A new update on the System Shock Remake announces a return to the original concept.
More information.
System Shock - Returning to Vision
- Thread starter Silver
- Start date
I don't like his words, they bring a negative charge, something terribly ominous… 
Kickstarter comments (below the "update text" in the link provided above by Silver) are filling with a mix of fear, anger, sadness, you know, the dark side of the Force…
I really don't like what I read.
Stephen Kick kicked the bucket (yes pun intended, of course. With a surname like that….)
This February update is waaaay too different from the last one (January/2018). Only a month has passed and the project is going to limbo????
Allow me to use a Brazilian expression here: puta que pariu, Nightdive!!!!! What the f@ck you just did?????
A poster by the name Andrew Magowan wrote in the KS comments section: "(…) We have gone from a release date of December 2017 to second quarter 2018 to “ummm we lost focus”."
And there goes my hopes and my funding money. At this point I'm too angry, too pissed off to think about refunding…
Kickstarter comments (below the "update text" in the link provided above by Silver) are filling with a mix of fear, anger, sadness, you know, the dark side of the Force…
I really don't like what I read.
Stephen Kick kicked the bucket (yes pun intended, of course. With a surname like that….)This February update is waaaay too different from the last one (January/2018). Only a month has passed and the project is going to limbo????
Allow me to use a Brazilian expression here: puta que pariu, Nightdive!!!!! What the f@ck you just did?????
A poster by the name Andrew Magowan wrote in the KS comments section: "(…) We have gone from a release date of December 2017 to second quarter 2018 to “ummm we lost focus”."
And there goes my hopes and my funding money. At this point I'm too angry, too pissed off to think about refunding…
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The title “Returning to vision“ is way too optimistic. “On hold“ would be the better term. My guess would be “dead“ though. It looks like the money is gone and a lot of work to do. Who would give funding to a team that apparently is not able to get the project management part done?
fatknacker50
Sentinel
In March of 2016, Nightdive Studios released our video of our vision of System Shock Remastered. Done in Unity it was an immediate hit with almost a half million views on YouTube.
Roll out Unreal, generic space fare visuals, backers start questioning what's going on...
Drip feed the updates, I'll be sorry if it does implode but I'm kinda glad I dodged that bullet if it actually does. Sad face indeed.
Roll out Unreal, generic space fare visuals, backers start questioning what's going on...
Drip feed the updates, I'll be sorry if it does implode but I'm kinda glad I dodged that bullet if it actually does. Sad face indeed.
I think it is obvious; they got a chunk of money - became overly excited and expanded to an unrealistic scope. Now they spent all the $$ and have to figure out how they can continue.
The only said thing here is they should have known better; or one would have thought they would have known better given their resume.
The only said thing here is they should have known better; or one would have thought they would have known better given their resume.
Carnifex
SasqWatch
Looks like extremely shoddy management to me. Sometimes managing expectations is difficult to do, but it is always the correct path.
GuybrushWilco
Pirate Janitor
As much as a hate to say it, all of these problems with major Kickstarter games are kind of vindicating some aspects of the standard publisher model. Many of these game developers have a great vision and lots of talent, but no discipline. Scope creep can balloon a budget very quickly when the developers get carried away with their creative vision and do not have any cracking the whip on them and bringing them down to reality.
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I actually think this is good news. Alot of projects when they get off track will not right the ship but just release what they have.
One of the worst problems for KS is the 'stretch goal' section. Most devs feel like they have to put stuff there, they're like "well, if we get there we'll worry about it then" or something. The original project is throughly thought of and usually already has a work in progress that can be shown, but the stretch goals are just things that sound cool but when they sit down to do them, that's when the shit hits the fan.
D
Deleted User
Guest
It could also be a case of advertising getting out of hand. "Their Kickstarter promised stretch goals so now we have to, too." Then it started snowballing to the point that now you can't have a Kickstarter campaign without stretch goals, tiers and all these bells and whistles.
I don't know if it's cracking the whip that they need or if it's more of a money issue. The Kickstarter budgets overall are much smaller than traditional publisher deals so naturally the games are going to be less polished and slick. The problem comes when they have to overpromise in order to hype their campaigns to secure the funding to make the game in the first place and then yeah, shit hits the fan when they have to actually put it together.
Dunno what the solution is, but a good start would be toning down the campaigns and doing away with stretch goals. Or at least de-emphasizing them considerably, because it's all about perception. People will forget all the goals you hit but remember one or two that had to be cut.
Falchor
Sentinel
Hmmm... kickstarters developers change direction mid-stream... over-estimate and under-deliver... leave project in development limbo... Yep, this all sounds very familiar! Haven't backed a kickstarter game in a few years now and here's why.
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If you ask me, the amount of good Kickstarter has done for gaming far outweighs the few failed projects.
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Hopefully this is just a general overreaction. Perhaps they needed a break because they were starting to feel burned out.
Sometimes you to need stop for a bit so you can take a step back and look at what you're doing from a fresher perspective.
If the issue is purely financial, then they need to start talking to publishers.
Sometimes you to need stop for a bit so you can take a step back and look at what you're doing from a fresher perspective.
If the issue is purely financial, then they need to start talking to publishers.
Aditya
Watchdog
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- March 30, 2007
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- 189
True that. I'm so pissed about this right now. It seems as if all my money has gone down the drain due to Stephen Kick's ineptitude. Just some weeks back there was an KS update about the game's progress and now out of the blue the project is on hiatus?!! WTH! If there is any way to sue this management, I want to sign up. As would many other backers.
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- Mar 30, 2007
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- 189
I believe this expression has its fellow in every language.
Managing a project this size is a big deal, and what happened here is an object lesson to anyone raising funds on Kickstarter. They should've stuck to their minimum viable product, though through unrealistic stretch goals perhaps they destroyed that target before they had a chance.