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Sci-Fi Concept Cards | Instant Universe, Just Add H2O

Created by Stephen Coffey

Playing Cards which each describe a sci-fi setting element - available in decks of planets, characters and locations

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Shards: Worldbuilding Zine
about 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 04:54:57 PM

We'd like to invite everyone here to join us on our latest adventure: Shards, Worldbuilding Zine. It's a mixture of Science Fiction and Fantasy content designed to inspire both worldbuilders and those who just like exploring new (un)realities.

Thank you for past support, and we hope you'll stay with us as we move forward

Be Well

-Ste

Final roll-call and a few "we're sorry" cards
about 5 years ago – Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 08:47:11 PM

This update should have been out a few months ago, but Loz - who was intended to be putting it out - went through some tough times [one part of which is mentioned here] and it slipped through the cracks.

Everyone should have their decks by now, so just to be clear: If you don't have your decks let us know. 

We've had a couple of cases where the decks didn't arrive where they were supposed to - we believe that all those cases have been resolved, but if we're wrong we want to know; you're our supporters and we don't want any of you being left without what you backed for.

As a token of apology for the delays, Loz also wrote up a few bonus cards - one from each deck. We won't be printing/posting these ones - the expense is a bit too high - but there are print-at-home versions available here

Be Well, and thanks for your patience

-Ste

Situation Report on International Shipping
over 5 years ago – Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 12:13:17 AM

After a series of complications, shipping is finally beginning. We'll let you know once all the parcels are shipped, and will confirm how long the shipping is expected to take by wednesday.

Explaining the delay is embarassing, but being forthright is important, so here goes:

We've been using a distributor, and we thought we had everything sorted but as Loz mentioned we hadn't enclosed the shipping list. 

They of course attempted to inform us immediately - which should have been the end of it, except that the email address they'd been given was the wrong one - the emails weren't reaching us.

So until we emailed them we knew nothing about the error; which means that the postage was delayed until we started getting concerned about the delay.

And then, due to the delay, all sorts of other minor issues crept in - details that had been to hand at the time of delivery no longer were, the packages were out of place, and we weren't included in their schedule, resulting in another week of delay.

Thanks for your patience everyone - we know this is frustrating.

-Ste

An Apology
over 5 years ago – Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 10:49:36 PM

We messed up!

The packages to the UK and the EU were posted by us, the rest of the world went to the distributor. Unfortunately we failed to send them the list of what to send where so nothing has been sent - we all thought each other had done it!

This problem is being fixed as I write this, so the distributor should be able to start processing them tomorrow morning.

I'm very sorry about this, it's rather embarrassing for us and rather annoying for you, I'm sure. 

Loz

Inserts, Card Backs, and Low Ink Versions
over 5 years ago – Sun, Aug 05, 2018 at 05:16:47 PM

As the title implies there are some new goodies available to download from Backerkit. You should be able to download these things as easily as the previous digital files. If anything doesn't work, please tell us.

  • Inserts - the paper inserts that go with the physical decks are now available. They explain how to read and combine the cards on one side, and the other has a simple game to play with them. If you have the Fantasy cards, these are not new games, just rethemes, but they work just as well with the Sci Fi cards.
  • Card Backs - if you're printing the cards yourself then giving them pretty backs may be something you want to do. These are pages with 9 card backs to make that easier for you
  • Low Ink Versions - Speaking of printing your own, these versions have exactly the same text, but the pretty background has been replaced with plain white with an outline rather than solid border. Although the icons are still full colour we think they should print fine in greyscale as well. We've included them in all the same formats (9 per page, A4 and US Letter, as well as individual card per page) to make things as easy as possible, and some of you may prefer to read the cards with no background as well.
This is what the low ink cards look like
This is what the low ink cards look like

Physical Decks

All the decks have been posted, or gone to our distributor, GamesQuest (that was an adventure - I misread the map and it was a much longer drive than I expected, much of it down tiny one lane country roads, and driving back was through a thunder storm!). People in the UK and EU should already have your cards, those elsewhere should start receiving them this week. If you haven't got them by the end of next week (to allow for unexpected delays) please let us know.

Anything Else?

As far as I am aware, that is now everything we promised and a little more. If you think we have missed anything or there is something else you would like to see, please ask.