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KickStarter Confederate Express - what is this I don't even

Joined
Sep 18, 2013
Messages
1,258




You may remember Confederate Express from their recent Kickstarter, especially if you have been watching the Codex Kickstarter Watch thread.



Confederate Express is a team-based tactical RPG. The goal of the game is trying to survive while delivering a package from point A to point B. Each successful delivery makes a lot of profit, which can be spent on equipment and hiring better crew members! Packages vary by size, weight and fragility; the harder the delivery, the greater the rewards. Game maps are randomly generated, and each sector is uniquely hand-drawn, so every time you play it is a different and engaging experience!

(a playable rudimentary Unity 3D proof of concept here: http://confederate-express.appspot.com )

WELL, according to their new KS update, they have agreed to help finish another studio's game in return for getting enough funding to meet all of their stretch goals from the KS campaign, essentially ensuring that this will never leave development hell:

Hi everyone!

In this update we have some very exciting news for our backers!

A week before our project's kickstarter was about to end, we have been contacted by a small venture capital investment firm that have offered us funding of our stretch goals! In return, they asked us to help a small development team to finish their current video game project. It was at a very late development stage, and after we estimated completion time being around 2-3 months, we decided to take the offer. That means that almost every single stretch goal of Confederate Express will be implemented!

We do understand the potential risks that this kind of deal has, but we assure you that we have spent a lot of time considering this offer. In the end, we will remain our complete independence, and the project that we will help create will be a part of our portfolio. As a side bonus, we will have an opportunity to use their resources to make Confederate Express a much, much better experience, which always has been our highest priority.

Here is the list of the stretch goals that will be implemented:

IeDrC9j.png


The Second Stage Production will be realized depending on the success of the project that we will help create, and that additional funding was discussed with investors beforehand. At that moment it was wise for both parties to agree on a two-stage funding system, since implementation of any multiplayer experience is a very complex and expensive process that requires a lot of infrastructure and expertise in that particular field.

We have received the initial funding from the investment firm, and have already moved to our new office located in Austin, TX. We will introduce the team as soon as they will be ready to go public with their project, and hopefully you will like it as much as we did! So far it looks awesome.

Thanks for tuning in for this update, and if you have any questions please visit our kickstarter page and leave a comment! Your feedback is always greatly appreciated. Thanks again and see you soon!

But if it does, it might be nice.
 
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Roguey

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Another real time with pause cargo cult JA2 clone to add to the pile.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/829559023/confederate-express/posts/911522

Greetings, everyone!

After a long wait, we are very excited to finally reveal the sister project we've been working on: Knuckle Club!

831d1eda51f028dd643982accf16e29e_large.png

Knuckle Club is a real-time brawler with RPG elements set in cyberpunk era. With this game, we are featuring a brand new graphical API called FALSE 2D, which is a special toolset that simulates 3D conditions in 2D environments. With this API we are finally able to precisely adjust the lighting conditions of our scenes, giving us full control of the final product.

Unfortunately due to recent restructuring of Kilobite, the development of Confederate Express have been postponed, but as an upside it has received a graphical overhaul and now it fully supports FALSE 2D API. As an apology for the delays, we are offering every backer of Confederate Express a free reward pack from Knuckle Club! The reward pack chosen will be the closest to backer's pledge. We will be sending a separate email for every backer with specific details about the reward, so keep an eye on your inbox.

We have also prepared a series of exciting technical updates on Confederate Express to share with our backers, so please stay tuned! We are planning on unrolling the updates shortly after Knuckle Club campaign ends.

For more information about Knuckle Club, please visit our official website, kilobite.com!

And as always, if you have an opinion or wanted to ask a question, please stop by our kickstarter page and leave a comment! All feedback is greatly appreciated.

:avatard: "Hey guys, awesome news! We took your money and made a totally different game!"
 

oscar

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Looking through the comments either the developer is outright fraudulent or is an utter moron incapable of basic communication or socially empathising why people might be concerned/annoyed/angry/seeking refunds at the first update in four and a half months being the announcement of a completely new game.
 

Johannes

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Huh, so the announcement to work on another game already came 1 month after the KS finished? "estimated completion time being around 2-3 months", yeah.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/829559023/confederate-express/posts/920492

Status Update

Greetings everyone!

In this update I wanted to discuss Confederate Express as a project moving forward.

First of all, I wanted to clear some confusion up regarding an investment group that stepped in to fund ConEx stretch goals.

I have founded Kilobite in 2013, and during that period I have been working by myself whilst outsourcing most of the work via contractors. I have been scouting talent on the internet and offer them small jobs on a contract basis for my video game (Confederate Express). That was my business model - keep margins low and talent pool deep. Finally, when ConEx concept surfaced on Kickstarter, I have been contacted by a small investor group that was very excited about my new pixel art engine tech, and with their own project (Knuckle Club) nearing completion, they saw an opportunity to become the first game with per-texel pixel art post-processing technology (what a tongue-twister, haha).

That was when the investors presented me with an offer to purchase Kilobite and hire me as a their full-time employee; but the biggest concern for them was Knuckle Club becoming the first game with pixel art post-processing tech. That's where an offer for extra funding of my personal project (Confederate Express) and the non-compete clause restrictions came from.

But I have never seen the situation this way in my head. The only thing I wanted was to make Confederate Express the best game it can possible be, and being high on amazing feedback from the vast Kickstarter community, I have foolishly started chasing an impossible dream. Budgets got bigger and bigger, work kept piling up, and deadlines kept getting delayed.

A lot happened since; Kilobite is now employing a lot people from my collected portfolio on a full-time basis. They have also split my engine tech into a different brand (False2D API), and are currently planning to release it as an SDK toolset for Unity.

With recent update it was my lack of business expertise and poor decision-making that has led to a major outrage of ConEx backers, which have also affected my employer's reputation as a brand; I made an oversight by delaying my personal Kickstarter project in favor of getting extra stretch goals funding for it. I wanted to sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart for an apparent lack of communication and poor planning on my part. I take full responsibility for recent events.

Moving forward, I am now focusing my efforts full-time on making sure Confederate Express gets delivered promptly. I am also keeping a record of every expenditure made, and notify backers accordingly in order to make my decisions as clear and transparent as possible. I am now aiming for a December 2014 release date, with a closed beta starting in November 2014.

In the end, it was my poor decision-making and lack of communication skills that led to this unfortunate situation, and I will do everything in my power to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. I apologize profoundly and hope to regain your trust by delivering the product I promised.

On a final note, I wanted to thank all of our backers for support and interest in mine and Kilobite's games! You are the sole reason of my motivation.

Sincerely,

Maksym Pashanin

P.S.: the next update on Confederate Express is coming up next week, please stay tuned!

:avatard:
 

Whiran

Magister
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
641
This is the best quote from the developer on their new kickstarter project (Knuckle Club) after people started posting Don't Fund This type messages:

Creator Kilobite 4 days ago - Jul 17 said:
What an embarrassing witch-hunt.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Hooooly shit: http://m.kesq.com/news/squatter-in-palm-springs-also-accused-of-duping-online-gamers/27096438 :lol: :lol:

Squatter in Palm Springs also accused of duping online gamers
Woman used Airbnb to rent out her condo during summer months, now tenant won't leave

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - A squatter who's refusing to leave one Palm Springs rental property isn't popular among neighbors, or online gamers. News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 reporter Samantha Cortese investigated Tuesday, and it turns out, this might not be the squatter's first scam.

Rather than letting her quaint condo in Palm Springs sit empty during the summer, Cory Tschogl, a therapist working for blind veterans in San Francisco, used the popular rental site 'Airbnb' to make some cash.

Tschogl rented out her condo at the Palm Springs Villas ll, located at 600 W San Rafael Dr., for 44 days. A neighbor -- only identified as 'Yoyo'-- tells us the tenant is named Maksym Pashanin.

But after his time was up, Pashanin didn't leave the condo. In a text message conversation Tschogl gave the 'Business Insider', she told Pashanin that the power and electricity would be shut off. He replied by nailing her with a technicality, stating that since the rental was longer than 30 days, he is legally a month-to-month tenant.

He's right, and he isn't going anywhere.

"[Tschogl] was extremely frustrated," said Julie Bort with Business Insider. "She described the whole situation as a nightmare."

Nobody answered the door when News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 tried to talk with the tenant Tuesday morning. Tschogl's legal council said it could be a months-long, costly eviction process.

Neighbors said Pashanin lived with his brother and rarely ever socialized.

"Every time they would just hang out together, I never really knew, they were drinking iced tea or something," said neighbor Jeremy Fraser.

It appears Maksym Pashanin is a gamer of a different kind too. A contributor to the crowdfunding website 'Kickstarter' alerted our stations to 'Confederate Express', a computer game created by Pashanin.

People have donated $40,000 to fund the game and many are crying scam. They said it's been eight months without anything more than this demo.

Pashanin recently told the gaming site CLIQIST.com that he made some bad business decisions and reassured his fans the game would be released.

Airbnb hasn't confirmed if Pashanin is the tenant, but neighbors said the picture we showed them from the Kickstarter demo is the man they've seen at the apartment for nearly two months.

Tschogl hopes others do their research before renting.

Airbnb is extremely popular, but it's really up to the renter to understand the rules and laws that govern their area. Airbnb said they're working with Tschogl and have refunded her for the reservation.

Kz3r0
 
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Burning Bridges

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Unfortunately these 2 bums won't be the last who abuse kickstarter. It's simply too easy. Invest some time into a prototype, ask for 10,000$ and then see how much you can get.
 
Self-Ejected

Davaris

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Yeah, all you need is attractive art and music to make the right mood and most gamers don't think to ask about working features.
 

Roguey

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I really nailed this one. Don't give someone without a track record money unless you're willing to throw it away. :)
 

Ranselknulf

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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
What this sounds like to me is a company came in hired all the people working on the kickstarter and cut him a check.

Now he has no talent to develop his game and he's back at square one. What a dumb ass.

I don't think he intentionally tried to abuse kickstarter, he just has no business sense and literally gave away his concept to another company, and threw in the workers to go with it also.
 

Whiran

Magister
Joined
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Messages
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What this sounds like to me is a company came in hired all his employees and talent and cut him a check.

Now he has no talent to develop his game and he's back at square one. What a dumb ass.
You're believing what he wrote.

It turns out this "company" that "came in and hired all his employees" is registered to his brother.

The whole thing is BS.
 

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