Altered’s Seeds of Unity Gamefound campaign has extended by one week for individual preorders, now running until Nov. 14. The Equinox team also provided clarification on messages from earlier in the week about the game’s future, answering community questions in an updated article. The campaign is approaching the next stretch goal of 650,000 euros (about $748,000), which adds a random SEEDS booster to each display box.

Extending timeline

The updated timeline allows individual preorders to continue for another full week to Nov. 14, giving backers more time to choose from among the pledge levels. Importantly, that date comes after Nov. 10, the deadline for retailers to place their preorders for the set. A more detailed update on the overall funding level including local game store preorders will come by Nov. 12.

With that information, backers can finalize their pledges with a better understanding of the goal and visibility on LGS quantities, according to the update.

Looking forward

The Equinox team apologized for unclear communication from a Nov. 4 article that shared that the Gamefound’s goal was 2.5 million euros (about $2.9 million) total between individual and LGS preorders. The article included that if that amount wasn’t reached, the “adventure will come to an end” and backers and retailers would be refunded.

While that amount is still the firm number required to maintain the team and Altered at its current scope, the team wanted to make sure players could see LGS progress while choosing their preorder level, according to the updated article. That led to the action of extending the individual deadline past the LGS date.

The campaign listed a 50,000-euro (about $57,500) funding goal, which was reached in 8 minutes and 57 seconds after launch. Providing that target and then revealing that the actual total was much higher was a miscommunication that the team apologized for. The intention wasn’t to manipulate, but “to follow best practices to ensure a reassuring community movement at the start of the campaign. Where we went wrong was in failing to make this logic explicit from the start, particularly in a context where trust surrounding TCG funding is absolutely critical. We take full responsibility for this communication error.”

If the combined total between individual backers and LGSs don’t reach the target, Equinox will not shut down operations overnight, according to the article. Analysis will be done to determine possible options first. If “it appears we cannot sustainably continue Altered,” backers will be fully refunded and retailers with preorders will be protected. If the game is discontinued, retailers would be built into the refund policy, and each store released from financial commitments made during the campaign.

Each set going forward will need to hit this target for the foreseeable future. But the team’s plan is to develop a longterm, sustainable model that supports set development through other sources such as partnerships, merchandising and distribution deals.

During the remainder of the campaign, the team intends to be available to answer questions, provide support and plan for the future of the game together. Individual backers can place new pledges up to Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. (UTC+1), while LGSs have until Nov. 10 at 11:59 p.m. (UTC+1).

Read more

• Marketplace and Print-on-Demand go global
• Altered Gamefound reaches first stretch goal, adds promo booster bonuses
• Seeds of Unity spoilers