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

[luj1]

Unknown Realm: Heralds of the Winger Exemplar

 

[RNGsus]

This is what you do when you need to stall for time as you wait for your passports.

 

[MRY]

their twitter is absolutely useless. youd never know they were even making a game. Youd think it was some company trying to sell their coffee mugs

If it makes you feel better, they've locked their Twitter: https://twitter.com/stirringdragon

At this point, I think I'd probably be happier to learn this was a straight-out scam like Confederate Express and they're currently squatting in someone's California vacation home fighting eviction...

 

[hemispheres]

their twitter is absolutely useless. youd never know they were even making a game. Youd think it was some company trying to sell their coffee mugs

If it makes you feel better, they've locked their Twitter: https://twitter.com/stirringdragon

At this point, I think I'd probably be happier to learn this was a straight-out scam like Confederate Express and they're currently squatting in someone's California vacation home fighting eviction...

Nice...from the person developer (Wormwood Studios) who "says supporting other independent game projects is an integral part of their development mission"...

 

[MRY]

It is fairly incredible to me that this of all things is what the game's developer would post in the thread, but having been poked...

I don't think that supporting independent game projects means always siding with developers against players. Quite the contrary, actually. The generous spirit of players in supporting independent developers -- whether through word of mouth and fan material such as translations, art, etc. (as they have with Primordia) or with $120k in handouts (as they did with Unknown Realms) -- never ceases to amaze me. It seems to me a developer should be grateful for the people who make possible our hobby and give meaning to our work, which is, after all, a performance that requires an audience of some kind. Not just grateful to the particular customers of my game, but to the community as a whole, which nurtured and even created those customers. It strikes me that it would be fundamentally ungrateful to put on blinders when developer is behaving high-handedly with that community. And not just ungrateful, but unwise, since a jaded and world-weary independent-game-supporting community hurts more than just the projects that disillusioned them.

If you're still making the game, why not credibly show something to the people who supported you -- not just with their money, but with their hopes and enthusiasm -- over these many years? If you're not still making the game (or never were), then the question is, which would be worse, a scam or a failure? In my mind, a scam is actually less awful to contemplate. Kickstarter scams happen, and they suck. (For instance, I was scammed by That Which Sleeps and Confederate Express.) But the notion of a Commodore 64 game development scam has an absurdist Don DeLillo quality to it that would leaven the situation. By contrast, if really you guys have been working full time on this game for a decade with nothing to show for it, while growing mean-spirited toward your fans and supporters, then it's just too depressing to contemplate. I can watch a grift with wry amusement, but I can only grimace when a promising game project turns into vaporware and contempt.

 

[FireKing]

The comments section of this KS scam is hilarious. Backers are in full revolt and rightfully so. This Stirring Dragon guy responds to backers comments but never actually answers any questions or provides any updates on the game's development. This is almost as fun to watch as Scam of the Avatar!

 

[Infinitron]

Latest developer comments: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/stirringdragongames/comments

Seasons Greetings everyone! We’re planning an update that will be posted before the end of the year. As we’ve said before, the best way to contact us is always email - we’re usually pretty responsive to backer messages and emails so feel free to get in touch if you’d like to communicate with us in the meantime.

Just to reiterate, as we said below we are planning an update that will be posted before the end of the year. The upcoming update has been a tough one for us to write but hopefully this will help some of you understand what's going on with Stirring Dragon Games. Thank you for your patience.

Our official update about the game will be posted after Christmas, in the meantime, we're releasing something special for the holidays, like we do every year. We had a lot of requests for this one, so we hope C64 fans will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it for them! We wish all of you a Merry Christmas, we'll be back with more soon!

What they released:



Also some minor art drama: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=184954

User Comment
Submitted by Mermaid on 16 December 2019

Iirc, when they asked me to do the picture in the first place (because they liked the pictures I had done for Ultima IV Remastered), the deal was that if I was able to do the picture before their campaign ended they would write an update about it on their kickstarter page and mention Pond Software and Graham Axten's game The Bear Essentials which we were about to do a physical disk release of. I put everyhing else aside and delayed the release of Graham's game to finish the picture in time for them to post the update, thinking the extra publicity boost might help us flog a few extra copies. After several previews and fixes to the picture based on their feedback (plus some arguing about things where I stubbornly thought they were wrong, like the colour of the owl's eyes) I was sure I had a completed final picture with some days left to post the update, so I sent them this version with the sprite file and source code.

A few days went by without a reply, then I received a list of things they weren't happy with, including the character in the foreground, the scroll, my colour choices, specifically the use of dark blue. I asked for details on what needed to be fixed when it came to the scroll and character so I could try and finish it in time for them to post the update, the reply I got was that it would take too long to tell me in writing, it was too late. So that was the end of my involvement.

I still hope they finish the game one day, I did back the kickstarter campaign and I am convinced they plan to finish it. I do not think they took the money and ran, I think it's probably a case of life sometimes randomly punching you in the face, or biting over more than you can chew, or finding that things take longer than expected. Or all of the above. Best of luck to them, I hope they succeed in the end.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stirringdragongames/unknown-realm-an-8bit-rpg-for-pc-and-commodore-64/comments?comment=Q29tbWVudC0yNjczNjk1OA==

That artwork was *not* rejected by us, but it was released without our permission or any prior notice.

 

[Infinitron]

Also, blog post from October: https://stirringdragon.games/the-ones-that-really-matter/

The Ones That Really Matter

The other day we received an email that caused me reflect on who really matters when it comes to making games. This is something I have long suspected about game dev, and I decided to take a moment to collect those thoughts in one place.

We first decided to “invest” our life savings in starting our indie game studio about seven years ago. As much as I’d like to go back to 2012 and give my overly optimistic self a good smack on the head, I can’t say I regret the decision.

But some days it does feel foolish to still be fighting to finish Unknown Realm…it’s far too easy to only hear the negative voices, or to focus on the things we’ve sacrificed or the mistakes we’ve made along the way. I won’t lie, sometimes it feels like giving up would be the wiser path. But then emails like this come in to remind us: THIS is what we’re fighting for.



We’ve made mistakes on this journey…A LOT of mistakes. We’ve miscalculated and mis-stepped and made rookie moves that hurt us. We’ve had days where felt like our life was completely ruined – we still feel that way some days. Sometimes we’ve wondered how we could ever come back from such huge risks. As a husband and wife team, this journey has brought up issues that have frayed our relationship and bled well past the tidy boundaries of “work” into the rest of our life. This little “adventure” has taxed us emotionally, physically and financially far beyond what we ever imagined.

And yet…Seven years ago, we sat across from each other at the table in our one bedroom apartment, and we said we were going to take the risks and make games for the overlooked game players. The players who are now pulling out their old cloth maps and feelies, and revisiting memories of childhood wonder and the simple pleasures of exploring new digital worlds. We know these people are out there, many of them found us on Kickstarter and and we get emails from more on a regular basis. They are the ones who keep us focused. They are why we started this journey and they are why we’ll see it through to the end.

For the naysayers and doubters: people want what we’re making because it is different and they know it’s made for them. It is different because WE are different. The product (our game) is a direct result of the creative process (the way we work), and we can make something different because we don’t do things the way everyone else does. If you want what we’re creating, you have to recognize that it is inextricably linked to who we are and the way we do things. If you like the product, you should respect the process.

So here’s my little piece of unsolicited advice to any creative person reading this. If you’re trying to do anything in life, please remember: in the end, the people who don’t like what you’re doing or how you’re doing it don’t matter. The people who don’t believe you can do it don’t matter. The only people who matter are the ones who say “Yes!” They are the people who see your stuff and know it’s for them. They probably won’t be as loud as the ones who say “you can’t do that!” or the ones who say “I don’t like it” but if you’re making something good and meaningful to bring joy to others, the people who say YES will be there for you, waiting at the finish line.

They are the ones who matter. Think of them and just keep going!

Cheers,

Laura

PS: If you’re reading this and you are trying to figure out if you can still get a copy of Unknown Realm in the box with the cloth map – send us an email (hello@stirringdragon.games), we have a wait list and we’re going to try to find a way to make sure you get one.

 

[Rhuantavan]

I still have hopes for this project. Nuff said.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

I still have hopes for this project. Nuff said.

I do as well, but chose not to back the game when the creators couldn't or wouldn't even answer the most basic of technical details or design choices. That was enough to make me suspicious - you'd think if they were confident in what they were doing they'd enjoy discussing it. Seven years to make a tile-based Ultima-alike? No obvious progress since the kickstarter when they seemingly had a good set of art assets to build on? I hope when they do pull the plug they'll release all the work so far and allow somebody to make something useful out of it.

 

[newtmonkey]

This game is simply not gonna happen. Every single thing they post sounds like it's coming from every slacker with whom I've ever worked who contributed absolutely nothing except an endless list of excuses why it's impossible to get their part accomplished.

 

[Melan]

All they had to do was to post regular progress updates, and communicate clearly about the status of their game. How hard is it to write a blog post every month or two?

These people are not even scammers. They are idiots, and my prediction for their next update is that they have used up the money (probably on living expenses and peripherals) with no core game to show.

 

[Wayward Son]

Will it run on the C64 Maxi aka THE C64?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

So emulation?

Pledge $9,000 or more
8-BIT SUPERSTAR
It doesn’t get much cooler than this. Pledge at this level and you (or someone you love) will star in their very own video game for the Commodore 64 and PC! You get to pick the main character and choose the theme and Stirring Dragon Games will work with you to design a three level shoot 'em up style action game with the star of your choice! You’ll get three copies of your game in its own shrink-wrapped custom designed game box with fabulously retro style artwork. Each box copy will include the game on a custom floppy for the C64 and CD-ROM for the PC. Give the ultimate birthday or gag gift to someone you love or be one of the elite few who can claim to have starred in their very own video game!

(Estimated delivery for personalized game will be approximately 3-4 months after delivery of other rewards.)

INCLUDES:

• All BLACK EDITION (PC or C64) rewards
• Copy of COLLECTOR'S EDITION (PC or C64)
• 3× Extra Digital Copy of Game
• Launch Party Invite
• Personalized 8-bit Shoot'em Up Style Video Game*
• 3× Boxed Copy of Personalized Video Game

ESTIMATED DELIVERY Dec 2017
SHIPS TO Anywhere in the world
Limited
0 backers

you know, when i see KS setups like this i have to really wonder who the fuck would buy that?

10$ gets you a bookmark? Yeesh.

 

[Grauken]

they do have a pretty high opinion of themselves

 

[ItsChon]

they do have a pretty high opinion of themselves

Their faggot ass game looked like shit anyway. Shit will flop hard.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

So do they have a problem with finishing the game or do they have a problem with all the physical stuff their KS was build around? Because in past KSs it was often all the physical stuff that the creators misjudged. Personally, I didn't give much of a shit about feelies, I just want to play a good game. If the development was really as far advanced as they said it was it shouldn't be too hard to concentrate on that, put out some life signs, put out the game on a platform, maybe make so money, maybe get some goodwill back and then focus on the other stuff.

Instead we are supposed to hit them an email if we are still interested in getting a boxed copy? Huh.

Either these guys are really still working on it, so they should put out some proof of their work and explain themselves better; or the project failed, then they should own up to it and just admit that it failed. Its not that hard.

I am willing to believe that this is the result of misjudgment rather than a deliberate scam but their communication makes it really hard to maintain goodwill. Bleeding heart updates do absolutely nothing for the backers. They gave them their money in advance cause they trusted them, at least give them some substantial update.

 

[Grauken]

 

[V_K]

they do have a pretty high opinion of themselves

That whole thread is so hilarious.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Nobody believed it, even your buddies on the rpgcodex.

kek, I bet there is plenty of their buddies in the friendly RPG community with the heart of gold that believed them enough to back their game.

 

[newtmonkey]

These people are delusional

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Grampy_Bone]

This project is stupid.

Called it.

 

[Jarpie]

We should have two new buttons, "typical indie dev" and "typical modder".

 

[MRY]

they do have a pretty high opinion of themselves

Market failure.