Kickstarter Gaming - for $10.000,00 you get a "don't steal my money" emoji

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Kickstarter Gaming - for $10.000,00 you get a "don't steal my money" emoji

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RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Slain has a new trailer with a sample of the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1ek3H8yl8 :black101:

Although it's really bringing into focus how punishing the game is going to be. I mean, there was plenty of warning, but wow. The latest backer build looks pretty good, I still think the combat moves are kinda clunky, but hopefully they're working on that.

e: Oh hey, since I've monopolized the top of the new page, here's a thing I've wanted to do for a while, go back over a couple of the really promising looking projects that have been silently plugging away for a while.

Scale is the really cool looking game where you manipulate the size of stuff around you. Last update was June 9th

Fran Bow is the Indiegogo point and click with the really unique looking Edward Gorey style art. They said this week that the game is done so it should be coming out within a few months.

RightClickSaveAs fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Jul 4, 2015

# ? Jul 4, 2015 20:08

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 09:17

Hemingway To Go!: Nov 10, 2008; im stupider then dog shit, i dont give a shit, and i dont give a fuck, and i will never shut the fuck up, and i'll always Respect my enemys.
- ernest hemingway

Hakkesshu posted:

Is anyone still playing Skullgirls? I always thought it kinda fell off the map.

Despite extremely detailed tutorials and all the things they put in hoping to get new fighting game fans, if you're not that great a player and don't have long combos memorized you will be run over by long combo trucks online until you get slightly better. I kind of feel like I'd rather learn something productive than memorize long series of inputs in a fighting game.

The game WAS tested at professional fighting game tournaments for fuckin YEARS before release and has a lot of great ideas for abilities that are like nothing else if you can learn to use them, the developers if nothing else are extremely gameplay focused, so I imagine the fighting game adept are still playing.

# ? Jul 4, 2015 20:20

Prop Wash: Jun 12, 2010

Since nobody gave a poo poo about Another Castle here's some more kickstarter dramabombs with a Homestuck twist!

quote:

i�m sure that everyone has noticed by now that the homestuck game is very, very late. boy, do i have a fun reason why!

you may remember that what pumpkin announced that the game studio �the odd gentlemen� was originally attached to develop the game, and you may also remember that they quietly moved to in house development in 2014. what they didn�t tell you: the reason they did this was that odd gentlemen stole kickstarter money and spent it on king�s quest.

i imagine most of us who backed the homestuck game kickstarter are pretty curious about what was going on there. i�ve done some work on the comic and talk to andrew from time to time, so i tried asking about what happened and got some very cagey non-responses. eventually, he tells me he actually can�t tell me anywhere but through kickstarter because of a settlement he signed (already fishy). so, i sent in an inquiry through KS and what i got was a big steaming load of bullshit worse than anything i could have imagined. i�m talking multiple counts of embezzlement and fraud.

according to the timeline in the doc i got, WP gave 788k to TOG in 2012 to develop hiveswap. they then proceeded to do next to nothing, completely blowing off the dev schedule that they agreed to. (the game was supposed to be done by oct 2014. instead, that was when WP ended up having to switch to in house development and start from scratch.) the doc included a detailed rundown of everything TOG actually did. in summary:

�Over 8 months of development, TOG produced exactly one �playable build�. It is a single room, involving one character, no animation, and almost no other key features. Virtually nothing works properly. It was submitted in February of 2014, and no improvements or additional versions were submitted beyond that date.�

a link to it was included in the doc. it�s� probably the worst thing i�ve ever seen in my life?? if you try to click on ANYTHING, joey runs into a bookcase and flies into the air and the demo gets stuck. the only thing that distinguishes it from an out-of-the-box adventure creator demo is its very subpar models and the fact it is unplayably bugged.

at some point TOG apparently just completely gave up working on hiveswap, because they were tapped to develop king�s quest (you can see them admit this in public here at about 1 minute into this video). however, instead of dropping out of developing the game, they decided to just� not tell WP, and proceeded to spend the money they were given on KQ�s development instead.

eventually, after months of platitudes and refusals to communicate (at one point andrew even moved across the country to be able to visit TOG�s offices and get the ball rolling on development, but they wouldn�t even let him come in), WP realized that they�d have to drop TOG, so they terminated the contract in late 2014.

at that stage, TOG said they had 390,000 dollars left of the money WP gave them that they hadn�t spent on �development� or taxes. but, get this � in the 7 months it took them to agree on a settlement for returning the money, they spent 170,000 of it on king�s quest. seriously. like, they didn�t even try to hide it � they straight up spent it after they�d already officially stopped working on the game, and were just like, haha, whoops? pay you back later i guess.

this isn�t acknowledged in a binding settlement like the king�s quest embezzlement is, but i�m pretty sure most of the 190k they claim they spent on hiveswap�s development before they picked up KQ went into neil gaiman�s wayward manor. they picked THAT up at around the time they were supposed to start working on hiveswap, and admitted the workload was conflicting with their ability to devote time to hiveswap. given the egregiously overstated man hours claimed for how little work they actually did, and the fact they admittedly stole the money for another game, i think it�s a pretty obvious conclusion to reach.

it doesn�t look like there was ever a point where TOG wasn�t funneling homestuck�s KS money into another game. it�s unclear whether they EVER actually intended to seriously develop the game. they straight up signed up to steal money from us.

andrew mentioned that this was one of the biggest reasons for the gigapause, and that all the logistics of dealing with TOG�s incompetence meant he couldn�t get much work done on the comic in that time.

why am i posting this? well, king�s quest was developed with stolen money, so it�s probably in your best interest to know this before you buy it. all things considered, it�s a miracle that hiveswap is doing as well as it is � at this point, i think hiveswap has moved past this fiasco and isn�t in any danger of falling through. it�s uh, pretty late, but from what i�ve seen, they�re well on their way to an Actual Game that may be Actually Good despite getting jerked around by a circus of incompetent clowns for 8 months.

at this point, i�m not sure what to DO about this. what pumpkin is bound by the settlement they had to sign if they wanted to get any of the money back at all, so there�s not much that they themselves can do to retrieve the money TOG stole from us. i actually tried messaging sierra, the company that licensed KQ to TOG, but they don�t seem to care that KQ was made with stolen money. maybe activision might want to know. in any case, it�s important that this info get out there so people know what they�re dealing with when buying something from the odd gentlemen.

http://ipgd.tumblr.com/post/123230861032/im-sure-that-everyone-has-noticed-by-now-that-the

# ? Jul 4, 2015 23:30

Instruction Manuel: May 15, 2007; Yes, it is what it looks like!

Hey, the system works!

# ? Jul 4, 2015 23:42

AnonSpore: Jan 19, 2012; "I didn't see the part where he develops as a character so I guess he never developed as a character"

Acne Rain posted:

Despite extremely detailed tutorials and all the things they put in hoping to get new fighting game fans, if you're not that great a player and don't have long combos memorized you will be run over by long combo trucks online until you get slightly better. I kind of feel like I'd rather learn something productive than memorize long series of inputs in a fighting game.

The game WAS tested at professional fighting game tournaments for fuckin YEARS before release and has a lot of great ideas for abilities that are like nothing else if you can learn to use them, the developers if nothing else are extremely gameplay focused, so I imagine the fighting game adept are still playing.

In any fighting game if you're at the level and mindset where you seriously think "memorizing long combos" is the barrier separating yourself and high level play, actually good players would easily clown on you just as hard with a single button and no combos

# ? Jul 4, 2015 23:48

Bieeanshee: Aug 21, 2000; Not keen on keening.; Grimey Drawer

quote:

Wayward Manor

Oh, those people. I thought there was something funny when they ran their own in-house crowdfunding/preorder campaign for that.

# ? Jul 4, 2015 23:52

RoanHorse: Dec 12, 2013

I'm actually sad that that crap happened. Now the homestucks are getting the game they didn't want LATER than expected

(a lot of the promo material for the Kickstarter implied it would be an arpg, not an adventure game)

# ? Jul 4, 2015 23:57

senrath: Nov 4, 2009; Look Professor, a destruct switch!

RoanHorse posted:

I'm actually sad that that crap happened. Now the homestucks are getting the game they didn't want LATER than expected

(a lot of the promo material for the Kickstarter implied it would be an arpg, not an adventure game)

Anyone who thought it would be an ARPG was an idiot. The project was even called "Homestuck Adventure Game", and was billed as an adventure game with some RPG-like elements.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 00:24

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

senrath posted:

Anyone who thought it would be an ARPG was an idiot. The project was even called "Homestuck Adventure Game", and was billed as an adventure game with some RPG-like elements.

Yeah, they basically did everything they possibly could to fight the idea that they were trying to make a PC version of Sburb (which would be even more overambitious than the Minecraft-wannabe Kickstarters out there).

# ? Jul 5, 2015 00:51

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

pumpinglemma posted:

Yeah, they basically did everything they possibly could to fight the idea that they were trying to make a PC version of Sburb (which would be even more overambitious than the Minecraft-wannabe Kickstarters out there).

Minecraft-wannabe games are hardly ambitious, they're fairly easy to program, as evidenced by the fact that just about every-open-publishing software selling thing has tons of em. The Xbox Live Indie Games service on the 360 has like a good dozen at least, even more when you start coutning the ones that are like Minecraft but with a crappy FPS bolted on.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 03:10

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Nintendo Kid posted:

Minecraft-wannabe games are hardly ambitious, they're fairly easy to program, as evidenced by the fact that just about every-open-publishing software selling thing has tons of em. The Xbox Live Indie Games service on the 360 has like a good dozen at least, even more when you start coutning the ones that are like Minecraft but with a crappy FPS bolted on.

They're overambitious not so much because Minecraft-type games are difficult to program as because they're aiming for "like Minecraft but better" rather than "like Minecraft but a lovely knock-off".

# ? Jul 5, 2015 06:00

the black husserl: Feb 25, 2005

There is zero chance that any of that crap about King's Quest is true, there are a million holes in the story

# ? Jul 5, 2015 06:02

PaletteSwappedNinja: Jun 3, 2008; One Nation, Under God.

Hakkesshu posted:

Is anyone still playing Skullgirls? I always thought it kinda fell off the map.

It dropped off very quickly after launch due to a variety of factors, many of which had nothing to do with the game or the developers themselves. It spikes back up whenever they do a new port or a free weekend on Steam or whatever but it's never gonna blow up.

That being said, it was always going to be a niche game and there's a big chunk of their fanbase that doesn't really care about the game itself, just the characters.

Kurtofan posted:

Yeah, what's the advantage of Indiegogo exactly?

From the head of Lab Zero:

quote:

First, we'll be doing a Fixed Funding campaign, since we can't actually get the money we need if we did a Flexible Funding campaign.

That seems to be the thing that puts most people off about IGG - that they Flexible campaigns amount is open-ended and they get charged right away.

Anyway, for us it's...

- They take 7% instead of 10%, which is significant on larger campaigns

- They start paying as soon as you hit your goal, which means we can start working sooner: KS pays around 6 weeks after the end of the campaign, which means you could be waiting 10 weeks before you see a dime

- Because we were their most successful gaming campaign in the past, we'll get a lot of PR and campaign support from them that we'd never get on KS

# ? Jul 5, 2015 06:18

senseinobu: Jul 28, 2008

the black husserl posted:

There is zero chance that any of that crap about King's Quest is true, there are a million holes in the story

Could you elaborate because I don't really see them.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 06:50

The Kins: Oct 2, 2004

So the Red Ash kickstarter's up, and it's only to develop the prologue chapter.

quote:

RED ASH is a very different project from a retro action game like Mighty No. 9, in terms of both scale and concept. The primary goal with RED ASH is to tell a story on a grand scale; all of the primary concepts are clearly visualized in the minds of the creative team, from the overall plot to historical background. Even the final ending scene is planned out! However, the reality is that we cannot fulfill a vision of such epic proportions with funds collected through Kickstarter.

That's why for this Kickstarter project, we've decided to start with a prologue chapter we call "The KalKanon Incident." This story has always been planned as a key jumping-on point for the universe, and we hope to use this small, but dense taste of the RED ASH universe as a foundation on which to build future content. Whether it's through additional funding, revenue from "The KalKanon Incident" sales, or teaming up with a publisher, this is a story we are determined to tell, and we want all of our backers to be on the ground floor for the creation of this new game universe. We have a vision of a story and universe that we feel deserves to be told, and we need your support to make it a reality!

The worst thing about this is that it'll work.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 07:36

the black husserl: Feb 25, 2005

senseinobu posted:

Could you elaborate because I don't really see them.

Are you really dumb enough to believe details like the creator of the webcomic moving across the country to oversee the game development (what) but it didn't work because the developers wouldn't open the physical office door (lmao)? Do you think Kickstarter would hand out a "document" to a random person making an "inquiry" that contains intimate details about how their service was used for criminal fraud?

# ? Jul 5, 2015 07:37

Lord Lambeth: Dec 7, 2011

PaletteSwappedNinja posted:

That being said, it was always going to be a niche game and there's a big chunk of their fanbase that doesn't really care about the game itself, just the characters.

I don't even care about the characters, I'm just a sucker for well animated games.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 07:54

ImpAtom: May 24, 2007

The Kins posted:

So the Red Ash kickstarter's up, and it's only to develop the prologue chapter.
The worst thing about this is that it'll work.

It's working but it sure as hell isn't the big blowout that any of the other recent big game kickstarters were. It'll hit funding but it doesn't seem like it's gonna go hugely beyond that.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 07:56

senrath: Nov 4, 2009; Look Professor, a destruct switch!

Not that surprised. A lot of people aren't satisfied with how Mighty No. 9 was handled, and as far as I'm aware Megaman Legends had a smaller fanbase than the main line Megaman games anyway.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:03

AnonSpore: Jan 19, 2012; "I didn't see the part where he develops as a character so I guess he never developed as a character"

Red Ash has two simultaneous kickstarters going on, Jesus Christ. Did people actually like all that media empire poo poo that they tried to push for MN9?

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:06

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

have they released MN9 yet

because, you know, maybe they should finish that one off and make it not poop first

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:11

senrath: Nov 4, 2009; Look Professor, a destruct switch!

Suspicious Dish posted:

have they released MN9 yet

because, you know, maybe they should finish that one off and make it not poop first

No, but it's not like it's the same people who will be working on both.

AnonSpore posted:

Red Ash has two simultaneous kickstarters going on, Jesus Christ. Did people actually like all that media empire poo poo that they tried to push for MN9?

No one that I've talked to did, but I guess they have evidence to the contrary?

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:26

Zereth: Jul 9, 2003

senrath posted:

Not that surprised. A lot of people aren't satisfied with how Mighty No. 9 was handled, and as far as I'm aware Megaman Legends had a smaller fanbase than the main line Megaman games anyway.

I loved them, but I ain't touching this until I have Mighty Number 9 in my hands. Also the news about it having two kickstarters (???) is also keeping me away.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:38

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

senrath posted:

No, but it's not like it's the same people who will be working on both.

why not

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:38

senrath: Nov 4, 2009; Look Professor, a destruct switch!

Suspicious Dish posted:

why not

Because companies are allowed to have more than one team of people working for them?

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:41

NieR Occomata: Jan 18, 2009; Glory to Mankind.

the black husserl posted:

Are you really dumb enough to believe details like the creator of the webcomic moving across the country to oversee the game development (what) but it didn't work because the developers wouldn't open the physical office door (lmao)? Do you think Kickstarter would hand out a "document" to a random person making an "inquiry" that contains intimate details about how their service was used for criminal fraud?

I didn't believe it either but apparently the person who posted the tumblr post worked for whatpumpkin (the merch house for homestuck and thus would have better access to internal documents like that), radiation (a guy who's worked for hussie directly and is currently developing a game) retweeted it, and when asked hussie did a "refuse to comment" non comment over an outright denial or assertion that what happened was false

Also the tumblr post has already been deleted

All that combines into a fairly compelling case that what happened was at worst exaggerated and more than likely true, especially considering that what specifically happened within it isn't even specifically a revolutionary concept; gearbox did literally the same thing when developing aliens colonial marines/borderlands 2 with the money they were given from sega

Also there's the fact that hussie took a nearly year-long break with no explanation for why, and drawn out legal proceedings because the dev you contracted embezzled the money makes the timeline make more sense

I was skeptical too but it's too neat of an explanation that has a bunch of circumstantial evidence supporting it that makes it seem plausible and even logical to be an outright falsehood

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:44

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

senrath posted:

Because companies are allowed to have more than one team of people working for them?

have they actually said that it won't be the same team of people?

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:54

THE PENETRATOR: Jul 27, 2014; by Lowtax

the black husserl posted:

Are you really dumb enough to believe details like the creator of the webcomic moving across the country to oversee the game development (what) but it didn't work because the developers wouldn't open the physical office door (lmao)? Do you think Kickstarter would hand out a "document" to a random person making an "inquiry" that contains intimate details about how their service was used for criminal fraud?

kickstarter didn't you dumpass, the homestuck guy gave the information to the other guy through some kickstarter communication interface

# ? Jul 5, 2015 08:54

Box of Bunnies: Apr 3, 2012; by Pragmatica

Suspicious Dish posted:

have they actually said that it won't be the same team of people?

Yes. Mighty No. 9 is being developed by Inti Creates, the Red Ash Kickstarter says it is being developed by Hyde, Inc. Though there are a few shared people like Inafune in producer/supervisor roles between the two, of course.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 09:12

PaletteSwappedNinja: Jun 3, 2008; One Nation, Under God.

Suspicious Dish posted:

have they actually said that it won't be the same team of people?

It doesn't say who's actually making the game but it seems it won't be Inti Creates.

EDIT: oops, they did mention the developer, some nobody company called Hyde Inc. Playism is involved on the production side, too?

EDIT EDIT: Hyde's portfolio is mostly Idea Factory/Compile Heart trash but I'm told they've contracted on big games they're not allowed to put their names on, for whatever that's worth.

PaletteSwappedNinja fucked around with this message at 09:20 on Jul 5, 2015

# ? Jul 5, 2015 09:12

The Kins: Oct 2, 2004

PaletteSwappedNinja posted:

EDIT EDIT: Hyde's portfolio is mostly Idea Factory/Compile Heart trash but I'm told they've contracted on big games they're not allowed to put their names on, for whatever that's worth.

When's TOSE's kickstarter?

# ? Jul 5, 2015 09:28

kirbysuperstar: Nov 11, 2012; Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

The Kins posted:

When's TOSE's kickstarter?

Hydlide Rebirth

# ? Jul 5, 2015 09:38

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

I thought comcept was going to do development in-house? I have no idea how any of this works I guess.

I'll just be glad that my favorite Otome game developers are getting this important project. Trash games for trash game developers, it seems.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 10:03

CyclicalAberration: Feb 14, 2012

I've started studying chinese a couple weeks ago and found a Duolingo like 'game' called Ninchanese. It's still very much a beta and I'm not entirely sure how much it's helping my Chinese, but it's fun. It's currently in Kickstarter so I hope it does well!

# ? Jul 5, 2015 13:38

PaletteSwappedNinja: Jun 3, 2008; One Nation, Under God.

Suspicious Dish posted:

I thought comcept was going to do development in-house? I have no idea how any of this works I guess.

I'll just be glad that my favorite Otome game developers are getting this important project. Trash games for trash game developers, it seems.

Comcept is a production house and doesn't really have the capacity or the money to make big games by itself; that big list of people they posted will absolutely be working on the game and they'll be taking point on all the creative decisions but it'll be done in tandem with an external contractor, as is their usual MO. One would have to imagine Hyde will be a very junior partner in this arrangement.

Everything they've made so far - Soul Sacrifice, Yaiba, MN9, even the budget 3DS tank game they made for Level-5 - have been made this way.

PaletteSwappedNinja fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Jul 5, 2015

# ? Jul 5, 2015 14:03

monster on a stick: Apr 29, 2013

Suspicious Dish posted:

have they released MN9 yet

because, you know, maybe they should finish that one off and make it not poop first

After that KS is funded, they'll say "oh BTW MN9 ran out of money and will be shipping in three parts."

# ? Jul 5, 2015 15:49

Groovelord Neato: Dec 6, 2014

Was Mighty Number 9 always supposed to be 3D because it probably woulda looked/played better as a 2d game.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 15:54

Lurking Haro: Oct 27, 2009

monster on a stick posted:

After that KS is funded, they'll say "oh BTW MN9 ran out of money and will be shipping in three parts."

Deep Silver is making sure it won't. Also remember that unlike Tim Schafer, "Inafune is a business man".
The main game should be done already, with the Ray DLC getting debugged for gold.

Groovelord Neato posted:

Was Mighty Number 9 always supposed to be 3D because it probably woulda looked/played better as a 2d game.

It always was. I don't know what you mean it would play better in 2D, since the gameplay is.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 16:04

mycot: Oct 23, 2014; "It's okay. There are other Terminators! Just give us this one!"; Hell Gem

Groovelord Neato posted:

Was Mighty Number 9 always supposed to be 3D because it probably woulda looked/played better as a 2d game.

Yes. I think it's sort of like the Homestuck KS where the fans would have always held this specific image of the game no matter how much it's spelled out otherwise (though admittedly a pixel art platformer is a lot less impractical than "Cartoon Skyrim the MMO").

# ? Jul 5, 2015 16:14

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 09:17

Do not even ask: Apr 8, 2008

senrath posted:

Not that surprised. A lot of people aren't satisfied with how Mighty No. 9 was handled, and as far as I'm aware Megaman Legends had a smaller fanbase than the main line Megaman games anyway.

I loving love Megaman Legends and I cannot give a single poo poo about these Redash kickstarters.

kirbysuperstar posted:

Hydlide Rebirth

Now that, that is a kickstarter I could get behind.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 16:43

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Kickstarter Gaming - for $10.000,00 you get a "don't steal my money" emoji

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