WTF happened to...? Or, it’s vapourware man, let it go

#1

The path of disappointment is well-travelled but not smooth. The five stages following an announcement are familiar to all - anticipation, patience, disillusionment, rage and indifference.

Three examples:

Exodus: Proxima Centauri Finally a replacement for Eclipse but with decent multiplayer? The nearest thing to Twilight Imperium for iOS? Announced March 2017 for a summer 2017 release. Radio silence since August 2017 when a UI demo appeared.

Battleheart 2. Ok, to be fair I’m still hopeful about this one. Originally slated for mid-2017, but it has drifted back to maybe June (ie now) according to TA. Fingers crossed.

Analogue: A Hate Story. Before Inkle’s 80 Days showed what could be done with narrative games on iOS, Analogue was announced in September 2013. Apparently a build of the port was demoed, and Golden Gear Games still show it on their website, but after 5 years…? Yep, at the fifth stage for this one.

Any other favourite announcements for which you had hopes and which subsequently disappeared like so much mist?

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Fear not, Exodus: Proxima Centauri is on the way
Stately Citizen Journalism
#2

I don’t have a specific one to add, but your stages reminded me of how I used to fake a watch list.

I used a private GeekList at BGG and simply added the boardgame entry when an iOS game was announced. And then the list would grow … and grow … and grow some more while key dates were missed, developers went silent, Goko screwed the pooch, or some other weirdness stepped in and ensured these games would never see the light of day within a year of their promised date.

It finally got too depressing. I just deleted it.

I’m sort of numb to the whole thing now. I assume something will get screwed up right up until the time I see a definitive post here or at TA or wherever.

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#3

Oh, wait – Gettysburg: The Tide Turns. Duh. That one is a classic.

Funded in the summer of 2013. Dinosaur times.

This one almost sucked my will to live. Fuck Shenendoah Studios, fuck the designer (who has deleted his Kickstarter account), and fuck Slitherine.

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#4

You’d think a bloody text adventure would be simple enough to port. Can’t believe Analogue hasn’t come out.

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#5

This one was a big factor in my decision to never, ever again Kickstart a video game. I funded a $25 game intending to play it on one platform, and years later they delivered a $10 game to a different platform, and the game wasn’t even very good. I played it for a couple of hours and uninstalled.

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#6

The second I saw the topic I immediately thought of Exodus Proxima Centauri.

I believe there have been some hero highlights for Battleheart 2 lately, but I can’t give you a source right now. I think development may be slower than anticipated, but I also think they are chugging along and will release a game sooner rather than later.

My personal vaporware demon is FFXI mobile. It was my first MMORPG and I spent more time with that game than all other MMOs since combined. I played enough that I actually knew all the game systems relatively well without having to look things up. Good times with my college roommates.

#7

Exodus Proxima Centauri is supposedly in beta for PC/Mac as of last December. And the developer very, very occasionally tweets about the game.

#8

Oh god. I need a drink. So many crushed dreams.

#9

I’m looking forward to the 05/03/2017 release of Roll for the Galaxy for iOS.

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#10

Very much yes. How could I have forgotten? Oh yes, stage 5 indifference, with a side order of bollocks to them.

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#11

Not to mention that the other apps were apparently re-released (requiring a new purchase) and made iPad-only.

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#12

Smash-Up. By the time it released for iOS I realized I really didn’t care for the game and couldn’t care less that it was released.

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#13

Widower’s Sky… I have no idea what type of game it was supposed to be - platformer? Sandbox? Crafting? But I fell in love with the graphics and audio in the trailer… it was Steam Greenlit a while back and was supposed to come to iOS mid-2017, iirc. The game’s Twitter is long silent, although the dev often retweets other gaming news. No response to either tweets or messages left on the site. Alas…

http://whaleo.com/widowerssky/

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#14

Remembered another one; Overland. Looks so good, was announced in 2014(?) for platforms including iOS. Went into Finji‘s homegrown version of early access in 2016 for a 2017 release, and in the meantime mobile has vanished from the platform list. Of course it’s not out yet, and Finji seem to be focusing on becoming a publisher.

Sad about this one; post apocalypse turn-based rogue-like on compact maps is right up my street, and indeed parked in my driveway tooting its horn. Alas.

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#15

Yes! I vaguely remembered this piquing my interest and wanted to mention it but couldn’t remember he name or the mechanics.

#16

I bought Overland when it first came out on itch.io but haven’t played in a while. That game was one of the titles that convinced me early access games aren’t for me.

If I remember right, the devs elected to rewrite the whole game in Unity and are still actively working on it … but they’ve put out/published other games as well in the meantime, so who knows.

#17

It hasn’t been announced, but there is a Final Fantasy VIII-shaped hole on my iPad…

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#18

I used to keep a geeklist, but it was kind of depressing to see the months roll by. Looking back at the list, many of them eventually got released (e.g. 7 Wonders, Through the Ages).

Three that did not:

Tiny Epic Kingdoms 3/3/15 - Screenshot released. App release soon.

Space Empires 4x 12/17/14 - Entering Beta test

King of Tokyo 2/16/15 - Coming in 2016 with exclusive content from Richard Garfield

#19

This came in the GMT newsletter, April 17, 2012.

Fields of Fire: In Fields of Fire, Ben Hull has created a game system that fascinates me with it’s endless replayability and tense game play. So I am THRILLED to be able to announce that we have an agreement to do both an iOS and a PC version (no Android in the works at this point, but possible down the road) of Fields of Fire and that work has begun on the project. Imagine playing Fields of Fire when an iPad handles all the bookkeeping and rules lookups for you! This one is going to be fun!

Am I bitter? No, of course not. Why would I be bitter?

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#20

GMT maybe gets the lifetime achievement award for boardgame-to-app vaporware. Over the years there have been promises of Space Empires 4X, Fields of Fire and Command and Colors off the top of my head.

Twilight Struggle eventually got done when they handed it off to Playdek.

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