General Godus discussion

It amuses me that at this point he considers it completely optional to deliver on any of his bullshit. I think he's underestimated people's memories.

With the CMs moving on a new lead designer for Godus. PM moving to the new game what happen to Jack? What is his role in the new structure?

Lol I almost put lapdog but managed to restrain myself ( Mmm although now you know).

You'll leave what?

"Jack now hopes his latest upcoming game, The Trail, can repeat Godus' huge success when it's released over the coming months."

I think Jack needs to come on here so we can have a chat about what constitutes success. Unbelieveable. Jack you have made a wart on the face of gaming and then abandoned it, how can you be proud of that?

That article annoyed me so I wrote to the author. I tried very hard to keep it factual and avoid saying anything as fact that was subjective.




Dear Tim,



I read with interest your press piece on Jack Attridge (http://ucreative.ac.uk/news/2014/december/30-under-30-jack-attridge#.VKHivsDm44) congratulating him as being on the 30 under 30 list and being a successful game developer and alumni. I think this is unfortunate. Perhaps before your prestigious institution lauds its alumni for their supposed success you should investigate the basis on which that "success" was achieved.



First of all I'd be interested to know on what basis you or Jack consider GODUS successful. You may not be aware but GODUS was kickstarted using money that we as a community believe largely came from PC players (22Cans has never to my knowledge given a breakdown of the mobile to PC backers). We don't know how much money came from the mobile player base but we believe it would be a very small percentage. The game was latter marketed on Steam Early Access which is a platform that allows PC players to play a game while it is being developed. Many in the community consider that the promises 22Cans (including Jack) made during the kickstarter campaign have not been met and there is no ETA on when the in game items that were promised will be delivered. In March 2014 a website called Rock Paper Shotgun summed up Jack and Peter's efforts on GODUS with the following statement: "But Godus I loathed, and completely so. There should be no surprise, by now, at unmet promises, but the sheer scale of the oath-breaking here was breathtaking." (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/03/12/godus-terrible/#more-194563). This statement sums up the feelings of the community.



Some kickstarter backers spent on $500 - $1000 on backing GODUS because they believed Peter and Jack were trying to develop the next GOD game on the PC, a game that would hark back to Populous, Black and White and Dungeon Keeper. What they have delivered is a half finished game (by there own measure 53% complete) that lacks many of the features described in the video you attached to your article. Not least of which is the connected play whereby everyone plays on one world. No ETA has been given for the completion of GODUS nor the delivery of the totality of the kickstarter promises.



While we understand most of the backers anticipated a traditionally PC game that would hark back to the games noted above, what Jack and Peter delivered (we'll 53% off) has been described as a free to play monstrosity. You may not be familiar with what free to play is but it is a game style where you get the game for free but have to pay in game for certain items or activities. In many cases this involves prolonged waiting that can only be avoided through in game purchases. Some people, termed "whales" spend a very large amount of money. One of the concerns in relation to free to play is that a small number of people spend a very large amount of money and are continually tapped by the developers. Peter himself criticised this model "We have got to be careful about monetisation. I think games that are relying upon 'whales' – games built around the idea that you've got to monetise those whales, get as much money out of those whales as you possibly can, and then as soon as you've raped them for their money, you tell them to fuck off and move on to the next one – well, that is never going to last. It's not a model that can sustain itself." (http://www.pocketgamer.biz/interview/57450/the-godus-amongst-us-molyneux-talks-free-to-play-farces-winning-without-chasing-whales-and-his-top-score-on-flappy-bird/). However, GODUS uses many of the same time related frustration mechanics as the games he has criticised and I understand 22Cans sells gem packs (free to play currency) for up to $100 a go. The UK government is concerned about such games (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/free-to-play-games-ordered-to-address-misleading-exploitative-practices-by-uk-government/1100-6417471/).



I hope you can appreciate why a group of PC gamers who were encouraged to back this game for amounts that went above $500 might be distressed that the game was delivered and was part of their rewards was sold for $0 and on mobile and required gems to be purchased on that platform. This gems mechanic leaked into the paid for PC version but without the microtransactions.



As if this wasn't bad enough, the final grievance that I want to discuss is that we understand - based on your article and other interviews that have been done - that Peter and Jack and other key people from the small 22Cans team have now moved on to working on their new game the Trail. They have taken key resources from the development of GODUS and reprioritised them to this new project. This is despite GODUS by their own description being 53% complete. No official statement has been made (despite kickstarter requiring organisations like 22Cans to keep backers updated on progress and likely dates for completion.) It may be that they will continue to work across both games but given the dire state of GODUS at this time it seems inappropriate. We are therefore left with a game that in our view doesn't equate with what was promised and a development team that is shifting its focus from it before it is complete. Given this is a crowdsourced project and there is a real obligation to the people who backed the game this behaviour is unacceptable to me.



Here is a thread where we attempted to get information on what The Trail means for 22Cans completing GODUS: godus.boards.net/thread/640/godus-close-finished



In Peter's own words he said this: He also spoke about the pressure to hit the target, and how that could lead to overpromising to win backers. "'Christ, we've only got 10 days to go and we've got to make £100,000, for f**k's sake, lets just say anything'." (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-12-02-molyneux-warns-against-early-kickstarter-campaigns). If overpromising occurred, Jack was sitting alongside Peter in those videos backing Peter up. The gaming community has no practical recourse to hold Jack and Peter to what was promised.



I realise that you will be asking yourself who the hell is this guy writing to me and shortly after that thinking TL;DR but if you do some honest reading about GODUS and talk to some of the backers you may will find there are some very unhappy people out there who don't appreciate the way Peter Molynuex and Jack Attridge do business. I haven't stated the full litany of grievances here because some may be subjective and more time (and word consuming) to back up. Perhaps you should go back to Jack and ask him if he honestly believes all the promises Peter and he made during the Kickstarter campaign will be delivered and when they will be delivered by. If you get a response I'd love to read it.



Have a great day.



Regards

Yes, thank you. That is what I was pointing to.

(for some reason my links tend to get dropped when I submit using my Kindle)

Yeah, that sort of ticked me off a bit too. I'd like to know what constitutes a "Success" if Godus is considered that; what factors determine it's level of accomplishment?
Likewise, how did Godus make Apple's list of "App Store Best of 2014!" as one of the Top Games? I would also like to know what statistics were used to award it a position on that chart. Because it seems everyone involved with these awards and deeming it successful is obscuring the fact that it's a poorly designed game originally sold on the PC, but corrupted by mobile monetization schemes utilizing barely feasible mechanics.

I ask again; How can anyone reward that behavior?

I would say it has something to do with "you wash my back".....

If Apple picks a half finished game as one of their best of the year, they lost all integrity with their rating systems and criteria for a "good game" for me. 

I may be wrong, but the article doesn't appear to be much more than a "shill piece" for UCA. I doubt Tim's journalistic interest in the Godus story goes past "Hey! Look what this guy that graduated from the school I write PR pieces for did! Pay our school money and you can be versatile and successful like him! Wheeee!"

That said... I couldn't have said it better myself, Hardly. Hopefully, IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, statements like yours will be disseminated to journalists who are willing and able to make a difference with the info.