Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: Unseen. Unheard. Unsung.

Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians was the kind of project people were waiting to see grace Kickstarter, or so it seemed. It’s a strategy/RPG featuring the talents of one Yasumi Matsuno, popular for working on titles at Squaresoft/Square Enix like Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XII. Early backers were happy to see the involvement of a man whose contributions to games since leaving Square Enix in 2005 were providing assistance for Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and working on the very small scale Crimson Shroud for Level 5. He’s remained well outside the public eye outside of frequent updates on Twitter, but his involvement was all fans needed when they rushed to pledge.

The project raised $300,000 within days after launching, half of what developer Playdek asked for. Remarkably, they received this without showing a lick of gameplay.

It all came crashing down when Matsuno dropped the bombshell on Twitter, where he confirmed Playdek misrepresented his involvement. Instead of providing the scenario and working as gameplay designer, he only provided concepts for them. Playdek’s staff was handling all development duties, and while they could be talented, plenty didn’t want to take the risk of giving them money up front. Most of the gaming audience who backs games on Kickstarter wasn’t familiar with Playdek’s library, which mainly consists of mobile titles. This caused pledges to slow to a crawl, though it eventually inched its way past the Kickstarter goal before ending.

It’s also worth noting that some individuals whose future involvement depended on whether certain stretch goals were met joined Unsung Story anyway, and that’s good for anyone looking forward to it, regardless of whether they pledged. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto and writers Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder, all of which have heavily contributed to Matsuno’s previous projects, are contributing in some capacity. Also, Akihiko Yoshida is contributing some designs, one of which was featured in the last project update.

Sure, that all sounds encouraging, but it’s time to ask an important question: where is this game?

Today marks one year since the crowdfunding campaign ended, and we still don’t know what it looks like. Having no gameplay during the campaign is one thing, especially if it was in the earliest stages of development. But it shouldn’t be taking this long for Playdek to show something and give the fanbase an indication of how it’s coming. People have been dying to see precisely what kind of strategy/RPG this is for over a year, and pledgers have every right to be concerned.

In fact, the aforementioned update featuring Yoshida’s art and scenario details was the last they posted, in late November. The company has been silent since then, and hasn’t responded to inquiries via the Kickstarter page, email, or social networks. They’ve also been mostly inactive on those social networks since the end of 2014. It’s enough to think that perhaps more skepticism was necessary during its campaign.

Fortunately, some press members reached Playdek for a small comment, whose PR representatives said it’s still in development, and they’re preparing an update for next week. But, of course, many are skeptical as to whether it’s coming. An update containing a mere “Hi! It’s still being worked on!” won’t suffice at this point. They’ll need gameplay screenshots and detailed information on what they’ve been working on at least, but footage would be ideal.

The silent treatment would have been acceptable if this wasn’t crowdfunded. When a company is making title on the fanbase’s dime, it’s their duty to update them on every single facet regardless of whether they want to. (I can’t entirely blame some of them for often not feeling like it, given how some fans act.) Considering the mixed reception on a game like Project Phoenix (which also had no gameplay to show during its campaign), there’s nothing wrong with pledgers being concerned. Unless you’re dealing with an established developer with a great reputation, it’s best if you only contribute to campaigns with something to show.

With the way things look, it probably won’t make their planned July 2015 release date, though missing the initial deadline is normal for gaming-related Kickstarter projects. They certainly shouldn’t wait until then to show the game, though. Let’s hope for the best with next week’s update, assuming it surfaces.