week. 

The Themeborne Team