I've backed 93 successful kickstarters to date and nothing like this has happened to me, there have been delays sure but that's to be expected, I'm willing to take the risk for projects I believe in.
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Project Phoenix scammed us? Creative Intelegent Art Fraud?
- Thread starter Aurizen
- Start date
I've backed 93 successful kickstarters to date and nothing like this has happened to me, there have been delays sure but that's to be expected, I'm willing to take the risk for projects I believe in.
I'll be watching this, don't think this will go to court and I don't think we will ever know the truth.
I wonder which other press people have seen the evidence other than gamespot, should be interesting to find out the truth.
If it really was a case of one disgruntled employee trying to cause trouble then he has caused major damage to the sales of tiny metal.
I can't imagine that the developers would want this to go to court in any case but if it means the people that funded the original game get answers then that's great for them.
So what happened to Project Phoenix then? Where did that money go?
My big question is if Tiny Metal didn't use any of the Project Phoenix funds, where is Project Phoenix and why did the team decide to focus entirely on a separate game for years while development on the kickstarter that was funded languished without so much as a message related to them just flat axing the game? The main comments here are the dev lying but nothing in relation to what actually happened to the kickstarter or when they will finally deliver on something from that kickstarter.
I still think anyone that backed the game has been scammed and will never see hide nor hair of anything because that money is gone and is attached to something entirely different or worse they just pocketed most of the money for themselves. I also hope that Tiny Metal fails miserably and Yura never has a chance to produce a game ever again in his life.
But if this is true why even create the Kickstarter for that game if they intended to make another?
My sentiment. If you really want to dispel rumors of misappropriated funds, how about you deliver Project Phoenix? Moving on to and completing a new project when you received money for a different project and accepted it paints a pretty clear picture. If the money wasn't used on Tiny Metal, where is it?
Maybe not funds, but the entire fucking development studio got shifted to TM? "The money isn't lost yet" is really the primary takeaway from his statement. It's been almost 5 fucking years, so I don't fucking have any goodwill and rather belief the employer who has nothing to gain from making these claims.
I still want my money back. I feel they given up or just don't care for the game anymore. How did they just make a game years after they set out to do this one? Either they give everyone who backed it their money back or devote their entire time to make the game and bump the rewards up one tier or two. I contributed a decent amount to this game. Its saddening to see this.
To be absolutely, brutally honest, I feel like the whole thing probably gained Tiny Metal a lot more exposure/buzz than if nothing had happened.
I am going to do some severe mental gymnastics about this, so bear with me:
The only way Mr. Yura is telling the truth, is that he burned through all the money from the KS, as he probably didn't do a good estimate about the game's cost. So, he found external investors, but they weren't willing to approve the money he requested, so he settled for less, and he, or his team or whatever came up with Tiny Metal, as proof they can actually deliver the game.
As for Mr. Lacy, well, probably he is telling the truth about Yura asking him to mask some of the losses. But dunno, Mr. Yura saying that the other guy harassed people on the workplay its a very delicate subject.
The only way Mr. Yura is telling the truth, is that he burned through all the money from the KS, as he probably didn't do a good estimate about the game's cost. So, he found external investors, but they weren't willing to approve the money he requested, so he settled for less, and he, or his team or whatever came up with Tiny Metal, as proof they can actually deliver the game.
As for Mr. Lacy, well, probably he is telling the truth about Yura asking him to mask some of the losses. But dunno, Mr. Yura saying that the other guy harassed people on the workplay its a very delicate subject.
The developer claimed all it would take is "a bit more programming", but that they were unhappy with art they outsourced:
http://www.siliconera.com/2017/12/1...hoenix/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
His claim is basically that they spent money on outsourced art, didn't like it.. and so therefore the project died because they didn't have the funds to make up for the money wasted on bad art.
He has a rather long winded version of that in the interview, but that about sums it up.
He never addressed the fact they let the KS languish and never provided updates, and just moved on and started Tiny Metal without letting backers know. He's pretty dismissive in general in the above interview.
From that post:
However, reading the Gamespot article that link refers to, it mentions absolutely nothing about evidence of any kind, or any other reason to believe TM didn't use PP funding beyond quoting Yura's claims to that effect verbatim. Could anyone with a Gamespot account contact the writer and point them towards Yura's claims? I can't imagine them being happy about being misrepresented this way.
"We could actually deliver with a bit more programming"
I heard that sentence so often when I was a programmer, coming from people who generally have no idea what they were talking about, this "bit more" always ended up being a time consuming mess.
I have honestly no idea about how he managed the project but these words just add to the pile of arguments that Yura clearly don't seem to know much about what programming involve and how hard it is.
I heard that sentence so often when I was a programmer, coming from people who generally have no idea what they were talking about, this "bit more" always ended up being a time consuming mess.
I have honestly no idea about how he managed the project but these words just add to the pile of arguments that Yura clearly don't seem to know much about what programming involve and how hard it is.
Into the toilet probably? It was what, a million dollars? That's not a lot of money. In the hands of an inexperienced team which has never actually produced a game before, led by someone who has never led a development team before, it can be easily squandered.
I don't know why I even bother to check thus thread when if gets bumped, I only get mad afterwards
https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/28/16803348/tiny-metal-kickstarter-project-phoenix-controversy
I think this has to be the most comprehensive* and relatively unbiased read on the situation, complete with quotes and linkbacks to relevant articles and Kickstarter updates.
*at least, as it pertains strictly to Tiny Metal and Project Phoenix; no mention of the other stuff CIA has been working on in the interim such as Under the Dog (Kinema Citrus subsequently had a falling out with Yura over that Kickstarter) and the various music projects CIA has worked on. This makes the statement from the article "and the man behind Project Phoenix has since moved on to another project altogether, a strategy game called Tiny Metal" a little bit reductionist.
sorry
I think this has to be the most comprehensive* and relatively unbiased read on the situation, complete with quotes and linkbacks to relevant articles and Kickstarter updates.
*at least, as it pertains strictly to Tiny Metal and Project Phoenix; no mention of the other stuff CIA has been working on in the interim such as Under the Dog (Kinema Citrus subsequently had a falling out with Yura over that Kickstarter) and the various music projects CIA has worked on. This makes the statement from the article "and the man behind Project Phoenix has since moved on to another project altogether, a strategy game called Tiny Metal" a little bit reductionist.
sorry
I think I donated....literally one dollar for this. I had to choose to drop a large amount of money in either this or Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. I'm so freaking glad I chose Shantae.
Then again it wasn't really a tough decision...
Then again it wasn't really a tough decision...
It's one hell of a ride at that; Hiroaki Yura posted just over two weeks ago that they have an official apology from Tariq and will take about two weeks to post an update about the situation (but i guess just like project phoenix and tiny metal multiplayer the time estimate here doesn't mean much lolo)
Just a couple days ago someone called out the 'btw please help my friend's project!' shenanigans, waiting to see how this pans out.
edit: for posterity in case something happens to the thread itself.
There is an update on this matter:
Tiny Metal Dispute Settled With Former Employee Admitting Embezzlement Allegations "Contrary to the Truth"
On the accusations:
On financial settlement:
More at the link.
Tiny Metal Dispute Settled With Former Employee Admitting Embezzlement Allegations "Contrary to the Truth"
On the accusations:
USgamer said:
On financial settlement:
USgamer said:
More at the link.
There's been an update on the Kickstarter as well.
Sorry for the lack of updates. All updates had to be put on hold pending a legal dispute with a disgruntled former employee of my other company AREA 35, Inc., Tariq Lacy.
The dispute is now resolved and Mr Lacy has publicly admitted the following: He had unauthorized third-party access to this project's Facebook page He used said access to falsely accuse and lie about the funding for this Kickstarter being embezzled to fund the development of AREA 35's game, TINY METAL.
Being clear once again, that's not something I would do, or have done, and no Kickstarter funding was ever used for anything other than work on Project Phoenix.
After pursuing litigation to defend myself from these lies, Tariq admitted that his claims were completely untrue and had agreed to publicly denounce his claims. However, he chose to not fully disclose and publicise his admission on his Facebook account as he had agreed which forced further legal action so that he would be held to his false words and be forced to disclose his dishonesty.
It's not surprising that it's difficult to get publicity to correct the record on a false accusation when it was so shocking to begin with, but I will continue to move forward.
Tariq's public apology on Facebook
Because of the lies that were spread to damage AREA 35's reputation and hurt TINY METAL's release, many of those interested in TINY METAL and those introduced to it in the context of the fake funding claims chose not to support the game. Despite the negative coverage based on that lie, the sales of TINY METAL have been OK. While not a smash hit, it also hasn't been a bust, and we've got some good reviews and great experience & feedback that we can apply to our next game.
Because Sony Music Entertainment/Unties was the publisher for TINY METAL, we unfortunately couldn't get permission to give it to Project Phoenix backers. In the future, however, I hope to be able to provide future games to you as my thanks while still pursuing the ultimate goal of Project Phoenix and the originally offered rewards.
As I've stated in the past, my aspiration for Project Phoenix itself is to secure outside funding to move it forward and present something at the scope that I've intended. Right now, that has meant pursuing an indirect path through other separate game projects like TINY METAL both as a proving ground for outside funding of Project Phoenix and a means to provide for my staff and children. Through developing and shipping other completed projects like TINY METAL, I aim to create the stepping stones needed to resume Project Phoenix and begin to provide all of you something tangible for your support. Project Phoenix will always be a marathon rather than a sprint, but I do plan to get there one step at a time.
Hiroaki Yura
Director / Producer of Project Phoenix
Guess I should be happy Project Phoenix is just a really badly managed project as opposed to straight up a scam?
Yeah, they'd rather focus on throwing that guy under the bus than make the game that people backed.
Lol I keep this subbed out of sheer curiosity. Fortunately never backed it, but I'm done with the excuses from the creator :/ Just... start it!
We're more likely to get a Vita 2.0 than this game ever being released.
Ah yes, this project makes me look at Nobuo Uematsu in a different light.
For $5k, you would think he would compose something for you at this point.
I thought this necro-bump would have an update to the status of this game.
But I guess not.
For $5k, you would think he would compose something for you at this point.
I thought this necro-bump would have an update to the status of this game.
But I guess not.
new update, and yet again it's a big joke, lmao :
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...kXlexnfV-tnH-COtawkdUP_ySspsEsIv58rcF-Zy0qhX4
"We still don't work on your game, we're working on other games for now, please understand"
they're just doing update to avoid getting in trouble with kickstarter i guess
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...kXlexnfV-tnH-COtawkdUP_ySspsEsIv58rcF-Zy0qhX4
"We still don't work on your game, we're working on other games for now, please understand"
they're just doing update to avoid getting in trouble with kickstarter i guess
^ Lol yeah, that's basically it.
It's been 6 years and they're still not doing anything.
It's incredible that they're still dragging this out. They haven't even started on the damn thing and it's been years.
This project would be less of a joke if backers would get free copies of their other games (I.e. tiny metal 1+2) as an apology, even if its not what we backed, but even there they make up excuses on how they can't do this
