…but you think that’s all we have in store for you?… HA! Keep an eye out… Things are gonna get a lot more interesting very soon… ???
We want to push this Kickstarter as high and far as we can possible go, because ladies and gentlemen, we have some really, really cool ideas we want to implement to further enhance these books, but that stuff is only possible if we grow this campaign so big that anything and everything is possible. Can’t wait to share all our plans with you in the coming weeks.
SIncerely Much Love and Cheerful Regards,
Brady, Hanna, Koda, Nathan, Kasie, Houdini, Greyson, Jacob, & Jaxon; The Codex Team
Codex Silenda is a wooden, mechanical puzzle book where each page is a laser cut, 3D puzzle that must be solved in order to unlock it and progress to the next page. On the back of each puzzle is a story that follows an apprentice of Da Vinci as he encounters the wooden construct himself. You must help him solve the Codex and discover it’s secrets before Master Vinci returns and fires his snoopy apprentice.
If you want more than one Codex, choose the Highest Tier style you want, then add on the additional cost for each extra book you want. For example,
I order at the $750 Tier, but add an additional $500 to my order for a grand total of $1250, getting me an extra 5 Page Storybook and also the 7 Page Extraordinary.
We will send out Surveys at the end of the Campaign to collect your choices, options, and addons.
The 5 Unique Themes all have their own individual stories and stylized engravings, but the underlying puzzles remain the same throughout all.
SPECIAL NOTE – We will not be selling Unassembled Kits as these will end up be sold on Amazon instead via our Licensing Partner once they’ve fully confirmed their factories production start dates.
We also will not sell the Laser Files, so please do not ask.
In terms of deadlines please note that nothing is certain when it comes to product development and manufacturing. The Reward Tiers have estimated delivery dates for their completion, but this is subject to change depending on the number of pledges we end up receiving. Below is a ROUGH timeline of where and how we will be progressing over the next year upon successful completion of this Kickstarter. This is by no means a definitive promise of delivery but it is our projection and ultimate goal.
If we end up succeeding far greater than we are expecting, we will begin making multiple tiers for the same products but with different delivery dates based on our current projections.
Well first off there are the T-Shirts and yes you can add them onto any Reward Tier for an additional fee of $30 per shirt.
As for the actual puzzle book itself, there is a 5 page version and a 7 page version. These both feature the following puzzles:
However, the 7 page as it name implies, has two additional pages that are inserted between Ven Dais and Cryptex Locks, as shown below:
Below is the Customization Rubric. While all Reward Tiers allow customizing options like the Primary Stain Palette or Choosing your Accent Color; only some tiers like the Archaics are able to choose more advanced features like Metallic Leaf Finish or Specialized Engravings.
Any and All Tiers are allowed to request Personalizations for an additional fee of $35. Personalizations can be Names or Short Messages engraved into the spaces shown in the image above. We will collect all pertinent information at the end of the Campaign through our Survey System. There you will be able to add-on the Personalization Option, enter the text you want engraved, and finally enter in the corresponding code to the space you want it located.
Detailed Customizations will only be considered on a Case by Case Basis depending on the request.
The Original & The Classic | 5 & 7 Page Editions – The very first Codex Silenda was a Five Page Puzzle Book. It featured Mechanical Iris, Rotating Maze, Paradox Sliders, Ven Dais, and Cryptex Locks. You will be able to choose between the Light or Dark Stain Palette and your Book’s Accent Color too.
The Classic has all the same features and options as The Original 5 Page, except it has the two bonus pages from the first Kickstarter, Master Keys & Merchant’s Emporium as well as two additional pages in the Da Vinci Story as well.
The story engraved on the backs of each page follows the journey of Francesco, an Apprentice of Leonardo Da Vinci who encounters a similar Codex.
Themed Storybooks | 5 and 7 Page Editions – These books come with a choice between five different design themes, each complete with their own epic tales written by Michael Buonagurio (see his profile below!) He is already hard at work developing the stories for each of them, except for Da Vinci which will be sticking with the original story.
As for the illustration of the themes themselves, we also have a professional illustrator Michael MB (see his profile below too!) working on the final designs for each of these themes. We’ve even already engraved and tested the final engravings for Page 1 of each of the 5 Themes. Honestly we could not be more thrilled about how they turned out!!!
(We will be posting all 5 themes, with all 7 designs on here, hopefully before the Campaign ends. The good news is that we are moving along well with them!)
Archaic Series | 5 and 7 Page Editions – These books are only for the hardcore puzzle lovers. Each one is distressed and aged to look hundreds of years old, collecting dust in some long forgotten tomb or lost at the bottom of the sea. Not only are they engraved with your chosen Themed Engravings & Stories, but your book is also accented with Metallic Leaf Foil to further enhance the splendor your newly discovered treasure. To top it all off, you will have your pick of what stains we use on the book for all pieces involved, the color of your metallic leaf, your chosen theme, and even some minor personalizations! There are even two free T-shirts thrown into the mix too :)
Please note that the below image is a working draft of the First Iris Page Design for each Theme. While the Engravings are pretty much set, determining which sections get stained, painted, and/or chipped is going to take some time to perfect. Thankfully we should have plenty of time and hands to complete all 5 designs for all 7 pages before the end of the Campaign and will be posting updates about their progress as well.
Below are some examples of the 5 themes being “Ancient-ified” with completely unique stain palettes. These are by no means what you have to get for each Theme as it is a mix & match customization process. The following options for your Customizations are:
This is actually our 2nd Kickstarter, our first one was launched and fully funded back in August of 2016 thanks to our AMAZING community of 2,527 backers. With their support secured, we then spent the next 3 years perfecting the manufacturing process as well as improving the overall functionality of the book while at the same time delivering as many rewards as possible. We are nearly finished with their fulfillment and should be done just in time for us to locate a new facility, get all of the paperwork sorted out, and begin moving!
Rather than trying to explain in long paragraphs on how we put a book together, we decided to create this handy illustrated slideshow showing every step of the process for the Traditional Edition and the Archaic Edition too. They also demonstrate the difference in the number of steps of an “Out of Shop Manufacturing” vs “In Shop Manufacturing” kind of setup.
Traditional & Storybook Themes will most likely follow the below method.
Whereas the Archaic Series of books will most likely have to be produced in house completely and thus their process would look more like the following:
We will but only to a certain extent. First off, this product is an art piece, not a toy and thus it should be handled and stored with moderate care. They can take a good bit of bruising but sometimes wood is just fragile and can break. Our team is happy to offer a 30 day back guarantee from time of delivery for any manufacturing defect arising from our production process.
However, what we will not cover is damage caused by user error, acts of nature, or normal wear & tear (this can include some narrow pieces chipping off a layer of wood if snagged or ripped by something).
Yet we also realize that no one is going to be able to enjoy these puzzles if they are too terrified to mess around with them. So we will be offering special warranty and customer support plans as optional add-ons in the Backer Surveys we will send out once the Campaign reaches the End Date and it’s goal.
Our business requires these 3 factors in order to grow:
1) Relocate Shop – Our little startup has outgrown our little family built workshop and there simply isn’t enough manpower, services, or available space for us to grow with/into. Using the Kickstarter support we receive here, we would be able to relocate our shop much closer to a major city like Minneapolis, MN or Madison, WI. There we would have a much better chance of finding the building that fits our needs perfectly while still remaining within our budget. This will also allow us to take advantage of the Manufacturing Hub that is the Midwest, with its central access to all corners of the US and abroad & lower overall living costs.
If you know of a good location or open space, PLEASE don’t hesitate to share with us!
2) In House vs. Out of House – The larger this campaign grows, the better our overall speed, quality, and manufacturing options increase. Some options have manufacturers doing the laser cutting and engraving with our newly hired teams handling the assembly, shipping, and customer support. Other potential partners would take care of all cutting, engraving, and assembly aspects while our team would only have to handle support and shipping. Our ideal goal would be to keep on making these books right here at home in a brand new facility, completely in house; but that requires a very serious amount of capital and is most likely the least possible option.
If you know a trustworthy and capable business owner who has a large number of high production capacity, wood cutting lasers, PLEASE don’t hesitate to share with us!
3) Hiring New Teams – The other major growing pain our business is facing is the lack of available hirees in our current local. Moving closer to a major metro gives us access to much more diverse range of job candidates. It will also help to attract even more potential candidates from around the nation/world who may be willing to move to us for a job.
With so many books to be made, we are going to need some high quality people to help put these puzzles together. And so, we love to ask that anyone with a severe passion for puzzles, startup culture, and good honest labor ethics are heavily encouraged to apply for one of the positions shown below. However we ask that you only do so if you are serious about moving to where we are, working long hours, and are willing to do whatever you can to help grow our little startup.
To apply for a position, visit our website at www.codexsilenda.com and find the Jobs Tab and the rest can be finished from there :)
As with every single Kickstarter, there is always risk involved when pledging to a campaign. The creator’s job is to mitigate as much risk as possible and prepare for the unexpected. Our team is finishing up our first Kickstarter, having spent many years fine-tuning our products and processes. We are confident in our abilities to not only produce these books with quality and speed, but to do so on a much larger scale. We need your support to make this dream a reality and your patience as we will have to inevitably deal with potential mechanical breakdowns, delays on shipments, and/or the hassle of finding, renting, and moving into a new building as well. We promise to do our absolute best to keep you all informed every step of the way. When a problem arises, we will report it to our backers and tell them what we are doing to solve said problem. Our campaigns will always be ran with 100% honesty and integrity as the wellbeing of our customer is our absolute, prime priority.