Bloomchasers: A Delightful 3D Tree Game of Flowers and Wits

Bloomchasers Full Unboxing Video + Production Update!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 24, 2025 at 03:56:24 PM

Hello Bloomchasers Seedlings,

We want to thank you again for your patience through these winter months, because we have some great news to share — all Bloomchasers manufacturing issues have been solved, and we're off to the races with mass production!

We're so, so pleased with how this game came out in its final form, but don't take our word for it — here's a video of Evan unboxing a mass production sample of the game, in all its leafy glory:

Delivery timelines are still on track to what we projected in our last update, which are as follows:

-Late March: Mass production complete
-April-May: International Shipping + checking into Fulfillment Centers
-Late May/Early June: Games arrive to Backers

We're already having a blast playing this game on our own tables with some of the advance copies, and we're so excited to see your own trees take root in a few months!

Thanks everyone!
Evan, Josh, Tavey, and the Very Special Games team

Bloomchasers Production Updates
about 1 year ago – Fri, Dec 20, 2024 at 10:23:43 AM

Hi tree friends, 

Happy holidays if you're celebrating, and hope you're able take some time to relax these next couple of weeks.

Apologies for taking a bit longer to update than usual — it's not for lack of activity on this project, but we wanted to have a full picture before updating you. The headline: as our manufacturer geared up to do the mass production run of the tree trunk, they continued to run into issues with the trunk branches not staying precise enough during molding, causing the branches to skew during play. They've finally hit on a likely solution (more on this below), but getting this right has pushed our delivery timeline back until late May/possibly early June.

Delivering news like this is our least favorite thing to do, but we're committed to staying transparent about the manufacturing process, even when we hit unexpected snags. Here's some more info into what's happening:

At a glance, the trunk seems good to go: looks beautiful, and branches slide in easily and securely. But, the trunk has to do more than look great — it needs to hold the branches precisely in 3D space, both vertically and horizontally. Small variations in the mass production mold cooling/adhesive process (which isn't an issue during 3D print testing) were causing the branches to sit skewed into the tree, messing with their alignment. Small alignment problems on "level one" of the tree become untenable by the time you've built the tree three or four levels high, so we knew we couldn't move forward without a fix.

Fortunately, we're working with one of the top game manufacturers in the world, and they're used to working on tough problems like this. They immediately suggested a few fixes, between extended cooling times, new materials, and even some interior supports. Unfortunately, the initial attempts all failed to make a meaningful improvement.

Luckily, they think they've found the solution —  an additional rigid structure that should keep the tops of the branches aligned (and perfectly flat) during cooling. They're testing this new method now, and we're optimistic this one will work. We should have results in about two weeks.

We've been frustrated we haven't been able to make this process go faster, but we know you're expecting a product that both looks and works beautifully, so we're going to keep doing what's needed to get it right and make something awesome.

Thanks again, truly, for the continued patience and kind words. Hope your 2025 gets off to a lovely start, and we can't wait to deliver this game to you in its best possible form.

Looking forward to spring,
Evan, Josh, and Tavey

Manufacturing + Timeline Updates
over 1 year ago – Fri, Oct 25, 2024 at 09:21:04 AM

Hey future Bloomchasers,

We've got some good news and some less good today, and have been working extra hard with our manufacturer over the past week to get a complete picture to share.

Here's the headline: we've decided to upgrade some components and improve some parts that weren't meeting the quality we wanted, but this has pushed our delivery timeline back to March, and possibly April if freight conditions run slow.

That said, we'll be making the following adjustments to the copies you'll all receive:

• Upgraded to higher-quality, linen-backed cards: the original cards we got back just felt cheap — these will be more durable, and just feel so much better to play with
• Branch modifications for perfect fit: building a tree canopy five layers tall is less fun if the branches don't lock together perfectly all the way up. New engineering to the details of how branches stack together fix this issue!
• Wobble-proof flowers and buds: As some of you pointed out from our prototype video, a slight knock to the tree could send branches and buds flying. This new design keeps flowers and buds staying put, even if your clumsiest friend is playing.

We know firsthand that extra waiting for a game is never fun, and we always do our best to keep as tightly to our projected timeline as possible. But, even though the first production samples we received of Bloomchasers were passable, we want this game to be high quality in every aspect.

This game wouldn't exist without the support of our Kickstarter backers, so getting you a game that meets (and hopefully exceeds!) the quality you're expecting is super important to us. We'll be doing everything we can to keep this project on this new timeline, and keep you posted with updates along the way.

Thanks so, so much — can't wait to get this game to your doorsteps!
-Evan, Josh, & Tavey

Box Molds + Assembled Tree!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 06:34:56 AM

Hi leafy friends,

Another quick update for you here! We're in the final stages of mass production approvals, and continue to be really pleased with how all these Bloomchasers components have grown up (ha!).

We've had to make a couple unexpected tiny revisions to the "pegs" of the flowers so they sit correctly on the leaves without wobbling (literally tiny — the difference was hardly visible!) but it made gameplay much smoother and solved any issues of accidentally knocking off buds/flowers during play.

Here's a pic of the nearly mass production-ready assembled tree (colors are still getting finalized; those birds need to be a lot brighter red!)
 

Some of you may have been wondering, "How the heck does this thing pack into a box??" So glad you asked! Making storage that's intuitive and easy to use over and over is a big part of the game experience, so we're working hand-in-hand with the manufacturer to get this part right. This isn't finalized, but it'll look something along these lines with a two-part interior:

That's all for now — enjoy the fall leaves, if you're in a part of the world that's doing that right now!
-Evan, Josh, & Tavey

Flowers + Branches First Mass Production Tests!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 05, 2024 at 11:21:07 AM

Hi shady tree people,

Just a quick —  but fun — update for you today! Now that our 3D files have been approved, our manufacturing partner has been hard at work making and testing the molds that each component will use in mass production.

Check out these early tests from some of the components, fresh out of the mold! (Note: these are not the final colors; that will get fine-tuned in the next step.)

We're super pleased with how these are turning out, and can't wait to share a shot of a fully assembled set once enough components are ready. Stay tuned!

Thanks,
Evan, Josh, and Tavey