From $100k MIA Kickstarter to Legal Drama, The Status of ROAM

From $100k MIA Kickstarter to Legal Drama, The Status of ROAM.

Just when ROAM seemed to enter the ranks of MIA video game Kickstarters, it pops back up. With new details revealed, we at Cliqist ponder ROAM’s situation. Here’s an excerpt of the full story:

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Back in February 2013, an online co-op post-apocalyptic zombie game by the name of ROAM was funded to the tune of $102,518 by 3,526 backers on Kickstarter. After the campaign’s end, updates were released every month up until March 2014. It’s a small hiccup that the devs quickly apologize for, and following that, the updates resume on a monthly basis up until December 2014. After that, nothing. For over five months, backers suffered through a worrying silence from the dev team, until May 22nd, when they released this post and an additional backer only update. So what happened? Why did ROAM seem to go MIA, and is the project still in good shape?

According to Ryan Sharr, one half of the original team behind ROAM, co-creator Zach Barson is suing him for $100k. In this Reddit post, a user shared the contents of the backer only update, presumably because Sharr gave his backers leave to do so. His attempt at keeping the information behind a backer-only wall was likely to avoid more negative attention. The information in the post is detailed and complicated, but it summarizes an alleged inability by Barson to relocate to a suitable working environment and a refusal to agree on certain financial and contractual terms. On top of that, Sharr also claims that Barson failed to produce much original content for the project, as per his position on the team. Thus, given these events and the lack of trust between them, Ryan Sharr released Zach Barson from the game project about six months after the completion of the Kickstarter.

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Game Review: Elegy for a Dead World (Cliqist Preview)

Elegy for a Dead World Reviewed

Elegy for a Dead World is… strange, to say the least. Developed in collaboration by Dejobaan Games (AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, The Wonderful End of the World) and Popcannibal (Girls Like Robots), the basic concept is to write. That’s it. There are no easter eggs, puzzles, or action. Just you and whatever ideas you can come up with. Ordinarily I’d think this is awesome, as I like to write novels, but usually what people consider to be a “game” contains some element of direct or in-direct reward for tasks completed. This is greatly lacking in Elegy, and it’s important potential buyers are aware of this. It’s all about self-fulfillment, not measurable achievement.

To read the rest of this review, please click the link above to Cliqist, a game news site that covers crowdfunded games!

Game Review: The Banner Saga (Cliqist Preview)

The Banner Saga Reviewed

With development for Banner Saga 2 officially announced, it’s the perfect time for a second look at the popular viking-themed tactical RPG game for the holidays. For those who have already beaten the game, there’s plenty of reasons to go back. Since its release there have been several patches that have fixed technical issues, improved performance, added new configurations (including profile saves and subtitles), a better balanced final boss fight on normal and easy mode. and modding capabilities, just to name a few. But if you haven’t played the game? You’re definitely missing out.

To read the rest of this review, please click the link above to Cliqist, a game news site that covers crowdfunding games!

Dear Numantian Games: About Lords of Xulima on Mac, and Mac Gamer Treatment

http://cliqist.com/2014/12/04/letter-numantian-games-regarding-lords-xulima-mac/

In my review of Lords of Xulima, I left out a major part of my experience due to a lack of immediate relevance. Were the PC and Mac versions stable at the time of my review? Yes, and I stand by my positive verdict of the game. But at the game’s official release, I was horrified to discover that the Mac version was, in my opinion, borderline unplayable! Now I wouldn’t ordinarily think this an issue—many developers release Mac versions after their games’ PC release, but that wasn’t quite the case here. You presented Lords of Xulima as if it were a finished game to Mac players, only including a small note about persistent bugs in the update section of the game’s Steam store page. Personally? I don’t know anyone who makes a habit of expanding the update logs for a game that isn’t early access when they are considering buying it. The assumption is, of course, that if the game is finished, then it should just work.

Want to read the rest? Click the link above to read the article on Cliqist.com!

Game Review: Lords of Xulima (Cliqist Preview)

So many games try to bank on nostalgia these days, and so many have failed or misrepresented themselves, that it’s understandable to be wary of any new title that promises you the pixelated moon and stars with a healthy helping of hype and some impressive coattail acrobatics. The question is: are Numantian Games, the Madrid based studio, doing just that? Their latest game, Lords of Xulima (don’t worry, the name threw me off too) is billed as a 2D isometric turn-based RPG that tips its plumed hat to such titles as Ultima, and Might & Magic. It also promises challenging gameplay, over a hundred hours of content, and a broad range of customization for your party of six. After over nine hours into the game, I felt I had pretty good idea of what the answer was to my question.

At character creation, the player can choose to jump into things with a pre-generated set of heroes, but being the control freak that I am, I chose to generate my own team of adventurers. I found myself disappointed by the level of choice I had. Character creation consists of three simple steps: pick one of the ten classes (of which all stats and starting spells are predetermined and unchangeable), pick a deity (who provides a small bonus without there being any explanation what some of the stats even do in the game), and pick a portrait (all of which varied in quality from photo-realistic, to ugly deviantART level anatomy). When a game boasts 100 skills to choose from, I want to…you know…choose from them!

Want to read the full review? Visit Cliqist.com and get the final verdict for this indie crowdfunded game!