AlarCity: Development Thread

[Predseda]

Anyway, the proposed box was ugly

Hehe, I just found confirmation email for my AlarCity Silver order. It came 23.12.2016.

[Korodny]

I'm not saying the AlarCity team was part of any fraud or exhibited illicit behavior. But they did agree to a prepayment scheme - three or four years ago, and the game in question itself is still for from finished even today. Since they never saw (most of) the money the users paid in advance yet the project is still on track - the question is: Why ask people to pay in advance in the first place?

Similar situation with the latest episode in the Gorluth series. When you asked him why he's collecting money a year before the planned release date, he got grumpy. The game should have been released a year ago, but it wasn't - and the author is no longer active in (most?) forums. Definitely not a fraud (he's waiting for the Scorpion Engine), but the ease with which some people ask for the community's money never ceases to amaze me.

Even if your business partner doesn't turn out to be a scammer and you yourself have nothing but the best intentions - a million things could go wrong: you could loose interest, technical problems, a fallout inside the team, wife gives birth to a child, new job situation...

For at least a decade (two if you count things like the Phase5 G3/G4 accelerator debacle), Amiga users were asked to pay in advance for various products. And more often than not, it backfired badly.

So, what was the reason for the AlarCity prepayment scheme?

[spudje]

I wonder if the team had just decided to finish the game as intended at the time of the pre-order and not have changed the whole game graphics, mechanics and switching to Scorpion would have brought us the game way sooner....

[MartinW]

Originally Posted by spudje

I wonder if the team had just decided to finish the game as intended at the time of the pre-order and not have changed the whole game graphics, mechanics and switching to Scorpion would have brought us the game way sooner....

Preorders or not, I'll admit I much preferred the original characters and demo. But all the same, I'm keen to see the end result and won't judge until then.

[nikosidis]

Originally Posted by Korodny

I'm not saying the AlarCity team was part of any fraud or exhibited illicit behavior. But they did agree to a prepayment scheme - three or four years ago, and the game in question itself is still for from finished even today. Since they never saw (most of) the money the users paid in advance yet the project is still on track - the question is: Why ask people to pay in advance in the first place?

Similar situation with the latest episode in the Gorluth series. When you asked him why he's collecting money a year before the planned release date, he got grumpy. The game should have been released a year ago, but it wasn't - and the author is no longer active in (most?) forums. Definitely not a fraud (he's waiting for the Scorpion Engine), but the ease with which some people ask for the community's money never ceases to amaze me.

Even if your business partner doesn't turn out to be a scammer and you yourself have nothing but the best intentions - a million things could go wrong: you could loose interest, technical problems, a fallout inside the team, wife gives birth to a child, new job situation...

For at least a decade (two if you count things like the Phase5 G3/G4 accelerator debacle), Amiga users were asked to pay in advance for various products. And more often than not, it backfired badly.

So, what was the reason for the AlarCity prepayment scheme?

This is art, it is complex.
Doing art without inspiration will be nothing.
It is obvious that in the beginning there where people inspired, at some stage everything stalled and a lot started to change. This kind of prosess will mostly lead to nothing.

If the guys like our best gfx artist "Tsak" will be inspied again and finshed the game, be gratefull.

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by Korodny

I'm not saying the AlarCity team was part of any fraud or exhibited illicit behavior. But they did agree to a prepayment scheme - three or four years ago, and the game in question itself is still for from finished even today. Since they never saw (most of) the money the users paid in advance yet the project is still on track - the question is: Why ask people to pay in advance in the first place?

Similar situation with the latest episode in the Gorluth series. When you asked him why he's collecting money a year before the planned release date, he got grumpy. The game should have been released a year ago, but it wasn't - and the author is no longer active in (most?) forums. Definitely not a fraud (he's waiting for the Scorpion Engine), but the ease with which some people ask for the community's money never ceases to amaze me.

Even if your business partner doesn't turn out to be a scammer and you yourself have nothing but the best intentions - a million things could go wrong: you could loose interest, technical problems, a fallout inside the team, wife gives birth to a child, new job situation...

For at least a decade (two if you count things like the Phase5 G3/G4 accelerator debacle), Amiga users were asked to pay in advance for various products. And more often than not, it backfired badly.

So, what was the reason for the AlarCity prepayment scheme?

For me it was a combination of various things. I was trying for years and years to find the right people who'd be reliable enough to see a project get done and developed to the end (after various failed attempts with other teams, projects and devs which never got far). By the time we had this project up and running my wife got pregnant and it was clear that I'd either had to find a way to monetise it (hense justify continuing working on it) or bust and dump my attempts of being an amiga dev once and for all. So it was actually the reality on the ground that forced this decision than the other way around. Erik had similar ecomomic issues by then. Unfortunately the campaign was a big failure as it never reached the goals we set (not by a long shot) and this was a first big disappointment for us.

Thankfully what I was trying to do with Alarcity became a reality with Worthy soon after. Actually Worthy was my 'backup plan' so to speak, the development started in total secrecy and we only revealed the project once it was almost done (so there was literally no public pressure or expectations to deal with). Worthy turned out to be a big success eventually (at least by my standards and what I was trying to achieve) and even though we've lost a big amount from Bitronic's demise recently, it actually payed off in the long run and helped to keep me afloat and active. Worthy's success also proved how wrong was our initial decision to push Alarcity's preorders.

So overall and in hindsight I'd say it was a combination of inexperience, romanticism but also pressure from the actual financial reality we had to face by then (plus other factors).

[Lord Aga]

Originally Posted by MartinW

I'll admit I much preferred the original characters and demo.

Me too. When it was cutesy blobs jumping and firing, the controls looked tight, I was drawn into preordering it and supporting the development.

But then: "We are changing the graphics" - Nyeeeeeea... OK, I guess...
Then: "We are changing the game completely" - Nyeeeea... No, I'm canceling my preorder, something's fishy.

[viddi]

Originally Posted by Korodny

Similar situation with the latest episode in the Gorluth series. When you asked him why he's collecting money a year before the planned release date, he got grumpy. The game should have been released a year ago, but it wasn't - and the author is no longer active in (most?) forums. Definitely not a fraud (he's waiting for the Scorpion Engine), but the ease with which some people ask for the community's money never ceases to amaze me.

Please stop connecting me with this issue here and claiming false facts!

But you can verify your assertions:

1. Please show me where and when I got grumpy? The complete discussion please, if there ever was one.

2. What forums without activity are you talking about?

3. Did you pre-order TOG3?

[honx]

Originally Posted by Tsak

How about simply contact us perhaps? Basically since I'd like to reconstruct the database with all the backers it would be nice if people dropped a mail at admin@pixelglass.org (don't forget your order number so I can verify).

did you receive the email i sent november 4th?

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by honx

did you receive the email i sent november 4th?

I've recieved a bunch of mails, which one is yours? Basically if you've got a reply from us nevermind answering. If not then your mail hasn't reached us.

[honx]

well, i didn't get any reply so i now sent it again. please check spam/junk folders.
this time i also told my nickname (honx) used here on eab in my email.

i sent from email account i used for register amiga.net.pl/bitronic.pl and ordering.
beginning with "ahonx.n21" before the at sign...

//edit:
nevermind. i am the one who had to check spam/junk folder, sorry.
as it turned out i received your email yesterday.

[amifan]

I did a pre-order for AlarCity as well, unfortunately I do not have the order number anymore so I will not e-mail, but it is nice to see that others will be helped out, at least those who were smart enough to keep their order number.

[spacey]

just to add my support for tsak & earok.. i also pre-ordered (gold, i think) way back and the situation sucks.. i'm sure they feel pretty shit about it all, but it was obviously just another casualty of some really lousy behaviour by bitronic.. i hope there's eventually some kind of release, but sometimes shit happens and it's not the end of the world.

[Toncon]

...hmmm its already been 4 years since my purchase of pre-order.
it (almost) completely slipped from my mind.

seems the situation becomes messy but ok.
i have already sent a mail to Pixel Glass with my order number and just hope the game will be finished in near future.

[NeoHippie2016]

I did also a pre-order for the Gold Edition, but can't find my order number of it...

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by NeoHippie2016

I did also a pre-order for the Gold Edition, but can't find my order number of it...

No worries, drop a mail to admin@pixelglass.org to get you to our list anyhow.
Others have their order number misplaced as well.

[tarr]

is this game going to see the light some day?

[jurassicman]

another year (more, actually) has gone with no news... at this point I guess that all we backers will be left high and dry...

[earok]

Here's the thing:

AlarCity is always in the back of my mind. Sometimes I get excited about working on and finishing it, most of the time it's honestly just dread and shame about not having finished it. The latter being stronger than the former, it's difficult to even open the project without unease bordering on panic.

It's also difficult to work on in part because, once I've posted any news, I know that people are going to criticise an incremental update doesn't look anything like years of progress. But also whenever I'm told that people have no faith in it being finished - and by extension, no faith in me personally - that doesn't help me feel good about it, that doesn't help me want to sit down and finish it.

I do work on AlarCity's engine every day, even if I haven't done a lot on AlarCity proper lately. The Scorpion Engine, and every game that came from it, is ultimately an offshoot of the AlarCity project. And that is something that makes me happy, even if the root of the project is a lingering source of unease.

That's not to say that I should be excused from the project. But I do need to return to it when I'm ready for it.

[Predseda]

AlarCity became Scorpion Engine. Thats it.