Author Topic: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added  (Read 29134 times)

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Offline chat and team

  • Posts: 135
  • Location: Towson, Maryland
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week
« Reply #50 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 12:01:18 »
Honestly, IC forms rarely help as a lot of people who reply never end up purchasing or participating. People who are actually engaged and want the set would be more prone to post a reply to the thread.

What?

This is an incredibly bad take.
its not a bad take
its a right take
i don't engage in any ics yet i still buy  and when i do reply i dont buy
geekhack mods constantly break tos and refuse to read
Chinese overlords won

Offline Dotnick

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #51 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 12:31:32 »
So is the base gray custom?  I dont see a listing of colors anywhere.


I will be putting together a render comparison to similar sets.

The base grey and the darker grey legend are not GMK stock colors. The base grey is a similar shade to GMK 2B, slightly lighter but a more green tone. This darker grey for the legends is several shades lighter than GMK N9, if that helps in the meantime. The accents for the set will be new for GMK, but the new colormatching equipment GMK's using gives me a lot more confidence in being able to match several colors than how things were done previously.

Also, all colors are physical references I confirmed in person with plastic, not paper. So, we won't have the issue of matching plastic to HEX colors, or even discrepancies between paper guide references and the corresponding plastic reference and how that converts to GMK ABS samples.

I prefer not to list colors for my sets for several reasons. The main reason being to avoid overly similar clones from being made. I can't stop cloning, but I can prevent the clones from getting too close to the final GMK product. It seems to have worked so far with GMK Lavender and Chaos Theory, but that could be for lack of trying as well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my mentality here.

Offline lewisflude

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #52 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 12:33:03 »
Looks really nice!

Offline Ella

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week
« Reply #53 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 15:25:57 »
Not trying to make accusations or anything, is this like a Novelkeys thing to run novelty kits in this kinda format?

(Attachment Link)

>kits in this kinda format
>shows 2 kits that are not the slightest bit similar

Offline pixelpusher

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #54 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 15:43:37 »
So is the base gray custom?  I dont see a listing of colors anywhere.


I will be putting together a render comparison to similar sets.

The base grey and the darker grey legend are not GMK stock colors. The base grey is a similar shade to GMK 2B, slightly lighter but a more green tone. This darker grey for the legends is several shades lighter than GMK N9, if that helps in the meantime. The accents for the set will be new for GMK, but the new colormatching equipment GMK's using gives me a lot more confidence in being able to match several colors than how things were done previously.

Also, all colors are physical references I confirmed in person with plastic, not paper. So, we won't have the issue of matching plastic to HEX colors, or even discrepancies between paper guide references and the corresponding plastic reference and how that converts to GMK ABS samples.

I prefer not to list colors for my sets for several reasons. The main reason being to avoid overly similar clones from being made. I can't stop cloning, but I can prevent the clones from getting too close to the final GMK product. It seems to have worked so far with GMK Lavender and Chaos Theory, but that could be for lack of trying as well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my mentality here.

Sounds very nice.  Looking forward to the group buy.  Novelties are perfecto

Offline LMarci

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #55 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 18:17:40 »
Gonna be honest I don't like how this looks

Offline Bub

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #56 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 19:53:05 »
My feedback:

1.) The shakedown kit doesn't do it for me, and the set without at least the custom mods feels detached from the theme.
2.) I don't like the multi color sub legends on the NumPad. As a heavy numpad user, this detracts value to me. Please consider making all the teal color.

The accent/legend colors are unique. The novs are GREAT. Kudos to the artist who did them.

Offline Dotnick

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #57 on: Mon, 15 August 2022, 20:16:12 »
My feedback:

1.) The shakedown kit doesn't do it for me, and the set without at least the custom mods feels detached from the theme.
2.) I don't like the multi color sub legends on the NumPad. As a heavy numpad user, this detracts value to me. Please consider making all the teal color.

The accent/legend colors are unique. The novs are GREAT. Kudos to the artist who did them.

There was some feedback on the numpad sublegend colors, all have been changed to the same color (teal).

Also, I did the novelties, so thank you!

Offline chrisw

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #58 on: Wed, 17 August 2022, 09:46:31 »
love it :eek:

Offline Ensaum

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #59 on: Wed, 17 August 2022, 10:27:11 »
Idk. Maybe I just missed the first round of bad renders or something, but I like this set a lot. Especially the novelties. I don't really understand what the combat training sub legends are supposed to be though, so I think I'd just be in for the regular base kit.

Offline Oni

  • Posts: 26
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #60 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 01:34:05 »
Idk. Maybe I just missed the first round of bad renders or something, but I like this set a lot. Especially the novelties. I don't really understand what the combat training sub legends are supposed to be though, so I think I'd just be in for the regular base kit.

The sub legends in that kit spell out a word with the corresponding letter. So A + XE is AXE, S + TUN is STUN, and so on.


Collection: Special Whale, Montage, Infinitum, Kei

Offline Ensaum

  • Posts: 447
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #61 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 09:09:03 »
Idk. Maybe I just missed the first round of bad renders or something, but I like this set a lot. Especially the novelties. I don't really understand what the combat training sub legends are supposed to be though, so I think I'd just be in for the regular base kit.

The sub legends in that kit spell out a word with the corresponding letter. So A + XE is AXE, S + TUN is STUN, and so on.

Oh. Yeah, no thanks, lol

Offline pixelpusher

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #62 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 10:05:24 »
Idk. Maybe I just missed the first round of bad renders or something, but I like this set a lot. Especially the novelties. I don't really understand what the combat training sub legends are supposed to be though, so I think I'd just be in for the regular base kit.

The sub legends in that kit spell out a word with the corresponding letter. So A + XE is AXE, S + TUN is STUN, and so on.

Oh. Yeah, no thanks, lol

I can certainly see why someone wouldn't like the sub legends, but that's why it's only one of the two options available.  The theme of the set is fun spooky Hollywood monsters.  I love the vibe and the sub legends make it really lighthearted and amusing.

Offline Dotnick

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #63 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 11:01:54 »
Idk. Maybe I just missed the first round of bad renders or something, but I like this set a lot. Especially the novelties. I don't really understand what the combat training sub legends are supposed to be though, so I think I'd just be in for the regular base kit.

The sub legends in that kit spell out a word with the corresponding letter. So A + XE is AXE, S + TUN is STUN, and so on.

Oh. Yeah, no thanks, lol

I can certainly see why someone wouldn't like the sub legends, but that's why it's only one of the two options available.  The theme of the set is fun spooky Hollywood monsters.  I love the vibe and the sub legends make it really lighthearted and amusing.

Thanks!

Yeah, candidly, I knew going into designing them that they wouldn't be for everyone. I tried to be as concise about kitting the alphas/mods styles as possible, and knowing that some may not like the sublegends and/or the text mod novelties, I wanted to offer direct replacements for both in a separate base kit. I thought about every combination and this seemed to make the most sense.

Luckily, if you do buy both base kits, you actually have four possible base kit combinations to choose from with the different alphas and modifiers. I personally think that's going to be pretty high value overall, moreso than just having the sublegends alphas as a break-out kit.

Ultimately, I think the colors speak for themselves (this was a big point for me in the design process), and that's where I found that the Shakedown base kit offers a simpler version of the theme for people who aren't about using the more heavily themed aspects.

Offline andromache

  • Posts: 209
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #64 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 11:51:29 »

Ultimately, I think the colors speak for themselves (this was a big point for me in the design process)

I hope putting the accents in base kit (or even maybe just the Shakedown base kit) is being considered! They really make the set. Anyone who wants all gray should have to pay the extra kit tax  :)).

Offline Starston3

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #65 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 12:29:32 »
Idk. Maybe I just missed the first round of bad renders or something, but I like this set a lot. Especially the novelties. I don't really understand what the combat training sub legends are supposed to be though, so I think I'd just be in for the regular base kit.

The sub legends in that kit spell out a word with the corresponding letter. So A + XE is AXE, S + TUN is STUN, and so on.

Oh. Yeah, no thanks, lol

I can certainly see why someone wouldn't like the sub legends, but that's why it's only one of the two options available.  The theme of the set is fun spooky Hollywood monsters.  I love the vibe and the sub legends make it really lighthearted and amusing.

Thanks!

Yeah, candidly, I knew going into designing them that they wouldn't be for everyone. I tried to be as concise about kitting the alphas/mods styles as possible, and knowing that some may not like the sublegends and/or the text mod novelties, I wanted to offer direct replacements for both in a separate base kit. I thought about every combination and this seemed to make the most sense.

Luckily, if you do buy both base kits, you actually have four possible base kit combinations to choose from with the different alphas and modifiers. I personally think that's going to be pretty high value overall, moreso than just having the sublegends alphas as a break-out kit.

Ultimately, I think the colors speak for themselves (this was a big point for me in the design process), and that's where I found that the Shakedown base kit offers a simpler version of the theme for people who aren't about using the more heavily themed aspects.

to be honest it's refreshing to see more 'playfulness' in subs. considering there is so many kangi and katakana.

I also believe that the ".nic(k)" key should be included as a novelty though. Biip, Nephlock, and Garrett (Omni) all include their logo on sets they designs. More designers should do so.

Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #66 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 13:18:18 »
I’d use a Nick cap

In for base w accents or I’ll buy em separate. Like the grey, like the colors.

Offline FitLabb

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #67 on: Thu, 18 August 2022, 20:26:37 »
Just wanted to chime in to say that while it’s a very specific themed set, I actually think it’s both funny and pretty creative.  I actually kinda like it! Nice job! I’ll be following your progress to see where this goes as I think it’s a very interesting & fun set. 👍
Founder of FitLabb.com - an online fitness & nutrition platform
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Offline SwitchKeys

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #68 on: Fri, 19 August 2022, 18:11:32 »
Oh yes please.

Pleasure to be back working with you again, Mr. Nick.

Offline Cookiecurls

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #69 on: Sun, 21 August 2022, 09:16:14 »
Jeez, the negativity on Geekhack has really gotten out of control 😨 I personally really like the set. The novelties are beautiful, and I think the shade of gray you chose is a perfect compliment to the accents. Great job dotnick I can’t wait to see it in person some day!

Offline Capsy

  • Posts: 346
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #70 on: Sun, 21 August 2022, 09:57:50 »
Good set. Love the colors and the accents.

Offline Troublemaker

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #71 on: Sun, 28 August 2022, 22:20:59 »
I will definitely be a buyer of base kit and novelties. I only wish that I could swap the DECORUM set for grey to match the base kit without having to also buy the COMBAT TRAINING set for the modifiers only.

@Dotnick any chance DECORUM gets released in grey as well?

Offline oilpapers

  • Posts: 84
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #72 on: Tue, 30 August 2022, 06:16:45 »
Loving this set, but wow is the first page a reminder of how weirdly toxic Geekhack is.

Offline gotgoodiez

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #73 on: Wed, 31 August 2022, 10:38:46 »
Not sure if it is too late but I'm not sure so many arrows are needed with a total of 3 if you get the novelties/spacebar kit. I would cut one and throw the extra one in base.
I personally dont like the forcing of spacebars with the novelties especially if NK will cover MOQ. I would just bump it to its own kit so there are cheaper novelties but if the MOQ for it will not be covered I guess I understand.
Lastly for an ANSI enter novelty you can do a bloody knife or hammer as generic as it is, especially since you have "stab, slash, clobber" and so on..
GLWIC though, I do like this set/idea!

Offline Dotnick

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #74 on: Fri, 02 September 2022, 09:08:41 »
Not sure if it is too late but I'm not sure so many arrows are needed with a total of 3 if you get the novelties/spacebar kit. I would cut one and throw the extra one in base.
I personally dont like the forcing of spacebars with the novelties especially if NK will cover MOQ. I would just bump it to its own kit so there are cheaper novelties but if the MOQ for it will not be covered I guess I understand.
Lastly for an ANSI enter novelty you can do a bloody knife or hammer as generic as it is, especially since you have "stab, slash, clobber" and so on..
GLWIC though, I do like this set/idea!

Can confirm we have already decided on these changes you suggested! The accent legend arrows have been cut and there will be a separate spacebars kit which will have slightly more compat to go with it.

Nearly every kit will have some quality of life edits as well that have been suggested in the IC form, hope to show everyone soon.

Offline wil

  • Posts: 93
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #75 on: Sun, 04 September 2022, 15:24:13 »
set looks great! the overwhelming cynicality towards one of the best vendors in the scene (something totally tangential to the nature of the thread, too) makes you really wonder why anyone continues to cater to geekhack at all.


Offline chutoroymoi

  • Posts: 4
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #76 on: Sun, 04 September 2022, 18:59:16 »
set looks great. I'll likely buy once NK runs sales on these

Offline gotgoodiez

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #77 on: Sun, 04 September 2022, 22:48:37 »
Not sure if it is too late but I'm not sure so many arrows are needed with a total of 3 if you get the novelties/spacebar kit. I would cut one and throw the extra one in base.
I personally dont like the forcing of spacebars with the novelties especially if NK will cover MOQ. I would just bump it to its own kit so there are cheaper novelties but if the MOQ for it will not be covered I guess I understand.
Lastly for an ANSI enter novelty you can do a bloody knife or hammer as generic as it is, especially since you have "stab, slash, clobber" and so on..
GLWIC though, I do like this set/idea!

Can confirm we have already decided on these changes you suggested! The accent legend arrows have been cut and there will be a separate spacebars kit which will have slightly more compat to go with it.

Nearly every kit will have some quality of life edits as well that have been suggested in the IC form, hope to show everyone soon.

Great to hear! Can't wait to see the changes and looking forward to the set.

Offline sagenju

  • Posts: 6
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #78 on: Tue, 27 September 2022, 10:47:26 »
I wonder how durable the UV-printed sub legends and novelties will be. Is it gonna be as durable as dye-sub or less durable?

Offline fishbiscuit13

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #79 on: Wed, 12 October 2022, 16:16:13 »
I wonder how durable the UV-printed sub legends and novelties will be. Is it gonna be as durable as dye-sub or less durable?

Dye sub will basically never wear out (unless you’re using it heavily for many years), since the ink is heat-impregnated into the plastic like a tattoo. The most that’s usually noticeable is fuzzing at the edges. Any surface printing technique will eventually wear away after several years of regular use, though with GMK they’re thick enough that it would still take a while.

Offline mr_foggy

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #80 on: Thu, 13 October 2022, 03:31:41 »
this set will have so many extra units anyone could easily cop one in a $99 sale in 2025, so no need to back a planned instock set this early.


Offline Ensaum

  • Posts: 447
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #81 on: Fri, 14 October 2022, 09:10:39 »
Errrm.. did you decide to drop shakedown base? Completely kills the set for me tbh

Offline ABlazinBlueToe

  • Posts: 34
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #82 on: Fri, 14 October 2022, 09:16:06 »
What happened to the other base kit?  I was looking forward to grabbing a set, but the sublegends don't do it for me.  Huge bummer.
« Last Edit: Fri, 14 October 2022, 09:18:54 by ABlazinBlueToe »

Offline wanf

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #83 on: Fri, 14 October 2022, 09:20:23 »
wish the accent kit retained the text icon mods too , but i guess it wouldnt make sense without the shakedown base
« Last Edit: Fri, 14 October 2022, 09:24:21 by wanf »

Offline dvorcol

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Offline Troublemaker

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #85 on: Tue, 18 October 2022, 00:40:37 »
Errrm.. did you decide to drop shakedown base? Completely kills the set for me tbh

According to his Discord, Novelkeys cut the base without consulting with him. Hope he goes with another vendor for Volume 2. Sounds awful having your work/design cut.

Offline Ensaum

  • Posts: 447
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #86 on: Wed, 19 October 2022, 14:24:51 »
Errrm.. did you decide to drop shakedown base? Completely kills the set for me tbh

According to his Discord, Novelkeys cut the base without consulting with him. Hope he goes with another vendor for Volume 2. Sounds awful having your work/design cut.

Huh? But there's six other vendors with the exact same kitting?

Offline Troublemaker

  • Posts: 4
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #87 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 02:48:27 »
Errrm.. did you decide to drop shakedown base? Completely kills the set for me tbh

According to his Discord, Novelkeys cut the base without consulting with him. Hope he goes with another vendor for Volume 2. Sounds awful having your work/design cut.

Huh? But there's six other vendors with the exact same kitting?

The Shakedown base has no sublegends. The current "base" from vendors is the Combat Training one.


Offline Dewstem

  • Posts: 27
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #88 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 07:43:53 »
Hello

Are there any render comparison to similar sets coming along?
Keebs owned:
Geon's F1, F2, Hiney's Poly TKL One, Singa's Kohaku, Sho's PC Snipe Silenced, Snow Edition HHKB Hybrid, Pro 3, Pro 2, Realforce 87u

Offline Ensaum

  • Posts: 447
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #89 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 08:56:52 »

The Shakedown base has no sublegends. The current "base" from vendors is the Combat Training one.


Yes, I am well aware. My comment was meant to convey my skepticism on how Novelkeys could dictate the kitting for the other six vendors behind the GB runner back.

Offline jammiiew

  • Posts: 8
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #90 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 09:16:16 »
Thats look nice.

Offline max.clacks

  • Posts: 52
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #91 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 11:00:28 »

The Shakedown base has no sublegends. The current "base" from vendors is the Combat Training one.


Yes, I am well aware. My comment was meant to convey my skepticism on how Novelkeys could dictate the kitting for the other six vendors behind the GB runner back.

I believe Novelkeys is the lead vendor, so I think that would give them the ability to dictate which kits are to be sold.

Offline mgsickler

  • Posts: 848
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #92 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 12:21:42 »
To clarify anything on the kitting - Yes, NovelKeys did decide that we should only run one base kit. We did talk to the designer and worked with them on this decision. This wasn't something that we changed without "consulting" with them first. It was a decision that had to be made based on current sales of preorders, but which base kit to proceed with was left up to the designer to choose.

In a perfect scenario, I would have loved to run both base kits. However, the current climate of retail, in general, has been slower. If both base kits did not perform well, we would have to buy out an MOQ for two base kits, which is not something we would be comfortable doing. The reason we call these preorders instead of group buys, is because no matter what we will make sure the items get made. We don't want anyone preordering something that can potentially get cancelled. I don't like that uncertainty for a customer and that is why the decision had to be made to trim the kits.

Offline Ensaum

  • Posts: 447
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #93 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 19:19:51 »
We did talk to the designer and worked with them on this decision. This wasn't something that we changed without "consulting" with them first.

...which base kit to proceed with was left up to the designer to choose.

And this is about what I had suspected had actually happened, and not the story we got. Very strange situation.

Still not happy about the kit that was chosen though.

Offline Dotnick

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Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #94 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 21:12:35 »
To clarify anything on the kitting - Yes, NovelKeys did decide that we should only run one base kit. We did talk to the designer and worked with them on this decision. This wasn't something that we changed without "consulting" with them first. It was a decision that had to be made based on current sales of preorders, but which base kit to proceed with was left up to the designer to choose.

In a perfect scenario, I would have loved to run both base kits. However, the current climate of retail, in general, has been slower. If both base kits did not perform well, we would have to buy out an MOQ for two base kits, which is not something we would be comfortable doing. The reason we call these preorders instead of group buys, is because no matter what we will make sure the items get made. We don't want anyone preordering something that can potentially get cancelled. I don't like that uncertainty for a customer and that is why the decision had to be made to trim the kits.

Just don't read what I've written, it's not worth it.

More

Okay, since it seems that Mike would prefer to come on to this interest check and try to obfuscate what I said in my server instead of approaching me directly about the entire situation, I suppose I will respond here then too.

The following screenshot shows when Nephlock (or Riley, creative director of NovelKeys) mentioned in the groupchat with myself and NovelKeys' render artist, Fresh, that NovelKeys needed to make changes to the set. As you can see, this came as a shock to us, as it was just over two weeks before the group buy was scheduled to begin. This was surprising as well for the fact that, prior to this bombshell, we had already put together renders for updated kitting that included a number of changes highlighted by community feedback and just natural additions that I thought were great for the set overall. So no, I was not consulted about the decision.



This set was personally challenging for a number of reasons, and I would like to emphasize that up until this news, Riley was a massive help in the overall design of the set. The set would not have looked the way it did without his help. But to put things straight, there was no discussion with me about the decision to cut the set down beyond which base kit to keep. Given that this news was handed down due to immediate financial reasons, this was also not really much of a choice if I am being completely honest.

The main issue with this decision is that we had intense discussions in roughly July-August 2022 about how many kits to kit for overall, including child kits. Being completely transparent here, Riley and Mike were pulling for just a single base kit at this time given the overall downturn in GB performance over the past year. But at the end of it all, the set did not feel complete to me without the option to mute out the theming slightly and just have a simpler version of the overall concept/theme behind the set represented in the general colorway. Not to mention that when the two base kits were combined, one could actually have chosen one of four alphas+modifier combinations with the available keys (essentially packing four base kit combinations into two base kits). So, I campaigned hard for two base kits at the time and this is what we had all agreed to move forward with. To avoid the victim card here, I was very headstrong in these discussions to run with two base kits, it really was important to me to design the set the way I had envisioned it, but I am aware that in some way I probably should have seen the cut coming from the beginning. Regardless, in my opinion, this was the time to make decisions about the kitting, and not months later after I had finished designing the set and especially not weeks before the group buy. I understand I do not have a complete knowledge of the underpinning financials that allegedly drove this decision, but I do think that this could have been planned out far more carefully.

I would like to clarify that I am not coming from this in an entitled way and I am still very grateful for the opportunity to run this groupbuy with NK. I wasn't even going to talk about all of this if it were not for Mike making the above statement. I just personally think that this crossed lines of how designers should be treated by vendors in this hobby. An important point here is that at no point was this set the intellectual property of NovelKeys. Therefore, it was never in their jurisdiction to make a decision to alter the set. Not to mention, there were many things that were not even considered before deciding to cut the set down, such as exploring whether the other vendors would be interested in buying out a share of the MOQ of that base kit so that it could still be made at the 1000 MOQ that NK chooses to buy base kits out at, or perhaps buy each base kit at 500 MOQ (instead of one at 1000 MOQ) and market them both at a slightly higher price so you're not as cashstrapped that way. To be clear, this is not financial advice, I'm just presenting the concept that there were avenues to discuss and that there were no discussions with me about it from Mike's end. Without doubt, NovelKeys definitely contributes a majority percentage of sales in any groupbuy they are involved in, but to not even ask if it's a possibility or explore other possibilities just seems very unsensible given how many people were upset by this change. Of course, I could have replaced NK with another US vendor last minute, but this was all so sudden and rushed that I did not have enough time to react in such a way, and I don't think it would have been fair to do that to any vendor so last minute. Which leads me to my next point, which is that I also think that this decision showed an overall disregard for the opinions of the community that directly support vendors like NK, and demonstrated that these opinions may be an afterthought, or not a thought at all, anymore. Yes, we are all aware, you made a server to connect with the community. Regardless, the proof is in the pudding.

There are probably a number of things I could continue talking about, but it's just not worth the time since the decision is already made and life goes on. For the sake of keeping the ensuing pile of BS manageable, I will also not be responding to anything else on this thread unless it is directly related to fulfillment or some other much more important details than what I've just been waffling about. So if you would like to continue this discussion further Mike, let's talk privately, thanks.
_______


Thank you to everyone who has supported this group buy, I really appreciate all of you and your kind messages. The base kit that was cut from volume 1 will be run in volume 2, and volume 2 will be run with a different US vendor.

- Nick
« Last Edit: Thu, 20 October 2022, 21:14:30 by Dotnick »

Offline Dotnick

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  • Posts: 178
Re: [IC] GMK Fright Club Volume 1: Hell Week || IC form and Changelog added
« Reply #95 on: Thu, 20 October 2022, 21:13:10 »
To clarify anything on the kitting - Yes, NovelKeys did decide that we should only run one base kit. We did talk to the designer and worked with them on this decision. This wasn't something that we changed without "consulting" with them first. It was a decision that had to be made based on current sales of preorders, but which base kit to proceed with was left up to the designer to choose.

In a perfect scenario, I would have loved to run both base kits. However, the current climate of retail, in general, has been slower. If both base kits did not perform well, we would have to buy out an MOQ for two base kits, which is not something we would be comfortable doing. The reason we call these preorders instead of group buys, is because no matter what we will make sure the items get made. We don't want anyone preordering something that can potentially get cancelled. I don't like that uncertainty for a customer and that is why the decision had to be made to trim the kits.

Just don't read what I've written, it's not worth it.

More

Okay, since it seems that Mike would prefer to come on to this interest check and try to obfuscate what I said in my server instead of approaching me directly about the entire situation, I suppose I will respond here then too.

The following screenshot shows when Nephlock (or Riley, creative director of NovelKeys) mentioned in the groupchat with myself and NovelKeys' render artist, Fresh, that NovelKeys needed to make changes to the set. As you can see, this came as a shock to us, as it was just over two weeks before the group buy was scheduled to begin. This was surprising as well for the fact that, prior to this bombshell, we had already put together renders for updated kitting that included a number of changes highlighted by community feedback and just natural additions that I thought were great for the set overall. So no, I was not consulted about the decision.

Show Image


This set was personally challenging for a number of reasons, and I would like to emphasize that up until this news, Riley was a massive help in the overall design of the set. The set would not have looked the way it did without his help. But to put things straight, there was no discussion with me about the decision to cut the set down beyond which base kit to keep. Given that this news was handed down due to immediate financial reasons, this was also not really much of a choice if I am being completely honest.

The main issue with this decision is that we had intense discussions in roughly July-August 2022 about how many kits to kit for overall, including child kits. Being completely transparent here, Riley and Mike were pulling for just a single base kit at this time given the overall downturn in GB performance over the past year. But at the end of it all, the set did not feel complete to me without the option to mute out the theming slightly and just have a simpler version of the overall concept/theme behind the set represented in the general colorway. Not to mention that when the two base kits were combined, one could actually have chosen one of four alphas+modifier combinations with the available keys (essentially packing four base kit combinations into two base kits). So, I campaigned hard for two base kits at the time and this is what we had all agreed to move forward with. To avoid the victim card here, I was very headstrong in these discussions to run with two base kits, it really was important to me to design the set the way I had envisioned it, but I am aware that in some way I probably should have seen the cut coming from the beginning. Regardless, in my opinion, this was the time to make decisions about the kitting, and not months later after I had finished designing the set and especially not weeks before the group buy. I understand I do not have a complete knowledge of the underpinning financials that allegedly drove this decision, but I do think that this could have been planned out far more carefully.

I would like to clarify that I am not coming from this in an entitled way and I am still very grateful for the opportunity to run this groupbuy with NK. I wasn't even going to talk about all of this if it were not for Mike making the above statement. I just personally think that this crossed lines of how designers should be treated by vendors in this hobby. An important point here is that at no point was this set the intellectual property of NovelKeys. Therefore, it was never in their jurisdiction to make a decision to alter the set. Not to mention, there were many things that were not even considered before deciding to cut the set down, such as exploring whether the other vendors would be interested in buying out a share of the MOQ of that base kit so that it could still be made at the 1000 MOQ that NK chooses to buy base kits out at, or perhaps buy each base kit at 500 MOQ (instead of one at 1000 MOQ) and market them both at a slightly higher price so you're not as cashstrapped that way. To be clear, this is not financial advice, I'm just presenting the concept that there were avenues to discuss and that there were no discussions with me about it from Mike's end. Without doubt, NovelKeys definitely contributes a majority percentage of sales in any groupbuy they are involved in, but to not even ask if it's a possibility or explore other possibilities just seems very unsensible given how many people were upset by this change. Of course, I could have replaced NK with another US vendor last minute, but this was all so sudden and rushed that I did not have enough time to react in such a way, and I don't think it would have been fair to do that to any vendor so last minute. Which leads me to my next point, which is that I also think that this decision showed an overall disregard for the opinions of the community that directly support vendors like NK, and demonstrated that these opinions may be an afterthought, or not a thought at all, anymore. Yes, we are all aware, you made a server to connect with the community. Regardless, the proof is in the pudding.

There are probably a number of things I could continue talking about, but it's just not worth the time since the decision is already made and life goes on. For the sake of keeping the ensuing pile of BS manageable, I will also not be responding to anything else on this thread unless it is directly related to fulfillment or some other much more important details than what I've just been waffling about. So if you would like to continue this discussion further Mike, let's talk privately, thanks.
_______


Thank you to everyone who has supported this group buy, I really appreciate all of you and your kind messages. The base kit that was cut from volume 1 will be run in volume 2, and volume 2 will be run with a different US vendor.

- Nick

oh and thanks to all of the other vendors who have been truly wonderful this whole time.
« Last Edit: Thu, 20 October 2022, 21:15:01 by Dotnick »