Ant Simulator Dev Says Partners Blew Money on Bars and Strippers - Update

[Fanghawk]

Ant Simulator Dev Says Partners Blew Money on Bars and Strippers - Update

Eteeski founder Eric Tereshinski has cancelled Ant Simulator after accusing his business partners of spending crowdfunding money on alcohol and strippers.

Update: Eric Tereshinski's business partners, Tyler Monce and Devon Staley, have stated that the allegations are completely false. In fact, they claim Tereshinski had taken complete control of business accounts and transferred company funds to his personal bank account.

"It's completely false," Monce says. "I don't know why he's painting that picture, but the reality is that anything that was spent in a bar or restaurant was very reasonable in nature when you look at any business, including video game companies. It was part of our operating budget, it's not anything that was excessive. It was all reported to the IRS. The picture he's painting about that is 100 percent bull****."

Monce and Staley's theory is that when Ant Simulator started growing in popularity, Tereshinski wanted to take the profits for himself, which they opposed. At this point, Tereshinski allegedly took control of bank, social media, and website accounts, which removed any opportunity for embezzlement. After making his recent accusations and leaving the company, Tereshinski edited the Eteeski home page to consist solely of biographies of Monce and Staley.

"The important thing to realize is that the ETeeski team wasn't just us three," Staley said. "We had a lot of contractors. Nine or ten people who worked on this game. Models, rigging, our environmental art, and our human art, were all done through contractors ... He's making this claim that we spent all this money on expensive entertainment, and that's completely false. We paid all these people who worked for us."

Source: <a href=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/02/01/ant-simulator-business-partners-respond-devs-claims-100-percent-bull.aspx?utm_content=buffer883c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer>Game Informer

Original Story: Video game projects are cancelled all the time, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/137540-Neal-Stephensons-Kickstarted-CLANG-Gone-for-Good>and even crowdfunding support can't guarantee success. But game development rarely closes as dramatically as Ant Simulator did last weekend. In a new video, lead developer Eric Tereshinski claims the project is ending after his Eteeski business partners spent campaign money at bars and strip clubs.

"This is going to be the worst video I've ever had to make," Tereshinski said. "I can't work on Ant Simulator anymore. I recently found out my ex-business partners were secretly stealing company money. They had secretly spent the overwhelming majority of both our Kickstarter money and the Ant Simulator investment money on liquor, restaurants, bars, and even strippers. This is the reason it has become exceedingly clear to me that I cannot have my career associated with these guys."

Ant Simulator's goal was to let players build and fortify ant colonies by taking direct control of worker and soldier ants in a giant natural setting. Funding seems to have been provided by a Kickstarter campaign for <a href=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eteeski/ultimate-gamedev-tutorials-make-your-first-video-g/description>Ultimate gamedev tutorials, independent Ant Simulator crowdfunding, and limited early access preorders.

"I'm very pissed off I lost money," Tereshinski continues. "I lost over a year in work. And I lost a game that I loved, and I was proud of, and I was really looking forward to releasing on Steam and PS4. It was supposed to be my first big step in really taking a shot at making video games as a career. But I have to start over now."

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Tereshinski adds that he cannot continue Ant Simulator's development independently, since his work was contracted under Eteeski. Which is a shame - Ant Simulator's screenshots and videos looked gorgeous, and the concept could have made for a highly unique game. Tereshinski is currently looking into ways to provide Ant Simulator refunds to early adopters.

Source: <a href=http://news.softpedia.com/news/ant-simulator-canceled-after-team-spends-the-money-on-booze-and-strippers-499697.shtml>Softpedia

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[Xan Krieger]

Of course the image that shows up first is a spider, might've peed a little (or a lot, I'm not saying which).
That said I imagine this is how many kickstarter projects end.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

I'm not an expert on law but I'm pretty sure he can sue that business partner to the god damn ground because he pretty much embezzled funds and that's not okay thing to do in business.

also fuck these pieces of shit! as a person who dreams of making stories just the thought of having those dreams crushed by mooching asshole pisses me off to no end. I hope they are sued for everything they have.

 

[Albino Boo]

I'm not an expert on law but I'm pretty sure he can sue that business partner to the god damn ground because he pretty much embezzled funds and that's not okay thing to do in business.

also fuck these pieces of shit! as a person who dreams of making stories just the thought of having those dreams crushed by mooching asshole pisses me off to no end. I hope they are sued for everything they have.

What someone says happened and what actually happened not always the same thing. It's worth remembering there are two sides to every story, doubly so in the internet

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

What someone says happened and what actually happened not always the same thing. It's worth remembering there are two sides to every story, doubly so in the internet

True, and if you want to set a narrative there's few options more memorable than hookers and booze. That said, this is the kind of thing that defines libel laws, so it's a very dangerous stunt to pull if he's not confident in those accusations.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I'm not an expert on law but I'm pretty sure he can sue that business partner to the god damn ground because he pretty much embezzled funds and that's not okay thing to do in business.

Assuming he has any money to do that and that they have anything worth taking.

Assuming everything he says is true, the kind of people who blow other people's money are rarely the kind of people who invest it in tangible assets. However, the police would certainly be interested in such spending habits if he's telling the truth. Getting the money back might be a lost cause, but no reason those other guys can't end up in the slammer for their trouble.

Assuming it's all true.

Goodness me that's a lot of assumption!

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Unbelievable. As in I literally do not believe this.

Friends for 11 years and he had nooo idea what they were doing?! Friends since 2005 and what, they've been playing the long game? Used an ouija board to know that one day Kickstarter would be a thing and befriended this guy to steal his money? And I'm sure it wasn't alot if all they got was booze and strippers. Not like they stole enough money for a sports car or vacation to Hawaii.

I mean for fucks sake did this dev not check the receipts?! Did he not notice his friends of 11 years were going to the Spearmint Rhino every day for lunch? Or that they had literally not done any work for over a year?

Damn man call the Alpha Legion! These two must be Alpharius and Omegon!

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I'm ashamed that this is the internet and no one has put up an image of Bender yet.

I'll do it.

Unbelievable. As in I literally do not believe this.

Friends for 11 years and he had nooo idea what they were doing?! Friends since 2005 and what, they've been playing the long game? Used an ouija board to know that one day Kickstarter would be a thing and befriended this guy to steal his money? And I'm sure it wasn't alot if all they got was booze and strippers. Not like they stole enough money for a sports car or vacation to Hawaii.

I mean for fucks sake did this dev not check the receipts?! Did he not notice his friends of 11 years were going to the Spearmint Rhino every day for lunch? Or that they had literally not done any work for over a year?

Damn man call the Alpha Legion! These two must be Alpharius and Omegon!

... I have nothing really to say to you. You just mentioned Warhammer 40k. That always makes me happy.

...

Vulkan's awesome.

 

[Lightspeaker]

I'm not an expert on law but I'm pretty sure he can sue that business partner to the god damn ground because he pretty much embezzled funds and that's not okay thing to do in business.

He can't, assuming he's not lying about any of it. The above article neglects to mention it but he addressed this directly in a comment below the video:

A lot of people are telling me to seek legal advice. I have. The problem is that these guys covered their asses in the contract. They'll say the drinks were for business meetings, and they have the paperwork/minutes to prove they had meetings (even though I know they were bullshit meetings). They went over the contract line by line with me and I reviewed the whole thing twice. I just didn't realize they had protected themselves, screwed me (like the fact that they listed themselves as consultants, so they aren't legally obligated to work on anything, but still have the rights to spend money ect.), and I had no idea what their plan was until it was too late.

I could try to sue them, yes. The problem is that the most likely outcome is that things will end up more or less the same as they are now. The only difference is that I would have wasted a lot of time and money on court and lawyer fees. Cutting ties with them is just faster, simpler, and safer. Besides, I'm really damn good at making games. I will make other games. They won't.

And thank you everyone tremendously for you support! It helps out so much to see everyone's comments of support. I've been in a really dark place for over two months because of this, you all have really made a difference for me. I was afraid to go public with this information, but it's really good to be able to talk with everyone here again.&#65279;

 

[LordMonty]

If its true or close too then bloody hell, can't see him dropping the game entirely unless it really had a good reason and then wanting to continue to make more games.

Sucks to be him and really sad for the backers as well lets not forget them.

 

[Albino Boo]

What someone says happened and what actually happened not always the same thing. It's worth remembering there are two sides to every story, doubly so in the internet

True, and if you want to set a narrative there's few options more memorable than hookers and booze. That said, this is the kind of thing that defines libel laws, so it's a very dangerous stunt to pull if he's not confident in those accusations.

According to lightspeaker in post below, the business partners had reason for spending that comes within the law. Sounds to me that this a dispute between the business partners about who is in charge.

 

[weirdee]

If he knows they were covered by contracts, then he's made yet another, in what looks like a series, of blunders with these guys.

They're covered for expenses, even dubious ones, he's not covered for libel.

Hard to say. If the strippers were covered under the contract terms, he can still mention them, it's just that there's no legal basis to sue over it.

 

[Kajin]

This is why you don't ever let your friends in on your business ventures. Too easy to get stabbed in the back by people you're supposed to trust.

 

[Bat Vader]

I suppose this is where know what you're agreeing to before signing it comes into play. Whenever I have to agree to something I make sure to read everything first before I actually agree to it. That way I know I won't be screwed over in some say. Hopefully everything works out well for the poor guy.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I remember the original SimAnt on the Apple IIe (shut up and get off my lawn ). Was a fun game, I always had fun playing it. Sad to see this one die because of the (reportedly) bad execs embezzling the money.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Can't say I'm surprised. Anyone else remember Flagship Studios and Hellgate London?

"Yay, we're funded! SUMPTUOUS OFFICE PARTIES AND DAILY TAKEOUT RUNS FOR EVERYONE! Fuck game development, we'll get around to it after the hookers and blow!"

 

[Kaymish]

They wasted all the company funds on hookers and booze ???!! but those are company assets [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/comics/stolen-pixels/5137-Stolen-Pixels-12-The-Economics-Lesson] and they would be irresponsible consultants if they did not use the funding to leverage all business resources