PPCs, FAQ's, Educational Talks, Oh my!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, May 03, 2022 at 07:30:50 PM

Hi all, Rhi here! 

Apologies for the delay in getting Aprils update out. We've collectively been sick, busy or both this month! Thank you for being so patient. 

I'll jump right in with this update as we've got a lot to share! 

Pre-production!

Lets start with the most exciting news... We're in the process of ordering the Pre Production Copy with Hero Time! 

"But Rhi!" I hear you cry, "How can you be in the process of ordering a single PPC? Surely you just press go?" Well reader, it isn't that simple. There's talks about colour matching and quality control to have first, but the great news is we're all set for receiving the PPC before UKGE, which means if you're attending the con you'll get to see it in all its glory!  

The PPC is important because it gives us a chance to make any last minute tweaks before we hit go on the order, and allows us to quality check the game. The last thing we'd want to do is hit go only for our backers to receive a sub-par quality game! We will be sharing plenty of pictures and info on it as soon as we receive the copy, so for those who can't attend UKGE - fear not! You will not be left out. 

Research, Beautification and FAQ's!

Laurie is still working hard on the booklet, and is making decent progress. Multiple sectors are now entirely complete, but he's been working on some of the trickier practices lately which slows things down a little. Researching difficult topics can take its toll on anyone, so although it is important to keep the pace and ensure the booklet is finished ASAP - we also need to schedule in rest and recuperation.

Alongside this, Rob is also noodling about with the beautification of the insert that will be coming with every first edition copy of the game! We hope to share some examples with you soon. 

We need your help! We're writing an FAQ for the rulebook to allow for smoother play. If you've had an opportunity to play Earth Rising either digitally or with a prototype, let us know in the comments what questions sprang to mind during play. 

Shipping

As it currently stands, we're still in line to make our shipping window of late June - any changes to this will be shared in updates as soon as we know what's going on. 

Opportunities to make a difference

Earth Rising has already sparked a number of interesting conversations, but has also opened up opportunities for us to share the hope we envisioned the game bringing to its players! Laurie recently joined Dave Eng from University XP to discuss Earth Rising during the Games-based learning conference. The month of May brings more of these opportunities, as Laurie will be talking in Esch at the end of the month at the Capital of Culture conference about the responsibility of designers for the future. We hope his talk will inspire even more designers to move on to greener practices to help us transform the culture sector in real life! 

To round off this update, as promised, here is the official certificate of trees planted by you - our wonderful backers <3 If anyone wants the PDF of this certificate, please let us know and we'll email it to you.

Until next time, 

Rhi & the SDR team 🌱💚

Springing into Action!
about 2 years ago – Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 02:48:55 AM

Hello backers!

Rhi here, with some updates, answers and news for you all. 

Firstly, I wanted to let you all know that we've recounted all of the comments and shares, and our total number of trees planted comes to 60! We absolutely loved the enthusiasm you all put into helping us with our tree planting scheme, so we've decided to double that number. By the next update, we will have a physical certificate telling you we've planted 125 trees across a number of different ecosystems in the tropics.  We couldn't have done this without your support, so a massive thank you to all of you!

For anyone who wants to keep planting trees outside of this campaign, click on the image and follow through to the Tree Sisters website where you can set up a monthly donation, or learn about their volunteer opportunities.

Pledge Manager: 

The surveys are still trickling in, and we've had a number of late pledges recently too which has been fantastic! Currently we aren't planning on closing the pledge manager until Laurie is finished with the booklet, however as this approaches we will be sending out reminders to those who are yet to complete their surveys, but also to ensure we have the correct addresses before we lock orders. 

If you are having any issues with the pledge manager, do not hesitate to contact us! 

Production: 

We're having a call with our manufacturer this week to discuss pre-production samples and our production timeline. There's been word from other manufacturers that due to the rising cost of materials, power and living as a whole, production costs are likely to rise. We will be discussing this also, and seeing what we can do to keep our manufacturing costs level. As always, we'll keep you in the loop with any changes and news here. 

In other news, we're working with the brilliant Meeple on Board Vanguard team to secure licensing agreements for Earth Rising, which will help us spread our message of hope and positivity even further! Keep your eyes peeled on our socials for the official updates on these. 

 Airecon Update: 

Laurie and Rob had an excellent time at Airecon and met many amazing people. On the Saturday they had an intense game of Earth Rising with Darren and Jen from Meandering Meeple,  cutting it close and winning in 2039! You can check out their review here.

UK Games Expo: 

By the time UKGE happens we will likely have closed the orders for Earth Rising, so it's unlikely we'll be demoing it at the con, HOWEVER we are considering hosting a prototype giveaway, so give us a shout if you'll be there and potentially get your mitts on one of our Earth Rising prototypes! 

Thanks all for reading, let us know if you have any questions in the comments section.

All the best,

Rhi & the SDR team 

82% and Climbing! Also, we'll be at Airecon!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Feb 26, 2022 at 05:06:21 AM

Hey folks! It's Rhi, and I'm back again with our monthly update. 

Getting straight down to it, 82% of backers have completed their surveys! That's a fantastic amount for the first month! There were a few small hiccups but otherwise everything on the pledge manager front seems to be working as intended. As always, any questions about this please do let us know! 

Delivery Schedule, Research and Other Fun Stuff

We have had a comment this week asking about the delivery schedule, and whilst we can't currently provide an estimation here, we can explain why. 

As you know, the informational booklet that will be printed with every copy of Earth Rising is being written by the wonderful Laurie Blake.  We have good news and better news. The good news is he is half way through! 21 explanatory articles about the issues and solutions to them have been completed, all of which are fully sourced and referenced! The better news is that the rest of the team are now able to pitch in a bit to help get these done. To avoid a clash of writing style its important that these remain written by Laurie, however the rest of us are helping with the preliminary research. We will of course give you all a delivery schedule update as soon as we possibly can, but we feel that vital information such as this is important get right. Misinformation and confusion are some of the environmental movements worst enemies!

Don't forget that Earth Rising can still be played digitally over on Screentop! This will remain available even post-fulfilment. If you want to try the game but don't know who to play with, feel free to drop into our Discordand arrange a game in there. We're always up for playing games with people!  

We're going to Airecon!

We finally have the opportunity to attend conventions this year, and the next one is Airecon! 

Airecon will be running between the 11th-13th of March, so if you're attending please do pop over to stall D13 to say hi! Laurie and Rob will be hosting demo games and selling copies of our first Kickstarter - Pugs in Mugs. They will also have a prototype or two of Earth Rising with them, and will be hosting an Earth Rising demo on the Saturday around 2pm! 

 Last but not least, while Laurie is working on the informational booklet, team SDR is working on fine tuning our next game! It's in early stages and we're about to open up public playtesting, so we'd love for you to come join us in making it fantastic! 

Click the banner above to sign up to be an early playtester - we'd love to have you with us!

If you're still with me, thanks for reading and we cannot wait to get Earth Rising into your hands as soon as possible! As always, please comment with any burning questions and we'll answer as soon as we can. Otherwise, we'll see you next month with more news!

Stay safe, have fun and we'll catch you soon~

Rhi & the SDR Team

Let the management commence!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jan 27, 2022 at 11:29:26 PM

Guess what, Earth Rising backers!

It's Laurie here this month with our update, and this month it'll be short and sweet as we'll be finally pulling back the curtain on the most hotly anticipated part of the post campaign... 

THE PLEDGE MANAGER

That's right folks, it's finally opening! It's seen some delays on account of, well, a fair few errors that were raised by our smoke test. However, we're confident those have now been fixed, and we're really crossing our fingers and toes that no other errors are lurking in the system. Nonetheless, if anything looks off to you when you're checking out, it's vital and essential that you let us know! 

We'll be running final checks today and then sending out your pledge manager invites tomorrow, meaning you can get it sorted over the weekend before you forget! Of course, we'll still give plenty of reminders to folks who haven't been able to get around to it later on, but soon you can relax and look forward to Earth Rising landing on your doorstep.

Got any questions? Drop them below! And if you haven't received your pledge manager invitation by Monday, please check your spam filters and junk folders before panicking 😉 If after checking you still haven't received your invite, please do get in touch.

At the same time, I'm still working away on the Informational Booklet, transforming complex subjects into understandable bitesized chunks! I can't wait to share more with you, so I'll be sure to do so next month.

Until next time, friends - stay green, and make a difference however you can! 🌱

~Laurie & the SDR Team

Wrapping up 2021!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 26, 2021 at 04:47:58 AM

Hello folks, Rhi again! I know I'm a few days late with this update, but as I'm sure is the case with most people at this time of year, we have been SUPER BUSY! 

This is going to be a short but sweet update just to round the year off and keep you all in the loop.

First up, lets talk RESEARCH! 

Since our last update we have been hammering away at the informational booklet, and we have now completed 18 out of 42 booklet entries! As we explained in the previous update, this is not a simple task, but we are making slow and steady progress.  Laurie is currently waist-deep in research about E-Waste Recycling, which it turns out is actually a fascinating subject! 

Did you know... With just the 17.6% of electronic waste currently collected, over $10 BILLION and 4 MEGA-TONNES of raw metals could be recycled - saving up to 15 Mega-tonnes of C02 equivalent emissions!

For those who are interested, here's a little sneak peek at some of those new entries! 

In other exciting news, we have been in touch with the wonderful folks over at the Meeple On Board agency - and they have taken us on as a client! We're currently figuring out how this will impact Earth Rising and will update you all on this in time, but this is also fantastic news for the future of Stop Drop and Roll. We can't wait to work with them on future projects! 

As I said at the start, this update is short and sweet, so I'm going to wrap it up with a massive THANK  YOU to each and every one of you who backed Earth Rising, or is out there making a difference in our world - no matter how big or small. We are forever grateful that there are people out there as passionate about this topic as we are. 

The SDR team are going to log off until the New Year and enjoy some well deserved rest with our families.

Mostly that will look a bit like this: 

To those who are celebrating a very happy holidays! And to those who aren't, we hope the end of this year treats you well, and we'll be back with more news in January! 

Bye for now! 

Rhi, Laurie, Rob and Jasper x