KickStarter Underworld Ascendant is a disaster

[LESS T_T]

From Discord:

(Jared is that QA guy.)

 

[Infinitron]

Taking creative risks is only a part of the story of Underworld Ascendant’s launch. The project faced funding hurdles early in its development. We had lined up a healthy funding commitment with a partner, many-fold more than the Kickstarter funding we later raised. Unfortunately, several months following the Kickstarter our funding partner made a strategic pivot away from the sort of game we were making, resulting in the funding falling through.

FFS WHY DIDN'T YOU CANCEL THE GAME Very similar to what I thought happened: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...ant-is-a-disaster.124859/page-22#post-5887836

 

[V_K]

FFS WHY DIDN'T YOU CANCEL THE GAME

Because then they'd have to refund kickstarter money?
I remember there were some recent court cases where the vaporware devs were compelled to do that.

 

[Zep Zepo]

And they didn't come clean with this info that they lost a major funding partner.

Continued to bullshit the backers for 2 or 3 years.

Then throw out some worthless piece of shit of a "game" like the failures they are.

This shit gets better and better they more they open their mouths and try to apologize.

I am laughing every time they try to do some hand waving.

Paraphrased "We never exactly said we were making an Underworld game..."

WTF? It's right there in the name of the game you stupid dipshits! Are you lying to us or to yourselves? Because we're not falling for it.

Zep--

 

[Glic2000]

Yeah, the fact that they were shopping the game around to a publisher (and failing to find one) was never mentioned at all to the KS backers. That should have been mentioned right up front in the Kickstarter; not doing so is very deceptive. There is an understanding with Kickstarter that the creator is trying to raise the amount of money needed to finish the project, not just get the ball barely rolling.

Likewise, I would've been fine if the game wasn't a sequel to Ultima Underworld, if it at least did more or less what was described in the KS. But they didn't do any of that either!

 

[Glic2000]

I mean, making a bad game is one thing, but lying about every aspect of the game's development before/during/after its crowdfunding phase is unforgivable.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Built on lies. Just like the "TOTALLY NOT SCRIPTED GAIS!" Shadow Beast demo (It was totally scripted).

Zep--

 

[Space Nugget]

Are they fucking serious right now? Excusing their shortcomings as if all of that was intended all along - basically telling us now that they were "moving the genre forward" by going backwards? Gimme a break. I was disappointed with the game (I should've known better: the updates and progress throughout the years and months were very telling), but this OtherSide post mortem-of sorts actually makes me angry. Underworld Ascendant is a broken mess, insultingly unplayable, and no amount of polish will amend the deeply flawed and appalling design decisions.

Also, kinda weird that two of 2018's game release bombs were led by Looking Glass veterans. The other one being DumpsterFire 76 (Emil Pagliarulo was/is the Design Director).

Spoiler

ZEP ZEPO WAS RIGHT!

 

[Curratum]

https://otherside-e.com/wp/underworld-ascendant-where-were-headed-how-we-got-here/

What a disgusting, ball-less waste of space. Almost all of it is lies as well.

 

[Space Nugget]

Oh hey, it's Chris and Tim!

Spoiler

Can't wait for a spiritual sucessor of that...

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Too many mexicans, that's the problem.

Beaners manage to be a nuisance or a hindrance in all walks of life.

 

[Roguey]

He really buried the lede there

"We made the game like this ON PURPOSE (also we were expecting to have a lot more money...)"

 

[Infinitron]

Top-tier rage post by Nyast: https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=7476.msg37235#msg37235

 

[Viata]

This game is a reminder that you need programmers more than anything to make a good game.

 

[Zep Zepo]

And top tier programmers at that.

Does that horse teethed jr. programmer they hired have any pedigree at all in games programming?

Zep--

 

[Viata]

And top tier programmers at that.

Well, you use the kind of programmer you need for the game you want. No way you are going to make Thief with California level programmers, for example. But you can make Outer Worlds.

 

[Nyast]

Top-tier rage post by Nyast: https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=7476.msg37235#msg37235

I'm borderline treating this as a scam now.

I can't get over the fact they knew from the start they didn't have the budget to deliver their Kickstarter and never bothered informing anybody until now.

I'm ready to forgive honest mistakes, even some incompetence, but this is just another level of deceptive practises.

"Oooops sorry guys, that you had to discover that in the postmortem, that we never had the budget to produce the game we described on Kickstarter. Honest mistake. Now let's get back to work on System Shock 3 ! We've learned from our mistakes ! Honest !"

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Paraphrased "We never exactly said we were making an Underworld game..."

Underworld Ascendant Cutpurse: The Lethean Depths

If only they hadn't completely botched it.

 

[BEvers]

Another dev post:

Your comment that UA feels more like a game than a world is spot on. For example, we're looking at how we can restructure the levels so that it feels more like one contiguous dungeon (with load screens of course) without forcing players to go back to Marcaul between quests, taking away players' choice about what to do next. The simplification of the meta could come from removing faction favor and influence so that your journey to stop Typhon follows the storyline quests without all of the forced repetition through levels (and favor could become a thing for folks to earn to get better gear in the store, for example). My vote is also to obfuscate the Doom Counter, which to your point feels too much like an obvious game mechanic.

Anyway, don't hold me to this stuff yet, but let me know what you think. Also, all of this said, being realistic to those of you that though we were making something closer to the original UWs, I don't think we're going to be able to address all of the things that make it feel less like the original UWs, but we'll definitely make the game better. Thief + System Shock in a fantasy dungeon is still my go to simple description of the game

Nyast, you might be right re: PC, unfortunately, but we need to make the game better on PC regardless of the other versions. It does put more weight on the console versions. Of course, any work we do for PC is going to help those as well as Mac/Linux.

One last point about this update. It's a big step in the right direction, e.g., levels do feel more populated, loot is more rewarding, combat is better, etc., but we have more work to do. Most of the engineering time for Update 1 was spent on the save game system so we'll now have those guys able to spend more time on things like AI. The design and art teams can spend time "restructuring" things and make it feel more lived in.

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=7473.msg37221#msg37221

 

[Nano]

I dunno why they're bothering. I'm assuming post-release support was included in some contract or whatever.

 

[Infinitron]

One of the occasionally helpful oddities of modern game development. It seems no matter how hard a game bombs, additional development is guaranteed until the console port is released. Only then is it allowed to die. (insert Bane gif here)

 

[Space Nugget]

Thief + System Shock in a fantasy dungeon is still my go to simple description of the game

 

[Viata]

Someone in that link Infinitron posted said it all:

I'm not sure what can be done for UA. You could fix every single bug in the game and fix the save system, and you'd still be left with a game about doing rote fetch quests for factions that don't really exist. To fix the whole game would be to make a different one entirely.

 

[Cael]

I like this reply from one of the posters there in reply to the rant:

"Stop being angry with them. They did nothing criminal. They just managed to not tell the truth and con everyone out of their money and hopes for a good game. Just never touch or back anything this sad circus clown troupe ever produces. Only YOU can prevent forest fires and another disaster like UA."

The sarcasm, condescension and outrage is hilariously well put together.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

programmer on the US costs 85000 dollars on a year of work

eh, looking closer to $55k + benefits for a moderately experienced game programmer outside of the bay area/other specific high cost areas. It's definitely the lowest paying job you can get as a programmer.

Most of USA is incredibly cheap to live in. Just a few areas are insanely expensive because people want to live like roaches for some reason.