Early Access Dino Survival Game The Stomping Land Pulled From Steam

[Steven Bogos]

Early Access Dino Survival Game The Stomping Land Pulled From Steam

There has been no word from the game's creators on why The Stomping Land was pulled from the Steam service.

You may remember a neat little Kickstarter for a from its store [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124277-DayZ-with-Dinos-Welcome-to-The-Stomping-Land].

Of course, if you already own the game, you won't lose it, but its no-longer available for purchase, and we can assume will no longer be updated by its developer. SuperCrit, the developer behind the project, appears to have all but abandoned ship, as we haven't heard anything from it, and its website appears to be a mere broken shell [http://www.supercrit.com/].

The last we heard from Fundora himself about the game was back in August, where he told Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/relax-steams-big-dinosaur-game-is-still-alive-1616027611] that The Stomping Land was still in development, despite a lack of communication and updates, and was transitioning to a new game engine.

"The game is being moved to Unreal Engine 4 to take advantage of technical and creative opportunities," Fundora said, adding that the transition "has put a bit of more work on my plate."

Fundora has also been quoted as saying he was going through some "personal issues" that have impacted the project's development.

We've reached out to Valve, Fundora and SuperCrit for comment, and will update when we've figured out exactly what's going on.

Source: Polygon [http://store.steampowered.com/app/263440]

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[Robeltu]

If this is true and the game's dead I'll be pissed. Bought a six pack for me and my friends on release that set me back £100

 

[Luku]

If this is true and the game's dead I'll be pissed. Bought a six pack for me and my friends on release that set me back £100

I hate to be "that guy" but it has been said before that one should heavily invest on a game in early access if one would not be happy with the game's current state.

 

[Gronk]

I just wish people would stop feeding the early access scammers. Making a computer game is no easy task, and there is a reason why most games (especially if they look really good) demand a team of artists and programmers and cost millions to make. Of course, there are exceptions, but as long as people keep throwing their money on there promises, thsi will keep happening, probably more and more often.

Besides, what do you think would motivate someone the most: Finishing the game first and then getting the money. OR getting the money first and THEN finishing the game (with little extra money in the end, since your customers already bought the unfinished game)? (As opposed to just taking the money and have a nice vacation?)

It is my firm belief that early access is the cancer of the independent digital distribution. Naive people with little grasp of what it takes to finish a game, throwing money on overoptimistic (or dishonest) developers, also with little grasp of what it takes to finish a game.

I mean, how much more money does star citizen actually need?

 

[wasabinewt]

Great. I was looking forward to buying this - after a few more updates. Oh well.

 

[Jumwa]

The state of this industry is rather absurd.

People pay for the dubious "privilege" of providing free labour in the form of beta testing, and now developers aren't even given much in the way of motivation to finish their games. Even by the rather shoddy, buggy, DLC/MTA-riddled standards of "finished game" from AAA billion dollar publishers these days.

 

[Robeltu]

If this is true and the game's dead I'll be pissed. Bought a six pack for me and my friends on release that set me back £100

I hate to be "that guy" but it has been said before that one should heavily invest on a game in early access if one would not be happy with the game's current state.

The game is fun in it's current state but there is just not enough content in it. It's a shame that this has happened but I won't ***** for a refund because I knew the risks when I backed it.

 

[Elfgore]

The real kick to the nads is that this was one of the more expensive early access game. Twenty-five bucks I think. From what I've seen from gameplay videos, the game has barely anything to do other than walk around and kill each other. Another thing to show how risky early access is.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Makes me think the guy took the money and ran with it.

 

[gigastar]

Makes me think the guy took the money and ran with it.

I doubt that. If that was his intention from the start then he may as well have not bothered with making an actual game.

 

[Story]

That's a shame, looked interesting.

 

[jollybarracuda]

I hate to be this cynical, because I'm usually quite positive about gaming, but I really am getting tired of hearing developers say that they have "personal issues" getting in the way of development. I had trust in that phrase when indie devs first started using it, but now it's starting to feel like a way of the developers saying, "yeaahhh, i got a bit bored with making the game that you all funded for me, so I think I'll just stop now."

I mean, I of course hope that isn't the case, and that the developers that say that actually do have things that need tending to and at the end of it they're back to being happy and ready to start developing again, but it's just so hard to believe that will be the case.

 

[Micah Weil]

Wait, there was a "survival" game that didn't involve zombies?
And I missed it?
God dammit! ><

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I hate to be this cynical, because I'm usually quite positive about gaming, but I really am getting tired of hearing developers say that they have "personal issues" getting in the way of development. I had trust in that phrase when indie devs first started using it, but now it's starting to feel like a way of the developers saying, "yeaahhh, i got a bit bored with making the game that you all funded for me, so I think I'll just stop now."

I mean, I of course hope that isn't the case, and that the developers that say that actually do have things that need tending to and at the end of it they're back to being happy and ready to start developing again, but it's just so hard to believe that will be the case.

Anything short of the dev dying or contracting a debilitating illness is really all that should halt development. Pulling the game from Steam says to me that the game is never being finished, otherwise you are putting it on hiatus. And vanishing without a trace is particularly shitty.

Good thing I held off at it.

 

[EyeReaper]

I guess you could say...
The "Jig" is up!

 

[Vivi22]

The last we heard from Fundora himself about the game was back in August, where he told Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/relax-steams-big-dinosaur-game-is-still-alive-1616027611] that The Stomping Land was still in development, despite a lack of communication and updates, and was transitioning to a new game engine.

"The game is being moved to Unreal Engine 4 to take advantage of technical and creative opportunities," Fundora said, adding that the transition "has put a bit of more work on my plate."

This might as well be the kiss of death for an indie game. Take a dev with limited funds and man power, add in a transition from the original engine they understand quite well to a new one which they probably don't for "reasons," then sit back and watch as they waste time and money recreating work they already did and can't afford to finish anymore.

 

[astrav1]

Huh, it's almost like he got all the money he needed. Just another reason why I will never buy an early access game. It would be a nice concept, but I've never seen it work.

 

[flying_whimsy]

When a game is at the point that it's got a working beta, has it ever helped to change engines? Isn't that basically one of the mental traps that made Duke Nukem Forever the appalling failure that it was? Never mind the cost involved (I realize a lot of companies sell cheap access to their engines now, but it's not cheap to have your entire team relearn their work and fix all of the now broken code).

It really is too bad, as that game seems like it could have been at the very least a fun take on survival games.

 

[SilverUchiha]

If this is true and the game's dead I'll be pissed. Bought a six pack for me and my friends on release that set me back £100

I hate to be "that guy" but it has been said before that one should heavily invest on a game in early access if one would not be happy with the game's current state.

The game is fun in it's current state but there is just not enough content in it. It's a shame that this has happened but I won't ***** for a refund because I knew the risks when I backed it.

Agreed. It was a great initial concept and, from everything I've played thus far, it's enjoyable to a point. I'm not upset with this, as life happens. But I'd like some details as to what happened. If it really is something as crappy as they were intending to scam us, then sure, I'll raise a stink about getting a refund. But if it's something beyond the creator's control, then that's fine. Just a shame this is another missed chance for a fully completed (and interesting) dinosaur game.