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Work Halted On Neal Stephenson's Kickstarted Swordfighting Video Game
An anonymous reader writes "Last year, sci-fi author Neal Stephenson and a team of game developers set out to make video game swordfighting awesome. They set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of hardware and software tech that would make replace console controllers with something more realistic. Now, production on that tech and the game in which they showcase it has been halted. In an update on the Kickstarter page, Stephenson explains how they've sought other investments without success. The project is 'on pause,' and the team asks for patience. He says, 'The overall climate in the industry has become risk-averse to a degree that is difficult to appreciate until you've seen it. It is especially bemusing to CLANG team members who, by cheerfully foregoing other opportunities so that they could associate themselves with a startup in the swordfighting space, have already shown an attitude to career, financial, and reputational risk normally associated with the cast members of Jackass. To a game publisher crouched in a fetal position under a blanket, CLANG seems extra worrisome because it is coupled to a new hardware controller.'"
New kickstarter rules actually require hardware prototypes before they can get on the site to help avoid things like this...
In case anybody is wondering of the state of the game, there is a nice video review of it.
Sure, they raised over $500k from 9000+ backers, but they hadn't raised that money to make a sweet swordfighting game... they raised that so they could raise their profile to get funding from more traditional sources. From Kotaku's take on it:
"Despite hitting its funding goal of $500,000 last year, development on the game is grinding to a halt, with Stephenson writing on the game's Kickstarter page that CLANG is now an "evenings and weekends" project because the money has run out, and many developers have sought contract work elsewhere.
But wait. That's not all. Turns out the money was never going to fund development of the game in the first place; the developers were simply using it as a starting point from which they could attract venture capitalist and/or publisher backing, which for whatever reason hasn't materialised."
It's not just Stephenson. Take a look at who else is involved with Subutai, the team behind Clang:
While some of those titles may mean nothing more than "Gabe paid for our lunch one time so he's an Investor, and he said that the dosas were pretty good so that makes him a Strategic Advisor too", it's still a list designed to make even people who aren't fans of Neal Stephenson take notice.
Having RTFPs here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang/posts/604023
Almost all the reward levels have had their items shipped, and it sounds like the currently development version of the game made it into some (all?) of the funder's hands.
As such this is yet more Dice Slashtrolling where the issues are far less significant than were espoused.
NS: Sorry about the FU, it sounds like something made it out even if it was in an unacceptable form to the fans, and you guys DID at least ensure the majority of funding swag made it to the respective supporters.
Which is exactly what I was saying, no?