Pre-order, Beta, and Early Access News!
over 4 years ago
– Tue, Jan 07, 2020 at 09:11:21 PM
TLDR: The news in 4 points
1. We are opening up TaleSpire for pre-order (which also gives you access to the February Beta)
2. We are pushing back the Early Access date but using point 1 to make sure that folks who missed the Kickstarter can get in sooner than initially planned
3. If you missed the Kickstarter or simply want to secure more copies you can do this now
4. We will be delivering rewards via BackerKit
Full details:
Hi all! We've had an intense four months building the TaleSpire Beta, and with less than two months left it's time for some news.
BackerKit
We have teamed up with BackerKit to help us deliver the backer rewards when the time comes. This means that you'll be receiving an email from BackerKit in the coming weeks. For those of you who are familiar with crowdfunding, you may have seen this service before. For those unfamiliar with BackerKit, please read the FAQ down below.
Pre-orders (the whys and the hows)
Even though the Kickstarter was backed by way more people than we expected, we have still received tonnes of messages from people who missed the original campaign and wanted to get into the Beta. Although it was not part of the original plan, we have decided to use BackerKit's pre-order system to make this happen.
This means that:
- For those who have already backed: This is a way to get additional copies
- For those who missed the original campaign: This lets you (and your party if you like) secure copies of TaleSpire while also getting into the Beta. This means you will have access in late February rather than waiting for the Early Access that we initially scheduled for April.
You will notice that we are only providing an option to get copies of the base game (which means additional copies if you have already backed); none of the Kickstarter rewards are available. This is deliberate, and the reason is that during the campaign, we stated that those were Kickstarter exclusive rewards. To us, it felt wrong to go back on that promise.
Hold up, what's that about the Early Access?
Our roadmap to Early Access was a bit too ambitious and so, to make sure we give you something we are happy with, we are delaying the Early Access to later in 2020. 'Later in 2020' is vague but (mercifully) is not marketing speak for 'Next Christmas' - instead, it means that we know we need more time, but we don't want to mislead by trying to guess how many months. We'll get back to you with concrete dates as soon as we can.
A few of the features that will be waiting until the early access are modding support, foam blocks and official community content sites.
This means that:
- For those who have already backed: Not too many changes, as you were already getting access to the Beta in late February. We are just going to take a bit longer to get you the features scheduled for the early access.
- For those who missed the original campaign: You can now either choose to use the links above to get into the game sooner than previously planned or you can continue to wait for the early access. We'll be sure to shout that loud when it happens :)
More Questions? Check out this FAQ
Note: If you don't see an answer to your question here, please reach out to us on Kickstarter, Discord or email us at [email protected]
What is this BackerKit thing, and why do I have to use it?
It is a service which, amongst other things, helps deliver Kickstarter rewards and manage pre-orders.
We are using their services so that we can keep focused on making the game and on making sure that the rewards are reliably delivered.
Is the Beta the full game? What should I expect?
No, many features will be missing in the Beta, and there will be bugs. Betas offer an opportunity for the curious to get access earlier and to potentially help out finding bugs and shaping the game through their feedback.
Everyone who backed in the original Kickstarter campaign or who pre-orders now will automatically get access to the Early Access and full game when they release.
Are you trying to get extra funding? Should we be worried?
No, and hopefully, no! The Kickstarter was a massive success, and we are in a great place because of it. Our burn rate has been as expected, and we can comfortably deliver the game with what we have.
Opening up pre-orders is a response to the many emails we received asking for us to do something like this.
It’s been a few days and I didn't get my BackerKit email invite. What do I do?
The easiest thing to do is to go here: https://talespire.backerkit.com , enter your Kickstarter email address and click on the "Get My Survey" button. You will be sent a new email with a link to your account.
I've used BackerKit before, but I forgot my BackerKit password. How do I get it?
Go here: https://talespire.backerkit.com, follow the 'Log in to your Backer Account »' link, click on the "Forgot your password?" link, and follow the instructions.
I've used BackerKit before, and I want to sign back into https://talespire.backerkit.com , but I don't remember the email I used for my account. How do I get it?
It should be your Kickstarter account email. If that doesn't work, please email [email protected], and they will help you.
I have a question about BackerKit that isn't covered here. What do I do?
Head over to https://www.backerkit.com/faq_backer, or email the team directly at [email protected]. They're happy to help!
During the Kickstarter, I backed at the 'Custom Party' level, but this looks cheaper. What gives?
The 'Custom Party' tier from the Kickstarter included a bunch of Kickstarter exclusive rewards. This new wave is priced the same as each additional copy from the 'Custom Party' tier.
We had a lot of discussion about this internally as we knew this could be a bit of a bummer for some of you out there. We couldn't think of another way to help the folks that came late while also keeping the Kickstarter rewards exclusive, other than just not doing a pre-order, which also seemed like a big shame. As mentioned above, this was not part of the original plan, and so we didn't factor this possibility into the original rewards lineup.
We hope this is ok with you, but if not, please reach out to us at [email protected], or find us on our Discord.
How long will pre-orders stay open?
Until the Beta starts.
Is the Beta still on track?
Yes. It's going to be an incredibly intense month-and-a-bit but we are still expecting to have the Beta out by the end of February.
Anything else?
Not today, other than once again, to say thank you for all your help in making TaleSpire happen!
We'll be back with regular updates over the next few days.
Ciao!
Click here to visit the pre-order page
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Let's get building!
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Jan 03, 2020 at 12:12:21 AM
Hello everyone, we've been very quiet over the holiday season (and most of December too), and upon seeing how great so many game teams have been at sending wishes and good cheer, we originally were thinking of starting this update with an apology. However, the rest has been so nice and so needed that instead we simply want to say "Thank You". These next few months are going to be intense, so being able to catch up on sleep, spend some quality time with the family, and generally make merry has been a real blessing.
That said, it is time to gear up and set sights squarely on the beta. Let's get started!
I've been offline[0] but took a laptop loaded up with the TaleSpire server code with me to the UK and so I've been doing a bunch of reading, re-familiarization, and preliminary work on the server update. I'll make a little dev log on that in a couple of hours.
@Ree has been working on the game itself and has a bunch of developments to the building tools that are super exciting. His blog post on this has been growing to cover all this stuff, so keep an eye out for that!
Jason has carried on working on the backer-designed minis. We would like to show them off as more of a unit so no gifs today but it's still been exciting to see theses behind the scenes (another perk of the job :p)
And finally, we have heard the calls from many of you who didn't find the game until after the Kickstarter ended. We also have heard the calls of those who had extra members they wanted to add to the party. Keep your eyes peeled on the 7th of January as we will have some news just for you.
Until then (and once again), Happy New Year from the whole TaleSpire team,
It's going to be a great one!
[0] I was also carrying this which helped make extra sure that I couldn't over-work!
