Incredible Tale of the insert!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Jan 05, 2022 at 05:37:33 PM
Hello all! I hope that the last few weeks have been well for you. We here have been hard at work getting the graphic novel off to print (saying an estimated February 3 for finishing production on that!!). We have also been talking with the manufacturer and going back and forth (in a very friendly way mind you) over the insert. See, it all started...
...right about here. OK. It actually started in 2013 when I first designed the original Slaughterville. At that time, the game and I were brand new to this field and the design choices for the insert were out of my hands. Which is why they were that way. Continuing on to Slaughterville 2, the insert remained essentially the same. Why would we do this? Why not improve it? Simply, cost. We hadn't had the funding because we were coming back after so long and we were rebuilding. So this is what the current insert looks like for Slaughterville 2.
Without the expansions, everything fits in neat and tidy. Add the expansions though, and it can be an issue. Now, I have the cards out and separated for effect, but they still do not sit flush with everything inside. This is the image that I sent to our manufacturing partner and I said that I never want to have something like this again. I wanted to be able to neatly organize everything and have it readily accessible. Hence the dividers and...well, the new layout. And we were able to do this because I designed the campaign for Slaughterville DC from the start to include all of the room and the bigger box. It was built into the funding.
So, after a couple of weeks, the manufacturer sent me this video (notice your awesome neoprene mat!!!).
It was...ok. I love the big well to store the baggies of tokens. The long trough for the mat was vital to me, The mats being stored on top, but not resting on the cards or dividers was awesome, but the cards...To be honest, the slot for cards was too small for me. So, I went back and I said that I need this to be my big, goto box for holding ALL of the Slaughterville stuff from here on, including Slaughterville 2, 3, and 4. So, they sent me this just about a day or so before they went on their winter break:
I was talking to my family when I showed them this image. I said, this looks a lot smaller than it is. I said that it's an optical illusion or something because the mats fit side by side over the "smaller" card section so that part is huge! Then I showed them the video and they got it. Now, I wondered how many cards would fit in that top part. So, I measured it out. Now, I am not as fancy as they are having the actual components, so I did this:
I measured out the entire content of cards from Slaughterville DC and 2 and they all fit in about 1/2 to just under 2/3 of the top portion. That is over 1000 cards in that top part with room to spare and then the complete bottom section available. I figure that is plenty of room for the content. Oh, I had to open a box of Slaughterville 2 to replace a missing deck for a Citizen, so I have those extra dice lying around now.
In the end, I made sure to let them know that I need to store all of the cards for current and future expansions, at least 60 mats, and the dividers were of great importance! I had to redo the art for them because they went from portrait to landscape. No big deal, just took a couple hours. I also have to redo the box art a little to fit the bigger box :)
Well, there you have it. That's where we are. Everything is moving along well and the process is what it is. I hope that you enjoyed seeing this little behind the scenes stuff and I would love to do more! Maybe I can do a screen cap of how I design a new character or ally if you would be into it. Let me know! Until next time, have fun!
Chris
