BackerKit surveys are coming!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 10, 2023 at 05:10:44 PM

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Over the next few days, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards. 

An initial test batch will be sent out to 5% of our backers to make sure that everything is working correctly in the system. Then about a day or so after that the remaining surveys will be sent out in batches of 5000. 

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!

After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts. Surveys will remain open for about 4 weeks until we need to lock the final counts for production.

Due to the volatility of shipping (and sales tax / VAT / GST) prices globally right now, shipping (and sales tax / VAT / GST) fees for this project will be calculated at a later date once we have the best estimates for everyone. We plan to enter & charge backers for shipping and sales tax / VAT / GST a month or two before fulfillment when we have better estimates of what it will cost to ship backers rewards. Your card will be charged once at that time for any add-ons you add through BackerKit, sales tax / VAT / GST (where applicable), and shipping. We will alert backers when shipping costs are finalized & before we charge your cards in your BackerKit survey. We will keep you informed all along the way!

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://botany.backerkit.com.

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://botany.backerkit.com/faq.

Thank you all so much for backing our game!

Amy and Dusty

Production and Pledge Manager Progress!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 05:22:49 PM

Hi everyone! We have been working like crazy over here and having so much fun! 

Pledge Manager

First, Kickstarter finished their part of the process a few days ago, and we're almost done finalizing the last few details of our shipping and logistics plans. As soon as that last bit is set, we'll be sending out the pledge manager surveys through BackerKit. We'll be sending out more reminders once those surveys go out, too.

Also, don't forget that due to the volatility of shipping  (and VAT) prices globally right now, shipping (and VAT) fees for this project will be calculated at a later date once we have the best estimates for everyone. We plan to enter & charge backers for shipping a month or two before fulfillment when we have better estimates of what it will cost to ship backers rewards. Your card will be charged once at that time for any add-ons you add through BackerKit, sales tax / VAT (where applicable), and shipping. We will alert backers when shipping costs are finalized & before we charge your cards in your BackerKit survey. We will keep you informed all along the way! 

Production Progress

Don't get me wrong, logistics is fun, but now for some stuff that is even more fun! Production is going super well, and we're currently going through all the design verification, finalizing component selections, and all sorts of other neat details for the game and expansions. We just finalized the silhouettes for the 5 different pawn shapes. We based them on classic garden shapes like urns, pillars, a seed pod, and an acorn.

Which one is your favorite? I think mine is number 4, but it's so hard to choose! 

And also, do you notice something different on the cards below?

That's right! The much-requested scientific name of each specimen is now included on its card! 

That's all for now, but we'll be sending another update soon once the pledge manager is ready. Thank you all so much again for backing our game!!!

Amy and Dusty

Don't Miss Out On New Projects

Thank you!!!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jun 01, 2023 at 05:37:33 PM

We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts! In 30 days, Botany became  21,146% funded with $1,057,307 raised from 15,105. We had hoped to get our little game publishing business up and running a bit, and instead it is now fully realized and off to a tremendous start. We are so completely grateful and offer our deepest thanks to each and every one of you! Your faith in us has not gone unnoticed, and we are already hard at work on exciting expansions and other games that we believe will delight and challenge you in new and unexpected ways. 

The Stretch Goal Grand Finale

That's right! You all unlocked the final $1,000,000 stretch goal: the Sensational Seaweeds set of cards will now be a permanent part of the base game for everyone. We are so in love with these particular cards that we could not be more excited that they're now part of the game!

Next Steps: The Pledge Manager and Shipping

We will be using BackerKit to manage pledges and EasyShip Collect to manage shipping and fulfillment costs after the campaign. Due to the current volatility of shipping costs, shipping payments will be collected in EasyShip Collect well after the end of the campaign, close to our ship date, and will be based on actual shipping costs incurred. This will allow us to present the most accurate and up-to-date prices to pass savings on to you, our valued backers. Here's how it will work:

1. You will receive an email from BackerKit a few weeks from now to confirm your pledge and add any additional items you would like. In the BackerKit survey, you will be able to:

• Confirm your pledge.
• Add any additional items you would like to get.

2. Later, you will receive an email from EasyShip Collect a few weeks before fulfillment. In the EasyShip Collect survey, you will be able to:

• Pay for shipping costs on the spot
• Pay for taxes and duties (if due) on the spot as well to avoid delays.
• Have the ability to add shipping insurance to the package

We are here to help! Our email is [email protected]

We'll be sending updates at different milestones during production and shipping so you all know where we're at during the process. This is the part of Kickstarter campaigns where there are A LOT of moving parts. We've backed enough projects to know that things can get messy or slip through the cracks or just plain get mixed up, but we want everyone to know that we are here to help and will make absolutely certain that each and every one of you gets the products from your order. If you have any questions, need help figuring out Kickstarter, BackerKit, and EasyShip, or just plain want to nerd out about flowers and board games with us, please do not hesitate to send us an email at [email protected], and we will get right back to you. 

Thank you! 

Seriously, thank you so much again for supporting our game! We are so incredibly grateful! Please stay in touch with us on Instagram, too! https://www.instagram.com/duxsomnium/

- Amy and Dusty

17,151% Funded! 60 Hours Left!
over 1 year ago – Mon, May 29, 2023 at 05:14:58 PM

I can't believe we're down to the final stretch! Thank you all so much for helping make our dream become such an unbelievable reality! 28 days down, 60 hours to go, and we are 17,151% funded with $857,579 raised from 12,253 backers! If you want to upgrade your pledge tier or add any more add-on items, now is the time to do it! 

Q&A Livestream Wednesday on Instagram

Our friend, Ori at Kagan Productions, has the most fantastic ideas, and he thought it would be super fun to do a Q&A Livestream with us! We'll be going live on at 12:00 Pacific Time (3:00 PM Eastern) this Wednesday on our Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/duxsomnium/

Stretch Goals

I honestly thought it would take a few more days than this, but you all just keep unlocking these stretch goals! Since the last update, we had two more unlocked!

1) Upon incredibly popular request, 2 new pets will be added to the expedition deck!

2) We're adding another absolutely gorgeous upgrade to the box! The logo on the lid will now be embossed in addition to having gold foil. It is going to be so pretty!

And now, for the final stretch goal: We are adding Sensational Seaweeds to the base game! This set of 6 cards includes 5 specimen cards and one new character card. The 5 seaweed/algae specimen cards in the set are extremely unique because they can be acquired from any ocean space on the game board. And our new botanists are the clever Kakala Sisters from Tonga, who have the ability to look at two events at once and choose which to resolve.

Thank you so much again for supporting our game! We are so incredibly grateful!

- Amy and Dusty

10,000+ Backers! 6 Days to Go!
over 1 year ago – Thu, May 25, 2023 at 06:37:11 PM

We appreciate you all so much! The messages we have been getting from everyone have been so wonderful, and we are so excited for you to play our game! 24 days down, 6 days to go, and we are 14,019% funded with $700,987 raised from 10,008 backers!

What are your favorite flowers? 

Our friend, Ori at Kagan Productions, who made our incredible campaign video, said it would be fun to hear what everyone's favorite flowers are, and we could not agree more! Dusty's favorite flowers are sunflowers, and mine are lavender and roses. We also absolutely love California poppies, which are all over our farm. We even named our daughter Poppy! Leave a comment on the pinned comment on the campaign page and let us know what your favorite flowers are!  

Stretch Goals

Since the last update, you all unlocked two fantastic stretch goals! 

1) Each pair of player pawns in the game will now have unique antique chess-inspired shapes. We're working on design sketches with Panda, so we'll absolutely be sharing those on our socials once we have them ready to show off. 

2) The brilliant solo mode A.I. botanist, Abigail Inglesby, will now have her very own character card, and we're also adding bonus objective cards to solo mode as well. 

And the next stretch goal to unlock is another fun one that we have gotten SO MANY requests for: 2 more pets! You all sure do love those plant hunting animal companions. We're busy play testing them now, so we'll let everyone know once we're ready to announce exactly which ones will be available to join your expedition in game. 

Solo Mode Playthrough Video

Baley and Wyatt at the "Botany and Board" Youtube Channel made another great playthrough video for us, and this time it's all about solo mode! Check it out here:

Thank you so much again for supporting our game! We are so incredibly grateful!

- Amy and Dusty