I read it first as Q1 2016, and I then I realized 2017. My god that is a long time.
I have to say the whole pour your life savings into it is pretty worrisome
One of the comments was that the updates were worth the price of the kickstarter.
I’m not personally in that camp, but at some point you do have to look out for yourself (I hope you aren’t married.)
Still that was a very good update, thanks Jon
Looks like yes: Purchase — Jon Shafer's At the Gates. I’m considering buying it just so Jon doesn’t end up in the street!
I’m trying to find out how I can add to my existing pledge to both get early access and help out a little bit. Anyone know off hand?
Thanks for the support and well-wishes guys!
Yeah, the date is definitely quite a ways off, but… well, I pretty much said all there is to say and then some about how we came up with it in that monstrous article so just go read it if you haven’t already. :P And no hard feelings if you decide to check out on AtG for another year or so, as that’s probably what I myself would do! From now on the plan is to only announce games once ~9 months from release…
I can also totally understand why some of you might be a bit worried about my (or AtG’s) well-being after an update like that, and would feel the exact same way were this a ‘normal’ indie project. But AtG is a unique little snowflake for which I’d argue such concerns are unwarranted, on account of how my brain is wired - something I touched on in the article but will elaborate on here.
For most people a decision like selling one’s house and rolling the dice on a new living environment that might come up snake eyes is a really big deal, but for me it’s honestly not unlike throwing away an old t-shirt. For someone incapable of forming emotional attachments a house is simply an investment to be cashed in when its value can be applied more optimally elsewhere. It might appear otherwise on the outside, but from my perspective I haven’t actually sacrificed anything as, after all, it’s impossible to “lose” a house that never felt like yours in the first place.
So while I’m very much committed to AtG it would be a gross exaggeration to think of me as some heroic dreamer sacrificing all that I love for art - but nor am I a reckless fool destined to regret gambling away so much. I know it makes for a less interesting narrative and a less sympathetic main character of yours truly, but in truth I’m simply more “game design robot” than hero or villain. ;) Support is always very much appreciated, but there’s definitely no need to feel bad for or worry about me.
And the short answer to “Is it possible to upgrade one’s pledge?” is “Yes, but not directly”.
Amazon Payments (the service which actually processes Kickstarter pledges) is a bit fickle and once a few months have passed since a transaction has occurred they turn off our ability to refund or alter it in any way, so, yeah, there’s no clean way to simply ‘upgrade’ to a higher tier. That said, it is possible if you’re willing to jump through a couple hoops with us:
[ol]
[li]Purchase the tier you’d like to upgrade to from our website.
[/li]
[li]Register an account with PayPal, if you don’t already have one.
[/li]
[li]Let me know which tier you pre-ordered and the email address(es) associated with your Kickstarter and PayPal accounts via email (contact [at] conifergames [dot] com).
[/li][/ol]
After that I’ll send a reimbursement of your original pledge to your PayPal account. So nothing too crazy, and barring unforeseen circumstances a refund for your original pledge should be ‘in the mail’ within 24 hours. An added bonus for going through this process is that you’ll also receive a second ‘free’ copy of AtG when the game is officially released, which you can give a friend or keep for good luck. :)
Wow, Jon, that status update is indeed a bit crazy! I wish you all the best with beating the game in shape! The world is definitely short of people pursuing their passion projects no matter what, so I am absolutely cheering for you.
Your post also made me remember an article about the early days of Conifer Games I really liked, and I’ve actually just now reread the entire thing. It’s the Polygon piece by Russ Pits. Even in that article, which was written on February 6, 2013, you mention the possibility of selling your house or your car should it come down to it. If nothing else, at least you’re being consistent!
I am not sure what your take on the article was, but I thought the closing paragraph was pretty neat:
You want them to be superheroes, but they’re not; they’re something more precious. These three people of Conifer are dreamers. They’re not setting out to save the world, rather to make a living doing something they love. And although they’re just three people against difficult odds, it’s a sign of the wild state of this industry that their scheme, however preposterous, might just work.
I, for one, certainly hope that you will find a way to take this project to a good ending, screw the odds! :-)
I really appreciate your devotion, Jon, but the whole “selling your house and cashing out the retirement savings” has me nervous. I appreciate your point that you have no emotional attachment to the house (I have no comment regarding mental health, please see a professional about that [when you can afford it!]), but, personally, I don’t want you to take that kind of financial risk! I know you probably won’t have a problem getting a job even if this thing tanks, but you shouldn’t have to go broke for your dream.
That said, I’m still super excited about the game and can’t wait! And given your devotion to it, I have unusually high expectations… so don’t screw up. ;-)
Decided for some reason to check on this… over at the Conifer Games forum, Jon’s last post was mid-May, and he spoke of health problems.
Hey all, apologies for the lengthy radio silence. I’ve been dealing with some health issues the past few months and had to take some time off. I’m back in the saddle as of today though, so no need to worry about whether the game will be finished or not - you should start seeing updates to the game again next week!
- Jon
Since then… nothing. And no updates to us Kickstarter backers since last November. No Conifer Games tweets since then either.
I don’t care if we don’t get updates… or even if the game comes out… just hope Jon is OK.
OH noooo. There’s alot of people here who know Jon personally from Stardock etc. Can anyone check or call or write? He’s so young and vibrant I can’t imagine what might have hit him :(
Oh man, I hope he’s okay.
His Twitter is active as recently as the end of May and he was never exactly a frequent poster.
FYI, his last tweet was on June 6th.
I hope Jon’s OK, not only for obvious reasons, but this is one of my most anticipated titles for next year.
I feel the same way. Plus he has some good people working for him as well.
Maybe someone can tweet and just ask if he’s okay?
Saw Soren linking this thread to him, checking Jon’s tweet&replies, he replied to someone on Jun 7 so he seems to be ok.
Yep, still alive and kicking. Apologies for being super late on this last update - spending nearly as much time online these days as I used to. Currently working on faction traits, and will have some details to share soon.
But are you WELL, Jon?
Still out there Jon? It’s been a month since that post, and still nothing on the At-The-Gates forum.
If you don’t at least reassure everyone there to keep checking in, there won’t be anyone left to test anything :(
Jon just sent backers an update, his first since last November, noting health issues and apologizing for the lack of updates. But the good news is the work on the game goes on:
As for the game itself we’re still knee-deep in AI work but one of the fun things I’ve started getting back into the swing of things with is unique factions and traits. For those of you in the alpha program I posted a new build last week (v22.1.6) that includes some basic functionality on this front, and a lot more will be coming soon. The goal is for a faction like the Huns to play very differently from a more basic one like the Goths (think completely nomadic, no structures, etc.).
And he’s hiring a person to handle communications going forward.
I assumed the game would become vaporware, so this is heartening. Thanks, Jon!