Sui Generis - Post-Funding Update #26

Myrthos

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A quick update is provided for Sui Generis, which details what they have been working on after the postponement.

After announcing the postponement of the game we felt we had breathing room to develop some important features and improvements that we couldn't be sure we'd have the time to add and are better done sooner than later. Because we weren't sure we'd be able to add some of these features we've never really promised them or been specific about them. We've been wanting to make a development video or two about these new features but we're not finding the time to do this with getting a first build out of the office. We will make some new videos to go into more depth about these things but here's a quick breakdown of some of the more important improvements and features:

  • Procedural materials for apparel that allow items to be made from different fabrics and other materials, possess unique variations, be dyed in different colours and have dynamic dirt and wear. This allows for endless unique looking items, greater customisation options and many implications for gameplay and AI.
  • Procedural character texturing that allows us to add more unique detail and effects to our characters.
  • Finalised and improved models for both genders and all physiques taking advantage of new features.
  • Complete overhaul of sounds.
  • Reworked post-processing for a more vibrant overall apperance.
  • Torches! These work as dynamic lights with new dynamic fire effects, you can grab them off walls and even use them as weapons.
  • Various animation and combat fixes, including one that caused a perpetual swinging/swaying motion that gave characters a "puppets on string" feel.
A first playable version is scheduled for the end of the month.

More information.
 
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Their product still sounds 90% like an engine and 0% like a game.
 
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Their product still sounds 90% like an engine and 0% like a game.

Not necessary bad thing, even if they fail to create good game(not to be negative since I backed it but I don't expect anything from game itself) they could create very advanced engine that could power games from other studios in future.
 
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Their product still sounds 90% like an engine and 0% like a game.

Yeah, this is the one kickstarter I actually regret backing. Whatever happened to:
BareMettle Kickstarter said:
Sui Generis is not about running around killing hordes of enemies in order to collect experience points and numerous items. It is about exploring a world and being involved in major events there. What exactly you do and how you do it is entirely up to you. The world is carefully designed to be believable and have a life of its own. …Much of the time combat situations will be occasional yet meaningful. … The denizens of the Sui Generis world will never be suicidal walking scratch cards. Every character and creature shares a core AI system that gives them meaningful and diverse behaviours. They never have fixed roles and every action is circumstantial.
 
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Their product still sounds 90% like an engine and 0% like a game.

Yes, it's looking more and more like a polished Rogue-like. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Ideally it would have a modding engine that would allow us to create whatever game we wanted.
 
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I wonder when and how they will communicate the actual state of their "game" to the community.
 
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Their product still sounds 90% like an engine and 0% like a game.

+1 Totally agree. Not much fun to look at, rather a strange gravity-ragdoll simulation with nice looking beaches, nice dungeons and okay looking castle walls.

Various animation and combat fixes, including one that caused a perpetual swinging/swaying motion that gave characters a "puppets on string" feel.

This will be critical. Fixing that cheerless looking "hanging on a wire" ugly wobble.
 
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I'm definitely looking forward to how the game progresses and the final product. If you backed the project, do you actually know how the finished product will turn out? Would it be a Jack that pops out of the box? Or a Genie? Or nothing? You backed it with ALL those outcomes, and more as a possibilities.

So why cry and piss and moan about your expectations not being met? Especially when they stated "A first playable version is scheduled for the end of the month."

How about a little slack, and a little more encouragement, for a small team making their first game? Perhaps the game will exceed your expectations or disappoint. Either way, the negative whiny tone shows nothing other than an insight into your own demeanor. It's a frickin game after all, play it well and with class.
 
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Well, at the current state of the campaign one can only be sceptical. Just take a look at what has been "promised", how much actual information we got yet and what the release date is… or not is.
The KS campaign stated May 2014, in their last update they just told to be behind schedule. So we actually don't know anything.

If they announced a new release date for 2015, I'd be totally satisfied.
 
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As small indie developers our role should be to innovate, not to compete with the big established titles. We think the scale of efforts to this effect are deserving of a little respect, we are developing something new from scratch, not just taking existing formulae and technology and dumping some content on it. It's a truly epic undertaking. And don't forget just how limited our resources are please!

A game is made from tech. The two are intrisically linked. If you want to make an interactive and dynamic world you _need_ lots of tech. If all you want is story then it seems like you're barking up the wrong tree.

Whether the game is your cup of tea or not this kind of criticism seems unfairly harsh, we're indie devs trying to do something different, give us a chance!

As it seems relevant I will also quote a comment I made on Kickstarter in response to similar concerns:

We are trying to create a very dynamic world, more a simulation than a story driven game and we have given detailed information of what our goals are. We have also stated our dislike for linear story and explained that the point is to discover and experience the world, we want you to enter the world knowing very little about it and to struggle to understand it, we want you to choose your own path without having any idea whether it's "right or wrong". Mystery is a huge, really huge, component of our story-telling method in this game. While there is a "main plot" it is not designed around the player, this is first and foremost a sandbox game, you will never have us tell you about the "epic adventure you will embark on", there will be many completely different things to do and hopefully many others we have never even forseen. Whatever it is you have come to expect from the RPG label please be prepared for something different because that's what we're trying to do.
 
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How about a little slack, and a little more encouragement, for a small team making their first game? Perhaps the game will exceed your expectations or disappoint. Either way, the negative whiny tone shows nothing other than an insight into your own demeanor. It's a frickin game after all, play it well and with class.

I do like the ideas they have presented and what they've shown thus far. Sure there's much work to do, but it looks promising long-term. But there are pragmatic realists in the audience and so you can expect a little healthy caution in our expectations.
 
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I'm a backer, so I have a monetary interest in the final product and it needs to live up to the kickstarter promises. If you pay and reach a certain goal, we will produce a game. The updates have been very, very minimal and the tech looks decent but its just tech. From what I can see, a lot of resources went to helping people move, I didn't pay for moving expenses, that wasn't listed in the goals, yet it is what has been the most visible thing to happen. Slack is for people who do things for free. I would give a Skyrim modder slack, but not someone who collected $200,000.

However, I will gladly admit to being wrong if you start showing a game instead of little pieces of tech. Respect is earned, not freely given. You can design the best ingredients in the world, but if you can't cook it's not food.
 
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Wow, just wow.

I'd like to think that if you suspected I work even half as hard as I actually do you'd take that right back. Clearly you have no idea how gruelling and tedious and just outright laborious making something like this is and we're a tiny, tiny team. Moving? We moved so that we could work together and live as cheaply as possible without any distractions. We live below the poverty line, we struggle to get through each month and adamantly refuse to pay ourselves more.

How many projects made with these means do you think concern themselves with enticing potential customers with engaging marketing material long before the game is developed? People are forming opinions on the game based on basically nothing, or based on not being barraged with epic (and totally f***ing meaningless) trailers and jabber and various other marketing shenanigans. We went on Kickstarter and so we're in the public eye. Let me tell you, it sucks. Everyone is criticising something that is far from being released and raising impossible expectations and for us everything is at stake. I've been wanting to make a game, this game, since I was 16, or earlier but I've been working my arse off ever since to make it happen. Now I'm working 10 hours a day or more 7 days a week because I'm trying really damn hard to satisfy our backers. Then we confront the public and we see that outside our little sphere of loyal enthusiasts what you get is threads like this that are almost entirely negative. Sometimes this means your hopes and dreams collapse, all your doubts bear down on you and all the ridiculously hard work you're so very tired from doing just doesn't seem worth it.

So much of what you say shows some serious lack of perspective, what standards are you holding us to, comparatively? What are you basing this on and what makes you belittle even what we unarguably have achieved? What's your definition of a game anyway? How often have you been able to make that distinction before you played it or even seen it, or seen a review of it? Bah, whatever.
 
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Madoc it's the internet and people will always complain. ;)

You will never please everyone so don't even try to. Just know not everyone feels the same way, and some of us are looking forward to playing your final product.
 
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I'm a backer, so I have a monetary interest in the final product and it needs to live up to the kickstarter promises. If you pay and reach a certain goal, we will produce a game.

You backed a project for a game in development, and you also purchased a copy of that game by backing it. You chipped in on a project to support its development with full risk and full disclosure that the game may or may not live up to said "kickstarter promises" or even your expectations. Either way, the game IS being produced.

The ONLY place it "needs to live up to the kickstarter promises" is in your head. Next time you purchase a game, good luck returning it at the counter when you tell them "the game didn't live up to my expectations based on its description and promises on the box".

The game hasn't even been released yet, and you're making entitled claims that you've been ripped off and your "promises" have not been met. I find that attitude to be unreasonable, unrealistic and jerkish. But it is a "fantasy" game so knock yourself out with all the negative fantasies you can conjure up.

Anyone who thinks that by backing a kickstarter project they are guaranteed the exact outcome "promised" is delusional. Many of the nasty negative comments here remind me of entitled bratty children throwing tantrums before they even purchase their popcorn at the movie theater.
 
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Lol, as I said; I'll gladly eat my words if you guys produce. I think several folks will tell you I'm kind of a curmudgeon though.

I gain nothing and lose $140 or whatever if you guys tank. Surely you're old enough to handle criticism? Is CitizenX a dev? Only post he/she/whatever made was about a tech demo. You gotta understand CX, I'm going to go with my own experiences and viewpoints and as you can tell from the handful of posts in this thread, many folks think that Sui Generis is not really shaping up to be much yet in the year plus it has been in development since the end of the kickstarter.

In the world I live in, you produce at a high level or you get fired. That's the way it works for most adults who are in a career. Nobody gives you $200,000 to just try. I don't mind giving up the money in the hopes of your success, and I truly wish you well, but I'm not going to hold back my opinion on forums that are specifically made for discussing crpgs.
 
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Nameless, your point about the engine is well taken. While we haven't seen a game yet out of Sui Generis, we have seen a pieces of an advanced engine. I hope these guys produce the game they and I dream about, but even if they don't, they might be able to license the engine to some other indie developer or even team up.

If the $200,000 isn't going to make ends meet, and I can believe that as ambitious as the engine is, then perhaps they join up with another kickstarter group that has a story, lore, etc firmly in place. Perhaps they team up with Guido Henkel, for instance.

Anyway, though I can be a harsh sounding get, I really do want the game and the group to succeed. If not on your own, then perhaps as some sort of collaboration.
 
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Just because something is a kickstarter project does not mean that the expectations and concerns of investors (i.e. backers) can be ignored. Your backers now each have a personal stake in your project and your vision. A kickstarter backer for a project has every right to be concerned about their investment and to voice their concern, complaint, or opinion. Obviously your backers each believe in your vision, as otherwise they would not have invested.

Indie teams that solicit funds from any source must be patient and listen to investor concerns. Yes, indie game development can be rough, and many will have understanding and sympathy for the team members' challenges. But in the end the harsh reality is that the struggles of the team members are a non-factor once investor money is accepted. When someone invests in a project they are entitled to reasonable expectation that the product will function as advertised and be delivered as promised. Figuring out the best way to get there with the resources at hand is the job of the developers. You really have to look at kickstarter backers as shareholders in your product, and your project as a business.

Having said all that, I wish good fortune to this project! Remember that as a funded project that public relations is now one of the things that will be important to the success of what is now your business. Beware of emotionally charged public responses to criticism. Be patient, accept criticism (even criticism you feel is unwarranted) without judgement, do your best to answer investor concerns in a well reasoned way, keep the backers informed of progress, and all your hard work will pay off in the end!
 
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