Car Wars Tooling/Production Update
over 3 years ago – Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 12:01:29 AM

We're at the date on the calendar where we are forced to make a choice: do we stay with the originally estimated delivery date and ship a game that isn't 100% what we want, or do we delay the delivery and keep working to make this game the one our backers deserve? With that choice, the answer is painful but simple: we have to delay the shipment.

What is causing the delay? Several different things, the biggest of which are:

• We're running through more stages of revision with the plastic miniatures (over 30 different ones, remember) than we had scheduled for. We continue to work with our factory to ensure that the finished miniatures look as wonderful as the prototypes we shared during the campaign, and that's not a process that can be rushed. Our intent was to have regular meetings in our conference room so everyone could see the samples at the same time, but we haven't been able to do that for months now. Sabrina has been driving all over the Austin area to show the samples to me, Sam, and Ben . . . after she has seen them herself.
• Checking the factory proofs is also taking much longer than expected. Again, this is no one's fault, but a result of everyone working from home. Sabrina is managing this as well, and the delays are absolutely not of her making. She is working as fast as she can on an extremely complex and component-heavy project.
• Lastly, there's one big variable that is 100% outside of our control: international shipping rates and times. In the past, it took roughly 35 days for a container to reach our primary warehouse at a shipping price we could fit into our budget. Now, even when spending more money than we have before, that same container requires roughly 52 days to make the journey.

We do not like the delays, but we choose to accept the delays over rushing the factory and sacrificing quality. It is far better for the game to be late and look amazing than for the game to arrive on schedule and look merely okay.

We'll be back in a week or two with more news as we work our way through the final approvals for the game's many miniatures.

- Phil Reed

Painting Jackal with Ben Williams
over 3 years ago – Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 04:39:55 AM

For all of you who have asked about painting tips, Ben is back with another Daily Illuminator post showing how he paints car minis. You can find the post (and several photos) right here!

In other news, the tooling process continues. Sabrina, Sam, and Ben continue to review car miniatures and provide the factory with feedback. It takes a lot of revisions to get these just right, and we will do all we can to make the finished minis as crisp, clean, and ready for play as we can.

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- Phil Reed

Painting Brimstone with Ben Williams
over 3 years ago – Thu, Aug 06, 2020 at 11:09:04 PM

As Sabrina and Sam continue to work with the factory on the files and miniatures, Ben is writing a series of "how I paint cars" posts for the Steve Jackson Games blog, the Daily Illuminator. Today, the first post is online . . . and you can find it right here!

- Phil Reed

More Tooling
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 03:22:33 AM

With three dozen plastic miniatures in the project, there's a lot of back and forth between our team and the office. Sabrina, Sam, and Ben have been reviewing tooling samples as they come in and sending the factory comments, which then leads to a new round of tooling samples. Slowly, one by one, the minis are moving through the process.

Here are a few pics of the latest round of tooling samples. We're building up a large collection of samples from various stages in the project timeline that, when the work is over, we will have to find a home. The various tooling samples will likely be used to prepare more painted minis for videos, conventions, and photos.

- Phil Reed

Scimitar and Superflash Test Shots
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Jun 25, 2020 at 09:38:28 PM

New test shot pics today, showing both the painted prototype beside the newest unpainted minis. As always, the minis were painted by Ben. All I did was take the pictures.

. . . and about the photos. I received a message over the weekend asking about how much editing when into these pics before posting them. Almost none, is the answer. At times, I'll clean up the background a bit, and if it is on white then I edit out all of the background. Generally, though, I snap the pics on my phone and then crop them in Photoshop. For example, all of today's pics were taken with my iPhone and then cropped in Photoshop. I did zero color correction or editing; these are the raw camera pics for your enjoyment.

- Phil Reed