Romero and Carmack Suspend Blackroom Kickstarter Campaign

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Romero and Carmack Suspend Blackroom Kickstarter Campaign

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Funding has been put on hold for Blackroom while the team completes a gameplay demo.

Four days ago, John Romero and Adrian Carmack paused the campaign this morning [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167250-John-Romero-and-Adrian-Carmack-Officially-Announce-New-FPS-Blackroom] in order to complete a gameplay demo.

"The team is at work on a demo which demonstrates the kind of gameplay, look and innovative, cool features that make Blackroom truly unique - the things we've waited years to put into an FPS and which make us incredibly excited about this game," reads an update to the Kickstarter page. "There's a hitch here, a hitch that's making us do something that's right for the game, the team, and the community: we're pressing "PAUSE" on the fundraising campaign for Blackroom to complete this gameplay demo."

A new campaign will be launched once the gameplay demo is ready, which the post indicates was a complaint received through feedback.

The campaign page describes Blackroom as "a visceral, varied and violent shooter that harkens back to classic FPS play with a mixture of exploration, speed, and intense, weaponized combat," and promises "unique multiplayer maps and robust modding support for the community to make diabolical creations of their own design."

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[Amaror]

So it turns out that not many people are willing to kickstart a game for 700k out of a more than saturated market (shooters), when the pitch doesn't have a playable demo or even a video of gameplay, and the person producing it is best known for creating one of the "worst games ever".
Color me surprised.

 

[flying_whimsy]

"What's that, you want us to show you some actual game before you'll give us money? Umm, be right back."

In other words, their kickstarter wasn't going as well as they hoped, so now they actually have to do some work because their names weren't enough.

I really like how it's a response to a complaint they received. In other words, showing some real effort beforehand hadn't even occurred to them. I guess Daikatana left a stronger legacy than anticipated. heh.

I just hope the demo isn't limited to backers only: it'd be nice to see if the concept can measure up to the hype.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Funny. I don't remember people demanding a gameplay demo for Mighty No. 9 before backing it. Or Bloodstained.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

Funny. I don't remember people demanding a gameplay demo for Yooka-Laylee before backing it. Or Mighty No. 9. Or Bloodstained.

Well to be fair none of them made Daikatana so there's that.

Also I believe there was some footage of Yooka-Laylee released during or right after the kickstarter.

 

[Amaror]

Funny. I don't remember people demanding a gameplay demo for Yooka-Laylee before backing it. Or Mighty No. 9. Or Bloodstained.

Yooka-Laylee had gameplay in their pitch-video. Literally the first thing you see when looking at the campaign.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Funny. I don't remember people demanding a gameplay demo for Yooka-Laylee before backing it. Or Mighty No. 9. Or Bloodstained.

Yooka-Laylee had gameplay in their pitch-video. Literally the first thing you see when looking at the campaign.

I was not aware of this. I only saw the Kickstarter page, and didn't remember gameplay in that. I edited my post to take out the reference to Yooka-Laylee, but I'm quoting to show that I did, in fact, manage to screw up my point.

 

[Hawki]

Funny. I don't remember people demanding a gameplay demo for Mighty No. 9 before backing it. Or Bloodstained.

I was personally wary of Bloodstained as well.

That said, I think a difference exists in that Bloodstained and Mighty No. 9 are obviously based around Castlevania and Mega Man respectively. When they were released, their concept art was clear enough to show us what the game would look like, and we could easily imagine what the gameplay would be like as well. Blackroom, however, was basing itself on an era of FPS that many are returning to here and now - that's a far more vague understanding of what the game actually had to offer. All I can say from the initial pitch is that there were buzzwords (e.g. rocket jumping) and environments based around numerous time periods (similar to Daikatana and TimeSplitters). I guess the difference is that even as someone who's never played a Mega Man game or Castlevania game outside Bloodlines, I have enough understanding of those series to guess what their successors are aiming for. Blackroom? Not so much.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well now I actually have some confidence in their competence, it's not a move anyone else made.
Never the less I want to see what they come up with, no more money for empty words.

 

[Sol_HSA]

My guess is that they expected to raise the $700k in a couple of days and their actual budget is much higher.. since this didn't happen, they're retreating, regrouping and trying another angle of attack. Which is fine.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Funny. I don't remember people demanding a gameplay demo for Yooka-Laylee before backing it. Or Mighty No. 9. Or Bloodstained.

Well to be fair none of them made Daikatana so there's that.

... Fucking happened 16 years ago, mang.

And also, as a massive BK fan, I'm not sold at all on Yooka-Laylee yet. They're gonna have to do more than say, '3D PLATFORMER GUISE' in order for them to get my money. I also am not liking the level design either that they have shown. And the main characters are kind of off. They don't feel right.