Cerberus has landed, friends.
Starting today, and lasting until March 31st, enthusiasts
can navigate to Kickstarter to read up on the case, our work, and the myriad tiers available to backers.
...And yes, that's right, we're on
Kickstarter - after hearing feedback from you all, we realized that many people felt that it was the better platform to be on, compared to Indiegogo. As such, we've spent the past few weeks recreating our renders in photographs, and producing a video in collaboration with Alexandra Zanca, so that we could refactor our crowdfunding page and launch on the original crowdfunding platform! It's been a grind, to be sure, but we're very happy with the result, and think you all will be too.
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I'd encourage everyone to look at the page itself to see all the tiers and stretch goals available, and the details for each, but a summary of them is below (excerpted from the Kickstarter page):
Our Tiers:
For the crowdfunding campaign, we have a variety of tiers available that provide backers with Cerberus as a reward. However, for those who are interested in supporting our community-empowered work, but aren't interested in receiving an enclosure, we've partnered with local artist
Carissa Reynolds, and commissioned a beautiful original watercolor that we'll be emblazoning on a limited run of products.
For as little as $5 (plus shipping), you can support our work, while receiving a high-quality US-made item depicting Reynolds' stunning illustration. You can even pledge to a tier whereby you can commission a piece of custom Cerberus artwork by Carissa, just for you!
All of these options include the following, and provide healthy commissions to the artist:
- A pair of stickers, for just $5.
- A vivid poster, for $20.
- A comfy t-shirt, for $30.
- A Cerberus Art Pack containing all of the above, for $50.
- A Signature Cerberus Art Pack, that contains all of the above and is signed, for $100.
- A Cerberus Art Commission —which enables backers to receive a 6" x 6" watercolor rendering of a Cerberus, made by Carissa Reynolds and customized to reflect your preferred breed, pose, action, and expression — for just $175.
- Finally, you can even pledge to receive the watercolor itself, which we'll custom frame and have signed by Carissa, for $499.
For backers that want an enclosure, we have a few tiers available, all of which let you choose between white or black panels, and SFX or ATX PSU-compatible internal frames. Starting at $249 (plus shipping):
- The base Cerberus, available for a pledge of $249.
- Cerberus Plus — an enclosure with your choice of a carrying handle upgrade, or an integrated side window upgrade — for $279.
- Cerberus Pro — an enclosure with both a carrying handle and a side window upgrade — for $299.
- Cerberus Signature Edition — a Pro version of Cerberus complete with a Signature Cerberus Art Pack — for $399.
- And finally, Cerberus Limited Edition: A Signature Edition Cerberus, with the ultimate in customizability: the ability to paint the exterior any color you'd like (that's available to our manufacturer) — for $999.
Our Stretch Goals
Our funding goal is $150,000, which roughly translates into 500 cases ordered, and at that quantity Cerberus is available in white or black as a default. However, we've also been able to work with our manufacturer in order to provide additional colors as stretch goals, if we reach higher quantities of cases sold.
If we reach $225,000 (roughly 750 cases), we can offer Cerberus in a handsome Carmine Red:
And if we reach $300,000 (roughly 1000 cases), we can also offer Cerberus in a deep Azurite Blue, similar to our very first prototype:
Reaching those stretch goals won't be easy, but if we do, all backers will be able to enjoy an even greater level of customization, and pick their favorite color following the conclusion of the crowdfunding campaign.
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James and I have been looking forward to this day for well over a year, and it's simply crazy to us that the crowdfunding campaign has finally arrived. And although it's been a big push to properly prepare for today, we'll be working throughout the length of the Kickstarter campaign to do all that we can to promote our work, and give the campaign the best possible chance of success. Look forward to some appearances of our prototype with a few channels/publications - as well as some newfound press attention, if we're lucky!
Of course, there's much that you all can do to support our work, too, from pledging to receive a case (of course), to pledging to receive one of the art tiers, to even simply posting on social media and letting others know about Cerberus. This project has been a community-based one from the beginning, and as such, every dollar and every mention makes a tangible difference. Furthermore, even awareness that doesn't directly translate into pledges accomplishes one of our most important aspirations: so preach the philosophy behind our work, and show the industry what's possible with the right amount of passion and purpose.
Anyways, there's one more section I'd like to except from the Kickstarter page:
Finally, our thanks to everyone who made Cerberus possible
Cerberus is a passion product fueled by the enthusiast community we call home, but it’s just one of many ideas and designs we’ve worked on in the past year and a half. Even so, to get Cerberus to this point required that we stand on the shoulders of giants, and utilize a trove of community feedback throughout the development process. As such, we'd like to recognize those who got us here:
- The HardForum, LTT, and SFF Forum communities, which have contributed an unfathomable amount of commentary, criticism and praise over the past year.
- The NCASE team, and many other creators, for inspiring us and trailblazing the way community-designed products like Cerberus can be made.
- Protocase and Sliger Designs, for working with us endlessly to develop prototypes and the final design.
- Rick Trilling, for his superb pro bono legal counsel.
- Paul Lazarovich, for his assistance with editing our website copy, as well as for all of his advice on promoting and sharing our work.
- Jeffery Weber, for creating many of the digital assets used on our website.
- Carissa Reynolds, for offering to do a commissioned work in support of Kimera Industries.
- Alexandra Zanca, for filming & editing our Kickstarter video.
- Anyone and everyone that has assisted or contributed to us, in ways big or small — whatever contribution you've made, know that we wouldn't have gotten here without it!
It's through all of our hard work, and the assistance of everyone above, that this project will be successful. Thank you!
It's you all that have made our efforts meaningful, and you all that will make production of Cerberus a reality. Thanks again for the feedback, the enthusiasm, and support.