TLDR first;
SFG told us today why the promised STL files were delayed.
Anything can happen, even to well laid plans. Every reasonable person can see that and accept that, and all we really want as a community is to be in the loop.
This does that.
All is well, the STL files are aaalmost ready for purchase.
Sidenote: We earlier learned that SFG turned around and are going to give us the ability to purchase Guild Ball STLs from MyMiniFactory, for the entire range of guild ball miniatures!
So so awesome and really unexpected. It’s long been saif that SFG would never do that, but now they are!
For eveyone who didn’t follow what this last week was about, let me summarize.
Friday the 21st/nov (one week ago) we got the info that “next week” which means the wee we’re currently on as I’m writing this, would be the time we the STLs would be released. We got this info both through this SFG blogpost saying the “next week” and through SFG Jamie Perkins mentioning “monday” on discord.
So from what Perkins said it was due monday 24th. Monday came and went, and Perkins came back to say that had been out of office and didn’t know himself what the delay was. All in all splendid communication through and through, this is what I wish for when I ask for more transparency around guild ball from SFG.
But the tuesday came and went too, and all of the week passed by without any further word. Personally I’m not that fussed, but some people got really upset about this, and part of me can absolutely understand why.
Tonight though! Perkins came through with a new comment on the situation, and apologised for getting hopes up before the release preparations were finalised.
Guild Ball product owner Jamie Perkins:
“The STLs are coming folks. Getting your hopes up about them coming sooner is my fault. I’ve been at this long enough to know better than to speak publicly about a date I’m not 100% certain of. I apologise wholeheartedly for setting your expectations falsely.
I pride myself on speaking honestly and only about information I can confirm is correct. Your frustrations are because I didn’t follow my own code of conduct.
As you’d expect, readying the entire Guild Ball STL library at once is a huge job. It requires several rounds of checks to ensure everything is in the right place, with the correct set, to the correct standard, supported, and unsupported.
We’re not far off now. There’s a hive of activity behind the scenes checking and rechecking.”
Head of SFG marketing Chynna-Blue Scott also wrote on social media about it:
“A combination of staff illness, departures, new starters, not receiving all of the supported files on time, and Black Friday prep across the company led to a delay.
The communication that the STLs would definitely drop Monday was unfortunately outdated information before it went out, that wasn’t caught before it was put out.
We’ve been working behind the scenes to get all 1000+ files ready.
I’ve been tied up in livestreaming today but will personally be logging in tomorrow to check on progress and assess whether we’re in a position to get any of the teams live.”
Reception of their comments has basically been 100% cheerful. The community appreciates the transparency, as I’ve always been saying. That includes all of this!
I’d even go so far as to say that Perkins was absolutely right in saying “monday” last week, and that to me the fault was absolutely not in that, but rather in that these two very last comments by Jamie and Chynna should’ve come tuesday and not friday.
All in all I think mostly everyone is happy now, and I just want to take one extra opportunity to say thank you to Jamie and Chynna and the others at SFG who work hard for all of us, with the limited resources of doing this while maintaining the heavy presence of all the wamachinery and kickstartering that also needs to be done.
All the best!
//Daniel, the Bench
