Vapourware Corven: Path of Redemption - reboot of cancelled Ultima IX fan game

[0sacred]

he seems superbly qualified for failing horribly at game dev

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Problem, contractual obligations and all that will still haunt him until he declares bankruptcy.

True, although it seems like he should be able to refund his backers over a couple of years if he chooses to: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathias-florian-kasper-8a25a5125/

Holy shit, he really IS a fake it till you make it. All the way to "Chief". I guess his wife saw through it finally.

( The situation kind of reminds me of how this asshat can't even run a QA server but supposedly is an IT Tier 3 Disaster Recovery and Mitigation Engineer. )

Edit: I don't think they're working at Sugar Mountain Resort anymore, unless the updates for Jan + Feb 2022 were lying:

First of all: I am working full time on Corven starting next month already. This is a dream come true and it took many many years to achieve this kind of freedom, to do what I actually want to do as a job.

Arguably the least important consequence is that I have more time for things outside the development itself again, and so we are back on Twitter and Facebook. Links will follow. The original Twitter link is restricted by Twitter for some reason, so it might be a new twitter handle.

Linkedin:

Chief Information OfficerChief Information Officer
Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc.Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc.Jul 2017 - Present · 5 yrs 11 mosJul 2017 - Present · 5 yrs 11 mos
Sugar Mountain · On-site

I think that hasn't been updated in a while, as it's kind of hard to have an on-site job when moving out of state. So basically a year out of employed work and taking a substantial paycut until things went to shit when the due date passed by:

The initial goal was to be done by the end of the year, but that obviously did not happen. I worked relentless on the game, no vacations, nothing, but still I am far from done. I was too optimistic.

After all the experience I gathered over the last 2 years I reevaluated the time it will take me to be done. It will be by the end of 2024. There is no sugar coating it, this is just how it is. I don't want to string you along month by month, I want to be honest.

That whole update post sounds like he's been through the argument before and here's the results for what he told the wife. It didn't work there with someone who could see more than us, so yeah, it's done.

Edit Edit: Yup, Sugar Mountain Resort hasn't updated their website with the change, but they did note the departure like most companies.

What the fuck...

 

[Eli_Havelock]

July 2022's update* from the Kickstarter comments section:

Lycantic Creator 4 days ago
Quick reminder that the demo can be downloaded here:
website with instructions (incl. dl link at the end):
http://www.lycantic.com/corven-kickstarter-demo/
direct dl link:
http://www.lycantic.com/cdl/CorvenDemoV1.3.zip

Why is this being brought out again? Is it going to be used somewhere else to bait more money?


* - It follows June 2022's update, of course. Which goes along with now promoting the 1.3 demo from January 2021.

 

[Infinitron]

Eli_Havelock There was a backers-only update two days ago, does anybody here have access?

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Eli_Havelock There was a backers-only update two days ago, does anybody here have access?

Did you ask Stirring Dragon Games?

In all seriousness, I hope it is better news.
Realistically, it is probably not.
The worst thing about this is that Lord Brexit could save something here of his own legacy.

Redemption, if you will.

 

[Beast British]

I wish this cunt would count me as a "cancelled pledge". Talk about being a hypocrite; have those shitters at SDG refunded anyone?

 

[Eli_Havelock]

I am pretty sure Richard Garriott can still afford to refund all, since his involvement was promoted and this fairly well leans on Ultima that it might as well be called Deathlord 2. Yay Ultima references used more subtly than the IP infringement here!

Could EA's lawyers have finally noticed?

 

[Beastro]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1782768871/corven-path-of-redemption-0/posts/3483005

March 2022
April 15, 2022


Hi!


I am working on the "Cape of Heroes" area including "Trinsic". Still too soon to show screenshots or a video, but it's coming along nicely. Beside that I was also working on integrating new dialogue, updating the UIX dialogue we had etc.

Short text, a lot of work.


Here is a new backer (Dominus) portrait:


Original:

Corven portrait:

Till next time!

Florian

Missed opportunity to have him rubbing his hands together.

 

[vitellus]

how coincidental that both these vaporware dramas (and codex darlings!) release something within the span of a week

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Missed opportunity to have him rubbing his hands together.

Most KS cheer and get congratulated for amounts that must seem like the most digits they had in one place in their life. They set their goals for [BIG(?) AMOUNT], they can do it!

SUCCESS! lol

Only do ever a few of them even bother to realistically calculate Time * Expenses = $

Even the SDG "mentors" giving some revelation about how it works are just now presenting their realization of (Startup Overhead + (Time * Expenses)) = $

The thing SDG should be questioning is how much they are to be encouraging others to develop out of their means, since those two have been clearly... challenged.

Then again, most of the vaporware devs like this (and other KS fails to deliver like Kinectic Void's questionable state and more) have a basic failure to understand (Production / Interval) = Time

Do you get a certain amount of content or features completed per month? Or do you just deliver a portrait someone else did while talking about the basics of hint hint nudge nudge plagiarism? How long will your development take and cost?

One rando does not an Ultima game make in any decade soon; Richard knew this himself as repayment for the public criticism Corv did for Shroud of the Avatar on Reddit before going DFE and sucking up for endorsement. But even Richard could tell that horrible intro was nothing that would sit well with the core of Ultima fans, for how far off it was, ergo Richard's involvement was to drive up expectations that Corv could not deliver upon.

Richard knew this because he keeps failing to deliver on his own reputation.

This is why I think Richard, for all his experience and expertise he would boast about, would know what state development for Corven was in. His promotion can be his responsibility, too.

Also...
It's actually (1.20 (+20%) Aditional Contingency * (Production / Interval) = Time

The weird thing is that all of these KS are run by supposedly functional adults, but they're running in by the encouragement of some of the dodgier institutions like kids being sold student loans they'll never repay.

KS is quite literally a loan on your reputation for your ability to deliver; some start out with a shit credit rating and have been encouraged into giant predatory loans with tons of interest. Then they graduate "Kickstarter University of Game Development" and find out that there really isn't an industry job waiting for them.

That was it.

These nostalgiafagbaits are a too-common Steam Early Access meme. Just wait until these folks hit their "LumberingTroll" phase.

It'll be great!

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Nothing quite like a drunken Discord discussion to have an industry artist quip up "You're telling me people paid HOW MUCH for AI gen art? I'm in the wrong fucking business, mate."

Then I noticed it.

Someone is using a fantasy avatar generator that uses a base photo. Sure, it looks like a good job at casual glance, but whatever they are using seems to have difficulty when flipped into mirror mode, and keeps certain crop details to provide some hilarity.

That index finger (and the leather stud pattern seems weird, especially on the collar):

Oops, his septum piercing fell out!
(There were other details that make it unbelievable an actual artist was involved.)

This one is the (ah-ha!) topper for bad AI gen with that neck:

Nobody who could put that kind of attention to fabric detail would make such otherwise basic mistakes of positioning and anatomy evident in the sketch phase.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Update relayed via DIscord:

Honestly, getting his life back together is the best option right now. "Corven" isn't going to suddenly happen overnight after 15+ years of dev hell.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Nothing quite like a drunken Discord discussion to have an industry artist quip up "You're telling me people paid HOW MUCH for AI gen art? I'm in the wrong fucking business, mate."

Then I noticed it.

Someone is using a fantasy avatar generator that uses a base photo. Sure, it looks like a good job at casual glance, but whatever they are using seems to have difficulty when flipped into mirror mode, and keeps certain crop details to provide some hilarity.

That index finger (and the leather stud pattern seems weird, especially on the collar):

Oops, his septum piercing fell out!
(There were other details that make it unbelievable an actual artist was involved.)

This one is the (ah-ha!) topper for bad AI gen with that neck:

Nobody who could put that kind of attention to fabric detail would make such otherwise basic mistakes of positioning and anatomy evident in the sketch phase.

Still looks better than about 80% of actual RPG avatars.

 

[Contagium]

Must be something about game developers not being able to keep their shit together after taking money from Kickstarters or early access. Life falls apart, dog gets cancer, or the random "moving house" that takes six months apparently (when we bought our house in 2018 we spent the weekend moving and I went back to work Monday, but what the fuck do I know)

 

[Eli_Havelock]

That's probably why a bunch of artists are now out of business. Who needs to do actual decent commission work anymore when a Google Play/Apple Store AI app result is considered passable?

Those portraits were basically the only things actually shown in updates except for the U6 theme remix and the demo getting some polish. The rest was mostly leaning on Ultima location names.

Considering that my wife can screenshot and share something from Discord within 5 seconds, I am finding it really difficult to believe the update stories about location detail.

You would think that someone would want to show off the results of their full-time dream job to the community which paid for it, but instead here's some FacePlay by someone else, see you next month if I remember to post.

 

[Beast British]

That's probably why a bunch of artists are now out of business. Who needs to do actual decent commission work anymore when a Google Play/Apple Store AI app result is considered passable?

They can learn2code and open their own kickstarters and get 40k+ for nothing.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

That's probably why a bunch of artists are now out of business. Who needs to do actual decent commission work anymore when a Google Play/Apple Store AI app result is considered passable?

They can learn2code and open their own kickstarters and get 40k+ for nothing.

Is even that much required now to nostalgia grift?

Four years ago had moveable objects as cause for celebration after switching engines. That prorgressed up to the demo. From what has been shown, there hasn't been much to suggest coding skills are present. This will have the result of trying to add a feature and having to stop everything else to troubleshoot why the game doesn't work at all anymore.

The same goes for SDG, where they were supposedly natively developing on C64, but then they prove they SEUCK:

The 8-Bit Superstar - To reward our most elite backers, we've created a one of a kind reward tier where you can literally star in your own custom-designed C64/PC shoot em up style video game. We wanted to make sure this reward was all about you, the backer, because that is what it's all about for us. We don't want to run a company where we're the superstars, we want to run a company where YOU are the superstars so this reward is our way of expressing the ultimate level of thanks and gratitude to our most generous backers.

 

[adamantyr]

I wish this cunt would count me as a "cancelled pledge". Talk about being a hypocrite; have those shitters at SDG refunded anyone?

Yes, I was refunded without warning in March 2021. This has the effect of removing all your comments from the KS, which I'm guessing was their goal. I know others who also got refunded, mainly to mask out criticism.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Now we just need to figure out exactly what needs to be said to get a refund when directly asking for a refund will not work.

Then tell it to all of those who have tried over the years. Eventually there may be some incentive for devs to show good faith again.

 

[adamantyr]

Now we just need to figure out exactly what needs to be said to get a refund when directly asking for a refund will not work.

If you are a KS backer, posting constant complaints apparently works eventually. Squeaky wheel.

A friend of mine backed them on a defunct crowdsourcing platform, which means he gets no news at all and they can't refund him, much less track his contribution.

 

[CorvsEXQueen]

Florians EX WIFE here. Corv, CorvDragon or whatever the hell he goes by these days.
I AM NOT A FACTOR IN THE DELAY OF THIS GAME AND NEITHER WAS OUR DIVORCE. He filed for divorce meaning it was his choice to leave. "Anything but straightforward" my arse. From the time we filed paperwork to the time the divorce was finalized was 2 months. That's unheard of in NC. I refuse to let him use a divorce that he chose to be an excuse for his delay in producing a product that he has promised those who donated on Kickstarter. I haven't been a factor in his life for the past year as he left the residence in December of 2022. He's been in Boston, Austria and NC as far as I know. He has residences in Boston and here in NC as well because he does indeed work in both states at different times of the year. Again, he's using a divorce that he chose as excuse and I felt the need to state that I am not the cause of the delay.

 

[Infinitron]

Florians EX WIFE here. Corv, CorvDragon or whatever the hell he goes by these days.
I AM NOT A FACTOR IN THE DELAY OF THIS GAME AND NEITHER WAS OUR DIVORCE. He filed for divorce meaning it was his choice to leave. "Anything but straightforward" my arse. From the time we filed paperwork to the time the divorce was finalized was 2 months. That's unheard of in NC. I refuse to let him use a divorce that he chose to be an excuse for his delay in producing a product that he has promised those who donated on Kickstarter. I haven't been a factor in his life for the past year as he left the residence in December of 2022. He's been in Boston, Austria and NC as far as I know. He has residences in Boston and here in NC as well because he does indeed work in both states at different times of the year. Again, he's using a divorce that he chose as excuse and I felt the need to state that I am not the cause of the delay.

Please be real.

 

[Abu Antar]

'Sup Drog

 

[CorvsEXQueen]

I am indeed real. Not a freaking bot like your homeboy "Corv".

 

[Infinitron]

Believe it or not, the IP address checks out!

So, CorvsEXQueen, what exactly happened here? If it's too personal to talk about your marriage, what about the game? He worked on this for years and years under various titles after all.