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Tag: John Smedley
Pixelmage Games: Please Take Your Money Back
As Pixelmage Games prepares to shut down, some of the more ardent backers are refusing to take their offered refunds for Hero’s Song and John Smedley isn’t entirely happy about the situation. In an update sent to backers, Smedley offered his frustration at backers wanting the company to keep the money, thanking them for their hard work, and that while they appreciate the sentiment, they want to send a message that this is how crowdfunding campaigns should operate when the project fails.
Crowdfunding gets a bad name sometimes for not delivering. By taking your money back we’re all setting an example for how every crowdfunding project should conduct itself if something goes wrong. We weren’t perfect, but there was never a scenario where we would even consider not doing right by you when it comes to your money.
Backers have until March 31, 2017 in order to apply for their refund by either Paypal or check.
Pixelmage Games was an independent studio founded by ex-Daybreak Game Company President John Smedley. The studio’s first game, Hero’s Song, was funded through Indiegogo and, due to low sales, is shutting down along with the company as a whole.
(Source: Indiegogo)
Pixelmage Games Closing, Hero’s Song Shutting Down
Following its Indiegogo campaign failing to draw in half of the intended goal, Pixelmage Games has announced the cancellation of Hero’s Song and the closure of the studio itself. Players who funded the game on Indiegogo and Steam can receive refunds either through Steam or by contacting Pixelmage at the address on the official website.
The announcement cites low sales but thanks backers for their support.
It’s with a heavy heart that I have to report that Pixelmage Games is going to be shutting down and we have ceased development on Hero’s Song. For the last year, our team has worked tirelessly to make the game we’ve dreamed about making, and with your support, and the support of our investors, we were able to get the game into Early Access. Unfortunately sales fell short of what we needed to continue development. We knew going in that most startups don’t make it, and as an indie game studio we hoped we would be the exception to that rule, but as it turned out we weren’t.
Pixelmage Games was founded by ex-Daybreak Game Company (previously Sony Online Entertainment) President John Smedley. Hero’s Song was supposed to be a sandbox MMO where players would create their own worlds with unique, generated histories.
2016 Predictions For The Year 2017 Part 1
2016 is coming to a close and that means starting predictions for 2017. This is the part where you make notes of everything I say and then come around at the end of February to let me know that my predictions were wrong.
1. Hero’s Song Will Shut Down
(Editor’s Note: About 20 minutes before this article published, John Smedley announced that Pixelmage is shutting down and Hero’s Song is cancelled.)
As much as I’d like to see the game succeed, I have a strong feeling that at some point in early 2017 we will learn that negotiations to fund Hero’s Song have failed and that the game will be shutting down. John Smedley will apologize for something that many of us saw coming when the game failed to achieve even half of its $200 thousand Indiegogo campaign, which it was glad to take anyway, and the sunsetting will be followed either by the announcement of Pixelmage closing down or of its next crowdfunding campaign.
Until that happens, however, we will sit back and watch as the numbers on Steam continue to dwindle and talent continues to jump ship to other developers.
2. Star Citizen Will Continue To Disappoint
And MMO Fallout will cover none of it. Star Citizen’s development cycle feels like the end product of sitcom writers sitting around a table and creating a fake documentary about a video game’s development. The kind where the protagonist starts out with a big promise and over the course of the episode just keeps digging himself in deeper because he started off with a promise he couldn’t keep and just keeps lumping on more and more stuff to cover the initial lie. It would probably star Kevin James as Chris Roberts.
The more Star Citizen tugs along, the bigger it gets and the more incapable it seems to be of following up on its promises. The fans and backers have sat through delay after delay, the game is now years behind schedule and slowly becoming something quite different than what was promised, Chris Roberts & Co. are making pretty regular changes to the terms of service to make refunds harder, if not impossible to obtain.
For the record, I think it’s pretty stupid to think that Star Citizen will never launch, and pointlessly malicious to hope that it fails. That being said, I know how hard gamers are to please when they’ve invested $60 into a game. Star Citizen has a lot of people pledging into the three and four digits for JPEG concepts of ships. Imagine your clientele base is hundreds and hundreds of clones of your mother. “Honey why couldn’t you be more successful? I know you raked in hundreds of millions in pledges but the Miller boy down the street became an oral surgeon and gave his mother grandchildren, why do you hate me and want me to die alone with no grandchildren?”
Star Citizen in 2017 will create more frustrated backers, will continue to be the light of the universe for the optimists and those desperately trying to justify their thousand dollar purchase, and Derek Smart will be there somewhere.
3. Corgis Will Continue to Appear in Games
This is just a given. The internet loves to fixate on certain things and presently one of those things are corgis. Why not? They’re adorable! They invoke that same reaction we have to babies, with their big heads, stumpy legs, and let’s not forget the fluffy rumps. Dogs love you unconditionally, but they’ll love you even more unconditionally if you provide them with meat, bacon, or just any old food and give them a scratchin on their heads and bellies.
Corgis are already being used as holiday pets, anniversary pets, pre-order bonuses, cash shop bonuses, and more. If you’re sick of the furry little devils, and shame on you if you are, expect to see a whole lot more of them in 2017.
4. More MMOs Will Hit Consoles
And it’ll be amazing. Perfect World Entertainment has been making huge strides this year on launching their library of games on Xbox and Playstation, to great effect with both consoles. Hopefully 2017 will be the point where Daybreak’s games start launching on Xbox, along with H1Z1 and whatever shooter they were working on a few months ago. Personally I’d like to see console users get their hands on Marvel Heroes, a great alternative to a very small list of similar titles on both systems.
More over, I feel like console games will continue the shift into pseudo-MMOs, like Destiny, now that developers are no longer considering the 360 and PS3, and their multitude of technical limitations, part of the equation. I think that Destiny 2 is going to be what Destiny was always advertised to be, and while the fans will be angry that they had to wait through a full game launch and a hell of a lot more money in expansions to get the product as originally intended, that it will be worth the wait.
5. I Will Continue To be Usurped While Writing Prediction Articles
This year I noticed a trend that whenever I wait until the next morning to publish predictions, the entity in question ends up fulfilling those predictions and making me look like an idiot. I predict that in 2017, my knack for procrastination won’t get any better, and as such I will continue to lose out on the very valuable currency called “I told you so.” Don’t believe me? See #1 on this list.
Early Access Preview: Hero’s Song Is Certainly A Thing
Hero’s Song is a thing you can pay money for and gain access to. Thank you, good night. Alright, I’ll keep going.
I think you could look into my history on Twitter and here on this website and easily lose count as to how many times I have said that I refuse to rate games based on what they could be rather than what they are. In consideration of the fact that Hero’s Song technically isn’t even available for purchase outside of those who backed early on Indiegogo, I’m going to make an exception. Not because it’s John Smedley or because of the inevitable rumors that the truck backing into my parking lot is carrying a payload of money.
So let’s get the basics out of the way: Hero’s Song is a point and click ARPG in development by Pixelmage Games and the notorious John Smedley himself. You can join worlds that other players have created or create one yourself and let other people join in. I’m not sure how fleshed out this feature is, but it looks pretty cool. You select a number of gods, give them varying levels of influence on the world, and hit generate. With your creation, the game builds ten thousand years of wars, treaties, slavery, and conquest. In my world, the dwarfs went to war with pretty much everyone and, while they won most of the time, somehow ended up being enslaved by the defeated race. A lot.
I started out in the city of Sowkirk, which I assume is randomly generated from a list, and immediately find that the Tenab elves in my vicinity are non-hostile but could be attacked. I like this idea, since the game seems to have a ton of varieties to each race, of pulling up that old Everquest system where your relation with each race was fluid and partially based off of your chosen race. If this is what the developers are going for, it is unfinished since I couldn’t find a race relations menu.
Since they don’t seem to hate me, I don’t massacre the populace and I make my way out of the nearby gates. In fact, many of the elves are quite nice and stand around having dialogue with one another. Eventually a few of the elves get into a fight and start killing one another, I assume this is a bug. Heading south and around the barrier, I found myself in the sights of a group of orcs, the leader of which immediately shouted something about splitting my skull open.
Well you can’t make friends with everyone.
My character is a Paladin, because this is an alpha and if there is any class that would be overpowered it would be the Paladin. There isn’t a whole lot to do in the game right now, mostly running around and killing mobs, leveling up, and checking out what skills you have available.
There are a ton of classes and races, making me wonder if Smedley walked off with some design documents from Everquest Next embedded in his brain. I’d actually like to see some of those features implemented in this title, and the roots certainly seem to be present. Enemies wander around and I quite often saw orcs in battle either with my elven friends or with ghouls/zombies of the night. It’d be interesting if the game not only was a generated world but a living one with roaming enemies that set up camp and can be wiped out.
Eventually the game is going to have functions like quests, and hopefully a working map. The world is gigantic, and there is currently no way of telling where you are. The world generator said it spawned about two thousand dungeons but I have my doubts. Either that or the world truly is gigantic and desperately needs a way of telling where you are.
Regardless, I am definitely interested in Hero’s Song and will be covering it more as Pixelmage adds in features.
Hero’s Song Is Back, Launches Indiegogo Campaign
After taking some time out of the spotlight, John Smedley’s latest title Hero’s Song is back in the public’s eye and ready for another round of crowdfunding. For those who just recently joined us, Hero’s Song is an ARPG with friendly fire, permanent death, and player-run servers. You can join worlds created by other players or create one of your own, where your choice of gods and their influence is supposed to shape the way the world develops.
It’s a very interesting concept, assuming that the theoretical instances can be put to practical effect. In one world, as the campaign describes, Dwarves are wiped out by generations of a war whose bloodshed gives rise to the art of necromancy. So far 10 classes and 10 gods have been revealed, with more than 20 classes revealed as well.
We will offer two versions of Hero’s Song. The regular version will be $19.99 and the Deluxe Edition version will be $49.99. The Deluxe Edition includes the soundtrack by Inon Zur, the digital strategy guide and a wallpaper pack. Aside from that there are no differences.
Early adopters can grab the standard edition for $15 through the Indiegogo campaign.
(Source: Indiegogo)
Hero’s Song Campaign Cancelled, Funded By Investors
Backers of Hero’s Song, all three thousand of you, were surprised this morning by the sudden news that the campaign was being cancelled. Backers were all sent an email explaining that the campaign would be closed due to predictions showing that the funding would not reach its necessary levels. The campaign had lasted for six days and had raised approximately $136 thousand of the intended $800 grand.
After looking at our funding levels and the reality that we aren’t going to reach our funding goals, we’ve decided that the best thing to do is to end the Kickstarter. We sincerely appreciate all of the support we got from the backers and the Kickstarter community.
The good news is that the game isn’t gone, in fact just the opposite. Pixelmage Games has been able to get the game fully funded by investors, without bringing publishers into the deal and hopefully allowing the developers the freedom to make their vision a reality. The Kickstarter campaign expected a delivery around October 2016, so we’ll have to see if the game continues on track.
Pixelmage Games is the new home of John Smedley, formerly of Daybreak Game Company, formerly Sony Online Entertainment.
(Source: Kickstarter)
John Smedley Returns, Crowd Funding New Game
John Smedley, former of the Daybreak Game Company Smedleys, has returned to gaming in the form of Pixelmage Games. The startup has a few names you might recognize, including Patrick Rothfuss, Jon Handy, and Bill Trost, and their first game is Hero’s Song. Hero’s Song is a 2D rogue-like RPG where each world is shaped by its own history. You might find yourself in a world where the dwarves never existed, and neither has their technology, or one where necromancy reigns supreme.
Each server is hosted by players with the capacity for thousands to join in. You can check out more details at the link below.
(Source: Kickstarter)
John Smedley Has Left Daybreak Game Company
John Smedley has fully resigned from Daybreak Game Company to pursue other interests. Announced via Facebook, Smedley has left the former Sony Online Entertainment studio and is currently working at an unnamed company. When contacted by Game Informer, Smedley stated that he had no more information to give at this time.
Last month, Smedley resigned from his post as President of Daybreak Game Company following a heated argument with several members of hacker group Lizard Squad. The argument and threats by Smedley to go after the parents of one of the Lizard Squad members, allegedly, resulted in a sustained denial of service attack against Daybreak’s game servers. Services remained unstable for a week or so after.
We will no doubt have more information in the weeks to come.
(Source: Game Informer)
John Smedley Steps Down As CEO
Daybreak Game Company has confirmed that John Smedley will be stepping down as president and chief executive officer, following a lengthy period of harassment from the cyber group Lizard Squad. A spokesperson from Daybreak confirmed to Venturebeat that Smedley will be relinquishing his role, although he will not be leaving the company entirely.
“I can confirm that John Smedley will be taking some time off from the company for the near-term and transitioning to a different role to be determined. Upon finalization of his plans, further communication will be provided.”
John Smedley made headlines earlier this month after one Lizard Squad member was convicted of over fifty thousand counts of cyber crime, only to see no jail time. After Smedley called out multiple members on Twitter, the group launched a multiple day DDOS attack on Daybreak’s servers as well as offering a $5000 reward for anyone who defaced the grave of Smedley’s father.
The office of CEO will be filled by current COO Russel Shanks.
(Source: Venturebeat)
MMO Fallout 