KickStarter Kickstarter Watch.

[Curious_Tongue]

Future Wars

Cruise for a Corpse

Operation Stealth

Would consider playing these.

 

[buzz]

You definitely should, Future Wars especially is one of my favorite adventure games. Flashback is also a pretty great cinematic platformer, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[kaizoku]

In the pitch they mentioned Flashback and although I really liked that game (it was maybe the first computer game I attempted to play -- I was very young then) it has nothing to do with adventure games.

I didn't knew he had made any adventure game, but IIRC I heard good things about Cruise for a Corpse and Operation Stealth.

Another thing was them dropping the word "legendary" to describe him -_-
That is quite a stretch.

 

[JarlFrank]

Solarix is a ‘psychological survival horror’ game featuring massively detailed open-ended levels encompassing both survival and stealth-gameplay styles.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kissltd/solarix?ref=category

System Shock clone with Thief stealth? Colour me interested.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Hmm, After Reset Options and Char creation ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUEThpDwn-w
After all I'm seeing thus far it may be way to ambitioned, but probably not a real scam as some ppl here suggest. Inclined to back (again, since I already backed the first attempt).
Am I too naive?

 

[Jaesun]

Fuck that music was awesome <3

 

[kaizoku]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1867564967/inherit-the-earth-sand-and-shadows?ref=category

A completely new Inherit the Earth game by the creators of the original. Help us continue the adventure and create a great game.

first one on GOG

 

[groke]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1867564967/inherit-the-earth-sand-and-shadows?ref=category

A completely new Inherit the Earth game by the creators of the original. Help us continue the adventure and create a great game.

first one on GOG

Wow, they failed last time and their new goal is $25,000 more than their last. Did they have a demo last time? Do they have a media campaign this time? This is going to fail i don't even

edit: oh man that demo

 

[kaizoku]

That After Reset seems the second most elaborate scam I've ever seen.
The first one being Grimoire.


That AR guy, which goes by the name of Richard Nixon, invests $1k on making vapour and is going to rake in at least $35k.
35x ROI
few businesses give that much

If it was legit he would introduce the team using their real names.




edit:
about ITE, I didn't knew they already tried KS
(btw, haven't played the first one so I don't even know if it's good or not)

 

[Infinitron]

Drama from the brownlands, Yogventure doesn't deliver:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterkewlgames/yogventures/comments

And now it's official: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...kers-given-steam-key-for-another-game-instead

Kickstarter-funded Yogventures canned, backers given Steam key for another game instead

UPDATE 1: Yogscast has issued Eurogamer a statement on the collapse of Yogventures and the demise of its developer Winterkewl Games.

Yogscast said Kickstarter backers should already have received physical rewards, but if any are missing, they should get in touch.

It added that it is working with Nerd Kingdom, developer of replacement game TUG, to create rewards similar to those that were due to be based on Yogventures in-game items.

Refund requests should go to Winterkewl Games, Yogscast told Eurogamer, "however if people come to us we'll do everything we can to find a resolution that everyone is happy with."

The statement is reproduced in full below:

The failure of Yogventures is a matter of deep regret for the Yogscast, we put a lot of faith in the developer Winterkewl, including allowing them to use our likenesses and brand. However the project was too vast in scope to be realised and despite a huge amount of hard work from Winterkewl they have had to abandon it.

The game as it stands it is not capable of being released and certainly wouldn't live up to the expectations of the people that backed the Kickstarter or pre-ordered the game.

However we don't intend to leave it there as we know that the Yogventures backers and buyers are our most dedicated fans so we are intent on finding them some awesome stuff and cool experiences in its place.

Last week we announced that everyone concerned will get a copy of TUG. Nerd Kingdom's game is still in alpha but is shaping up to be everything we wanted Yogventures to be. In addition, we have organised for Nerd Kingdom to have the source code, assets and designs of Yogventures to ensure we're making best use of Winterkewl's work.

For the Yogventures Kickstarter backers the physical rewards should already have been received and we're happy for people to contact us at yogventures@yogscast.com if any are missing so we can look into it for them.

For those rewards that were specifically based on in-game items we're working with Nerd Kingdom to try and match them as closely as possible and will communicate that directly to the people concerned and take any feedback on board.

We also hope to be able to announce other games and fun stuff for the backers and buyers of Yogventures over the summer. Watch this space.

ORIGINAL STORY: Backers of the Kickstarter-funded sandbox game Yogventures have reacted in dismay at the project's cancellation and Yogscast's subsequent offer of a Steam key for open-world survival game TUG instead.

Yogventures raised nearly $570,000 for indie studio Winterkewl Games during the title's Kickstarter campaign back in 2012, more than double its original goal of $250k.

But the project has since petered out, and has now been disowned by celebrity YouTube partners Yogscast.

"As you may have heard, Winterkewl Games have stopped work on Yogventures - but this is actually a good thing," Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley wrote in an email to the game's 13,647 backers. "The project was proving too ambitious and difficult for them to complete with their six-man team.

"While this was Winterkewl's project, we put a lot of time, energy and effort into trying to help them realise their dream. Since we heard the news, we've been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that you still get awesome stuff and cool experiences.

"Although we're under no obligation to do anything, instead we're going to do our best to make this right, and make you really glad you backed the project!"

The first step of this is to give all Yogventure backers a Steam Early Access key for TUG, an open-world survival title that is already in development. Yogscast and TUG developer Nerd Kingdom last week signed an agreement to become partners on the project, replacing the role of Yogventures entirely.

"In many ways TUG is the game we were hoping Winterkewl would create," Brindley continued. "It has huge potential for the future. We've been playing the Early Access version on Steam and you'll soon be able to see us playing the game on Yogscast channels."

But many backers are unhappy with the change - and some have asked for a refund.

"Just wondering, would it be possible to get a refund instead of a key for TUG?" one backer asked.

"I already own TUG as I backed it on here, will there be an option for a refund?" another quizzed.

The issue of a refund is even more of a problem for those who paid extra for other rewards on top of a copy of the game. Over 1000 people pledged more than $90 to the project in return for Yogventures t-shirts, prints, DVDs, comic books, plushies, statues and other merchandise, as well as in-game bonuses. Some had already shipped, but many had not.

"It's the project creator's responsibility to complete their project," Kickstarter's FAQ page states. "Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it."

Project creators sign a document legally requiring them to fulfil any stated rewards, but it is up to the creators themselves to adhere to this and work out a refund policy if applicable.

Over 200 people put down more than $300, while five backers opted for the most lavish $10,000 tier where you could go and have lunch with Yogscast themselves.

"Because Yogventures never completed it's going to be impossible to deliver the rewards relating to the finished game," Brindley stated. "However we'll do everything we can to find cool things to take their place." More details and further peace offerings were being considered, he concluded, but would be announced at a later time.

The likelihood of any refund from developer Winterkewl Games looks remote, however. The studio will "probably" now go out of business, lead developer Kris Vale explained.

"Working on Yogventures was an amazing experience and everyone at Winterkewl Games really wanted to achieve the very lofty goals the game set out to do, but lack of experience in planning and managing a project of this scope proved too much for our little team," he said.

"I can't speak for the Yogscast and I make no claims that I do, for their own reasons they decided the game wasn't up to the quality they needed it to be to make videos supporting our pre-order business model. That was and is their prerogative and we had no way of influencing that decision other than making the game as best we could with what we had to work with."

Vale ended up sinking more than $25,000 of his own personal money into the project before Yogscast decided it wanted to pull the plug.

"We missed milestone after milestone and continued to come up short of the quality expectations and thus the Yogscast didn't want to advertise the pre-orders until it did meet those expectations," Vale continued, adding that his personal life also suffered considerably.

"I wish more than anything I would have had this fore-knowledge before we ever began this project," he concluded. "If we would have limited the scope and made a solid plan for working more closely with the Yogscast I have every faith this project would have been a real stand-out achievement in the indie game world."

 

[Infinitron]

Kz3r0 There's more! http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...i-officially-a-vapourware.88632/#post-3389663

 

[Kz3r0]

Kz3r0 There's more! http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...i-officially-a-vapourware.88632/#post-3389663

Well, they delivered after all.

 

[Azazel]

Yogventures should surprise nobody, the developer who started it posted a blog about how he was an Art Institute drop out who had never even made a mod in his entire life. How the fuck he got handed half a million dollars is beyond me, and the fact that more people aren't aware of this and actually try to defend the whole debacle blows my fucking mind.

 

[Infinitron]

Yogventures should surprise nobody, the developer who started it posted a blog about how he was an Art Institute drop out who had never even made a mod in his entire life. How the fuck he got handed half a million dollars is beyond me, and the fact that more people aren't aware of this and actually try to defend the whole debacle blows my fucking mind.

Kz3r0 MOAR: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterkewlgames/yogventures/posts/919100

Holy shit that artist screwup

 

[Metro]

So glad that shit failed.

 

[Abelian]

Unfortunately, right off the bat we had one major incident that happened that we could not fix. Our good friend and matte painter really terrific artist that created most of the concept art with environments on the Kickstarter page, he left PDI to work at LucasArts. LucasArts wouldn't give him a carve out in his contract to work on Yogventures so he couldn't work on the project any longer.

This is a very good example of how my inexperience caused some problems in the development. Because we had worked out a contract that guaranteed each of the principal artists a $35,000 lump sum payment, and we didn't make any clear clause on how and why someone could legally stop working on the project, The artist in question got paid, worked for about 2 weeks and then stopped working on the project. We had no way to force that person to pay back any of the funds and it was a bitter lesson to learn. Always get every possible scenario in writing or you will have no legal recourse.

If the concept artist was such a "good friend", why didn't he return most of the money back? I agree that a written agreement should have been a no-brainer, but taking the money and running off is theft. Anyway, I don't really care since I never heard of Yogcast except in connecting with this Kickstarter project. Some of the artwork looked nice, though, in Roger Dean style (Yes fans known what I'm talking about).

 

[Alchemist]

That was my thought as well. Seems quite a dick move to work 2 weeks and not follow through on the commitment, or return some of the money. Nice friend there. But indeed the contract terms weren't well thought out. Payment should should have been contingent on delivery of assets.

 

[Destroid]

25% for fees to kickstarter/amazon?

 

[almondblight]

Kz3r0 MOAR: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterkewlgames/yogventures/posts/919100

So much shit there. The Yogscast people say it wasn't their game and they are under no obligation to pay up, but they were the ones that controlled the money and were allowed to pull the plug? On top of that they collected "licensing fees" from Winterkewl for the game? The guy also basically says without saying it that Yogscast took $100,000 to hire programmers and kept it for themselves (maybe those were the "licensing fees"?). Hope someone sues them. Oh yeah, and fuck RPS for their continual "Kickstarter scams are fine and legal" line that they keep bringing out (and brought out for this as well).

25% for fees to kickstarter/amazon?

10%. So that's either over $100k of fake pledges, "taxes" (most Kickstarters either lie to their backers about this or are too stupid to understand expenses, I still haven't figured out which), or more skimming from the top (which could be "taxes", depending on what it actually is).

 

[Infinitron]

Yogventures should surprise nobody, the developer who started it posted a blog about how he was an Art Institute drop out who had never even made a mod in his entire life. How the fuck he got handed half a million dollars is beyond me, and the fact that more people aren't aware of this and actually try to defend the whole debacle blows my fucking mind.

Kz3r0 MOAR: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterkewlgames/yogventures/posts/919100

Holy shit that artist screwup

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-development-how-yogscast-lost-faith-early-on

Following Winterkewl's statement, Yogscast has posted its own brief response - although few new details were revealed.

"We're not ready to make a detailed statement about what happened with Yogventures," Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley wrote. "Winterkewl's statement omits much and I would disagree with a number of points, but there's no value in going into detail. Our only goal right now is to ensure that we provide the best possible experience for the backers that we can. I can honestly say this has been our goal throughout.

"To keep things simple, the facts are:

• Winterkewl failed to meet their promises with Yogventures
• The Yogscast are doing their best to rectify this situation - TUG is only the first step
• Any monies the Yogscast have received in connection with this project has been spent on this project

"I would just like to say that this project was started when The Yogscast was just me and Simon making videos out of our bedrooms. We met Kris and trusted his qualifications and assertions that we could trust him with our brand and even more importantly, our audience. Needless to say, I'm upset and embarrassed, but strongly believe the backers will end up getting far more value and a far better result than they originally anticipated when they backed this project."

 

[Azazel]

This is what happens when kids in a basement get it into their heads that they are big shot "businessmen", I see it all too commonly in my line of work (dealing directly with these YouTube fucklenuts). The whole industry needs to die.

 

[sbb]

This is what happens when kids in a basement get it into their heads that they are big shot "businessmen", I see it all too commonly in my line of work (dealing directly with these YouTube fucklenuts). The whole industry needs to die.

What exactly is your line of work?

 

[Azazel]

I am a copy/paste macro that should have been automated years ago.

 

[almondblight]

So, like 80% of the office jobs in the US.

 

[J_C]

Some more drama:

Spoiler

The world of crowdfunding is full of projects that never quite deliver what they've promised, but how often does a half-million-dollar Kickstarter simply disappear?

Yogventures, an ambitious video game project helmed by a group of YouTubers called The Yogscast, raised over $567,000 back in 2012 to make what they called "the game you've always wanted."

Last week, the developers of Yogventures announced that they had cancelled the game, and that backers would not be getting refunds. So what happened? Where did the money go? Let's break it down.

Just what is a Yogscast?
The Yogscast is a group of popular personalities that regularly make videos on YouTube about games like Minecraft and World of Warcraft. They've got a ton of fans—7 million subscribers on YouTube alone—and over the years they've evolved into a genuine corporation, with their own forums, store, and podcast that many find funny and entertaining.

But even before this failed Kickstarter, not all has been rosy. Just a couple of weeks ago, Yogscast ran into some controversy when they announced a revenue-sharing program in which their personalities would make videos about games like Space Engineers in exchange for a percentage of revenue from the game. Many saw this as a serious conflict of interest.

Still, a lot of people like them.
Yep—fans dug Yogscast enough to dish out $567,665 when they launched a Kickstarter for their "open world sandbox game" back in April of 2012. Over 13,000 people donated to the project in hopes of making Yogventures a reality.

So The Yogscast is also a game developer?
Nope! As they wrote on the Kickstarter page:

Lewis and Simon can barely manage a simple jumping puzzle - so the Yogscast aren't going to be doing any actual coding! We aren't programmers or artists but luckily we have close friends at Winterkewl Games who are. They are a team of talented indie developers based in and around Hollywood, California. Their artists and programmers are long-time veterans of film and game companies - working at the highest levels of production.

'Winterkewl' Games? Really?
Really. This was their first game.

That seems like a red flag.
There were a lot of red flags with this one. For starters, the promises they made were way too ambitious: randomly-generated game worlds, a crafting system, an in-game physics engine, customizable characters, and so forth. "Since we'll be helping to develop the game we'll be able to ask YOU the players what features you want and actually have them created," they wrote. "This game will be the ultimate mod where anything we can dream we can build!"

They also estimated a December 2012 release date.

I'm guessing they didn't make that.
Right! In March of 2013, the developers announced that they'd entered alpha, and by August of that year, they were already talking about serious financial issues:

Unfortunately, that ate the majority of our budget while we worked in R&D so ever since December 2012 we have had to fund the development of Yogventures! ourselves. "What does that mean?" I can hear you ask. Well it means the team initially all took time off of our "day jobs" to dedicate to Yogventures, it turns out it was no where near enough time and we had to all go back to those day jobs and continue development on nights and weekends and lunch breaks and pretty much anywhere we can fit in a few hours to tackle the enormous amount of work needed. I'm proud of the team for sticking by the project despite our initial set backs and delays. It's a testament to how much we all believe in this game and how much we really want to do a good job for all of you that helped Kickstart this company and get us off the ground and running! Hopefully in the near future, we will be able to expand even more and put even more time and effort into making Yogventures! what we all know it really can be, which is great fun!

Uh oh!

Did they keep working on the game after that?
Yep. On August 28, 2013, Yogventures entered open beta for Kickstarter backers. If you weren't a backer, you could pay $30 for access. Over the next few months, fans played the beta and sent feedback to the developers, and the vibe seemed generally good. Sure, the project was delayed, but at least there was a game there.

Then, in early 2014, Winterkewl went silent. They stopped updating the game, and fans started posting on the forums asking what had happened, and why it seemed like there was no progress.

The beginning of the end.
Yeah. In early July, Winterkewl founder Kris Vale announced that he had shut down the company and turned over all development work back to Yogscast. He said that he had invested $25,000 of his own money into the game, and that the work had cost him his marriage:

I tried to cut all costs and continue the development even after the heavy losses of 2013 but the stress of trying to work full time and be full time on the game ultimately caused me to ruin my relationship with my wife, and she filed for divorce because I was so obsessed with finishing this game that she couldn't take not seeing me anymore. When the divorce began I suffered a bit of a crisis personally and had to take a medical leave of absence from work. I almost lost my job too.

I'm deeply sorry that despite our best efforts we never reached a level of play-ability that inspired enough confidence from not only the community but even the Yogscast themselves. This is my fault, I agreed to every feature request we got because I didn't want to lose the opportunity. I wanted so badly to make this project a reality I ignored the real-world risks to the point that I almost lost everything and worst of all I let you all down.

Whoa.
Yep. A couple of weeks later, Yogscast sent a letter to their backers saying the game had been cancelled. "Although we're under no obligation to do anything," they wrote, "instead we're going to do our best to make this right, and make you really glad that you backed the project!"

Though backers would no longer receive copies of the game as part of the Kickstarter's rewards—there was no game to give!—Yogscast promised to instead send out codes for a game called TUG, which was made by some of their friends.

(You can read the full letter from Yogscast to backers here.)

Were they really under "no obligation" to do anything?
Nope. From Kickstarter's FAQ:

Is a creator legally obligated to fulfill the promises of their project?

Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) This information can serve as a basis for legal recourse if a creator doesn't fulfill their promises. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.

Fans who have asked for refunds have been told by Winterkewl that they've spent all the money on development and won't be able to give anyone their pledges back, even though they couldn't deliver on any of those rewards.

Wait a minute. What happened all of that Kickstarter money?
Great question! The most recent update on Yogventure's Kickstarter has a full breakdown of how Winterkewl claims the money was divvied up once Amazon and Kickstarter had taken their fees:

• $35,000.00 Concept Art / Sky boxes / Environment Textures (Senior matte painter / concept artist from PDI Dreamworks)
• $35,000.00 Concept Art / Character Designs / UI Design (Senior Character Designer Treyarch)
• $35,000.00 Modeling (Senior Modeler from Dreamworks)
• $35,000.00 Textures / Surfacing / Shader development (Senior Surface Artist from Dreamworks)
• $35,000.00 Animation (Senior Animator from Dreamworks)
• $35,000.00 Programming / Unity Development (Myself Unity Developer)
• $15,000.00 Unity Developer part time / intern
• $100,000.00 Programming / Application Architecture / Back-end Server Code / Voxel Engine (TBD, we were courting several programmers with lots of game experience over the course of the Kickstarter)
• $3500.00 Legal Fees Contracts
• $1500.00 Accountant Fees
• $15000.00 Hardware (PC computers)
• $5000.00 Software Licenses
• $15,000.00 Escrow for expenses related to development like buying Unity Assets etc.
• $50,000.00 Physical Rewards creation and Shipping

That was the plan, they say. But then, Winterkewl's Kris Vale says, one of their artists quit after two weeks to join LucasArts—keeping the $35,000 lump sum they'd paid him—and his new contract prevented him from working on the Yogventures project.

Yogscast's Lewis Brindley was upset, wrote Vale, and asked for Winterkewl to send them all of the Kickstarter money they hadn't already spent.

"In the end we negotiated that $150,000 would be transferred to the Yogscast with the understanding that they would use that money exclusively to create and ship all the physical rewards, AND they would help hire the main programmer that we still didn't have on the project," Vale wrote.

What happened to that $150,000?
Another great question! Yogscast isn't saying. On Saturday, Brindley addressed Vale's most recent update with a post on Reddit that seemed to handwave Winterkewl's claims:

Hiya,

We're not ready to make a detailed statement about what happened with Yogventures. Winterkewl's statement omits much and I would disagree with a number of points, but there's no value in going into detail. Our only goal right now is to ensure that we provide the best possible experience for the backers that we can. I can honestly say this has been our goal throughout.

To keep things simple, the facts are:

• Winterkewl failed to meet their promises with Yogventures
• The Yogscast are doing their best to rectify this situation - TUG is only the first step
• Any monies the Yogscast have received in connection with this project has been spent on this project

I would just like to say that this project was started when The Yogscast was just me and Simon making videos out of our bedrooms. We met Kris and trusted his qualifications and assertions that we could trust him with our brand and even more importantly, our audience. Needless to say, I'm upset and embarrassed, but strongly believe the backers will end up getting far more value and a far better result than they originally anticipated when they backed this project.

Lewis

Wow, this is really ugly.
Yep. There's lots of finger-pointing going on here, and more importantly, there are over 13,000 people who aren't getting the rewards they were promised when they gave their money to this project. The story could get even uglier if one of those Kickstarter backers decides to try to pursue legal action.

For now? Let this be yet another cautionary tale: be careful what you Kickstart.​

Serves these people right to fund the dream game of some youtube celebrities.