Update #32: Things are Heating Up!
11 months ago – Sat, Jun 03, 2023 at 12:23:10 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

Summer is upon us! In this update you will find:

• Progress updates for the Treasure Chest Box
• Upgrading our Laser Cutting setup
• Our fabrication plans for June

 Fabrication Updates

Since our last update, we have primarily been working on assembling the pieces for the Treasure Chest box. After spending so much time assembling the other puzzle boxes (especially the Puzzle Safe and Puzzle Chest, which each took several months to fully put together), it is refreshing to be able to knock out a whole puzzle box build in just about a month. This box takes two steps to solve, and comes near the end of the game, making it one of the less complicated puzzles in the series. This was also one of the few puzzle boxes we have built where all of the pieces were fully cut out on the laser cutter before we even started the building process, and not having to wait for pieces to be cut out really served to speed up the fabrication time. (This is partially because the smaller box size means the pieces are cut much more quickly — for the Treasure Chest, laser cutting a full set of pieces takes about 13 minutes. By contrast, for the Safe, laser cutting a full set of pieces for one full box takes about 2.5 hours.) Now that we are wrapping up this phase, we are moving to assembling the final, and smallest puzzle box in the game (not counting the Ring from the Prequel puzzle set). This final puzzle box is about the size of a matchbox, and we are hoping to be able to assemble it just as quickly.

Upgrading The Laser Cutter

As we enter the summer months, we sometimes run into some challenges with our laser cutter overheating, resulting in cutting jobs pausing for about ten minutes at a time while the machine cools down. This happens when the air in the workshop gets warmer, or when the smoke is not vented through the exhaust hose to the outdoors quickly enough, or both. This month, we decided to take some time to really dedicate to try to solving this issue, especially because we’re cutting several woods (especially the cedar) that produces a lot of smoke, so the laser has been pausing even more than usual. To try to vent the smoke more aggressively, we upgraded our inline exhaust fan. This seems to be working beautifully, and just this step alone has really helped to speed up our cutting times.

 Up Next

While we work on assembling the final puzzle box, we’ll also be continuing to cut out the remaining pieces for the mechanical puzzles in the game, before we begin assembling those as well.

We have a busy summer of assembly and finishing touches ahead of us, and we look forward to keeping you all updated! As always, thank you for your support, your kind messages, and passion for puzzles! If there are any questions that we can answer or anything we can provide more information on before our next update for June, please feel free to message us any time.

Best,

The EAG Team

March Fabrication Updates: The Puzzling Continues!
about 1 year ago – Sun, Apr 09, 2023 at 05:54:20 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

We hope you are all having a solid April! In this update you will find:

• March Progress on the Sword Box
• Fabrication Updates
• Answers to a few FAQs for the project
• What’s Next

Fabrication Updates: The Sword Box

•  In February and March, our main goal was to work through fabrication of the third most complicated of the small boxes of the game (The first two being the Atlas Box and the Cryptex), the Sword Box. This box has an extremely delicate internal mechanism, and required a lot of testing during the building process. 
• The Sword Boxes still need to be stained and sealed, but with this build wrapping up, we are moving on to the second-to-last box that we still need to build, the Treasure Chest box.

 Continuing Fabrication: 3D Printing the Knobs for the Puzzle Safe 

• In a previous update, we described our process for 3D printing the knobs for the Puzzle Safe with a brass-composite filament, and then using a rock tumbler to polish the knobs so that the brass shines through. In our new space, we have a much more efficient printer setup, and are nearing the end of the 3D printing process for the knobs.

 Prepping Cedar Planks for the Laser Cutter

• This past week, we received one of our final big wood shipments for the project: a new pallet of cedar planks. To be able to laser-cut these pieces, each 4' long piece must first be cut down to a maximum of 19" long. (One of the ways that we try to keep the cost of the puzzles down is by doing this wood prep ourselves.) In our old space, we did not have room for a miter saw, and had to use one in a local makerspace. Now, we have our own area for the miter saw and dust collection. And, as another nice bonus, we are working with cedar to build the boxes in the Deluxe and Collectors Editions, so the woodshop space smells amazing this week.

 Also this month: prepping parts for the next puzzle box

• Finally, as the Sword Box wraps up, we are lasering pieces for the next puzzle box builds, and getting reading to start building the Treasure Chest box. 

 Frequently Asked Questions in the Post-Campaign Phase

Since the campaign ended, there are several questions that we receive related to the puzzles, and the pledge manager. We would like to talk about three of the most common questions here. Additionally, if there are any questions that we have not answered in this update or a previous one, please feel free to message us, and we would be happy to answer them!

FAQ 1) Some of the photos posted in the updates look different from the puzzle boxes shown in the campaign. Did the puzzles change?

The answer to this question is both yes, and no. In instances where a photo of a puzzle box we have posted in the updates differs from a photo in the campaign, there are usually three main reasons this might be the case:

1) We added a new puzzle or compartment to a puzzle box (The Safe)

2) We refined a design after the Kickstarter (The Chest)

3) We have not completed the finishing stage in the timeline (The Safe, Chest, and Sword Box)

How do these items affect the look of the puzzles? To answer this question, we would like to talk about a few examples of ways we have tried to improve the puzzles since the conclusion of the campaign:

1) We added a new puzzle or compartment to a puzzle box: The Safe

The Puzzle Safe has all of the puzzle elements from the original Kickstarter design, and has also undergone two main design changes to add two new puzzles. (***The next sentence is going to have a tiny non-specific puzzle spoiler in it, so if anyone is reading this and wants to completely avoid that, please skip to the next paragraph***). We also added one more layer of wood to the Safe door (the wood framing around the knobs) to add some more structure to the door, and to accommodate one more puzzle on the door lock. The lock on the safe door is pickable for anyone who knows how to pick a padlock, so we wanted to add in one more locking element as part of the door puzzle. The right side of the safe (the one shown in the campaign page, but not in the update) also previously had a “static” puzzle (a design of a wheel on the side that was used to help solve a paper puzzle, but could not be manipulated). After the campaign, we revised the wheel to make it an actual moveable part of the box that can be spun and manipulated as its own puzzle element. 

2) A design evolved to make something easier to use: The Chest

In other cases, a design may have changed after the Kickstarter in response to feedback in our additional rounds of playtesting. As designers, one of our stubborn beliefs is that the puzzles can always be better, and if we have the opportunity to fix something, we try to do so. The puzzle chest, for example, underwent a design change from the campaign prototype primarily to make it easier to interact with one of the puzzles on its interior. (In playtesting, one piece of feedback we kept getting was that people could reach this interior puzzle, but it hurt their fingers.) The big change affecting the appearance of the chest is that the hasp shifted off-center from the original design to make it a bit easier to reach a puzzle that is inside the box. In the Safe, we also revised the knobs, which had two parts before (a base and a dial) and now have one piece that is spun together, because the original two-part knob was having this issue where the dial was snagging on the base when people tried to spin it.

3) We Still Need to Add Finishing Details: Many of the Boxes

Our “Finishing” stage is a two week period of the production timeline when we will sand, stain, seal, and add painted details on the puzzle boxes. In many cases, puzzles that have been shown in the updates do not yet include the details that will be added in this stage. The current Puzzle Chest design and Puzzle Safe for example, have all of the puzzle elements from the Kickstarter prototype, but they are missing its gold painting and detailing, which we also hope to add before shipping. (This is the “painting and staining” stage in July.)

In each case that we do change a puzzle, our goal is to make the puzzles more comfortable to use, clearer, or to add something extra. Our aim is to produce enjoyable and high quality puzzles, and we would like for everyone to feel like they are receiving the project they supported in the campaign. This being said, we also are happy to answer any questions about the puzzles (and do love talking about them), and also, if anyone would like to request a refund, please message us, and we will do our best to accommodate any request.

Below: An addition we made to the Puzzle Safe following the campaign:

 FAQ 2) My financial situation has changed since the campaign ended. Can I get a refund?

Yes! We are hard at work building the puzzles to ship based on the new timeline, but we also completely understand that financial situations change, and understand if someone would like to request a refund. If you would like a refund for any reason, please either message us through Kickstarter or email us, and we can process it for you. (We prefer emails, as we do not also get notified when there is a new comment or message on Kickstarter.)

FAQ 3) I have moved. Can I change my shipping address?

Absolutely! There are two main ways to change a shipping address for the project. The first is to log into your BackerKit account for the project and change the address in your backer survey. If this does not work, or if you are unable to log into BackerKit, you can also email or message us with your new address, and we can change your shipping information on your BackerKit page. We will also send out one additional survey the month before ship, to confirm that we have the correct addresses on file for each backer.

What's Next?

• Moving into April, we are shifting fabrication from the Sword Box, and beginning to build one of the remaining small boxes in the game, the Treasure Chest box.
• We are also lasering the pieces for the remaining puzzle boxes and small mechanical puzzles.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this, and for all of your messages and comments about the project! Until the next update, if there is anything that we can help with or answer, please message us any time.

Until May, Happy Puzzling!

-The EAG Team

February Progress Update: Building Box #5!
about 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 08, 2023 at 06:18:48 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

We hope that you are all having a good 2023! In this Update, you will find:

• Current Puzzle Box Building Progress
• Troubleshooting Our Laser Cutter
• Our Updated (and re-updated) Timeline

Puzzle Building Progress

We are on to the next box build! With the cryptex building phase moving into our rearview mirror, we have just started building our first of the small puzzle boxes in the game, the Sword Box. We wrapped up the cryptex boxes around the end of January, and by the end of the month we also had all of our pieces for this phase cut out and sorted. Compared to the Safe and Puzzle Chest, which each have multiple compartments and locks, the Sword Box is simpler to build because it only has one compartment. However, this puzzle box also has a very delicate set of tiny pieces that make up the locking mechanism, and the trickiest part of building this box is keeping all of these small pieces organized.

Based on our current pace for building these boxes, we estimate that we will finish up building all of sword boxes in about six weeks, and then begin the building for the last two small boxes in April.

What’s Next?

• Finishing building the Sword Boxes
• Continuing to cut the pieces for the remaining puzzle boxes, starting with the Treasure Box
• Cutting and engraving the pieces for the remaining mechanical puzzles in the game

Troubleshooting with Our Laser

• One of our delays in writing this latest update is that we wanted to wait until we could give some good news on the status of our well-loved and tireless laser cutter. In the week following our last update, we were cutting out our final round of pieces for the Sword Box, and we noticed that sometimes the line that the laser was cutting would jog, leading to instances where the beam was not fully cutting through the wood, or worse, creating inaccurate pieces. 
• Since our puzzles require the pieces to be cut very precisely, we decided to pause using the machine until we could fix this issue. After about a week of communications with our laser company’s technical support, we diagnosed the problem as one that was related to the electrical system within the machine, resulting in a longer repair process. Getting the laser back online took about four weeks total, which has unfortunately contributed to bumping back our project delivery time. We do have the laser back now, and we are making up for the lost cut time now that the machine is back in solid working order.

Updated Timeline

While we were already running a bit behind our timeline on building the cryptex boxes, the laser’s time off also set us back. Our goal was to ship in March, but evaluating what we still have left to both cut and build, we believe that we need to add more time to finish the remaining puzzles, and to get everything checked, packed, and ready to ship. Based on our estimates for how long we will take to build each of the final three puzzle boxes, and the time to build the three remaining small mechanical puzzles, our timeline is:

Finishing the Remaining Puzzle Boxes and Lasering the Remaining Game Pieces:

• 6 More Weeks for the Sword Box (Through the end of March)
• 3 Weeks for the Treasure Box (From the end of March through mid-April)
• 3 Weeks for the Slider Box (Mid-April -Mid-May)

Assembling the Remaining Mechanical Puzzles:

• 3 Weeks for the Ball Maze Puzzle (Mid-May to the beginning of June)
• 1.5 Weeks to fold the wood paper globe (Beginning of June to Mid-June)
•  1.5 Weeks to assemble the mechanical sketch machine puzzle (Mid-June to beginning of July)

Finishing Steps and Packing:

• 2 Weeks for Staining and Sealing Boxes and Additional Components (Beginning of July to mid-July)
• 2 Weeks to test boxes and fix any issues before shipping (Mid-July to end of July)
• 4 Weeks to pack and ship the games (end of July to end of August)
• 4 weeks of buffer time for the unforeseen technical issues (End of August to end of September)

The photo above represents the boxes and parts of the game that we have finished during our time building this project, including the Puzzle Safe, Chest, Prequel ring, Atlas Box, Cryptex Box, and the pins, lockboxes, and add-on and Collector’s Edition leather solution log books. We have come a long way, and we believe the finish line is in sight. We cannot tell you all how much we appreciate your messages, support, and for having faith in the project during this whole process. We do not take anyone’s investment in this project for granted, and if anyone needs to message us to adjust their initial pledge, ask for a refund, or ask additional questions about our fabrication plan for this last sprint, we completely understand. We are trying to move forward with building all of the puzzles as fast as we can while still ensuring that they are all built with a high level of detail, and we try to solve problems quickly when they do arise, but we also fully acknowledge and take responsibility for the fact that at this point, our delivery timeline is very very late. Though we do sincerely love working on this project, we promise we are still trying to get these puzzles into your hands as soon as possible.

Until March, stay safe, and happy puzzling!

-The EAG Team

Merry (Crypte)X-Mas!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 09:31:44 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

We hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday season! In this update you will find:

• · A Deep-Dive on Cutting Circles on our Laser Cutter
•   Progress on Building the Cryptex Boxes
• · Progress on Cutting Additional Box Pieces
• · What's next in January

Upgrading the Laser System

Even though it is cold, winter is a fantastic time to be running our laser cutter. One of the trickiest parts of working with a laser is keeping it at the right temperature. Our laser will stop running and pause to cool down in the middle of cut jobs if it gets too warm in the room, which can really stretch out the time it takes to finish a series of cuts. In our old workspace, there was no central AC, and in the summer and spring especially, even when we had fans around the laser circulating air, warm air would still come in from outside through the exhaust system and cause the laser to overheat. Now, in our new space, we both have air conditioning, and the air temperature is perfect for running the laser with the exhaust system. This means that we are able to cut the small components for the game and our remaining small boxes much faster than in the past, which has been a big improvement.

Cutting out the Cryptex Dials: Troubleshooting with an Important Component

One of the components for the cryptex box build that we needed to troubleshoot when we moved to full-scale production was the lettered dials for this box. We found that on about every third cut, the material around the dials would start to scorch, resulting in a pretty nasty burn mark around the lettering of the dial. We did a few experiments with these cuts to try to figure out why this was happening, and discovered that as the laser was cutting the wood for these small circular pieces, the process was creating a lot of heat concentrated in a small area on the material. As a result, sometimes a small flare would occur on the wood. The more flares there were, the more soot would build up around the laser head, increasing the likelihood of a flare up with each piece. To solve this issue, we recreated the cut templates and divided each of the borders for the dials into three segments, so that now the laser is never spending too much time on one section of the material. The new process takes a bit longer to cut for each dial, but we have been able to eliminate our scorching on the new pieces.

What’s Next:

In January, we plan to wrap up the build for the Cryptex Box (we are currently running about 3 weeks behind on the cryptex build, but we hope to make up this time on the builds for the smaller boxes), and then begin on the sword box. The sword box is the most complex of the three small boxes that we have left, and we hope to finish this build by around mid-February, and then work on the two remaining smallest puzzle boxes. We have about 90% of the pieces for the sword box cut and ready for assembly, and we are going to transition to cutting out the remaining small puzzle components for the game.

We hope that you are all having a safe and happy holiday! If you have any questions about your pledge, would like to change your address, or just generally want to check in, please feel free to message us any time! We love hearing from you all, and greatly appreciate your support throughout this process.

Until the new year, thank you, and happy puzzling!

-The EAG Team

September and October Assembly Updates
over 1 year ago – Thu, Oct 27, 2022 at 10:02:23 AM

Happy Fall! In this update you will find:

• Progress on the Puzzle Safe Build and Fixing the components damaged in the move
• Plans for  the Cryptex and Sword Box builds
• Next Steps and Plans for Shipping Boxes 
• Thank you!

The Safes:

• Our main goal coming out of the summer was to get to a point of having the safe pieces all pre-assembled after the move, and to keep assembling the components into the full puzzle boxes. We've been filling the workshop with boxes, and we estimate that we have about 2 weeks more of safe building, staining, and sanding. 
• We've been working on adapting our workflow to the new shop, and it has been really helpful to have the extra space for building and storing all of the parts for the Puzzle Safe throughout this process. 

• We have also been reassembling the components from the Safe Right Wall damaged in the move, and have been able to replace all of the damaged pieces and re-glue many of the parts. (A few of the components we have been working on re-gluing are pictured above.) 
• We also carried out another round of testing on the boxes that were part of the move, just to ensure that we didn't miss any other boxes that might have been harmed in-transit.

The Cryptex Box and Sword Box

• While working on assembling the Puzzle Safe, we have also been making use of our new laser cutter setup and upgraded ventilation system to cut out many of the pieces for the next boxes on our schedule, the Cryptex Box and Sword Box. Each of these boxes is much smaller in comparison to the Puzzle Safe, which also allows us to fit more pieces on each sheet of material that we cut. 
• Fortunately, cutting smaller pieces means less time changing out sheets of material and setting up new cuts between laser jobs. This has made the process of lasering these pieces much faster in comparison to our first three boxes, which were larger and had many more components to prep. The cutting for the Cryptex Box and Sword Box is flying by, and we hope the assembly process for these smaller boxes will as well. 

Next Steps and Plans for Shipping Boxes:

• After we finish up the assembly on the Puzzle Safe, we will move into assembling the Cryptex Box and Sword Box, which we estimate will take about the next 10 weeks.
• During this assembly phase we will also begin cutting the rest of the pieces for the remaining two small boxes, as well as the smaller physical puzzles in the game.
• Following our last update and our announcement about how one of our boxes of components was damaged during the travel, we have gotten a few (completely warranted) inquiries about how we plan to ship the final packages with the puzzle boxes to ensure that none of them are similarly damaged. The good news is that during the move we shipped about 85 boxes of assembled puzzles and components, and only one out of the 85 really got battered. Unfortunately, this particular box also was not packed as well as it should have been---the sides were not rigid enough, and it had too much empty space in it. When the box did fall against the side of the moving container, the components inside had too much space to jostle together, which likely caused most of the damage.
• When we ship out the full games,  there are a few steps we can take to ensure that they are packed securely. We will individually wrap the fragile items and boxes inside the overall package in protective material, fill the empty areas inside the package with additional cushioning material so the at the puzzles don't have too much room to move, and use a double-walled exterior container to add rigidity.  Before we send out all of our backer games, we also plan to send out a series of "test boxes" domestically and internationally to do a full assessment of our packing strategy.
• And, if any of the boxes do arrive damaged, that is 100% on us, and we will replace them.

Thank you all!

Lastly, we just wanted to say how overwhelmed we were by all of the kind messages and comments following our last update. Thank you all so much for your continued support! Please don't hesitate to message us if we can provide any more information about the building process, or your particular pledge. We look forward to keeping you updated!

Until November, Happy Puzzling!

-The EAG Team