Swamp, Arcane Scatter, Streets, all signs and ROOSTER ROOFS released!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Apr 17, 2021 at 11:32:31 PM

Hey Architechs,

we are nearing completion, the TODO list becomes smaller and smaller!

Just as a reminder:

• Headers with [PLEDGE] next to them, are things that are available to all journeyman and higher pledges.
• Headers with [ADDON] next to them, were optional adddons that were available to be bought in BackerKit. You will only get them if you bought them. If you now want these items you can find them in our shop.
• Headers with [NEW] next to them are things that were not planned or included in the Kickstarter, but have now been added. No one will have access to them from the get go, but they are available in our shop now!

Rooster Roofs [NEW]

This is the first release of user added content, property of TheRooster13 on Discord!

He has been very involved in beta testing and decided to create his own expansion to the Townbuilder. We happily provided our templates and some textures as examples and soon he had developed his very own set of roofs. Though it was a bumpy road with lots of forth and back between us, in the end everything came together the way he envisioned it.

The Rooster Roofs are now available in our shop for 8.3€, roughly 10$. 90% off the profits from this go directly the creator,  TheRooster.

Swamp Release [PLEDGE]

Here comes our latest and final full-sized set: Swamp.

It really does show how far we have come in terms of modeling since the beginning. This one was created within a month, and the testers have found little to no issue with it. A very good sign for the upcoming monthly releases within the subscription system.

 Streets Mini-Release [PLEDGE]

The street mini set is being released as well, which was our social stretch goal for 100 Backers through social media. It was a hard fight to get there but you guys did it, so here it comes:

Signs [PLEDGE]

All new Signbuilder assets are coming in at once (apart from Graveyard, which is being created currently).

We have released Feudal Asia, Swamp, Steampunk and Street signs and fitting logos. They should automatically be available to all pro users. 

And we will show the Signbuilder itself some love too, but that is tied to the big announcement we have coming up, so please be patient and wait for more details on this soon.

Feudal Asia Kitchen & Shrine [PLEDGE]

One of the smaller stretch goals that were unlocked. If you want to build a kitchen fitting to your feudal asia buildings, you can do so now!

Medieval Bar [PLEDGE]

Another one of the smaller stretch goals that we can check off the list!

Ladders [PLEDGE]

We have added ladders to most themes by now. They typically are stackable and will connect with walls. Meaning you can build ladders over multiple floors by placing them on top of each other next to a wall.

Transition Pieces - Medieval to Caves [PLEDGE]

We now have added the transition pieces between our medieval sets and caves. Back when we set up the stretch goal, it seemed super cool, but now that we have created it, I worry that these will not be too useful. But if you like these and want to see more transition pieces, let me know!

Traps & Slides [PLEDGE]

We have added different types of spikes, trapdoors and a slide. Not the biggest or coolest stretch goal, but we delivered!

Slitted Windows [PLEDGE]

Walls and Rooffronts now have another mode: Slitted Window. These have a 2mm slit in them, as well as all Add-ons that you find under that category. This allows you to put plastic or paper in them to simulate glass. Be sure to use the slitted window addons and not the regular ones if you want to do so, otherwise you will have a nice slit in the template but none in your window frame.

Summoning Circles [PLEDGE]

These ones were added a couple of weeks back and I forgot to mention them in the prior update.

Arcane Scatter [ADD ON]

Arcane Scatter is available now as well! Everything you need to turn the interior of your wizard towers into real studies!

What's next?

There are only a few items left on our to-do list for this Kickstarter, and I am positive that we will fulfill it within this month.

• Slitted Paintings & Rugs
• Steep Stairs Feudal Asia
• Bar
• Graveyard

You might notice that 3 topics are missing from this list that I have talked about before:

• LEDs & Lighting
• Usable Doors
• Secret Doors

These three types of models are done, but they need more time, iterations and testing. They are very technical and not very nicely compatible with our current system. This is why we decided to take more time in designing them.

They are also dependent on the announcement that is coming up, so we will not be able to release them until then. Don't worry these stretch goals will come, but at a later date within this year.

Cheers,

Christopher and the Townsmith Team

MMF Townbuilder Competition Winners Announcement!
about 5 years ago – Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 02:17:58 PM

Hey Architechs,

here are the winners of the MMF Townbuilder Competition.

The MyMiniFactory staff will contact the winners about the shipping information ASAP.

We absolutely loved all entries and we will surely do another competition soon!

We also got a lot of feedback about the ruleset, timeframe etc and will take all of it in consideration for the next one!

Cheers,

Christopher and the Townsmith Team

Druidic and Dungeon Scatter Released
about 5 years ago – Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at 09:03:19 PM

Hey Architechs,

this is just a quick update, informing you about two new releases:

Druidic (Included in all Pledges Journeyman +)

We finally released the druidic set, something we have started sculpting a long long time ago.

Druidic doesn't really fit into the townbuilder the way that our other complete sets do. It is more among the ranks of castle: A nice addition that can be expanded upon with the other themes.

But it is highly detailed and has some really unique aspects to it, like Face McBeardy here.

Dungeon Scatter(AddOn)

And then there is also the dungeon scatter! Hidden treasures, dead bodies and mysterious relicts of past civilizations.

The next releases will be:

Swamp, Arcane and Market Scatter. Swamp is already on the beta, as I said before, and we did not get much negative feedback on it so far, which is a good sign for a quick release!

We are also working on the smaller stretch goals, with each artist doing their own thing, so these will be added one piece at a time and then I'll sum up what has been added in a bigger update.

If you guys have any questions, let me know!

Cheers,

Christopher and the Townsmith Team

Ruins Release, Smith's Journal, Merchant Integration!
about 5 years ago – Fri, Mar 05, 2021 at 11:41:44 PM

Hey Architechs,

The polls for the MyMiniFactory competition are now live! Vote for the Best Design, Best Render and Best Print&Paint now!

boy do I have news for you. First off, the quick info:

•  Ruins, Shingle Roofs reworked, Artisan Scatter and Ruins Scatter are now live. Codes have all been sent out!
•  Druidic Set, Druidic and Dungeon Scatter are on the beta and will be released sometime next week
•  Swamp, Rooster Roofs, first of smaller Stretch goals are now in the beta.
• Final Stretch goals and addOns will be finished within this month.
• We will start a monthly newsletter, the 'Smith's Journal', with which we will keep you updated after this Kickstarter is fulfilled and we move on to the Subscription System.
• We have finished the merchant integration which now allows users to get quotes for their buildings directly from our licensed merchants.

More details can be found below

New Releases

Sorry for the long wait on the next release. We tried to work on multiple releases at the same time, with different teams. And it did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. Additionally we had to use some of the artists for the concept art for the new Kickstarter, and there was Christmas and New Year.

But we are back on schedule and we are getting really close to finishing up this Kickstarter!

Stretchgoal releases

These should be included in everyone's pledge from Journeyman upwards

AddOn Releases

You will only receive these if you choose them in your BackerKit survey.

Shingled Roofs Rework

We have reworked the shingled roofs. They will be updated automatically in all your buildings and are available to all users for free. We knew our old roofs sucked from the beginning, but they were barely doing their job and now we had the time to fix this problem.

The new roofs are the first of many 'complete' roof sets we will produce. This means, they include 4 different angles of roofing and all 5 pieces needed to build any roof. Inner Corner, Outer Corner, normal roof, overhang, roof front.

Additionally they include A and D adapter pieces that allow for multi floor roofs.

If you prefer the old roofs however (I wouldn't know why), you can find them under the new set 'Shingled Legacy' which is also added to all acounts for free.

Beta Releases

We have a lot of stuff sitting on the beta right now... The druidic and swamp set, dungeon scatter and multiple small stretch goals that are being worked on.

These will all be bundled into one release that will come before april hopefully!

Remaining Stretch Goals and AddOns

We have now distributed every last stretch goal and add-on of this Kickstarter among the artists and the whole team is sprinting towards the finish line!

We are planning on finishing the sculpting process of everything this month and have it all available to you guys by the end of April.

And then that is it. Then this monster of a Kickstarter will be fulfilled within about 1 year!

Smith's Journal & Communi(ty | cation)

With the end of fulfillment closing in, we were thinking about how we want to proceed with the community and the communication with said community.

We have so much amazing plans for 2021 and we would hate for you guys to miss them because no one reads these updates 12 months after the Kickstarter :D

So we will start a (roughly) monthly newsletter! The 'Smith's Journal' will be sent out to all our users and you will be able to unsubscribe from it with just one click.

It will sum up everything that you need to know about Townsmith and the Townbuilder within the given month. Initially it will just be a combination of the Kickstarter updates of this Kickstarter and the Subsystem Kickstarter,  but within a couple of issues it will become the main source of information.

We will of course also host the Smith's Journal on our website, so people who would prefer reading a blog can do so too.

We have a multitude of plans for the community. These include regular building competitions with amazing prices, regular live streams, fully fletched out documentation and learning videos for the Townbuilder and much more.

Merchant Integration

We have talked about wanting to do more for our loyal merchant subscribers and here is the first step in that direction. Or rather 3 steps!

Feature 1: Creative Mode

You can now enter the creative mode. This mode removes any restrictions in terms of version and models from the account. This means you can use ANY AND ALL of our models and use ANY AND ALL FEATURES the Townbuilder has to offer.

You will however not be able to assemble the building and download the STL files for it, but you can still save it, which becomes important for the next feature.

Feature 2: Link Sharing

Does exactly what is sounds like! You can now share buildings via a handy dandy link! You can do so from your saved buildings page in your profile or via this new button in the header of the Townbuilder!

Feature 3: On-Demand Merchant Integration

There is now another new button in the Townbuilder! The 'Get It Printed!' button will open a popup that shows a number of licensed merchants that will be happy to send you a quote for your creation!

Just choose the merchant you would like to contact and hit send, and the merchant will receive an email with your contact information as well as a direct link to your building in the Townbuilder!

And since the creative mode is now available, ANYONE can build in the Townbuilder and commission on of our merchants with printing the building, without OWNING ANYTHING from our store!

As of now, only one of our Merchants has responded to our mails and sent us the required information to become part of the On-Demand system. So if you are a merchant, or you know print shops that might be interested in becoming a merchant for Townsmith, please send them over to [email protected]!

Holy moly, that was a big update. But is has been 3 months since the last one...

And as I have teased multiple times now, we have big news coming up for the rest of 2021, but I can't tell you guys what it is just yet... Soon though!

Cheers,

Christopher and the Townsmith Team

Townsmith's New Kickstarter launching soon!
about 5 years ago – Sun, Jan 24, 2021 at 08:45:41 PM

Greetings Architechs,

the time has come! Our next Kickstarter is just around the corner and will launch next week!

You will most likely also receive a short email with a link to the Kickstarter, but with this update, I want to take some time to explain what this Kickstarter is about.

This is quite the exclusive source of information that I want to give the few of you that still follow along with the updates!

The Townbuilder Subscription System is what we plan to do with the future of the Townbuilder. Each month we will model and create models in a theme that is voted by the community. The system will kick off in June, giving us plenty of time to prepare and finish the last stretch goals of this Kickstarter (more on those later on).

With Townbuilder Unlimited, we basically made each set as big as possible over the course of the stretch goal roadmap, and frankly, we overdid ourselves. Furthermore, we analyzed our database and it turns out roughly 10% of all buildings even use angled models and only 17% use curved models, even though creating them takes roughly 50% of the time when creating a release.

So the route we are taking is as follows: Only straight models as a baseline, and when needed we will create the necessary curved and angled models but we will not go the completionist route anymore.

Additionally, we realized that the barrier of entry with the Townbuilder is quite high and our Merchants are unhappy with how much time they have to invest to get sellable products. That is why we will take that burden from you. We will create print-ready buildings that you can download as a zip that includes everything you need. If you have access to the releases used for it, you can also customize the buildings in the Townbuilder.

So, this time around we will unlock the straight models for each month, more print-ready each month and also some for the releases of this Kickstarter (starting with Medieval).

And then instead of going for loads of basic models, we would rather increase the quality of our models. That is why the higher stretch goals include detail upgrades!

Here is an example of the July theme (Aztec), evolving throughout the course of the Kickstarter!

Alright, I don't want to end up typing the entire Kickstarter description here, so I'll finish this part of with some quick bullet points:

• 6 months, 6 themes (Aztec and Draconic are already set by the Syndicate leaders)
• Focus on quality and details instead of variety
• Subscription does not include the TB and is optional (6 months are available without staying subscribed after)
• Print-Ready buildings for all sets are unlocked via stretch goals (up to 74 buildings!!!!)
• The first release will come in June (Draconic)
• August, September, October, and November will be voted
• Stretch goals expand all releases, not just one => fewer stretch goals but with high impact
• Very limited Super Early Bird and Early Bird spots with huge discounts

Follow the campaign now to be notified when we launch!

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask!

Progress Update

Oh boy, there is a lot going on at the moment! We are closing in on those stretch goals! Ruins and Druidic are both being completed as I am typing this, the artisan scatter is done as well and we implemented a juicy new feature that wasn't even a stretch goal but was very much necessary.

Dim is doing an amazing job on these scatter pieces! I love it.

The two sets will hit the beta at roughly the same time relatively soon, I'll get some nice renders of them and post them in the next update.

Peg Mode is back and better than ever!

I'll be the first to admit, that placing pegs with the Townbuilder was a nightmare. We added this coloring feature where you could at least see which models needed which peg to be placed, but still. Getting peg holes into some places needed like 10 clicks and just wasn't fun.

Sooo... we solved that completely!

I will do an updated video tutorial on this soonish, but until then you should try it out! It is aaaaamaaaazing!

Medieval Roof Rework

We have reworked our medieval roofs. They will be added for free to all accounts.

They now include all possible roof pieces, look way cleaner, and are no longer broken non-manifold meshes! :D

The old roofs are still available as "Shingled Legacy" and will also be available to everyone for free.

Both of them are currently being tested on the beta and will hit live soon!

So yeah, that is that! While I am running the new Kickstarter, our artists and technicians will still be hard at work creating for you! Be excited for what is to come guys, 2021 will be an awesome and productive year for the Architechs.

And again, please follow the new Kickstarter to get notified the second we launch to get these juicy early bird discounts!

Townbuilder Subscription System Kickstarter - Follow NOW!

Cheers,

Christopher and the Townsmith Team