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Sumio Mondo · Sep 23, 2015

Reading the comments section on that update, some people are asking for a refund and the director is refusing. Others are just directing their hate at him for the project saying that he's a failure. Not surprising. lol. Shit's flying.

Triggerhappytel · Sep 23, 2015

zashga said:
Sounds like the project is run by people who have no appreciation for programming and think (thought?) they can just bring in any guy to implement their brilliant ideas. Having ideas is the hard part, right? Specfinically calling out "lore" but not programming in the original budget is hilarious.

Come on man; the lore isn't going to write itself. That $5k is a totally necessary expenditure!

qualitydisc · Sep 23, 2015

This has been an awful, sobering month for Japanese kickstarters.

Jazz573 · Sep 23, 2015

I don't really care. As long as I get it in the end.

Hektor · Sep 23, 2015

Jazz573 said:
I don't really care. As long as I get it in the end.

As if that's going to happen.

YianGaruga · Sep 23, 2015

Jazz573 said:
I don't really care. As long as I get it in the end.

It has been 2 years and they have done literally nothing other than writing down ideas. Most of the KS funds are probably gone at this point. What makes you think this will magically turn around?

Triggerhappytel · Sep 23, 2015

Jazz573 said:
I don't really care. As long as I get it in the end.

Have you not read the topic?! Right now that's looking extremely unlikely.

Ken · Sep 23, 2015

I bet the eventual art book and soundtrack will be good at least.

encephalon · Sep 23, 2015

Lol for a project eager to attach Japanese names and bring up JRPGs, at least after watching the video, there appears to be nothing "J" about this project.

Zukuu · Sep 23, 2015

Hektor said:
Yup, had paypal support.

Oh god I just checked my PayPal for Aug/Sep 2013 it shows this:

20 USD
株式会社CIA

Is that it? :X Plz say no.

Azih · Sep 23, 2015

Why the hell is 'Script' at 0%?

Hektor · Sep 23, 2015

Zukuu said:
Oh god I just checked my PayPal for Aug/Sep 2013 it shows this:

20 USD
株式会社CIA

Is that it? :X Plz say no.

Ok, then i'll say no.

ZeroX03 · Sep 23, 2015

Admiral Woofington said:
jRPGs and kickstarter don't mix.

Freaking Soul Saga is nowhere near done either. He has been releasing this demo he updates ala FFXV.

Soul Saga was clearly a disaster from the get go. I think that game is doing better than should have been expected. I mean it still looks bad, but I'm surprised he even has anything to show for it. He's determined to put something out. Ryan Camus' music sounds decent too. Aivi Tran's sounds awful.

OMORI is another big one that question marks around it. Currently in "semi active" development, whatever that means. They went dark for months. Granted that had a lot to do with RPG Maker MV not being public, but they literally just went dead and didn't answer anything.

Like with most of these Kickstarters that implode, it's pretty easy to see coming. Check up on the team, make sure their plans are feasible and if they can't answer the hard questions then that means they probably don't have satisfactory answers.

ultrazilla · Sep 25, 2015

Wow this is brutal. There's no game here. Where did the million dollars in funding go? They haven't even started programming!

orthodoxy1095 · Sep 25, 2015

qualitydisc said:
This has been an awful, sobering month for Japanese kickstarters.

Here's to hoping the other recent Japanese Kickstarters end up better.

Particularly since I dropped cash on them.

diffusionx · Sep 25, 2015

Kabuki Quantum Lover said:
Japanese Kickstarters, anyway...

Oh shit, Shenmue 3... :O

I backed Shenmue 3, don't care about the game or how it turns out. I just want Yu Suzuki to work on games again instead of being Gunpei'd in a dark corner of Sega HQ.

Maneauleau · Sep 25, 2015

When I see the advertised art vs the development art I can't help but feel like the backers have been cheated. I am glad I didn't back this project but I was really close due to the art style and the 'veteran developers'

Sumio Mondo · Sep 25, 2015

Shenmue 3 will come out better just because it's being headed by Yu Suzuki, who is next to the likes of Miyamoto as a legend in the field. This game has a newcomer going straight into Directing and Producing his own game.

orthodoxy1095 said:
Here's to hoping the other recent Japanese Kickstarters end up better.

Particularly since I dropped cash on them.

This one wasn't even really a Japanese development or a JRPG at all. The only three members of the team who were Japanese was the Art Director, who has left the project, the general story writer who has finished her work and Uematsu who seems to have just composed some music and dumped it on them to mix and arrange themselves. The battle system and general design is far more inspired by WRPGs and PC RPGs than it is any JRPG. lol.

DarknessTear · Sep 25, 2015

It's alright, guys. This project will one day rise from the ashes.

Sumio Mondo · Sep 25, 2015

DarknessTear said:
It's alright, guys. This project will one day rise from the ashes.

Not if he runs through his budget, it won't. It'll come out and be mediocre anyway, if that demo is anything to go by.

dormata · Sep 28, 2015

Apparently all the funding is already spent, not on the team but on Hiroaki himself. Just ask him about his nice new house in Tokyo. (Which he will deny and say that he rents, everyone on the team knows that).

This rumour was once floated before by ShouTime

"ShouTime on June 17
Also, would be great to hear about that new house you bought with these KS funds."

"ShouTime on June 17
I have it on good authority that you tried to cash out the remaining money from this Kickstarter and leave the project hanging but a certain someone stopped you.
What are your true intentions for this project?"

After their apparent meeting, no records were set straight afterwards. Furthermore, I liked how they blamed everything on the programmer David Clark. Dave Clark has left the project approximately 2 years ago to work on Ori, however with the lack of progress they've decided they needed a scapegoat so they've dragged his name in the dirt and blame lack of progress on him.

Ontop of this mess of a project, Hiro's been involved in another project https://www.facebook.com/projectdreamwalker?fref=ts
Lets not forget Under the Dog until they booted him.

I've met and talked with him on a few occasions, really nice guy but definitely really dodge and misleading. I have serious doubts this game will ever get made, it's just a shame there's so many loyal backers that leap to Hiro's defense.

DiipuSurotu · Sep 28, 2015

dormata said:
Apparently all the funding is already spent, not on the team but on Hiroaki himself. Just ask him about his nice new house in Tokyo. (Which he will deny and say that he rents, everyone on the team knows that).

This rumour was once floated before by ShouTime

"ShouTime on June 17
Also, would be great to hear about that new house you bought with these KS funds."

"ShouTime on June 17
I have it on good authority that you tried to cash out the remaining money from this Kickstarter and leave the project hanging but a certain someone stopped you.
What are your true intentions for this project?"

After their apparent meeting, no records were set straight afterwards. Furthermore, I liked how they blamed everything on the programmer David Clark. Dave Clark has left the project approximately 2 years ago to work on Ori, however with the lack of progress they've decided they needed a scapegoat so they've dragged his name in the dirt and blame lack of progress on him.

Ontop of this mess of a project, Hiro's been involved in another project https://www.facebook.com/projectdreamwalker?fref=ts
Lets not forget Under the Dog until they booted him.

I've met and talked with him on a few occasions, really nice guy but definitely really dodge and misleading. I have serious doubts this game will ever get made, it's just a shame there's so many loyal backers that leap to Hiro's defense.

Meh, as bad as this project has been managed overall, this sounds like a baseless rumor to me. We don't need that.

witchedwiz · Nov 10, 2015

ultrazilla said:
Wow this is brutal. There's no game here. Where did the million dollars in funding go? They haven't even started programming!

If you red anything the pumped on the blog..
they think that the WHOLE game should be done by assigning around 3% budget to programming..
like.. say what?

OverdriveOtaku · Nov 11, 2015

As an backer of this, this email was sent to us ~10 hours ago:

Nothing positive here for me to take.

GuardianE · Nov 11, 2015

OverdriveOtaku said:
As an backer of this, this email was sent to us ~10 hours ago:

Nothing positive here for me to take.

Oh boy.

8 X 11 Printer Paper · Nov 11, 2015

Project Phoenix is truly the gift that keeps on giving, it's still one of the bigger bullets I've dodged on Kickstarter.

Yaqoub · Nov 11, 2015

My biggest Kickstarter regret.

It's interesting to watch the upcoming events unfold at the very least, shit's going down the drain it seems.

Spyder_Monkey · Nov 11, 2015

Lesson 1 of crowdfunding: Don't make your first game too ambitious especially if your budget is less than a million dollars.

IchigoSharingan · Nov 11, 2015

Spyder_Monkey said:
Lesson 1 of crowdfunding: Don't make your first game too ambitious especially if your budget is less than a million dollars.

The problem isn't ambition. It's project management, more specifically staff management.

There is NO EXCUSE for managing the programming issue so poorly.

OverdriveOtaku · Nov 11, 2015

8 X 11 Printer Paper said:
Project Phoenix is truly the gift that keeps on giving, it's still one of the bigger bullets I've dodged on Kickstarter.

The tragedy in this (at least for myself) is that since I've had a handful of crowdfunding projects go south or fall from expectations, it makes any future project I find interesting suffer because I just hesitate so much to back it.

I had this internal debate with myself for days before I pulled the trigger on backing the Indivisible IndieGoGo that's going on right now, and at least they have something to show that they've done good work in the past, but even then that doesn't mean projects will end up in a good way; I've had projects from longtime devs disappoint me, as well as those who've made older games that some hold dear to their heart so people like me place faith in them irresponsibly.

Crowdfunding is just gambling in my eyes, gambling with money and good will. It's a bit depressing.

AdaWong · Nov 11, 2015

OverdriveOtaku said:
I had this internal debate with myself for days before I pulled the trigger on backing the Indivisible IndieGoGo that's going on right now, and at least they have something to show that they've done good work in the past, but even then that doesn't mean projects will end up in a good way; I've had projects from longtime devs disappoint me, as well as those who've made older games that some hold dear to their heart so people like me place faith in them irresponsibly.

Lab Zero would never, ever be as irresponsible as these studios. You can absolutely trust them with your money; they're realistic, honest, and 100% professional. Just look at their campaigns (and history, too!)

OverdriveOtaku · Nov 11, 2015

AdaWong said:
Lab Zero would never, ever be as irresponsible as these studios. You can absolutely trust them with your money; they're realistic, honest, and 100% professional. Just look at their campaigns (and history, too!)

That's what I repeatedly tried to tell myself when I hit the pledge button. And from the Indivisible thread, the devs are very nice and actively talk to the community, so that helped too.

Tinfoilhatsron · Nov 11, 2015

OverdriveOtaku said:
That's what I repeatedly tried to tell myself when I hit the pledge button. And from the Indivisible thread, the devs are very nice and actively talk to the community, so that helped too.

Wasn't this project literally built on one dude? Made me weary. Stuff like Indivisible has a working prototype atleast. I always back with demos or working prototypes in mind. I think Gone Home had a working multiplayer? Something like that BEFORE the campaign really makes me feel confident plus with the feedback, professional attitudes and histories made me back Indivisible.

NoFaceNico · Nov 11, 2015

Holy shit, this project is a disaster.

Hindsight is 20/20 but looking back you can't help but notice the obvious red flags. As a rule of thumb, I don't trust a crowdfunding project that has more artists/designers than programmers. And really? This project had the lead programmer position "unannounced"??

To be fair, this project launched in 2013 back when big Kickstarter failures hadn't really dropped the other shoe yet, so it wasn't as easy for backers to vet projects and be aware of those red flags as it is today.

As for their progress to date percentages, that's pathetic. All of that "work" is where a project needs to be before it even tries to ask for money on Kickstarter.

desu · Nov 11, 2015

OverdriveOtaku said:
The tragedy in this (at least for myself) is that since I've had a handful of crowdfunding projects go south or fall from expectations, it makes any future project I find interesting suffer because I just hesitate so much to back it.

Basically this, I have stopped backing anything and this project has been a big factor in it. 50$ down the drain ...

GhostTrick · Nov 11, 2015

Wow. Its been nearly 2 years and they still havent started the game ? Lol.

Triggerhappytel · Nov 11, 2015

Maneauleau said:
When I see the advertised art vs the development art I can't help but feel like the backers have been cheated. I am glad I didn't back this project but I was really close due to the art style and the 'veteran developers'

Holy shit, that's disgusting. Probably even further from the implied art style than Mighty No. 9. It looks like a cheap mobile game.

OverdriveOtaku said:
As an backer of this, this email was sent to us ~10 hours ago:

Nothing positive here for me to take.

So they haven't even started programming in two years since the project was funded?! Is whoever they hire going to work for free on a commission/royalty basis?!

OverdriveOtaku said:
I had this internal debate with myself for days before I pulled the trigger on backing the Indivisible IndieGoGo that's going on right now, and at least they have something to show that they've done good work in the past, but even then that doesn't mean projects will end up in a good way; I've had projects from longtime devs disappoint me, as well as those who've made older games that some hold dear to their heart so people like me place faith in them irresponsibly.

Crowdfunding is just gambling in my eyes, gambling with money and good will. It's a bit depressing.

I mean, it is gambling in the sense that there is never any guarantee that the games will be delivered (not helped by most devs lowballing their budget), but you cannot compare Indivisible to this heap of steaming horse shit. Lab Zero have been completely open about their funding situation and spent months building a very high-quality prototype demo on both PC and PS4. Ravidrath is a really active member of the forum and they have obviously put a lot of thought into their budget and are being 100% realistic about the realities and expectations of their project. I've got nothing but respect for the way they've handled it, and I think had they gone the Kickstarter route they probably would have reached their funding goal easily. But we still have a few days left and the rate of backers has really accelerated, so I'm thinking of increasing my $30 pledge to help them get over that line.

element · Nov 11, 2015

You know things are bad when a studios calls themselves AAA talent, but are posting to the UnrealEngine forums looking for programmers...

Hedge · Nov 11, 2015

I was so hoping this would work out, but it seems not. A pity. I loved the sales pitch.
Maybe they should just admit defeat? Nothing the backers can do at this point, I assume.

OverdriveOtaku · Nov 11, 2015

Triggerhappytel said:
I mean, it is gambling in the sense that there is never any guarantee that the games will be delivered (not helped by most devs lowballing their budget), but you cannot compare Indivisible to this heap of steaming horse shit. Lab Zero have been completely open about their funding situation and spent months building a very high-quality prototype demo on both PC and PS4. Ravidrath is a really active member of the forum and they have obviously put a lot of thought into their budget and are being 100% realistic about the realities and expectations of their project. I've got nothing but respect for the way they've handled it, and I think had they gone the Kickstarter route they probably would have reached their funding goal easily. But we still have a few days left and the rate of backers has really accelerated, so I'm thinking of increasing my $30 pledge to help them get over that line.

I apologize if anyone is taking my post as a knock to Lab Zero (because I respect them), my main point was that even in the case of a big, proven teams/people/developers, there's still a chance that everything can still go south.

Just one example, look at how everything revolving Mighty No. 9 (and it's several Red Ash attempts) went down, but everyone threw their faith into MN9 because the creator of Mega Man was behind it. Look how much Inafune has done in the past, and still he managed to create a particularly unfavorable situation with his crowdfunding projects. There are enough threads on GAF about it that I'll spare details here, but between that Project Phoenix email earlier today/yesterday and talk of crowdfunding projects in general, I just needed to vent a bit.

Hektor · Nov 11, 2015

Hedge said:
I was so hoping this would work out, but it seems not. A pity. I loved the sales pitch.
Maybe they should just admit defeat? Nothing the backers can do at this point, I assume.

Yup, just put it down. That'd end at least our suffering.

Castef · Nov 11, 2015

Sumio Mondo said:
At least Mighty No. 9 will probably release. It'll disappoint, but I get the impression this project would also disappoint considering how much people were banking on this.

I don't know what people says about Might No. 9, yet it was well alive, kicking, promoted and fun at the latest Lucca Games fair in Italy.

I actually enjoyed it.

Castef · Nov 11, 2015

Spyder_Monkey said:
Lesson 1 of crowdfunding: Don't make your first game too ambitious especially if your budget is less than a million dollars.

Actually, no. The first lesson should always be: if you are planning to create a videogame be sure you have at least a pair of coders.

Sho_Nuff82 · Nov 11, 2015

element said:
You know things are bad when a studios calls themselves AAA talent, but are posting to the UnrealEngine forums looking for programmers...

Castef said:
Actually, no. The first lesson should always be: if you are planning to create a videogame be sure you have at least a pair of coders.

I think kickstarter backers could learn a lot from the "Minimum Viable Product" episode of Silicon Valley. Zero % script and programming after two years is a disaster. It's the Vs 13 debacle on a smaller scale.

Sounds like they thought they could just cobble the story together in a few months after they got their Diablo clone up and running. Pouring all that money and time into assets when you don't even have a level designer? If the game is even Too Human - tier I'd be amazed.

duckroll · Nov 11, 2015

I decided to go back 2 years and read the launch thread for this Kickstarter: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=647459

Good times. Lol.

For those unaware, after getting over a million for Project Phoenix, Yura and CIA went on to launch a second Kickstarter for an anime project. I'm a big fan of the director they managed to get, so I contributed to that one. Before anything came out of it, Yura and CIA were kicked off the project and all the funds were handed directly over to the anime studio in charge because of major disagreements over how things were handled. Sounds like they really dodged a bullet there seeing how Project Phoenix is coming together (or not coming together).

DrROBschiz · Nov 11, 2015

Maneauleau said:
When I see the advertised art vs the development art I can't help but feel like the backers have been cheated. I am glad I didn't back this project but I was really close due to the art style and the 'veteran developers'

ugh

they did not do a good job translating the art to 3D

maybe they should have went 2d?

Hektor · Nov 11, 2015

DrROBschiz said:
ugh

they did not do a good job translating the art to 3D

maybe they should have went 2d?

Absolutely.

Should've made it similar to bastion or transistor in that regard.

Prime crotch · Nov 11, 2015

I'm guessing they want programmers with experience but not willing to put the money they're worth, and don't want someone willing to learn because they want results fast.. well, good luck at not making this game then.

DrROBschiz · Nov 11, 2015

Prime crotch said:
I'm guessing they want programmers with experience but not willing to put the money they're worth, and don't want someone willing to learn because they want results fast.. well, good luck at not making this game then.

Core game creators should have been the first priority on the list

I think too many creators are building from dreams, ideas, drawings.... and not looking at how to BUILD an actual game

nickcv · Nov 11, 2015

OverdriveOtaku said:
As an backer of this, this email was sent to us ~10 hours ago:

Nothing positive here for me to take.

so basically: thanks for your money, can you also make the game for us or suggest someone who could do it?

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