Games Day Germany - August 11, 2013 - Part I

Part 2 with more info tomorrow morning 8:42 CET!
Stay Tuned!
My most honored hobbyists...

Games Day 2013 - a subject that we here at masterminis.net have talked about quite a bit in the last couple of weeks - rumors upon rumors - and it seems all of the news we 'spread' were true.

And now I have an announcement that you probably have to read twice before you truly believe it.

Quo Vadis, Games Workshop?
I think this guy knew... He looks a little sad :( 

Let me preface this by saying that even what follows will not bump me off my position of #1 GW & FW fanboy in the world. I want them to do good, I love them - always have, and I know they have not made this easy on us over the last few years. I still love them. Inspite or maybe because of their fluffy little qwirks...

At this point I would like to thank a 'disgruntled employee' from the southern part of Germany who accidentally forgot an internal document in my printer. Stranger things have happened....

I will provide you with most of the German text - and also an English translation. I will fail to refrain from some personal comments and I wish to apologize for my views in advance. Right now I feel a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

You will find the original text, then the translation and then my innermost secret feelings as I provide you with a play-by-play commentary from the bottom of my black little heart!

OH well, here we go:

---

1. "Der Games Day kommt! Nachdem wir uns in der Zentrale so lange in Schweigen gehüllt haben, möchte ich euch als der verantwortliche Projektleiter für den Games Day ein wenig in die Hintergründe einweihen und euch mit Infos rund um das große GamesWorkshopEvent versorgen."

"The Games Day is comming! After we at HQ have been silent for so long, as the responsible project leader for the Games Day I would like to tell you a little bit about the background and information of this great GamesWorkshopEvent."

ad 1) Games Day is comming! Yippeeeee! So far so good, I am excited, a little sweaty. My pupils widen, my breath is increased. Heart skips a beat. I am biting on my fingernails.

2. "Der Games Day wurde im vergangenen Jahr sozusagen erwachsen. Aus einem Event, das jedes Land irgendwie ähnlich Realität werden ließ, wurde in mühevoller Kleinarbeit der englischen Kollegen ein globales Ding. Dazu schaute man sich wirklich jeden Games Day weltweit und wirklich jeden auch noch so kleinen Aspekt an ... und man hatte eine groooße Lupe! :)"

"Last year the games day basically grew up. Our english colleagues turned an event that every country by themselves somehow turned into reality into a global thing. They looked at every little detail of every Games Day worldwide - and the had a biiiiig magnifying glass."

ad 2) Games Day grew up last year? Oh, I missed that. It was a great comming-of-age-party I guess. But that was true for the 10 years before that, too.
Anyhow, so far, nothing mindbogglingly mindboggling, they even got a big magnifying glass, I wonder if there will be ants in the story. 

3. "Aus den gesammelten Erfahrungen entstand dann ein echter GamesDayCodex, der weltweit Standards festlegt. Man betrachtete nicht nur die Qualität und die Eigenschaften der Veranstaltung, sondern nahm auch die Kostenseite ins Visier. Dabei musste man feststellen, dass die Organisation und Durchführung insgesamt mehr Ressourcen verschlang und Kosten verursachte als man gemeinhin annahm, und so überdachte man auch diesen Teil."

"With all the gathered experience a true GamesDayCodex emerged, one that set global standards. They did not only look at Quality and the individual parts of the event, but also narrowed in on the cost of running such an event. In doing so it was determined, that organization and running the event cost way more ressource and money than it was originally thought - so this was reconsidered as well."

ad 3) Oooh, Games Day Codex! I wonder If I can buy 8 differently wrapped limited editions of that one, too! And worldwide standards? I am all for it, always have.
Oh what's that? Surprise revalation! After years and years and YEARS of Games Day someone looked at the cost of them. And lo and behold! It was more expensive than we all would have thought! Darn! 


See what a management change can do for a company. Someone knows the word 'cost' and applies it thusly. Let's see if they have heard about the word 'customer satisfaction', too!
I am getting excited. Heart resumes beating at irregular intervals. 

4. "Das alles ist auch der Grund, warum wir so spät mit Informationen zum Games Day rausrücken, denn wir haben uns lange nach alternativen Austragungsorten umgeschaut und lange an Plänen herumgetüftelt, wie er realistisch nach den weltweiten Standards zu machen ist. Letztenendes landeten wir doch wieder im altehrwürdigen Gürzenich in Köln."

All of this is the reason, why we are so late with the information on the Games Day since we have looked for alternative venues and the implementation of worldwide standards for a very long time. At the end, we still ended up at the venerable Gürzenich in Köln [same venue as before]. 

ad 4) sooo, cost was too high and then you end up at the same place? And all of that took at least 9 months since the last event to figure out? Well,... ok, fine with me, I don't care.

5. "Die am Anfang wohl sichtbarste Änderung ist, dass wir den Ticketpreis auf ein nun realistischeres Maß anheben müssen. Eine Preiserhöhung tut freilich immer weh und wird beim einen oder anderen verständlicherweise ein Grummeln hervorrufen wenn man sich aber ins Gedächtnis ruft, was zum Beispiel die Karten für ein 2bis 3stündiges Musical oder einen Tag im Disneyland kosten und welchen Aufwand der Games Day für uns als Firma bedeutet, welche dann wirklich alle Mitarbeiter in Köln zusammenkarrt, um dieses 8StundenEvent zu bestreiten, dann ist der Eintrittspreis schon eher nachvollziehbar."

"Initially, the most significant change is that we now have to increase the ticket price to a realistic level. Of course, price increases always hurt and some people might understandably be unhappy, but if you think what the tickets for a 2-3 hour musical or a day at Disney Land cost and how much effort the Games Day means for us as a company - a company that really gets all of their employees to Cologne to run this 8 hour event, then you understand that the price is reasonable.

ad 5) LOLWUT? OK,.... hold your horses, boys and gals,... we don't know the new ticket prices yet. Realistic level... I see... So I would think 50-75€. Tickets at the opera or musical cost me around 120-150€ a pop (first row baby), Disney Land would cost me around 1120€ (1000 for the trip to Japan and 120€ entry fee, sorry, Paris), and I heard about those prices professional street workers charge by the hour! No, I think 50-75€ is quite reasonable. Well, of course, we need to pay the trip by train (50-80€) and a hotel room (70-100€) on top, plus then we can finally buy stuff at normal retail (add another 500€, we loooove Forgeworld)... So I think it is reasonable to go to a company event as a valued customer, shelling out between 100-800€ - I have done this every year and it was worth every penny. Honestly. No, I really mean it. Really. 

6. "Wie dem auch sei, wir werden auch in diesem Jahr wieder daran schrauben, den Games Day noch interessanter zu gestalten der stabilere Kostenrahmen und die Limitierung auf 2.000 Besucher sind dabei ein Schritt nach vorn. Darum arbeiten wir gemeinsam mit euch an:"

"Be that as it may, this year we will tighten the screws again and strive towards making the Games Day even more interesting and a more stable (cost) budget as well as the limit of 2000 tickets are a step ahead. That's why together with you we:" 

ad 6) LOLWUT DAFUQ? US Games Day: Limit to 1000 (!) visitors, Germany Games Day: Limit to 2000 (!!) visitors... Can I hear 3000 for UK? Limbooooo!

The German Train service thinks like this: "What? We had less customers last year? Let's increase the prices! See? Profits are easy!" (then next year rinse and repeat).

Here is what GW does: The event is too expensive. So let's go back to the same venue. Instead of 4000ish people at 35€ (who then also buy stuff) let's get 2000 people at a 'realistic price'.

Am I the only one here who went to university and conquered basic arithmetics? I was pretty good at marketing, too! :D

Well, the unknown x is the 'realistic price'. So let's say the price was a hypothetical 70€ per ticket - then of course we would close in on the break even point. 150€ would really get 'us' a long way.

How all of this is a 'step ahead' I don't know. In Germany we have a saying: "Yesterday we were standing on the edge of a deadly chasm. Today we are a step further." Must be something along those lines.

But since we don't know the 'whole package' yet (I am SUUURE we get like awesome t-shirts, a limited edition FW Fellblade or something), I think we should wait on the details for the final verdict.

7. "- Mehr Miniaturen wir werden mehr Vitrinen bereitstellen und sie mit eurer Hilfe bestimmt auch füllen. [..]
- Mehr Kreation die Platten im Hobbybereich sind der große HobbyHingucker und ein Spiegel des jeweiligen HobbyJahres. Ob Spieltisch oder HobbyDisplay, was ihr mit euren Stammkunden bastelt, wollen wir soweit es geht euch überlassen. Habt Spaß beim Bau, dann haben es die Besucher auf dem Games Day auch!
- Mehr Gäste wir holen mehr Gäste aus UK nach Köln als jemals zuvor
- Mehr Material wir werden die Workshops erweitern, um mehr Leuten die Möglichkeiten zu geben, davon zu profitieren
- Mehr Sitze im Auditorium der “Hobbyhörsaal” kehrt trotz beengter Platzverhältnise in den großen Raum zurück und so verdoppeln wir mal eben die Sitzzahl
- Mehr Service wir verbessern den ForgeWorldStand, damit es schneller geht. Auch Retail und Black Library werden mehr Kassen bekommen
... und noch mehr. Wir spielen noch mit einigen weiteren Ideen. Hast du selbst einen (grob realistischen) Vorschlag, schreib mir!"

"- More miniatures in more display cases (and with your help we will most likely even fill them)
- More Creation (?) the gaming tables in the hobby area are the big focus and a mirror image of the active hobby year. Gaming tables or hobby displays - whatever you will build with your core customers, is up to you. Have fun building it, so the visitors of Games Day will have fun too!
- More guests from the UK than ever
- More material - we will enhance the workshops so more people can profit from them.
- More seats in the 'hobby lecture hall' in spite of limited space we have doubled the amount of seats.
- More service - we will improve the Forge World booth, so it will run more smoothly. Also, Retail and Black Library will receive more cash registers.
- ... and a lot more. Wie have a few more ideas. If you have a (somewhat realistic) suggestion, let me know."

ad 7) Now please don't get me wrong, but I personally do NOT go to a games day to look at filled display cases, armies and gaming tables painted by store staff and their hard core customers. I would not even go their to look at a full display case of my own miniatures. Is GW seriously 'employing' their customer base to create 'content'?
I am happy though, that there are more registers. Nothing is worse than standing in line for 3 hours only to buy stuff at non-discounted retail. Everything else looks cool, too. Of course, no mention of the Golden Demon event.
[here follows a list of names of responsible people, I took it out] I will only point at the professionalism of the project leader who describes himself as 'flea circus tamer'. 

8. "Auf zur TicketAttacke am 20. April und auf zu 2.000 zufriedenen Gästen des Games Days am 11. August 2013 in Köln!"

"Ticket Attack on April 20th for 2000 satisfied guests of the German Games Day on August 11th 2013. 

ad 8) I know I am going to try to get a ticket. But I guess this time I won't be disappointed if I don't get to go. Black market prices for GW tickets... 

If GW is REALLY clever, they will do it like Blizzard. Put up an official GW Auction House and ONLY THERE you can trade your GW tickets. Or do it like the FIFA World Cup in Germany - only let people in with RFID tagged tickets and a valid copy of your passport. Now there are some 'somehwat realistic' suggestions. Maybe someone can relate them to Games Workshop :D

---

So here is what I think

The first time I read the memo was the worst. 

The second time I read the memo, was the worst, too. 

Then it went into a bit of a decline.

The good news

There will be a Games Day Germany 2013. Hooray - we all kinda new it. We even ended up at the same venue - and that is quite unexpected. 

The weird news

People will not congratulate painters on their Slayer Sword or their Golden Demon any longer. 

They will congratulate them on getting one of the limited 2000 tickets.

Will I go? 

I sure will TRY. Probably have to use a false name now that I posted this :D

Anyways, I hope you found this report stimulating!

If so, please do me a favor: SHARE & ENJOY!

Yours truly,

Zaphod xoxox

P.S.: I still love you GW and FW! I really, really, really do! *big heart*

LTD Dark Angel Codex Winners

Hey everyone! 

Finally another giveaway ;) About time, right?

As you know, we had three giveaways going with a total of three Limited Dark Angel Codices to be won. Those were limited to 2000 copies worldwide and are quite a sought after collectors item. 

And - you guys! You did this just for me right? Guess how many people tried to win the first one: 

That is so sweet of you :D Now noone can say we would not be totally in style when we do these giveaways ;) Due to a small glitch, the second one got flubberghasted at 24 participants ;)

So with no further ado: (drumroll)

Winner #1 is: KreoL

Winner #2 is: crazybaldhead (that is not me, btw :D)

Winner #3 is: Cerebralerebus

Congrats to everyone! 

Make sure, you send your email to masterminis[[at]]gmail.com if you want to claim your prize. 

Please stay tuned for more giveaways - next on the list will be... let's see... ah, a free Jeremie Bonamant Teboul Workshop Ticket (here in Berlin), another limited codex or two,... and some limited miniatures I guess :D

Also, if you have not read these, please head over to these important Paintingbuddha announcements: 

- Revised PaintingBuddha DVD Schedule
- Mati Zander and Ben Komets on board!

Have a great day!

BIG Paintingbuddha News

Greetings my most marvelous miniaturists, 

As promised, today we have some rather BIG news for you. Something we have kept secret for over half a year now. Coincidentally, we announce this PaintingBuddha news on April 8th, the Japanese festival of Hana Matsuri (花祭, flower festival) - celebrated on Buddha's Birthday. I just found this out this morning, and found it rather appropriate ^^

Now we all know which Buddha they must have in mind - the PAINTING BUDDHA, of course! :D 

And in some way it actually is a birthday celebration, as today I can finally announce that after today there is no more 'I', but a whole lot of 'we'. 

When I moved back from Tokyo to Germany exactly a year ago, I moved to Berlin. There, I talked to some of my friends about my 'dream' of creating a company with a clear commitment to the miniature painting & gaming community. High quality, low price and reinvestment of profits in charity and community - those were my main company ideas. With a solid business plan it did not take long to convince the two guys I 'wanted' on the team so badly...

So with no further ado, I am proud to announce that no other than the incredibly talented sculptor Mati "Badsmile" Zander and the man that needs no introduction: Ben "White Rabbit" Komets have joined Paintingbuddha as full-time partners of our little enterprise. Mati holds the title of "Art Director Body" whereas Ben will henceforth be known as our "Art Director Soul". 

left to right: Ben "White Rabbit" Komets, Mati "Badsmile" Zander and Michael "Zaphod Beeblebrox" Bartels
And yes - I did shave my head for this momentous event - Painting Buddha Style! :D

As the last week has already proven, working together as a team on a daily basis makes us much more efficient and things are moving along and a much quicker pace. 

So, what can you expect from us? Well, first of all, we are committed to finish our first instructional DVD set as quickly as possible. Tomorrow, Rafael García Marín - the famous Spanish painter who goes by "Volomir" in the miniature world, will come over to record his part for the first DVD. After some additional heavy investment in our equipment we are convinced that the DVD set will now even be better than planned.

Secondly, we have a whole bunch of 'additional' community stuff and other hoopy ideas lined up. We will announce them as soon as we are confident that we can hold any release dates (yes, we learn from mistakes :D).

I feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with these two outstanding friends - and I feel humbled that I have the opportunity to fulfill my 14 year long dream of creating a company for you - the painting community. 

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Share & Enjoy ^^

Michael
aka Zaphod Beeblebrox

Looking for missing winners

Greetings, my most excellent miniature lovers! 

42 giveaways update
I was finally able to send out all of the prizes to everyone who has contacted me, the last ones will be sent out tomorrow. I have sent all winners a confirmation email, but I am still missing quite a few winners, who have not yet contacted me. 

So, if you have participated and neither have received your prize NOR received a confirmation email from me yet, please check the giveaways again: 

Winners 7-14 * Winners 15-22 * Winners 23-27 * Winners 28-34 * Winners 35-42

'Back then' I said I would reserve the prizes until April 1st, but I am just going to extend this until the end of the year. This will possibly be the last reminder, though. 

Make sure, you send your email to masterminis[[at]]gmail.com if you want to claim your prize. 

Monday Giveaway & "Big News"

There are currently three giveaways running: 3x Limited Dark Angels Codex (limited to only 2000 worldwide and quickly sold out). 

[TEASE]There will be some exciting big news on Monday.[/TEASE]

WE (hint) will draw these three prizes on Monday. All you have to do is leave a comment under these posts to have a chance to win!

- Chance #1 * Chance #2 * Chance #3 -

Have a great weekend everybody - and get your brushes out!

Important Paintingbuddha DVD update (english)

Important paintingbuddha DVD Update

It has been very quiet on masterminis in the last two weeks and people start to worry about what's going on...

In the interest of full transparency, below you will find a very detailed description of the current status of our Paintingbuddha Season 1 project.

REVOLUTION

Our first 'mockup'  product design from our shop

We began working on our 'REVOLUTION' in November of last year. On December 23^rd we revealed our first revolutionary project – a painting DVD set including 2 DVDs, two miniatures (plus base) and all of that in a nice box.
Our goal was to offer you something truly revolutionary – a top-quality product at an incredibly low price.. 

Many of you have trusted us 'blindly' and have pre-ordered this set without really having seen exactly what you would get.

We are truly grateful for your trust and your support!

So you will be glad to hear that our product has 'grown' and it has become even cooler and 'hoopier' than even we had originally planned. And we wanted to surprise you with the 'added' content on April 1st - no joke ;)

But, as so often in life, the good news sometimes comes with some bad news...

The upgraded DVD set - Part I

So let us look at the good news first, the 'upgraded' set:

Inside the collectors box, we protect the miniatures
from damage during transport in this metal jewlery box

• Instead of the advertized 2 DVDs you will receive 6 DVDs full of painting instructions.
• Instead of some standard plastic DVD-boxes you will receive a high-quality 6-page-foldout DVD-Collectors box.
• We upgraded the wooden box to a stylish, hand-made collectors box with magnetized locking mechanism.
• The miniatures will additionally be packed in a fancy cushioned metall jewelry box in order to protect them from being damaged.
• All the other 'goodies' such as collector buttons, raffle tickets and so on will of course still be included (among other things, we are giving away stuff such as 42 painting armatures by Stephan Rath, free workshops, Season 2 DVD sets etc.). 
• All of that still at a low price of 42€ for the budget box (includes minis and DVD box) or 84€ for the supporter's box (includes everything)

Since we could not keep the March 1^st release date, we quite literally worked day and night, fought Murphy and his hard drive crashes - but everything was still lined up to be delivered in the first week of April - all of the component's delivery dates (collector's box, metal box, shipping box, DVD-Box, DVDs) are confirmed (and on their way as we speak).

All material has been edited, cut, enriched with cool graphics, menus and informative overlays.  All manufacturing tasks were running on time. Basically, we were ready to go, ready to surprise you with an awesome, bigger and better product in the first week of April.

So far, so good.

Murphy's final act

Example of DVD Menu, color picker and artist cam overlays

Then Murphy tossed us a final curveball in the last step of the production process and after consulting all involved artists (Ben, Stephan and Mati) – I stopped this last step - the production of the DVDs – quite literally in the last second.

Everything turned out so much cooler than we could imagine back in November. The quality of all the components exceeds everything we originally envisioned.

Everything – except for the DVDs.

What happened?

When we received the 'release DVDs' in the final approval process about two weeks ago, we had some rather mixed feelings. Most of the chapters looked awesome. But some rather important chapters (detailed shots of the face, NMM details etc.) looked 'average' at best. The conversion of the HD material to DVD of these detailed sections did not look good at all. 

Example of our color wheel picker from the DVD

So with our suppliers we feverishly started analyzing the problem (which is why it has been so quite here in the last two weeks).

In short, it turned out that some of the early material we shot back in November and December caused some problems in the conversion process.

Unfortunately, there was no easy fix in sight.

Quality is everything

Ultimately, I am responsible for what we ship to you, our supporters, and basically, I had two choices: 

1. Ship the product 'as is' in the first week of April or 
2. 'fix it'

'send as is': (the easy way out)

• We send you the product beginning of April and hope that you don't mind the quality issues of a few of the DVD chapters. After all, everything else looks great - it's still an awesome deal, even though these DVD parts are not perfect.

'fix it': (the hard way)

• The miniatures and the training video are our core product. Having a great packaging does not change issues with some of the videos.
  We would need to retake some videos, scrap a few hundred hours of editing work and deliver a product that truly deserves the title 'revolutionary'. This would cost us time and money – but it would get you a product that we think you deserve.

As far as our DVD products are concerned, we believe that quality is everything and must not be sacrificed no matter what. We want you to have an awesome value for your money.

Having said that, I decided that we 'fix it'.

The revised release schedule

In the last two weeks we rescheduled and shifted some of our next tasks around and came up with a 'fix it' plan:

- Re-filming is scheduled and will be completed in the 2^nd week of April. 

- Production will be finished 6-8 weeks after filming (only DVD box and DVDs are left 'to do').

- The product will be shipped out right away.

Our biggest challenge in planning the reshooting of the material was that Stephan Rath will not be available for filming until the end of August due to his work schedule. 

So we decided that he will 'swap places' with none other but Rafa Garcia Marin aka 'Volomir' for our first DVD set. Most of you know Volomir not only as one of the top Spanish painters, but also as one of the world's best painters - and as an awesome guy! (CMON, Volomirs blog).

Volomir was already scheduled to be here for filming of the Season 2 content beginning of April and will now be Ben's partner for Season 1.
Stephan will be back for a later Season with filming in August of this year.

Volomir's finely detailed painting style is definitely on par with Stephan's style, but where Stephan only uses brushes, some of you may be particularly intrigued that Volomir uses an airbrush on some parts of the miniature. I know that I can't wait to see it myself ;)

We are sorry - so let us make it up to you!

We know that some people will be disappointed about the additional delay. We are 100% committed to the best quality product we can make – especially since this is our first DVD set.

And we are truly sorry for the additional delay.

So as our apology to you, please accept the following additional items of our final product:

1. EVERYONE who already has or will order the DVD set will receive a stylish limited 'Season 1 Paintingbuddha' T-Shirt for free. (supporters box only)
   If you have already ordered the DVD set, we will send you an email asking for your shirt size in the next two weeks.
2. 

   FREE Season 1 DVD
   in Q4 2013 for all
   existing Pre-Orders.

   Everyone who has already PRE-ORDERED the DVD prior to March 31st will receive a FREE DVD with Stephan Rath's painting of the Season 1 diorama as soon as we can refilm it (expect shipping in Q4 2013). For you, Season 1 will therefore include three top painters: Rafa Garcia „Volomir“ Marin, Ben „White Rabbit“ Komets and Stephan „Derwish“ Rath. (all boxes)
   
   
   And finally, as our apology to you, everyone who has already pre-ordered the DVD set will receive a personal letter in about two weeks with a little 'gift' that we are currently producing for you. We are grateful for your support and hope you accept our sincere apology. (all boxes)

We know that extra 'goodies' cannot undo the disappointed some of you must certainly feel.

 

But we hope that it shows our absolute committment to a great product, high quality and all of that for an incredibly low price.

Let us know what you think

So this is it for the moment – I know it has been a long text, but I wanted to explain the situation to you as detailed as possible. If you have any questions, queries or would just like to blow off some steam, please send me an email to paintingbuddha < at > gmail < dot> com.

Sincerely,

Michael Bartels
aka Zaphod Beeblebrox

Wichtiges Paintingbuddha DVD Update (German)

Wichtiges Paintingbuddha DVD Update

In den letzten zwei Wochen war es verdächtig ruhig um uns und die ersten Leute haben schon sich sicherlich schon gefragt, was los ist...

Im Folgenden gibt es also das lang erwartete paintingbuddha.com season 1 DVD update - eine sehr detaillierte Beschreibung des aktuellen Stands.

REVOLUTION

Our first 'mockup'  product design from our shop

Wir haben unsere 'REVOLUTION' im November begonnen und am 23. December unser erstes 'Produkt' enthüllt: ein Ein Mal-DVD set mit 2 DVDs, zwei Miniaturen (plus Base) und alles in einer schicken Box. 

Unser Ziel war es, euch etwas wahrlich 'revolutionäres' anzubieten - ein Top-Produkt zu einem Top-Preis. 

Viele von euch haben uns 'blind' vertraut und unser Projekt durch Vorbestellungen dieses Sets für den damals geplanten 1. März 2013 unterstützt.

Wir sind euch allen für diese Unterstützung zutiefst dankbar!
Es wird euch also freuen, wenn wir euch mitteilen können, das unser Produkt über das seinerzeit 'beworbene' Maß deutlich hinausgewachsen ist (nur der Preis ist gleichgeblieben). Wir wollten euch am 1. April mit der Auslieferung des 'neuen Pakets' überraschen - und das sollte kein Aprilscherz werden...

Wie so oft im Leben, kamen dann zu diesen guten Nachrichten, die schlechten gleich mit dazu...

Das DVD-Upgrade - Teil 1

Schauen wir uns erst mal an, was aus unserem DVD-Set geworden ist:

Inside the collectors box, we protect the miniatures
from damage during transport in this metal jewlery box

• Anstelle der 2 beworbenen DVDs bekommt ihr 6 informationsgeladene Mal-DVDs. 
• Anstelle einfacher Plastik-DVD-Hüllen bekommt ihr ein 6-seitiges, ausfaltbares DVD Collector-Booklet. 
• Die Holzbox wurde durch eine stylische, hand-gearbeitete Sammlerbox mit Magnet-verschluss ersetzt. 
• Die Miniaturen werden zusätzlich zu der Sammlerbox noch einmal in eine schicke, gepolsterte Metall-Schmuckdose verpackt, um vor etwaigen Beschädigungen zu schützen. 
• Alle anderen 'Goodies' wie Sammler-Buttons, Lose (u.a. könnt ihr 42 Malarmaturen, Workshops und zukünftige Produkte gewinnen) sind natürlich auch weiterhin vorhanden und erweitert worden.  
• Und alles wird immer noch nur 42€ für die 'Budget Box' ('nur' Minis und Collector's DVD box) bzw. 84€ für die Supporter Box (beinhaltet alles)

Da wir den 1. März als Release Datum nicht einhalten konnten, haben wir sprichwörtlich Tag- und Nacht daran gearbeitet, den 1. April 'zu schaffen'. Alle Lieferanten haben uns die Auslieferung für die letzte März/erste Aprilwoche bestätigt und selbst Murphy's wiederholten Versuche, uns aufzuhalten schienen mit dem Zieldatum April uns nicht aufhalten zu können. 

Das Videomaterial war geschnitten, editiert, mit informativen Grafiken, Menüs und Video Overlays verziert. Alle Hersteller waren auf der Zielgraden. Kurz, wir waren bereit. Bereit auch Anfang April mit dem Produkt zu überraschen. 

So weit, so gut. 

Murphy's schlägt erneut zu

Beispiel für Menüführung, Color Picker und Artist Cam

Und dann wirft uns Murphy einen Stock zwischen die Beine, der es in sich hat.

Nach Rücksprache mit allen Beteiligten Künstlern (Ben, Stephan and Mati), habe ich den letzten Schritt in der Produktionskette – das Pressen der DVDs - sprichwörtlich in der letzten Sekunde stoppen müssen. 

Alles war so viel besser geworden als wir selbst geträumt hatten, so viel cooler. 

Alles - bis auf Teile der DVDs. 

Was war passiert?

Im letzten Schritt des Freigabeprozess der Produktion hatten wir sehr 'gemischte' Gefühle, was einige Teile der 'Release DVD' anging, die wir vor 2 Wochen erhalten haben. Größtenteils sah  alles super aus - so wie es sein sollte. Aber einige (recht wichtige) Kapitel, wie z.B. Detailaufnahmen des Gesichts oder eines kleinen NMM Teils) sahen bestenfalls 'durchschnittlich' aus. Die Umwandlung des Materials von HD auf MPEG-2 DVD der betroffenen Kapitel sah nicht wirklich gut aus.  

Beispiel für Color Picker Overlay und Artist Cam

Also haben wir fieberhaft mit dem Produzenten begonnen, das Problem zu analysieren um eine Lösung zu finden, bevor 1000 DVDs gepresst werden (das ist der Grund, warum es hier so fürchterlich ruhig war in den letzten zwei Wochen). 

Um es kurz zu machen - im Ergebnis verursachte das Format einiger der frühen Aufnahmen aus November und Dezember das Problem bei der Konvertierung.

Und eine 'einfache Lösung' war nicht in Sicht.

Qualität ist alles

Letztendlich bin ich dafür verantwortlich, was wir euch als Produkt rausschicken. Und im Grunde hatte ich zwei mögliche Alternativen: 

1. Das Produkt 'so wie es ist' Anfang April rausschicken oder
2. das Problem 'richtig' zu beheben

'so wie es ist': (der 'einfache' Weg)

• Wir senden alles Anfang April so raus, wie es ist und hoffen, ihr verzeiht uns die Qualitätsprobleme bei einzelnen DVD Kapiteln. Alles andere sieht gut aus, die Box ist prall gefüllt, es ist immer noch ein super Deal - auch wenn die DVDs nicht perfekt sind.

'Problem beheben': (der 'steinige' Weg)

• Die Lehrvideos und die Miniaturen sind unser Kernprodukt. Eine tolle Verpackung bringt nicht viel, wenn es beim Inhalt Probleme gibt.  
  Wir müssten einiges an Videomaterial nachfilmen, ein paar hundert Stunden Editing-Arbeit wegwerfen um euch im Ergebnis ein Produkt zu liefern, dass den Namen 'revolutionär' auch wirklich verdient. Das wird uns noch mal etwas Zeit und Geld kosten - aber es wird euch ein Produkt garantieren, dass ihr - wie wir denken - verdient.

Wir glauben, dass Qualität über allem steht und wir wollen diese nicht opfern, nur um einen Termin einzuhalten.

Ihr ahnt es schon - wir haben entschieden, dass wir das Problem 'richtig' beheben...

Der neue Release-Plan

In den letzten zwei Wochen haben wir mit allen beteiligten einen belastbaren, neuen Release-Plan erstellt.

• Das Nachfilmen ist geplant und wird in der 2. Aprilwoche beendet sein.  
• Editing und Produktion der DVDs wird dann 6-8 Wochen später abgeschlossen sein - alles andere ist dann bereits geliefert.
• Das DVD Set wird sofort nach Fertigstellung rausgeschickt. 

Eine größere Auswirkung hat dieser neue Plan jedoch. Stephan Rath steht arbeitsbedingt erst im August wieder für Video-Aufnahmen zur Verfügung. 

Also haben wir entschieden, seinen Platz auf DVD 1 mit niemand anderem al Rafa Garcia Marin aka 'Volomir' zu tauschen. Die meisten von euch wissen, dass 'Volo' nicht nur einer der top spanischen Maler, sondern einer der Besten Maler der Welt ist (CMON, Volomirs blog).

Volomir war für die Aufnahmen für Season 2 bereits für  April geplant und wird nun kurzerhand die Minis der Season 1 bemalen. Stephan wird dann für eine spätere Season im August wieder bei uns sein. 

Volomir's unglaublich softer Malstil ist auf dem gleichen Niveau wie Stephan's, aber er erreicht diese Qualität auf anderen Wegen. Während Stephan ausschließlich seine 'Sniper'-Pinsel benutzt, benutzt Volomir an Teilen seiner Mini einen Airbrush. Ich bin selber schon ganz gespannt ^^.

Es tut uns leid - lasst es uns 'wieder gut machen'. 

Wir wissen natürlich, dass einige von euch ob der neuen Verzögerung enttäusch sind. Ihr dürft uns aber glauben, dass wir uns zu 100% zu der besten Qualität verpflichtet haben, die wir erstellen können - insbesondere, da dies unser erstes DVD Set ist.

Und uns tut die neuerliche Verzögerung wirklich leid.

Als Entschuldigung und 'kleine Wiedergutmachung' haben wir uns also Folgendes überlegt:

1. JEDER der schon bestellt hat oder noch bestellt bekommt ein limitiertes 'Season 1 Paintingbuddha' T-Shirt kostenlos 'dazu'. (Supporter Box)
   Wenn ihr bereits eine DVD bestellt habt, bekommt ihr in den nächsten zwei Wochen eine Email von uns, mit der Bitte um eure T-Shirt Größe. 
2. 

   Kostenlose Season 1
   DVD für alle Vor-
   bestellungen (31.03)

   JEDER, der vor dem 31. März bestellt hat. bekommt im vierten Quartal des Jahres eine kostenlose DVD mit Stephan Rath (Season 1 Diorama) -  Für euch beinhaltet Season 1 demnach Drei Top Maler: Rafa Garcia „Volomir“ Marin, Ben „White Rabbit“ Komets and Stephan „Derwish“ Rath. (Supporter & Budget Box!)
   
   
   Und 'last but not least', bekommt jeder, der die DVD bereits vorbestellt hat einen persönlichen Brief von uns mit einem kleinen 'Geschenk', das wir gerade extra für euch produzieren lassen. Wir sind sehr dankbar für Eure Unterstützung und hoffen, dass Ihr unsere Entschuldigung annehmt. (Supporter & Budget Box). Bitte gebt uns hierfür ca. 14 Tage Zeit, da die Produktion noch ein paar Tage dauert.

Wir wissen natürlich, dass ein paar zustätzliche 'Goodies' die Enttäuschung, die einige von euch sicherlich verspüren nicht aufwiegen können.

Aber wir hoffen auch, dass wir euch damit unser absolute Verpflichtung zu einem großartigen Produkt, hoher Qualität und vor allem einem unglaublich günstigen Preis zeigen können. 

Lasst uns wissen, was ihr denkt

Das wäre erst mal die Situation. Ich weiß, es war ein langer Text, aber ich denke, die Situation benötigt eine detailierte Erklärung.

Wenn ihr Fragen oder Anmerkungen habt oder einfach mal Damp ablassen wollt, schreibt mir gerne eine Email an: paintingbuddha < at > gmail < dot> com.

Ich wünsche euch und euren Familien schöne Ostertage!

Michael Bartels
aka Zaphod Beeblebrox

Master of Imagination 2013 competition

Good morning everybody!

So you all were good miniature painters and painted tons of stuff during the cold winter?

Good! Here is your chance of entering them into an international competition, meet awesome people and see some awesome pieces of work. 

White Tree Miniatures invites all painters, sculptors, miniatures lovers and all those interested in games and wargaming to the fourth edition of the Master of Imagination miniatures painting and sculpting competition. This year we decided to change both the date and the place of the competition. This year’s edition of the MoI will be held in Radom (Poland) in June or July. The exact date and location will be announced at a later date, however, the rules of the contest have already been published.

We will of course keep you posted as to the final date and location of the event - but early notice is always a good thing.

The 2012 edition of MoI took place in Lublin, Poland, on November 24th last year. 

The standard was - as you can see from the winning entry in the Fantasy group - extremely high. 

I have reported from the 'other' Polish event, the Hussar 2012, last year (here the Picasa webalbum). 

It was an awesome event where I was able to meet some of my favorite polish painters - and of course Nakatan from Russia. 

I am sure that MoI would be happy about some international painters as well - so please SHARE this post and their event to all of your nerdy painting friends ;)

SHARE & ENJOY!

Zaphod