Last year I was super-hyped about an indie game Kickstarter for a game called, ‘That Which Sleeps’. I am not associated with the developers, but I was so impressed I decided to hype the game here and on other boards. Sadly I now feel seriously let down and feel the need to update the forum members here.
That Which Sleeps was a Kickstarter campaign for a computer game in which the player would take the part of an ancient evil, once sealed away and now returning to power.
The campaign ended on 22/10/2014, promising a beta by December 2014. The game was said to be nearly complete and funds were sought for graphical polish and some new features. A scenario viewer was said to have already been written and was promised to be released promptly after the end of the Kickstarter, using placeholder graphics.
It is now 22/10/2015. The beta has not been released. The scenario viewer has not been released. The developers have released a partially functional map editor and statistics editor (mod tools). There is no date for the beta. The developers produced 6 videos in the run up to the Kickstarter but in the subsequent year released only 4.
After protesting and writing critical articles, I received a unilateral refund and was removed from the project forum. I am unaware of whether other backers have been refunded as the project claims to be ongoing. My article is here – http://matthewhopkinsnews.com/?p=2642
Nope still seems to be trucking, still updates (very good looking updates), just looks like to have scope creeped a little and that creep is more complex than anticipated.
The updates look awesome though. More or less monthly for 2015.
Last update was around 21 days ago:
To our extremely patient Backers,
We apologize for the long time between updates - but we’ve been head down working on game improvements as well as trying to get the mod tools in the hands of our mod tier backers.
Unfortunately due to a recent Unity update we had to deal with several setbacks and set the mod tools aside for a short break - it’s still one of our main points of focus and we’d like to get those out to our modders ASAP.
In the meantime we have another video that shows the early scenario generation and game selection modes - we’re getting very close to showing some in game turns so expect to see that roll out as our next video in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your continued patience - we promise we’re working extremely hard to make That Which Sleeps something deserving of your patronage.
KDGs
It’s a delayed videogame kickstarter, news at 11, but I don’t think it is at all dead and updates are detailed and show progress. OP is a little hyperbolic.
This is one (of many) reasons I no longer really back videogame kickstarters. Dev times tend to be way underestimated and, unlike the boardgame kickstarters I also back, outright fail rates tend to be much higher (Remember CLANG? Better you don’t), and, generally speaking, it feels like the compromise rate is much higher for vidja games than it is for cardboard/pen-n-paper games. A RPG book might arrive a bit late and a chapter might underwhelm, but you generally won’t see it arrive missing three chapters and with a completely unexpected mechanical overhaul.
I backed That Which Sleeps too. On the other hand, I also backed Darkest Dungeon and Grim Dawn, both of which are beyond expectations, even if their development time (like all of them) has blown way past what was expected.
Oh and the OP is the knob-end who thought it was a good idea to directly email the hacked/leaked list of Patreon donators as part of all the gamergate bullshit that just won’t die.
This game and a few others is why I stopped backing hyper-funded kickstarters. I’ll still back one that is going to barely limp over the line, but the ones that get funded multi-fold seem to quite often lose themselves in the multitude of stretch goals. Goals that may not have nearly had the same amount of consideration as the original campaign.
That’s not to say I’m anything less than very excited about the potential this game has, provided they can ever get a handle on all the extra content that was funded.
It’s another Star Citizen but minus all the zeroes. Keep on it, you just may crack this case of a game that ships late!
Edit: I also discovered I am a backer of “That Which Sleeps” but somehow forgot where I left my torches and pitchfork. Kickstarter isn’t a game buying service: You are funding an idea which may or may not make it to life. If you want something more concrete, wait until it ships on Steam.
Was that really the case? I’ve been following the game too and the impression I had was that the game was half done around that date. As in, 50% done. They had an engine and a prototype of game but still missing lots of features and system, they had art but a good part of it was placeholder and they said it so, who knows how the AI if any existed was done, and add to that the typical feature creep.
Obviously they should have promised a beta for 2014, that was just silly.
I haven’t backed this, but I’m very interested in the game.
Personally, given the ambition and scope of the project, I think it’s more likely the devs are just bad at estimating completion dates rather than trying to scam people.
At this rate, unfortunately, I think it’s optimistic to even talk about next year. At best, it hits early access next year if they haven’t even gotten a playable beta out this year.
I admittedly don’t know much about this, but I did read the OP’s link, and while I can understand his concerns, I do feel bad for the devs, in that it appears to me that a $50 backing apparently allows you to apply as much pressure as an actual publishing company would.
The dev refunded his money, and promised him a key upon release as well. I’m not sure what else they could do, besides hurry the fuck up and finish the game before he has a heart attack.
No danger of that! I am no longer on the hype train for this game I am afraid. I have said all that needs to be said really. Maybe I will revisit in a few months.
Radio silence since November, now weekly updates since mid March in an effort to be more communicative. Also, they have removed the pre-order button from the website:
We’ve had a bit of communication breakdown as it’s been about 3 months since our last major update. I want to take a moment to again apologize for this lapse. We’ve generally been trying to do updates every 4 - 6 weeks but we ran into several issues that forced us to dive back into the tank and spend the entirety of our time working on bug fixing and game coding.
I know people are annoyed and upset with this lack of communication and I don’t blame anyone - please feel some solace knowing that we are aware of our poor communication over the past time period and are making a solemn promise to try to do much better.
So in summary - yes we’re still here and we’re still working on That Which Sleeps.
We will be posting a few screenshots each Saturday to show more in game screens of stuff actually being worked on or occurring in game - hopefully this will allay some of the fears and allegation of That Which Sleeps being vaporwore.
Secondly - We’ve taken the preorder button down from our site as of a couple weeks ago. We are no longer accepting preorders because 1 - we’re getting closer to beta and 2 - (more importantly) the huge amount of refunds and chargebacks that we received.
I put all the screenshots released to date collectively in this Imgur album
If this truly is vapourware, there is a serious amount of fake screenshot work going into keeping the illusion up! Please be real.
Those screenshots sold me on the game without reading anything else in this thread. I assume by the thread title and then sharaleo’s post that is may not really come to fruition though, but what intriguing shots!
