August Unpacking, our Timeline, and Notes on Accountability
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 26, 2022 at 08:59:32 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

We hope that you are all doing well and staying cool this August. In this update you will find:

• Taking Inventory after the Move
• Our Latest Timeline
• Progress on the Cryptex Build
• Restarting The Safe Build
• Our Latest Timeline announcement

The Move Report

First, our apologies that we are late on this second August update. It seems like the month  has absolutely flown by. For the most part, unpacking our moving containers went fairly smoothly, and it took us about a week to unload all of the boxes of the assembled puzzles and material, and to set up the Laser Cutter in its new space. The new ventilation system is working really well, which means that we can do more continuous cuts on the laser, instead of needing to pause between longer cut jobs like we sometimes needed to in the old shop.

We did uncover two unfortunate casualties of the move during the unpacking process. The first was on the laser. After unpacking the print head (this is the component that the laser beam passes through) we found that the lens was cracked. While this was luckily a pretty easy fix (we have done so much tinkering with the laser at this point), we did have to wait two weeks for the replacement lens, which has set us back in the cutting timeline.

The second casualty was one box of parts for the Puzzle Safe, which contained the right wall wheels. This one box shifted in transit and got caught against the wall of the moving container, and as a result, about 60 pieces have some damage. The good news is that for the most part these components were damaged along the glue seams, so we should be able to fix the majority of them, and remake the rest with our inventory of extra pieces. Over the next two weeks, we plan to fix these parts, and also continue to test the other boxes to make sure that they are all still working as they should.

Prior to the move, we had hoped to finish up the Safes in June and July, and then use August and September to finish up the remaining puzzle boxes and start shipping. We are so sorry that the move took longer than we expected, which we really should have foreseen. We truly underestimated the amount of boxes of puzzle components we had put together in our storage facility. 

On the one hand, we are proud of all of the puzzles we have built, and it was a thrill to see them all together. On the other hand, I (this is Tyler writing on behalf of the team) am so sorry that it has taken this long to get these puzzles into your hands. And, on days when I get wrapped up in putting together the boxes, or troubleshooting with the laser cutter, I really need to remember to pause and take a moment to keep all of you updated on all of our progress, as well as the issues as they arise. It is of course always easier to share the good news over the bad, but I need to do a better job of keeping you all in the loop, especially around our shipping timeline.

It has been such a long time since the beginning of this project, and in many ways it has been both a very long and a very short two years. After taking inventory of all of the parts in the move, and thinking through how much time we really think we will need to finish the project, we would like to propose one more adjustment to our shipping timeline, and sincerely will do our best to hold this date. We would like to propose:

2 Weeks to fix the Safe Right Wall Pieces and check the other Safe Boxes (from the end of August to the beginning of September)

8 Weeks to Assemble all of the Safe Components (From mid-September to the beginning of November)

8 Weeks for the Cryptex Box, at 80 per week (From the beginning of November to the end of December)

4 Weeks for the Three Smallest Boxes (Through January)

3 Weeks to pack and ship the games (From the end of January through February)

4 weeks of buffer time for the unforeseen issues that we hope will not pop up (To ship in March)

Shipping Costs

Another aspect of the Kickstarter that we have gone back and reexamined is the cost of shipping, especially in relation to the rise of shipping rates during the pandemic. Every piece of Kickstarter literature that we read before the project warned that shipping costs can be the one thing that really grinds a project to a stop, so in our initial budget, we included a shipping cost much higher than the price at the time to ship the puzzles (about 3x as much as we thought we would need at the project launch, with the hopes that maybe we could use the extra funds to include bonus materials with the puzzles if we didn’t need them.  Now, with the way that international rates in shipping have increased especially, we are glad that we budgeted in a way that at the time, seemed ridiculous. All this is a very long-winded way to say that we do not presently plan to make any adjustments to our shipping plan, but we will continue to keep an eye on international shipping rates and plan accordingly.

The Cryptex Box

In between moving and packing in July and August, we continued to work on cutting the pieces for the Cryptex box and sword box, and continued assembling the mechanisms for the Cryptex Box. Now that all of the components for all of the puzzles are back together again, we are going to jump back into assembling the full Puzzle Safes from the pre-assembled components, while continuing to cut the pieces for the remaining small boxes from the game.

A Video of Testing out the Cryptex Box Wheels (Sometimes We play with the puzzles too)

Looking Ahead

This update was, admittedly, a lot to throw at all of you, and I am so sorry for the delay on our end. If you need to message us to talk about your pledge, or to vent, please feel free to reach out to us through the Kickstarter inbox, or to send us an email at [email protected]. We genuinely do love the process of making these puzzles, and just wish that we could make all of this move just a bit faster.

Until our September Update, please do reach out to us any time if there are any questions that we can answer about the puzzles, or if you would just like to check in. We do not take your patience or your participation in this project for granted, and are still unbelievably excited to share the Labyrinth with you.

Take Care, and happy puzzling,

The EAG Team

July 2022 Build Updates, and the Big Move!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 02, 2022 at 04:06:49 AM

Hello Puzzlers!

We hope that you have all been having a lovely summer! In this update you will find:

• News from our big July Workshop move
• Component Updates
• Our plans for August

The Big Move

• Ellusion Adventure Games is on the move! We spent much of July packing up our fabrication tools, as well as many, many boxes of assembled puzzles and components to get ready for our shift to a new, much larger space that we think is really going to help us be more efficient in our assembly process during this final push.

•  It was also very exciting to bring out all of the boxes of assembled puzzles from the storage spaces around our previous workshop, and to see all of the work accumulated all together for the first time. In total, we filled 2 moving containers with over 50 boxes of puzzles (and carried them in weather that was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so we were very excited when they were all finally loaded into the truck!) Currently, the truck with all of puzzles, as well as our laser cutter and 3D printers is on the way to our new space, and we expect it to arrive tomorrow afternoon.

• While waiting for the truck to arrive, we have been prepping and upgrading our laser ventilation system for the new space, fixing the driveway in the unloading area, and assembling the shelving systems for the storage spaces in the workshop, where we'll store all the puzzles before we ship them out. Now, rather than having many of the assembled puzzles in separate storage spaces, we'll be able to keep them in the same space where we do the assembly, which will make it easier for us when we carry out the final round of quality testing before shipping. In our next update, we plan on posting additional photos of the new workspace when we have the laser all set up for this next round of puzzle assembly.

Component Updates

• We have been continuously working on 3D printing the components for the knobs for the front door of the Safe Puzzle Box, and are nearing the end of the print process. Because we had more time to print the knobs, we ended up making them with a greater level of detail, and denser then we have originally planned. 
• Making these adjustments makes the 3D printing process take longer, because more detailed prints use a lower layer height (meaning the 3D printer will print 3 very thin layers instead of 1 thick layer to achieve a higher print resolution), and because there is more material going into each print. (The photo below shows the knobs before they are polished and shined in our Rock Tumbler. For a peak at how the knobs look after polishing, check out the picture and description of the printing process in our July 2021 update.) Stretching the timeline allowed us to add more detail to the knobs, which ultimately resulted in components that have a higher resolution of detail than we had originally planned.

Our Plan for August

• In July we also continued cutting and carrying out pre-assembly for the Cryptex Box and Sword Box, and plan to continue cutting pieces for these boxes as we resume assembly on the Puzzle Safe.
• We still feel that we are in a fairly good spot in our timeline, but we plan to take a full inventory once we restart assembly on the Puzzle Safe, to reassess our summer progress on the timeline. The move took longer than expected (mostly due to the time it took to pack and load all of the boxes), and we would like to make sure that none of the puzzles were damaged in the process (hopefully not, we used a ridiculous amount of bubble wrap), before continuing with the builds. We are going to post an update by August 15 with new photos of the assembled puzzles, as well as our timeline for the final phases of the project.  

Lastly, thank you so much to everyone who tuned in to watch the June 24th "Behind the Masterminds" show! It was wonderful to read your posts during the interview. As always, we are so appreciative of all of your support. We promise to post many more photos of the puzzles in our next update once the truck is unloaded; we are so excited to work on the puzzles in the new space, and look forward to keeping you updated! Please absolutely feel free to message us if there is anything we can do for you, or if you have ideas for what you would like to see in future updates. We really love hearing from you, and are so thankful for your support in this project.

Until the next update, happy puzzling!

-The EAG Team

Update #26: Summer Puzzle Progress
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 10:19:28 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

We hope that you are all having a wonderful start to your summer! In this update you will find:

• Progress on the Puzzle Safe Build
• New Puzzle Component Photos
• Our Build Plan Moving Forward
• A Link to check out a live Panel Discussion on the Behind the Masterminds Show!

Puzzle Box Build Progress

• Throughout May and June, we've been hard at work assembling the components for the Puzzle Safe, the largest and most complex puzzle box in the game. After months of assembly, we have really nailed down our build process for the component walls and building each assembly in phases, and are happy to report that we are no longer having issues with the wheels in the right wall (pictured below) locking up from too much friction, which is a huge relief. For each one of the component walls we build, we test them at least three times: once while gluing the pieces together to make sure everything is moving and rotating freely, once right after the glue has dried to make sure that there is no adhesive somewhere it shouldn't be, and once if there is a big change in humidity to make sure the wood hasn't experienced any swelling that could interfere with the puzzles' function.

• We've also been continuing to cut the pieces for the small puzzle boxes in the game, as well as parts for the other physical puzzles hidden within the Labyrinth's many puzzle box compartments. 

Our Plan for July

We are shifting our timeline around slightly, mostly because we are moving our workshop to a larger space! With our current lease ending in July, we decided that this was the perfect opportunity to move to a place with more room to house our laser cutter and a more robust ventilation system, as well as additional worktables to increase our efficiency in building the boxes (especially for if we decide to design and build new puzzle games once we have completely all of the orders for the Labyrinth, which we would really love to be able to do.) Because the Puzzle Safes are easier to move when they are in their four pre-assembled sections (compared to fully assembled), we are shifting our production plan to begin cutting the pieces for and assembling the next series of small puzzle boxes during the coming month (the Cryptex Box, and remaining three small puzzle boxes from the game), and resuming construction of the Puzzle Safes in late July once we are moved into the new space. We don’t expect for this shift to change our overall timeline, but we plan to post a new update in mid-July and the beginning of August with additional information on our new space, progress on the small box builds, and hopefully an affirmation of our planned schedule.

On Friday: Behind the Masterminds Live Panel Discussion

This Friday, June 24th, Tyler (EAG's Lead Puzzle Designer) will be participating in a live panel discussion on Season 4 of Behind the Masterminds, hosted by ESCAPETHEROOMers. Tune in for a discussion about puzzles, the process of producing tabletop puzzle games, and where each designer's inspiration comes from, 

As always, we thank you all so much for your support, and for all of your posts and messages. If there is ever anything that we can do for you, or if you would like to message us with ideas for future updates, we love to hear from you! We will also continue to add more stories and photos on our Instagram account (@labyrinthpuzzlechallenge) with posts about the puzzle box builds in between our Kickstarter updates.

Until our next update, happy puzzling!

-The EAG Team

April Progress (And the Journal Covers are in!)
almost 2 years ago – Mon, May 09, 2022 at 09:15:28 AM

Hello Puzzlers!

In this update you will find: 

• Build Progress for the Safe Puzzle Boxes
• The Journal Covers for the Collector's Edition and Leather Journal Add-On have arrived!
• Our plans for May

Build Progress for the Puzzle Safes

• In March and April, we focused on prepping and assembling the component walls for the Safe Box builds. We are happy to report that we are on schedule for our new timeline, and have been working on now assembling all of the components together!

Component Updates: The Leather Journal Covers are Here!

•  On Friday, we received the full order of the leather journals for the Collector's Edition and BackerKit Add-On Journals. We are thrilled with how they turned out, and love the feel of the leather covers. (The interiors of the two journals are also different, but we are not going to post pictures of the insides yet because they contain potential spoilers.)

What's Next?

• Our timeline goal for the next few months is to finish up the Safe builds by mid-June, and then to begin fabrication on the remaining small boxes of the game, starting with the Cryptex box, which we have been lasering the pieces for. 
• We have also begun laser-cutting the parts for the box following the Cryptex Box, which we are calling the Sword Box. The Sword Box is one of the small puzzle boxes in the game, and requires a series of several steps to reveal its secrets. 

We were trying to do two updates a month, but have found that we prefer posting longer monthly updates. However, we would love to start posting more content on our campaign Instagram page, and plan to resume more regular posting there (for things like build photos, quick backgrounds on some of the puzzle designs, fabrication news, and component photos) in addition to the regular updates, so that we can share more of the build progress in between the longer update posts. If there is anything that we can do on our end, or anything that you would like to see as we are heading into summer and working on the full safe builds, please feel free to message us! We always love hearing from you, and sharing our progress.

As always, thank you so much for your support! We hope you are having a wonderful start to your summer, and look forward to sharing more soon!

Happy Puzzling!

The EAG Team

March-ing Along! (March Production and Component Updates)
about 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 28, 2022 at 11:24:24 PM

Hello Puzzlers!

In this Update You Will Find:

•  Progress on the Safe Box Build
• ·The Pins are In!
•  Our Plans for April

Building the Safes

• We’re continuing to assemble the components for the Puzzle Safe, and so far have been able to keep to our new timeline! We plan to be working on assembling the separate Safe components (Front Door, Right Wall, Left Wall, Top, Bottom, and Back Wall) through around mid-April.
• The Top, Bottom, Right wall, and Front door of the Safe all contain enough pieces to each be like mini-puzzle boxes, and all have to be stained, assembled, and tested before all of the parts are assembled to create the full Safes. It is a challenging part of our build process, but also one that is very exciting and satisfying overall, since the Safe is the largest and most complex box in the game.

The Pins are In!

• Speaking of the Puzzle Safe, we also recently received an exciting new shipment: the full order of the Enamel Pins from our Campaign Stretch Goal! The pins are made from a hard enamel, and have two backing attachments. We love the size of these pins, as well as how they look and feel, and are really happy to be able to include them in the game.

What’s Next?

• First, our apologies for not posting two updates this month! We plan to post two shorter updates in April, with more progress updates on the Puzzle Safe Builds, as well as plans for the rest of the puzzle boxes in the game.
• We are also hoping to receive the leather journals for the Collector’s Edition Journal and the BackerKit add-on Journal design in early May, and look forward to sharing those photos in the May update.

We received an overwhelming number of incredible messages and comments following our last update, and we cannot express how grateful we are for all of your continued support of this project. Thank you for your excitement, and thank you for all of your encouragement. Please feel free to message us any time if there is any more information about the project that we can provide!

Until April, happy puzzling!

Best,

The EAG Team