This is pretty much why we've been quiet for a little while.
We're now very excited to be able to talk about this in public. This is a major step forward for Blade Symphony and for all of us at Puny Human. If we make our funding target, this means we'll be able to afford an engine license, and we'll be able to turn Blade Symphony into a commercial release.
And I say turn - because we're in no way under the impression that Blade Symphony as it is now, as you've seen it in the closed beta, is anywhere near the finished product. It's not. What we have in mind for Blade Symphony's actual release is much bigger than what you saw. We're planning on completely revamping the movement system (with added jumping!), giving each character their own unique stance, adding more characters, and more.
We realise that this is a pretty monumental change of direction for a Source mod, so here are a few of the questions you might have (with answers, otherwise this post wouldn't be of much use to you).
Is Blade Symphony going to be a paid-for, commercial release, now?
Yes. The Kickstarter money will go towards buying an actual Source license, which will let us sell Blade Symphony commercially.
The plan isn't to sell the mod as it is now, though. With that money, we're also going to add a ton more content to the game - new characters, new stances, new sword models, etc. We want each character to have their own unique stance, too. We're still working on what gameplay changes are going to be made, but rest assured that we will be adding a lot more content.
How about the beta, then?
We won't be handing out any new beta keys, as the current beta is not representative of what the commercial release will be like. For those of you who have pledged $20 via Kickstarter: the release candidate testing and the current beta are not the same thing - the RC testing will happen a couple of months before release, whenever that is.
We're not going to pull the current beta installer/authentication system from circulation, so those of you in it already will still be able to play. We probably won't be able to release any more beta updates, and we most likely won't be issuing new keys - not because we want to stop supporting the beta, but because our focus will be on putting as much time and effort as humanly possible into Blade Symphony so we can deliver the best possible game for your money.
I donated under the PHAN programme; does this mean my donation is wasted?
No, of course not. Any donation you made via the PHAN programme will still go towards paying our costs, so your money will still be put to good use. Anyone who has donated in the past still has our undying gratitude, and it's only thanks to them that we've managed to make it this far.
Unfortunately, we can't offer the same kind of incentives for PHAN donations as we can for Kickstarter donations, so it does mean that we can't transfer PHAN donations to Kickstarter pledges. Really, we would if we could - and any PHAN donation you've made will also have contributed to our continued existence (we would not have been able to survive for upwards of six years otherwise) - but we can't.
If you want to donate to us, we would encourage you to do so via Kickstarter.There are two reasons for this:
- 1. You get a reward for pledging your money via Kickstarter.
- 2. Every cent you give to our Kickstarter is a cent that makes it closer to its funding goal. If we don't reach the $15,000 funding goal, all money pledged via Kickstarter will be refunded. In other words, money you donate via Kickstarter makes it more likely we'll actually get those $15,000 and also protects your money if we can't reach our target.
What kind of incentives are there to donate via the Kickstarter page? When will the game be out? What if you don't reach your funding target?
These are all good questions! Fortunately, all of them have answers listed on that very same page! Also fortunately, this is where you would go to donate. Hint, hint.
You can also read a little bit more about our exact plans on the page, so I would heartily recommend you head on over.
If you've got any questions afterwards, please don't hesitate to leave a comment - we'll do as much as we can to answer every new question that gets asked.
Great to see you Guys are taking it to the next level , but im a bit sad that this awesome mod is going commercial. I can understand that the developers would like to earn money for their effort, but i fear if this trend goes on there wont be any quality mods out there which are free.
This wouldn't be to make money, it would be so it doesn't COST them anymore, they have been making free **** since like 2007 with dystopia, development would be a cash sink without some decent sort of income, besides the source license would be way more expensive than 15000 so I can only assume they are making the push to get more players, more player =better multiplayer experience
Actually Dystopia's been in development since 2003ish IRC. First release was in 2005 ;)
We specifically chose to not entertain continued argument by replying to a lot of the posts here at ModDB. There are a lot of under-informed individuals, while well spoken, are under false assumptions.
I wanted to stop and congratulate both of you for clarifying both of these to the community. I cannot tell you, but a very severe amount of money has gone into powering continued Dystopia and Blade Symphony modification development, especially since 2003.
Ever tried living on $250 a week unemployment check, but STILL finding some way to put money back into Puny Human? I know I have.
I'm going to be blunt here, you guys disgust me and I won't be tracking anymore.
Don't let me stop you from doing what you want, I just want you to know my opinion, if there's no one else that feels this way, why you should you care?
Really you're free to do what you want, but I don't approve of your methods and am not interested in a commercial release, so I'll be untracking, maybe that changes by the time you get that far, who knows, currently I don't care about this anymore, so you've lost me.
Now go call your friends and "phans" and hit that - karma button if that makes you feel any better.
I'm sorry DuckSauce,but whilst you're entitled to your opinion you're on no grounds to present yourself in such a discourteous tenor here. I'm highly disappointed by you're immature attitude towards this, because you're right, it is their project and they have a right to do what they want. This has 10x the quality that the slew of iphone games have out there, so why don't we, the pc market, deserve to have a myriad of short but entertaining games to play as well. Have they announced how much this would cost yet? No, they haven't, so for all we know this might only cost as much as a short iphone game as wel. Just enough to warrant you're money and keep you entertained whilst you wait for that one video to buffer, or your download to complete. None of you are in any position to say that this isn't the kind of game that you pay for because A. people pay for these sorts of games on other platforms all the time B. They haven't announced how much it will cost C. Most of you are just ****** off because this is a mod and used to be free.
Nice job putting words in my mouth that I never said.
To A. There are other "simple" (as in one gamemode) multiplayer games out there already, me buying or not has nothing to do with that.
To B. Never said a word about price.
To C. Never said a word to do with that either.
My problem is like I said already with their methods, not with them wanting to sell it, I can understand if they want to sell it, I disagree with the way they go about it.
As for my "immature" behaviour, I have all rights to state my opinion, I'm not trying to hinder or hurt them in anyway, all I did was state an opinion and that they lost me as a follower, there is absolutely nothing immature about that.
Hey DuckSauce, I've nothing but respect for you and the work you do. Care to explain what you don't like about our methods?
Also, have you checked out your kickstarter video? In that video I tried explaining why we are doing the kickstarter.
I, for one, will join the club that is sad and disappointed, that the money I gave in good faith of a mod, (I was even offered to take my money back, but declined, because I believed my ability to play the game would be worth the money, whether I needed to or not.) have been 'trumphed' by this, in a 'Sorry-but-no' manner.
If you actually wanted to, then I see no reason you could not give a kickstarter thing away, to the people that donated .. I honestly don't see any physical limits, taking away your ability to 'grant' it, as it is not Kickstarter that controls when you give stuff or when you put someone in your credits - In other words, it is not about whether your *can* or not, it is whether you *want to* or not.. If I have missed a point here, do tell.
plainly: In my good faith, and with the desire to play your game and experience it evolving, I gave you my money. What I expected was simply to be able to play your game and follow it as it evolved .. That has been taken from me.
Regardless of what I say though, it's obvious that you'll have your money.
Hey mflux,
My reply was too big so I sent it to you as a PM instead.
I didnt think you could get a Source license for only $15000. :S And if they arent, technically any revenue made while using the Source engine would be "illegal" correct? And could be collected by Valve if they felt the mod team was in violation of the terms of the SDK... ???
The Source Engine license is not $15,000. We state on the kickstarter page that this push is to help pay for the remainder of what we are required to pay for licensing. This money will also allow us to put some of our own money back into covering legal paperwork and more necessary business nonsense.
I'm curious as to why it disgusts you? It seems that you're just ****** you won't be getting it for free. Am I missing something?
@RageX:
You're free to think that, but as a fellow developer, I full well understand their desire to commercial, so I assure you that my problem was only with the way they hoped to achieve that, however they seem to have no wrong intentions, only good ones.
Still, there are other ways, harder ways perhaps but I can fully understand why they do it this way, especially after looking at the current gathered donations, since there are plenty of fans that fully support them.
I am in no way part of the "mods go commercial rage" group, if they can gather the required cash to purchase a license, then in my opinion they have every right to sell what they have spent hard work into to make.
I would like to partially apologize for what I said before, I still can't look favorably upon donations, but watching the video mflux posted, I can tell he at least loves the work he's doing and has every intention to keep the fans pleased, so I believe I owe them at least some more respect, they are just trying to do things right, while I do not approve of their ways, they mean well. So I'm sorry for that.
I still have to agree with Darthlex's point on transferring the PHAN thing to kickstarter, I don't see why it's not possible and it seems like a backstab move to me, perhaps it's really not possible but I really don't see why, so you can understand why I feel distrusting about that.
I think Kickstarter project lets more people to know about a game more than their site (It was kinda hard to find PHAN Club donation page on site, I think I am blind).
More people knows and gets interested - more money for development and for Source licence.
I donated while back, but I'm not mad or anything as I can clearly see why they decided to start Kickstarter project.
I'd like to apologize to you as well DuckSauce, it just made me extremely angry reading nothing but negative comments when this news first came out, and reading "Now go call your friends and "phans" and hit that - karma button if that makes you feel any better." just sent me overboard. I think my initial response was more directed to the broader audience who was opposed to this rather than just you since you generally have a more educated and intelligent look on the matter anyways.
i agree with you duck
its sad....money money money money
So do I.
I, for one (of many), was eager try this one out, but now that it's commercial, it's just go to the things-I-may-buy bracket. Need to spend on other things.
Besides, if it's going to be a digital release, I won't be able to buy it.
Yup. Def untracking. This is barely a game you pay for, too, because all you do is duel. Over and over and over and over again. Maybe if you added a plot or campaign, whatever, but a commercial release for literally the same thing over and over again is a bad move.
Counter Strike was the same game, over and over. Same for TF2. Yet millions of people have paid for those and still play them.
So is Soul Caliber and Mortal Combat and Street Fighter and King of Fighters and..., and they were all commercial and very successful.
Haven said that, i will not buy the game personally not because i think they shouldn't sell what was once a mod, for the contrary i think they should the quality is undeniable, but because this type of unrealistic sword fighting is just not my cop of tea, i'm more a Severance Blade of Darkness type of fighting fan.
I love how you all seem to think this is some crazy cash grab, it seems more to me that they are just trying to get as many players as possible how is that a bad thing for the players. If the game turns out to be 10 even 20 bucks seems fair to me, seems that's the price of a ****** meal
If no one was reading, they are going to get a Source license, so it will become a standalone indie game. They also want to do all those additional items in the last picture, to make it worth a buy.
Commercial mod? No, indie game.
I'm sorry, but this confuses me:
When did people actually *pay* for the source license? All the mods that have gone commercial have done so in their own right, simply by contacting source .. How exactly are these 15k going to help you with attaining a license?
Even if it was to pay for the license, 15.000 dollars would not be nearly enough ... A fully permitted license to most current-gen/next-gen computer games cost up to 500.000 - Indie people only just recently started being able to get lincenses, as the trend has become to make your engine available (UDK, CryEngine3).
Standalone license, maybe? From what I'm guessing, the commercial mods you mentioned still rely on their parent game.
Also, source, from what I've read around, isn't as next-gen as the competition. So it probably doesn't cost as much... or Valve is just a kind company.
Any Source based game that is stand alone and commercial has to pay for a license.
"All the mods that have gone commercial have done so in their own right, simply by contacting source"
Care to name any of those games?
Very well, although in the spur of the moment I can only mention two.
E.Y.E
Dear Esther
But they should suffice for now.
Certainly not. When I'm talking about "Commercialising" I am talking about a mod moving to becoming a game - Games are, per definition, standalone items.
You are totally wrong . Valve doesnt sell the license to a fix price. Maybe other indie-teams have bought it to that price, so they estimate to pay the same.
Do you guys forget that all of those Source licensed game seem to always end up on Steam, Steam is Valve's platform, they get like what? 25% of the profits? Ka-ching! It explains why the license price is likely to be negotiable and not insanely high, plus Valve seems to be a kind company...
Regardless, thanks to Steam sales, Valve makes a profit on top of the license and they probably weigh that in the license price.
I don't see what's wrong with people these days. They act like they're obliged to donate, I don't think they understand what a donation is.
For one, I don't think it's wrong at all for a developer to campaign for money that all goes into helping production of a game. Compare it to a Donation campaign run by some organization to help fund something they're trying to get working, and they all have good intent. I don't see why people are always at a fuss when developers ask for donations.
It's like it's easy working for free.
(buried)
Wow, why do people think they can run out and start an indie game house left and right. Sad, as all of those people who supported you through donations to produce a MOD, have now been shafted and will never see a free to play mod that they donated in good faith to play. Now, a couple of models and some simple hack and slash game-play constitutes as a license to take people money and run.
Oh, we know that you will just run off with the kickstarter money anyway since Source will be free to play shortly as stated by Valve in a previous news post. So don't donate guys, it will only go to buying pc's and pizza that they should get a job and pay for themselves.
Am getting sick and tired of people USING the modding community day after day to steal from them to "build their life's dream of a game!"
"Source will be free to play"
That doesn't mean it will be free to make commercial games from it. If someone wants to make a standalone commercial game on Source than he has to pay Valve for the engine licence. It has nothing to do with "free to play"
It's a shame... This looked like a good mod, guess I'll never know now. =\
And honestly, is it really a mod anymore if it goes commercial? (Especially if it's on the Source Engine.)
bad news
I don't this is too bad of an idea, these guys have obviously spent a lot of time on this mod would like to see some money out of it.
but honestly mods aren't made to be turned into an indie game, I'm looking at you Orion.
The best thing you can do is finish this mod and perhaps have it featured on steam and get some recognition and then create an indie game and charge people for it.(maybe a sequel) (like NS2)
Here we go again, the mod-planning-to-go-commercial rage. While I can understand both sides (people being angry at the devs; the devs trying to go commercial) I'm honestly surprised every time I read the comments on such an article. Mod/game developers owe their fans nothing really and while it's 'sad' that we have to pay for something that could've been free it's still the choice of the developer. If they decide to ask money for their work (which is perfectly fine of course, time is a very valuable thing) and potentially lose fans/buyers, so be it. Is it really that hard to accept that? Also, not getting downvoted for not being angry for once would be really nice.
Developers: While I understand why you are doing the kickstarter stuff it does sound a bit, well, strange: donating money to allow you to buy a license so you can receive (more) money ;)
Aye, it is a bit strange, almost a cheat, but it is their decision.
Scratch the cheat part, just saw the rewards on kickstarter, my bad.
Thumbs down.
Well, this goes on my to download list for upcoming releases....
Sucks that the game isn't a free mod anymore, but on the other hand, it's great to hear they will be able to get better support which will allow for the game to have better content.
eh, Ill donate again when I see something interesting.
Well, I see it this way:
When the mod becomes commercial, there will surely be more content and, especially important, support.
If they would release this mod, it would sink between all the other hl2 mods, think of it, you know it will happen.
By making this commercial, we get a chance of more regular updates and more content, something a mod probably never would get (though they made really amazing work with Dystopia).
Still I can't see my self donating any money, while they impress me and surely they will use it to make their dream true, I only tracked this cause it was is a duel swordfight mod, something unique. I never put emphasis onto playing it for longer anyways, I was just more or less curious about how it works out in the end.
(buried)
I have no problem with this going commercial, in fact it's great for the devs. Just make sure we (the people of moddb) dont have to pay a penny for the final product. Because if it ends up on wal mart's shelves, i'll pirate it anyway.
So .. You have no problems with it costing money, as long as *you* get it for free? I suppose that is also a stand point ...
You seem like a bit of a leech, mate.
Right and you should get it for free because you are such a nice guy, threatening to pirate their sweat and blood?
I think you know better.
OK, sorry dead, but that's a really stupid comment. You're saying basically that either way you're getting it for free, so you don't care if it costs a million dollars or a penny. Good job.
Wow, I'm pro at making myself look like an *******. I just meant that I hope Puny Human doesn't forget us.
Happy for you Puny Human games!
Hope you fare well with that game, and may it be the first of many to come :)
Don't forget to keep Tom Stoffel with you :D