Production Schedule! Backerkit Update! One last upgrade for all backers!
15 days ago
– Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 02:59:31 PM
Production Update
We are finally heading into a 3rd (and final) round of prototypes!
Over the past two months, the primary focus behind the scenes has been solving one very specific problem: how the game “puts away.”
After receiving our 2nd round prototype, we realized we weren’t satisfied with how the components stored once the game had been opened. The tiles were loose, the box didn’t close cleanly, and overall it didn’t match the experience we want for Cat Nap.
So we made the decision: to include a box insert.
What followed has essentially been a 2-month-long game of Tetris with the factory. The challenge was to design a custom plastic insert that could neatly organize everything… without increasing the box size, which would have downstream effects on our shipping costs, carton marks that would have to be redone, UPC codes haven't be recreated, case weights having to be adjusted, and having to redo the box art to fit the new aspect ratios. That constraint made this a surprisingly complex engineering problem, but we now believe we’ve finally solved it.
Because of that work, our 3rd prototype went into production yesterday. That's typically a 3-week process from creation to us receiving it, and upon us receiving and approving it we can schedule mass production.
Another Free Upgrade!
As a result of this process, every copy of Cat Nap will now include a custom plastic insert to neatly store all the components.
Importantly, we achieved this without increasing the box size. The compact nature of Cat Nap is something we really wanted to preserve. “Big game, small package” has always been part of its identity. The factory wanted to solve this problem in a very easy and expedient way of "just make the box size way bigger", but we pushed back on that.
This upgrade does come at a real cost to us. It adds both material and labor costs, as the factory now needs to place components into the insert during production rather than them shipping in a bag as they come out of the machine. But after seeing the second prototype, we knew this was the right call.
Getting Cat Nap to you quickly is our highest priority, but not at the expense of the quality of the game.
Timeline Context
What we’re learning is that this industry often feels like a relay race. You move quickly on your end, then hit moments where you’re waiting on partners. Then suddenly everything moves again. But the “baton” rarely stays in our hands for long. We complete a set of tasks, pass it along, and the process continues. And in the background, we're always refining our team and processes, learning what we would do differently next time and who we would partner with for another project.
What We’ve Learned
The past six months have been a massive growth experience for us.
Six months ago:
- We had no distribution partnerships to help with fulfillment
- We had no established factory relationships
- We had never used a pledge manager before
- We knew very little about manufacturing processes
Today:
- We now have a global distribution partner
- Factories are actively reaching out to work with us, and we're much better at speaking their language than we used to be
- We’re extremely comfortable working within BackerKit
- We have a much deeper understanding of materials, components, and production
We still have plenty to learn, but we’ve come a long way in a short time!
BackerKit Update
At this point, we have fewer than 90 backers who haven’t completed their survey.
We’ve reached out multiple times (including from personal email accounts) and are continuing to chip away at that list. That said, this is not holding anything up. We just want to keep everyone informed on where things stand.
In Summation
Getting Cat Nap to you as soon as possible remains our top priority, but we want it to arrive exactly how we envision it! Apologies for the wait, but we're happy to say that things are moving again. =)
Thanks for reading! Always let me know if you have any questions or comments below!
Matthew, Aerobellum Games
Backerkit Survey Reminder!
30 days ago
– Wed, Mar 04, 2026 at 11:23:56 AM
Hello Cat Nap Backers!
We wanted to send out a quick update and say thank you again for the incredible support you’ve shown this project. There are quite a few good things happening behind the scenes right now, and we’re very excited about the direction everything is heading.
That said, most of those details are still a bit too early for us to share publicly. Rather than continue delaying an update while we wait for everything to be finalized, we wanted to check in with you all now about something important: completing your survey in the pledge manager.
Pledge Manager Reminder
We still have over 150 backers who haven’t completed their pledge manager surveys yet. If that might be you, please take a moment to log in and double-check your survey status.
If you have any questions while filling out your survey, feel free to email us at [email protected] and we’ll get you squared away.
The survey emails will be coming from BackerKit, so if you don’t see yours right away, be sure to check your spam or promotions folders.
Important BackerKit Note
One small quirk we discovered with BackerKit: if you access the pledge manager through the "front door" of their preorder shop (essentially the late-pledge storefront), it may treat you as a new customer, even if you’re already a backer and using the same email address.
Because of this, the best way to access your survey is through the original BackerKit email link that was sent to you. Doing so ensures the system properly recognizes you as a backer and helps us avoid confusion later when the pledge manager is locked.
When Will Cards Be Charged?
BackerKit does not charge your card immediately when you complete the survey. Cards will only be charged once we lock the pledge manager, which is still at least a few weeks away. Our goal right now is to get as many backers as possible to complete their surveys before that happens.
Once we have a finalized lock date, we’ll share it in a future update.
More News Soon
We expect to have another update fairly soon with some good news, so keep an eye out for that!
--Matthew, Aerobellum Games
PM Quick Note (regarding the "$50" shipping alert)
about 2 months ago
– Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 11:06:20 AM
I should have pointed out that if your country wasn't setup in BK's system, the default charge for shipping is $50. This is just a 'heads up' that something is amiss, not an amount that we expect you to pay. If you're seeing $50 shipping please let me know and we'll look into it. We already noticed that we didn't setup a rate for Ireland (oops! our mistake) and Mexico was configured correctly to our understanding, but it doesn't appear to be working for any of our backers in Mexico. Backerkit has been informed of the situation and I'm sure they'll get back to me soon.
So again, if you see $50 shipping, don't fully process the order, just ping me and we'll get you situated!
Thanks!
Pledge Manager Now Open!
about 2 months ago
– Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 10:39:20 AM
Hi everyone — the Pledge Manager is now officially open!
There’s one item we wanted to quickly clarify. If you’re located in the United States and live in a State that collects sales tax, you’ll notice that sales tax is also being applied to the shipping charge. In many campaigns this cost is simply absorbed into slightly higher shipping rates, but we’ve chosen to keep things fully transparent rather than padding those numbers. What you’re seeing is functioning exactly as intended.
For our EU backers, VAT will appear as a separate line item, and for Canadian backers, GST will likewise be listed separately.
Everything else regarding timelines, retailer notes, and next steps was covered in the previous update, so please give that a quick read if you haven’t already.
Thank you all — we’re excited to move into this next phase!
--Matthew, Aerobellum Games
Pledge Manager (Selectively) Opened & Other Updates!
about 2 months ago
– Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 09:53:31 AM
Hi everyone — thanks so much for your patience while we’ve been getting everything set up behind the scenes.
We’ve been very impressed with BackerKit, both as a platform and with their support team. After working through this setup, they’ll absolutely be our go-to pledge manager for future campaigns.
We had access to the Backerkit Pledge Manager for about a week, and during that time we fully configured everything and submitted it to BackerKit for final approval. When the proverbial "ball" in our court, it doesn’t tend to stay there very long!
We have opened the "Smoke Test" phase of the Backerkit PM, that means that a random 5% of you will have the PM opened to you and should have just received the PM email directly from Backerkit. Please go through the PM and let us know if you encounter any issues by sending us an email at [email protected] or sending me a direct message via KS.
Retailers / FLGS
1) Retailer shipping (US & EU)
We’ve locked in shipping rates for full cases to US retailers, and now that we are fulfilling via a global distribution partner we can offer retailers cases at distributor level pricing in both Europe and North America.
If you’re an EU retailer, we’re happy to work out shipping for you—just send me a PM first so I can set up the correct rate in BackerKit. Shipping varies significantly by country (for example, roughly $35 per case to Germany vs. ~$95 per case to Bosnia), so we’ll need your specific destination.
If you’re a retailer looking for more than 30 copies, please reach out directly and we’ll set up a higher quantity tier. Again all retailer pledges are offered at distributor-level pricing, and these specific versions of the game will not be reproduced elsewhere. Get them while you can! =]
2) Retail pledges & case quantities
For our retail backers: while we originally offered quantities of 5, our finalized case packs are quantities of 6. We strongly encourage retailers to adjust pledges to multiples of 6.
You may notice that quantities of 5 are now priced prohibitively. This is intentional—it’s meant as a nudge toward full-case orders so we can avoid opening cases and shipping partials. Orders in increments of 5 will be fulfilled as Deluxe Edition (no Scratching Posts). Orders in increments of 6 include Scratching Posts and will be fulfilled as Founder’s Edition, which is Kickstarter-exclusive. Another strong incentive to move to case-quantities.
If you are adamant on sticking with quantities of 5 let me know and I'll find you actual pricing, just ping me and I'll get it updated.
VIPs & Scratching Posts
3) VIPs who purchased Scratching Posts
If you’re a VIP who purchased the Scratching Posts expansion, you should now see an equal credit applied to your BackerKit account. Since Scratching Posts are included free for VIPs, this credit can be used toward additional copies and/or shipping.
4) VIPs who did not purchase Scratching Posts
If you’re a VIP who followed the instructions and did not purchase Scratching Posts, you should see the expansion added to your pledge as a $0 incentive in BackerKit.
5) Different emails for VIP sign-up vs. Kickstarter
If you used a different email for VIP sign-up than you did on Kickstarter, everything should still be correct. BackerKit pulls directly from Kickstarter’s data, so your VIP email won’t appear—but the appropriate credit or incentive will still be applied.
VAT & Salestax Rates
We enabled VAT and Sales Taxes based on BK's standard rates. They are imported directly from BK's tables. These funds will be held in reserve for our shipping partners so that they can pay for end-point shipping DDP.
Prototypes & production update
It took longer than expected, but we received our Cat Nap prototypes just four days ago and they look fantastic!
We’re learning firsthand how factory schedules work—most print runs ramp up in January and early February, followed by a complete shutdown for Chinese New Year, a three-week holiday running this year from February 17 to March 2. And as the opportunity to go into mass production for Cat Nap didn't happen prior to CNY, we're attempting to line-up our production run after that window.
More updates soon, and thank you again for your patience and support—we truly appreciate it.
--Matthew, Aerobellum Games
