Utara Playmat Prototype from Dragon Chow Dice Bags/Lyndsay Peters

While planning the Utara Kickstarter, I commissioned a prototype cloth playmat from Lyndsay Peters/Dragon Chow Dice Bags. This thing is huge, double-sided with heavy cotton fabric and sewn together with brown braided cord. We wanted this thing to be really premium for that authentic treasure map feel. Though Utara's Kickstarter is indefinitely postponed, it's nice having this really nice one-of-a-kind artifact. As always, you can find great handmade dice bags at Dragon Chow.

Affordable Success: Why I'm Postponing the Kickstarter for Utara Dice Game

I've decided to postpone plans for kickstarting my dice game Utara. Here's why.

Utara's biggest problem is that it calls for so many custom dice. I thought I could manage it as a small outfit thanks to new tools like Kickstarter. That opened up opportunities for high engagement and distributed costs. Those would compensate for high up-front production expenses of custom dice. That expense was just from the relatively affordable option of laser-engraved dice. Each of those would cost $1.10 to make at a quantity of 2,000.

Pricey, but at least it followed the model of similar novelty products like Mathematician's Dice and Writer's Dice. We figured a goal of ~$4,000 would get us where we needed to be. The trick would be focusing on the novelty and flexibility of individual dice, rather than the game Utara. We'd need to develop more properties using one, two or three Utara dice, but at least it could be done.

As I sought feedback on the tier rewards, it became clear that if I was to focus solely on the dice, most people wanted something a little more refined. The ideal would be ivory dice with black inlay engravings, like old piratey artifacts. Unfortunately, the cost for that spec would be $2.50 per die for 2,000 dice. The rule of thumb for retail is mark up about 3x-to-5x your production costs. That means a single die would be a little under ten bucks! Even with bulk consumer deals, like a set of ten for $30, the price point would be much higher than a similar product from a larger company. (Martian Dice comes with more dice for a fraction of the retail cost, for example.)

So, the next viable alternative is to actually go for an injection molded run of dice, custom made just for Utara. There are international options for just this purpose, as I learned from Fred Hicks. Turns out those prices per die were something like pennies per die, but required much higher quantities in a single production run. The ballpark guesstimate was something like 30,000 dice for around $7,000. However, those would take months to produce, go through customs, and travel by freight ship across the ocean. Then I'd need to hire a warehouse to store, sort and fulfill individual orders (unless I wanted a mountain of dice sitting in my living room.)

Even then, assuming a single retail unit contained 30 dice, for all that trouble I'd only get 1,000 units to sell. To be truly feasible, I'd need to order far more than 30,000 dice. 50,000? 100,000? I had enough trouble carrying a box of 2,000 from my car to my doorstep. I shudder to think about how much more of a hassle a larger quantity would be.

It's clear that I'm in this transitional period between boutique designer and middle-sized producer. What I kickstart next has a strong chance of succeeding, based on whatever social capital I've accrued over the past three years. That being the case, I really need to keep affordable success in mind.

That means if the Kickstarter succeeds and I can't fulfill on what I promise, or if I have to compromise on quality, that social capital will be squandered. So, I can't pursue a Utara Kickstarter right now. Even if I set a Kickstarter sky-high and it succeeds, I just don't have the time or infrastructure necessary to make it a product without compromise. It'll just have to wait for a partner with deeper resources somewhere down the line.

Thanks for following the ups and downs of Utara. It'll come some day, just not right now. For now I'm going to pursue formats that are much more feasible for a small guy like me. Card and party games with minimal components that can be domestically manufactured and distributed in small runs. I have plenty of options in that space.

Superhero Audition, Belle of the Ball, Dead Weight, Dung & Dragons, Stupor Market, What's Your Excuse?!, and For The Fleet are all worthy candidates. Which interest you?

Real Estate of Utara: Kickstarter Reward Tier Planning

We're gradually refining the reward tiers for the upcoming Utara kickstarter campaign. We're gathering estimates from various vendors and comparing them to the hard costs of our last dice run. You might recall the last update on these plans, and now some stuff has changed based on the rising costs of postage, manufacturing, etc. Here's the basic rundown so far.

Description
Explore a new world with Utara compass dice. These custom dice show either North, East, South, West, a sun or a moon on each side. They can also be used as normal six-sided dice by counting the stars on each side. Use these dice in "Lost in Utara" for unexpected trips in your role-playing games. Roll them in board games like "Tides of Utara." When you back this project, you also help create the world of Utara. Small pledges create an island, while big pledges create whole archipelagos. Explore the World of Utara with Utara compass dice.

Goal: ~$5000 in 30 Days
Given our experience with the costs of prototyping and the costs of the Writer's Dice Kickstarter, now we have a better sense of what it costs to fulfill without going red.

$1: Citizen
All backers get thanks in the rulebook.
If the campaign is successful, the map of Utara will be released as a high-res PDF to Creative Commons.

$10: Explorer (250 Available*)
You get two Utara dice, enough to play the "Lost in Utara" mini-game.
You also create and name a small island on the map of Utara. (One cell large.)
[International orders add $3 shipping.]

$20: Trader (350 Available*)
You get four Utara dice, enough to play "Expedition to Utara."
You also create and name a big island on the map of Utara. ($20: Two cells. $30: Three cells. $40: Four cells.)
[International orders add $4 shipping.]

$45: Sailor (50 Available)
You get ten Utara dice, enough for two players to play "Tides of Utara!"
You also name an archipelago on the map of Utara.
[International orders add $5 shipping.]

$100: Navigator (5 Available)
You get twenty-five Utara dice. That's a five-player "Tides of Utara" set!
You also name a sea on the map of Utara.
You also get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag.
[International orders add $10 shipping.]

$500: Cartographer (3 Available)
You get twenty-five Utara dice. That's a five-player "Tides of Utara" set!
Your name is listed in the center of the map as a cartographer. (For example: The lands and seas of Utara as discovered by Lewis & Clark.")
You get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag.
You also get an exclusive handmade ~26" square fabric map with each hemisphere of Utara printed on either side, brought to you by Dragon Chow Dice Bags!
[International orders add $20 shipping.]

$1000: Crown of Utara (1 Available)
You get twenty-five fifty Utara dice. That's two five-player "Tides of Utara" set!
Your name is listed in the center of the map as the sponsor of the expedition. (For example: "Surveyed for her majesty, Queen Jane Smith.")
You get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag.
You also get an exclusive handmade ~26" square fabric map with each hemisphere of Utara printed on either side. The whole kit comes in a wooden box, brought to you by Dragon Chow Dice Bags!
[International orders add $20 shipping.]

* And now a math problem...
I have a limited amount of real estate in which to sell of naming rights to islands (one cell) and big islands (two-to-four cells). I have about 640 whole 19mm x 19mm squares in each 24" x 24" hemisphere. I would rather not fill up the whole map with islands. By making only 300 cells available for purchase in each hemisphere, we can ensure that the map doesn't get totally dominated by landmasses. There will always be a little more sea than land.

Planning the Utara Kickstarter Pledge Levels and Rewards

Though it is many, many months away, I can't help but look ahead to the next Kickstarter project: Utara. That image above is the snazzy new branding. The big experiment this time is the backer-generated map of Utara. You've heard me talk about the power of naming rights already. I'm stepping that up a bit this time around. Now, backers can create the world of Utara.



Above is a blueprint for Utara's map. It's a grid divided into about 2400 cells, each large enough for a single Utara die. Backers of certain levels will create and name islands, archipelagos, major landmasses, and greater seas. Here's a loose outline...

Goal: $2000 — That covers a minimum order of 2000 dice from the manufacturer with the same specs as the Writer's Dice. I've had some requests for Utara dice to be a more traditional ivory with black inlay design. I'll look into that, but it'll be more expensive per-unit and raise the minimum goal.

30 Days — This game is a pretty major project for a small outfit like mine. I want to give this campaign a good long time to gestate.

At these basic tiers, I'm following the same buy-in structure as the Writer's Dice campaign, with some bulk discounts for large orders. You can also see how the naming rights grow with each level. I would love to offer a printed game board for the $50 tier and beyond, but I'll have to check on the pricing for production and shipping on that.

$5: Lander – You get one Utara die. Roll it and find your way. All backers also get a printable PDF map of Utara. All backers also get credit and thanks in the official rules doc. [International orders add $1 shipping.]

$10: Docker – You get two Utara dice. One for you and your mate to play Utara Lite. You also create and name a small island on the map of Utara. [International orders add $1 shipping.]

$25: Islander – You get six Utara dice. That's one player's full Utara set! You also create and name a big island on the map of Utara. [International orders add $2 shipping.]

$50: Sailor – You get twelve Utara dice. That's a two-player Utara set! You also name an archipelago on the map of Utara. [International orders add $3 shipping.]

At these elite tiers, I'm offering Dragon Chow dice bags, as I did during the campaign for Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple. The big new thing is the handmade playmat, though. The design for that playmat is something like this, but ideally with a raised lip to keep the dice from rolling too far.

$100: Seafarer (5 Available) – You get twenty-five Utara dice. That's a four-player Utara set! You also name a sea on the map of Utara. You also get a 36" wide flat fabric map of Utara. You also get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag. [International orders add $6 shipping.]

$250: Mapper (3 Available) – You get twenty-five Utara dice. That's a four-player Utara set! Your name is listed in the center of the map as a cartographer. You get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag. You also get an exclusive handmade 36" wide drawstring playmat with the map of Utara printed on the inner lining. The whole kit comes in a polished wooden box. [International orders add $20 shipping.]

$500: Traveler (1 Available) – You get twenty-five Utara dice. That's a four-player Utara set! You name the four cardinal wind-spirits along the edge of the map. You get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag. You also get an exclusive handmade 36" wide drawstring playmat with the map of Utara printed on the inner lining. The whole kit comes in a polished wooden box. [International orders add $20 shipping.]

$1000: Ruler (1 Available) – You get twenty-five Utara dice. That's a four-player Utara set! You are listed in the center of the map as ruler of all the islands of Utara. You get an exclusive Dragon Chow Dice Bag. You also get an exclusive handmade 36" wide drawstring playmat with the map of Utara printed on the inner lining. The whole kit comes in a polished wooden box. All players of Utara must greet you with a bow and a courteous "Your Majesty." [International orders add $20 shipping.]

So that's the rough plan so far. Any campaign is still many months away, but it's good to plan far in advance. As I've learned with the Writer's Dice campaign, fulfillment can take a lot longer than you expect.

Etched Utara Dice + The Costs of Custom Dice

(Click to embiggen!)

I ordered etched Utara dice from GameStation and they just arrived! (You can see the bidding process in this post.) So, for those of you who want to venture in the wild and wooly world of dice games, I'll share some key info.

Here was the timeline:
March 4: Sent request for estimate to GameStation.
March 6: Receive quote from GameStation. (Next business day, basically.)
March 17: Call GameStation toll-free to order 30d. Get a digital proof same day!
March 28: 30 custom dice arrive in the mail.

Here are the specs and final numbers:
16mm square-edged opaque blank dice
Custom face on each side
Etch only
Cost+Shipping: $81

I'm happy with my purchase. The rep at GameStation (Jason W) was prompt and very helpful at every step of the process. Plus, the dice look fantastic. I don't know why the etching option is lower-priced. We've roughed up these dice quite a bit over the past few days and show no signs of wear.

The price of the order may seem high for thirty dice, but this was a very small run and many vendors won't even bother producing a set this small in quantity. Now, I have a great set of dice to bring to conventions and run demos. With this strong prototype, I can create promotional videos and pitch to partners or, later, create a Kickstarter campaign. I'm excited about the possibilities!

» Many thanks to Jason at GameStation for making Utara dice a reality.
» Super special thanks to Tim Rodriguez of Dice+Food+Lodging for recommending GameStation.
» How to play Utara

Janus plays Utara in Italy + A New Variant?

Giullina shared this photo of Renato Ramonda teaching Utara at PLAY! Modena. So much of this piques my interest. One, are those paper prototypes? Two, is that a printed rules sheet? Three, they're playing Utara overseas?? Awesome, awesome. Renato shares more on his tumblr:

"People gathered around and demanded to play too: we quickly played a good number of games and tried all the variant Sun/Moon options. I can definitely say that the game is fun, extremely simple to teach and learn, has a nice tactile element and when playing with the “advanced” rules I think a nice element of lightweight strategy: will I take this two dice or will I take only one but negate a Day or Tide to my opponent?"

Renato and friends also tinkered with a new variant that allows you to change the compass. You can see more on that in his post.

» Renato's Tumblr Post
» More photos
» Janus Design
» Official Rules for Utara