[IC] KBM Civilizations - Doubleshot ABS w/ Black or White Base

[twgecko02]

KBM Civilizations
Interest Check Form



"Just as it has always been, when our memories of the ancient
 world fade into twilight, a new era dawns to fill the void." -- Sid Meier's Civilization 5




Civilizations is back -- in black! I'm excited to be bringing Civilizations (previously GMK Civilizations) back to the community through KBM and their new double shot ABS keycaps.  This run around we're aiming for significantly faster production times, two colorways, a lower price, more accessible kitting, some awesome new deskmats, and an in stock sale rather than group buy model.


Kits
Each base kit is designed to provide as much support as possible while prioritizing keeping production (and final sale) costs relatively low.
The base kit includes support for common 40% layouts, alice boards, 60%, 65%, 75%, TKL, 1800, and 108 key layouts, as well as including novelties -- no need to purchase a separate kit!
There is currently a render error with a duplicated pipe key replacing the K key in both base kits, I'll be updating these renders as soon as possible.

Classical Kit

The colors in this are matches to GMK Civilizations, which is to say the white is GMK WS1 and gold is RAL 1024. These colors were chosen specifically to match e-white finishes and brass accents on most boards, but of course can go with just about anything! The white and gold are designed to evoke majestic images of historical civilizations and their wonderous achievements.

Dark Ages Kit

The same as the Classical Kit, but in black! Featuring the same gold and GMK CR for black, this colorway is one I was disappointed to not be able to feature the first run and the primary reason I'm excited to bring this set back. Whereas the Classical kit invokes images of grandeur and might, the Dark Ages kit brings a more foreboding presence to the table, telling tales of Civilizations past in their darkest hours -- though their monuments still stand...

Renders
Classical Kit

More

Dalco 959 Mini


TKC Portico



Rotor by Densus

Dark Ages Kit

More

Amano by H40


Saka 68



Vulkan Maja



Phoenix - Cable Car

Deskmats
Meander White                                                                                                               Meander Black                                                                                                                World Map   



Metal Artisans
KBM will be producing 4 different high quality metal artisans to go along with this set.
Great Wall Enter (Satin finish Brass with Black or White Infill)
   

Parthenon 1u Esc (Satin finish Brass with Black or White Infill)
   


Collaborations
I'm excited to be partnering with Space Cables again to bring back some coiled aviator cables to pair with the set! The cable will be available in both white and black with a gold cerakoted aviator connector that matches the set. These will be sold independently by Space Cables as an in stock sale for ~$50.
   
I'm open to other options for collaboration, please feel free to reach out if you have an idea!

Timeline, Vendors, and Pricing
Vendors
There are still several major steps yet to finalize this project -- KBM and I are currently in talks with several different vendors and looking for more. By nature of being an in stock sale rather than a group buy, it is likely that we will need more than one vendor for some of the larger regions to help with liquidity issues. If you are a vendor and are interested in helping fulfill this set, please let me know!

Timeline
KBM and I have been working hard to keep this project moving, and we are hoping to have vendors onboarded and an order placed with the factory by the end of 2023, with fulfillment in late Q1 /early Q2 2024

Pricing
Prices are far from final and will likely fluctuate a little depending on factors like production costs, shipping costs, and localized vendor expenses. That being said, we are aiming to keep each base kit at or around $100. If we're able to achieve this price point, we'll be happy to be providing a large double shot base kit at a relatively low price.

Estimates for metal artisan caps are ~$35 for 1u caps and ~$50 for enter keys.

Deskmats will be priced around $25 each.


Interest Check Form
Please take a few minutes to fill out this form!
The more accurate of an estimate we can get for how many of each product to produce, the more affordably we can price them. Responding to the form also makes it more likely that you will get a set in the in stock sale, since it won't be unlimited and we will be basing production numbers off of community interest.


Please feel free to leave any and all feedback or questions in the comments and I'll respond as soon as I'm able!
I'm also sure I made some ^formatting or speeling mistakes, or simply forgot to add something important to this post, please feel free to let me know about that kind of thing as well.

[TyPo.mk]

has kbm delivered anything?
do you have any photos of sets that used the molds you'll be using so we can see the legends?

[DirtyGingy]

I'm really curious about this set. sample pics would be really interesting

[Seirin-Blu]

It seems you may have forgotten the most popular 40% layout (minivan/jetvan). The most common uses a row 2 1.75u backspace, row 3 1.25u tab and row 3 1.5u enter. Sometimes kits that support Minivan will also include a row 2 escape but that's also less common.

It looks like you've already got a row 2 escape, row 3 1.25u tab, and row 3 1.5u enter though, so all that would be missing is the 1.75u row 2 backspace.

If you include that, I'm definitely interested!

[twgecko02]

I'm really curious about this set. sample pics would be really interesting

   
As a disclaimer, there was a miscommunication and these samples are ABS. We're working on getting PBT samples right now, but AFAIK it should be the same molds.

has kbm delivered anything?
do you have any photos of sets that used the molds you'll be using so we can see the legends?

KBM has delivered MV Terminal and KBM Love Detective. No sets have used the molds yet as this is KBMs first double shot set, but you can see the sample photos above. I'm happy with first impressions of their quality based on the sample photos, but will obviously wait to make final judgements until I have samples in my hands.

[twgecko02]

It seems you may have forgotten the most popular 40% layout (minivan/jetvan). The most common uses a row 2 1.75u backspace, row 3 1.25u tab and row 3 1.5u enter. Sometimes kits that support Minivan will also include a row 2 escape but that's also less common.

It looks like you've already got a row 2 escape, row 3 1.25u tab, and row 3 1.5u enter though, so all that would be missing is the 1.75u row 2 backspace.

If you include that, I'm definitely interested!

I definitely didn't forget about minivan, but I did somehow forget about the 1.75u backspace and somehow put a 1.5u pipe in it's place? I'll swap that out in renders as soon as I get a chance!

[Seirin-Blu]

It seems you may have forgotten the most popular 40% layout (minivan/jetvan). The most common uses a row 2 1.75u backspace, row 3 1.25u tab and row 3 1.5u enter. Sometimes kits that support Minivan will also include a row 2 escape but that's also less common.

It looks like you've already got a row 2 escape, row 3 1.25u tab, and row 3 1.5u enter though, so all that would be missing is the 1.75u row 2 backspace.

If you include that, I'm definitely interested!

I definitely didn't forget about minivan, but I did somehow forget about the 1.75u backspace and somehow put a 1.5u pipe in it's place? I'll swap that out in renders as soon as I get a chance!

Thanks!

[ankit]

I've never seen a keycap set with 2 "K" keys included in the base kit before!!

[twgecko02]

It seems you may have forgotten the most popular 40% layout (minivan/jetvan). The most common uses a row 2 1.75u backspace, row 3 1.25u tab and row 3 1.5u enter. Sometimes kits that support Minivan will also include a row 2 escape but that's also less common.

It looks like you've already got a row 2 escape, row 3 1.25u tab, and row 3 1.5u enter though, so all that would be missing is the 1.75u row 2 backspace.

If you include that, I'm definitely interested!

Fixed!

I've never seen a keycap set with 2 "K" keys included in the base kit before!!

Oops I meant to re-legend that one as a pipe key. Fixed now, thanks for pointing it out!

[twgecko02]

As an update on this set, we're currently working on finalizing vendors and still hoping to have orders in to KBM for manufacturing by the end of the calendar year. If you're a vendor interested in picking up a few kits, feel free to reach out! We're particularly looking for more vendors in SEA to help fulfill demand for an in-stock sale.

Additionally, both vendors and KBM have encouraged me to stick with double shot ABS due to the acoustic profile of the materials. Thank to everyone who provided feedback on the material preferences, it seemed like a fairly even split.

[SampatBunny]

Looking forward to this, any updates?

[Kokaloo]

hope the price of this is competitive with the other double shot abs sets floating around that have pretty decent quality!

[2pacsawyer]

considering that I can only find one genuine GMK Civilizations keycap set on sale for around $350 on eBay, this set would be great to get my hands on!

[HubertThemad]

considering that I can only find one genuine GMK Civilizations keycap set on sale for around $350 on eBay, this set would be great to get my hands on!

If you haven't already, I'd check out r/mechmarket. I've seen seeing some good priced GMK Civs recently!

[Noni51]

Hello, is there a discord server where I can follow progress for this? Really interested in the dark ages kit.