Road to Kickstarter #19: The Final Prototypes & Unveiling of the "Otherworlds"

Greetings Heroes,

It's finally here, the second of prototypes from our supplier.

And man, we have made something special! As mentioned previously, we opted to make two version of The Hero's Planner - one with a covered spiral binding, and one with a perfect binding.

Read on for an updated review from Nick, followed by a grand unveiling of the 13 Otherworlds that will be included in the final planner!

Nick, Product

Size: 10/10

We sized down from an A4, to the much more manageable B5. The spiral bound planner is a little larger due to it’s coils, but both the perfect and spiral bound are compact enough to carry around, bus spacious enough to house your schedule.

Paper: 8/10

We didn’t make any changes to the paper in the planner. This time around we tested some colored pencils and various gel pens. There was no bleeding, but there was some slight indents on the other side of the page after some of our coloring tests. We’re going to look into how we can fix this, but all in all, the paper is still satisfactory, and will only get better.

Bindings: 10/10

After all the feedback we got, we decided to make two options for the initial launch of the planner. We liked how the spiral option allowed for the planner to lay flat, but we hated how the coils protruded out so we made the cover go over the coils. The result is a planner that lays flat with coils that won’t get caught on things. AND, you can fold it over somewhat well, although that’s not it’s strongest feature. The perfect binding is just that—perfect. That is our specialty since it’s how we usually bind our journals. The perfect bound feels thinner in a way, and lays pretty much flat with ease. Overall, there is no wrong option here.

Cover 8/10:

The foiling on the front cover of the planner is fantastic. Ryan came up with the idea to have a simplistic portal logo on the front cover, and I think it looks really great. The only problem with the cover of the journal is actually found on the back—and it’s a two parter. 1) The elastic band is in a tough spot, because it strikes right through the logo on the front when it’s wrapped around the journal, and 2) the debossed “The Hero”s Planner” is right in the middle of the elastic band anchor. This was a design flaw on our part that we will fix before the final run.

Tabs 9/10:

The good news is the tabs are awesome. The bad news is that the tabs are only featured in the spiral bound edition of The Hero’s Planner. For those who opt for the perfect bound, there is a nice cloth ribbon placeholder to keep track of your page.

Printing 10/10:

Once again, the printing is fantastic. Sizing down the planner actually made the printing a little more crisp, since the B5 size is closer to the A5 size of our normal Hero’s Journals. I think they look sharp, and meet our standards of quality.

In addition to the new prototypes, we have the final names and intro pages of the Otherworlds to share with you:

^From left to right: Dawn of the Dinoverse 🦕 | Kitty City 🐈 | Istoriatlantis 🧜🏻‍♀️ | Apes of the Hidden Temple 🐵 | Steamgear Frontier ⚙️ | X-Treme Food Challenge 🥦 | Attack of the Quarreling Kaiju ❤️ | Yew in Illusionland 🐇 | Sherlock Roach 🔎 | The Haunting of Mentor Manor 👻 | Super Game Quest 👾 | Postal Pups Delivery Service 🐶 | Across the Yewniverse ☄️

As we trek forth towards our final mile on this Road to Kickstarter, we're forever grateful for all of you heroes who have chosen to come along with us on this journey! Keep your eyes peeled for some exciting announcements coming soon regarding Kickstarter tiers, add-ons, and stretch goals - and get ready for June 27th!