Project Vega has been canceled
- January 28th, 2010
- Posted in News
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I am very, very sorry to have to say that I am canceling Project Vega.
The bottom line is this: In my search to find a publisher, I have discovered that it is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible to find one willing to team up with us. From what I’ve read, I would basically have to a nearly complete game and/or have an established game company to have any hope of landing a publishing deal – in other words, to get funding from a publisher, I would have to be in a position in which I don’t need their funding. At the very least, I would have to have something that looks much, much better than what we have right now.
So what’s to stop me from just finishing this up and self-publishing it over Steam? Unfortunately, I can only do so much. I can only program, do the game design, and make crappy levels. I can’t model, animate, texture, make HUD graphics, write music, create sound effects, etc., all of which are absolutely critical to making a quality game. Unfortunately, getting outside help has proven time and time again that it simply will not work. People simply have other priorities (work, school, social lives, etc.) and cannot devote the time necessary to a project of this magnitude. Either I’m the worst manager in the world, or this model is simply doomed to failure. Maybe both.
I knew this would be tough from the beginning. But, I thought that any obstacles could be overcome with hard work and passion. I was wrong.
So, it is with a heavy heart that I am canceling this project. I’d like to thank all of the fans of this project – it’s good to know that there are others out there who are as sick and tired of modern shooters as I am. I’d also like to thank everyone who’s been a part of this project over the past two years. Without your support, there’s no way I could have gotten this far. Finally, I’d like to give a big thanks to Mechadon for designing and setting up the blog, and to WastedYouth for being there in the very beginning to help get the initial technology off the ground.
It’s been a pleasure knowing all of you, and I wish you all the very best of luck – I certainly wish you more luck than I’ve had. Take care, everyone.
– Brad Carney
It may seem difficult to find some helpers but im sure if you looked hard enough, you would find some talented programers/artists/ music composers to aid you with project vega. Its a shame your giving this all up because you canot find a publisher. but tbh if I was in your shoes. I’d keep looking, because it takes time before you can establish goals, such as making a video game. in this case… project vega. To hell with all the modern bland realistic fps games, Project vega is the game for a true doomer (although like you quoted this has nothing to do with doom) but reguardless I am a quake fan and that is quake 2 material you have there
@Kristus: I would bet that the overwhelming majority of mods either suck, are very small in scope, or are abandoned. Even Stronghold, which is probably one of, if not the biggest best Doom projects to date, has gone through all of the same shit this project has. When it comes to community projects, it’s: large, quality, done. Pick two.
The fact that people are thinking it looks Quake-ish is just another indication that my vision for this game never got across, and the fact that people think it looks Quake 2-ish is yet another reason to flush this down the toilet and fire a couple of rockets in there after it.
I can’t believe I’m hearing this from Carnevil.
That just sad that he committed himself to this project and letting a few simple flaws destroy it.
I am now going to delete Skulltag.
See you guys on zdaemon!
I don’t know that I would characterize the inability to complete the project as a “simple flaw”, but do what you must.
Aw man, another good idea flushed down the toilet because the fps market doesn’t like retro stuff. It’s a shame, because i love skulltag and oldschool fast fpses. At last i was gonna rub something i the face of the COD noobs in my school but if it has to be this way, then sadly I’ll have to accept it. Hell to be honest I would have bought the damn demo for 10 bucks. Oh well, Shit happens.
“Hell to be honest I would have bought the damn demo for 10 bucks”
I would as well…
Carnevil, it only looks like Quake 2 because your using Quake 2ish/UTish textures. A texture make over from proper artists would have done it.
But like everyone on here keep saying: You have to try.
Stop whining about it, seriously, I don’t want to anger you or anything but this is becoming quite childish, your not even willing to take a chance in something you believe in, actually that reminds me of a little quote from Styx:
“So if I can, I’m gonna break from this prison
Gonna get out and join in the fight
Take a chance on what I believe in
Win or lose, I know it’s right”
Bust out of your prison of self loathing, get out there and fight for some team members, and take a chance.
And hey, here’s another quote because I’m in a quote mood again
“Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!”
and
“Never say “never.”
Those were said by none other than Ms. Frizzle (Hey, don’t knock the Bus!), and she’s damn right.
The cel-shaded weapons and perhaps the environment are UNIQUE (well, ‘cept for borderlands and some other games perhaps), probably 1 or 2 other game companies have tried to give their games a really cartoony look while keeping it a shooter. If you made something else totally unique, I would have bought this for 100 bucks sure. And it already was worth that money.
@CafeExpress: To suggest that I’m not willing to take a chance is completely ridiculous. I devoted two years working on this overtime every week unpaid, and even quit my previous job and went back to school all so I could learn how to start/run a business. Is that not taking a chance enough for you?
And I *did* go out there and fight for some team members – they didn’t perform up to expectations, and finding new people isn’t going to change that. Take a look at what AlexMax and Pieter have said: these problems aren’t unique to me. They happen all the time. Even if I was able to find a few skilled, dedicated artists, we’re still looking at YEARS before this project is finished – years where I don’t get paid and have to continue to endure my ultra shitty lifestyle. And what if they quit? I’d have to find skilled, dedicated artists AGAIN, and their styles might not be consistent with the previous artists’ styles.
Just saying “don’t give up” or “take a chance” doesn’t address the reality of the situation – what I’m trying to do is IMPOSSIBLE! Maybe someday when circumstances are different I’ll be able to pull this off, but for now… I’m sorry, but it’s simply impossible. And no one wishes that was not the case more than me.
“Maybe someday when circumstances are different I’ll be able to pull this off”
What I suggested. Put it on hold until you feel you have the condition to find good people to complete it. Waiting some time before looking at the project again is somewhat different than cancelling it.
“Maybe someday when circumstances are different I’ll be able to pull this off”
Well, as long as you are not going to completely dismiss the idea of your own FPS, then yeah I guess I can accept your decision.
But what plans do you have now?
Get a job somewhere. I’ve pretty much been financially decimated by this project (I just spend upwards of $1,000 on trademarking, copyrighting, and domain name registering), which is part of why I can’t just continue it as-is. I need funding. I can’t handle being continuously broke.
And let me be clear – this project is DEAD. I have no plans to continue it whatsoever. I rolled the dice, took a shot at glory and true happiness, and it failed. If it is ever revived (and that is very, very unlikely), it will likely be in a completely different form with completely different people. I ask that you guys don’t get your hopes up that I’m just going to decide to continue it after a few months. The only way this is continuing is with under dramatically new circumstances.
As in, you winning the lottery/someone winning the lottery and sending you money kind of circumstances?
Let’s all pray for someone who likes Vega to win the lottery. o/
Hey if I did, I’d send Carnevil $80 200 (That’s CAD BTW, so that’s approx $75,000 which I would think would be enough to get Carnevil going).
But yeah, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket on that one.
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but here’s a post of mine I made at Mechadon’s blog:
“There was really nothing I could do to keep the project going. Believe me, if I thought there was any hope of keeping this going, I’d be all for it. This is pretty much all I’ve wanted to do since I was 8 years old. But, the fact of the matter is this:
We have no hope of finding a publisher, which means our only option is to self-publish. Now, let’s say that I am able to find several skilled artists willing to work for free who stick with the project (ha!). Because they can’t work full time, and with how difficult it is to make something that looks good these days (modeling, animating, skinning, special effects, etc.), we’re looking at something like *three years* to complete something that could be remotely successful.
Look, I’m almost 30 and living at home (there’s some more ammo for you, Zap). It’s not fair to my family to continue to be a burden for several more years, all to chase some dream which may or may not pan out. At some point, you have to get real, stop chasing dreams, and move on with your life. That scenario I painted is about the rosiest of rosy scenarios – a much more realistic scenario is that I recruit like crazy only to have people not do their work – or take so long that by the time everything gets done, some studio’s already copied our idea, or the technology/graphics look incredibly outdated by the time everything’s done. I don’t have enough money, nor could I possibly earn enough to pay people enough to incentive them to keep working and finish. I just don’t.
I would obviously love to keep it going, but I just don’t see any possible way. I know it’s all very abrupt, but wake up calls tend to be. I always knew it’d be a longshot, but it was naive to think there even *was* a shot. When I read what everyone had to say on gamedev.net (keep in mind these are experienced people – one of them even helps indies find publishers, and he most of all thought we were doomed), it completely gelled with everything I learned in my experience with venture capitalists (people who fund startup companies for a living). In my naivete, I thought maybe that game publishers were a little more liberal than standard investors, when in reality, they’re even *more* conservative. A VC would settle for a prototype, whereas a game publisher wants far more than that – they want a completed game. I had no way of knowing that without going through the process first… or being psychic (which, sad to say, I am not).
If you still think I’m quick to flush it all down the drain, then you’re entitled to your opinion, but that’s my side of it.”
Carn, I can’t FULLY understand what you’re going through (only saying this because I never developed an actual game before), but I can pretty much understand that this must be hard as shit. So? Why throw away your dreams simply because people (nobody’s ALWAYS right) at that website said this won’t work out? Even if one (or more) of them is an expert. You should complete Vega regardless.
Don’t quit because you can’t find the cash, I would create a site to donate to you, or maybe someone else even(lots of people here are interested in Vega). Don’t quit because those guys told you it’s impossible, does anyone make great accomplishments when people say “Hey, this isn’t worth it, you’ll never make it.”? Don’t quit because you’re stressed about it, take a break once in a while.
If you quit, weather it be now or forever, then I hope you at least live your life doing what you want to do, but don’t quit because the odds look or seem impossible. Pursue your dreams; Vulpeka: “Only idiots give up on dreams. You gotta keep going”. Remember, other people spent a lot of time working on this too more or less (dunno about more); like Mek for example. Whatever you do though, don’t give up on your dreams, at least let Vega have a shot. Maybe Vega won’t be your best project ever, maybe it will, you’ll never know untill you work past your obsticles and see for yourself.
Well, Carney. Be my guest. Live in your bubble whith your unfinished game.
I will Kristus, but only because you said to. <3
Oh, and I think you meant "with".
Ok, fine whatever. He is obviously not going to continue the game by any means necessary.
I’m done trying to convince to keep working on Vega.
So heres what u do Carn: You worked hard on that engine, and maybe it would be best if you released that engine so we could make our own Vega levels, even though the models aren’t finished.
Does that sound good?
Can’t do that. If the opportunity presents itself in the next several years, I’ll still try to get this made, and that will be a lot harder if a demo version is floating around out there.
The Demo version wouldn’t make a bit of difference if you released it. In a few years time DX9 won’t even be that widely used as Windows 8 will be out by then and anyone using that won’t be ever taken seriously, you could use DX9 now as there’s still a market for it, but in a few years? Yeah, you’d have to start over as even now, DX10/11 has problems rendering DX9 properly, and that’s even more apparent on every new version of Windows.
Plus your done with Vega, what’s a Demo version really going to do? It’s not like we can edit said demo.
But, can I ask one thing?
I really liked your Version of the Skulltag community that you had going for about 2 weeks, would you reconsider closing the forum? I’m sure I am not the only person who would like to post on the .Com forums.
“If the opportunity presents itself in the next several years, I’ll still try to get this made” yay.
I agree with CafeExpress, skulltag.com forums FTW.
Carn, get at me. i’d like to talk to you about something private.
email;
theron.stein@gmail.com
msn; Caboosea7x@hotmail.com
aim; RoS K1ng
WTF no way…
I was looking forward to this
“It’s rather disappointing that innovation, talent, and creativity cannot easily thrive in a world of corporate domination.”
Wow you’re dumb.
“The wheels are turning… maybe there’s a way to save this after all…”
Please, do tell!
If you say the project is *DEAD*, then what about giving the maps to the people who made them (Mechadon I assume) and let them do what they want to them (such as converting them to Quake or Half Life so all the work is not lost)?
I like Quake and Quake 2, and I don’t see what’s your problem with them. I like their gritty atmosphere more than being shiny, and (until I also figured out Vega was going to be an _arcade_ game) I was also hoping it will be a Quake-clone with *better gameplay* (the Quakes looked good but were kinda boring, unlike Doom. Vega could have fixed the boring aspect, if it weren’t for those sliding turrets and sliding giant muscle man silhouettes. But I assume they were placeholders).
If you prefer having a pragmatic job in order to move on from your parents’ house, go for it. Nothing’s better than freedom and money, you get to know new people and so on. If I also had the chance to meet new people every day and do interesting stuff, I would have abandoned the internet scene long ago… College exams are so boring, that’s why I’m on the net 16/24.
printz
This news sucks! >:(
Carnevil on Twitter: “I just played a couple of new games that SUCK! Am I the only person who knows how to make a good game? Maybe I have to save Vega after all.”
Announce it soon! Your suspense is killing me Carnevil, I really want to see this go further.
All in due time.
Hey, I liked the look of this. Don’t let the haters getcha down!
You could always release this as an open source game and have a community build the game. Just think of all the other games that would spawn from this.
So this is still alive then?
HAHAHAHAHA! YOU THINK BECAUSE YOU MADE A SHITTY ZDOOM PORT, THAT YOU CAN MAKE FULL BLOWN VIDEO GAMES? WHAT A FUCKING LOSER YOU ARE AND EVERYBODY AT SKULLTAG! EVERYONE AT ST AND GAY ASS PROJECT VEGA (PUSSY ASS NAME FOR A GAME) ARE ALL FUCKING PASTY SPOILED OVERSHELTERED SUBURBANITE PUSSIES WITH LAUGHABLE VISIONS OF GRANDEUR THAT HOLD TOO MUCH VALUE IN THEMSELVES, AND THEN FAIL WITH UGLY ASS QUAKE WANNABE GAMES LIKE THIS JUST BECAUSE THEY CAPITALIZED OFF OF JOHN CARMACK’S WORK! YOU WILL NEVER BE AS GOOD AS CARMACK, LOSER! YOU FAIL, CANCEL THIS GAY SHIT, AND BOOT ALL THE FURRIES OUTTA ST AND START ALL OVER AGAIN AT LIFE. OR KILL YOURSELVES, THAT’S A BETTER OPTION. WHATDAFUCK.WAD LIVES FOREVER, FAGGOTS! PSYCHO-SMOKAZ FOR LIFE, BITCHES! FUCK PROJECT VEGA! UNORIGINAL ASS SHIT!
Oh no, the might Capslock user has come to spam us. WHATEVER SHALL WE DO?
Your comparing Carnevil to Carmack? Carmack sucks, he is a horrible programmer and is the main reason why iD sucks so much these days.
And Vega was Original, it was going to be a Cel-Shaded shooter. Way to fail at attacking Vega, moron. Not only that, Carnevil didn’t only make a source port, he made PROFESSIONAL video games and a PROFESSIONAL company, BEFORE Skulltag.
Tell me, do you always go to places and start flapping your mouth about something you barely know anything about? Seeing as you claim that Vega is “Gay Shit” instead of actually pointing out real flaws, I’m going to guess that you are do and that you are always this bad at it too.
And one last thing: Try moving your hand just a little closer to that caps lock key, that way next time you won’t sound like a whaling idiot.
@ Caps lock user (Post 87)
Ok, let’s see you make a good zdoom port. Go program a port for doom and watch it become the best online experience anyone will ever have with doom, all because Skulltag sucks.
Also, lets see you to try living your dream of doing something original that you have always wanted to do, then having to quit because you can’t finish it. Then have some Caps locked Spammer rub it in your face how much you suck ass.
Fuck you asshole. At least Carnevil tried to make a game with actual gameplay and not just flashy visuals and over the top HD Cutscenes.
So tell me when you finish the doom port, so I can say it sucks them spam in it, hack it and destroy the reputation you worked so hard for.
Go kill yourself. Fuck you.
Dis I mention that you are a cocksucking faggot? No I didn’t.
Cocksucking faggot. Fuck you.
You know, I followed links around until I got here from WIP. I dont know if this is the same game I thought it was on WIP, but nevertheless, it isn’t cool to see people arguing over fact that a game got canceled. I taught myself how to make Doom maps. I know I’m not Carmack. But I push my own boundaries to see what I can make GZDoom do. Just seeing this makes me happy that there are independent designers out there. Keep it up. And the community really needs to back these projects. If everyone would just work together……
lol @ ragecaps
you do realize that it just makes people laugh hard at how retarded you are.
@Saican: WIP? What’s that? The only WIP I know is that site “Wads in progress”, and I doubt there’s any mention of that here.
Anyway, for those of you who haven’t heard, I’m trying to get some things together so that this project can continue and be successful. No promises, but I’m working on getting to a point at which we can move forward. We’ve got too good of a thing going here to completely let it go to waste.
“lol @ ragecaps
you do realize that it just makes people laugh hard at how retarded you are.”
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the point. You guys really need to learn how to smell a troll, and, you know, not respond to him.
Anyways, sad to see Vega get canceled. Hopefully you can continue the project. Wish I had some artistic ability and could lend you some aid, but alas, I do not.
@Brad:
Yeah Wads In Progress. Followed links from Total Chaos off of WIP to Skulltag which said the thread was closed because the game was canceled and lo and behold I ended up here from Skulltag. So idk if I’m looking at the same game. But I like the look of this and am in full support of its being finished!
“Anyway, for those of you who haven’t heard, I’m trying to get some things together so that this project can continue and be successful. No promises, but I’m working on getting to a point at which we can move forward. We’ve got too good of a thing going here to completely let it go to waste.”
That’s the spirit, Carn! I knew you wouldn’t give up on this after dedicating two years of your life to it.
sup /v/
One of the guys at gamedevs mentioned that basically no one is interested in an old-school style FPS. As pointed out over at Skulltag.net, however, a ton of people still play the first 3 Quakes. Even Quake Live, which is basically just Quake 3 in a browser, has a good chunk of players. To say that none of them would want to play a game like Vega/Last Bastion is ridiculous.
Canceling this game is ludicrous. Putting it on hold, for a while, is not. Just because you hit one road block doesn’t mean you have to forget about it. You just need to wait until you find a way around it.
In short, I think you’re giving up too easily. I can understand how you must feel when the odds are stacked against you like this, but it’s not like you can’t come back to this game later when you have more resources, be they time, money, or people.
“I just spent over FIVE hours on the phone with Bobby Prince! Great guy! I’m so looking forward to working with him! Time to uncancel LB yet?”
Oh really? This is getting too good.
“I just spent over FIVE hours on the phone with Bobby Prince! Great guy! I’m so looking forward to working with him! Time to uncancel LB yet?”
Bobby prince? THE Bobby Prince? The guy who did music for Wolf3D and Doom?
Carnevil, you officially kick so much ass for getting Bobby Prince. The game will have an epic soundtrack.
Sooo, is this uncanceled or what?
I think that if I can find another modeler, we’ll be all set!