Monochroma For Wii U Scrapped Due To Technical Issues

Well...that sucks.

Very unfortunate news.

and this is why I refuse to back things on kickstarter.

I hate it when this happens. Just delay it or get a team. You promised a Wii U release.

Just out of interest, does anyone know about whether Wii U (and other formats') releases were promised in the initial pitch or part of stretch goals?
whats now going to happen to backers who sought a Wii U version? Will they get their money back? Will the developers even be in a position to refund if the money is spent on making the game?

The very least they should do for Wii U owners is offer a code for the Wii version so that they can play it on Wii through Wii U. Still it's inherently wrong to promise something and not deliver on exactly that. There's not really ANY excuse for 'unseen circumstances and no excuse for people to be in limbo for EIGHT MONTHS waiting for a game to come out with the development team probably aware that those formats are never gonna happen.

People should do their research before going cap in hand to Kickstarter begging for money to make a game

I see lots of post processing effects. Expensive ones. Just a guess as to why the Wii U version would take significant optimisation. Pro tip: check on hardware before making promises.

Wow, pretty sucky for those who backed this and were expecting to play it on
Wii U, PS3 or 360.

KS is usually awesome to help fund games like this, but situations like this can be an issue.

They'd better start refunding backers for this.

So let me get this straight. Cause I don't back up kickstarters. Yooka-Laylee is the only game I helped fund.

If you backed it up and they don't deliver it to the console that the goals reached. They don't have to return the money or keep their word on the console that people funded them for?

If so that is bogus and these guys should be ashamed of themselves

They -should- recreate it from scratch if they are that bad at optimizing their game.

@liljmoore No refunds. I think they bit off too much, but at least they still have PC and Xbox One, I think it's a real learning experience for devs and backers, but there are worse stories all the time.

@liljmoore As far as i understood it, you only get your money back, if the funding was a failure. If the Project is funded in any way, your money is "gone", if they keep their promises or not.

And yes, i too think that "making it from scratch" should be the right answer here, not "it isnt happening"
First of all, you guys got the money for it and you are the ones who made these promises without having the programming knowledge to back them.
This is what we call "apprentices due" or "learning it the hard way".

Its not the backers fault that it cant be optimised in its current state, its due to you being inexperienced. So getting rid of such a problem should indeed be a priority for you, if you think about creating more games in the future.

Think about it, any future project will be labeled with "those are the guys who caved in to technical problems". As if anyone will trust you that you will deliver on your next try. Delay any version that doesnt work now and deliver them later when they run properly.

You made those promises, you are the ones who have to work for it.

Ah, yes. The Xbox One. Truly a haven for fans of dystopian platformers.

Well good to know these guys can't program for crap if they put up another kickstarter. At least they were honest about the reason but they also come across as foolish as they admit the only way to get it to work on those platforms would be to start from scratch.

Well there is your answer there guys, get to it. I wonder if the Xbox one version will run well or will it just barely run.

Nowhere Studios to the poopitypoopoolist.

@Einherjar
Exactly.

Another Kickstarter disaster. Well, they can't all be Playtonic!

And for all those people who thought I was off my rocker for questioning the Yooka-Layee Oct 2016 release date...this.

I would be very pissed if I were a backer. It sounds like M$ payed to have it exclusive but maybe that is speculation. M$ has done it in the past. The game does not look technically demanding and other companies successfully ported so this looks like a developer or money thing.

This is bullpoopy. I didn't back it, but any game that was promised for Wii U and then does a 180 pisses me off. I do, however, back a lot of kickstarter projects (half of which I know will never see the light of day), so I definitely empathize with the backers in this project.

We see quite a few independent projects scrapped on Wii U due to "performance issues". And most of those are frankly quite simple 2D action/adventure games that should be able to run even on hardware of GameCube class easily. I'm guessing most of those developers are really poor programmers, or they are using readily available engines like Unity in a poor manner. This is really sad, because all the power of PS4 and XBO is wasted on poor development, and not used to enchance gameplay. Shame.

@SetupDisk XBox One has actually a more powerful CPU than PS4. It lacks a bit in terms of raw GPU power but not all that much. I'd say that both of those versions would run the same.

It is literally a 2D platformer, how noobish do you have to be to not be able to port a 2D platformer to the Wii U, the thing is full of them.

People keep throwing money at kickstarter games like mindless sheep, we know by now it's not like just buying/preordering a game. Damn, people...when will you learn?
Is it so hard to check kickstarter's rules/guidelines?

First rule of Kickstarter: once you back something consider your money lost
If you can't live with that do not back anything on kickstarter.
Never assume that a projec you backed will happen at all.

$85000 isn't gonna get ya far especially when you're employing eleven workers. The visuals look nice, but the character doesn't seem to move too well

I supported a game called Chosmochoria, and although the game is finished the developer had to give up on the WiiU version due to technical issues. It is a big gamble with kickstarted these days, I have supported 4 games and am yet to recieve a single one on WiiU. Still waiting on Paradise Lost which is getting pushed further and further back, wouldn't be suprised if it gets cancelled as well.

This is why I don't back kickstarter projects of any kind.

What a bunch of donkey.

This really shouldn't be allowed by Kickstarter. People who backed the game for other platforms should be eligible to get their money back.

One thing's for sure, I'm never getting anywhere near a game by this studio.

Looks like Limbo, except in 2.5D.

"We have serious performance problems that we can't overcome without developing the whole game from scratch again."

Yikes, this completely ruins their reputation. I get that they were trying to be truthful and honest, but man, I can't see anyone backing them up the next time they need money.

Kickstarter is basically venture capital from small investors. You dump money into the project in hopes of future returns, but you should be fully aware that there may be a loss of funds given.

This honestly sounds like someone that knew how to program in a specific way for a specific platform (PC) which generally is more flexible when it comes to bloated code than consoles. Since the XBO and PS4 are closer to the PC than anything else, they are the easiest for them to force their project onto. Everything else requires adapting to non-PC processors.

The lesson they should learn is to not over sell their skill in the future.

So they wait until it's almost finished until they announce it won't be coming to other platforms... I'm sure they would have been fully aware of this long before now.

This is the kind of thing that keeps me from supporting Kickstarter campaigns. The people who supported this game to get it on the now cancelled platforms should get a full refund, no matter what that means for the developer. They paid for a product that wasn't delivered, and therefore should be entitled to a refund, not a different product.

Well their rep is shot now. This is why I don't back kickstarters. I'll buy a game when it is real but until then its vaporware.

Hopefully these losers are never seen again unless someone spots them in the job centre.

@ottospooky They promised to release on literally almost every platform available:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/445804219/monochroma/description#project_faq_63763

And check out what they say about Xbox One. Go figure...

EDIT:
The link doesn't seem to work properly. Just scroll down all the way to the FAQ.

@Radbot42 Ditto. Crowdfunding is full of too many broken promises for me to ever trust the system. I don't care how many honest projects get made, there are too many deceivers out there and no way to tell them apart.

How pathetic, the game looks awful to me though, better off playing Limbo.

Imagine everywhere else on the internet...
"The Wii U sucks so much that ppl can't even make games on it ololol Xbone is best"

Well....bummer.

Lame.

I don't know why people would even fund this just looks like a limbo clone.

For everyone saying that unfortunate events like this are the reason you don't back Kickstarters... I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater like that. Not everyone goes back on their promises like this team did. Not to mention, public backers are the ones responsible for gauging the validity of a team and their project before backing. We only get discouraged when events like this happen because we're rarely ever made privy to the comparitively far more massive wastes of resources spent on failed projects in the traditional private spectrum.

A loss from a less than $100k project is a drop in the bucket, and quite honestly, I think the backers expected way too much in this case. This amount of money usually only secures a PC or mobile release. There's no way that paltry sum could have handled development costs AND licensing fees for more than one console, that's just common sense if you're remotely familiar with how game project funding works. Many people would have taken one look at this project and seen failure coming from miles away, and unfortunately, the backers in this case didn't.

I had Kickstarted this, but they gave me a DRM-free and Steam copy for PC so I've been able to play it there at least and this is one of the risks with Kickstarter, I'm glad they finished the game and hope they sell well.

Gutted, I liked the aesthetic and premise a lot.

Trine 1 and 2 say hello!

I have huge problems with Kickstarter and no I do not blame the backers, I blame the developers. If a developer receives mo ey from the private sector their is accountability and dozens go belly up every year because of it. Only with kickstarter do developers obliterate the risk of debt and failure (yes, there is no risk with no skin in the game - they can walk away and do it all over) and then have the opportunity to make tons of money.

Look at playtonic. They have the next two years of their lives set and paid for. All they have to do is make the game at their pace. Technically if they decided to scrap the Wii U port as well, whoops no obligation, no punishment. If they just sank (wont happen) no one would get a refund. No accountability. Or the game does well, the backers get their overpriced digital copy and playtonic begins stupidly wealthy ehilr other devs bite the bit and work throigh slums amd ttaditional funding.

This is my opinion, but I have a hard time with kickstarted games.

Broken Age, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Shovel Knight, FTL: Faster Than Light, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, The Banner Saga, and Divinity: Original Sin are games that were successful due to Kickstarter off the top of my head. Mighty No. 9, Torment: Tides of Numenera, & Yooka-Laylee are on the way. Yes I am skeptical of many Kickstarted projects but there are always risks associated with such projects so I'm surprised when people get caught by surprise when something goes awry. The Yogscast fiasco comes to mind.

@whodatninja

This is hardly a "disaster," just some planning issues. I'd like to point out to all the usual Kickstarter naysayers/whiners: These kinds of things happen even with professional studios--an old-gen version getting dumped because of hardware/performance/technical/sales issues. It's not a big deal. Yes, it sucks if you were a backer hoping for a Wii U port, but it's not like this or any other non-Nintendo game was ever going to make a profit on Wii U at this point. But they are making up for it by offering PC versions, and pretty much everybody has a PC these days.

When anyone pulls the lazy, brainless "this is why I don't support Kickstarters" nonsense, they are only advertising their own gross ignorance of everything to do with Kickstarter. This is hardly a measure of "every other Kickstarter," nor is it the norm. This game is still coming out, it's still being released. It's just losing some platforms--exactly like any number of major third party games. Disappointing to only a few people, but the developer is keeping backers informed and being responsible.

Should they have planned ahead a bit better? Yes, planning can always be improved upon--but even the best plans cannot address every issue. Kickstarter is not risk-free. If you are only backing things that are risk-free, you are missing the point of Kickstarter, which is to support ideas and concepts that are, by and large, a bit risky because otherwise they'd be funded by major companies and publishers.

Not coming to Wii U? Not a big loss. Most of you weren't going to get it anyway.

@GuySloth

I'm waiting for a couple Kickstarters I backed to be finished (one of them is Shantae), and of the projects that have been successful, they have pretty much all paid off. One was an Atari 2600 game--a former Atari engineer set to work to port Star Castle to the console after something like 30 years, when it was originally considered impossible. That was a really cool, and I have it at home.

People need to be smarter and not run their lives (and mouths) with thoughtless knee-jerk reactions and black-and-white sentiments towards things like Kickstarter. No matter where you're investing or donating money, there is always an element of risk. Being afraid of that is why people here--so readily dismissing Kickstarter--will never make money on the Stock Market. Because they seem to fear risk so completely. The smarter way to do this is to do your research and balance the risk vs reward and chances of success.

@Inkling Not only did they promise a Wii U version, but some ppl probably backed them wanting a Wii U version... sucks for all the backers!

@Quorthon "People need to be smarter and not run their lives (and mouths) with thoughtless knee-jerk reactions and black-and-white sentiments towards things like Kickstarter. No matter where you're investing or donating money, there is always an element of risk. Being afraid of that is why people here--so readily dismissing Kickstarter--will never make money on the Stock Market. Because they seem to fear risk so completely. The smarter way to do this is to do your research and balance the risk vs reward and chances of success."

I agree with you. I have backed quite a few KS titles, some didn't make it, but the ones that did are still coming along nicely and I'm sure they will be enjoyable experiences.

And here I was thinking about securing my copy of Bloodstained by backing the project . I guess the difference here is Igarashi and his team are veterans and actually know how to program so the risk should be low ?

@GuySloth I recall the kickstarter of the second remake of Lesuire Suit Larry being very successful and not having any real issues when it launched.

Of course, the team did the intelligent thing and limited the game to PC for the moment and that was with Al Lowe at the helm.

Which should serve as an important lesson to kickstarter projects. Rather then go for pie in the sky promises such as putting a game on every single system known to mankind, focus on only a few platforms at first, and then expand to other systems if the project proves to be successful.

Big companies with large development teams and millions of dollars invested into a project can have trouble at times porting games to other platforms.

Kickstarter is a great concept, but this needs to be important lesson to investors that you are often dealing with over ambitious developers who don't know their limitations and are often inexperienced.

Its a risk at the end of the day.

A.k.a laziness. I often wonder how many developers wouldn't even be able to develop and succeed back in the good old days.

Yeah so I'm just gonna pull a figure out of the air and start a Kickstarter. Okay guys, if I get $1m I'll fly you all to Jupiter.
It's been funded! Oh yeah, get ready guys, we're going to Jupiter
Sorry, guys project canceled - just discovered Jupiter is made of gas.
However we can fly you to Jupiter, Florida so you're going to have to make do with that

Well i guess we can excuse indies. Third Parties on the other hand

It's clearly not the fault of Kickstarter. The most misguided thing one can do is blame the medium. It's like blaming iTunes for music being crap.
It falls to people to think carefully about where they pledge their money. Loads of people keep mentioning Playtonic. I backed their game because i was convinced by the transparency and meticulous detail of where every pound pledge is going.
People are so entranced by nostalgia nowadays that they're happy to literally throw money at the screen. Any monkey with a keyboard can promise the world. It's down to conscious consumers to vote with their wallets, exercise caution.

I call BS. You took people's money, you need to be willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to provide the product. There are no actual problems here that can't be fixed with more time and energy. All of you sleep on 1 person's apartment floor or move in with a friend for a month, stop socializing, live off cheap own-brand food for a while. Just do whatever it takes to meet your promises. People that willing to just give up don't deserve success.

I don't even understand why they're developing a game for consoles .... that was universally panned on PC??!!

@Quorthon

"This is hardly a "disaster," just some planning issues. I'd like to point out to all the usual Kickstarter naysayers/whiners: These kinds of things happen even with professional studios--an old-gen version getting dumped because of hardware/performance/technical/sales issues. It's not a big deal. Yes, it sucks if you were a backer hoping for a Wii U port, but it's not like this or any other non-Nintendo game was ever going to make a profit on Wii U at this point. But they are making up for it by offering PC versions, and pretty much everybody has a PC these days."

The clear distinction is that we are the audience and not a professional studio where this may happen all the time.
This will affect their reputation amongst all those that backed it for the Wii U or PS4 versions and course in general affects the reputation of kickstarter.
While the risk is on the consumer the point is simply that they promised and not delivering.
I personally don't even pre order I want to know a game is decent before I purchase.
So those that don't back kick starters it's their choice especially where there is a risk.

I personally have backed Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained.based upon their reputation well known developers in the industry and having played their previous games. Fingers crossed I won't get ripped off

If either of those don't keep their promises I really would think twice about backing a kick starter again and simply wait until their retail release if it ever happens of course.

I think kick starter is very important in the development of the future for console gaming though since many big software houses llke Konami , Sega, Square will be making mobile their focus

People on here don't seem to fully understand Kickstarter. The stretch goals are not promises, they are goals the developers will try to reach with more funds. The game will be released. There will be no refund for people who wanted to play it on the canceled platforms because that is how Kickstarter works. Kickstarter will not put regulations forcing companies who can't reach their goals to refund backers because backers are a supposed to know and understand that they are basically gambling in hopes of the project being released. What these developers is perfectly acceptable and people should not be angry at the developers because they didn't do anything wrong, they simply used Kickstarted and apparently people don't understand it.

The is one of the many downsides to being a less experienced developer. Things can unfortunately end up being built from the foundation up in a way that isn't very flexible or scalable.

That's just a thing that happens, that they will have to learn from for the next project. Lord knows I've been there.

@secret333 I don't disagree but morally if you essentially beg for money then the people funding your project should follow through on what they say they'll deliver.

@secret333 Is it possible that the developers gather funds and then just take the money away without delivering anything?

@ottospooky Difficult to refund anything. Backers do not state which goal it is backing. As the developer is promising a copy on PC or other consoles, they do not seem to be a jerk.

Seriously, as a game developer myself I have to say I see nothing in this video that should be a problem to get to run on Wii U. I'd say they're just lazy or feel so pressed on time they feel they can't make more versions than one. Fair enough, but then they should say that and not blame it on technical issues...

Steam it is then lol

Wii U just can't handle those gritty black-and-white graphics

@GreatPlayer No, they have to deliver something or refund everyone 's money I believe. Doesn't have to be good though.

"We have serious performance problems that we can't overcome without developing the whole game from scratch again."

So develop the whole game from scratch around. Speaking as a programmer, it kinda sounds like they're just being lazy. Not that it wouldn't be a lot of work, but... that seems like an easy way to get out of a difficult promise.

this is what happens when you have too many meshes, shaders, particle effects and other crap being managed poorly. Learn to code efficiently people

I absolutely agree that this sucks (I contributed with the expectation of a Wii U version as well), but that's the risk that's laid out in Kickstarter's terms of agreement. We did not buy a product. We took a risk.

Well, from the sound of it they can only bring it to the XboxOne....because they decided it will be XboxOne exclusive. So its all nonsense. I would have loved to play it though.