Thank you for an amazing race!
over 1 year ago – Sun, Aug 21, 2022 at 06:21:21 AM

Thank you Dodino Island! Thank you for a delightful ride! 

31 Stretch goals unlocked, 4,864 backers and tons of fun! Definitely you made the campaign possible, but most important, you addded all the fun! I love my job and big part of that is thanks to you! Thank you for your active and constant participation in the comments, for the answers and guesses on the puzzles, for all the emails asking for the product, for your interest, for your trust & support and simply for being here with us on this ride! Remember that I'm just one comment or email away. Feel free to reach me out at [email protected](either me or Ana will be back to you). 

We had a livestream when wrapping up the campaign, unfortunately we had audio difficulties so you might be able to read our lips (ROAAAAR!) !! just kidding, at minute 11:30 the audio was back, and we tried to recap what we have said and cover all the topics. It was a different livestream because the team joined the call! At minute 4:19 you can see the countdown with the team. 

Now, let's take a look at what we unlocked in the final minutes. We were able to reach 31 Stretch Goals. Thank you so much for your support and comprehension with the last update, we truly treasure your trust and we are confident that the results on the game will amaze you. Will is really committed to deliver an outstanding game and nothing escapes from his eye. 

Final stretch goals 

You were on fire at the end and the 9th racer was unlocked! Followed by thicker trap tokens (335K) a more deluxify board (345K) and even we didn't reach the 350K, we decided to unlocked the 6 extra cards! 

Unlocked racers and winners for the 8th and 9th racer! 

• 5th racer - Sternberg & Alberta 
• 6th racer - Sarah & Dianne
• 7th racer - Sharov, Arya & Paula 
• 8th racer - The proceratosaurus! 
• 9th racer - the dicynodont! 

Any name suggestions for the 8th and 9th racers? 

Even though we didn't post an update immediately, development hasn't stopped and once we had the final results from the poll, we started working on the 8th racer. Look at this progress: 

And of course here's a progress on the mini: 

 Also we did a small adjustment to the Longisquamas because they looked to small compared to the other racers, they'll be running up that hill! 

 
Plushie winners

As you may see, we had the giveaway winners in the livestream. Thank you for your participation and congratulations to @Esteban, @Jaime Heintz and @Janie Théoret. As for the puzzles, as mentioned previously, the 3 winners were Zach Hitzeroth, Kyle P, and VJ. Once the pledge manager opens, you will be able to choose between "Osborn&Reynaldo" or the "Baby Dodo" plushies! 

Draco reunion

After the rush of the campaign, we were able to get together (after travelling some hours) with part of the team and play some games! Of course, Creature Kingdoms was present with all the games and we couldn't had more fun! 

Next steps

We are honored to have so many new backers in the campaign, welcome all to our Creature Kingdoms' universe! Fasten your seat belts cause the fun is just starting! For those who are not familiar with Kickstarter, here's what you should do or expect in the next weeks: 

•  Kickstarter will process payments this week and will deposit funds to our account in 2 weeks. Backers with errored pledges must fix their payment (more about that below) within the next 7 days (Thursday 25th is the last day).
• We will finish setting up Backerkit (our pledge manager) to send your surveys in around 8 weeks. Here, you will be able to add extra items such as the Crossover miniatures pack and the plushies. You may also upgrade your pledge level and pay for shipping fees, as well as letting us know your mailing address. We will accept late pledges for a short time in here (in case you know someone who missed the campaign) but of course, our backers always get the best deals, so late pledges might not have the same price or bundles than the reward tiers but rather, they will be separate items for late pledges.

Errored pledges

If you had issues from Kickstarter charging your credit or debit card, (you can tell if you received an e-mail about it) follow this steps:

• Identify the source of the problem and provide the solution: 1. Your card has no funds: Transfer funds to it.  2. Another Kickstarter project you backed ended on the same day: Your bank blocked the card for security by thinking it was a duplicated charge.  3. Your card is incompatible with Kickstarter US charge hub: Try using a different card (yours or from a friend).
• On a web browser (not in the app) go to https://www.kickstarter.com/ and log into your account.
• You will see a red banner at the top of the website saying you have an errored pledge. Click on "Fix Payment" 
• Try again with the proper card (see the first step: Identify the source of the problem). 

There is a bug on which Kickstarter states you have successfully fixed your pledge even though it might haven't worked. The best way to confirm is to refresh the page and not having the red banner on the top; alternatively try looking in your mail for the proper confirmation. Backers with errored pledges have 7 days to fix it and Kickstarter will automatically retry at the end of the 7-day window. If you are not able to fix it within that time, your pledge will be automatically marked as dropped. Don't worry, you will still have 2 opportunities to fix it:

• The first will be when we send the surveys (in about 5 weeks). We may be able to charge your card properly in our platform.
• The next will be some months after the surveys are sent, we will be able to enable PayPal payments.

We will be here to provide support. But rest assured that your pledge info is still on record and you will have some opportunities to fix payment in the future. However, it is better to fix the payment in Kickstarter so that you still receive the project updates directly. Having said all of this, your last resource is to ask someone else (a friend or family member) for their card so you can try different cards Visa, American Express, Master Card until the payment is successful.
 

 On behalf of everyone at Draco Studios and Detestable Games, thank you again for joining us and trusting us on this new adventure to El Dodorado! Let's keep up with this new stage in the race! 

ROAAAR!

Last 2 meters! (ok, hours)
over 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 11:15:42 PM

ROAAAAAR - HOLAAAA Dodino Island!   

What a way to start the day, with great news, with a lot of messages from Pepe and with a bathroom water-leak that took us by surprise (all fixed). We had a morning meeting to review what we had planned and what you want and we ended up in the middle with a change of plans.  

Our plans were to make a big revelation in today's livestream (starting 5 minutes before the end of the campaign) but at this point and now that the puzzles have been solved (yay!) we feel it is necessary to disclose some announcements.

The answers for the puzzles:

DODOSAURUS EGG... WILL HATCH... IT IS NOT AN IDLE THRONE!

Congratulations to everyone who guessed any of these right and thanks everyone who joined in this activity! We had a lot of fun creating the puzzles and reading your comments – even if they were solved a lot faster than what we expected. 

Special congratulations for Zach Hitzeroth, Kyle P, and VJ who were the first backers to guess correctly the respective puzzle! 

So... in the original game the one-shot RPG adventure revealed a map that lead to the entrance of El DoDorado! 

Now the 2nd game takes place in El Dodorado and everything is pointing towards a last mystery related to the Dodosaurus Egg-Throne:

That means something BIG!!!! HUGE!!! HUMONGOUS!!!

DODOS RIDING DINOS IS GETTING A THIRD AND FINAL EXPANSION ON 2024!

This is how our release schedule for Creature Kingdoms look like:

• Winter 2022 - Fulfillment of Kiwi Chow Down
• Spring 2023 - Fulfillment of Dodo Dash (this campaign)
• Summer 2023 - Launch of Party Panda Pirates (inspired on the most popular party video game)
• Spring 2024 - Fulfillment of Party Panda Pirates
• Summer 2024 - Launch of Dodosaurus expansion

With that, we will wrap up our vision for Dodos Riding Dinos narrative. Our plan is for that semi-cooperative expansion to include a very large mini of the Dodosaurus who chase players across more boards and introducing more dinos (Carnotaurus, we will eventually meet you!), even the highly acclaimed feathered dinosaurs. 

But that seems very far away from now, so what does it mean for the present?

• Dodo Dash, the 2nd title of Dodos Riding Dinos was developed keeping in mind the price point requested by distributors with an MSRP of $50 USD (our KS backers getting it for $39 USD). 
• To accomplish that, this time the Kickstarter version of the game (and the copies in the pledge manager in case you decide to upgrade) will include more content than the mass distribution copies (which will just have 6 minis). Retailer backers: As part of the Kickstarter you get the Kickstarter version with all 9 minis. 
• It is important for us that all new content fits in the expansion box, that way you can keep everything (including promo racers) organized in the core boxes, easier to transport.
• At this stage we are not releasing a big box of holding because we plan for that to be available with the third and final expansion so you can hold all titles of Dodos Riding Dinos in a collector's big box. 
• We can assure you the wait will be worthwhile, because we plan to include more boards in the 3rd expansion (which won't be as tied with target price/cost as Dodo Dash) and we have plans for some promo game boards available for special occasions. Once we have everything lock down, that big box will be able to hold all of it. We also plan to do a slipcase if you want to hold different configurations of Creature Kingdoms games together, such as War for Chicken Island, Kiwi Chow Down and Party Panda Pirates.

Storing solutions is of paramount importance to me as a gamer and as creator. You can learn more about my focus in this update from the original Dodos Riding Dinos.

Final Stretch Goal

So, as Pam mentioned in the comments, we are making a change of plans because we are hearing your requests.

• Since the beginning the scope of this release was 10 minis (including Servit & Aureus) but we have included the crossover pack with 3 more. At this stage the issue here is not the price because tooling is spread across thousands of copies and material cost is not much. But adding another miniature might jeopardize the goal of making all the new content fit in the Dodo Dash box. 

Once again, you have reached and exceeded our expectations! Just as it happened in the original Dodos Riding Dinos campaign! 

So here's what's on our minds for the last stretch goal:

• Personally, I wanted to deluxify even more the Kickstarter version. I talked yesterday with our manufacturer and I believe we can add even more special treatments to the temple board to make it even more beautiful and impressive. Or upgrading the tokens to 3mm thick so they feel chunkier. Or adding golden gilded edges to the dodo idol cards (or even holofoil finish). With the projected funding we could include any 2 special finishes to the Kickstarter version. I think this is the best option and while they do not add gameplay value, many of you have already found the delight of playing with a beautifully-crafted game. 
• We drafted at this stage to have a new projectile (which we were saving for the Dodosaurus expansion because it has not been playtested yet, it is just a concept). There's medium risk here in rushing its development or having to extend timeline due to it and the associated cards to the new projectile.
•  New gameboard is the most complex one. It would require us to change the box size and would definitely change the development time to lock down the dynamics and art with all the associated playtesting and brainstorming time. It is also the most expensive not just because of the material but also for the extra weight in containers and parcels. With all my publishing experience I do not recommend this. Shipping, freight, production, and development wise this alternative is the riskier one to lead us into complications because we did not plan to include 2 boards in this set to stick with the MSRP objective requested by our distributors. On the bright side, I can share that we have plans for multiple boards in the future (the third expansion and some promo boards that you will be able to get).

I always love to see familiar faces (avatars + username?) in our new campaigns, so many of you already know that I ALWAYS VALUE YOUR INPUT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR GAMES. For those of you who don't know me, I'm very grateful for meeting you in this campaign, I want you to know that I believe Kickstarter is built around trust, and it goes both ways. So here we are sharing with full transparency our plans and the current scenarios. While we have had delays in the past, but we have fulfilled more than 20 Kickstarters already. As the campaign's end approaches, I wanted to hear what you all think about the final stretch goal, the timeline, and the future opportunities to get more boards and miniatures to complete the Dodos Riding Dinos trilogy.

Please let us know your thoughts! You are part of this project development and we are thankful that you chose to join us at this stage of the project, on Kickstarter. ROAAAAAAAR!

Crossover miniatures 

The unlocked add-on when reaching the 4,228 backers will become available in the pledge manager, along with the plushies and coloring pages, not in the campaign.

And thanks to @Temo, who pointed out a mistake we have with the Panda, the correct name is Megalodon, not Megalosaurus (Will and I had been watching Dinosaurs and we get stuck with the might megalosaurus, Earl Sinclair). 

Livestream

Join us at 1:55pm CT (in about 2 hrs) via Facebook or Youtube in the final countdown to end what has been a delightful race with you all! We will also announce the winner from the giveaway! 

Puzzle #3 and 4228+ backers!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 12:07:29 AM

Hola Dodino Island!

What an exciting last hours! We surpassed the 4228 backers barrier from the previous campaign, making Dodo Dash the most successful campaign that we have ever created and all that is thanks to you! 

As you remember, we love celebrating this milestones and we have a big surprise to reveal! An add-on was unlocked when surpassing the number of backers and it will be available in the pledge manager! A special pack with 3 unique miniatures featuring chickens, kiwi and a Panda from the upcoming project, Party Panda Pirates! 

Recount of what you have unlocked: 

x3 new miniatures, x10 Dodo idols in total, x4 trap tokens,  x4 treasure tokens, x8 new cards (not counting the community golas cards), an extra track, a foil finish, and much more! The emboss finish board was unlocked too along with the digital one shot RPG adventure, which we are sure you will have tons of fun playing! You can take a look at the previous one shot adventure "Curse of the Doodoo Doll" here!

I also wanted to share an update on Sharov, Arya & Paula (the 7th racer unlocked): 

On the horizon, the 9th racer when reaching 325K! 

8th Racer 

There has been a turn of events and the Proceratorsaurus is leading the poll now! Who will win the final race? Would a 9th racer be reached? 

Puzzle #3

We have had 2 amazing puzzles and a great response from you! It is time for the third puzzle to play with your minds, are you ready?  

Remember that to be the winner your answer must be in the general comment section, not in the update comments.

Livestream

Tomorrow, Thursday 18th of August at 2pm CT, the campaign will come to an end and we will be on a livestream sharing the cute fireworks Kickstarter add to the funded projects, talking about Creature Kingdoms' universe and what's next on the campaign! 

Join us via Facebook or Youtube!

Last 48 hours! Let's spread the word to have the loudest ending!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 10:03:19 AM

ROAAAAR Dodino Island!   

We are less than 48 hours away to end what have been an amazing campaign! Great community, tons of fun, pets disguised as dinos with dodos, new ideas for duos, lots of stretch goals unlocked and more to come! Help us share the campaign with your friends to unlock more stretch goals! You can share the pinned post on Facebook and retweet our post on Twitter, it will not only help the community goals, but to reach new potential backers! 

First of all, a big apology for my confusion and for dragging you with me, I had an outdated information mixed with updated information, to unlocked the 8th racer faster, the team decided to switch the 290K to 275K, and the 9th racer from 350K to 325K... but the spaces between each mini should have remain and I totally delete them (I wanted more racers) hehe So, the correct info (and sorry again for this) is that we have unlocked the 8th racer at 275K and we will unlock (I'm sure we can do it) the 9th racer at 325K! 

Now, talking about stretch goals, you just unlocked 2 more dodo idols and the emboss finish board is on the horizon!

I have been following the poll for the 8th racer and the Dicynodont looks like the future winner... followed by the Proceratosaurus and the Gallimimus in a close race for the 2nd place!    

Puzzle #2 - Winner   

Congratulations to @Kyle P for being the first one commenting the correct answer for the second puzzle! The answer was Will Hatch. The answer was hidden as an acronym, from bottom to top, first letter of each sentence. 

Puzzle #3 

Are you ready for the third puzzle? This one will go live tomorrow, Wednesday 17th, at:

• 22:00 Central time (10pm)
• 20:00 Pacific time (8pm)
• 23:00 Eastern time (11pm)
• 4am London time
• 5am Germany, France time
• 11am China time
• 12pm Tokyo time
• 13:00 Australia time (1pm)
• 15:00 New Zealand time (3pm)

We wanted everyone to have a chance to participate so we tried to cover as much time zones as possible.

Also, a bit of a spoiler, once the third puzzle is solved, Will will talk a bit more in the following update about the big box, we know it is something a lot of you have talked about in the comments. 

Sarah & Dianne 

After reading your comments and preferences, we work on the design again and we finally get the final design. 

Thank you for sharing your feedback and always helping us to strive for the best result! 

Plushie 

I have also been checking your plushie suggestion's and how the votes are going... looks like a lot of you want "Osborn&Reynaldo" while others have a preference for the baby dodo... so! we are exploring the possibility of having both of them in the pledge manager! Here's a work in progress with our ideas: 

Finally, remember that Will and I will be having a livestream on Thursday, minutes before the campaign ends, around 1:55pm CT. We will talk about the campaign, what's next, future projects, the Creature Kingdoms' universe and more. Hope you can join us!

ROAAAAR!

Puzzle 2 - Ready, steady, DODO!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 16, 2022 at 06:25:41 AM

Hola Dodino Island! 

We are thrilled with the response on the first puzzle, lots of comments and correct answers shared, and we are sure you will enjoy deciphering this second one! 

Puzzle #2

Remember that to be the winner your answer must be in the general comment section, not in the update comments. 

The third and last puzzle will be shared on Wednesday, August 17th. Time to be determined, we will let you know in the next update. 

Who will the 8th racer be? 

As mentioned in the previous update, you will decide! VOTE HERE FOR YOUR FAVORITE! Here's how the poll is going: 

We will close the poll on Thursday 18th at 8am CT, before the campaign ends. Which one is your favorite? Share it with us in the comments! 

Community Goals 

Let's close this last week with great results on the community goals! We really enjoy seeing your ideas for new racers, your drawings and we are looking forward to seeing your #DodoDashShot, don't be shy! 

We have been receiving your pet's photos and we are delighted with the new racers that are rising! Looks at the dino-rats! 

Keep the community goals growing!

Share the pinned post on Facebook and retweet our post on Twitter to accomplish more community goals!

Giveaway on social media is live!

Remember that 3 lucky backers will be able to win a plushie randomly by entering the giveaway in social media. Enter here! The giveaway will end on Wednesday 17th! 

 Livestream 

On Thursday 18th, a few minutes before the campaign ends at 2pm CT (so around 1:55pm) Will and I will be on a livestream to talk about Dodo dash, see the Kickstarter fireworks and talk a bit more about Creature Kingdoms' universe and the next steps. 

ROAAAAR!