High Noon July Update!
2 months ago – Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 03:01:44 PM

Howdy y’all!

I want to apologize for the late update. I try to push out at least one per month, but June was a slammed session for me and this month has been no different. I’ll keep this update brief and to the point.

1) Production Update

We are pretty much finished with production of all of the expansions. There was an issue with the box sizes of Father Franklin and Grizzly Greenwood that had to get worked out and the final print of the Marketplace and Minis Crate packaging had to be approved. Here’s their official mock-ups.

2) Website Update

The rules section of the website has been completely overhauled to host every rules book we will be publishing. Now available on the site are the rules for the Marketplace, Elevation and Father Franklin. You can now get a heads up of how each of these expansions will affect the overall game. Consider it a preview of sorts. Also, if you want to use the rules to jump ahead of the arrival of the expansions, create your own temporary (or permanent) assets and get your feet wet, feel free!

Once you've checked out all of the new rules and errata, head on over to any of our Social Platforms and join discussions with other High Noon fans, discuss strategies, events, fan concepts and more!

3) Shipping Update

The part you’ve all been waiting for. Shipping! Where are we at? We are officially in the onboarding stage! All fulfillment partners have been notified and have sent over their onboarding paperwork that I now get to fill out. Wheeee!

So this next week, I will be...

• Updating all outstanding shipping addresses
• Going over each pledge to ensure everyone who purchased 2 or more expansion posses gets the upgraded tile artwork.
• Segregating the list of backers to their appropriate fulfillment partners
• Arranging shipments to those partners

We still have a little bit of work left to do there. If your address has changed and I have not confirmed with you that it has been updated in our system, please reach out via direct message and let me know what your current delivery address is and I will work with you to update it.

I know I always say it, but it’s never been more true. We are getting very close, folks! Thank you for your continued patience and support!

May-be an Update! (And Building Partnerships)
5 months ago – Thu, May 11, 2023 at 09:24:58 AM

Howdy y’all!

It’s that time again as we near completion! I don’t want to waste a bunch of time with text because we have SO MUCH CONTENT to share with you! First off, late last month, we approved the blister molds for the packaging, this was the final stage of production and mass production is officially complete!

That means...

• All packing is finished 
• All minis are finished 
• All instructions are finished 
• All game tiles are finished 
• Character sheets and new cheat sheets are nearly finished
• Minis crate and chips and gold are in progress.

The factory anticipates everything will be assembled this month! 

The only exception to this is the marketplace expansion. This has been a challenge from the start, because of its unique nature. However, it looks like the factory is pushing along there as well. As a short anecdote, I have been very concerned about the components for this expansion because it was designed as the first “puzzle” asset in the game, meaning it would need to be assembled with multiple pieces and those pieces would need to be sized just right to they fit together with minimal adhesive or other outside resources. Here is an example of one of the prototypes.

The factory advised the set be made of less pieces and that it actually be mostly assembled through folding, rather than gluing. I had no idea how that could possible work, so these big brains went and showed me!

As you can see in these two videos of the die-cut assembly, everything fits together and locks in place. At the very end, they even do a light drop to show it doesn’t fall apart. I was blown away! So it looks like everything might be sent out all at once after all!

I’m still not a fan of overpromising, which is why I haven’t given a shipping date – because we really won’t have one until we have one – but given the status of the project and the confidence of the factory, it sounds like we have a very real chance of seeing the rest of the High Noon expansions ship out within the next 2-3 months. This definitely puts us well within the timeframe of my promise to have you everything before Christmas. So please keep those fingers crossed and hands clasped in prayer, send all the good vibes you got because this train is about to leave the station!

But wait! There’s more!

One of our original backers has been working with us over the last year to produce some incredible content for you all and we’re finally ready to share it with you. 3D-DZYN is the creator of amazing buildings and scatter debris for wargaming. Frankly, it’s some of the best I’ve ever built. The kits are of grade A material, the instructions are easy to understand and the way everything is put together, it’s truly uncanny. I’ve built their sets side-by-side with other vendors, even popular ones, specifically to test the overall quality before choosing to partner with them and I was beyond surprised by the sheer difference of the overall experience of building 3D-DZYNsets over the others. No need for super glue, everything pre-painted, most pieces just *fit* together, no clunky metal parts that – WHY ARE WE EVEN USING METAL PARTS WITH WOOD KITS?! – and FURNITURE?! You mean this building isn’t just a façade produced by a lazy company that doesn’t actually make buildings but just glorified BOXES?! You mean when 3D-DZYN says something is a bank, it’s ACTUALLY A FLIPPING BANK?! With DESKS and CHAIRS and a VAULT and EVERYTHING?

Yes, my friends. 3D-DZYN truly is the holy grail of wooden kits and now we are pleased, honored and thrilled to officially announce our partnership with them to launch official High Noon 3D Kits to amplify your gaming experience to the next level. Starting with the Sweetwater set, available kits include the Bank, Jail, wagons and loot crates, all designed for super-easy assembly and each add a whole knew and unique flare to your game sessions!

The loot crates alone add a whole new dynamic with various ways to handle loot. Do you want to build the crates so they advertise what’s inside? Or do you want to keep it all a secret until you get there? Maybe even throw some gold in the crate for added easter egg bonus! The possibilities abound.

We gave the sets a test drive a few weeks ago and the consensus was overwhelming. One player even stated, “this is how High Noon was meant to be played.” And I gotta say, I was always adamant to the importance of the open space style of play, without the use of 3D buildings, but now I totally get it. I absolutely agree. High Noon was designed to be played entirely flat. 3D was always just an option – and it still is. True to form, you don’t need these kits to enjoy the game. But having them on the table just adds another level of play experience I’m losing words for.

What does this mean for the future? 3D-DZYN is our partner of choice. They are currently working on designing buildings for the expansions and even buildings and assets of their own imagination to add to the universe. Over time, the library of kits will begin to expand to encompass not just what we have planned, but all sorts of fun kits to spice up your table.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, all of the floors are etched with a grid, so they’ll be 100% compatible with all grid-based tabletop games – something I haven’t seen anywhere else!

For those of you in our All-In Ride-or-Die posse, I didn’t leave you out of this partnership deal. A lot of effort went into ensuring not just that the quality was top notch, but that you got to benefit from your commitment to the cause.

Because we don’t own this business and we are not the ones producing these sets, they aren’t ours to give away for free. Our vendor makes all kits to order and still has to keep the lights on. That said, they have generously agreed to produce the kits at cost for you (our Ride-or-Die members) on your very first purchase with them! We’ll be rolling out an email to you on how to take advantage of that opportunity, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out the High Noon kits and all of the other awesome kits 3D-DZYN has created.

April Pyrite!
6 months ago – Sat, Apr 01, 2023 at 06:23:39 PM

Howdy y’all!

No jokes today! Just a good ol’ fashioned monthly update.

The factory worked on some solutions for the issue with the gold bars but unfortunately they were unable to solve the noticeable bump (seen in this update) without recreating the entire mold, which would have incurred significant additional costs and time to produce.

They did, however present a different gold surface and - after comparing it side-by-side - we’re going to go with this option. It’s not as glossy but it shines and looks great.

In other news and speaking of things that look great, take a look at these chips!

I know a big complaint from players was the difficulty in telling the colors apart. Hopefully that won't be a problem any more. With these approved, the chips and gold are nearing completion and should be packaged and ready soon.

And in other news, the starter set upgrade tiles arrived!

They looked so good, we couldn't help ourselves and just had to play a round.

Hate to leave that little episode on a cliffhanger, but as you can see, the grid and image alignment is on point 🤠

These are finished and ready to be shipped with everything else so we are that much closer to fulfillment.

As a reminder, if your pledge includes 2 or more expansion posses, these tiles will be included in your shipment absolutely free 😊But if you just want a set to go with your starter set, you can pre-order them here!

Supplemental Update (About the Tiles in the Last Update)
6 months ago – Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 09:15:16 AM

In my previous update, I showed video from the factory that had game tiles from the expansions and Sweetwater Gulch (the Starter Set tiles). I got some comments and even some emails about some of the tiles having incorrect grid alignment that would have rendered the tiles completely unusable.

These comments also came on the back of previous comments in another post that had featured those tiles, wherein people expressed the same concern. Honestly, I completely missed those comments or else I would have addressed them then, so I apologize.

The Sweetwater tiles you saw in those videos were purely color-grading samples that the factory was showing me for approval of the colors. I admit I'm still a bit ignorant of their process so I have no idea why the grid was off, but it wasn't their priority for the purposes of the samples.

I asked them about the grid and they said it was fixed and fine in the final print of the tiles (which has already been done). I didn't want to leave it up to speculation or "trust me bro" so I asked them to send a video to show you all. So here it is!

As you can see, everything is good :)

Guys, we've come a long way and it's taking an arduously long time to get here. The last thing I'd ever want is for anything to go out unplayable. That's like, my one  job and it's all I've been focused on throughout this process. Some things will slip through the cracks, but they won't be so big that the game can't be played. That would be utterly unacceptable. I hope I've earned your trust in at least that department.

That said...speaking of things slipping through the cracks and tiles, there actually is going to be a goof on this print run. I made a historically accurate account of said event through this stunning artwork of the comic strip below.

That's right. After nearly 4 years of playtesting on the same game tile over and over and over again, not a single person (myself, nor the myriad of play-testers, convention attendees, random people, etc.) caught this glaring discrepancy. 🤦‍♂️

Rest assured, the issue will be resolved in future prints. Only about 1,000 of these will go into circulation on this run so maybe they'll be a collectors' item? One can dream!

Anyway, I wanted to be transparent about that because I only discovered the issue late last month. But as for the starter set tiles, rest assured, everything there is just fine!

Ecstasy of Gold (And other stuff!)
6 months ago – Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 09:33:12 AM

Howdy!

We got some updates here for ya, and I've organized them accordingly:

The Good

The first video of the gold bars hit and the coating looks even better than we anticipated! Just look! 😍

Report from the factory: Tiles and minis are done. Character sheet and cheat sheet will be under production soon, as well as Father Franklin instructions. Acrylic board of Father Franklin is under production. Once those are complete, it's on to the tokens and packaging, which have already been sampled and approved.

Here's some shots of the expansions with their tiles.

The Bad

We had some issues with the proofs for the character sheets that need correcting. Should be a quick fix, so we're just glad we caught it up front.

If you look at the gold video, you'll see an area where the coating isn't present. They said this had to do with how the gold bars were coated and removed from whatever they're on when being coated. It's a problem. I don't like it. We tried to apply a second coat on that area and it was just...egh...

The Ugly

I'm not kidding. Just look.

The team is aware of this and they aren't satisfied either. They're working on a solution and I am confident they will come through.

Getting closer folks!