PMush Perfect posted:

Calling it now, the Venn diagram of ErfWorld supporters and Star Citizen supporters is a circle.

Android Blues posted:

He's literally selling...access to a 3D model on his web interface? Not like, to download and use or anything, just to look at on his proprietary viewer.

This is fully grim.

reignofevil posted:

Rob Balder posted:

For the record, I have now wasted yet another hour when I could have been writing Erfworld.

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

Apparently the Erfworld subreddit just got locked. Presumably because, at this point, the only reason anyone was posting there was to try to point out what a bad idea all of this is.

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

Apparently the Erfworld subreddit just got locked. Presumably because, at this point, the only reason anyone was posting there was to try to point out what a bad idea all of this is.

Otherkinsey Scale posted:

Apparently the Erfworld subreddit just got locked. Presumably because, at this point, the only reason anyone was posting there was to try to point out what a bad idea all of this is.

mycot posted:

Well. Did anyone save the good ones?

Rob Balder on Reddit posted:

"Earlier today a Redditor (someone who has never supported Erfworld in any way, that I can tell) pinged me, and demanded I account for the delivery of all prior Kickstarter rewards.

I offered to discuss that person's concerns directly with them. He/she declined, and is now banned from this sub. This is the first ban in over a year, but I get the feeling it'll be one of a number this week. I think I'm going to do a couple more right after I post this.

The question itself is probably worth answering, though. It's a real simple summary: every physical reward has been delivered

There is one exception to that, which is the DVD/Bluray of the motion comic from the first project in early 2012. When it became clear that the motion comic could not be made as we envisioned it, but that a different kind of video treatment of Book 1 *could* (and eventually will) be made, I offered a refund of $25 to all backers who were owed that DVD as part of their pledge rewards. Or they could wait an indefinite time until it made sense for us to do the other video treatment, in which case they'll still be receiving that reward when it someday exists. All tiers with the DVD included other physical rewards, such as the Parson figurine, the hardcover books, postcards, magnets, etc. All of those were high quality items, delivered as promised. All backer stories from that project are complete as well. I believe something like three people took us up on the refund offer.


So everyone who completed a Kickstarter or Backerkit survey has gotten their physical stuff. In addition, some $12,000 worth of playing cards and another $4000 worth of 2019 calendars were sent out to all Tools who qualified for Free Cards Day and Free Calendar Day and filled in their survey.

What's still lacking and lagging in many cases are the things I personally have to write for individual backers. Poems, character sheets, name & role, "Ask a question about Erfworld" and of course several backer stories still have to be written. I would absolutely grant a refund to any backer who is tired of waiting for those, but nobody has yet requested one. The names of the people I owe those things to are written on the whiteboard next to the screen I stare at 15 hours a day. I do occasionally find a spare hour to work on one and send it out, even with all the indescribable and unmentionable poo poo Linda and I are going through.

Delivery of all other e-items, such as badges, units, gems, ebooks, sidebar ads, the panel-by-panel archives, etc. was also completed for every project and promotion, other than the (pending) Make/100 rewards. Erfmover backers have gotten their badges, and the Arkenhammer badges will be given out a week after surveys. Erfmover models are delayed for a few days to make them prettier. (Connor got a brutal case of flu late last week, or they'd be out already.) Arkenhammer models already look perfect except for the personalization plaques, and those should be out about a week after surveys.

I really can't begin to tell you what Linda and I have been living through. Saying "it's as bad as the cancer, plus she still has cancer" doesn't seem to register. Our lives are a horror show, all day, every day. And we're four hours away from a hug.

We're saved by Erfworld's readers, in every possible sense of the word. This is the greatest audience a webcomic has ever assembled. We're blessed and blessed, and blessed, thousands of times over with a sea of kind, generous, thoughtful, extraordinary people who make it worth carrying on.

But swimming in that sea is also a tiny and struggling population of defector organisms.

There are very, very few of them, relative to all the Disneylike musical singing fish in our ocean. If you've ever played a co-op game like Shadows over Camelot, I'm talking about the players who only win if everyone else loses. They are not, as they'll claim in their long, hand-wringing posts, worried about whether Erfworld is worthy of support. They're trying to prove it isn't. That way, they can validate either cutting off their support at some point in the past, or just never contributing a thing.

Right now, those guys smell blood. There's been some thrashing in the water. There might be a chance to add another little cut at that struggling diver's air supply. It you are a defector, this is a dangerous time for you too. My banhammer, it comforts me. It's going to go smashysmashysmash, in a way that feels oddly theraputic. I write Stanley. I can hit things. Wham.

So if you don't feel like we're worth the bet anymore, that's fine. Erfworld is created for everybody, and it's free for everybody. You don't have to help us as we struggle for air. You can even secretly root for us to drown. But don't lie about us. And don't trawl for evidence that we're defrauding the good people who make Erfworld possible. Do not start those discussions on our channels, because if you even *look* like you're swiping at our air hose? At these depths and pressures? Wham. Wham, wham, wham."

quote:

We're saved by Erfworld's readers, in every possible sense of the word. This is the greatest audience a webcomic has ever assembled. We're blessed and blessed, and blessed, thousands of times over with a sea of kind, generous, thoughtful, extraordinary people who make it worth carrying on.

But swimming in that sea is also a tiny and struggling population of defector organisms.

There are very, very few of them, relative to all the Disneylike musical singing fish in our ocean. If you've ever played a co-op game like Shadows over Camelot, I'm talking about the players who only win if everyone else loses. They are not, as they'll claim in their long, hand-wringing posts, worried about whether Erfworld is worthy of support. They're trying to prove it isn't. That way, they can validate either cutting off their support at some point in the past, or just never contributing a thing.

Rob Balder posted:

For the record, I have now wasted yet another hour when I could have been writing Erfworld

quote:

Heard a rumor from a friend who knows someone close to Rob. Not sure I believe it but it's interesting.

Rob was apparently smashed yesterday because "super bad thing #2" happened to be a legal battle where he was ordered to pay a previous artist money he owed them and never had paid. The ruling came down yesterday. Rob has to pay up in full or remove all of that artist's work from the site (which would be significant). Rob is stick between letting erfworld die or coming up with the money (and he's apparently broke). Not sure what artist it could be though.

He also said that Rob is doing almost all the 3d work so he can pocket as much of the kickstarter money as possible while pretending a team is working on it to increase donations.

Cat Mattress posted:

lol if true:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?566027-Erfworld-Thread-XI-Finally-it-s-HAMMER-TIME!/page26

Cat Mattress posted:

lol if true:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?566027-Erfworld-Thread-XI-Finally-it-s-HAMMER-TIME!/page26

Joe Slowboat posted:

if this is in fact Bad Thing #2, then Erfworld has completed its evolution into r/legaladvice the comic illustrated web novel.

Bruceski posted:

For what it's worth, a lot of this reads to me less as intentional scamming and more like someone who has been coming up short and kept kicking that can down the road thinking he really could come out of it and make it all add up in the end.

John_A_Tallon posted:

You mean David Hanh?

http://erfworld.com/blog/view/47103/david-is-leaving-erfworld

It does sound like they parted very abruptly.

Rob Balder posted:

David was always the lead illustrator, backstopped by Periscope Studio. In actual fact, we never used Periscope Studio or paid anyone to draw Book 3 other than him. They are based in Seattle. At the start of this year, David moved halfway across the country. While in theory, Periscope Studio was there to back him up on inks or colors in a pinch, nobody other than David was ever trained to draw Erfworld (pencils).

reignofevil posted:

Hey anybody who feels down in the dumps about life just think you probably haven't burned eighty thousand dollars worth of goodwill in your life yet.

PMush Perfect posted:

So, I was curious about the whole kickstarter thing, and...

mycot posted:

I'm surprised this wasn't flexible funding. Come to think of it, what's the point of having whole individual campaigns for each cgi tool instead of just selling them all the time?

reignofevil posted:

Hey anybody who feels down in the dumps about life just think you probably haven't burned eighty thousand dollars worth of goodwill in your life yet.

DeadBonesBrook posted:

I don't recall there being a soundtrack album. Was it ever finished? The only thing about it I can find is on the Kickstarter page.