Vapourware Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous - an 8-bit RPG for PC and Commodore 64

[Saduj]

I know I've been inspired not to make a CRPG too!

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

What is slowing them down; the physical assets or ???

May 2019 last update; yeah the ole KS abandon ship curse it seems.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

they do have a pretty high opinion of themselves

Thanks, Grauken , for forcing me into only my second ever tweet.

 

[Alchemist]

End of the year backer update is up: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/2683065

 

[RNGsus]

I wasn't stupid enough to back this. What's it say?

 

[Harthwain]

End of the year backer update is up: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/posts/2683065

I think it's the first time when I have seen a hidden Kickstarter update.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

I wasn't stupid enough to back this. What's it say?

Very short version:They ask for donations to finish the game. More specifically, to release the game in 2020 they will need their backers to pave the way and if just 50% of them donate 5$-10$ then we can do this all together! Also, the donations will have to be monthly.



From the comments:

You say you’ve been working on it non stop since 2017, but in the 3 years the only thing you have to share from the game is music written by someone else. For this reason, I won’t give you anymore money.

And also:

Are you fucking kidding me?

 

[taxalot]

Winter 2019: Are You With Us?

Posted by Stirring Dragon Games
Jan 1, 2020


View on Kickstarter

For backers only


Greetings Friends!

We wanted to get you an update before the end of the year, which on our side of the world is now about an hour away and the fireworks have already started. Happy New Year to all, especially those of you who have already entered the next decade!

Full disclosure: the original version of this update was 7+ pages long, and included a lengthy recap of our progress over the last few years. Even though you’re all RPG fans, we knew we couldn’t expect you to read that much text. Here’s the short version. Make sure you read to the end for two small gifts! ;-)

In 2019, we packed up Stirring Dragon Games and left the state of California and moved to a more affordable place– something we probably should have done a long time ago. We relocated to the state of Idaho, and our family is slowly adjusting to a different climate and culture. We had to make a difficult decision back in April when we learned our landlords were selling our house, to either shelf the game and look for jobs so we could afford to stay in the Bay Area close to friends and family, or move to a cheaper location in order to give Unknown Realm and SDG a fighting chance to succeed. So we packed up our kids and our Commodore 64s, said goodbye to our family and friends, and moved North in search of better odds for our fledgling indie studio.

As most of you can imagine, having our development timeline on U.R. extend two years beyond what we originally expected has had a severe impact on the operational cost of this game. In 2019, we tried a plan to raise financial support by selling custom made products on our website, but those have barely generated enough revenue to pay our internet & hosting bills and have not made a dent in our day to day operations costs. So yeah, not our best plan.

Needless to say, the last year or so has been very bumpy for us, personally and professionally. That said, we have a plan to release Unknown Realm in 2020 – but we are asking for your help to make it a straighter path for us to release.


Here’s how you can help us get the digital version of Unknown Realm out in 2020: If each of our backers will go to our website, click the blue donate button, and pledge a $5-$10 recurring monthly donation to support SDG, not only can we spend all our time focused on the game instead of trying to find other revenue streams to keep the lights on; in exchange for your ongoing support, we will provide you with behind-the-scenes video updates each month. We think video updates will be a fun way to share more of what we are doing on the game and hopefully be a faster update format for us than typing up 7+ page updates and bickering over what to take out or leave in. ;-)

In order for this plan to work, we have to meet a certain threshold– we need at least 50% of our backers to pitch in. We are relying on each of our fans to let us know that you’re with us on this.


If we can’t get our community to band together and pave a more direct path forward, then we will embark on the final stretch of this journey alone, and we will forge our own way to finish the game, but it will take longer, and will involve a lot more twists and turns, and less interaction with this community as we try to find other ways to fund development.

We would obviously love to have all of you share in this part of the journey with us, and be able to show you more of the behind-the-scenes part of our work on this last leg, but we know realistically this plan won't make everyone happy. However, the reality is that small indie dev teams like us don't have access to the same funding options that larger studios have, nor the financial safety net of other revenue streams coming in to help us weather the storm.

We’ve been working on this game since the day our Kickstarter campaign ended in 2017. We haven’t really taken a day off except for illness, injury or moving (and Kickstarter funds were not used for any of those things). I think it's safe to say we have shown our commitment to this game and to all of you by the fact that we are still here, doing what we can to carve a path forward. Someone once said "No plan survives contact with the enemy," and that has certainly proven to be true with this project, as it has with many KS projects before us. Many of our plans and estimates, which were made in good faith with the information we had available to us at the time, have not panned out the way we expected... so we persist and we make new plans. And that is exactly what we intend to keep doing until we ship this game to you.

We’ll report back in about a week to let you know how things are going with this plan. If all goes well, our first video update will come out in mid-late January where we will start sharing some behind-the-scenes game development in a format that will hopefully be more dynamic and fun for everyone.

In closing, here are two New Years gifts for you...

1) We have a special New Year's Version of our 8-bit Yule Log disk for the C64, just for our kickstarter backers. This is something we hope you will enjoy for years to come. This program will work on C64/C128's (PAL/NTSC) or via an emulator. You can download it from our website for free by using the coupon code: HNYKS2020 You can watch a preview of the 8-bit Yule Log here.

2) For your listening enjoyment, here is a sample of one of the modern tracks for the PC version of Unknown Realm, composed by Chris Huelsbeck: Unknown Realm OST-Mystic Landmark

Happy New Year everyone! We wish you health and happiness in 2020 and we are grateful for the role that each one of you has played in our journey so far. We have great hope for the future of this game no matter what path lies ahead. We hope you will be with us. Thank you for your continued understanding as we navigate all the challenges we've faced in bringing this game to life!

Until next time,

Bruce & Laura

Are you with us? Support SDG!

This game is now definitely a scam. The emboldened section is them asking money promising that money is going to help them deliver the game faster, yet, at no moment do they mention HOW this money is going to speed up development. Money, in fact, appears to be magical.
There is worse : they are trying to define how much community interactions they are going to have depending on the money they get. This is a tactic that seem awfully close to exploiting a sunk cost fallacy and trying to reinforce the feelings of people who are still believing in this thing while not delivering anything.

 

[taxalot]

Here is the entirety of the comment section so far :

• 
  Bruce Brookingil y a 18 minutes
  You say you’ve been working on it non stop since 2017, but in the 3 years the only thing you have to share from the game is music written by someone else. For this reason, I won’t give you anymore money.
  
  
• 
  Joel McCoyil y a 23 minutes
  If I could afford to sue you people, I would.
  
  
• 
  David CampSuperbackeril y a 41 minutes
  Sorry about things not going to plan, but at this point I can’t justify giving more funds for something that I’ve seen relatively nothing from...
  
  Let alone signing up for four times the amount I’ve paid for the game which hasn’t arrived. I don’t think any game I’ve bought has cost $150 USD... not even collectors edition things :/
  
  I’m whole heartedly here to support you as a community member, to cheer you on, offer encouragement, thoughts and prayers. But financial support has sailed, especially considering the amount you’re requesting (120USDx 632 - that’s almost your original Kickstarter goal again).
  
  
• 
  Mike Paigeil y a environ 1 heure
  Ummm. Does Kickstarter even allow this?
  
  
• 
  Mike Paigeil y a environ 1 heure
  Ummm. Does Kickstarter even allow this?
  
  
• 
  Chris BlanchardSuperbackeril y a environ 1 heure
  Are you fucking kidding me? See, here's the thing. I already paid you for this game. 2 years ago. Now your saying that I need to pay you again? Monthly? Just to get the game I already paid for?
  
  Yeah... not happening.
  
  
• 
  Rickil y a environ 1 heure
  So you've burned through (obviously) the money raised during the kickstarter which is now what? 2 years past due. And the only way you will continue or release anything is if we all goto your website and pay a monthly fee for you to continue development... SERIOUSLY? "barely generated enough revenue to pay our internet & hosting bills and have not made a dent in our day to day operations costs. " Which is funny because your DNS points to godaddy and you're running a superbasic wordpress site, so hosting costs can't be more than $5 a month. Just man up and admit that there was no way in hell you could deliver everything as promised in the original kickstarter and completely underestimated costs... $125k raised? That would barely cover the cost of sourcing, manufacturing, shipping of just one of the physical items promised in the higher tiers. Revamp the tiers to just a digital product and replace all physical rewards in higher tiers with ingame things like having the pledge name as an npc or name-an-item. Asking us to pay you a monthly fee to continue working on the game is just a scam at this point

Happy new year, assholes !

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Its doubly a shame cause looking at the pitch again the game is looking damn good. Well, lets hope SKALD will turn out better.

Edit: And also:

Full disclosure: the original version of this update was 7+ pages long, and included a lengthy recap of our progress over the last few years. Even though you’re all RPG fans, we knew we couldn’t expect you to read that much text.

Man, I sure would have loved to read the full thing including a lenghty recap of the progress made so far. Boy, that would've been sensible, wouldn't it? Can't really be expected to read all that, though.

 

[taxalot]

"I had 7 pages of actual development news but I thought it would be better if you saw 3 pages of me asking money without telling you why"

 

[Ranarama]

Well, lets hope SKALD will turn out better.

SKALD has a demo that is excellent.

 

[V_K]

Well, lets hope SKALD will turn out better.

SKALD has a demo that is excellent.

And also regularly updated with new features, so one can see the progress being made.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't know if they're scammers, but between this and Otherside Entertainment, what we've learned is that when developers are delusional about their ability to deliver and also have a culture of hiding the truth from their backers, there isn't much difference.

They actually thought they could fund their game by selling knick-knacks on their website...without even saying that's what it was for! Just really weird people.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Guess they ran out of Ultima I-V assets to rip and ended up with "wtf do we do now?"

 

[taxalot]

The difference between a scam and a failure is intent.

And right now, they are intentionally withholding information to their backer while the project is sinking. Thus, turning it into an actual scam.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

The difference between a scam and a failure is intent.

And right now, they are intentionally withholding information to their backer while the project is sinking. Thus, turning it into an actual scam.

It certainly looks that way at this point. They never showed any progress or answered questions, even when the authors showed up here to drum up cash. If I were feeling generous I could assume that they believed that cash is indeed magic and having enough of it would allow them to produce a game. These latest posts could suggest they somehow still believe that and could be construed as basic incompetence, but how they can take a seemingly completed engine was some nice assets and fail to construct even the most rudimentary Ultima-style exploration game around it after three years definitely takes it into scam territory.

The question is why is it such a shit scam? They could have got more money with a less niche product. That's why I think they initially had the intention of producing a game - they just had no idea how to do it.

 

[Melan]

All they had to do was to post regular progress updates, and communicate clearly about the status of their game. How hard is it to write a blog post every month or two?

These people are not even scammers. They are idiots, and my prediction for their next update is that they have used up the money (probably on living expenses and peripherals) with no core game to show.

(My money is still on "clueless idiots". Scammers know how to milk an audience and put them to sleep while stringing them along with vague promieses. If they are scammers, they are very lazy ones, since they are failing to convince.)

 

[Ranarama]

Also it sounds like Realms of Antiquity is finally going to be coming out soon:

 

[getter77]

What a lamentable mess---when you find yourself getting lapped by Confederate Express in terms of infamy in bumbling at the least, it is time to face up to reality.

 

[Lilura]

How hard is it to write a blog post every month or two?

Harder than shitposting 20 times per day.

 

[taxalot]

This game has also vanished from the face of the Earth, incidentally http://www.lawlesslegends.com/

edit : forget it, they are updating a Facebook page once in a while https://www.facebook.com/LawlessLegends/ . It's not much, but at least I don't think they ever asked for money yet.

 

[Old Hans]

what a couple of retards. Maybe they should have focused on the game first instead of fucking cloth maps and music

and their twitter says it all. Never mention their game, but constantly try and sell their gay ass coffee mug

 

[Eli_Havelock]

This game is now definitely a scam. The emboldened section is them asking money promising that money is going to help them deliver the game faster, yet, at no moment do they mention HOW this money is going to speed up development. Money, in fact, appears to be magical.
There is worse : they are trying to define how much community interactions they are going to have depending on the money they get. This is a tactic that seem awfully close to exploiting a sunk cost fallacy and trying to reinforce the feelings of people who are still believing in this thing while not delivering anything.

They know how desperate the Ultima cult have been for any turd that looks like it has Ultima-like scratching on it. Take a look at how Lord Dickard himself has milked all those suckers for years with Shroud and it's taken some of them this long to still not be able to figure it out. MassivelyOP even promotes shit like this even if the scams only have landscape and an LB tie-in to show for three years or so.

 

[taxalot]

This game is now definitely a scam. The emboldened section is them asking money promising that money is going to help them deliver the game faster, yet, at no moment do they mention HOW this money is going to speed up development. Money, in fact, appears to be magical.
There is worse : they are trying to define how much community interactions they are going to have depending on the money they get. This is a tactic that seem awfully close to exploiting a sunk cost fallacy and trying to reinforce the feelings of people who are still believing in this thing while not delivering anything.

They know how desperate the Ultima cult have been for any turd that looks like it has Ultima-like scratching on it. Take a look at how Lord Dickard himself has milked all those suckers for years with Shroud and it's taken some of them this long to still not be able to figure it out. MassivelyOP even promotes shit like this even if the scams only have landscape and an LB tie-in to show for three years or so.

I backed the game, and also backed SKALD and Nox Archaist. Those two appear to be making progress at least.
I think Unknown Realms was the first to be revealed though. We really had no reason to doubt at the beginning.