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Master Thief

Created by Sparr Games LLC

Steal the most valuable items from the Museum, foil your opponents’ attempts to do the same and escape without getting caught!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

The Matching Game
about 7 years ago – Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 12:21:57 AM

Hello Thieves!

We are very excited about the direction things are heading this year for Master Thief. We seem to have been beset by drawbacks at nearly every turn, but things are finally coming together. We're excited to bring you some really great news today!

Cards Received

We got them!! We received the new samples, crossed our fingers, and checked them out.

And... IT'S A MATCH!!

You guys, these cards are perfect. They held up to all our inspections. The blacks all match, and the overall quality has vastly improved. We were comparing the old ones and... oh man. 

So how about that? First proof of concept and we have cards that blow the older ones out of the water. We finally know we made the right decision to wait, and get it right.

THEY MATCH.
THEY MATCH.

 

New plant (left) vs. Original plant (right)
New plant (left) vs. Original plant (right)

 

The linen texture: Prominent and CONSISTENT
The linen texture: Prominent and CONSISTENT

 

Plus, the front of the holofoil cards are amazing as ever
Plus, the front of the holofoil cards are amazing as ever

New Plant

This proof of concept came from a very adept plant. Honestly, it seems our previous plant simply wasn’t the plant for our game. Knowing that this second plant can get everything right the first time is not only a relief but also a confirmation. We are thrilled to be moving forward with this new plant and in the direction it is taking us. 

Just one more time, everyone, they NAILED everything. Nailed it.

Credit where credit is due

And thank you. Thank you for your continued support. For your patience. 

Your encouragement has meant the world to us, and we now we finally have the quality we desired all along. The quality you deserve. We are very glad, in retrospect, that we did not settle for less. We made the right call. High fives, everyone.

Next Up

We've already given the go-ahead to Ad Magic to push forward with this plant. We are planning to speak with them in depth to hopefully figure out what our expected timeline is now. We hope they can help us expedite this, and aid us in catching back up and releasing Master Thief.

Thank you, everyone.
Jacob & Jake

Chicago and Beyond!
about 7 years ago – Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 08:57:18 PM

Next

Happy Mardi Gras, Miscreants!

Quick update on the new samples. Ad Magic should have the samples from the other plants within a few weeks. We just received an update from them explaining some of their process which currently seems dedicated to the CMYK matching.

Timeline

Ad Magic is heading to PAX East March 10-12. They expect to have the samples by the time they return. If these are the ones, we will be on our way. We are are looking for matching backs and for the museum cards to have fullness of the black on the fronts. 

We will not know more about the production until then.

The Windy City

As we said in our last update, we had the incredible opportunity to take part in a game night in Chicago at Lost Arts. The night was presented by the people at Cards Against Humanity! This proved to be sincerely amazing. We met some awesome people, got some great advice and had the chance to demo our game. 

Excitement sets in...
Excitement sets in...

We brought some locally crafted Toledo Beer, and began the night with Rock Paper Scissors while we waited for guests to arrive. Jake won... which is a rare moment to behold. Off to a good start, we were ready to start the demo. 

Featuring Jeff Chin from Road to Infamy Games!
Featuring Jeff Chin from Road to Infamy Games!

By the first game we realized coming here was a great idea. After the fourth game, existing players were teaching new players without having to reference the rules. Everyone picked it up very easily. This is always a big win. 

Overall, this night really revitalized our passion after a seemingly never-ending hail storm of bad news.

Fun! Excitement! Game-stuff!
Fun! Excitement! Game-stuff!

The Lost Arts crew was delightful, our fellow creators were extremely insightful, and we were happy to join the fun. We look forward to more events like this as we push forward into March.

Until further news,

Happy Heisting!
J&J

In the Meantime
about 7 years ago – Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 11:06:51 PM

Production Update

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the delay on this update. We have not had a lot of time together lately, plenty of life still out there being lived and struggled though.

We are still waiting on the latest physical samples from the second plant. We have had eyes on a digital proof to make sure everything is correctly in place, and this has since been approved. Going into print, the process is being intensely scrutinized, and we are hoping this attention to detail is what finally matches those backs. 

Essentially, this secondary plant has a better track record with use of holofoil applications. We're optimistic.

Actively Waiting

We are waiting. Starting up fresh with another plant is a time-suck. But, we hate JUST waiting. Idle hands are the devil’s and all that. So we are still trying to stay busy with the a few other items. 

Trademark®

We have an officially registered logo! We were granted the the "®" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Boom. This was just an exciting detail to have happened this week, as it was also a very long process to wait for. There is such a weight lifted off of us now that the logo has jumped through all the hoops and slinked through the laser grids. We’ve made it! 

Posters

We teamed up with our buddy Steve at VGKids to get the Master Thief posters screen printed. We spent an evening in Ypsilanti MI at their shop and had an awesome time. The people at VGKids are an absolute pleasure. We had a blast running these. Steve was so precise and quick that we couldn’t help but be impressed by the prints. Sure, we were excited about making the design, but the exactitude with which it was printed makes it all the more spectacular.

Check out some shots from that night!

the silkscreen with exposed emulsion
the silkscreen with exposed emulsion

 

Lots of inks. Lots of big equipment.
Lots of inks. Lots of big equipment.

 

Steve and his magic M&R Saturn
Steve and his magic M&R Saturn

 

The calm before the print
The calm before the print

 

Finished product! (untrimmed)
Finished product! (untrimmed)

 

 

100 prints later, we had a full edition. Thanks again to VGKids, we're excited to tackle some other fun projects with them. Be sure to check them out, they have a crazy turnaround of sick screen printed posters and t-shirts.

These limited Master Thief posters were a part of the top tier rewards, but will be available while they last on our website once we get everything up and launched.

Last Minute Edition: Game Night at Lost Arts

Event Alert! We were presented with an awesome opportunity to take part in a game night hosted by Lost Arts and Cards Against Humanity in Chicago. 

:)
:)

 

With the few copies of the game we do have, we can run some demos. We're excited to have a table alongside some other very reputable folks. The night will be featuring games independently made in Chicago, we're merely making a guest appearance! We're very excited to have been included.

If anyone is in or around the Chicago area, come hang out and check out this awesome event with us! https://www.facebook.com/events/106657813161092/

Our goal here is to make friends, have some fun, and maybe get some insider advice on how to be better at this. 

UP NEXT:

The sample from the second plant. Please get here soon.. please. 

Thanks everyone,
Jacob & Jake

Black Matching Update
about 7 years ago – Sat, Jan 14, 2017 at 10:23:58 PM

Brief update since Wednesday.

We did in fact receive the newest set of samples from AdMagic. These were already scheduled to come in, to try to get the plant we are currently going through to get the blacks correct. 

The range in blacks has been present since our initial pre-production proof. The case has always been that the cards with the holofoil are darker than the rest. To us, the easy solution was to push the remaining cards to be darker, to match the holofoil ones. However, for some reason, the cards are continually getting lighter and lower quality.

While the backs of the cards DO match so much better, it is heavily affecting the fronts of the cards, for reasons we cannot seem to understand. The blacks are no longer the deep rich blacks we had in the earlier of samples. Each time we get closer to solving the main problem, they seem to find weird ways to cause new ones.

It is hard to fully demonstrate this with our cameras on our phones, it's far more prominent with the naked eye. Regardless, here are few pictures.

 

 So, with this in mind, there is a huge range of blacks in the game on the fronts now too. The picture below shows how the cards with the holofoil application have the deep rich black, whereas the other cards appear to almost be gray. To us, they look like they are from separate decks entirely, and don't belong in the same box. Which just feels so very wrong.

A selection from the most recent sample.
A selection from the most recent sample.

Ultimately, we, like most of you, know that color variation is just something that can happen. But the range we've been seeing in our samples continues to either make the game unplayable, or lose quality in design. 

To be clear, we understand this issue is no longer game breaking, and therefore not a reason to delay printing. However, we are being led to understand that the problem is with the holofoil heating process and are told to wait for the run from the other factory. Since the second factory is already in the process of providing samples to us, we wish to see this part through. W hope that a different plant and a fresh set of eyes can be the solution here.

We do not have a set date for these samples yet, but they are currently being run, we are assured. AdMagic has also requested the the primary plant run another set, to try to get everything right while we wait.

We will have some more information leading up to this.

Until then,

Happy Heisting,

Jacob and Jake

Do It Again... And Again.
about 7 years ago – Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 10:32:55 PM

Fellow Thieves. 

We hope everyone had a great time over the holidays! 2016 is finally over, but not without dropping off a few more steaming bags of gift. And in this new year, we are hoping things will be better. 2017: the year of good news.

Here's the Scoop

We'd like to briefly bring everyone up to speed. 

We received updated samples just before Christmas! However, as we soon found out, this is a prime season for thievery across the U.S. No sooner had our samples been delivered, they were quickly swiped off our doorstep, with nary a footprint in the snow to lead us towards the culprit. 

We are left to only assume it was non other than these guys:

Merry Christmas ya filthy animals...
Merry Christmas ya filthy animals...

All joking aside, this was pretty devastating. However, AdMagic was quick on the case to get a set of replacement samples for us to check over.

After reviewing the cards, we found that the color correction did not take. It is immensely frustrating. Between AdMagic's notes and our demands, there is no way we could be any more clear on what the problems are. Despite this, the plant cannot seem to solve it.

Moving Quickly Onward

We have new samples coming in on Thursday. If these are corrected, we will give our approval and the games will be printed swiftly. We have been assured that our production will be expedited, due to the complications we have encountered.

If they are not correct, AdMagic has a back-up plan in place for us. They have also requested sample production from a separate plant, and we expect to have those within the next week as well. 

All we can say, is this had better be completely course-corrected before the end of January. Like we said, we're immensely frustrated as well.

Jacob & Jake