1 week, $50K, Black Gold, #ShiverMeTubers
over 6 years ago – Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 11:40:56 AM

Ahoy there,

We're one week into the campaign, we're close to hitting 1,000 backers, and we've just passed the $50,000 stretch goal! You know what that means! Avast ye, mateys! Black gold island ahead! All hands on deck!

Black cards with gold edges! We've made this a reality! Each of you deserves the proverbial feather in your cap. Since our beloved Potato King has already achieved that accolade, here's him saluting you, showing his appreciation for all the love you've shown him.

We've been silent for the past few days, but I assure you we have not been still. We've been hard at work trying to improve our reward tiers for all of you. I'd like to share some of these exciting updates with you.

#1 EU, AUS, US and Canada friendly shipping

That's right, say goodbye to import taxes! So many of you have written to us requesting this. Although we've not exactly figured everything out yet, we promise this to all of you. We thank you for giving us the confidence to make this happen!

#2 Singaporean Special C-offer

Ahoy, Me Singaporean Hearties! A lot of you have been thinking, "Such extravagant shipping costs for local shipping?! These people are true pirates! Trying to loot all of us!" I wish it were true! At the moment, worldwide fulfilment is planned to be done from Hong Kong, and we're already absorbing substantial shipping costs. That explains the costs for shipping. That being said, we won't shortchange you. We wouldn't double-cross a fellow pirate (or would we). 

For the Singaporeans who can't wait to meet Potato King, come on down to We The People store at Millennial Walk from next week onwards. You'll get to browse through the game set and snap an exclusive we-fie with our jumbo Potato King plushie!! Tell your friends about it!

We're also planning on doing a grand unveiling of the Potato Pirates game where we'll bring all our Singaporean backers together and the creators of the game, i.e. Codomo, will run you through how the game works and how it teaches programming concepts. Fret not international backers, we will be broadcasting the entire event on live stream so you'll get in on the action too! We're open to more suggestions from all of you.

#3 Multiple languages

Yes, after countless promises it's finally happening. We've created a Google Drive Excel Sheet with all the text on the cards. We're asking you, our community for help! There are no limitations to the number of languages. As long as one of our backers is willing to help translate the cards, it is going to happen! "But you said you couldn't guarantee the cards in multiple languages until you hit the minimum order quantity!!" Yes, that's right! But here's our workaround to that problem:

• As long as our community is willing to help translate, we will release the Print and Play version of the cards in that language
• If you would like to see this game in your language, just open the Google Sheets and create a new sheet for the language of your choice. It's a collaborative effort. I'm sure together we can achieve this. For starters, we have created a few sheets for requests we have received in the past few months. 
• At the end of the campaign, we will call for a survey and ask our backers which language(s) they would like the cards in. Don't worry there will be options to include add-ons to your existing pledges. So if you would like a deck in English as well as a deck in German or French, that'll be possible.
• If all goes well, we will fulfil this in all the foreign languages. If this happens, may I add that we will need the translation of the instructional manual and a transcription of the instructional videos as well (that may be a little bit of work.) 
• For now, we are only asking for your help to translate the text on the cards, following which, we will release the Print and Play of the cards at the end of the campaign!

Projects we love

TOFU | The Ultimate Travel Charger

 

We love TOFU and so will you. Our friends Asa and Mayumi have launched their first-ever Kickstarter project! Funded in 98 minutes!

TOFU is a minimalistic, modular universal charger that adapts to all types of sockets around the world, and powers up your smartphone or tablet (any USB device) and your laptop (any AC device of any plug type) AT THE SAME TIME.

Head over to their campaign now to support them now! You’ll be glad you did! 

Project Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/943450049/tofu-traveller-and-charger?ref=cosqtc

$25K in 24 hours
over 6 years ago – Fri, Sep 08, 2017 at 08:32:11 AM

Ahoy there all you tuber-awesome lads and lasses,

We've just finished our first 24 hours on Kickstarter. Not only have we been successfully funded, we've even achieved our first stretch goal! You made this happen! Each and every one of you!

Before I go any further I would like to clarify why the Early Bud does not include the e-resources. We figured not everyone would be interested to have the e-guides. So by removing the peripherals we were able to slash off a few more dollars. We thought it would make the early bird even more attractive. Also, if we did include the e-guide in the early bud pack we were expecting backers to ask us to remove the extra stuff and make the reward tier cheaper. But we can take a hint, we're working hard to come up with more upgrades to reward all our backers for the overwhelming support, especially our Early Buds.

Earlier today, our beloved King Edward VII landed ashore Potato Isles and had a rather interesting meeting with the Scratch Cat!

You guessed it! Congratulations to all our other backers! You will be receiving a 3-hour Potato Pirates X Python e-learning guide as well as a 3-hour Potato Pirates X Scratch e-learning guide. Looks like the Scratch Cat just became a little cooler by making some hip new friends!

As you may already know, our Early Bud offers have been fully redeemed! Which is a spudtaculr achievement! But on that note, I'd also like to inform you that we've released a new reward tier entitled Basic Bud which includes just the Potato Pirates game with no e-learning resource, priced at S$30. I hope the early bud feel a sense of satisfaction now!

Some of you have expressed your concern on the fragility of the potato tokens (which are really your crew members so treat them well, will ya!?). Rest assured these bad boys are virtually indestructible - unless you plan to lacerate and incinerate them. I sure hope we don't have any arsonists amongst our backers! Here's Potato King overseeing our potato furballs undergoing stress tests from earlier today:

We're working hard to come up with new Kickstarter Exclusive cards, localisation (translation) of Potato Pirates and of course offering shipping which is EU-friendly, US/Canada-friendly shipping. For all this we need your support. Lets grow our Potato Pirates crew together. The next stretch goal will be unlocked at $50,000! Black cards with gold edges! I hope you're excited sure we sure are! Here's what you can expect it to look like:

Of course this is not the real thing, its just the result of us having some fun with Photoshop.

Share the kickstarter page with your family, friends, co-workers and social media channels!

Till the next update, have a smooth sail ahead!

Hoist the sails and full speed ahead!

Aditya Batura

Chief Potato Pirate

We're funded in 10 hours! Thank you so much for your support!
over 6 years ago – Thu, Sep 07, 2017 at 10:00:14 PM

We have just surpassed 290 backers and are fully funded in 10 hours! Thank you for all the support you have given to us! We can't thank you enough as your support is our validation.  

To express our gratitude, we have just put up the first 4 items on our stretch goal list! We hope you guys will continue to share the message about Potato Pirates and get your friends and family on board too. Let's build the Potato Pirates crew together!

Potato Isles Stretch goal #1 ($25,000): We want these adorable Potato Pirates to help everyone and anyone kick-start their programming journey. To give our younger backers a helping hand, we will expand the “3-hour Potato Pirates Programming E-Learning Resource” to include the Scratch Programming language. That’s 3 hours of Scratch + 3 hours of Python! 

Black Gold Stretch goal #2 ($50,000): We will make a Kickstarter Exclusive black deck with gold edges. Show off your gold bar (cards) when you receive the deck. Just make sure your pirate friends don’t loot this treasure! 

Bakedineer Island Stretch goal #3 ($75,000): We will take this a step further and include another module in the e-learning resource pack. With the Introduction to Java module, the E-Learning Guidebook will now have 3-hours of Scratch, Python & Java activities each. True programmable piracy.

French Fried Island Stretch goal #4 ($100,000): Potato Pirates translated to another language, decided by popular demand. The first installation of (hopefully) many translations to various languages. We will be needing the help of the community for this one! 

Other Stretch Goals: Potato King is exploring more islands of surprises, each island holding a treasure as interesting as the previous. We would love to hear your ideas too. Wishing the game included something cooler like Space Ninjas? Get in touch with us anytime. Potato King might just grant you your wish! It can be about the cards game, programming lesson resources or even memorabilia. Potato Pirates towels anyone?

Keep a look out for updates!

Cheers,

The Codomo Team