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KickStarter Project Phoenix - Indie jRPG with Nobuo Uematsu

Zombra

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Update #142

Jun 12 2017

Classes explained: The Battle Mage

Dear backers,

Thanks for your patience. Today, we'd like to go through the Battle Mage. But first, we should clear the air to put aside a few misunderstandings.

We noticed that several of you are worried that we may have or might be using funding that we received from the Project Phoenix Kickstarter to fund a separate project of mine. I am writing to assure you that this is absolutely not the case, and we would never consider doing that.

A group of private investors was interested in a prototype of a strategy game that I had begun development on several years ago with Daniel. I used my own money to fund the prototype, and they offered to fund the project the rest of the way through. To be clear, we never mixed funds between this project and Project Phoenix.

There is a potential that Project Phoenix can get more funding from these investors if I prove to them that my team and I can ship a successful game. This obviously places an immense amount of pressure on me and my staff to make and ship the absolute best game possible for them, and the best news is that this strategy game project is coming together nicely. The worst news is that progress on Project Phoenix has slowed temporarily as a result.

I hope from the bottom of my heart that the resulting impressions and sales results from this strategy game catapult our development plans for Project Phoenix so far forward that we not only hit every one of our original Kickstarter targets—we outright dazzle everyone as a part of a new generation of Japanese developers.

Because frankly, although we are determined to prove to ourselves that we have what it takes to see Project Phoenix through, we also eagerly want to prove to you that we are not viewing your expectations from a rear-view perspective. We are determined to ship a game that will deliver on nothing short of what we have promised to you.

Now, for the update:

b408dcf7cb0af1a259bec1f2e5a42a76_original.jpg

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

The Battle Mage
The Battle Mage is a hybrid magic DPS, highly suited to applying heavy single target or AoE damage against armored targets. Contrary to the common mages from other fantasy based games, the Battle Mage from Project Phoenix is not a glass cannon. Clad in armor and trained in the ways of combat, he is already a fearsome opponent before applying any kind of magical damage or enhancements. Battle Mages are found in the thick of the fighting along with the Berserker and Paladin.

Armour

The Battle Mage's equipment consists of heavy plated armour.

Weapon

The Battle Mage uses enchanted melee weapons. Capable of magically buffing his equipment, choose wisely as to how you'd want him equipped as utility of his class will depend on it.

Skills

There are two major skill trees for the Battle Mage and it splits between Single Target magic DPS and AoE magic DPS.

Leader skills

The leader skill allows each squad to be lead by a character and in turn, it is characterised by a passive buff affecting the whole unit. In the case for the Battle Mage, we are currently considering enchant damage or magic resistance for the whole squad.

ecca5768b4b1f3601643c62f105dcbea_original.jpg
 

pakoito

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3,086
Tiny Metal doesn't look bad at all.



EDIT: 20 maps only apparently. No mention of a map editor.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,805
make kickstarter for guilable jrpg lovers
take half money and funnel rest into Advance Wars looking project (mostly for CGI as no gameplay is created)
run kickstarter for AW looking clone and scap another set of people
Take half and rest funnel into Erthbound looking project (mostly animation for trailer)
....
profit.
 

Dexter

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
15,655
http://archive.is/zUR1P
Developer Accuses Project Phoenix Director of Embezzling $1 Million From Kickstarter

Jason Schreier

19 minutes ago

Concept art for Hiroaki Yura’s newest game, Tiny Metal

Game developer Tariq Lacy has accused director Hiroaki Yura of stealing money from a Kickstarter called Project Phoenix to fund his latest game, Tiny Metal. Yura has fired back with his own allegations, accusing Lacy of sexual harassment, which Lacy denies. It’s a back-and-forth mudslinging fight and yet another piece of drama surrounding Yura’s disastrous $1 million Kickstarter project.

Rumors have been swirling about Project Phoenix since it first popped up in 2013, and among independent game developers in Japan, the million-dollar Kickstarter campaign has long been a source of consternation. Promising to “set a new standard of excellence for the Japanese gaming industry,” Project Phoenix raised $1,014,600 from 15,802 backers before failing to meet its deadlines. In 2015, Yura said the game would be delayed an additional three years. And in April 2017, Yura told backers that he planned to release a different game first, explaining that he’d found some investors who would be willing to help back Project Phoenix if this new game succeeded.

That new game is Tiny Metal, which was planned for release tomorrow before it received a last-minute delay to December 21. And Lacy, who worked as a marketing and PR manager on Tiny Metal, took to the Project Phoenix Twitter and Facebook accounts to accuse Yura’s company of running a scam.

Here’s what he wrote:
Two months after I was hired at AREA 35, I had learned that the company funded this project by running a scam through Kickstarter. They gathered several famous creators and ran a campaign known as “Project Phoenix”, then used the $1,000,000 received from the campaign to fund the “TINY METAL” project.

Here’s how it happened: after they received the Kickstarter money for Project Phoenix, they subsequently shut down their original company (Creative Intelligence Arts, or “CIA”), then used that same money to establish AREA 35 and pay for staff, equipment, and an office to make TINY METAL.

The company’s CEO, Hiroaki Yura, asked me to deflect any accusations that this money was from anyone other than private investors; in actuality, Hiroaki only dipped into his own funds and asked for money from private investors after the funding that he had secured for TINY METAL was running low. I refused this request to fabricate and minimize the truth for the purpose of misleading others, then told Hiroaki to remove me from all matters regarding Project Phoenix so that I would not be implicated in this affair.

You will notice progress reports on the Project Phoenix Kickstarter blog, as well as their official Project Phoenix blog. These were written periodically by Hiroaki Yura himself in order to squander doubts that the project was dead. The nature of these blog entries, through their infrequency and intentional ambiguity, reveals to us that the project never was meant to be released. To Hiroaki, this ruse under the guise of a campaign and blog was merely an effective means to receive funding while removing any obligations to investors.

Although the people behind Project Phoenix quickly deleted these posts, they spread quickly amongst backers and observers who have long been frustrated by Yura’s long-delayed project. (I received nearly a dozen emails when it happened.)

When I reached out to Yura for comment, he fired back with his own allegations about Lacy. “The post was posted by a staff whose contract has been bought out due to him being a toxic employee who has sexually harassed our female staff amongst many other problems,” Yura said in an e-mail. “The post is factually incorrect and thus was deleted from our account. That’s all we have to say for now, we’re looking into releasing legal documents and other proofs after discussing this with our lawyer.” Yura added that he couldn’t offer more details but said there were “three witnesses to that happening during that time.”

Lacy denied these accusations, saying in an e-mail, “No, Hiroaki’s statement about me being toxic and sexually harassing a staff member is not true. He is reacting to my statement with libel.” He also sent over a few hundred logs from the company’s Slack chat channel, although upon review, few if any of those logs appear to be relevant to either claim.

Yura said the Project Phoenix Kickstarter money went into the creation of the alpha build, which was poorly received by fans. He added that he’d also invested money he received from other jobs, like his work on the Square Enix game I Am Setsuna. “So in effect, not only did we use up the Kickstarter money and we have the assets to show for it, we also pitched in quite a bit of funds ourselves as apparent through all the videos, concepts, assets, gameplay that we have shown over the years,” Yura said in an e-mail. “Tiny Metal[‘s] initial investment came from a group of investors from Australia. This wasn’t enough however, to finish the development so the rest came through a deal with Sony Music Entertainment.”

This all makes for an ugly, public battle that will no doubt hang over the release of Tiny Metal, and it’s yet another blemish on a Kickstarter project that many backers suspect will never happen.
 

LESS T_T

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Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Project Phoenix not dead, director claims: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/project-phoenix-tiny-metal-hiroaki-yura

Tiny Metal Director Regrets Publicly Accusing Ex-Employee of Sexual Harassment
Hiroaki Yura says the information should have remained private, says he didn't scam backers. "If I wanted to scam [backers], I wouldn't be here. It's very easy for me to disappear."


Back in November, Tariq Lacy, a former employee of the Japanese indie studio AREA 35, accused the company's CEO Hiroaki Yura of embezzling money from a previous Kickstarter project to help fund the development of a new game, Tiny Metal. The public flare-up resulted in a public battle where both sides of the matter tossed out allegations against the other including claims of financial impropriety and sexual harassment.

Speaking to USgamer at PSX this year, Yura maintained that Tiny Metal was funded via personal funds and third-party investors. However, Yura went on record to express regret about publically accusing Lacy of sexually harassing female co-workers at AREA 35, saying that that information "should have been private."

"Whether it is true or false, we cannot say bad things about the person in question [Lacy] because that's defamation," Yura said. "Even if it's true, my staff has made some statements that is actually defamation and we don't want to further get us into trouble."

This is in response to a Kotaku story that reported on the current legal scuffle at AREA 35 back in November. Lacy, a PR and marketing manager for Tiny Metal, published a post accusing Yura's company of running, at least as Lacy claims, was a scam. In a Facebook post, Lacy accused Yura's company of taking money from a $1 million Kickstarter project called "Project Phoenix" and using those same funds to launch Tiny Metal. He wrote: Project Phoenix based on the successful completion and relase of Tiny Metal.

"Two months after I was hired at AREA 35, I had learned that the company funded this project by running a scam through Kickstarter. They gathered several famous creators and ran a campaign known as "Project Phoenix", then used the $1,000,000 received from the campaign to fund the "TINY METAL" project."​

Lacy explained that Yura asked him to deflect accusations that the funding for Tiny Metal came from anywhere outside private investors, to which Lacy refused.

In the immediate aftermath of this incident, the Facebook post was taken down and Yura issued a statement to Kotaku via email.

"The post was posted by a staff whose contract has been bought out due to him being a toxic employee who has sexually harassed our female staff amongst many other problems... The post is factually incorrect and thus was deleted from our account. That's all we have to say for now[.]"​

Project Phoenix based on the successful completion and relase of Tiny Metal.

At the time of the Kotaku report, Yura also said that the company is "looking into releasing legal documents and other proofs after discussing this with our lawyer."

USgamer can confirm that we have been shown various legal documents provided by Yura and his company, specifically related to the development of Tiny Metal.

In the meantime, AREA 35 has changed its official company stance in regards to Lacy's termination saying, "[Lacy] didn't fit into the corporate culture[,]" and suggesting that Lacy's localization efforts did not meet standards.

We have reached out to Lacy for comment.

The situation at AREA 35 appears to be escalating. "We are taking civil and criminal actions. It's actually quite serious," said Yura. "To be honest, I don't want to make it big, because Sony doesn't want us to make it big. It's not an issue that really shouldn't have been a big issue. But now we have no choice." Yura cites Lacy's releasing of private Slack conversations as a criminal action in Japan as part of the reason why the situation is quickly snowballing.

I told Yura that there were legitimate concerns regarding Project Phoenix, and that backers have been unhappy with the delays and assets released for the project so far.

"I deserve some of the feedback I did get. Because the delay's really bad," said Yura. And while the many business deals Yura and his company are involved with prevents them from revealing sensitive information, Yura added, "But if I wanted to scam [backers], I wouldn't be here. It's very easy for me to disappear."

As for Project Phoenix, Yura told USgamer, "No, it's not dead. Definitely not dead."
 

Jrpgfan

Erudite
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
2,007
His answer about firing the guy for harassment is typical of guilty people on the defensive. I was thinking about buying his game for the switch but now I'm gonna pass it.
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
8 months pass since previous update ...

Update #146

Jul 30 2018

Out of the frying pan...

Sorry for the lack of updates. All updates had to be put on hold pending a legal dispute with a disgruntled former employee of my other company AREA 35, Inc., Tariq Lacy.

The dispute is now resolved and Mr Lacy has publicly admitted the following: He had unauthorized third-party access to this project's Facebook page He used said access to falsely accuse and lie about the funding for this Kickstarter being embezzled to fund the development of AREA 35's game, TINY METAL.

Being clear once again, that's not something I would do, or have done, and no Kickstarter funding was ever used for anything other than work on Project Phoenix.

After pursuing litigation to defend myself from these lies, Tariq admitted that his claims were completely untrue and had agreed to publicly denounce his claims. However, he chose to not fully disclose and publicise his admission on his Facebook account as he had agreed which forced further legal action so that he would be held to his false words and be forced to disclose his dishonesty.

It's not surprising that it's difficult to get publicity to correct the record on a false accusation when it was so shocking to begin with, but I will continue to move forward.

0548216a69dc9897494fa95b01204a78_original.png

Tariq's public apology on Facebook

Because of the lies that were spread to damage AREA 35's reputation and hurt TINY METAL's release, many of those interested in TINY METAL and those introduced to it in the context of the fake funding claims chose not to support the game. Despite the negative coverage based on that lie, the sales of TINY METAL have been OK. While not a smash hit, it also hasn't been a bust, and we've got some good reviews and great experience & feedback that we can apply to our next game.

Because Sony Music Entertainment/Unties was the publisher for TINY METAL, we unfortunately couldn't get permission to give it to Project Phoenix backers. In the future, however, I hope to be able to provide future games to you as my thanks while still pursuing the ultimate goal of Project Phoenix and the originally offered rewards.

As I've stated in the past, my aspiration for Project Phoenix itself is to secure outside funding to move it forward and present something at the scope that I've intended. Right now, that has meant pursuing an indirect path through other separate game projects like TINY METAL both as a proving ground for outside funding of Project Phoenix and a means to provide for my staff and children. Through developing and shipping other completed projects like TINY METAL, I aim to create the stepping stones needed to resume Project Phoenix and begin to provide all of you something tangible for your support. Project Phoenix will always be a marathon rather than a sprint, but I do plan to get there one step at a time.

Hiroaki Yura
Director / Producer of Project Phoenix
 

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