Well the parcel turned out to be my cards. So nice. Crisp lines, bright colours and the tuck boxes look fantastic.
I will stick the pictures up somewhere soon, there are several, and link you guys to them.
At the moment not all is perfect though:
1) One card i pulled out of the first deck I unwrapped had discolouration on the back. Ryan at GOB says this just happens somtimes and is happy enough to replace any ones they missed their end free of charge.
2) The tuck boxes, although looking fantastic, are too small. The reason, we think, is that the cutter they use is a knife cutter that turns the corners of the cards up a little. Over the course of the deck, this makes it thicker than it should be which has made the tuck box too small. I currently have a bunch of decks lying under a stack of books in the hope that the weight will flatten out the edges and solve this problem. Failing that Ryan and I will sort out larger tuck boxes.
3) One card is wrong, and that is totally my fault. Ryan is happy enough to reprint it for me but it will obviously cost me a little more. Hopefully not much more that $10 or so.
So overall I am delighted with the quality, print and feel of the cards. Just hoping that this tuck box issue can resolve itself.
Cheers
Iain
Glad they've arrived
Submitted by Graham W on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 00:55.
Would it be lovely if, just once, everything printed the way it was meant to?
I'm sure you'll sort something out in time for Expo.
Graham
So at Expo...
Submitted by Tim Gray on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 07:10.
...we'll see the rare, collectable first printing!
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk
value
Submitted by Neil Gow on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 07:41.
Oh, it'll be like Summer Magic all over again!
Neil
Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/
Solutions
Submitted by Iain McAllister on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 07:45.
Hi guys,
I had a good chat over AIM with Ryan the other night and most things are sorted now.
1) The discolouration is basicaly just a problem with the print process, some cards will just be a little bit off. They have offered to replace any bad ones free of charge as they checked it their end and tried to catch most of them.
2) The cards do fit the tuck box, just. The problem lies in the cutter they use. Rather than a die cutter, which they haven't been able to get a solution for yet, they use a knife cutter. This turns the edges of the card ever so slightly. Basically each deck will need 'pressed' to flatten it out.
For the next run, Ryan and I are going to put together a slightly wider tuck box, adding up to 5mm to the width.
3) The card I did wrong will get reprinted, and Ryan will send it out. This will cost me but it was my fault in the first place so no big deal. I will be sending out the new sheet tonight so that should be sent out shortly.
So yes it will be at expo along with posters and other advertising stuff. I will talk about that in another thread though.
Cheers
Iain
Mob Justice now available!
'The Giant Brain':Small games, big ideas.
Neato!
Submitted by Rich Stokes on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 08:47.
Nice to see that you're getting there with this. I have questions:
Are you collating the decks yourself? As in, putting the cards in the boxes.
How are you doing the instructions? On a fold out sheet seems to be standard. if so, how are you getting them folded etc?
How does the process of getting the designs to GoB work, and how do their charges work out for small and very small runs? I'm thinking it might almost be worth doing a limited deck for Umlaut...
What's the turn around like?
Sorry this is a bit terse, I've just cut my finger and can't type very well at the moment...
Some answers
Submitted by Iain McAllister on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 16:42.
Oh poor rich has cut his finger. Diddims.
Anyway... :-)
Turn around for me was about 3 weeks from paying to receving but that is mainly because I was using paypal echeques that took an age. Ignoring that fact I would say it took about a week, week and a half for them to receive files, check them, print and send it out to me. This process will get smoother as they get more used to it but they are being careful to try and get everything right.
Files wise, I sent both PDF and indesign files just to be sure but they can take a bunch of formats. The web page of the POD stuff is here:
GOB Podcards
Basically you just download their files, set up your templates in whatever design programme you favour, lay them out, then send them. Ryan and his folks check them over for any glaring layout errors and then start the printing process.
They can do as few as 10 deck with only 9 cards in each so I think a run for umlaut would be viable. I would say the quality is excellent, good thick card, bright colours and crisp lines.
I have to put in a word here about the communication from GOB. It has been exceptional. Ryan has been very helpful and friendly, guiding me through when I was getting worried about things, like the recent tuck box issue. At every step of the way he has fed back to me on how things are going, when they had finished printing etc. Absolutely fantastic and has made the whole process a lot less stressful.
At the moment I only have half the run as Ryan kindly set half out before my echeque cleared. The rest is on the way as are the rules which he forgot to pack in.
There is a rules template up on the site, which for me amounts to a thin strip folded twice. I will be getting the strips flat and I will fold them myself.
I am putting the cards in the boxes myself, but the decks are collated already. I will put pictures up soon about how that arrived, but basically I got 50 plastic bags, each with one deck in them, rather than 50 plastic bags with 50 of one card in each. These bags will not fit in the tuck box as it stands, so they need opened, compressed and put in the boxes.
The tuck boxes I also need to fold myself but, much to my delight, they come pre-scored on the back making things a lot easier. This does mean some 'blue peter' work at my end but I have no objections to that.
All the best
Iain
Mob Justice now available!
'The Giant Brain':Small games, big ideas.