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[a1s]

Extreamely pissed atm
http://gamecrastinate.com/gaming-news/kickstarter-cancels-second-indie-game-project-infamous-airbnb-squatter/#comment-466

just to be clear: does that mean Confederate Express is not coming?

[Neonivek]

Extreamely pissed atm
http://gamecrastinate.com/gaming-news/kickstarter-cancels-second-indie-game-project-infamous-airbnb-squatter/#comment-466

just to be clear: does that mean Confederate Express is not coming?

I am confused who you are pissed at...

Because it isn't kickstarter's fault exactly.

[Kaje]

This has really disappointed me, as I was SO looking forward to Confederate Express. Idiot developers.

[a1s]

This has really disappointed me, as I was SO looking forward to Confederate Express. Idiot developers.

"Explain it like I'm 6". Are the devs going to jail (I'm guessing no?) Has the money collected for ConEx been taken from the devs? (I'm guessing it's unlikely, though I'm neither American, not a lawyer) Do we think that devs will not realease any games because they are con artists, not programmers (I'm guessing this is the one?) How does that make them idiots? (I get how they are assholes, I don't get how they're stupid)

[hemmingjay]

This is the sort of epic fuckup that I am always blathering on about. This is why I had so much work as a business consultant with indie studios, except most of them refuse to listen even after hiring me. For some reason people can't seem to understand that the game industry is a business first and foremost. You don't have to treat customers like piggy banks, but you do need to keep the company running well in order to make a good game. That means always screening decisions through the filter of, does this make business sense? Most of the torrent of new developers have ZERO business education or experience and foolishly believe they can handle it on their own. To make matters worse, there are a bunch of predatory individuals who prey upon them by offering to handle their PR or Marketing or Community Management and then charge an absurd amount or % and cripple the project, assuring it will be a failure. These leeches are super common and I can't warn people because snitches get stitches. I do try to educate every developer I meet though and provide free counseling to anyone who will give me the time. I would say I have spoken to 40-45 developers and around 15-20 listened to me. I have 15 GOOD friends out of that now and they provided me with excellent references and word of mouth. I charge what they can afford if they insist on hiring me and that funded the development of my own game. I made less money than I did in my regular business but it was satisfying. Now I am trying to collect conscientious developers into a group that swears to put gamers first and run responsible businesses. The two can exist together quite well and I hope it makes a difference. I want to do away with paying for early access. Do away with blind pre-orders. Provide money back guarantees. I love making games but I HATE how abusive this industry has become. Fans are rude and pompous because they are treated with disrespect by so many game companies. I think we can get rid of 30% of the horrible trolls just by changing how customers are treated.

BTW, this developer has taken full responsibility for his errors, numerous as they were. It won't help and I think he will end up losing money in the end. It's sad all the way around. He should sell his game to another studio and walk away.

[SharpKris]

frankly i doubt there ever was a game. what we were presented with is no more then a big pile of pretty graphics and that's it.
there was no failure at customer or backer treatment, just a hoax nothing more. 

[Neonivek]

For some reason people can't seem to understand that the game industry is a business first and foremost.

Its probably because they think of it more as a creative outlet. A medium at which they can be creative, and want the business aspect to bend to the artistic side.

I think... I might just be idealizing.

Fans are rude and pompous because they are treated with disrespect by so many game companies.

Ehh I am just negative, critical, and harsh on principal. Though upon a LOT of personal reflection, this is possibly because I was raised with a lot of criticism along with the fact that I can't handle it. So I likely project what I feel is the same treatment.

Though I usually just hold that outside myself, most people are excessively optimistic and will fanatically hype it up.

---

Also I don't know quite why people were too too excited about this.

Never fall inlove with the concept, fall inlove with the execution.

[Kaje]

This has really disappointed me, as I was SO looking forward to Confederate Express. Idiot developers.

"Explain it like I'm 6". Are the devs going to jail (I'm guessing no?) Has the money collected for ConEx been taken from the devs? (I'm guessing it's unlikely, though I'm neither American, not a lawyer) Do we think that devs will not realease any games because they are con artists, not programmers (I'm guessing this is the one?) How does that make them idiots? (I get how they are assholes, I don't get how they're stupid)

Explain it like I'm 6? Was that aimed at me?

[Zangi]

Came in.  'This looks awesome.'
Looked at KS link. 'Oh it is a year old.'
Scrolls down and sees whats up.  'Damn.'

[chaoticag]

Well, the devs are responsible for either delivering a project, or returning the kickstarter money. Even in cases where the money has already been spent. I still think Lord Dullard needs to pay us back despite his Roguelike project not working out near the end (although it feels a bit odd asking for money back in his case when it looked like he at least tried). In this case though, Kickstarter's terms of service clearly do state whether the developer's project succeeds or not, they are responsible to provide the project.

Not only that, but if they're doing something this blatant at this point, then they are liable for lawsuits. Hell, given I did toss money into this project, I'm half tempted to contact the poor landlord that has to put up with this crap and see if I can contribute towards that legal fund as well. I really don't care how much talent they have if they're going to be leeches to other people like this.

As for laws broken... well, if they have done no work on conXspress, then they can be liable for fraud. That's kinda what's going on when you have nothing to show for what you do. No money can be taken from the devs until they go to court and the court finds them at fault for it. If they do, they'll likely have to pay back all that is owed to others, and they'll also can incur a few months in prison. Oddly enough, fraud has more lenient sentencing rules than theft or burglary.

It does seem that this studio has talent at least, but it does look a lot like grifting is quite likely what they're doing. I'm not sure I can trust someone to release a game when they're not trying to pay the rent and are driving the electric bill up. If you act that big of an asshole, you're asking for trouble.

Sadly this shit is bound to happen with kickstarter, but it's hardly kickstarter's fault. I think if anything though, it's getting more and more worrying that kickstarter might just be a tool for those established in the industry to release games, rather than a way for interesting and upcoming devs to get teh funding they need in order to make their dream game come true. It's pretty crappy that it's this sorta behavior that's going to discourage me from taking chances anymore.

[Karlito]

Well, the devs are responsible for either delivering a project, or returning the kickstarter money.

Actually, creators are only responsible for delivering the promised backer rewards. Of course, it's often the case with videogames that one of the rewards is a copy of the game, though it's not really clear to me what that actually entitles you to.

[chaoticag]

Well, I think it boils down to semantics at this point, but yeah. If they game is promised, we're owed a game, and legally speaking, if we handed money for a service, and the matter went to court because we did not receive what we had paid for, then I'm pretty sure a court could declare it to be a fraud. And in some cases, the government is willing to pursue action even if the participants have agreed to settle their differences.

(For a recent case, you can look up details into the Brian Dunning affair, but the bullet points is that he fraudulently used e-bay's sponsor system to gain almost five million dollars, and despite settling with e-bay, the federal government decided to push the case against him anyway. This business is prolly too small scale for that, but who knows)

[a1s]

This has really disappointed me, as I was SO looking forward to Confederate Express. Idiot developers.

"Explain it like I'm 6". Are the devs going to jail (I'm guessing no?) Has the money collected for ConEx been taken from the devs? (I'm guessing it's unlikely, though I'm neither American, not a lawyer) Do we think that devs will not realease any games because they are con artists, not programmers (I'm guessing this is the one?) How does that make them idiots? (I get how they are assholes, I don't get how they're stupid)

Explain it like I'm 6? Was that aimed at me?

Yes. No. Kinda.
It's not aimed at you specifically, and I did not mean to insult you (your one-syllable-word response suggests you're mad at me). I want someone explain to me, a1s, like I, a1s, am 6 years old, why we think ConEx isn't coming. Is it just because the dev is an asshole? Or are there objective reasons? A link will do- my google fu seems to be too weak. All articles I found said that the game was delayed until November and that people were hella pissed. Basically, all emotions, and no facts.

[Kaje]

This has really disappointed me, as I was SO looking forward to Confederate Express. Idiot developers.

"Explain it like I'm 6". Are the devs going to jail (I'm guessing no?) Has the money collected for ConEx been taken from the devs? (I'm guessing it's unlikely, though I'm neither American, not a lawyer) Do we think that devs will not realease any games because they are con artists, not programmers (I'm guessing this is the one?) How does that make them idiots? (I get how they are assholes, I don't get how they're stupid)

Explain it like I'm 6? Was that aimed at me?

Yes. No. Kinda.
It's not aimed at you specifically, and I did not mean to insult you (your one-syllable-word response suggests you're mad at me). I want someone explain to me, a1s, like I, a1s, am 6 years old, why we think ConEx isn't coming. Is it just because the dev is an asshole? Or are there objective reasons? A link will do- my google fu seems to be too weak. All articles I found said that the game was delayed until November and that people were hella pissed. Basically, all emotions, and no facts.

One syllable word response?

Explain is definitely two syllables.

[a1s]

This has really disappointed me, as I was SO looking forward to Confederate Express. Idiot developers.

"Explain it like I'm 6". Are the devs going to jail (I'm guessing no?) Has the money collected for ConEx been taken from the devs? (I'm guessing it's unlikely, though I'm neither American, not a lawyer) Do we think that devs will not realease any games because they are con artists, not programmers (I'm guessing this is the one?) How does that make them idiots? (I get how they are assholes, I don't get how they're stupid)

Explain it like I'm 6? Was that aimed at me?

Yes. No. Kinda.
It's not aimed at you specifically, and I did not mean to insult you (your one-syllable-word response suggests you're mad at me). I want someone explain to me, a1s, like I, a1s, am 6 years old, why we think ConEx isn't coming. Is it just because the dev is an asshole? Or are there objective reasons? A link will do- my google fu seems to be too weak. All articles I found said that the game was delayed until November and that people were hella pissed. Basically, all emotions, and no facts.

One syllable word response?

Explain is definitely two syllables.

a)you're totally right, I'm sorry.
b)stop deflecting and explain.