3-4 years ago MMORPG.COM pushed this game with wall to wall coverage of art and pictures for 1-2 years. So this forum and site's writers added to the hype by posting drawings on their front page articles for 1-2 years straight when the game was just vaporware.
Well, good thing the site was sold last year, can't blame the new team for any of that.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
3-4 years ago MMORPG.COM pushed this game with wall to wall coverage of art and pictures for 1-2 years. So this forum and site's writers added to the hype by posting drawings on their front page articles for 1-2 years straight when the game was just vaporware.
Well, good thing the site was sold last year, can't blame the new team for any of that.
Also... where's Tim? He was the reason Caspian cut us off (thank god for Tim!)
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
3-4 years ago MMORPG.COM pushed this game with wall to wall coverage of art and pictures for 1-2 years. So this forum and site's writers added to the hype by posting drawings on their front page articles for 1-2 years straight when the game was just vaporware.
Well, good thing the site was sold last year, can't blame the new team for any of that.
Also... where's Tim? He was the reason Caspian cut us off (thank god for Tim!)
Ahhh, so it was Tims fault the game failed. TIM!!!!!
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
What about the other indie games in development? I wonder which one will be next? I think people are smoking crack if they think they can build a MMO these days with just a small team.
3-4 years ago MMORPG.COM pushed this game with wall to wall coverage of art and pictures for 1-2 years. So this forum and site's writers added to the hype by posting drawings on their front page articles for 1-2 years straight when the game was just vaporware.
Well, good thing the site was sold last year, can't blame the new team for any of that.
Also... where's Tim? He was the reason Caspian cut us off (thank god for Tim!)
Ahhh, so it was Tims fault the game failed. TIM!!!!!
/Cheers, Lahnmir
No I think we have to take the blame for that. Tim was really very hopeful and positive before he started mixing with us. He chose the Red pill
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
This is going to be remembered as the Fyre Festival of MMORPGs. It was a mismanaged trainwreck from the beginning built on empty promises and selling Snake Oil.
Oof. Can't say I didn't see this coming, however, it really does seem awfully scammy to spend several years in "development" (collect several million dollars) and then release the first playable version of the game (which is essentially an asset flip) juuuuuust before closing.
Seriously? Where did those millions of dollars go? Because you can't convince me a reasonable studio with a similar budget would only develop what was shown.
I'd be pissed if I had spent any money on this steaming pile, much less having spent it during the latest "donation" drive.
Well lets see. The first Crowdfunding happened in 2016, so that's 4 years. The claim I hear people make is that they raised 8 million total.
Looking up Soulbound Studios, They are listed as having anywhere between 11 - 50 employes.
Game Developers makes anywhere between 60 - 120K. Lets average that to 80K a year.
So.. mid run would be 25 employees, making 80K a year, and That's roughly, 2 million a year in payroll alone, and that's with the CEO making a very modest paycheck, of an average developer.
That also does not include things like Office Space, Computers, Software, Electricity, Etc
So yah, it's very viable they simply spent the money on what would be normal operating costs.
They worked at a college on free computers , Did you not see the image of the 5 people at the table. That is a college setup with dell xps's. The split the money 5 ways . The got 1.6mil each.
This was a scam from day one. I also bet that those aren't even their real names.
submitted to the FBI
Unlike some people, who might tell you to not bother.
I feel that if you can prove that this was a fraud, I encourage you to report it and do what you can to see justice done.
You could be correct that would be a grand can of worms and drama to watch unfold.
He'd need to be a victim for his report to be taken seriously. Officials may investigate third party reports when the operation is ongoing to prevent further victims, but when it's already shut down they aren't going to spend their time unless a victim requests it.
If they were a backer, that would make them a direct victim, even if they were not a backer, if they had enough evidence to reasonably support their claims of fraud I am sure there would be no shortage of disgruntled backers that would be glad to stand in as the victim just to file the claim.
Fraud is illegal. Will be up to the FBI to see if it is fraud through investigation.
I wish you Good Luck!
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
This is our game Arcfall and we are making and we are only a team of 3 indie developers. If you don't reach for the sky you can do it with way less funding. As long as you work with the community and not against them.
This is our game Arcfall and we are making and we are only a team of 3 indie developers. If you don't reach for the sky you can do it with way less funding. As long as you work with the community and not against them.
Wouldn't of played anyways due to devs attitude. Ideas looked good on paper though. There is some good stories to come from it and future games could take some ideas from it except actually make a working game instead of failing.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
This is our game Arcfall and we are making and we are only a team of 3 indie developers. If you don't reach for the sky you can do it with way less funding. As long as you work with the community and not against them.
This is our game Arcfall and we are making and we are only a team of 3 indie developers. If you don't reach for the sky you can do it with way less funding. As long as you work with the community and not against them.
This is our game Arcfall and we are making and we are only a team of 3 indie developers. If you don't reach for the sky you can do it with way less funding. As long as you work with the community and not against them.
“But to our great sadness…. with the failure of Settlers of Elyria, and five long months of only limited crowdfunding revenue coming in, Soulbound Studios has officially run out of money.”
“With unprecedented changes to society caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, and with economies beginning to suffer all around the world, I made the hard decision not to try and get additional crowdfunding.”
So he knew for 5 months and ran multiple money raising asks from his backers during that time before he cut and run. Then he tries to use a goddamn crisis to scapegoat his, 0 responsability taken, aboslute failure as a leader and game maker.
Absolute failure as a leader and game maker, agreed. Maybe not such a failure at bilking people to make himself rich. Hell of a guy.
Worst part about this address (well many issues with it) is the annoying lingering of giving their supporters "hope" and never finally closing the chapter. Even the new spin-off MMO in their second line says "as we wait for CoE."
Also terrible issues: 1) No apology 2) No real substance despite all the long talk at the beginning of an actual game 3) Nothing about refunds to their supporters 4) Blamed the crowdfunding 5) Also used COVID-19 as an excuse AS WELL as the company's angelic nature of preventing supporters from losing their money due to COVID.. not due to the failure of the game.
Regardless, this became plain-sight this would happen ever since they started charging supporters for land opportunity and power.
So i wonder how Crowfall is doing nowadays? I hope that one turns out ok.
IMPORTANT: Please keep all replies to my posts about GAMING. Please no negative or backhanded comments directed at me personally. If you are going to post a reply that includes how you feel about me, please don't bother replying & just ignore my post instead. I'm on this forum to talk about GAMING. Thank you.
So i wonder how Crowfall is doing nowadays? I hope that one turns out ok.
Doing fine, last I looked.
Their game is a fully playable state, they are just working out the minor details, and things like that. Mainly expanding the crafting system from the placeholders they have right now.
Right now it's like "Would you like to build that? Here it is, go see if you can break it"
I wager they are going to make it a wee bit more complex than that when they enter beta.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
This is our game Arcfall and we are making and we are only a team of 3 indie developers. If you don't reach for the sky you can do it with way less funding. As long as you work with the community and not against them.
Advertising your game in a thread with a competitor closing is poor form.
Bah, who cares.
I gotta agree, it's in really bad taste. Anything for those hits, I guess.
Not like CoE is a competitor anymore tho. I mean it's dead jim, might as well see where you want to go off to next.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
As the post mortem continues I wonder if anyone can answer what was for me the most baffling thing about the whole saga. A year or two back CoE issued a denouncement of the name a player had picked, apparently it was rather rude. This concerned them or maybe just Caspian so much that they issued an official statement about it. I can remember us all scratching our heads at the time and asking "they do know what players are like?"
There were further incidents later which made us question this again, this was a PvP MMO, do they realise how bad players can get? The impression I got was that Caspian was living in some sort of la la land where bad people do not exist. You don't have to be a grizzled gaming veteran like me to know players lie cheat and steal. In the real MMO land we learnt that all the way back in Ultima Online.
The only other explanation I can think of is that Caspian was trying to make a game for all players which seems the default template so much of gaming, not just MMOs is now built on. This one size fits all idea which has made gaming rather stale. I think he may have been trying to put out a PvP domain domination MMO but trying to appeal to PvE types who just want a carebear love in.
N.B. I should point out I am not a fan of open world PvP myself, Realm v Realm is the best way to do PvP.
As the post mortem continues I wonder if anyone can answer what was for me the most baffling thing about the whole saga. A year or two back CoE issued a denouncement of the name a player had picked, apparently it was rather rude. This concerned them or maybe just Caspian so much that they issued an official statement about it. I can remember us all scratching our heads at the time and asking "they do know what players are like?"
There were further incidents later which made us question this again, this was a PvP MMO, do they realise how bad players can get? The impression I got was that Caspian was living in some sort of la la land where bad people do not exist. You don't have to be a grizzled gaming veteran like me to know players lie cheat and steal. In the real MMO land we learnt that all the way back in Ultima Online.
The only other explanation I can think of is that Caspian was trying to make a game for all players which seems the default template so much of gaming, not just MMOs is now built on. This one size fits all idea which has made gaming rather stale. I think he may have been trying to put out a PvP domain domination MMO but trying to appeal to PvE types who just want a carebear love in.
N.B. I should point out I am not a fan of open world PvP myself, Realm v Realm is the best way to do PvP.
Its true, Caspian never really understood the darker side of gamers/gaming, often believing those willing to pay big money to be part of the aristocracy would actually be "noble" in actions or deeds.
Character name picking order was based on the amount of "influence" a player had, meaning how much money they had spent.
When one of the highest level backers, a "king" I believe, intentionally "took" a name another high influence backer wanted (foolishly shared in public beforehand) Caspian was totally floored by the fact someone would do such a "dick" move.
He would be surprised again and again by the competitiveness and outright hostility "the community" would show outsiders.
Like during the DSS, multiple threads popped on the forums threatening any player who dared contemplate placing a Duke/Dutchy (or even a settlement) within "their" borders, (especially if they had a high picking order) without first consulting and getting permission from the "nobility" to do so.
It was clear most of the ivory tower had never really played kingdom conquest games like Lineage, Darkfall, Shadowbane, or EVE, including Caspian.
He spent a lot of time promising the "builders" an extensive system of controls would protect their "investment" from the ravaging hordes...yet in the end he had great hopes the masses would flock to COE and become willing vassals to the early aristocracy who he said could always be overthrown but then promised backers designs to make such difficult to actually do.
He was always talking out of both sides of his mouth, largely I think in order to keep the backer money flowing in, which he did manage to surprise me with how long it continued and how much they eventually gave him.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Ah, bittersweet crowdfunding, it's like playing the stock market or gambling at the casino. It's "speculating" at its best! Selling ideas is easy, proving your hypothesis on the other hand though requires actual work. This is also why I hate popular psychology and herbal remedies.
I hope they enjoyed blowing the money I gave them back in 2015....this company should be investigated for its practices. I have talked with a few friends in the game industry and it seems that the traverse level they created could be easily accomplished with pre-made tools within 2-3 weeks at the most by a single person....so I think these bastards owe the community they ripped off more of an explanation.
But instead they ran and hid as soon as people started noticing what they were doing after the traverse video was released.....IMO MMORPG's are officially dead.
I hope they enjoyed blowing the money I gave them back in 2015....this company should be investigated for its practices. I have talked with a few friends in the game industry and it seems that the traverse level they created could be easily accomplished with pre-made tools within 2-3 weeks at the most by a single person....so I think these bastards owe the community they ripped off more of an explanation.
But instead they ran and hid as soon as people started noticing what they were doing after the traverse video was released.....IMO MMORPG's are officially dead.
Easy there cowboy, still plenty of active MMORPGs running today, and quite a few indie efforts which are still pushing forward, the genre isn’t quite dead yet.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Comments
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
www.neojac.com
www.arcfall.com
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA
I had fun once, it was terrible.
Also terrible issues:
1) No apology
2) No real substance despite all the long talk at the beginning of an actual game
3) Nothing about refunds to their supporters
4) Blamed the crowdfunding
5) Also used COVID-19 as an excuse AS WELL as the company's angelic nature of preventing supporters from losing their money due to COVID.. not due to the failure of the game.
Regardless, this became plain-sight this would happen ever since they started charging supporters for land opportunity and power.
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
Nothing
Their game is a fully playable state, they are just working out the minor details, and things like that. Mainly expanding the crafting system from the placeholders they have right now.
Right now it's like "Would you like to build that? Here it is, go see if you can break it"
I wager they are going to make it a wee bit more complex than that when they enter beta.
There were further incidents later which made us question this again, this was a PvP MMO, do they realise how bad players can get? The impression I got was that Caspian was living in some sort of la la land where bad people do not exist. You don't have to be a grizzled gaming veteran like me to know players lie cheat and steal. In the real MMO land we learnt that all the way back in Ultima Online.
The only other explanation I can think of is that Caspian was trying to make a game for all players which seems the default template so much of gaming, not just MMOs is now built on. This one size fits all idea which has made gaming rather stale. I think he may have been trying to put out a PvP domain domination MMO but trying to appeal to PvE types who just want a carebear love in.
N.B. I should point out I am not a fan of open world PvP myself, Realm v Realm is the best way to do PvP.
Character name picking order was based on the amount of "influence" a player had, meaning how much money they had spent.
When one of the highest level backers, a "king" I believe, intentionally "took" a name another high influence backer wanted (foolishly shared in public beforehand) Caspian was totally floored by the fact someone would do such a "dick" move.
He would be surprised again and again by the competitiveness and outright hostility "the community" would show outsiders.
Like during the DSS, multiple threads popped on the forums threatening any player who dared contemplate placing a Duke/Dutchy (or even a settlement) within "their" borders, (especially if they had a high picking order) without first consulting and getting permission from the "nobility" to do so.
It was clear most of the ivory tower had never really played kingdom conquest games like Lineage, Darkfall, Shadowbane, or EVE, including Caspian.
He spent a lot of time promising the "builders" an extensive system of controls would protect their "investment" from the ravaging hordes...yet in the end he had great hopes the masses would flock to COE and become willing vassals to the early aristocracy who he said could always be overthrown but then promised backers designs to make such difficult to actually do.
He was always talking out of both sides of his mouth, largely I think in order to keep the backer money flowing in, which he did manage to surprise me with how long it continued and how much they eventually gave him.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
But instead they ran and hid as soon as people started noticing what they were doing after the traverse video was released.....IMO MMORPG's are officially dead.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon