Isle of Feathers: A Love Letter To Strange Birds

🏖️Mini Update 007: Land Ho!!
6 days ago – Sat, Mar 28, 2026 at 05:13:52 AM

🏖️Mini Update 007: Land Ho!!

Hi everybody!

Thank you everyone for your patience, we understand it's been a pretty long break between updates. Over the last month, some of the things that have happened included: Daniel finishing up a big contract job, Juno starting a brand new job, Juno's brother coming to stay with us from New Zealand (yay!), and the two of us celebrating our two-year wedding anniversary(!!)! Life outside of 'Isle of Feathers' has been very busy, so we thank you for your understanding. 

Even though it's been a while, we've done quite a bit of work, and we've got some good news to share!

🚢The Ships Are Starting To Land!

The first of our three shipments, 'Batch 001' bound for the United States and Canada, successfully made landfall late last week, and we've just received confirmation that all of the stock has reached our fulfilment partner's warehouse and is being unpacked as we speak!

Our other two shipments, bound for the Asia-Pacific, and the United Kingdom and European Union, are both currently en-route, and should reach their destination ports in the near future.

🍲Merch is Cooking!

Manufacturing for the merchandise and other backer rewards is underway, however, it is proving to be a somewhat slower process than anticipated. Given the recent complications with international shipping, we made the decision to air freight the merch directly to us in Australia, then back out again to the three distribution hubs.

Our goal in doing it this way was both to first be able to quality check the items before we sent them out, and to ensure that everything reached our fulfilment partners in one go, rather than coming in piecemeal. This, however, has substantially increased the length of the process, and we probably would've done it differently in hindsight.

However, we're in active conversation with all three warehouses and we're going to work out the best possible solution to make sure that everything, not just the game, gets to you as soon as possible.

🦚A (Nice) Note on Lady Amherst's Pheasant

We want to say an extra special thank you to those of you who've supported us at the 'Lady Amherst's Pheasant' tier. We're incredibly excited to start bringing your custom cards to life - we'll reach out to you after Easter to get the ball rolling!

🦜🪺

Thanks again to everybody for their support and patience whilst we navigate the complexities of the shipping process; it's a challenging time to be sending anything by sea at the moment, but we've been fortunate enough to avoid being substantially impacted to date. We'd like to thank Gameland and all three of our wonderful shipping partners for taking such good care of us, and for helping us through the process. With one of three ships landed and unpacked, and the other two close behind, we're very nearly ready to begin the next leg of the journey; getting the games straight to you!

Kind regards,
Daniel and Juno🪶

P.s. We've had a couple of questions about parcel tracking and delivery logistics. The specific details will vary slightly depending on where abouts in the world you're based, but yes, it's our understanding that everybody will receive a tracking number when their package is dispatched by the fulfilment company. We'll keep you updated as we confirm specifics.

MAJOR UPDATE 006: Manufacturing Is Complete, Shipping Is Beginning, and Addresses are Locking!!
about 2 months ago – Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 04:30:32 AM

Hi everybody!

Thank you for your patience and support over the last month; it's been an extremely busy couple of weeks for 'Isle of Feathers', and we're very excited to update you on everything that's been going on.

First of all, some incredibly exciting news...

🏭Manufacturing Is Complete!

Our manufacturing partner, Gameland, has done an incredible job, and we're very happy to announce that 'Isle of Feathers' is fully manufactured and is ready to ship! This has been a fascinating and very hands-on process, which has had Gameland working with us closely to both ensure all of the schematics and assets are up to spec, and resolve any manufacturing and design challenges that arise during the process efficiently. 

We want to give a massive shoutout to Wren Zhang, our incredible representative at Gameland, who's been both an incredibly proactive and professional counterpart, and a delightful person to talk with to boot. We can't thank you enough for supporting us at every step of the process.

To that end, we wanted to show you some of the adjustments and extra work we've done on the game's components between the Kickstarter campaign, and the final version!

🎁Revamped Box & Backing

Firstly, we wanted to show off the refined and updated game box! Whilst we were very happy with the version of the box you saw on the campaign page, there were several elements of the design that we felt had room for improvement. Some of these elements (such as the irregularly-shaped cream 'swoop' divider) were substantially older than others, and had remained unchanged through several iterations of the design, and we felt that they no longer sat well alongside the game's final graphics. The changes to the front are minor, but we feel they better match artistically, as well as better evoke the game as a whole. 

We wanted to note also that the decorative leaves and flower elements are not actually different colours; they're part of the box's spot UV treatment. This means that they'll catch the light when viewed from an angle, but fade into the background viewed front-on.

The back of the box, conversely, has had an almost complete overhaul! We've updated the text copy, reformatted the information, and included a few of our favourite bird illustrations to boot (including the beloved Australian White Ibis). The inside of the box is also fully coloured, and the sides are decorated with even more birds!

You'll also notice something that sounds boring on the surface, but turned out to be a fascinating journey; we are now the proud owners of a barcode! Fun Fact for the day: did you know that barcodes are issued and maintained by a single company for every product on the planet? With the assistance and support of our delightful EU compliance representative, Robert Pratt, 'Isle of Feathers' has also now completed a battery of product safety and manufacturing standards tests, all of which it passed with flying colours. This lets us put the 'CE' and 'UKCA' marks on the back of the box, and approve the game for import and sale throughout the UK and EU.

We've also taken the opportunity to rework and revamp the box's component tray/insert. The insert is in full colour, with illustrations showing which component goes where, holds the tiles securely whether they're stacked or loose, and has ample room for the deck of cards both as-is, AND when sleeved. This component went through a number of iterations, but we're very happy with the end result. 

With manufacturing complete, this brings us to the next stage of the process:

🚢Shipping Is Beginning!

As manufacturing neared its completion, the majority of our time this month has been spent teeing up shipping logistics and organising freight forwarding to get the games from the factory in Ningbo, to our international logistics partners for Australia, the UK and EU, and the US and Canada. 

The first thing we want to announce is a little disappointing; whilst the games are boxed up and ready to travel, shipping will only be able to begin after the Chinese New Year holiday, once the Chinese port system reopens for business at the end of February. 

Everybody involved has worked their absolute hardest to get the game shipped off and in-transit before the CNY period began, but unfortunately due to a number of factors including extra work and revisions from our first sample run, the deadline has passed.

While the first mass-production sample from Gameland was amazing, we did have some adjustments we needed to make, which understandably extended the manufacturing timeline. Primarily, these were inconsistencies with colour calibration across different materials, and layout discrepancies which, whilst relatively minor, were substantial enough to justify reworking the affected assets. Another thankyou to Gameland for being so receptive and cooperative throughout the process; the game is now at a stage where we're really happy with it, and can't wait to get it into your hands.

Once Chinese New Year wraps and the port system reopens at the end of this month, our shipments will be on their way! All the copies of the game are safely stored at Gameland, and are ready to travel as soon as the port system opens.

We're sorry to come bringing disappointing news, but we want to thank you again for your support and understanding as we navigate the complexities of international shipping for the first time.

🗝️We're Locking Addresses Shortly!

Finally, in preparation for the shipments going out, we'll shortly be locking the addresses on the BackerKit surveys! This means that the address you entered in your survey will be going to the logistics company, and it won't be possible to change it beyond this point. If you've got any questions at all about the process, or want to make any last-minute changes to your shipping details, please reach out as soon as possible.

We've also seen that there are just a few people (26 by our last count) who have not filled out their surveys to date. You should've received reminders from BackerKit, but we'll be following up directly over the next few days if we haven't heard from you. If you think this is you please say hi, otherwise we won't be able to get your game to you!

Thank you again everybody for your incredible support since the campaign has wrapped; we're blown away every day that we get to bring the game to life, and we can't wait to get it into your hands! 

Hope you all have a lovely week, and a very happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate!

Kind regards,
Daniel and Juno 🪶

MAJOR UPDATE 005: Happy New Year, Survey Update, Orders Lock January 10th (This Friday!!)
3 months ago – Tue, Jan 06, 2026 at 04:31:04 AM

MAJOR UPDATE 005: Survey Update, Orders Lock January 10th (This Friday!!)

🎆Happy New Year!!!🎆

Hello all! We hope you all enjoyed a restful holiday period, and that you're having a fantastic, bird-filled start to the new year. We are pleased to report that our 2026 began with a family of noisy miners taking up residency in our front yard, which has proven endlessly entertaining for us and our orange cats who enjoy watching them behind the cat netting enclosing our balcony. 

📋BACKERKIT SURVEYS DUE JAN 10TH! 

Now that January 2026 has well and truly started, we wanted to give you all a gentle yet important reminder that your BackerKit survey responses are due in four days! 

That's right, by January 10th you will need to complete your survey so that we can process your order and make sure it gets delivered straight to you. We're thrilled to announce that the majority of backers have already submitted their survey responses (almost 85% woohoo!), however there's still a chunk of folks (77, precisely!) who have yet to do so. Responses are locked in on January 10th, which means anybody who does not finish their survey by then will unfortunately miss out on receiving their order. 

We would hate for that to happen to anyone, so if you know you haven't gotten around to finishing the form, head straight to your inbox, open up that BackerKit survey link, and submit your answers to us ASAP! If you're having any issues with completing the survey, please don't hesitate to reach out to us via Kickstarter direct message, email or Instagram. 

🚢FINALISED SHIPPING FEES! 

To that end, those of you who have already finished the BackerKit survey may have noticed that we chose to charge shipping later, as this gave us more time to determine our exact shipping fees per region. After much research and many cups of tea, we can now announce that we have calculated our exact shipping rates and have begun plugging them into the BackerKit backend. Thank you once again to everybody for your patience; you're all well aware of the journey we've had with learning the ins and outs of shipping logistics, and we're relieved that we can finally give you the data you need to calculate your total costs, which you can check out in the graphic below! 

Just a few things we wanted to pinpoint: 

1. Shipping fees have been updated for the following regions: Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, China (mainland), Hong Kong, East Asia (incl. Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Thailand), the Pacific Islands (incl. the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) and Rest of the World. You will notice that we were able to slightly reduce shipping fees for all of these regions across all three weight categories, something we were really happy we could do. 

2. For all other regions (i.e. the United States, Alaska & Hawaii, Canada, UK, and EU Zones A & B), we can confirm that our updated estimates given in previous updates remain unchanged.

The graphic above are the final shipping prices that'll appear for you in BackerKit. Please also be aware that the Kickstarter page itself is not able to be edited now that the campaign is over, so please ignore the shipping rates on the campaign page itself as they're now out of date. 

We'll be configuring the shipping rates within BackerKit over the next day. Once the numbers are updated, you'll all receive an automated email from BackerKit prompting you to review the shipping prices ahead of the January 10th 'lock date'.  Just a little reminder too, that you've got until January 10th to make any final adjustments to your order. If you want to grab add-ons, order an extra copy with friends, etc, this is your last chance to do so.

Once the 10th hits, shipping will be charged automatically via the same payment method as your original Kickstarter, and then we're all systems go to begin shipping as soon as mass production finishes! Gameland's factory is in full mass-production as we speak, and we'll update you all on delivery timelines as soon as we have the final shipping details from our fulfilment partners. 

Thanks again for all of your support and understanding as we've been working through this less-glamourous stage of the project. We can't wait to get 'Isle of Feathers' into your hands!

Kind regards,
Daniel and Juno 🪶

Mini Update 004: Assets Are Locked, Survey Update
3 months ago – Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 04:34:35 AM

Mini Update 004: Assets Are Locked, Survey Update

Hi everyone!

Hope you're all having a lovely week, and have been able to get a little time off to rest for holiday season. This is just a little update to share how everything's tracking with the project, and what our next steps are from here!

Rulebook Is Locked!

First of all, on Dec 15th we finalised the rulebook and sent it off to the manufacturers. Thank you to everybody who submitted such prompt responses with regards to the 'Special Thanks' segment - we got a whopping 70% of survey responses before we even finished off the rulebook!

You also might see a little email from BackerKit called 'Fun Facts'! This is just a bit of a breakdown of the project so far, with some interesting stats from the surveys to date - turns out we're sending Isle of Feathers to a staggering 388 different cities across 31 countries!

If you haven't yet completed your survey, final responses are actually due on Jan 10th so there's no need to panic. For anyone who has any questions regarding the BackerKit survey, or are unable to complete theirs for any reason, please don't hesitate to reach out to us via the Direct Message on Kickstarter, email or Instagram (carrier pigeons are also accepted).

Manufacturing Begins Soon 

Now that the designs for all of our game assets are locked in, we're just waiting on GameLand to review them so we can begin manufacturing! We're super excited for this, and we can't wait to give you updates on how the process goes as we get underway. We also wanted to give a special shout out to Wren, our representative from GameLand who has been handling our project for the past six months. Wren has been a joy to work with, and it is thanks to her hard work and assistance that we have been able to get our assets ready for printing. 

To that end, we're hopeful that Isle of Feathers can be manufactured and shipped out in a timely manner, however as we've mentioned before we may be held up by the shut downs that occur during the Lunar New Year celebrations. We're optimistic that we should be good to go beforehand, however we wanted to mention this ahead of time worst comes to worst. Regardless, we will keep you all in the loop as shipping is underway. 

                 · · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·

Happy Holidays!

As this will most likely be one of our, if not our last update before the Christmas break, we wanted to wish you all happy holidays! We hope you all are having a wonderful end to your year, and that you get to be surrounded by loved ones, getting some much needed rest and relaxation, and spotting some excellent birds. We'll be right back to it after the break, and rest assured will keep you updated on our next steps. 

Thank you again for all of your support! 

Kind regards, 

Daniel and Juno 🪶

Mini Update 003: Rulebook Credits Are Getting Locked In Tonight!
4 months ago – Mon, Dec 15, 2025 at 01:43:43 AM

Hello everybody!

Thanks so much for the wonderful response to the surveys; 70% of all our backers have submitted their surveys at time of writing, which is lovely to see. Just a gentle reminder, that if you would like to change the name that'll appear in our rulebook, or opt out of being included, now is your final chance to let us know. 

In a couple of hours we'll be submitting the final print assets for the rulebook to Gameland for prepress. If you are unable to complete the survey for any reason, or just have any questions in general, please feel free to shoot us a direct message via Kickstarter, an email ([email protected]), or even a direct message on Instagram (@isleoffeathersgame). For those of you who are happy with us using your Kickstarter name don't worry about completing the survey tonight, just make sure to complete it by January 10th, 2026.

Thank you again to everybody who's responded, and to everybody who's clicked 'share'; it's been wonderful seeing the posts rolling in from all over the world!

Kind regards,

Daniel and Juno 🪶