from a long time SvM fan to Project Stealth developers.

Started by jeffharper47scct, June 27, 2014, 09:45:06 AM

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jeffharper47scct

From a hardcore stealth action fan to another...

     Your efforts in making this game are honorable. All of the time and effort you have put in to a game that you aren't even getting paid for is unreal. The gaming industry needs people like you guys. Do not let this failed kick-starter attempt sway you.

     But I believe you guys are going about this in the wrong way. I believe you're going too much too soon. A beginner body builder for instance, does not walk into the gym on his first day and attempt to bench press 300 pounds. He starts off with the hunger and passion for creating a muscular body, then starts his routine slow with light weights until he is ready to lift heavier.

   What I am trying to get at here, is Project Stealth does not need to be a big game from beginning. Start of small and humble. Start off with a digital release of 1 or 2 maps at MOST. Whatever you have, release it into the wild. Get it out there first. If the effort you put in to creating the game is anywhere close to the passion you have for SvM, it will be a master piece. A small master piece, a seed if you will. People will buy it. When you start receiving some inevitable funds, move it to the console market as that is where the money is at. Once you have it on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation network, the money will come and you will be able to expand upon it.

     I hope this reaches you and Project Stealth is released soon.
A very sincere fan

-Jeff Harper II

frvge

Quote from: savior2006SCDA has more bugs than a rain forest.
Quote
Treat your customers with respect you make more customers. Treat your customers like pirates, you make more pirates.


frvge

Tha maps are only partially our bottleneck. Gameplay currently is, but we've had a lot of progress. Now we need to keep that up.

And that PS is stalled indefinitely.
Quote from: savior2006SCDA has more bugs than a rain forest.
Quote
Treat your customers with respect you make more customers. Treat your customers like pirates, you make more pirates.

NeoSuperior

Quote from: frvge on June 28, 2014, 03:53:10 PM
Tha maps are only partially our bottleneck. Gameplay currently is, but we've had a lot of progress. Now we need to keep that up.

And that PS is stalled indefinitely.

I am a bit confused here... doesn't "indefinitly stalled" mean you don't do anything at all anymore? But how can you "keep it up" then?
If there are any orthographic/grammatical errors in this post, you can keep them and, if you want, hang them over your bed ;)

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
- Mike Godwin

frvge

In practice it's stalled. We might put in a few  hours here and there over the next x months to maybe get a new kickstarter going.
Quote from: savior2006SCDA has more bugs than a rain forest.
Quote
Treat your customers with respect you make more customers. Treat your customers like pirates, you make more pirates.

WTaFa(Wraith)

Maybe you want to publish plan of advertising company for this new kickstarter?
Join Project Stealth Wiki development. Join clan of non-violence infiltrators
Wraith Guild for exploring December release of Thieves vs Guard Stealth Online Multiplayer.

frvge

I'm not sure we'll use them again. Maybe we will, maybe we won't.
Quote from: savior2006SCDA has more bugs than a rain forest.
Quote
Treat your customers with respect you make more customers. Treat your customers like pirates, you make more pirates.

dYnAm1c

You probably don't need to start a new kickstarter if you don't get a good gameplay video together so people who never played splinter cell versus actually know whats this game is. Probably the best right now would be to get a beta version going to get people interested and maybe connect it with steam greenlight/early access or something.

NeoSuperior

I still suggest somehow making a donation on free basis possible. That way people can donate on their own pace, ideally if it includes methods other than credit cards. But direct bank transaction can cause shrinkage, due to international transaction costs, so something like pay-pal (doesn't have to be pay-pal itself, just something similar) would be the best bet.
If there are any orthographic/grammatical errors in this post, you can keep them and, if you want, hang them over your bed ;)

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
- Mike Godwin

frvge

Neo, I appreciate the idea of "just" having donations, but if 100 people donate, it's still only a drop in the bucket. I think I can expect about 200 euros in donations. It's just not worth the effort setting it up.

I hoped that the community could get 5000 euros together as a good start. 800 likes on FB, 200 newsletter subscriptions, 100 followers on twitter and some followers on indiedb. Then the media coverage could build on that. Now, of course the media were a big let down.

Based on the stats, the community got like a couple hundred euros together. I can't run a business on that.I'm disappointed at all levels. Things didn't go as planned, but given the financial situation of having 0 budget, there's not much else I could have done.
Quote from: savior2006SCDA has more bugs than a rain forest.
Quote
Treat your customers with respect you make more customers. Treat your customers like pirates, you make more pirates.

VenomousNinja

Why do you NEED donations, anyway? Why do you NEED a kickstarter? It'd be easier to start out with something playable, and then get funding for the rest, instead of focusing so much on the money aspect when it's been seven years in development hell and there's never been a playable version made public ever.

NeoSuperior

Quote from: VenomousNinja on June 30, 2014, 11:30:36 AM
Why do you NEED donations, anyway? Why do you NEED a kickstarter? It'd be easier to start out with something playable, and then get funding for the rest, instead of focusing so much on the money aspect when it's been seven years in development hell and there's never been a playable version made public ever.

It's a devil's circle... they cannot make a playable version because they need money for that and at the same time, they cannot make money because there is no playable version... Is the only way really to find some rich investor who gives a lot of funding?

Ok, should I become somewhat rich in the next 10-15 years, I will be funding PS by myself  ;D (well... I doubt I alone would just give 90.000€ away like that, even if I had the money, but hey maybe 10.000€ or something!)


But honestly, frvge: How would the situation be now, if you decided to stay with UDK instead of upgrading to UE4? As I understand it, most of the 7 sever years of development were basically porting from mod, to mod, to udk indie, to ue4 indie. How much gameplay progress do you think you would have had by now?
If there are any orthographic/grammatical errors in this post, you can keep them and, if you want, hang them over your bed ;)

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
- Mike Godwin

frvge

Our UDK version was way too buggy because it was made without a clear system and the big gaps in productivity didn't help in making a consistent codebase.

The best way forward was a rewrite. Having access to UE4 made it a no-brainer to do that in UE4 and C++. Sure, we would need to port Lakehouse, but that level could use a graphical update too by that time.

Development in UE4 is a lot faster and a lot more powerful. We were limited in our visions because everything had to be a model. We couldn't change the texture of BSP (plain walls and floors and ceilings) in UDK on the fly.

So, we need funding to pay a programmer for a few months and then it's done. Maybe we can get it to a playable, but very rough, pre-alpha state for 5000 euros. Which is still twice the amount we got from the Kickstarter.
Quote from: savior2006SCDA has more bugs than a rain forest.
Quote
Treat your customers with respect you make more customers. Treat your customers like pirates, you make more pirates.

RaDRoacH

Sorry if my english is not perfect.