Greetings friends!
I'm happy to announce that the bulk of shipping is finished up. With that news, we can officially declare this project complete!
First off, I want to thank you for participating in this project. You've helped us to return Sakura Arms to the English market, and to create a new revised edition that I can say, without reservation, is the best in the world. Through this project, countless more people will discover the game that we all love. Thank you for being part of that.
Not everyone will have gotten their game just yet. There are always a few missing packages and late shipments. If your game doesn't arrive in the next 1-2 weeks, please reach out to us so that we can check your tracking and see what happened: www.level99games.com/contact-us. Our commitment remains even after the project ends—we will do everything in our power to get you your games, in great condition, or your money back.
If you're missing any part of your games, or if any part has arrived damaged, please reach out to us at the link above so that we can help.
For now, what's next is to play some Sakura Arms! If you want to play online, you can come and join our Discord Server here. If you want to play in-person or in-store, BoardGameGeek is a great place to find local players and organize events.
We also hope that if you're enjoying the game and the production, that you would rate Sakura Arms on BoardGameGeek. This will help new players to discover the game as well. The more people are discovering and playing Sakura Arms, the greater the opportunity for us to produce more supporting materials will be.
We're still discussing with BakaFire Party about what comes next for the series, and when. Watch this space for more news next year, as we figure out which Sakura Arms products to localize next.
Thank you once again for being a part of the project, and we wish you Happy Gaming!
Want to see more of Mizuki in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
Want to see more of Hatsumi in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
In the UK, Australia, Europe, and Asia, games are currently on the way to fulfillment centers. For the USA and Canada, we're currently coordinating freight with our new distribution partner, Asmodee. By working together with Asmodee, we will be able to avoid some of the port slowdowns and container shortages that have been plaguing projects recently. The USA/CAN games will ship out before Chinese New Year, and should reach you within the next 2-3 months. As usual, we'll continue to share monthly updates here, so stay tuned!
]]>Want to see more of Yatsuha in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
Not too much new to talk about this month. The issue with printing from last month has been addressed and all copies have been re-printed. The factory is loading up a boat with your games now and shipment to fulfillment centers should begin next month!
]]>Greetings friends,
Production is going smoothly for Sakura Arms. The presses are rolling, and BODA estimates that production will be complete by the end of October. At that point, all the components will be printed and ready. Here are a few photos from the factory of everything currently in progress.
We've seen a digitally printed sample of the games in our last update, but for our final approval, it's important to check an actual production sample that uses the components you see above.
Once things are done, BODA will assemble the first few units of each game and send them to us. These "factory firsts" will be checked for proper materials, packaging, and assembly.
If anything is wrong at this stage, it's expensive to fix—usually that will mean reprinting components that have already been produced.
Typically, this step moves pretty smoothly. We might decide to adjust the order that components are placed in the box, or get additional padding to ensure that everything survives shipping intact.
We've already put things in motion to book ocean freight for the games' journey around the world. With any luck, things will arrive sooner than later, but at this point it's still too early to say anything about the ocean freight situation as we move towards the end of the year.
If you have time and want to play some Sakura Arms, you can join the Level 99 Games Discord to find opponents, and you can play anytime via Tabletopia. We also have a scheduled game event on 10/10. If you want to jump in and learn to play Sakura Arms, it's a great time to do so!
In a final bit of news, we are reprinting Bullet♥︎, which sold out earlier this year, alongside Bullet★, a brand new game in the series. Both of those games will be available for pre-order on October 5th. Make sure to reserve your copy on 10/5, and you'll get a download of the Bullet★ soundtrack!
I hope that you have a great weekend planned! I'll be back with more news next month.
As always, Happy Gaming!
- Brad
(Honoka has quite a few more cards than the average Goddess, so her reference starts on the front!)
Want to see more of Honoka in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
]]>With Sakura Arms coming ever-closer to tables, we've prepared a series of wallpapers and avatars for you! And in case you haven't gotten the game yet, you can:
Before we start production, we always get a physical proof of the final product to confirm everything looks about how we want it. This proof is printed by the printer in-house, not at the actual printers. It's not an exact replication of the final product, but it's very close! Here's a preview of the Yurina box!
After reviewing this proof, we noticed a few minor issues that we've since corrected. The coloration of the Yatsuha box was a little too close to the Yurina box, so that was updated. Also the gameboards and goddess boards that attach to them didn't attach very well, so we've had the cutlines updated and will be reviewing a white proof of them soon to make sure they will connect without any issues. All that to say production should begin soon!
Thanks for joining me for this update! I'll see you next month for another Arm Yourself!
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Want to see more of Utsuro in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
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Want to see more of Raira in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
This month's news for Sakura Arms is pretty light.
Pre-press is just about finished up, and the final step before we move on to production is to receive a physical copy of the games. This copy, called the "digitally-printed sample" is a complete mock-up of the final game, which will give us a very good idea of the final product.
The digitally printed sample is not an exact final game (we'll get that later, and it's called a "factory first sample"), but it gives us an idea of how the components will fit into the box, and if there are any sizing issues or components that don't work quite how they should.
During the preparation of the digital sample, the production team discovered a sizing issue which would make it difficult to get things in and out of the box. We are currently working on a solution to that.
Given everything that's gone on, and the longer-than-usual pre-press cycle for Sakura Arms, the August delivery we predicted seems unlikely. In order to set the best expectations, we are assessing the situation. Once we have the digitally printed sample in hand and production is 100% confirmed and ready to start, we'll announce an updated timetable for the delivery of Sakura Arms.
We look forward to sharing more news with you soon, and we hope you have a great month!
]]>Want to see more of Thallya in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
Greetings everyone,
As mentioned in my update two weeks ago, the Sakura Arms Pledge Manager will be locking down this Friday!
If you haven't finalized your pledge, please do so here: https://signin.pledgemanager.com/?reason=relogin&redirect=https://my.pledgemanager.com/. We cannot guarantee rewards for backers that have not completed their pledge manager by Friday.
Pledge Manager will remain available for some add-ons and for address changes. However, you will no longer be able to upgrade your pledge tier.
Thanks again for your participation in the project! We look forward to the imminent start of production. :)
- Brad
]]>Want to see more of Kururu in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
Now that we're at press, we've been dealing with digital proofs, which can be a long process. When files are sent to press, there is a back-and-forth between us and the printer to make sure they understand the project in its entirety. Since all they have to go off of are the manifest of line items and the files, it can sometimes be time consuming to answer any questions they might have regarding the project. Not to mention if your manifest isn't just exactly so, there might be some additional tweaking on our end as well.
Once press thinks they understand the project, they'll send us digital proof files. These show all of the components laid out so that we can be sure all the backs and fronts match and that all the files are correct. Like this!
Normally we'll have to go through a few sets of these digital proofs since they're never quite right the first time. Once they're all good to go we'll get an advanced physical test proof of the game to make sure that everything looks good in the real world as well!
Currently, as I mentioned earlier, we're still finishing up some final digital proof passes. We hope to be done with them within the next week or so and receive a physical proof sometime in May! Maybe I'll be able to show that off next month alongside another Arm Yourself update!
]]>Greetings friends,
Sakura Arms is now at press. As we prepare to move to production, the time comes soon for us to lock down final production quantities.
For most items, this isn't a big deal. We'll have plenty of core Sakura Arms boxes.
HOWEVER, if you want to get the Desk Mat or Wall Scroll, or extra copies of the Promo Pack, we aren't printing much more than what's pledged for—if you don't confirm a pledge for these items in the next three weeks, you may not be able to get them in the future.
Please make sure to lock in your pledge as soon as possible to ensure you get all the items you want from this project.
The Pledge Manager will remain open until fulfillment begins in case you need to change your address. We are only limiting the availability of some items at the end of April.
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If you need to log in and adjust your pledge, you can do that here: https://signin.pledgemanager.com/
Thanks so much for being a part of Sakura Arms! We'll be sharing more news and timelines here as they emerge. ^_^
Want to see more of Chikage in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!
Yesterday I sent all the Sakura Arms files to press, so we're officially finished on the development end! Next step is to receive digital proofs from the printer and make sure that they understand all the ins and outs of the project. After that we'll get a physical proof to check things out further, then we'll be in production! I'll see you next month for another Arm Yourself update!
]]>Want to see more of Hagane in action? Check out all of her cards in our Tabletopia mod!