CLANG was a rather ambitious Kickstarter that made headlines last year. Backed by famous sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, CLANG promised to revolutionize sword play gaming. Stephenson wanted to make sword play more than button mashing by making it a realistic experience. It was to be a PC Arena based game that focused on 1v1 multiplayer battles.
Started on June 9th 2012, they had a lofty goal of $500,000 (that’s 5 zeroes guys). One month later, it surpassed its goal ($526,125 exactly) and had over 9,000 backers, and then began development. Fast forward to last week and progress has stalled. Work on the game is only being completed on “Evenings and Weekends.”
***Gameplay footage released four months ago***
What Happened?
Apparently, the project has run out of money. Kotaku mentions the money raised from Kickstarter wasn’t even meant to go towards the games development. The developers were attempting to entice other people (rich people) to donate more money to the project. When no one stepped forward to donate, the money disappeared. Developers began seeking other employment (can you blame them?) and the project received the “Evenings and Weekends” tag.
Visit CLANG‘s Kickstarter here to view updates from the developers. Despite this news, the developers still sound optimistic about the project. To me, CLANG seems to be headed toward development hell (Or is already there, depending how you look at it) with a release date that could be years away.
If nothing else, let CLANG serve as a warning to anyone who donates on Kickstarter. Getting a project funded doesn’t guarantee a return on your donation. All 9,000 backers appear to have lost their money at this point (especially sad for the 8 people who donated ten grand or more). Some backers have received their swag (T-shirts and such) as promised at various donation levels but the project itself looks dead in the water.
Have you ever donated to Kickstarter? Have you ever been disappointed by the result? Let me know in the comments down below!
