UPDATESorry for the long delay guys! I've had so many things on my plate and so many plans for this upcoming sale that I had to pace myself, which is taking a little longer than expected.
I decided to push the Scythes and Scepters sale back a bit, due to the huge amount of sales around Halloween, and the fact that all of our wallets really needed a break (mine especially).
Here's some quick information on what's going on:
BRAND & MAKER'S MARKI've decided to evolve the KeyForge brand a little bit, as I realized that I had metaphorically designed myself into a corner and didn't have a lot room for expanded creativity. One of my favorite things about being an artisan has been molding the graphics, visuals, and the experience that you have when getting KeyForge keys in the mail. I feel that it's almost as important as the keycaps themselves.
That said, I've changed up our logo a bit, which allowed me to create a clean and bold makers mark that was easily distinguishable. This mark will be on the back of all future keycaps, including those in the upcoming Scythes and Scepters sale.
New Logo:
Maker's Mark:
I'm very happy with this direction, and I feel like it's a cleaner look. Feel free to let me know how you feel.
PACKAGINGI have redesigned my packaging to be more in line with my initial vision that I had when creating keycaps, and I'm excited to say that it should be here to stay for a while. The brown packaging was wonderful, but I was finding issues with durability during shipping, and the bags were just a bit too small. These new matte black bags are a bit more roomy in case you win a few keys. They're waterproof and much more durable than previous packaging.
Here is a mockup of the packaging, it will be photographed soon:
WEBSITEAfter a long and tiring price negotiations, I was finally able to acquire
www.keyforge.com, which was being squatted on since I first got into crafting artisans. I have spent the last couple of months working tirelessly to get the site up and running properly for your enjoyment, and it's nearing completion. The site is mainly so that we have an online presence outside of Geekhack, and will mainly be used to host a blog (The Forge) and a catalog of previous sales and keycaps that were available. At this time I do not have any plans to sell keycaps through the website.
The site is still undergoing maintenance, so visiting keyforge.com will get you a construction page. But I'll let you know when it's open to the public!
COUNTERFEIT SECURITYIntegrating some kind of security against counterfeit keys is an idea that I've bounced around for a long time. Let's face it, people are going to make fakes of pretty much anything that is good. It's how things go. I don't care as much about fakes existing as I care about you guys trading valuable stuff for something that isn't even authentic. Hell, maybe in a year nobody will want any KeyForge keys. But at least you'll never have to worry about getting a fake one when I implement a little bit of security.
Serial numbers and imbedded photocromic security dots are two things that are being tested right now. I'm trying to keep it simple and easy, so anybody can authenticate a real keycap at a glance. BroCaps has an efficient serial system, and ours would be a simple version of that, with tamper-proof serial numbers, which we will have on file in case a key is ever in question. I think it's just a cool thing to have, and it's intended to be a service to the community as we grow.
STICKERSI'm pretty excited about this reveal. I've had these in the works for a while now, and I'm happy to show them off before we start revealing the sale colors. Each order will receive a single sticker, and you will get either a Mayhem or Osiris sticker depending on the first key you win in the sale.
I hope you guys are as stoked for the upcoming sale as I am!
