We Still Need To Hear From a Few Of You!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 07:47:33 AM

Hi Backers -

A quick note! Some of you haven't had a chance to fill out the Backerkit Survey, which we really need you to do! Also, we wanted to inform everyone that the Pledge Manager will be closing in two weeks on Friday, July 14th. So what does this mean for you?

• If you have not completed your survey yet, you must complete it, or we will not be able to ship your game to you! Please go here: https://spacehoppers.backerkit.com
   
• When the Pledge Manager closes, you won't be able to add anything to your original order - like a few extra copies for friends and family ;)
   

Help! I haven't received the survey yet!

If you have not received a survey link via email, you can either resend one using this tool (https://spacehoppers.backerkit.com/), or you can message us on Kickstarter, or email us at [email protected] and we'll get you sorted—because we want everyone to get their reward!

Please make sure you check your Junk/Spam folder, too, as your survey may end up there!

Charging Credit Cards

After July 14th, we will lock your order and charge your credit card (that will happen that same week). Your shipping information will remain editable until we get closer to the fulfillment date in October 2023, in case you move between now and sending out the games.

What Comes Next?

We'll send you a few updates over the summer as we get production prototypes in our hands, and we hope to get a couple of playthrough videos live later in the summer too! We'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for all your continued support!

Zach, Zella, and the Space Hoppers team.

The Pledge Manager Opens This Week
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jun 12, 2023 at 11:09:56 AM

Hello Space Hoppers Backer Crew!!

We’re excited to announce that the Backerkit Pledge Manager will launch this week. A small test will go out to some backers today and the rest of the backers later in the week.

We know that all the Kickstarter and Backerkit emails can be overwhelming and a bit confusing.

What Is The Pledge Manager For?

We will be using Backerkit for our Pledge Manager. It is a third-party website that allows us to manage the fulfillment of the game to our Kickstarter backers and to complete the final details of their pledge, which includes:

• Get us your final shipping information and phone number to finalize shipping costs.
  
• You can pick up any Add On Items to your order, which will be delivered in October with the games!
  
• We’ll have the Pledge Manager open throughout the summer for pre-sales of the game's retail version.
  

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to message us.

Keep an eye out for the Backerkit email.

Thank you!!

The Space Hoppers Team

Production Files!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jun 03, 2023 at 04:17:46 AM

Good morning Space Hoppers Crew! 

Quick weekend update:

We're approving digital proofs from our manufacturing partner, Panda. The next step for us is to receive the Pre Production Copy (PPC) of the game.  The PPC is the real deal, the hard copy, the game itself, it is for color matching and print quality review. It will take a few weeks to receive it. Assuming it's awesome and ready to go, we then pull the trigger on the full print run of the games!

Here's a look at a digital proof: this is what a printer sheet of cards looks like.  

More to come! 

Zach and Zella and the Space Hoppers Team

Next Steps for the Singko Academy Card Game!
over 1 year ago – Sat, May 27, 2023 at 03:35:25 AM

Hello Space Hoppers Crew!!

Thank you for backing Space Hoppers: Singko Academy card game! A couple of orders of business. We found out that there was a little confusion in the Kickstarter backend and some folks were charged shipping at Kickstarter checkout, not in the upcoming pledge manager, Backerkit.  We apologize for this confusion! All the shipping-related information and charges should happen AFTER you complete the final survey and confirm shipping information. But rest assured, if you were already charged for shipping, that amount will be applied against your total, and you’ll either be charged the difference or refunded the difference in the final shipping rate calculation after you complete the survey. We sincerely apologize for this confusion!  We are working with our partners on this so you will have a seamless fulfillment process.

Keep your eyes peeled for a communication from BACKERKIT. This is the tool we use to manage the shipping and fulfillment process. This will be a survey by email in the coming weeks to confirm or update your mailing address. If you missed out on any of the awesome add-on items, you can grab additional items and a few more copies for your friends and family. ;)

We’ll be in touch soon, and as always - thanks for joining the crew!

Zach, Zella, and the Space Hoppers Team

Space Hoppers: Singko Academy - How We Got Here
over 1 year ago – Mon, May 22, 2023 at 06:29:21 AM

We've got 24 HOURS TO GO!  We would not be at this point without you. Have we told you how excited we are to have you join our crew? Well, we are!

I’m a maker, a creator, a writer, a producer. I make movies, produce TV commercials, and have an ongoing cyberpunk comic series called The Gatecrashers that I write and independently publish. I work with many awesome, creative people and collaborators to make everything happen.

Creative projects are my natural first stop when I think of activities to do with my daughters.

This project began one morning in 2018. My daughter Zella and I were looking for a weekend project together, and we started concepting an 8-bit video game about kids using squirt guns to corral alien creatures made of blobs of goo. This got us talking about who the kids were and why they were wrangling alien goo! Then we asked each other if the kids were aliens and maybe they were on a field trip. They are in space, so instead of a field trip, maybe we call it a “hop” - a space hop. What would it be like to go to school in space and make hops to different planets? 

Maybe in this universe, they all play one super-popular card game to pass the time on long space hops, a game called Space Hoppers.  THAT card game was the game Zella and I decided to make, and that was the moment the world of Space Hoppers was born!  (Don’t worry; we’ll return to that 8-bit video game soon 😁)

Upon reflection, one of the main reasons (aside from quality time) that I wanted to tackle a big creative project with Zella was to show her what it takes to make something and show her that she can do it too. She was too young when I launched The Gatecrashers to understand what I was doing, but she loved visiting the Comic-Con booth!  I wanted to show her that something can go from your imagination to the shelves of your favorite game store (or at least we can set that as a goal).

Making Space Hoppers is an opportunity to show her firsthand that behind everything you buy, watch, read, or play, from cool sneakers to great manga, an awesome pair of jeans, to a Roblox experience, there are creative people passionately pouring out their imagination and hard work to make it happen, to get it in a store, to get it on a console or a TV, to show it on YouTube and everywhere else.

I wanted to show her how much work it takes just to get to the starting line and we did it. She and I created a fun sci-fi adventure story set in space. And then, she was able to see parts of the world be transformed by watching the game design process for the Singko Academy card game. We also went to Indianapolis for GenCon, where she learned about all the parts of getting a game into players' hands, how playtesting works, and just how massive the games industry is while I was in meetings preparing for this Kickstarter.

Success for Space Hoppers is making a game that we are proud of AND is also fun and exciting for the players. Space Hoppers is a big world, and this card game is just arriving at the starting line - the starting line which you all helped us get to.  We hope that by pulling back the curtain and continuing to show how we are creating this world, we might inspire and inform someone else out there, and we can’t wait to play their game too!

The end of this Kickstarter is just the beginning of this journey. Thank you for showing your support. We are thrilled to have you as a member of our Space Hoppers crew!

Sincerely, 

Zach, Zella, and the entire Space Hoppers team