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Human Resources 1.4M goal kickstarter by Uber Entertainment (Planetery Annihilation)

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Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/human-resources-an-apocalyptic-rts-game

The robot apocalypse gets complicated when tentacle monsters crash the party. Humans are the resource in this epic strategy game.

Human Resources is a PC real-time strategy game that puts you in command of apocalyptic factions vying to conquer the drifting remains of a shattered Earth. Using humans as your resource, assemble giant armies to annihilate your foes, then feed the newly-cleansed Earthshards to your almighty leader.

Key Features of Human Resources include:

Dueling apocalypses! Play as giant killer robots or ancient tentacle monsters from another dimension.
img_gamefeat01.jpg


Fully Destructible Cities! Smash every building on every battlefield and summon god-sized leaders to obliterate the entire map.
img_gamefeat02.jpg


Breathtaking visuals! A comic-inspired art style means armageddon has never looked so gorgeous.
img_gamefeat03.jpg


Humans are the resource! Capture and use humans as the resource to fuel your apocalyptic armies.
img_gamefeat04.jpg


Blast from the past! Inspired by the quirky tone, unique character, and pacing of classic RTS games.
img_gamefeat05.jpg
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I think the concept is really cool, and their previous kickstarter game more or less matched the pitch video in terms of scope and visuals. But I still think it's too early for them to launch another campaign, seeing as PA still needs a bit of work (no offline mode yet?) Supposedly, the team working on this new game is entirely separate from PA

A Note To Planetary Annihilation Fans About Human Resources
Posted by Uber Entertainment Inc
tl;dr: today, we announced a new Kickstarter for a strategy game. Plans for Planetary Annihilation’s development will be unaffected. Human Resources’ team is a separate team.

Today, we busted out a new Kickstarter for a new strategy game called Human Resources. Built on the same engine that you helped us create for Planetary Annihilation, Human Resources expands on the scale and destruction you’ve come to love in exciting and different ways. We realize that some of you might take this news as concerning, so we wanted to come out and say this: work on Planetary Annihilation will not stop if Human Resources funds; both games will have a team dedicated to these separate projects.
In other words, things will stay the same. A Planetary Annihilation team will continue its amazing work on the game, and you’ll keep receiving new updates with new features, fixes, and mechanics. Meanwhile, a separate team will roll into pre-production on Human Resources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNZ7oto4z4A
What’s pre-production? It’s the first phase of game development. It’s the time where we sandbox and define features, game mechanics, and systems. Then, we begin to build any new technology that we need to support it. We’ll sketch out how we can accomplish our goals and when. It’s a pretty exciting phase where we create new worlds and possibilities.
Games are evolving. You don’t just “finish” them anymore. We see them as services, as active things that grow over a length of time. Planetary Annihilation’s vision has been achieved or else we wouldn’t have launched it, but that was just one journey. We embarked on a more adventurous one the second we updated it to 1.0.
This is a very, very exciting time for us. Words suck at expressing how much we love all you guys for your incredible passion and support. Planetary Annihilation wouldn’t exist without you — and we plan to keep it going. If you’d like to check out Human Resources and become one of humanity’s new overlords, please do so. We’d love your support.
Prepare to have your eyes melted.
Thanks,
Uber Entertainment <3
PS: Sorry for the eye melting.
PPS: But it was worth, right?
Click to expand...
 
I mean, Planetary Annihilation is out, final release. So on the one hand, they've completed their obligation and I think it's pretty reason for them to rev up a new project. But on the other hand, if people aren't satisfied with Planetary Annihilation, then they're going to be less likely to pledge to a current project, so there may have been some value in really going the extra mile with PA post-release before asking for money for another project.

PA has a 77% positive review average on Steam user reviews with 5,984 reviews. So that's not particularly high. Not terrible, obviously, but not excellent either.
 
The concept sounds great... but I don't have any faith that Uber can pull it off, considering their history.

Also, I recall reading a lot of problems regarding the PA engine, so developing another game using the same engine seems like a bad idea. Plus the whole, "PA isn't really finished" dealio.


NinjaEdit: Oh and OP: you might want to add information from the Kickstarter itself, instead of their "To PA fans: please spend more money on our products and don't get angry" memo.
 
These guys are taking the piss. If people aren't exactly falling over themselves in praise of their last game, where's the incentive to pledge to another? And it's pretty soon to be asking for more KS money. Are the sales from PA not enough to fund their next game? So does that mean they'll be stuck in an endless cycle of Kickstarter projects to finance each subsequent release? It doesn't work that way. I mean, look at Double Fine's Massive Chalice campaign compared to Broken Age. You have to continue to earn audience goodwill if you want to keep going down this path.
 
Sinatar said:
The game fell out of the top 10 on steam on the day it came out and is already on sale for 1/2 off. I'm assuming it bombed big time.
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It's also unfinished and likely to be abandoned, much like Super Monday Night Combat before it.
 
Pray For Death said:
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/human-resources-an-apocalyptic-rts-game

I think it's too early for them to launch another campaign, seeing as PA still needs a bit of work. Supposedly, the team working on this new game is entirely separate from PA
Click to expand...

I know games cost money, but if they would have just waited till they got the major issues fixed in PA to launch this campaign, this would go over much better.

Isn't this what most people will do upon hearing of a Kickstarter these days before backing:
1. Check if game looks interesting
2. See if they know developer
3. See developers past history of games, and especially if they delivered all they promised in prior kickstarters.

This game will fail the check on #3, as PA still has some features missing.
 
Well frankly I think it's fair for them to start pre production on their next game, its a waste of resources otherwise. People complained when Torment was launched for the same reason. Having said that though, PA does need a bit more work, but if their post-release team is dedicated then its not a big deal. I honestly haven't spent enough time with the game to say how good or bad it is. I do think this new project will benefit from them already have the engine in place from the PA development.

Sinatar said:
The game fell out of the top 10 on steam on the day it came out and is already on sale for 1/2 off. I'm assuming it bombed big time.
Click to expand...

Its hard to tell given how long the game was on steam in early access. It was a part of the summer sale dailys as well iirc.
 
Instro said:
Its hard to tell given how long the game was on steam in early access. It was a part of the summer sale dailys as well iirc.
Click to expand...

The multiplayer is also a complete ghost town, whenever I check there are usually only 2 or 3 lobbies going.

Unrelated but this is comedy gold on their kickstarter page for Human Resources:

Uber said:
Making games is hard, but we like a challenge. We have the technology, the passion, and the knowledge to create Human Resources, and weÂ’ve shown with Planetary Annihilation that we can carry a bold new idea from pitch to final polish.
Click to expand...

loooooool
 
Instro said:
Well frankly I think it's fair for them to start pre production on their next game, its a waste of resources otherwise. People complained when Torment was launched for the same reason.
Click to expand...

Yup, pre-production works right after for the next project but we don't get to hear about it from AAA developer studios until they have something to show. With Kickstarter-backed developers, this is the same thing but just not as usual for people to witness.

Won't back but I'm curious how the graphic style will actually look during gameplay rather than what looks like a concept video.
 
No singleplayer except maybe skirmish as far as I can tell, so I've got no reason to Kickstart this.

idgaf about MP RTS. I want campaigns.
 
Don't support these shysters. I warned you guys from the Kickstarter of PA to the release of that game and look how it turned out. These guys have a history of bad buisness decisions and they give on their games like Zombie Studios.

If you want to waste money give it to me instead.
 
One of those stretch goals better be single player campaigns and tutorials. They are not investing in tech this time around, so I don't want to hear complaints about single player costing a lot of money.
 
Sinatar said:
Planetary Annihilation is a mess, won't be backing this.
Click to expand...

sorry to hear that. hopefully, we'll win you back by continuing to support PA with features and fixes and by making Human Resources a great game.

EDIT: oh yeah, Uber guy here. i handle a lot of the communications and have a really dumb haircut.
 
Purkake4 said:
Looks really interesting. I guess plus points from me since I'm not salty about PA.
Click to expand...

I'm not salty about PA. It was a very ambitious project, and they pulled it off for the most part. But I still believe it requires more work to get to where it needs to be.

I too find this kickstarter game interesting, but I'm not going to back it. I might get it if it's well received after release, assuming it gets funded. 1.4M $ is a lot of money.
 
Pray For Death said:
I'm not salty about PA. It was a very ambitious project, and they pulled it off for the most part. But I still believe it requires more work to get to where it needs to be.

I too find this kickstarter game interesting, but I'm not going to back it. I might get it if it's well received after release, assuming it gets funded. 1.4M $ is a lot of money.
Click to expand...
I didn't point any fingers either.
 
Pray For Death said:
I'm not salty about PA. It was a very ambitious project, and they pulled it off for the most part. But I still believe it requires more work to get to where it needs to be.

I too find this kickstarter game interesting, but I'm not going to back it. I might get it if it's well received after release, assuming it gets funded. 1.4M $ is a lot of money.
Click to expand...

we're very proud of what we've accomplished with delivering on the vision of PA. just the other day, our CTO Jon Mavor, made a comment that not once in his career has he ever made a game that actually lined up so closely to the pitch. Kickstarter is a great tool for that.

we still have some things we want to do with the game, so hopefully we'll get it to where you want it. appreciate the words.
 
SapientWolf said:
To be fair, they were pretty much DOA. I guess shooter fans don't like MOBAs.
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And this is what it comes down to in the end.

You can be mad at them all you want to, but if nobody buys their stuff, what obligation do they have to keep supporting it long after release?

Personally, I think Planetary Annihilation largely succeeds in delivering the original pitch and is just in need of some more polish (and maybe some new units for cross-planetary combat).
 
Teremap said:
And this is what it comes down to in the end.

You can be mad at them all you want to, but if nobody buys their stuff, what obligation do they have to keep supporting it long after release?

Personally, I think Planetary Annihilation largely succeeds in delivering the original pitch and is just in need of some more polish (and maybe some new units for cross-planetary combat).
Click to expand...

even though human resources is on the horizon, we're totally not done with the mnc franchise yet.
 
Nate Simpson is an amazing artist and it's cool that Uber hired him.

But that said, he released ONE ISSUE of his beautiful comic book ("Nonplayer") in 2011 and the second issue is STILL NOT OUT YET.
 
beat said:
Nate Simpson is an amazing artist and it's cool that Uber hired him.

But that said, he released ONE ISSUE of his beautiful comic book ("Nonplayer") in 2011 and the second issue is STILL NOT OUT YET.
Click to expand...

he's still working on it at 3AM every morning. he made a joke the other day that he'd bump that time up a couple of hours if hr gets funded.
 
I would be interested in it but after the rocky launch that PA had I'm going to wait this one out.

I backed PA the moment it was announced and the alpha/beta were a train wreck and they wanted to launch the game way to early. I know they've said that they will continue to support PA and this is a different team but it just makes me way to paranoid. Plus if they run this like they did with PA you'll be able to get the game for cheap on Steam before it's released (early access stuff shouldn't get huge discounts in my opinion but that's another topic).

Still haven't played PA with my group of friends so we've got it to try and that will be a hold over while this is being developed, but I'll look into this once it's released if I can find anyone to play it with.
 
i find it hard to believe they will hit their target. so - so rep from their previous project and its a high enough amount that is easy to miss.
 
Uberent is still on my shitlist for ruining super monday, and apparently planetary isn't great either. I'm not backing with that track record.
 
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