Shadow of the Eternals

Hi all,

How do people feel about this one? I loved Eternal Darkness, and would love to revisit that whole mythos, but in the context of this announcement, I just recently read about how much of a problem Denis Dyack has been.

That coupled with my general unease about consumers assuming both the risks of production and consumption while the company gets to enjoy the profits of the finished product has me kind of twiggy about this.

Shadow of the Eternals

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Dyack + TWELVE EPISODES + Nintendo holding all the rights to the things that made ED awesome = nope.

That they apparently think calling them "Sanity Events" instead of "Insanity Effects" will make them suit-proof shows the quality of thinking behind this whole project. This Kickstarter is effectively a legal defense fund and doesn't know it yet.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Can I just say that I love how the popularization of the internet has led to the accepted use of attributing quotes to online handles?

"Now that's how you do a teaser. OMG looks great." - Dragonlordinfinity112

That is one of the greatest things I've ever seen.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm not a fan of episodic releases. It's one of the reasons why I didn't get Walking Dead.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I love that they want 1.5 million dollars for just the first episode. They say that the other 11 episodes will require more crowdfunding, yet they offer them as rewards on this fundraiser anyway.

It would be fantastic if this turns out well, but I have very little hope that it will.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Also, could they be even more blatantly Lovecraft-stealing? I mean, Whateley?

At least the first had a bit of semi-original in a Lovecraftian setting

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

If you willingly give money to Dyack you are an idiot of proportions I can't quantify with text.

FELIPE NO

Is there any chance we could get it in song then?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Shake it, Quake it, SPACE KABOOM

If you willingly give money to Dyack you are an idiot of proportions I can't quantify with text.

Come on, that's being a little silly don't you think? The opportunity cost of $5 over the expected value of a new ED? You're going to say that concluding either way on that ROI is ineffably stupid?

I was hoping for more substantive responses.

Things that I'd been thinking about are the fact that Dyack is the chief creative officer. He's balanced by a CEO and a COO. All of the officers are going to be participating in the development of the game.

I don't know what the corporate structure was like at Silicon, but it sounded like Dyack had sole power there. This might address those problems.

The CEO has indicated that Nintendo's been supportive of the project, so it doesn't sound as if IP issues will be cropping up.

The idea of an episodic game is disturbing, but the retail price will be $5 per episode, which translates into $60 for a game. Going by their estimate of a 2-4 hour play time per episode, that seems like a fairly standard length adventure game.

From the company's perspective, I can see how crowdfunding the initial production costs followed by ongoing production costs is a much lower risk proposition. They are not committing as much capital up front, which, given the size of the company, is not surprising. Additionally, doing crowdfunding of ongoing production costs in the episodic format allows them to gauge continuing demand and adjust the product to the market.

The individual risk to the consumer is effectively the spread on the quality of the product and any donation over the retail price. These are fairly immaterial amounts of money. I mean, that's the whole point of crowd-funding these projects to begin with. The only part I'm sour about is that it's not actually equity, so I don't get a proportional share of profits for the risk that I am assuming, but whatever. Again it's immaterial.

I guess that's where I've landed. It's higher risk given Dyack, but there are potentially ameliorating controls in place, and the amount of money in question is insignificant, so why not? I don't need to min-max my cash flows.

And also, Diss, I agree that was pretty ridiculous.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Dyack is not going to be "balanced" by anyone. He will get his way, or he will throw a tantrum and doom the project (faster).

Also, my objection to contributing to this is less that it is a waste of money and more that it encourages Dyack to think he is allowed to make things. He is not. He is not allowed to make games anymore. He has to sit in the corner until he learns to behave.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Hedonism Bot

Come on, that's being a little silly don't you think? The opportunity cost of $5 over the expected value of a new ED? You're going to say that concluding either way on that ROI is ineffably stupid?

I was hoping for more substantive responses.

Things that I'd been thinking about are the fact that Dyack is the chief creative officer. He's balanced by a CEO and a COO. All of the officers are going to be participating in the development of the game.

I don't know what the corporate structure was like at Silicon, but it sounded like Dyack had sole power there. This might address those problems.

The CEO has indicated that Nintendo's been supportive of the project, so it doesn't sound as if IP issues will be cropping up.

The idea of an episodic game is disturbing, but the retail price will be $5 per episode, which translates into $60 for a game. Going by their estimate of a 2-4 hour play time per episode, that seems like a fairly standard length adventure game.

From the company's perspective, I can see how crowdfunding the initial production costs followed by ongoing production costs is a much lower risk proposition. They are not committing as much capital up front, which, given the size of the company, is not surprising. Additionally, doing crowdfunding of ongoing production costs in the episodic format allows them to gauge continuing demand and adjust the product to the market.

The individual risk to the consumer is effectively the spread on the quality of the product and any donation over the retail price. These are fairly immaterial amounts of money. I mean, that's the whole point of crowd-funding these projects to begin with. The only part I'm sour about is that it's not actually equity, so I don't get a proportional share of profits for the risk that I am assuming, but whatever. Again it's immaterial.

I guess that's where I've landed. It's higher risk given Dyack, but there are potentially ameliorating controls in place, and the amount of money in question is insignificant, so why not? I don't need to min-max my cash flows.

And also, Diss, I agree that was pretty ridiculous.

This is problematic for a bunch of reasons.

You say Dyack will be balanced by a CEO and COO. Are you talking about Paul Caporicci? This guy? Who, according to his LinkedIn, was with SK during their entire legal dispute with Epic, while being promoted regularly? And stayed with them while the entire company collapsed underneath them?

SK had 5 (or less) employees as it worked to pay off the millions of dollars it owed Epic, after they had to destroy all outstanding copies of their stolen bullshit.

Their old COO disappeared. Even their IT manager got out. A software development studio without an IT head.

Who's left with Precursor? The CEO and COO you listed are two rehires (or never fired/laid off) lackeys of Dyack from the SK ages, who apparently were with him throughout the wholesale theft from Epic.

You think they'll "balance" his opinion? They are his underlings in everything but title.

What reasons do you have that you think SK could create something of even 1/10th of ED's quality again? The 'talent' on their meet the team page? Team | Precursor Games

Most of which describe their industry veteran creds as "Too Human" and "X-Men Destiny"?

Are you aware of how much money SK owes Epic? Are you certain that Dyack isn't going to repeat his blunders and fuck up something here too?

Yeah. That 5 dollars has an opportunity cost of a fucking delicious sandwich. I can buy the sandwich, and it'll be worth more to me as I'm enjoying delicious roast beef than any garbage this man can shit out.

Fuck that. Dyack gives all of Canada a bad name.

And his "oh man we'll take your money even if we don't hit the goal, I PROMISE TO GIVE REFUNDS IF IT SUCKS GUYS YOU CAN TOTALLY TAKE MY WORD ON IT" is some serious bullshit.

Trust me man, I love crowdfunding. But this guy is a shyster and a has been.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Fuckin' LOL

This gets better and better.

Dyack, famous for not giving any shits whatsoever, finally shows up on a fan message board that he's previously blocked his own employees from posting on, and leaves this:

Originally Posted by Dyack

Hi Everyone,

It has been a very long time. I am sorry I was away so long, it was not intended and I truly regret that I could not interact more with you all. I wanted to do so but it simply was not an option for me at the time. I really hope you can understand.

As most of you already probably have seen, I am no longer at Silicon Knights and I joined Precursor Games some time ago. I invite you all to join us at Precursor Games if you are so inclined. I will be interacting more there (our whole team will be - it is one of the principle pillars of the company) and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish with the community and our crowd sourcing campaigns.

I do see that some people are disappointed at the way things turned out, so was I and many others, believe me. However, rather then dwell on that, we are moving forward a positive direction that I hope you can also join.

Hope to see you at Precursor!

So, public confirmation he's not "with" SK anymore.

Which makes sense. It owes 9 million dollars in a lawsuit. I'd fucking bail out too.

People are not amused, follows up with dick sucking post here.

What does Wired find out?

Well...this.

Precursor bought the art assets for this half assed project from SK.

So let me get this straight.

Dyack's lackey, who was with SK for years, and then bailed/was 'fired'/went to start Precursor, bought art assets from a dead SK where Dyack 'no longer works', and then takes on Dyack as an advisor...to continue a project they have hinted at for years anyway?

Aka "let's secure some capital so we can pay off SK's massive fucking debt." Sure is deliberate and fucking obvious scam up in here.

edit:

Via the thread at neogaf, here's a twitter convo of ex SK employees.



I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

That's awesome. Thank you for sharing it. The drama is delicious.

I was speaking idiomatically.

And yet despite all this I still occasionally Google a release date for Too Human 2.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Luckily, the world at large is likely to be spared of being subjected to such a thing.

FELIPE NO

Precursor has decided to take down and refund the crowdfunding campaigns on both Kickstarter and their own site on June 6th. Their new plan is to relaunch in a few weeks to show off all their fancy, new ideas which will completely revolutionize the face of modern gaming, probably. The move has absolutely nothing to do with both campaigns failing miserably. Kickstarter pulled in $127,632 of their $1,350,000 goal, and their site pulled in a measly $284,877.

With any luck these "new, exciting opportunities" will mean that Shadow of the Eternals is now going to be an Eternal Darkness/Too Human crossover available exclusively for the Xbox One.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

A refund is probably the best thing that could have happened to that money.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

WHELP.

Developer from Precursor Games (Shadows of the Eternals) arrested for child porn - NeoGAF

Quote:

Kenneth McCulloch, a developer at Precursor Games—the developers who want to create a sequel to Eternal Darkness—is now facing child pornography charges according to Bullet News Niagara and the Niagara Regional Police Service.

McCulloch is being charged with "one count each of possession of child pornography, making child pornography available and accessing child pornography," to be specific.

Last month, Precursor Games held a Kickstarter for Shadows of the Eternals, but the campaign was suspended. In a post on the Precursor Games forums, Paul Caporicci, CEO of Precursor Games—a studio that formed from the ashes of Silicon Knights—says that they learned of the charges today and that due to their serious nature, McCulloch is "no longer affiliated in any way with Precursor Games."

According to the Bullet News report, McCulloch is currently in custody, pending bail. We've contacted Precursor Games about the matter and will update this post as soon as we hear back.

Source: http://kotaku.com/developer-arrested...iate-614356450
Police Report: Media Releases

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I know everyone's gonna be excited to hear that they've relaunched the Kickstarter! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...the-eternals-0

Quote:

Your Content in the Game: Work with the Shadow of the Eternals team to contribute your own piece of creative content to the game, such as a Sanity Event, musical piece, artwork, or storyline! Includes an Associate Game Designer credit.

Oh man, where the fuck is my kazoo.

How ya doing, buddy?

So it's looking like they're getting rid of the whole "lots of interlocking time streams with a single modern hub" thing and going "let's put Bathory in this"


in more important/less annoying news, I can't find my tweezers and I have such a splinter in my finger.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I'd still like to see this game be made, but that new pitch video is doing them no favours.

WE ARE.. EXCITED TO.. ANNOUNCE THIS.. GAME (AGAIN)

SO WE FEEL.. THAT.. VOICE ACTING.. IS.. IMPORTANT

SO WE HAVE.. DAVID HAYTER.. YOU KNOW THAT NAME.. WE HOPE


So no more episodic content, just a single game (and unmentioned continuation via DLC). They are still saying multiple characters in a story spanning thousands of years, but how would they fit that in a single 8 hour game about Bathory.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I will only get this game once it's an actual thing and people say it's actually any good, a worthy successor to Eternal Darkness, high praise, etc. etc.

There's just way too much bad juju surrounding its development. They can get all the all-star videogame voice acting jamboree they want but it's not getting a single cent until they can actually prove themselves. They've done nothing to alleviate the problems people had with the first kickstarter besides apparently making it one game and perhaps DLC. They don't want to change their creative head and perhaps in the end if its any good it might have been a good decision but its definitely preventing a lot of support. They still haven't learned that their stubbornness may kill this game from ever happening. So yeah, you definitely aren't going to see much support on this little corner of the Internet. I await this game's fate.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if Bathory's in it because lol dykes are hawt and if we make her EVIL it will offend less people while simultaneously offending the rest of ameriku if we handle it badly

Most amazing jew boots

They also want you to pay 5000 dollars to work for them at E3.

I hope this fails and I hope Dyack drowns himself in a toilet.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Bathory is just an easy legend to use for people who don't want to be bothered with creativity. Shadow of the Eternals already has stiff competition from Frankie Muniz.

Jam it back in, in the dark.