The Saga Continues...
/So, Tact-Tiles and I have a past. I met the boys of BC-Products (the original creators) on ENWorld several years ago when the Tact-Tiles originally came out. I noticed they were in the same city as me (Huntsville, AL) and, in need of a gaming group, sent one of them a private message.
I got a response and we agreed to meet for lunch one day to sort of interview each other. Both of us have had some problem players in the past and wanted to avoid that sort of situation again.
So we met, hit it off, and have been good friends ever since. In fact, I'm still in a weekly game with them.
Fast forward a few years. Tact-Tiles go out of production due to issues with the manufacturing process and one of the vendors. A few other companies try their hand at it, and fail. I get involved with BC-Products try again. We fail again.
Tact-Tiles effectively disappear.
Fast forward a few more years. I start Void Star Studios with Strands of Fate. By indie standards, it's a huge success. For one guy working with his friends from the internet, it's a massive hit. It goes Platinum on DrivethruRPG.
Strands of Power comes the next year. For a supplement, it also does very well.
And then this Kickstarter thing happens and I see the opportunity to get the capital to do Nova Praxis the way I wanted to do it. It goes on to generate almost $30,000 in pledges. Again, by indie standards, that's a huge hit. It goes Platinum on DrivethruRPG three times faster than Strands of Fate, and will soon see a Savage Worlds version.
So... emboldened by past success, I acquire the rights to Tact-Tiles for Void Star. We start plotting, scheming, designing and schmoozing vendors. Progress, it seems, it finally being made.
And here we are. I won't lie, we're still facing some challenges.
For example... We got our sample in for the ink that gets applied to make the grid. I'm not real thrilled with it. Take a sharp metal object (like the base of a metal mini), and you can scrape it off. i expect that to some degree, but I'm not happy with how easy it was. So I'll be getting back in touch with my ink guy Monday.
I also got an updated quote to run some samples from the mold, and the price per tile has gone up considerably (like +40%). So we've got to tackle that Monday as well. And I've also got to buy a new sprue for the mold, which clocks in at around $800.
Nasty surprises to be sure, but certainly not show stoppers. Tact-Tiles have become my own personal Moby Dick over the last few years, but by God I'm going to slay this beast.
Stay tuned for more updates as we battle this beast.