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

V_K · Jan 4, 2020

taxalot said:
Eli_Havelock said:

taxalot said:

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.

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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.

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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.

I mean - it's an 8-bit top-down game that didn't overpromise on any gameplay innovations. I didn't back it, thankfully, but it seemed like a very safe deal, especially given the 100k budget - particularly compared to people promising to build Skyrim clones for the same amount. That they did manage to fuck it up is a very, very impressive feat.

Eli_Havelock · Jan 4, 2020

taxalot said:
I backed the game, and also backed SKALD and Nox Archaist. Those two appear to be making progress at least.

Since they made a big deal about Lord Brit-tish being inserted as a prosthetic Dick I'm not so sure about Nox Archaist's writing being any good.

Cultist Cattle - April 25, 2019 at 8:32 AM
"Awesome! I'll back again of course, but if LB is in it, I'll raise that backer tier up a level or two! Awesome!"

The "no sale" on SKALD for me was name-dropping without actual description of what was being lifted: "SKALD: Against the Black Priory will feature level-based character development with both numerical stats and special abilities. I also intend for roleplaying choices to affect character development by taking a leaf from classics such as Fallout 1 and 2."

I think it's something of a coming to full circle as RG's own early writing was pretty much nothing but self-inserts and pop-culture references until he learned to take all credit from others who helped him in any way, particularly in the realm of design and writing.

I think Unknown Realms was the first to be revealed though. We really had no reason to doubt at the beginning.

Eh, by 2016 people should have known to check the background of ANY assbag begging for money before there is product to review, to see if they have any development experience previous to using nostalgia to lure in any interest. How Shroud was full on shitshow already (plus the serial lying bellend Peter Fucking Molyneux) should have been warning enough how KS was being nostalgiafagged to death, as in 2014-2015 there were a number of 2012's KS fails cratering hard.

There were already 4 years since the Commodore Expo demo of UR, and only bits could be shown for the KS compared to mostly reading from a script and making huge boasts as their trailer? A self-employed indie game developer located in San Fran with a meme target of $65,536 and got $126,343? Exactly what profit is an ultragrognard game going to return when it has already fairly well saturated its target market via the beggar's bowl, so that when post-release support should be a thing they would instead have to go find jobs elsewhere (in SAN FRAN at the time of the KS)? Don't even need Tim Schafer involved for the warning klaxons there.

It's not like we didn't see this shit 20 years ago.

taxalot · Jan 7, 2020

New kickstarter update :

Just a few clarifications regarding our last update...

Posted by Stirring Dragon Games
Jan 6, 2020

View on Kickstarter

Hi Everyone,

Laura here, I just wanted to clear up a few misunderstandings stemming from our last update.

- We will continue posting updates on Kickstarter for all backers. Our plan is to try to work with a model similar to Patreon - we'll post updates as usual on Kickstarter for all backers as we have been doing, and recurring supporters will get access to behind-the-scenes video updates as an added perk. We've had backers contact us about setting up a Patreon for over a year so they could give a little extra support, but we didn't want to hassle with yet another platform (or the 12% fees on Patreon), and we already had donations set up on our website for Paypal, so that's what we're doing.

-We have not canceled the C64 version. Our original plan when this campaign was launched was to release all versions concurrently, with physical items shipping out before we released the digital PC version. We worked according to that plan through most of 2017 before realizing that it wasn't going to be feasible. In our November 2017 update, we told our backers we were going to focus on releasing the PC digital version first, followed by the physical versions (including C64). That plan remains unchanged. This is the more conventional way things are done these days. We had hoped to do it differently, and we're still disappointed that we can't give you the whole experience the way we originally envisioned it, which was more comparable to the old-school experience. If we had the means, we would still do it that way. Currently, we are still working towards the PC digital release first, followed by all other versions and physical rewards.

Another update should be coming out later this week (to share the results of our last update), plus one more at the end of the month.

Happy New Year everyone!

-Laura

It is all a big misunderstanding.

Roguey · Jan 7, 2020

Eli_Havelock said:
It's not like we didn't see this shit 20 years ago.

Are you Rip Van Roshambo?

Ladonna · Jan 17, 2020

At least we know they still come on here to read the posts. Hopefully MRY will be able to sting a few more wounded comments from them before the end game...

newtmonkey · Jan 17, 2020

Hi Everyone!

As promised, here is a short follow-up on the results from our December 31st update...

What we learned from that update is that the comment section does not reflect our community as a whole. We are very humbled by the amount of behind-the-scenes support we've received over the last two weeks from our backers and even newcomers to the Unknown Realm community! This brings us a lot of hope and we want to thank each person that has taken the time to let us know they are with us and excited about this game.

A few noteworthy findings:

* Out of approximately 250 comments posted in the last two weeks here on KS, about 65% of those comments were posted by the same 20 backers, most of whom we already knew were not going to respond positively (one backer posted 50 comments in the space of a few days).
* The majority of support we received was from backers who are not particularly active in the comment sections, which tells us there are more backers paying attention who remain quietly optimistic and supportive.
* Out of the sample of backers that we know are engaging with this project in any form (emails, messages, likes, comments, donations, etc..), the majority are supportive of us. So if you are reading the comments, please know they definitely don't tell full story.

The good news is that our idea to offer new behind-the-scene perks to backers that are interested in providing ongoing monthly support is a GO! We are excited to share some behind-the-scenes parts of this journey with them. We still have a ways to go to reach our full-time funding target, but we believe the level of support will continue to grow in the coming months as we move towards building a more vibrant and positive community.

Going forward, our current plan is to share our first behind-the-scenes video with our monthly supporters in the next few weeks, and to post our next game related update here on KS around the same time.

Until then,

Bruce & Laura

They should spend more time thinking about starting to make their game, and less time running statistics on their hate mail.

Grauken · Jan 17, 2020

There are too many suckers out there happy to burn money is all what I got from that message

newtmonkey · Jan 17, 2020

I think they are exaggerating or outright lying here. They will say anything to keep the scam going on and avoid actually working for a living. I think they probably got some donations with this latest stunt, but I doubt even the suckers will continue to pay them month after month for long.

Grauken · Jan 17, 2020

newtmonkey said:
I think they are exaggerating or outright lying here. They will say anything to keep the scam going on and avoid actually working for a living. I think they probably got some donations with this latest stunt, but I doubt even the suckers will continue to pay them month after month for long.

You're probably right, their whole - we have secret admirers who told us we are the best stick - is pretty telling. Instead of honestly engaging with the people who gave them money, they keep lying

Ladonna · Jan 17, 2020

So, what will be the final reason as to the cancellation? Time to place your bets. Whose fault will it be?

Grauken · Jan 17, 2020

Ladonna said:
So, what will be the final reason as to the cancellation? Time to place your bets. Whose fault will it be?

Obviously unsupportive, evil fans

Ladonna · Jan 17, 2020

I think you are correct; All of those filth that only gave them money once. DIsgusting, unsupporting haters that they are.

Well, now they are seeing what they are missing out on. Exclusive, awesome, never-seen-before video updates (they didn't specify what will be in the videos though. Perhaps video updates for the game will be reserved for the next tier of donators).

BlackGoat · Jan 17, 2020

This whole situation is like

Alchemist · Jan 17, 2020

Updates coming soon... for Valentine's Day they'll release a ~~sucker~~subscriber-exclusive LoveDisk featuring an animated C64 digital card with romantic SID tunes playing in the background.

Kinda blows my mind how tone-deaf they are to not acknowledge anyone's valid concerns at all.

Eli_Havelock · Jan 17, 2020

Alchemist said:
Updates coming soon... for Valentine's Day they'll release a ~~sucker~~subscriber-exclusive LoveDisk featuring an animated C64 digital card with romantic SID tunes playing in the background.

This looks like the things some of us older relics would do in a couple of days to be able to fuck off from a couple weeks of schoolwork, because to teachers back then computers worked on technological magic and impressing them was easy.

Kinda blows my mind how tone-deaf they are to not acknowledge anyone's valid concerns at all.

But that's what you do after say the magic wallet-opening word - "Ultima!" It worked for Shroud and Richard Garriott, right?

Grauken said:
Obviously unsupportive, evil fans

You called it, and they're already sowing the seeds for that convenient excuse. You're supposed to be positive, happy little Ultima cultists. Bow before your lord when he shows up on screen! (Wait, this isn't one of the games with a prosthetic Lord Dick in it.)

Just wait until they play the death threats excuse card. You know they will.

newtmonkey · Jan 17, 2020

LOL taxalot, excellent response to their tweet :salute:

Viata · Jan 17, 2020

Infinitron said:
I doubt they're scammers.

How do you feel now, Infi?

Melan · Jan 17, 2020

For posterity:

#joythieves

Eli_Havelock · Jan 17, 2020

If anyone was betting if it would backfire in the devs faces, congratulations, you won the safe bet.

KS backers are supposed to be happy all the behind-the-scenes stuff they already paid for (and never got) is now put behind another paywall!

newtmonkey · Jan 17, 2020

The #hope and #joy of being scammed, what a wonderful feeling!

SausageInYourFace · Jan 17, 2020

newtmonkey said:
I think they are exaggerating or outright lying here. They will say anything to keep the scam going on and avoid actually working for a living. I think they probably got some donations with this latest stunt, but I doubt even the suckers will continue to pay them month after month for long.

Spoony has hundreds of people who pay him monthly even though he hasn't put out a video in years. I figure there are probably plenty of well-meaning morons who will continue paying those guys, too.