Unknown Realm - Update #35

Gamebanshee reports on the latest update for Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous which is exclusive to backers.

Back in May of 2019, a development update for Stirring Dragon Games' old-school Commodore 64-style RPG Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous assured us that that the game would be launching within a year. However, the game's latest Kickstarter update doesn't look as promising, with the developers asking their backers for additional funding in order to finish the game sometime in 2020.

The update shows no recent progress of any sort and instead asks for regular donations in exchange for further development updates. Perhaps this is why it's exclusive to the game's backers, but if you're not one of them, you can find the relevant parts below:

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More information.

Despite being a major c64 fan I had a feeling something was up with this Kickstarter which is why I chose not to back it. The original campaign said the game was feature complete with 90% of the art finished. For a husband and wife team with the game that close to completion there was zero reason to go kickstarter unless it was just for the actual physical production costs. The fact that they are still working on the actual game 3 years later raises far too many red flags.

Any backers on here I would warn against committing further funds. Beware of sunk cost fallacy.

Yeah this is pretty appalling. They have given no information at all in the last three years about the actual state of the game (despite repeated requests from backers, which just seemed to annoy them), they've blown through the £100k they raised through Kickstarter and now they want more money with no clear plan of what they plan to spend it on. There's no mention of what they've completed, what still needs to be done, what the challenges or timescales are etc - just "give us more money". They are utterly clueless.

Feels llike they had a good life with the backer's money and now they ran out they want more to actually make the game they already were paid for.

These things should honestly be a punishable crime for theft and scam.

For a husband and wife team

They obviously had a mortgage on their house or similar crippling loan so the entire KS funds - 2x what they asked - went to pay the bank, probably.

Imagine, what will happen when the latest, High-Finance-Well-Planned-and-organized economic bubble bursts and all the idiots flush with cash lose their money. No more houses, no more cars, no more salaries. The game industry will receive a good, well deserved blood-cleansing and only the tenacious ones will remain. Like us, who are NOT dependent on some stupid Canari-Islands account financed gaming company at all.

Hmm I was interested in this as well, but also had reservations in the actual campaign…I was wondering what had happened to this since we hadn't heard anything in awhile.

Interesting I read the update and they said they need at least half their backers to donate a recuring monthly fee of 5 to 10 dollars…so between 3115 to
6230 a month US…that's a lot of money….

they had 1246 backers, so that means they nee 623 to provide them between
Mercy, I have no idea what you are talking about.

So, if they need another six months, they ask for $30 to $60 from their contributors. On top of what they already pledged (most frequent pledges seem to be around $19 to $49). I doubt that will happen.

I kicked in for this one some time ago, but I won't be upping the ante. Poor planning or misfortune is part and parcel of business, and how you deal with these factors will speak volumes about you as a person.

Had to back this one myself. It sucks they seem to have dropped the ball but these people sacrificed their lives, relocating from San Fran to Idaho (ugh), *with their kids!* in order to stay solvent and finish the project. I feel worse for them than for the backers honestly. And asking for subscription support is the most desperate of last gasps.

Originally Posted by mercy
Imagine, what will happen when the latest, High-Finance-Well-Planned-and-organized economic bubble bursts and all the idiots flush with cash lose their money.

When these recurring and inevitable (now) economic bubbles burst absolutely everyone gets fucked. I'm not mortgaged to my hairline or anything, I wouldn't be out on the street, but it's hardly something to celebrate.

Originally Posted by screeg
Had to back this one myself. It sucks they seem to have dropped the ball but these people sacrificed their lives, relocating from San Fran to Idaho (ugh), *with their kids!* in order to stay solvent and finish the project. I feel worse for them than for the backers honestly. And asking for subscription support is the most desperate of last gasps.

I'd be careful to put too much faith in what they have said. Yes they probably have relocated but the game could be just one of the reasons. Given they have stretched the truth (I'm not going to accuse them of outright lying without any evidence) with their original kickstarter pitch, I would certainly be wary. The guy certainly has good technical skills (c64 and programming) but that also doesn't necessarily mean they had the skills to build a game end-to-end (design, testing etc). Look, they probably massively underestimated the time required to complete an enjoyable game but the fact that it took 3 years for them to come clean is pretty much a nail in the coffin from my perspective.

Originally Posted by screeg
When these recurring and inevitable (now) economic bubbles burst absolutely everyone gets fucked. I'm not mortgaged to my hairline or anything, I wouldn't be out on the street, but it's hardly something to celebrate.

This is my revenge-celebration!
You weren't employed at a game developer company, when the last bubble burst. I lost the promise of a future of having excellent, high paying job for many years and to have a house + car fully paid and have a High Maintenance Concubine, as many in the gaming industry acquired such attractive girlfriends.

Haha, I like that!

But shit, games development has never been a stable occupation. Might as well have a job playing in a bar band.