All About the Physical Art Book! (FAQ) (Patreon)

With the game's official launch approaching, I want to pass on some more details about a Beta Tester Tier reward many of you are looking forward to: the Physical Art Book!

The following is a lot to digest, but hopefully it answers most of your questions. And don't worry-- we'll send out reminders as the launch window get closer!

Timing:

The wording of the reward (written at a time when the game's scope was much smaller) is that the Physical Art Book will be made available on the game's "completion." Will the game be complete when we launch it once Grace's final chapter is done? Well, yes and no!

Although we do have more arcs and romances planned after this initial release, the three MacLeod sisters' story lines have always been Changeling Tale's core. Their completion makes Changeling Tale a finished, polished game, which is why we feel confident launching on Steam once they are done.

Accordingly, we have decided to make the Art Book for this initial launch; and to ensure that you, our supporters, will receive it in a timely manner! Our goal is to make the digital version available shortly after release day, and to begin production and shipping of the physical version not long thereafter (once we have a final count of how many will be needed). We'll keep you all apprised as the schedule firms up!

UPDATE: We are happy to announce that we will be fulfilling the physical art book orders beginning in late September 2023, instead of after the game's release as initially planned! The digital version will still be released around the Changeling Tale's launch.

Format:

We haven't yet assembled the book, so we don't know how long it will be, but we certainly have plenty of material to fill the pages! Expect a mix of concept art, hi-res assets, behind the scenes material, and lore. And just to clarify, the "hard copy" will come in paperback form (if there had been more room, I should have used the term "physical copy" instead to eliminate any confusion ^^; )

Per your overwhelming feedback, the Physical Art Book will most likely contain NSFW content so long as we can find a reasonably priced printer to do so. If you do not want to receive an NSFW book at your shipping address, don't worry-- we will first reach out to all eligible patrons to confirm shipment, at which time you can ask us to ship it elsewhere or not ship it at all, if that is your preference. We will send a reminder about this closer to the launch window!

UPDATE: The Art Book ended up being 114 pages long, and it contains tons of content (much of which is NSFW)!

Eligibility:

Creating and distributing a physical book is no small task! As our most ambitious rewards, the Physical Art Book is intended to be a hearty thank you to our biggest supporters who have helped make the game possible after all these years. That said, it's not our intent to penalize Beta Tester Tier patrons who have only recently found our project, nor those who have needed to adjust their pledge during these difficult times. Anyone who has pledged to the Beta Tester tier, currently or previously, will be eligible for the Physical Art Book until the cutoff date. However, we would like to extend an additional thank you to long-time supporters-- more on that in the Shipping & Handling section!

Cutoff Date:

The cutoff date for being eligible for the Physical Art Book reward will be the date of the game's release, or when we run out of books to send. The launch date isn't finalized yet, but we are targeting the end of December 2023.

At that time, we will remove the Physical Art Book reward from the tier and begin reaching out to eligible patrons to confirm interest, shipping location, and Shipping & Handling payment (see below).

Note that you will need to be an active Patron at the cutoff date in order for us to reach out to you so you can receive your book!

Shipping & Handling:

As stated in the Beta Tester Tier rewards, eligible Patrons may need to pay Shipping & Handling if they wish to receive a Physical Art Book. Shipping costs can be determined once the size of the book is finalized and next year's shipping rates are announced. We'll let everyone know the ballpark figure once we have this information! And when we reach out to eligible Patrons after the cutoff date, we will let each know the exact cost of Shipping & Handling and available payment methods if a Physical Art Book is desired.

As a special thank you to our long-time supporters, eligible American Patrons who pledged to the Beta Tester Tier before Sep. 22, 2023 and joined the Changeling Tale Patreon prior to 2022 will have the cost of Shipping & Handling waived. We greatly appreciate everyone who has stuck with the project all these years!

Unfortunately due to the skyrocketing cost of shipping internationally, we won't be able to extend this offer to our friends outside the United States :( Our deepest apologies!

UPDATE: We now know Shipping & Handling costs and transit time:

• USA: $9.95*, arrives in about 1 week.
• Canada: $19.10 USD, arrives in 1-5 weeks.
• Global: $23.75 USD, arrives in 1-5 weeks.

*(free for American patrons who joined the Patreon campaign before 2022 and pledged to the Beta Tester Tier before Sep. 22, 2023)

The Future:

As we continue our work on Changeling Tale through its launch date and beyond, we plan to create another Art Book (or two, if warranted!) as new chapters and stories take shape. However, due to the expense and effort that goes into making a physical reward, any future Art Book rewards will most likely be digital only. So we really hope you enjoy this one in all its tactile papery goodness!

What's written above represents our plan based on our best understanding of how the production and fulfillment of the Physical Art Book reward will go. That said, we have never created or distributed a physical book before, so there is always the possibility that details may change. In that event, we will keep everyone apprised of any developments!

To all of you who made it to the end, congratulations! We hope this answers most of your questions! If there is anything that was unclear, or questions left unanswered, please don't hesitate to ask us in the comments, via direct message, or in our Discord Server. Thanks for reading!