project-image

You Died: The Dark Souls Companion

Created by Tune & Fairweather

The original love letter to Dark Souls and its extraordinary fan community gets a deluxe hardcover edition.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Plotter unpacking video & production timeline!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 06:49:38 PM

Let's have a look together, shall we?

Hope you're all taking care of yourselves during this period of isolation and uncertainty. 

There's at least one thing you can count on: You Died is very much alive and kicking, moving full speed ahead. Here is the print production schedule, current as of yesterday afternoon:

SCHEDULE (all dates 2020):

  • Confirmation of project & paper/binding materials order - Feb 18 
  • Deposit of 40% paid - Feb 20 
  • Paper and binding materials ordered - Feb 21 
  • Dummy sent to T&F for approval, cover template submitted - Mar 6 
  • Printer receives final artwork to run plotters and digital proofs - Mar 20 
  • Printer sends plotters to T&F for approval - Mar 23 
  • Printer sends foil stamping tests to T&F for approval - Mar 27 
  • Approved plotters & and any revisions received by printer - Mar 31 
  • Printer sends running sheets to T&F for approval - Apr 6 
  • T&F signs off on running sheets - Apr 7 
  • Binding gets underway - Apr 8 
  • Cartons of finished books begin their journey to T&F - Apr 23 

NOTE:

Once the books are shipped to us, there still remains a considerable amount of work in terms of boxing up and shipping out all the orders to backers. We'll keep you apprised of our progress, as always, but late May is probably a safe estimate (barring any unforeseen delays owing to the current public-health crisis).

OK, that's all for now.

Follow us on social and subscribe to our YouTube channel if you'd like to hear all the latest updates:

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

With all appreciation,

Jason (on behalf of Tune & Fairweather)

You Died video update - unboxing the test bindings!
about 4 years ago – Tue, Mar 10, 2020 at 03:40:09 AM

Test bindings (aka 'dummies') of You Died have arrived from the printer!

I wanted you to experience the Christmas-morning rush of opening this package with me so I recorded an unboxing video. Hope you enjoy it!

If you can't handle the suspense...

Here are some pics of the goodies tucked inside!

Test bindings are unprinted (just in case you thought we forgot something!)
Sustainable leather sample (left) and genuine leather (right)

Note on Coronavirus impact

As mentioned toward the end of the video, though our printer is located in Italy, which has been heavily affected by Coronavirus, the book's production will not be disrupted.

That being said, the time delays in doing final press-passing and sign-offs via posted samples rather than visiting the printing facilities to do them in real time means that we will need to adjust our estimated delivery window to May 2020 rather than the original April estimate.

Thanks for supporting us as we approach the completion of this project. We're getting so close!

Best,

Jason (on behalf of Tune & Fairweather)

Inside the printing process: dummy creation
about 4 years ago – Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 04:38:52 PM

Now that we've agreed a final spec for You Died with our printer and paid a deposit to allow them to place the paper order, we have moved on to the next phase in the process: the creation of "dummies" for each edition of the book. 

Dummies are meant to give a rough indication of how the final product will look. It allows us to see how the fabric – or, in the case of the Gravelord Servant edition, leather – looks on the binding. The pages inside are unprinted and there will be no foil or debossing on the cover. The foil test will come next, which involves seeing how the foil sits atop the cover material. We'll also calibrate the depth of the stamped deboss impression at that time.

I wanted to share a couple work-in-progress photos of the leather dummy being assembled on the printer's workbench. You can see the "bookblocks", which is the sewn-together book sans binding. It's already clear how substantial this book is going to feel. They are using red leather for the Gravelord Servant dummy simply because they have it in stock, which will keep the process moving.

All three dummies (black cloth, white cloth, leather) will be shipping out to us early next week. I plan to record a video update at that time to show you how the dummies turned out and relay my thoughts. Hope you're enjoying these glimpses into the process.

Be sure to follow us on our various social channels for for all the latest news...

Twitter: @tuneandfair | Facebook: facebook.com/tuneandfairweather | Instagram: @tuneandfairweather

If you've stumbled across the page and haven't yet backed the campaign, there's still time to pre-order a copy of You Died.

Much more to come!

Jason (for Tune & Fairweather)

You Died - Backer Video Update (Feb 2020)
about 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 02:21:49 AM

Trying a slightly more personal approach with this latest update... a vlog-style diary of what we've been up to.

For those of you who prefer a more 'get to the point!' summary, here are the headlines:

1) We're nearly done finalising the spec for all the editions of You Died. Should have a final spec agreed early next week, which means we can pay the deposit and they can order all the paper for the job. We'll get a more official timeline in the coming days. 

2) We've sourced a local Irish woodworking studio for the Gravelord Servant Edition's wooden boxes. Their speciality is handcrafted furniture but we're excited to see what they can do with this project. They will be crafting the boxes out of oak and most likely finishing them with a Japanese charring technique called Shou Sugi Ban (all too appropriate for Dark Souls).

3) We've also locked in our print vendor for the limited-edition You Died poster. We're excited to announce we'll be working with Dublin studio Damn Fine Print. We're in the process of finalising paper and ink selections. Couldn't be more excited about the direction things are headed.

4) After hearing from many of you via a recent Twitter poll, we're producing a batch of faux-leather editions for those of you who might like to own a Gravelord Servant Edition but prefer a version constructed without animal products. These will be available for purchase at a later date via the Tune & Fairweather website once we receive the printer shipment.

That's all for now, hope you're all doing well! And leave a comment if you have any feedback on the video experiment.

All the best,

Jason

Only 4 days left to fill out your pledge survey!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Jan 27, 2020 at 06:30:10 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.