IMPERIAL Deck - with HOPC - now shipping rewards

[RandyButterfield]

Seriously? I just sent these guys a message on Kickstarter and got an automated response!! Didn't even know that was possible. I would have preferred to just receive a response the next day or whenever, but an automated response? So was not expecting that and no other creator has ever done that before, at least in the last 100+ that i've backed.

Vmagic,

I already personally responded to your question.

Thanks, Randy

[vmagic]

Yes I got the response, thanks.

[RickDavidson]

Beautiful deck Randy, I'm in. All the best with the campaign

[Bikefanatic]

These look amazing. You already know which version I pledged for . . . .

[Strag]

Sadly the launch time made it just about impossible for European backers to have any chance of an early bird. That's quite unfortunate.

[MagikFingerz]

Randy, will it be possible to buy the half-brick box as an add-on without having to buy 6 decks? I really hope so. And thanks for considering the time change

Hey Magik,

Sorry, I have bad news on both fronts. Kevin and Alex are at Magic Live! this week with limited internet and keeping busy during the day with the convention. So we'll be launching at 8:00 so they can add some promo support. Also, the Red 6pk Box will only be available with a Six Deck purchase of the Red Deck.

No worries, Randy. The 6 deck Early Bird was reasonably enough priced that it didn't matter that much

Might be a silly question, but just to make sure: the early bird add-on prices apply to the Early Bird 6pk pledge too, right? Not just the single early birds?

[Strag]

Randy, will it be possible to buy the half-brick box as an add-on without having to buy 6 decks? I really hope so. And thanks for considering the time change

Hey Magik,

Sorry, I have bad news on both fronts. Kevin and Alex are at Magic Live! this week with limited internet and keeping busy during the day with the convention. So we'll be launching at 8:00 so they can add some promo support. Also, the Red 6pk Box will only be available with a Six Deck purchase of the Red Deck.

No worries, Randy. The 6 deck Early Bird was reasonably enough priced that it didn't matter that much

Might be a silly question, but just to make sure: the early bird add-on prices apply to the Early Bird 6pk pledge too, right? Not just the single early birds?

It's a problem for some of us who don't want 6 red decks. I'm actually quite disappointed in this pricing scheme and will probably not back at this time as I simply wasn't going to be able to ever get in on the "good" prices.

[MagikFingerz]

I do agree, Strag. 3 is usually the max of what I buy of any single deck.

Randy, if you could switch out at least one of the red ones in the 6pk for a black one, that would the deal a lot better. Even if you'd have to adjust the price accordingly. Or maybe give us the option of switching out the amount of our choice.

[Oswin]

Sadly the launch time made it just about impossible for European backers to have any chance of an early bird. That's quite unfortunate.

+1 ! At this time poor French people we sleep ^^'

[montecarlojoe]

I was up at around 1.30 am in the UK for no good reason (but lets say I was watching the Perseids) so i jumped in for an early bird and early bird add-on to get one of each...

Funny thing is I'm actually in two minds at the moment.
Might sound silly, but I like my pips pointy - the roundness seems less elegant to me. Almost too friendly for the Tzars of imperial Russia.
The other thing is the detail - seems counter intuitive, but the level of detail is phenomenal when you are viewing a 4kx4k bitmap, but how will that translate to a poker card? Some of the details will be so tiny that they'll either be obscured by the dimpling of the finish or the limitations of the printing process.

Sumptuous design and super ambitious - hopefully the final product will live up to what we've seen. Would be fabulous to see some proofs!

[Lotrek]

Hehe, pledged early in the morning!

Montecarlojoe is right about the detail. Both that is phenomenal and also regarding how will this be after printing.

Superb work Randy!

[RandyButterfield]

The other thing is the detail - seems counter intuitive, but the level of detail is phenomenal when you are viewing a 4kx4k bitmap, but how will that translate to a poker card? Some of the details will be so tiny that they'll either be obscured by the dimpling of the finish or the limitations of the printing process.

Hey MonteCarloJoe,

All of my Decks have had a lot of 4CProcess details on the Backs, Faces or both. The quality of USPCC's printing is pretty impressive! I'm not worried about the details coming through, at all. I had some Imperial Postcards printed up for GenCon this weekend. The Court Cards are on the Back sides and are scaled at 2"w x 2.75"h. Even with them being much smaller than a Playing Card's 2.5"w x 3.5"h size, the details came out beautifully! With the ORNATES I was worried about the dimples taking away some of the finer details. I think it actually brought them to the forefront.

I know a lot of people on the Forums are asking for Mix 6PK Boxes or empty 6PK Boxes. I just talked with Kevin and we both feel offering either of these options would really complicate our first Stretch Goal. The first Stretch Goal is a Black 6PK Box!
(NO Bicycle Logo, since these are not printed by USPCC).

LASTLY, and most important to INT. Backers. I'll be opening up 15 more Early Bird spots for the Red Deck AND 15 more Early Bird spots for the Black Deck. This is solely for the European Backers who missed out on the Early Birds last night. I'm not announcing this anywhere else, so if you want a missed Early Bird now's a good chance.

*** THE 30 NEW EARLY BIRD SPOTS WILL BE OPENED UP IN EXACTLY ONE HOUR FROM NOW. ***

thanks, Randy

[MagikFingerz]

I know a lot of people on the Forums are asking for Mix 6PK Boxes or empty 6PK Boxes. I just talked with Kevin and we both feel offering either of these options would really complicate our first Stretch Goal. The first Stretch Goal is a Black 6PK Box!
(NO Bicycle Logo, since these are not printed by USPCC).

I'm not sure how offering empty boxes would complicate things, if anything I would think you would sell more of both boxes. There would probably be people who would go from a 6pk to 4 decks with an empty box, but I think there would be even more people getting boxes on top of their regular pledge who might not have bought a 6pk anyway, evening it out.

Anyway, I appreciate the effort!

[RandyButterfield]

The 30 new Early Bird Deck slots are opened up.

thanks, Randy

[Casual Pixels]

I'm not sure how offering empty boxes would complicate things, if anything I would think you would sell more of both boxes

It would for me. I have an early-bird 6 Pack of Red, but will probably drop it and go with 2x Red and 2x Black as it's more suited to how I collect decks.

However, if my 6 could be mixed, I'd definitely stick with it and go 3x of each and have one more of each than I'd normally collect.

[Eoghann]

I'm not sure how offering empty boxes would complicate things, if anything I would think you would sell more of both boxes

It would for me. I have an early-bird 6 Pack of Red, but will probably drop it and go with 2x Red and 2x Black as it's more suited to how I collect decks.

However, if my 6 could be mixed, I'd definitely stick with it and go 3x of each and have one more of each than I'd normally collect.

Same for me. I usually buy decks in pairs when multiple version are offered. Right now I have 3 and 3 pledged. An empty box would come in quite handy.

[Bikefanatic]

I'll tell you now, best to have the big Bike logo than a small one.

[walrus]

Randy, You know I have liked this deck since the beginning. I pledged for a few and am looking forward to getting them. I have been checking out the progress on KS and each time I scroll through the deck. I have to tell you the frickin deck takes me breath away. No deck has hit me like that. I got the White Cent from my pal Svinger which was my most desired deck due to rarity but your deck exemplifies why I collect decks. Even my wife who is annoyed by my playing card OCD finds your art stunning. She comes from a country that has created some of the world's nicest art so it takes a lot to get her notice. It was an honor for me to be in contact with you as you created this. I feel I was a bit of an inside man on this deck however peripheral.
THANKS again for bring your art to our playing cards.
your pal, WALRUS.

[RandyButterfield]

Thanks Walrus!

I think I'm getting all teary eyed!
I had a blast creating these.

@Bikefanatic - Yeah, I'm assuming the Big Bike version will win by a landslide. I even rigged it a little by showing only the Big Bike version in the promo images and most of the KS project page. Having the vote helps us interact more with the Backers and, hopefully, create a fun atmosphere.

The other voting we have planned will be for the extra Black Gaff Card. I have 6 Gaff versions ready to go. I think that voting will be very interesting to see which version comes out on top.

thanks, Randy

[walrus]

sorry, I think I went overboard. I watched Bridges of Madison County last night and I got all touchy feely.

[walrus]

sorry, I think I went overboard. I watched Bridges of Madison County last night and I got all touchy feely.

[charlie81dbz]

I can't figure out why this hasn't funded yet. A completed design by a well known designer, who has teamed up with a reputable company for distribution, and it's still a bit short of the goal. Makes no sense to me. Unless people just really dislike Faberge eggs or something. I'm not worried it won't fund, since it's only short of the goal a bit over $500, it just really surprises me. Going to go add a few decks to help close the gap though.

charlie

[walrus]

Agreed Charles, I thought these would be funded the same day. I'll increase my pledge although these will obviously get funded. May have something to do with the strange occurrence of so many nice decks on KS as of late.

[Encarded]

I too am surprised at the pace. Obviously they will fund, but I figured that with the massive following on Facebook that HOPC has, it would have taken mere moments to fund the deck. I guess it's true that pure numbers don't mean much of anything these days.

The artwork is amazing, colorful and detailed but if you are really honest, it is a little "weird" in comparison to normal cards. I don't say weird in a bad way, but those card cards are very far removed from the traditional forms we are so used to and maybe folks think it's a little too "out there" compared to their comfort zone.

Still, when HOPC has nearly 13,000 followers on Facebook but less than 300 backers so far, it seems like not as many people as you might expect have made their way over to click that Pledge button. Too many projects at the moment? Are people getting more picky? Has the insane volume of Kickstarter projects finally busted the bubble? Perhaps...

[MagikFingerz]

I think you might be on to something, Paul. Also I think we here on UC might be "biased" since we've followed its WIP thread seeing a new card on different days, building our excitement, as well as knowing Randy and his work well.

[montecarlojoe]

The concept is great and overall very well executed. The detail is dazzling - they could easily offer posters of close up sections of some of the courts.

But there is a Iot of negative space or seems to be compared with the detail of the eggs; might a black background work better to show off the metallics and shiny sparkliness???
And I find the pips big and round and fat where I might have hoped for sharp and elegant and crisp.

It's all very subjective, but its easy to see why people might have reservations - but I don't think we need to worry about funding!
(I'm in for two decks even with slight reservations...)

[sms69x]

Easely one of the top 3 decks of the year!! I'm in for 6 - 8 (not decided yet)!!

[RandyButterfield]

Believe me, I've been thinking about all of these concerns to myself since Thursday!

The bad thing is I've had to work, every night since we launched, on a big Costco presentation for my day job. I haven't had time to try to promote the Imperial Deck anywhere but my FB and Twitter pages and have yet to submit to Design Blogs or similar places. Kevin and Alex were at the Magic Live! convention all last week, so they didn't get as much promo time as usual either. I'm not sure if a large number of HOPC's fans are anti-Kickstarter, don't know much about Kickstarter, think the design is too different for them or decided to wait for the Red Deck to hit the HOPC site. It could be a combination of them all! I've seen some comments and received a few messages from people who are waiting for the Red version on HOPC because they don't like using Kickstarter.

I've learned that building a Backers list takes time and getting people who aren't used to Kickstarter to try it out is tough. I can definitely see why designers with previous high Backer numbers can come out of the gate at record speeds! It looks like a seasoned set of Backers is great for the current marketplace. I've noticed a lot of the collectors on the forums are pledging for fewer Decks than they may have a year ago. Whatever total number of Backers we end up with will be a great headstart for the next Designer to do a Co-Kickstarter with HOPC.

We're at a steady pace now, and hopefully it picks up once we start going for Stretch Goals.This week we'll really start promoting it and submitting to Blogs, Podcasts... It just may be too far outside of the box for the casual Kickstarter Playing Card fan, the next few weeks will tell. The bright side is we're pretty much at goal with 27 days left!

Thanks, Randy

[Bikefanatic]

I have only one deck where the suits are each a different color. The great thing about this deck is the different colors in each suit because if you just used two colors for the suits, it'll look dull and normal. It's thousands of Faberge eggs in all designs and colors so the different colors fit well. What will be great is if there was a reward of a replica Faberge egg.

[RandyButterfield]

I have only one deck where the suits are each a different color. The great thing about this deck is the different colors in each suit because if you just used two colors for the suits, it'll look dull and normal. It's thousands of Faberge eggs in all designs and colors so the different colors fit well. What will be great is if there was a reward of a replica Faberge egg.

Thanks for the compliment Bikefanatic! The possibility of doing a different color for each suit is one of the things that pushed me towards the Faberge theme. I love that I got to use Purple and a Deep Blue for the Ad Card Eggs even!

When we started planning the KS I thought about having a replica Faberge Egg as a pledge item. I would've had to order from a site like this one (http://www.bestpysanky.com/Faberge-s/216.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and would've been forced to add a middle man price to each Egg so we wouldn't lose any money on them. I didn't like that idea and the Eggs wouldn't really be specific to the Deck.

Your post did make me think about looking into getting one of my Egg Models printed on a 3d Printer, probably the King of Hearts sitting on the Joker's Egg Stand. The technology has definitely advanced, and I'm sure the prices have gone down drastically, since I had a Roman Soldier model I built printed on a 3d Printer (it's actually seen in the Imperial KS Video, during the 3d Modeling scene). It was two years ago that I had that printed, and I had to get it done in France for somewhere around $300. If I can find a good source in a week or two, it could definitely be a very unique Stretch Goal!

We hit the Goal tonight! We'll post info on the first Stretch Goal tomorrow.

Thanks, Randy