Vapourware Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen - Chaos Chronicles reborn and dead again

[Nikanuur]

Ah, this is like unicorns rebirth. Now, someone finaly dig out what was left of that Albion 1995 sequel and finish it please.

 

[Fowyr]

Now, someone finaly dig out what was left of that Albion 1996 sequel and finish it please.

Please, tell me more. I never heard that Albion has unfinished sequel.

Jarl was the heart and soul of that thing. If it dies maybe we can pick it up for peanuts so he can finish it.

There are a bad amount of people who would literally not buy the game just because his name is attached to it once they find out who he is. A Realms beyond picked up and finished by frank will undoubtedly fail. Might be a fun game though.

So what? Look at the Grimoire. Usual suspects are dropping dead left and right just catching a visage of mighty Cleve.

 

[Nikanuur]

Now, someone finaly dig out what was left of that Albion 1996 sequel and finish it please.

Please, tell me more. I never heard that Albion has unfinished sequel.

Jarl was the heart and soul of that thing. If it dies maybe we can pick it up for peanuts so he can finish it.

There are a bad amount of people who would literally not buy the game just because his name is attached to it once they find out who he is. A Realms beyond picked up and finished by frank will undoubtedly fail. Might be a fun game though.

So what? Look at the Grimoire. Usual suspects are dropping dead left and right just catching a visage of mighty Cleve.

It was called differently, even back then (around 2005 or so) there were mostly just hints. But I remember seeing a few screenshots and an article from a renown e-mag. I am sorry to say that even after an extensive search, I don't find any information whatsoever about this project nowadays.

 

[Aemar]

https://www.realms-beyond.com/forum/index.php?topic=440.0

daveyd summed up the situation:

RB is not currently being worked on because the business manager / level designer who owns 50% of the company & was supposed to be finding the game a publisher basically abandoned the project in late 2020. This year he has been unresponsive when Hobgoblin42 the programmer (other 50% owner) contacted him with anything pertaining to the company. Unfortunately as 50% owner they require his approval to sign with a publisher or make any business decisions (he could legally shut down any attempts to sell anything related to RB).

Ceres is expected to go bankrupt very soon. Why? The company received a portion of a government grant in 2019. But they are expected to show progress and release a finished product. Since they cannot, Ceres is required to pay back what they've received... as some of the money has been spent, the company will be forced to declare bankruptcy. Then assets & IP of the game will be auctioned off to pay down company debts. The programmer personally owns the RB game engine so he will retain that no matter what.

After bankruptcy, the programmer and the lead writer plan to form a new company and attempt to buy the assets back with personal funds. If all goes well, the programmer and writer will resume work on the project with the new plan of first making smaller adventure modules that can be made in a relatively short time period with a small budget. These would be standalone stories (similar to some of the premium Neverwinter Nights modules). They will give the small module/s to RB backers and sell to anyone else interested. If it sells well, then they will probably make some more small modules, with the eventual goal of resuming work on the larger "Ashes of the Fallen" game as originally pitched.

If they are not able to get back the RB assets & IP from the auction, then they still hope to create a new game project with the RB engine. It would likely still be similar in many ways (turn-based party cRPG with 3.5e rules). But obviously this would be a major setback as they'd have to commission or acquire new art, music, etc. and start from scratch with the lore & world-building.

So is the game cancelled? Vaporware? Call it what you'd like. For now, I'd call it development limbo or Hell. We'll hopefully get more definite news later this year.

As the lead writer said on the RB Discord channel wrote:

TharagavverugIt's not "cancelled". Nobody sat down and made the decision to stop development on the game. One owner is unresponsive and his actions interfere with the company's work, but Hob and me are still willing to keep working on the game and finish up something releasable, even if it's just a smaller module for the start. Were it not for the other owner, we would resume development part-time right away.

 

[NJClaw]

If they are not able to get back the RB assets & IP from the auction, then they still hope to create a new game project with the RB engine. It would likely still be similar in many ways (turn-based party cRPG with 3.5e rules). But obviously this would be a major setback as they'd have to commission or acquire new art, music, etc. and start from scratch with the lore & world-building.

 

[Ontopoly]

Any theories on why the co owner decided to disappear? Is he dead? Was it stress? Does he even exist? Or was it all a lie to make the actual owner look better when he couldn't deliver?

 

[Ontopoly]

We as a society don't deserve realms beyond. We've done nothing to earn it. It's too good for us and I'm actually ashamed that I once thought that I even deserved to look upon it. I'm sure there's a world out there that is filled with better people who are all enjoying it right now.

 

[Aemar]

We as a society don't deserve realms beyond. We've done nothing to earn it. It's too good for us and I'm actually ashamed that I once thought that I even deserved to look upon it. I'm sure there's a world out there that is filled with better people who are all enjoying it right now.

Something a flagellant would say.

 

[Desiderius]

Any theories on why the co owner decided to disappear? Is he dead? Was it stress? Does he even exist? Or was it all a lie to make the actual owner look better when he couldn't deliver?

The shadow owner is JarlFrank.

 

[PapaPetro]

How fabulously depressing...

 

[JarlFrank]

Any theories on why the co owner decided to disappear? Is he dead? Was it stress? Does he even exist? Or was it all a lie to make the actual owner look better when he couldn't deliver?

The shadow owner is JarlFrank.

I fucking wish.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

"We can't do any business decision because the owner of the other half of the company doesn't even bother picking up the phone" is a whole new grotesque level of incompetence/negligence, by the way.
Like, Jesus Christ, if I'd be in the shoes of the "other owner" (Hobgoblin42, apparently) I'd be camping in front of this fucker's house as long as needed to intercept him in person, if I had to.

 

[Max Heap]

https://www.realms-beyond.com/forum/index.php?topic=440.0

daveyd summed up the situation:

RB is not currently being worked on because the business manager / level designer who owns 50% of the company & was supposed to be finding the game a publisher basically abandoned the project in late 2020. This year he has been unresponsive when Hobgoblin42 the programmer (other 50% owner) contacted him with anything pertaining to the company. Unfortunately as 50% owner they require his approval to sign with a publisher or make any business decisions (he could legally shut down any attempts to sell anything related to RB).

Ceres is expected to go bankrupt very soon. Why? The company received a portion of a government grant in 2019. But they are expected to show progress and release a finished product. Since they cannot, Ceres is required to pay back what they've received... as some of the money has been spent, the company will be forced to declare bankruptcy. Then assets & IP of the game will be auctioned off to pay down company debts. The programmer personally owns the RB game engine so he will retain that no matter what.

After bankruptcy, the programmer and the lead writer plan to form a new company and attempt to buy the assets back with personal funds. If all goes well, the programmer and writer will resume work on the project with the new plan of first making smaller adventure modules that can be made in a relatively short time period with a small budget. These would be standalone stories (similar to some of the premium Neverwinter Nights modules). They will give the small module/s to RB backers and sell to anyone else interested. If it sells well, then they will probably make some more small modules, with the eventual goal of resuming work on the larger "Ashes of the Fallen" game as originally pitched.

If they are not able to get back the RB assets & IP from the auction, then they still hope to create a new game project with the RB engine. It would likely still be similar in many ways (turn-based party cRPG with 3.5e rules). But obviously this would be a major setback as they'd have to commission or acquire new art, music, etc. and start from scratch with the lore & world-building.

So is the game cancelled? Vaporware? Call it what you'd like. For now, I'd call it development limbo or Hell. We'll hopefully get more definite news later this year.

As the lead writer said on the RB Discord channel wrote:

TharagavverugIt's not "cancelled". Nobody sat down and made the decision to stop development on the game. One owner is unresponsive and his actions interfere with the company's work, but Hob and me are still willing to keep working on the game and finish up something releasable, even if it's just a smaller module for the start. Were it not for the other owner, we would resume development part-time right away.

Wait a minute... if they have to declare bankruptcy, cause they can't pay back the government grant, how are they gonna buy back the license/assets?

I'd assume the license/assets are the company's most valuable property and monetizing them is supposed to cover the debt, i.e., the unsettled government grant.

Where are they taking that money from?

Also, this scenario requires that nobody else is interested in that stuff.
Didn't work out so well with Chaos Chronicles...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"We can't do any business decision because the owner of the other half of the company doesn't even bother picking up the phone" is a whole new grotesque level of incompetence/negligence, by the way.
Like, Jesus Christ, if I'd be in the shoes of the "other owner" (Hobgoblin42, apparently) I'd be camping in front of this fucker's house as long as needed to intercept him in person, if I had to.

almost like someone might not be entirely honest with what's going on here or something

 

[NJClaw]

Like, Jesus Christ, if I'd be in the shoes of the "other owner" (Hobgoblin42, apparently) I'd be camping in front of this fucker's house as long as needed to intercept him in person, if I had to.

No, you wouldn't. Because, if you were the other owner (Hobgoblin42), you would know that this entire excuse is pure bullshit.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

No, you wouldn't. Because, if you were the other owner (Hobgoblin42), you would know that this entire excuse is pure bullshit.

Yeah, well, yes.
That was assuming the story to be true. Which I don't think it is.

EDIT- Also, did anyone here actually get a chance to try that famous "combat beta"?
I never read impressions about it (if it was even released in the end) and no, I'm not going to retroactively browse 100+ pages to find out what I missed.

 

[Jarpie]

RPGCodex fundraiser to buy the IP etc and put JarlFrank in charge of the project when?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

RPGCodex fundraiser to buy the IP etc and put JarlFrank in charge of the project when?

do you really want an rpg about feet?

 

[Jarpie]

RPGCodex fundraiser to buy the IP etc and put JarlFrank in charge of the project when?

do you really want an rpg about feet?

We need to impose SOME restrictions on him.

 

[RPK]

EDIT- Also, did anyone here actually get a chance to try that famous "combat beta"?
I never read impressions about it (if it was even released in the end) and no, I'm not going to retroactively browse 100+ pages to find out what I missed.

There's a few videos of people playing it on youtube. It seems to have been generally well-received.

I don't remember seeing anyone in this thread giving any impressions, but it has been a while.

 

[Infinitron]

Here's where the combat beta came out: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...ow-in-combat-beta.119661/page-80#post-6701003

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

No, you wouldn't. Because, if you were the other owner (Hobgoblin42), you would know that this entire excuse is pure bullshit.

Yeah, well, yes.
That was assuming the story to be true. Which I don't think it is.

EDIT- Also, did anyone here actually get a chance to try that famous "combat beta"?
I never read impressions about it (if it was even released in the end) and no, I'm not going to retroactively browse 100+ pages to find out what I missed.

All of this reads like high school drama.
The excuses do not really seem plausible...

 

[rojay]

https://www.realms-beyond.com/forum/index.php?topic=440.0

daveyd summed up the situation:

Ceres is expected to go bankrupt very soon. Why? The company received a portion of a government grant in 2019. But they are expected to show progress and release a finished product. Since they cannot, Ceres is required to pay back what they've received... as some of the money has been spent, the company will be forced to declare bankruptcy. Then assets & IP of the game will be auctioned off to pay down company debts. The programmer personally owns the RB game engine so he will retain that no matter what.

After bankruptcy, the programmer and the lead writer plan to form a new company and attempt to buy the assets back with personal funds.

Wait a minute... if they have to declare bankruptcy, cause they can't pay back the government grant, how are they gonna buy back the license/assets?

I'd assume the license/assets are the company's most valuable property and monetizing them is supposed to cover the debt, i.e., the unsettled government grant.

Where are they taking that money from?

 

[Ontopoly]

Any theories on why the co owner decided to disappear? Is he dead? Was it stress? Does he even exist? Or was it all a lie to make the actual owner look better when he couldn't deliver?

The shadow owner is JarlFrank.

I would choke the mother fucker if that was true.

Either the world doesn't deserve realms Beyond or justice doesn't exist in the world. I can't think of anything else.

 

[Dorateen]

The idea that professional developers are somehow held hostage and prohibited from delivering a product in one form or another is laughable on its face. Legalities aside with regard to assets, there are nonetheless avenues available if designers truly wanted to build a computer role-playing game and bring it to the market to start generating revenue. But I noticed a while ago in one of the kickstarter updates, a sense of playing the victim beginning to permeate, this willingness to shrug and say, "well, we tried our best."

Sean Connery phrased it articulately this way: