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[BennyBlanco]

so if they had slapped together some "poochie the dog" ending or put episode 1 in the title it'd be ok? seems pretty dumb


full disclosure - i never played this game

 

[Tybolt]

I think the real question is, if the team was dissolved after the Kickstarter blew out, who was set to profit off the game?

Lots of games have shit endings, and I've played far shorter games at the same price point, so I'm not sure where all the backlash is coming from.

 

[Kammie]

This was posted in the other thread about the abrupt ending to this game, but it deserves to be reposted. Here is basically how it ends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPS_GGhMqk

No spoilers, just a guy in a Let's Play going like "WTF???" Made me laugh. Note that it's not even an ending, just a screen of text when you enter a random door.

I saw a few posts on the Steam forums yesterday about people receiving refunds.

 

[chemicals]

I'm a bit old school (and probably wrong about this) but I think all of this crowd-funding kickstarter crap is lame. If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

 

[Cheddahz]

I'm a bit old school (and probably wrong about this) but I think all of this crowd-funding kickstarter crap is lame. If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

Some developers (like Zeboyd Games) kickstart their games just because they want to own the IP for their game. They do have an audience, but they much rather own their own game then let someone like Sony own it

 

[Atilac]

Because it doesn't have a proper ending? Valve are doing this? Valve? ...Valve?

Describe why you feel this is ironic. How in away is Dark Matters ending anything like Valve's catalog of work?

 

[Bob Dobalina]

So its possible that none of the team that actually made this got paid as a result of the purchases?

If that actually was the case, I'd feel bad for any of them that read the previous thread..

 

[Famassu]

I'm a bit old school (and probably wrong about this) but I think all of this crowd-funding kickstarter crap is lame. If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

1) This isn't a KS game because their KS campaign failed, thus they didn't get any money. This is actually a perfect example of a situation where Kickstarter could've helped and been a majorly good thing had their campaign not failed. They could've finished the game and perhaps through positive word of mouth (as even this unfinished game's impressions have been really good apart from the abrupt ending), they could also have sold decently well.

2) Wow are you ignorant about Kickstarter and game development in general. Some of these projects wouldn't have gotten hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of pledgings if there was no audience for them. Publishers just aren't interested in most of them (and some they are only interested after the games have already gotten big on Kickstarter).

 

[Kadayi]

In case you're not (I think you're joking, but I just wanted to post that pic just once ) : Half-Life ² got a proper ending. The Episodes games got a proper ending. The next Half-Life game hasn't been cancelled.

Amazing how well that picture actually fits those claims tbh.

Still Valve = can do no wrong

 

[chemicals]

Some developers (like Zeboyd Games) kickstart their games just because they want to own the IP for their game. They do have an audience, but they much rather own their own game than let someone like Sony own it

Thanks for explaining this. I really never understood the point of crowd funding. Really, thanks.

 

[thechristoph]

Mass Effect 3 jokes or cracks about giving refunds to any games without a satisfying ending do not apply here. Go to Youtube and look up a gameplay video. The game doesn't end, it just stops. There's no boss. You run into a dead end, backtrack to a door, and then there's just text on the screen saying that the adventure is over.

 

[epmode]

I'm a bit old school (and probably wrong about this) but I think all of this crowd-funding kickstarter crap is lame. If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

If people will pay to cover the entire cost of the game 1+ years before release, there's obviously an audience. And if you're saying that such a game should have handled things with a publisher, you're overlooking a few important points:

Publishers don't like to sign on with genres that aren't trendy even if there is an underserved audience.

Crowd funding allows the developer to own their IP (if it's a new one) and they're not stuck in a financial hole, hoping that their publisher decides to give them money for their next milestone. Not only that, the dev gets a much higher cut of post-release sales as opposed to traditional deals which may give them no royalties whatsoever.

 

[katkombat]

If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

oh my god.

really, oh my god.

 

[Cheddahz]

Thanks for explaining this. I really never understood the point of crowd funding. Really, thanks.

It's not a problem. I don't think having a Kickstarter for every game should become a standard in gaming, but it has shown publishers like Capcom that there is a audience for games that they thought would bomb (example: Mighty No. 9)

 

[Gamefreaks221]

Reminds me of RAGE. Its a damn shame someone would think that doing this is fair. Especially to the people that tried to kickstart it. Seems like a slap in the face for not giving more.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

Reminds me of RAGE. Its a damn shame someone would think that doing this is fair. Especially to the people that tried to kickstart it. Seems like a slap in the face for not giving more.

In the case of Rage you still had a FMV explaining what really happened and not just some text on a black background and you were in the "final" level.

In Dark Matter you are just there, entering a door and thats it.

 

[PhoenixDawn]

Not knowing all the details and just going off what I've read, but this seems like a really shitty move for the publisher to pull on the developers. It sounds like the developers were working on the game, making it a pretty good one from what I've seen of the finished portions but then the publisher just decides to yank the funding. Instead of giving the devs warning to maybe try to finish up the game so it could be marketed as an "episode 1" of sorts, the publisher just abruptly pulls the plug and probably has one of their own coders through on this quick text screen ending so that they can sell it as a full game.

 

[sclpls]

Skeezy

 

[Crub]

I don't understand why they didn't at least try to hide it. Being forced to cut large parts of the planned content due to budget and time restrictions is nothing. Hell, Nintendo did it with Wind Waker.

They could have spent one extra month modifying the story and adding a proper ending and they would have easily gotten away with it. Aside from the abrupt ending, it actually looks like a pretty competent game. It even has Mac and Linux versions.

Makes no sense.

 

[Booter]

To prevent this from happening in the future I think Gabe should have to beat every game personally before it's allowed to go on sale

 

[Gamefreaks221]

In the case of Rage you still had a FMV explaining what really happened and not just some text on a black background and you were in the "final" level.

In Dark Matter you are just there, entering a door and thats it.

Yea I get that but id still feel equally cheated if I bought this game like I did with RAGE. The FMV didn't make it an easier pill to swallow considering the room didn't give me the feeling like ok this is everything I have worked for. It just felt like a normal room that could be continued after.

 

[Chronoja]

If anyone is still wanting to get this incase it does disappear from steam totally, get it from GMG or Gamersgate. Keys are steam redeemable

 

[Black Door]

I'm a bit old school (and probably wrong about this) but I think all of this crowd-funding kickstarter crap is lame. If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

This line of thinking is why shooters only get funding from publishers nowadays

 

[Contra11]

still better than "ridge racer" on ps vita ..yesterday i payed 25 $ for the game with a content of a "demo" and on top of that no career mode ..

 

[JaseC]

I hope JaseC managed to pick it up beforehand, then.

He did :lol

I've never felt more relieved!

Figured I'd be proactive so as to avoid any nasty surprises, and because every time I tempt fate, I lose.

 

[kswiston]

Plenty of $15 games have 4 hour (or shorter) campaigns. I'm sort of baffled that the studio had the balls to release Dark Matter as is, without some sort of half assed wrap up sequence, or without marketing it as Dark Matter Ep1. They probably would have kept a lot of these sales and not tanked their reputation.

 

[Coconut]

Steam and GoG should refund the money people paid for this trash and sue whoever is in charge of the studio no matter how defunct for damages.

Screw releasing half-games as a cash-grab. If you failed your kickstarter, you either finish or cancel it. Preferably canceling it to bow out with dignity. Not charge $15 for a four-hour "campaign" that doesn't even have an ending.

Slippery slope.

 

[Retroid]

If anyone is still wanting to get this incase it does disappear from steam totally, get it from GMG or Gamersgate. Keys are steam redeemable

Game is removed from both of these places now. Wonder if there is anywhere left to buy it.

 

[Nikodemos]

Should've gone for flexible funding on IndieGoGo. SoTS: The Pit didn't raise its goal, yet Kerberos managed to finish it and put it out on whatever they received, with an add-on (Mindgames) afterwards.

 

[Lissar]

so if they had slapped together some "poochie the dog" ending or put episode 1 in the title it'd be ok? seems pretty dumb


full disclosure - i never played this game

Hardly, given that there were tutorials for things that were never used in the game and achievements for killing monsters that did not appear in the game. Making a shortened game or even a half-assed ending is one thing, cutting it in half and leaving all the frayed edges without any attempts to make it into something presentable is just sleazy.

Of course if most of the team was laid off, I certainly can't blame the devs for it. I feel bad for them.

 

[CamHostage]

Hrm, interesting move on Steam/GOG's part. I don't like that they shipped it without an ending worked out (although it seems like there was one at least planned, but the money was just not there to cross the finish line.) But then again, there are a lot of decent games out there that end with cliffhanger endings. I'd be very disappointed if a store pulled Psi-Ops from shelves because somebody wasn't satisfied with its ending.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2006/08/5091/

The community-driven game development market should make for some interesting debates and development challenges as things move forward.

It'll be interesting to see the fallout/phoenix-rising of Doublefine's infamous Broken Age when that finally ships. It started the KS revolution, and it could well determine the future (either good or bad) of it as well.

Reminds me of RAGE. Its a damn shame someone would think that doing this is fair. Especially to the people that tried to kickstart it. Seems like a slap in the face for not giving more.

To be fair, the KS supporters were never charged since the KS bid fell through. But it does suck for the supporters and for the developer, sounds like the publisher dicked everybody over.

 

[EatinOlives]

Amazing how well that picture actually fits those claims tbh.

Still Valve = can do no wrong

I'm sure you're smart enough to know the difference between an unfinished game and a game with a cliffhanger ending...

I'm a bit old school (and probably wrong about this) but I think all of this crowd-funding kickstarter crap is lame. If your game needs to be kickstarted, then there's no audience for it.

KS really has nothing to do with the game seeing as the fundraiser failed, but don't let that stop you from coming into the thread to do fill the token "KS mentioned in OP? Better shit on it then" quota.

 

[Mozendo]

Didn't Advent Rising have a cliffhanger ending?

 

[terrisus]

And so scientists continue their search for dark matter in the universe.

 

[MadFerIt]

Didn't Advent Rising have a cliffhanger ending?

Cliffhanger endings are one thing, this game doesn't end on a cliffhanger, it ends when going through a door. They would have been better off cutting some content and ending the game after a previous boss fight, this was just plain sloppy.

 

[Spoo]

Seems stupid that Steam gets to decide -- hell, even that consumers get to decide -- that a game will be removed simply because we think it has a shit ending. If that's the metric, I can think of a few games that could stand to go.

Sucks the ending sucks, but if there was a big publisher behind this game Steam wouldn't be so quick to remove, methinks.

 

[flkraven]

Seems stupid that Steam gets to decide -- hell, even that consumers get to decide -- that a game will be removed simply because we think it has a shit ending. If that's the metric, I can think of a few games that could stand to go.

Sucks the ending sucks, but if there was a big publisher behind this game Steam wouldn't be so quick to remove, methinks.

This isn't Mass Effect 3. It didn't have a 'crap' ending, it had no ending. It was an incomplete game. It's like buying a game, and as you play it you purchase a rejuvenation potion. When you hit 'use potion' a screen pops up saying 'you feel suddenly more powerful, but unfortunately the effect wear off immediately' and then you find out that the devs didn't finish that portion of the game. Only this is worse because it directly affects progression in the game.

 

[Mozendo]

Cliffhanger endings are one thing, this game doesn't end on a cliffhanger, it ends when going through a door. They would have been better off cutting some content and ending the game after a previous boss fight, this was just plain sloppy.

Ah, okay.
I was just asking because I've yet to play the game and remembered it was meant to be a trilogy.
Thanks for clearing that up

 

[Chronoja]

Game is removed from both of these places now. Wonder if there is anywhere left to buy it.

The game seems to still be available on GetGamesGo.com

It is a steam redeemable key

I have been having problems on getgamesgo for a while though, pages not loading correctly so hopefully it works for you guys.

 

[Kammie]

Seems stupid that Steam gets to decide -- hell, even that consumers get to decide -- that a game will be removed simply because we think it has a shit ending. If that's the metric, I can think of a few games that could stand to go.

Sucks the ending sucks, but if there was a big publisher behind this game Steam wouldn't be so quick to remove, methinks.

I already linked it but here it goes again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPS_GGhMqk

Yeah, I don't see a big publisher pulling that.

 

[tmarques]

Can't believe they thought they'd get away with it. Surely they could have made it look like a proper ending with minimal effort.

 

[FauX]

GAF should have helped funding this game and spread the word just as GAF usually do....

Poor developers...

 

["God's Beard!"]

Still Valve = can do no wrong

Then why isn't the engine called Steam and the store Source?

 

[jaundicejuice]

there are shorter and shittier games available for full price on steam right now. not sure why this got pulled. because of the really dumb text at the end?

The game doesn't have a shitty ending and it's not a question of length beyond the devs claiming they had desired to hit a certain overall length but failed to due to lack of funding and a failed kickstarter campaign. The problem with Dark Matter is that it simply stops, abruptly when you walk through a doorway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPS_GGhMqk

They sold an unfinished product that was advertised as a complete one. This should have been released as an Early Access game because it is literally incomplete. Or they should have gone the episodic route, hoping that good sales/word of mouth from the first episode could fund the second. By all accounts what was there of Dark Matter's campaign was promising.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Can't believe they thought they'd get away with it. Surely they could have made it look like a proper ending with minimal effort.

They?? It's probably one person who made the decision. Is there even anyone left at the company aside from the CEO?

 

[ridethepiggy]

They should pull Half-Life 2 and it's episodes as well, since it's ended with "To be continued..." and there is no plans for any sequel. Valve are hypocrites.

Lol nice troll.