Game News Cyclopean Canceled

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Cyclopean; Iron Tower

<p>Cyclopean, the lovecraftian RPG project over at Iron Tower Studios, has been canceled and is now <a href="http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=2b4fa003c70b74c9a24f7823cb378b12&amp;topic=1692.msg55076#new" target="_blank">officially dead</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There it is.<br /><br />A couple of months ago, I had to look at where I was at with Cyclopean.&nbsp; I felt that five years was a reasonable amount of time to develop a turn-based indie CRPG and August marked my first two years working on the game.&nbsp; I asked myself:&nbsp; Is the game 40% complete?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; Is the game 20% complete?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; Surely the game must be at least 10% finished?&nbsp; Perhaps, but entirely on the writing side.&nbsp; What I've got is basically a ton of writing and nothing else.&nbsp; And Ted, still the only other member of Team Omega, just isn't able to dedicate those 20+ hours/week to keep things rolling.&nbsp; Vince has got a relentless, driving ambition to see AoD completed, but I need to know my investment of hundreds-into-thousands of hours is actually going to result in a finished product, and I don't have that confidence in Cyclopean, in fact nothing near it.<br /><br />So a big thank you to all the people who liked the writing, who like Lovecraft, and who support ITS generally!&nbsp; Vince really gave me a great home here while it lasted.&nbsp; I have another less (much less) ambitious project in mind, one that I can actually anticipate will see the light of day, in part because I don't need to recruit anyone else to do it.&nbsp; But I'm not going to reveal it until I have an Alpha build and need testers.&nbsp; I don't want a reputation for stringing people along.<br /><br />One more thing:&nbsp; good luck to the other teams and their talented members under the banner.&nbsp; Go indie!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's too bad, I was looking forward to it.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=2b4fa003c70b74c9a24f7823cb378b12&amp;topic=1692.msg55076#new">ITS</a></p>

 

[Micmu]

Bah.
Shame, but not surprising, really. It met the same fate as 99,9% projects of this kind.

 

[Konjad]

im not surprised

 

[sportforredneck]

KKKankelled.

 

[Trojan_generic]

So, the question is: is AoD 40 % complete?

 

[Zed]

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

[Serious_Business]

 

[Mortmal]

Oh thats not catastrophic , that just means one third of the worth playing upcoming rpgs are cancelled. Not too surprised either many indie project or mod promises extravagant things then crash a few years later , sometimes theres barely anything produced at all.

 

[Volrath]

Vapourware is officially vapourware.

 

[Forest Dweller]

In all honesty I'm a bit surprised at this. Not at it being cancelled (it was suspect when the forum disappeared) but at the reason. I was thinking something like maybe Scott and Vince had some sort of falling out, or that Scott had moved the official forums somewhere else, or that something happened to him where he couldn't work on it anymore, or even that he died. Just not this...pussying out. And yes, I know it's a big responsibility, but come on. I guess there's just levels of dedication, and in the end Scott wasn't as dedicated as VD (or Gareth it appears).

Still, it looks like VD and co are willing to move their entire team over to Cyclopean after AOD is done rather than go on to their own projects. That would certainly solve the manpower problem, and get things done at a quicker pace, so let's hope that's enough to remotivate Scott.

 

[Trash]

Sad but it doesn't really surprise me. It always did sound way overambitious. I do however hope AoD and the Zombie rpg go ahead. VD is a stubborn bastard and the Zombie game is being made by people who actually made games before so I remain *cautiously* hopefull.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

What I've got is basically a ton of writing and nothing else.

Could make a decent text adventure out of that.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Not only is ZRPG being made by pros, but they're doing it full time and already have a lot to show considering how long it's been in development. There's not a doubt in my mind that game will be released. Scars of War is still a little iffy, but if Gareth has kept going after so much time I feel that the game definitely will be released SOMETIME. Just how long, is the question.

It always did sound way overambitious.

Yeah but no more than any of the other ITS projects.

 

[Achilles]

It's a shame, but maybe they'll get the chance to revisit it in the future.

 

[soggie]

FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!

Fuckin' hell, out of all the studios in ITS, Cyclopean was the one I was seriously keeping an eye out for. Dammit!

 

[Fezzik]

Not particularly unexpected, but damn it. If I could snap my fingers and magically have any RPG-hopeful finished tomorrow, it would be Cyclopean.

 

[Jaesun]

FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!

Fuckin' hell, out of all the studios in ITS, Cyclopean was the one I was seriously keeping an eye out for. Dammit!

Same here. fuck.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Sad but it doesn't really surprise me. It always did sound way overambitious.

In what ways? I don't think that Scott's ideas could be described as overambitious. It was a realistic, well defined project. The main features are the Lovecraftian writing and the atmosphere, and I think that Scott really nailed it.

Overall, Scott's a great guy and he deserves respect for trying. Like I said in the other thread, I hope we can revisit the project once we're in position to do more than encourage. Cyclopean is a great project and I'd definitely want to help Scott make it.

In all honesty I'm a bit surprised at this. Not at it being cancelled (it was suspect when the forum disappeared) but at the reason. I was thinking something like maybe Scott and Vince had some sort of falling out, or that Scott had moved the official forums somewhere else, or that something happened to him where he couldn't work on it anymore, or even that he died. Just not this...pussying out.

He didn't pussy out. At the moment Scott has gone as far as he could on his own. He needs a team and he doesn't have one. Simple as that. I hoped that AoD would be shipped by now and we would be able to help, but unfortunately the game isn't ready yet.

I was very, very lucky to find Nick and Oscar, so it's not a question of whether I'm more dedicated than Scott. I'm just a bit more lucky. We were looking for people for Scott and I think we've just found a great programmer (who's a member of this fine establishment since 2002, so his credentials check out), so there is progress but it's slow.

 

[Lesifoere]

FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!

Fuckin' hell, out of all the studios in ITS, Cyclopean was the one I was seriously keeping an eye out for. Dammit!

Same here. fuck.

Ditto. It was the one that really interested me.

 

[Ogg]

Baw, it's like GOG: stupid marketing stunt.

Or at least I wish it was. I really hope it will get some kind of reboot some tiime in the future, you know, when AoD and Dead Dtate will be published... d'oh!

 

[Forest Dweller]

In all honesty I'm a bit surprised at this. Not at it being cancelled (it was suspect when the forum disappeared) but at the reason. I was thinking something like maybe Scott and Vince had some sort of falling out, or that Scott had moved the official forums somewhere else, or that something happened to him where he couldn't work on it anymore, or even that he died. Just not this...pussying out.

He didn't pussy out. At the moment Scott has gone as far as he could on his own. He needs a team and he doesn't have one. Simple as that. I hoped that AoD would be shipped by now and we would be able to help, but unfortunately the game isn't ready yet.

I was very, very lucky to find Nick and Oscar, so it's not a question of whether I'm more dedicated than Scott. I'm just a bit more lucky. We were looking for people for Scott and I think we've just found a great programmer (who's a member of this fine establishment since 2002, so his credentials check out), so there is progress but it's slow.

Well okay. But it didn't seem quite like that based on what he said. Specifically he mentioned not being able to finish it in five years as a deciding factor.

Anyway, if the only issue was him needing a team, and you guys plan on moving over once AOD ships, wouldn't a more appropriate anouncement be "Cyclopean development on hold until AOD is finished"?

 

[mondblut]

Those who actually finish their indie games - like Vogel - tend to hire people when they need a team.

Modders are such modders.

 

[JagreenLern]

Sad, but not surprising. It was just to much to hope for to think a game that sounded that awesome would ever see the light of day.

 

[asper]

What I've got is basically a ton of writing and nothing else.

Could make a decent text adventure out of that.

This. Do it! IF has a small but high-quality fanbase. A lot of contemporary IF has a very high standard. Excellent genre, really.

 

[soggie]

I concur on the text-adventure part.

 

[Elwro]

I, too, hope that Scott tries his luck in developing IF. It's unlikely he will make any money out of it, but it does happen sometimes.