Ant Simulator Canceled, Devs Spent Kickstarter Money On Booze and Strippers

[extide]

Who said it was nice places? /QUOTE]
The programmer, whom I have already given my reasons for believing more than the other dudes.

 

[extide]

I REALLY HATE the "no editing in this subforum" thing. What is the reasoning behind it..?

 

[extide]

Who said it was nice places? They could have at off the dollar menu at McDonalds while at GDC (which was a business trip), might have ordered a pizza some night during a long work session, or went to the bar for a drink or two with prospective investors. You just stated that you spend some money every now and then on food. So what he is saying is true that isn't that unreasonable to spend a little on that type of stuff. Of course you don't go out and spend $2000 on a meal. But $100-$200 a year wouldn't be that crazy.

They spent $1000 to get setup for access to Sony's dev network. They paid consultants to make graphics, music and sound effects. That there would eat into most if their budget. Plus at this point it is still he said he said. They claim they had money left in the bank and this other guy cleaned them out, he claims they were out of money because they already cleaned them out. I have to say their side sounds more believable than his.

Their budget was over $10k. Small, but large enough that the $1k sony fee isn't a huge deal, I mean it's BIG, but justifiable and needed. How much the consultant's were pad is not important. Going to a BAR on the company's dime where the product isn't even released yet is extremely un-responsible, and anyone who actually believes in the co and wants to see it succeed, would never. Look, that's just my opinion, BUT I also happen to be in a similar situation..!

 

[pothb]

Maybe, but the whole venture was totally doomed from the start. $4,459 is not even close to enough to fund the development of the game. It makes me wonder if anyone actually intended to release anything or if the whole thing was always a scam. The numbers don't add up.

You're assuming he didn't put his own money into it. Sounds like he did, and got screwed over by his "friends."

 

[adamantine.me]

Despicable, those types of people ruin it for the honest people trying to get some wind under their wings.

 

[Exavior]

The programmer, whom I have already given my reasons for believing more than the other dudes.

I REALLY HATE the "no editing in this subforum" thing. What is the reasoning behind it..?

What reasons did you give other than you don't spend money on food?

To me it sounds like the programmer just got tired of working with the guys and decided to flip on them. They have been working on the game for 2 years, he wanted to use this venture to get himself a job with one of the big guys and it just wasn't going how he had planned.

There are 3 guys here for this company involved in the story Eric (programmer), Tyler and Devon.

Eric claims they spent a majority of the money on booze and stripper. They claim they spent money on contractors. Lets start with that part. Look at the gameplay video. you will see "credits so far" Where it list Eddie, Johan, Carlos, Thomas, Isaiah, and Corey as being additional members for various parts. Lets ignore Corey as he is a project manager and actually a 4th member of the company. That still leaves 5 people that had to get paid for creating visuals for the game. Which according to Tyler and Devon there was actually 9 or 10 contractors so I guess not everyone made it to the list for that posted video or just didn't have their work there yet. Either way that is 5 - 10 people (depending on which source you use) that had to be paid. So that would have used up a good amount of the money. The kickstart project was NOT to make this game, it was to make video game development tutorials, which they made and are up. So if those cost money to make as they claimed it would and they made them... well they spent a good part of that $5000 grand on that then. They also made various other game prototypes which would have cost money to those people as well for graphics. So there is a lot of money spent on things just looking through what they have made and done that don't match up with they spent almost all the money on other things.

They also claim how he took control of the site, removed all content and put up just their faces. And that is true. If you look at their site on archive.org vs now. All content was removed for all pages leaving jus the about us page, all parts about Eric and Corey were removed along with the history of the company. Yes these two could have done that but why? Why remove all mentions of the game and everything else themselves if he left he company and they still had full control over everything? That does seem more like somebody leaving the company dong that instead of the person staying behind. He also states in his video how he has to remove anything doing with the games or kickstarter project from his youtube channel and yet as of now all of that is still up. Which to me seems very strange, why would you not remove that right away if you are "legally forced to".

Right now the two guys are seeking legal action against Eric so I guess we just watch and see the outcome of that. But to me, 20 months with them spending almost 100% of the money on none work stuff seems like bull shit to me. But everyone is free to believe what they want till more facts come out.

 

[Nytegard]

Yeah it's hard to say since they both have believable points. My guess is neither one told the entire truth, but I'm more inclined to believe the programmer, since the 2 investment guys stated that they DID spend company money on dining and drinking. In their words:

"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."

Uh, no. Not when your entire budget is 10k, that's not reasonable. You need every cent to count. They were acting like they were working for a multi-million dollar company.

...

Pretty much this. The bottom line is that most professional games' programmers will make more than $5000 in a month in salary. All of that $5000 should have been going to the game. Not even buying raman would be considered reasonable, unless the game was about to be released, and they splurged as celebration, and even that would be pushing it in my opinion.

Anyway, the one thing I've learned: Never ever go into business with your friends. It works out as well as buying a Powerball ticket and winning the jackpot. I've seen way too many friendships broken up, because they went in with good intentions, and learned the hard truth that money causes friction, and that in the end, you can't trust anyone but yourself. (And to other people, you're probably lying when you try to spin your story).

 

[Exavior]

...

Pretty much this. The bottom line is that most professional games' programmers will make more than $5000 in a month in salary. All of that $5000 should have been going to the game. Not even buying raman would be considered reasonable, unless the game was about to be released, and they splurged as celebration, and even that would be pushing it in my opinion.

Anyway, the one thing I've learned: Never ever go into business with your friends. It works out as well as buying a Powerball ticket and winning the jackpot. I've seen way too many friendships broken up, because they went in with good intentions, and learned the hard truth that money causes friction, and that in the end, you can't trust anyone but yourself. (And to other people, you're probably lying when you try to spin your story).

Which $5000? The kickstarter $5000 was not for the game it was for creating how to make a video game tutorial. They delivered on that a year so. So they did spend that money on that project. So no, none of that $5000 should have went toward the game as that isn't what people gave money for. It should have, and did, go toward how to videos.

 

[GaryJohnson]

I'm not really getting what these other 2 guys were doing in the company anyhow. One guy was supposedly doing "finances" and the other was doing "business strategy." That seems kind of top heavy to me for a 3 person company with a small budget.

I get that you want to work with your friends, but if you're starting a game making company and they don't know how to make games then don't just invent roles for them to play. That's obviously going to end badly. Life lesson learned hopefully.

 

[extide]

Which $5000? The kickstarter $5000 was not for the game it was for creating how to make a video game tutorial. They delivered on that a year so. So they did spend that money on that project. So no, none of that $5000 should have went toward the game as that isn't what people gave money for. It should have, and did, go toward how to videos.

I think that tutorial series was used as a way to help fund the game itself. That's what it seems like at least.

 

[Exavior]

I think that tutorial series was used as a way to help fund the game itself. That's what it seems like at least.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...tutorials-make-your-first-video-g/description

I don't read it as that.

About 1/4 was Computer and Camera Equipment - Video lights, DSLR Monitor, Hard Drives, Capture Card, Microphone, HDMI Adapters, Unlocked Windows Phone (Some of these costs are based on if we reach the Stretch Goals and other factors)

Another 1/4 was Software and Licenses - iOS Store, Windows Store, Google Play, Cloud storage, Website costs, Business management tools, Screen capture software, Video editing software (Some of these costs are based on if we reach the Stretch Goals and other factors)

1/8th was Development Time - Depending on what stretch goals are reached and other factors, Eric (aka ETeeski) will need to spend 400 to 600 hours of work to complete this project.

little under 1/8th was Amazon and Kickstarter Fees

little over 1/8th was Unexpected Expenses

1/8th was Legal & Business Expenses

Looks to me like all was planned for the software and hardware needed to make video tutorials and the time needed to create tutorial, hire somebody to make graphics for the tutorial game, and give themselves a little bit of a paycheck for hours worked. This might have been used to pay for the creation of ETeeski as an LLC since they mention legal and business expenses, but that would be about it.