> "Our intention is to ship exactly the game that was promised, with as much of the features that were promised as we can, in a timeframe that will get it out as fast as we can. Our expectation is probably Q1 of 2020."
> Kuperman gave that date with the kind of expression and shrug that conveyed: no, that date isn't what anyone wants to hear. But it's practical. He was unequivocal when I asked if another two years of development would put Nightdive in a financial bind.
> "No it doesn't. We've also had renewed interest from some publishing partners, for whom the more complex and costly game was something of a challenge for them, that this is what they were hoping we would provide and renewed their interest."
Caesar III
Sid Meyer's Alpha Centure
MOO 1 & 2
Fallout 1 & 2
Sadly this will never happen because what developer doesn't want to play with the code and have their own spin on a modern take.
Hey, Károly Zsolnai-Fehér (Two-Minute Papers), can you find someone to implement this?!? kthxbai!
So they ask for people's (and your) money to make 'just' a remake with updated graphics and then they blow all that money doing something else, in order to try to get a publishing deal.
Even the switch from Unity to Unreal could be framed as preparing for such a pitch, since Unreal is more appealing to the publishers. They scrapped months of work and had to work even longer to get to the point of what they had during the Kickstarter pitch.
We should probably give Nightdive the benefit of a doubt but if that indeed was their business strategy it would be a very heavy slap in the face of every single backer that put money into their Kickstarter, hoping - no, expecting - to get the remake that was promised in their campaign: a remake of a game beloved by many.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock
(click 'Updates')
They took the money and ran, basically.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock...
I think anyone who backs a Kickstarter without accepting the risk is really of questionable wisdom..... there is now years of evidence that kickstarters fail through lack of skill/competence/experience. Failure does not equate to fraud.
A Kickstarter outcome is NOT a guarantee, so when it fails, shrug and move on rather than behaving entitled and angry. And if you’re capable only of being angry about failed Kickstarter outcomes, we’ll just don’t back risky ventures that may lose money.
Apparently you didn't read the very update you linked to.
Nor did they take the money and run; they just wasted it through mismanagement and unrealistic goals. They deserve plenty of criticism, but just because you're pissed off at them doesn't excuse blatant lying and misrepresentation.
> I have put the team on a hiatus while we reassess our path so that we can return to our vision. We are taking a break, but NOT ending the project. Please accept my personal assurance that we will be back and stronger than ever. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is flat ass broke.
Unless he's flat out lying, they're not shutting down.
Not necessarely, they will announce something https://i.imgur.com/1QIgU4Y.png
Really? You need a publisher? Sigh. What year is it again?
And lots of ^M goodness :)
Because they've been unsuccessful in completing the reboot, releasing the sources is a way of apologizing.
Since the instructions mention a PPC requirement to build on Mac, I'm assuming these are fairly old.
Where are you getting that this release is an apology for the failed Kickstarter? Can you point to source at Nightdive saying this, or are you just speculating?
The post is them stating that they're releasing the source code as a celebration of a big update, not as an apology. The only people saying it's an apology are speculating.
As far as I know, the project's scope grew out of control so the project was put on hold for several weeks.
But it is now worked on again, with the initial, smaller scope but the new engine.
They wanted to publish the original source code from the get go. Here's an article from mid 2016 talking about it: https://www.gamezone.com/news/system-shock-s-original-source...
>Since the instructions mention a PPC requirement to build on Mac, I'm assuming these are fairly old.
The game was released in 1994, so yeah, they are old :-)
It’s disappointing that they didn’t stick to the goals of the Kickstarter which was a straight update of the original.
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock...
This is probably the next best thing to completing the Kickstarter since clearly they’ve run out of funds.
I’m not angry that the money is gone but it is s classic software engineering error for scope to blow out and the budget to disappear as a result with inevitable project cancellation.
So it’s my money, and the money of the other Kickstarter backers, that gives you this source. You’re welcome.
To the credit of Nightdive, this is the most likely path through which system shock 1 will be cleaned up and updated, hopefully with usable controls as opposed to the flat out unusable controls of the original.