I figure now is a good time to take the Imperial Deck out of the Design & Development thread and into the main one!
The second part of Scott Carey's Tuck Case interview has been posted. It focuses on the Imperial Deck and it's distribubor:
For those who don't check the Design & Development thread, here's a look at all of the Court Cards together.
The first part of Scott's interview dealt with my background and how I got into designing Playing Cards:
For me, the UC Deck's Green Foil inside the Tuck box was sort of like a guinea pig test to see how it would look. A lot of the real Imperial Eggs had Gold interiors. The Foil turned out great for the UC Deck, so it's a go for this one!
In a few days the Imperial Deck will be launched as a Kickstarter project with myself and HOPC! I figured some people on the forums might have some questions/concerns with HOPC being involved in a Kickstarter campaign, so I wrote this up in advance to explain our reasoning.
The decision to take the Imperial Deck to Kickstarter was mostly due to the rapidly changing marketplace for custom Playing Cards. Other factors included a behind-the-scenes change I cannot elaborate on further and the idea that a unique and artistic design like the Imperial could do very well on Kickstarter. When the original Ornates were released last August, Kickstarter Decks were popping up at a much slower rate than they are now - just one year later. 2013 has seen an explosion in Kickstarter success stories in the Playing Card world. I think it has altered the way ALL of the Card and Magic companies handle new Deck releases. Kickstarter Decks that do well have a HUGE advantage with the 30+ days of funding, that is essentially a long Pre-Order period!
I will admit that a small factor for my part in the decision is ego. I've watched closely this past year as beautiful Decks have done extremely well on Kickstarter. It has enabled designers like Encarded, Uusi, Jackson, 4PM and others to assemble a large fan-base and receive critical recognition. Watching the success of the great Kickstarter Decks is almost like sitting the bench, just waiting to get into the game and give it your best shot!
It's my opinion that the success of Kickstarter Decks has made it hard for companies like HOPC to entice some of the talented designers. Designers who choose to take the roll of the Kickstarter dice instead. We're trying out a unique way to release the Imperial Deck by having a Kickstarter Exclusive Black Bicycle version that won't be available after the KS project is over (and won't be offered to resellers at reduced prices - in order to keep the exclusivity viable). The Red "Base" version will be available in the Kickstarter project and will be added to the HOPC catalog after the Pledge Rewards are all mailed out (with a price point of $9.95 + Shipping).
If the Imperial campaign is successful, the Co-HOPC Kickstarter project mold could be a great way for designers to release their dream Deck with the best of both worlds: The unlimited potential and exposure of a Kickstarter project + the stability of partnering with HOPC to handle the shipping and production roles, and later adding the Deck's "Base" design to the HOPC catalog.
The current landscape of Kickstarter Deck fulfillment is either hit-or-miss. HOPC's involvement in the Imperial campaign makes it a sure thing that the Pledge Rewards will go out to Backers as soon as they're ready. Just look at some of the failed or late KS projects and tell me having an established distributor like HOPC doesn't provide an extra peace-of-mind!
During the campaign we plan on having some fun with voting by Backers, similar to what other campaigns have offered. We will also have a couple other cool items available besides the Red and Black Decks, some meaty Stretch Goal items are planned out and we will have some Early Bird reward levels.
Here's a few images from the KS presentation, including a look at the the Black Bicycle Imperial Deck!
Kickstarter is not friends to international people.
We have to pay shipping fee so expensive per deck because we buy few decks.
In the other hand, if the decks are available at stores, we could buy other decks up together and combine shipping.
International shipping is like a pain in the ass.
Most of the time, I don't pledge KS because of the shipping rate per low amount of decks.
These are really nice. It's a shame that you are turning your back on some in the very marketplace that helped make custom decks succeed. The creation of Black Bicycle Kickstarter-only decks is certainly not customer-friendly. Many card-collectors have been paying very high prices on the secondary market for quite a few years and this has in large part been responsible for the deck market as we know it now. To prevent them from getting your fine deck at retail just because they are not kickstarter users just doesn't seem right to me. Financially, this may be the smart way to go for you and HOPC and as fan of the free-market I don't have any issue with that. I would just like you find a way to continue to work with your fans around the world who for whatever reason don't use kickstarter.
I've been following this deck in the development forum for a while, absolutely beautiful. Can't wait for it to launch, you can count me in on a few decks. Do you have a definitive start time for the campaign yet?
I'll try to answer some of the questions as best as I can.
We're definitely trying to avoid gouging the INT. backers with the Shipping rates. The pledge INT. shipping rate is set at $7 and any extra Decks will be an extra $2 for INT. backers (2 Decks = $9 shipping, 3 Decks = $11 shipping, 4 Decks = $13 shipping....).
We will also have a Red 6PK Box that will have a pledge INT. shipping rate of $12. (or $7 if it is an Add-On item with a Deck pledge). The Book is an Add-On only item and will have a $2 INT. shipping bump.
DelMagic - I'm sure a few resellers will have a small number of Black Deck available at high prices afterwards. We wanted to make sure the resellers wouldn't be able to charge the same amount as the KS campaign, which would anger a lot of our Kickstarter backers.
It looks like the launch date will be either Monday or Tuesday night at 8:00 pm EST. I'll post on the thread and it will be around on our Facebook pages when we know for sure.
A KS project with a reliable, proven designer, beautiful design, gold foil inside the tuck boxes, and custom brick and half brick boxes - I can't wait to get my hands on these!
Given the success and exposure KS can bring to deck designers, I guess this was the logical evolution HOPC had to take. I wasn't the biggest fan of HOPC, but I do like the idea of the stabilized production and shipping capability that HOPC can provide, this would help alleviate the biggest risk associated with KS projects.
Yes, the Black version will also have Gold Foil inside the Tuck Box.
I know Kevin and Alex like to have 8:00 est releases, but since Kickstarter is different I'll check about a 6:00 possibility.
Right now it's just the Red 6pk Box. Other custom boxes make for some good Stretch Goals though!
I had the Red 6pk Imperial Box printed back in February, on the same print run as the Ornate Amethyst and Emerald 6pk Boxes. You'll see it a couple times in the background in our KS Video. They turned out very nice!
Yeah, besides John, only Kevin, Alex and a certain Sea Creature-to-be-named-later have a copy of the Red Imperial 6PK Box (no Decks of course!). I still have to finish signing a few of the Boxes before I can ship the rest off to the HOPC distribution team. I figured it was best to concentrate on all of the tough stuff first!
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
MagikFingerz wrote: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.
I do have some GOOD NEWS!
The IMPERIAL Deck will be LAUNCHING on Kickstarter TUESDAY night at 8:00 pm EST
(just under 23 hours from now)!
Randy, great to see this go live. I remember when you were first starting to work on this deck. To be honest I thought your original renderings were worthy of becoming cards. I was afraid if you worked on it too long you would screw it up. Fortunately, you improved on it. This truly is a work of art.
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.
