Hiveswap's Stolen Kickstarter Money? (Lost funding ipgd rumor explained) Homestuck Game
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2020
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I played through Hiveswap Act 1 on my let's play channel here:
• Hiveswap: Act 1 + Act ...
Hiveswap Act 2 has been announced for November 2020!
Starting from a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2012, the development of Hiveswap (AKA Homestuck Adventure Game) has been nothing short of a disaster.
Everything is taking longer than planned, the project has been chopped up into 2 games that both span 2 'Acts', none of which have been completed quickly...
While many are quick to point fingers and blame this Kickstarter game disaster at Andrew Hussie, What Pumpkin?, and it's other developers - there has long been rumors of some shady dealings behind the scenes.
Former Homestuck contributor ipgd first broke the story on tumblr, explaining how The Odd Gentlemen's allegedly stolen Kickstarter money.
I hope that by piecing together the speculations and rumors behind Hiveswap's money and development we can better understand why this story caught on. And IF it's true, why the game has been massively delayed, and under-delivered on that 2.5 Million dollar promise!
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The fact that legal action can cost more than what you would get in settlement money in these types of situations is so messed up! It basically ensures that smaller creators would be easier to exploit
on some level it feels like that's the point
The legal system's not about whether or not you're correct. It's about whether or not you can afford and have the time to defend yourself
I swear that’s part of the point of its design.
Makes me upset cause hiveswap is such a interesting concept..
There's always next time
OddGentlemen is sounding a lot like ShadyGentlemen now
Which sucks, because OddGentlemen is a subsidiary development studio of Sierra Games. A long dead, but recently revived developer of my childhood games. :/
MY GOD, THEY WERENT ODD GENTLEMAN, THEY WERE GENTLEMAN THIEVES! (Runs to window and watches them glide down on umbrellas with bags of cash in thier hands) CURSE YOU ODD GENTLEMEN!!!
@@ryanrigley2558 More like just thieves at that point, not even gentlemen. Lacking class and such.
With what they did they should have been sued
Can't get over how sad Joey is in the thumbnail.... I really hope the developers are doing well for Hiveswap Act 2, though 2020 is hard on everyone.
@X X lol thanks for the hot take
it's supposedly almost done
the trailer just dropped, its coming in november
wish granted
That clip of the Odd Gentalman's choice to do King's Quest, that one clip, I Identified multiple separate tells, one example is that the Dude said "Project" and then "King's Quest" a obvious tell that he doesn't want to reveal that he did something wrong, if he did nothing wrong he'd have said the names of both projects rather than avoid one
This is not meant to make them less suspicious or to defend them. However the clip seems to be promotional material. Generally speaking in that kind of stuff you are not allowed to mention other (competing) products. What's more telling is that they flat out say they dropped the one project for the other
This is a well-researched video, and the educated guesses you provide are reasonable and make very good points! Well done.
*I strongly believe that Andrew Hussie was taken advantage of,* not only because the video game industry is no stranger to exploitation of those unable to legally defend themselves, but especially with how some of TOG's other projects indicate that there is some truth to this story.
But I have a feeling that Hussie might've been somewhat responsible for the problem as well, potentially missing or ignoring some devestating fine print. *Of course the terms of the contract could've been perfectly fair, and TOG simply refused to meet their obligations, but I wouldn't rule out the possiblity of Hussie foolishly agreeing to a bad contract.* Considering that his company What Pumpkin _failed to communicate_ the status of both Act 1's and Act 2's development properly with the community, announcing delays only _after_ release dates had passed and claiming that _things were going smoothly_ when they really weren't, *I have the feeling that he might be terrible at organizing projects.* This might be why he got caught in a legal trap in the first place.
Legit. We fans know pretty well how Hussie isn't like a super powered planning god or anything. He's just a dude that created something which blew up in popularity, and now has to shoulder way more responsibility than he bargained for. He sort of learns as he goes when it comes to a lot of things, and that's difficult in a predatory game industry that won't hesitate to screw you over if you're not constantly paranoid. If you don't already know the lesson, it's a lesson that *really* hurts to learn.
Feels like what happened with Omocat, not someone who meant to do bad or come off as bad
But someone who's poor management and issues with keeping up communication made them look pretty bad to a lot of people
A UA-camr Sarah Z was threatened with legal action for making a video about Homestuck, telling her to take the video down. Legit she was being emailed by Andrew Hussie who was telling her to remove the video, and mentioned that he hadn’t watched the video. The reason for the threat: telling both the stories of TOG taking advantage of Hussie and Hussie being to blame, presenting both as equally true. Of course I’m not saying your wrong but it seems the Hiveswap team isn’t opposed to being sleazy. Have a great day!
I've never seen anyone talk or mentioned this, so I appreciate it a lot! Thank you for this
Happy to help spread the word.
Even if it is just rumors, I was *shocked* that there didn't seem to be a single video out there covering it!
At this point... it's weird. I'm not even part of Homestuck community anymore and still know about that. I gues, i hear about this year or two ago. And i clearly remeber a video about this.. but i not shure, was it on eng or russian (if the second, that kinda explain a lot and the same time nothing).
Thats all.. just weird. I wish i know why creator doesnt spread more info.
I'm glad I voted for this option. This is truly fascinating to me and I really appreciate that you show the breakdown including fees from Kickstarter which are often forgotten
It was really interesting to research! It's just an underexplored topic, and most of the relevant details are somewhat scattered. Seeing it all come together, and realizing how MUCH of that funding was likely lost was really gutting!
Ok upon reading Homestuck for the first time in 2022 and it looks like Hussie _actually_ spent all the Hiveswap money proposing to Vriska.
Very disappointed that people would try to cover this up
Didn't know hell about the background of Hiveswap, this was interesting
I have no idea what your comment is supposed to say.
@@TheRealChrisTDH auto correct, it was meant to be "didn't know the hell"
@@serb4446 that makes sense xD
dje si sine
This was really well formatted. Did a good job of giving the benefit of the doubt to both parties. Weather the money was stolen or just mismanaged, it's easy for a normal person to not funny understand how to handle that much money. On the upside, it's good to see that the strength to push forward that's been with home stuck for years is also there with the game. Might just grab it if act 2 comes out this year.
*fully
not funny
man, i just wanna see what happens to joey and jude :/
your username broke my screen
I come from the future to say Hiveswap Act 2 did get released and oh boy it's great
This has definitely gotten a lot more complicated considering more recent things, wouldn't you agree?
Yeah Sarah Z released a video on it and What Pumpkin responded by threatening legal action.
Yeah, real terrible what they did, I just hope we get closure for Hiveswap, Homestuck^2, and Hauntswitch if possible
Really dang interesting. I know from experience that the game dev industry, and especially indie devs can be shady. I really hope Hussey can continue his work on the games uninterrupted and find success with them.
I wouldn't expect something this dirty in such a publicly developed project!
But I guess it's easy enough to cover that stuff up, force NDA's and binding contracts, and simply let the blame fall on whoever ran the Kickstarter (ie. Hussie here)
@@2leftthumbs NDA's are necessary, but dang they suck sometimes. Also, I definitely misspelt Hussie in my first comment 😅
Game development is a MESS from literal start to "finish"
given that and how, more than likely, Mr. Hussie is an amateur to game development and contracts...
I"m really glad to have this pop up on my algorithm lol. Good to see a timeline of events. Great video!
I would like to add one minor detail. Since HiveSwap and Friendsim, What Pumpkin has partnered with Fellow Traveler as a publisher. They seem to be more open with their fan bases for their games than TOG, even having discord channels for each fan base (including one for Hiveswap and one for Pesterquest)
Great video. I'm glad someone on UA-cam has finally done a deep dive into this. Would love to see a follow-up on the troubled development of Act 2, covering the regime change in 2018 when Viz Media took over and allegedly fired the director of Act 1 and some of the existing game staff.
The original team had hinted that Act 2 would release in early 2018. They even ran a promotional campaign called the "Troll Call" on social media, revealing a pair of new troll characters from the upcoming game every week for several months. These reveals were to conclude with the release of Hiveswap Act 2 in early 2018, but instead we got the Friendsim series of visual novels a few months later.
I suspect that the Hiveswap Friendsim and its follow-up, Homestuck: Pesterquest, were designed as a fast, cheap way to replenish funding as Hiveswap's development dragged on.
I know there's a tweet from a WP staff member from around 2017 suggesting that development of future installments would be "much faster" than what it took for Act 1. I know that's not much to go on (I don't even remember who it was), but the old team seemed optimistic about the release schedule back in 2017.
Also, not sure if this was made clear in the video, but Hiveswap and Hauntswitch will both (allegedly) be FOUR acts long each, meaning that Hiveswap is still only a quarter finished. More recent updates have suggested the companion game Hauntswitch may not happen at all.
Keep up the great work.
It's a shame that Act 2 has also been plagued with difficulties. But that seems more like a combination of some bad luck, and poor management. Much less nefarious that the supposed details surrounding Act 1!!
I actually had no idea the plan was for 4 acts. I wasn't sure if the 2nd would be the end? But I never found a conceret answer to that. I REALLY hope they can sail through 3 and 4 then! I can't interest being sustained if it takes them 3 years every time.
@@2leftthumbs lol
Moral of the tale: Never outsource, especially when you yourself don't have experience in the field you are outsourcing for.
Y'all didnt know this drama? Thought it was everywhere
Though many people talk about it, the story hasn't been chronicled in the way this video does. A person may understand that Hiveswap experienced many delays without understanding why. A person may have heard that money was stolen from the project without knowing the specifics of the allegation, including the source, the reliability, or even the accused party.
Finally, this hasn't been everywhere for a few years now, with the drama beginning in 2014 and the first act of Hiveswap being released in 2017, six and three years ago respectively. Anybody who wasn't around back then, or even people who arrived to the scene late, will likely find piecing together the story impossible. Telling the story in such a fashion is useful to anybody curious about what happened with Hiveswap's development who wasn't there to see it unfold.
@@luckyc4t110 it's really old news in the HS fandom. aint a lot of folks who dontated to the kickstarter still around after. well. everything.
@@MK.5198 That's the point. It's old enough news that people who are new to it will have trouble piecing it together.
I mean I don't like homestuck so no, I didn't lol
I've heard of Homestuck. I've heard of Hiveswap. I never correlated the two together. So no, I didn't know about this, but it IS nice of you to ASSUME I knew something.
its 2020 now, we still have to hold onto hope
Hiveswap came out at a quite low time in my life, the game’s artwork is beautiful, I love the personality and design of the characters, seeing Joey smile always warms my heart, it gave me inspiration for my art/drawing style and it even lead me into reading homestuck (I’m now at arc 4 but I haven’t read it in a while).
I didn’t play it tho but rather watch a let’s play by UA-camr jacksepticeye. I too am one of the fans who was introduced to homestuck by this delightful game and I too am waiting for act 2.
I was somewhat familiar already with its backstory from another video by rpgmonger, however, after watching your video, I have started to feel somewhat concerned about how act 2 of hiveswap is gonna turn out after all the stuff that happened during the development of act 1. I hope I turns out good but only time will tell
If this is anything to go by, is that this only lessens any more trust at kickstarter campaigns
andrew was deeply not the same person after all this happened. The slow at first, and then sharp decline in quality that homestuck saw after this was entierly due what ToG did. And I will never forgive them for it.
oops, was I WRONG about this lmao. Looks like andrew is as much to blame for all this as TOG ever was. Shaping up to just be an asshole, instead of a funny asshole.
Wasnt he always a dickhead?
Seems the OddGentlemen are indeed living up to their name of being odd, and shady
I hope Hiveswap Act 2 pans out. Homestuck^2 has been disappointing to the point I don't accept it as canon, this is all we have left lol
Why not tho
@@jonathanredacted3245 characters are fucked, bad writing, less movement on panels, I was honestly ready for it to be over.
@@technicallygood4620 you're missing out
Homestuck 2 is canon only if you want it to be, Hussie himself even said so.
It’s dog shit I’m with you on that
In the words of Sweet Bro and hella Jeff:
It keeps happening, bro!
I warned you bro, I warned you about [kickstarters].
I donated 100$ when I was deep in the Homestuck fandom back in high school. I got the signed poster and little other add ons included. I actually framed the poster because I anticipated it to be worth more in the future. I still have it in storage and I’m waiting for it to increase in value enough to get my money back
Hey, hang on! That's me in the video! That's my username at 12:11!
But... I didn't make that. I think I got it from /u/mindbleach? Can't find the post now, but I'm pretty sure that's who I got it from.
EDIT: No, hang on. I got it from /u/MrCheeze. I found the original.
www.reddit.com/r/homestuck/comments/55jyfq/hiveswap_the_odd_gentlemen_build/
Much appreciated! I did my best to try and trace back the source of that.
Now that you've shared the actual link, I think I may have at one point found and lost that link. Dang! I scripted this videos months before I ever got the chance to finish it - so I lost the MrCheeze link! Thanks for your honesty, and taking the time to share :)
You are one of the best, friend.
Cousin.
Chum.
I have a person looking over my shoulder so I don’t say my usual friendly word and lose our bet.
i remember i bought hiveswap act one the day it came out. i wasn't sure why it was taking so long for act two and now i see why.
Your profile pic is cursed
Wow, this deserves way more views than it has! It's really well made and informative. It really is a shame that Hiveswap has had such a troubled history, hopefully later acts eventually see the light of day
Honestly, I think that What Pumpkin/ Hussie should really make a formal update post on where all the money has gone and given more frequent updates. I've been looking at the whole story and after the Odd Gentleman fiasco, I feel like a lot of the games failures has to do with mismanagement. For one I'm not sure whose idea it was to open up a game studio in NY and then have all your employees move to NY, only to then fire them without good notice. Stuck in NY, with no money to support them. And there was also another story where they hired an employee that said they could code, only for the guy to muc around for months without doing any work. These are a few of the many stories of the development hell the game faced at WP. Many of these stories coming from ex-employees and there are also rumors that there rebooting the Hiveswap team again. With the musicians staying.
I can't speak for anyone else and I'm not a big fan of the HS series but I did fall in love with the Hiveswap and its characters. But I felt really pissed when Hiveswap Friendsims came out and we kept getting updates for that and when Presterquest came out and we got more updates for that. Both are visual novel game and can be made pretty quickly compared to other styles of games. But the main attraction is Hiveswap. And WP and Hussie, in many people's eyes are kinda seen as untrustworthy. The last update we got for Hiveswap was last year and to have these simple games pushed and more attention on them isn't doing them any favors.
So at least to give goodwill in my eyes, I would really like to see a public statement on the development and more frequent updates on the game. Even if their simple updates, something is always going to be better than nothing. And honestly, if they can maybe even a demo for act 2 so that people can get a taste for it and even get hyped for its release. I hope I don't sound like a nag because I don't entirely blame Hussie. Obviously, the deal with the Odd gentleman went south and hurt them a lot. But every choice after that was in Hussies's hands and that's where my blame for him begins. I guess simply I want there to be more openness into what's really going on. Because Ex-Employees arent always 100%, but if this is where people are getting the majority of their info and the lack of official info and trust then of course people are more eager to listen to whatever.
I can really only hope for the best and give them best wishes. But I doubt by this rate we'll see Act 2 come out in 2020.
I, too, doubt it will come out this year, since it seems like What Pumpkin are still busy with HS^2 (the Homestuck "sequel")--which also has a patreon to support all of future HS projects, including Hiveswap.
@@khiarastales2091 Yeah and I know for a fact with the dumpster fire that Hiveswap was their probably making more bank off of Homestuck than Hiveswap. And I doubt that one Patreon can generate enough money to support all the projects WP has.
I’m hoping act 2 will come out soon tbh but I can kinda understand delays this year cause of the pandemic
nah. would've come out already. Act 2, the rest of Hiveswap and Hauntswitch was canned the second VIZ bought WP and they had internal staff issues in 2018. Aysha said that it would be out if it wasn't for corona, but she forgets to mention that they never worked on this game in person and it was done digitally the whole time. and she's also a hypocrite. if WP can continue to upd8 HS^2, make and release more Pesterquest volumes too during the quarantine (especially with the 2 month break they took from HS^2) they could've released Act 2 by now. Hiveswap will be forever stuck in development hell and have whatever shitty VN project WP makes next and HS^2 constantly shifting the attention away. I hope im proven wrong but as of now, seems highly unlikely.
Couldn't they just simply work on the game from their homes? Like........
November 25th
The whole grabbing money from a project to do another reminds me of the whole GearBox and the Alien: Colonial Marines deal...
I honestly think it was hussie's fault for outsourcing. There was so much money from the kickstarter that a few competent experienced developers could have been hired and made the game. Still waiting for act 2. Act 1 came out before I started university and im about to fucking graduate. I hope it comes out before then. :)
Did you graduate?
I do think it's important to keep in mind how poorly managed the kickstarter itself was, the project was marketed as the homestuck adventure game, all of the promo images, the project trailer and backer rewards were related to the comic proper, and the fact that the kickstarter announcement trailer lacked any original footage and simply reused animations from the webcomic make the later announcement of it being a spinoff with none of the original cast returning come off as some serious false advertising, I seriously think the project regardless of the odd gentleman was poorly managed
great vid
I remember when this was all like, fresh news and drama, it was a wild topic in the Homestuck fandom
Homestuck, now there's a name I haven't heard in years
Oh and there was another rumor that was pretty popular in it moment: how WP fired a lot of the original artist that worked on Hivesawp/Homestuck when Vizmedia bought all about Homestuck related stuff. In tumblr some of those artist said that was just job stuff but a few ones said that they were kicked out from the project and all their work and time got in hand of Viz, fans were pretty angry at this bcs that mean another delay of Hiveswap, then the dating sim come out and some expeculated that it were used to calm the storm, or even to get more money for the fans... so many possibles but this is definitely a sh*t show lol
Fantastic video and you have exceptional work on your channel. I came across your sans video at random and was sucked into your work; can't wait for the day you get the recognition you deserve for the quality of your work.
Thanks a lot for saying so Iron!
I appreciate so much that you would be willing to check out other non-Undertale content on the channel :)
a phenomenal well researched and well made video. so much so, I almost wish it had existed back when I was researching the fandom a year ago to make my project on the series/franchise. but I am glad it exists as a resource for people to watch and enjoy now! well made and well met.
Cheers Marco! Glad you enjoyed it.
I wish it was a more well known story as well. The more people who know, the more who can potentially contribute to unraveling the truth!
Thank you for making this video. I've been wanting someone to cover this story for a long time now
This is both interesting and really sad. I loved playing King's Quest, but if it's true that the money for that game was stolen really leaves a bad taste for it. I can't lie tho, I just can't give up on playing that game since I personally love it so much
Hey thank you so much for the video, I distanced a lot from Hiveswap aft Act 1 due to the lack of a Roadmap and updates, but I felt like the game was made with more passion, came back recently due to the act 2 announcement, was a little lost, it is really sad what happened during the Giga Pause, I hope that after all that TOG fiasco Hussie is doing everything to guarantee we all get the game in shorter periods from now on (specially who donated so much) :(
Moral of the story: NEVER EVER IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES trust a unknown company
The strange thing here, was that TOG were known! I think the success of their first game created this air of trustworthiness. Apparently it takes a LOT more than that to trust anyone with that size of a project
Man. There's a lot more background work involved with Kickstarter than I initially thought.
For sure! The way money can bleed away form a project so quickly is pretty terrifying. I don't think a lot of people weigh that very carefully before starting one, and setting their goals
ACT 2 IS ON THE WAY BAYBEEEEE
Thanks for making this. This has always pissed me off, so it's nice to see someone make a video explaining the whole thing.
I'm honestly leaning more to the mismanaging side, I don't blame him entrusting The Odd Gentleman but Hussie is still accountable for what came next, and I wouldn't be so harsh it wasn't by his current behavior and the radio silence that we are getting.
What you said in 9:29 is actually close to the reality when you analyze the current team, not only they are infamous for bullying and harassing fans, with one of them even saying that she wants to burn Homestuck(like that Kickstarter guy who burned his books), their writing and directing skill leaves a lot to be desired, I played the entirety of Pesterquest and that game was a massive trainwreck, filled with plotholes, design flaws, and other bad stuff.
Hussie, especially nowadays, is a very shady guy, especially after I saw the emails that he traded with the Reddit mods. Also, the Homestuck^2 Patreon and the fact that Hussie spends thousands of dollars with stupid crap like his Eboy account is a huge sign that he doesn't know how to manage this sort of stuff or simply isn't caring anymore.
(EDITED): Post with the link to download the Emails, if you are curious to see what I was talking about: www.reddit.com/r/homestuck/comments/hswn9z/remember_lads_hussie_does_not_care_about_us/
Really good video btw!
I haven't been keeping up with homestuck ever since the epilogues dropped, but these facts you're presenting paint a very morbid picture.. This really saddens me because homestuck was always something special in my mind and it fueled most of my creative endeavors. "There will never ever be something similar to homestuck" is what i thought.. and apparently i was right.
@@avalancherelapse Homestuck was really special for me too, but Hussie changed... it gave me moments of joy, it made me friends with amazing people and so on.
I guess that this is what happens when fame gets over your head.
I think Hussie is just really depressed tbh. Like Homestuck was never supposed to be as big as it did. Maybe he yearns for those old mspa days. Like you know how sometimes people are like "hahaha I don't care anymore lmao" but it is all a front because on the inside they are suffering and can't talk about it? Yeah that's what I think is going on.
Also I do question if the Viz media acquisition plays into this?
What plot holes?
What design flaws?
I loved Pesterquest, and I really like Homestuck^2. I don't follow any of the WhatPumpkin stuff outside of the games and comics, though, so maybe that makes my perspective rose-tinted? Anyway, I'm just glad new stuff is coming out.
thanks for making this video! I stopped hoping for hiveswap act 2 honestly after a misbegotten $500 contribution to the project. Knowing everything listed here makes me pretty sad for hussie, and shocked that act 2 might actually happen.
I miss joey & xefros & the troll call trolls a lot. this game came to me at an uncertain time in my life and the friendsims/weekly troll reveals were like my own little upd8s
just wanted to mention that this video rules and another youtuber did an explanation of the process that has a significant amount of misinformation. This video deserves to blow up lmao
sarah z?
Very informative. You've most definitely earned my sub. Keep up the good work!
Okey, so The Odd Gentlemen stole the money of HS for other games purposely ? At least, the devs could released their game in two parts, so that's a little fine for them.
If the story is true, then yes, it was willfully stolen
Good video! I loved the way everything was presented.
Thanks for your research!
Wow I never knew Hiveswap and Kings Quest has a tense history. I didn’t even think they were even relation to each other. Damn.
Did those Odd Gentlemen even complete their King's Quest project? Even though they wanted to do it, those guys sound too much like moochers on the same level as the all powerful mythical beings Dib from Invader Zim wanted to use to get rid of Zim.
They did finished it, 5 chapters in total. Pisses me off they embezzled all that money.
Dude. So that one company Odd Gentlemen basically took money to finish their Kings quest game?! It’s way too obvious. Once they left odd gentlemen they were able to actually stricter things better.
man, i remember reading that ipgd post on internet archive years ago and coming out absolutely certain that hiveswap would never come out. when it was finally released ~2 years later, i remember thinking something along the lines "hiveswap? no, it cant be, looks way too good to be THAT trainwreck lol". even if the rumor is untrue, its clear that the game was probably in development hell for a WHILE. the fact it came out at all still has me impressed, although im still concerned about their ability to release act 2/hauntswitch in a timely manner, esp. given all the time spent on friendsim/pesterquest (even though i personally enjoyed them, and understand the logic behind making a simpler game to preview characters and settings while waiting for the main release, the release of pesterquest really felt like a "sorry we still havent released act 2 yet take this instead xoxo" sort of deal).
When I first checked out hive swap, needless to say I loved it, a ton. I’m buying acts 1-2 as soon as I get to tech school.
i think another crazy/interesting/weird aspect was that Pesterquest was released, which is another Hiveswap Friendsim like game but based off the main homestuck characters. It was a fun time, but I also felt like once they finished Friendsim, the main focus should have been Hiveswap....
This got recommend to me, i thought damn this game took a while to come out huh and i saw that act 2 was still not out.
I bet there’s more issues now in 2020 that might be effecting the process of making the next game as well. I just hope Andrew hasn’t given up yet.
I've always felt that going 2D was probably for the best. I really don't think 3D would have felt right - it's just not Homestuck. Even the slight 3D shading on faces that appeared in some panels close to the end of the webcomic itself felt a little... uncomfortable.
Andrew absolutely should have sued to get that money back from the Odd Gentlemen. He can get legal fees as an award in a lawsuit. If it was his money then he has the right to not pursue it but because it's other people's money he had an obligation to get it back. This is where he failed by letting himself be taken advantage of, allowing other people to run off with money that was trusted to him. It wouldn't just be old judges determining if he got robbed, there a things called "expert witnesses" who could testify to how the billed hours don't add up to a final product. Even if the contract was weak, if The Odd Gentlemen were particularly egregious in their mishandling of the product then a court may just look passed the contract. On top of that courts can, and do, award legal fees. Andrew had a strong case he just didn't bother since it wasn't his money.
Hiveswap is nice, glad they switched to 2d. Still waiting for Act 2.
While appreciate the care taken to not assume everything as fact, I have always assumed these rumors to be true. Occam’s razor and such.
gave $100 to the Kickstarter in middle school and BRO I really regret that ;-;
STILL dont got any form of the game just saying
I'm sorry to hear that :(
I hope you received everything other than the "signed physical copy" that was obviously never printed??
I mean... everything other than the full complete game/series...
@@2leftthumbs I got a signed poster and some pins and a bag and BRO I gave them 2 a friend in high school who is still into homestuck
ok but frfr i hope they are using some of the money they are gaining with hs2 and pesterquest for act 2. if not, tbh they couldve skipped those two entirely and focused more on hiveswap
I actually head about this controversy and it make's me really sad as I honestly enjoyed what I managed to play of the game - and was real excited when I saw Act2 go up on steam.
Man the odds against TOG isn't a good sounding one and them pulling their name off of other game's just sounds shady. The cards are definitely not in their favor.
Still waiting for that Hiveswap game disk. Tick tock, Scamdrew, it's been almost 10 years now.
i wouldnt be surprised if the money was stolen i lost hope in humanity when someone can can offer you help to get a wheelchair for the disabled manged to raise the money then take it and run ... yeah
Yeah, there are loads of shady charities out there. It's awful, because it's led us to a point where people are so untrusting of charities, that even the good ones struggle to get the support they need or deserve!
I don't think it's a valid excuse to say: Well he wasn't used to handling that amount of cash so it's okay. While I will agree that he shouldn't bare all the responsibility, he does share some of it.
For sure!
Not getting an accountant if it felt like too much to manage, and generally fumbling/bumbling would all still be Hussie's fault. But I would allow for some forgiveness, when I'm sure it's easy to over and under estimate seemingly trivial things at that scale. A $1000 waste suddenly feels like a drop in the bucket. Yet simultaneously, an error of $50,000 could pass you by almost without notice!
The enormity of it must have left him reeling. I can empathize with that. But if action was never taken after the scope became apparent to protect that money, then that's all on him.
Wow aside from the other accusations just dumping a client cause you found another project more interesting is pretty scummy and the casual way he talks about it makes me mad.
wait, where is it said that 2020 is the act 2 release date?
I went scouring for that answer! I could have sworn it was announced alongside the trailer from last year!? I was so confident in that. A few sites list 2020, but now I can't find an actual source or statement from the team!? I feel like I'm being gaslit, holy cow! Maybe the steam page used to say!?? I'm losing my mind over here!
@@2leftthumbs congrats it’s coming this month and it was originally supposed to be last year but things happen
Thank you.
Bless the indie game dev scene.
4:57 That pie chart does NOT match up with the percents written next to it.
r/dataisugly would be pleased
hahaha HA HA HA THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
What do you mean? The other dramas?
I totally forgot about this game..
While I’m still miffed Odd Gentlemen stole the extra money, I much prefer what we have
I'm not familiar with any of this, just a random click on UA-cam, but it seems like that the guy didn't use a lawyer of his own and possibly signed a contract with the devs that they presented to him because he trusted them and his own ability to understand contracts. It's understandable but unfortunate. If he didn't use a lawyer it could explain the way he got screwed over and if he did then clearly the lawyer did not do their job in understanding the contract and TOG's ability to weasel out of it.
Still, it's peaked my interest in Homestuck. Gonna look it up.
I'm suspicious that it came down to something like that. The rookie trusting the seasoned devs to draw up a reasonable contract - and not wanting to pay a lawyer to confirm it was all above board? It just feels very likely
@@2leftthumbs It happens all the time, it's always worth the legal fees when you contract for large sums of money. Better for all involved, you know what you can expect and they know you're serious.
If they didn't scam him then why the hell does he have to be so secretive about what they did or didn't do. if it was just a big misunderstanding then Andrew hussie would be more happy to clear everything up. It's obvious he was scammed
Let's have him do another one and we will all donate!
There is a patreon under the name of Homestuck2 if You are interested
@@MazzillaMadness very interested, tell me more
@@rrrmj1325 A Team directed by Hussie (the original author) is working on Homestuck 2: beyond canon, a sequel of Homestuck.
There are 2 new chapters + 1 bonus each month.
There is also a patreon related to the project, but the money from it is also used to found other Homestuck related projects like : the games Pesterquest (now completed) and Hiveswap act 2 (now in development).
@@MazzillaMadness thanks for the heads up!!! I'll definitely support it!
I think there must be a mistake in this videos research as it contradicts both my memory of game's development and what has been released:
Hiveswap and Hausswitch, were said to feature 4 Acts, each! Not 2/2. Sorta confirmed by Hiveswap Act 2 leaving the story about halfway to any kind of resolution.
Yup, that was my misunderstanding!
I thought the intent was to have 4 Acts across 2 games. Turns out the games are 4 Acts each!!
"November 2020"
Yeah, we'll see...
Yeah
I sware that the games been split into 2 games that both are gonna have 4 acts? Or am i wrong, i sware the homestuck official twitter said that at some point, or it was on the hiveswap website
might of been on the patrion for homestuck^2 or kickstarter for hiveswap
As a Hiveswap kickstarter backer and a former Homestuck BNF, this is a pretty good analysis. BUT you got at least one thing wrong. Hiveswap and Hauntswitch are to have 4 episodes EACH, not 4 episodes between the both of them,, or that's what was announced back in 2014. Otherwise, great job 👍
Yeah I doubt act 2 will get published this year. With how one (or even more?? Idk) members of WP getting fired, there’s going to be drama. I mean there was already since the WP team are notorious bullies and absolutely terrible at handling shit. with them working on HS2 as well since hussie has basically taken a backseat in development, they’re overloaded and just putting out garbage writing and games to satiate fans. homestuck basically died once hussie decided to make a game and it’s just an overbeaten dead cash cow at this point
i agree, they should have just left it as a webcomic when it ended in 2016. im a big fan of hs especially hiveswap but personally I dislike the epilogues and hs^2 they don’t feel the same and i think it was a money-grabbing lost cause. i hope act 2 comes out soon but the 3 fucking year anniversary of act 1 was like 4 days ago and we haven’t gotten ANY official news since the steam release
If true. It makes me think of the proven case of Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox
Colonial Marines turned out so poorly in part because aside of dumping almost all of the heavy duty
on another studio, he also funneled money from its development into Borderlands 2. A real class-act
Another story of being screwed over is Running With Scissors handing Postal III to Akella only to wrestle with them
to get it back after seeing such trainwreck of results and finish it themselves as best they could, somehow.
Both stories were covered by Matt McMuscles on his channel, and as for cautionary tales
There's that time Liam Robertson covered the _outright scam_ that was Brash Entertainment
you know he probably just spent it all on visits to olive garden
Forgot to mention Homestuck2 or PesterQuest
hiveswap act 2 was just put onto steam (not the full game but it does have a steam page now)
the link: store.steampowered.com/app/1181840/HIVESWAP_Act_2/
Wasn't it put up in October? Or am I thinking of something else
this game has had such bad luck its a real downer. hopefully theyre able to pull through in the end
Someone's been taking notes from Game Dev Tycoon.
Is it safe to say that the "act 2" of the game has/might/been delayed due to 2020, um, "being 2020", or is it all ready out at this time?
I can't even find anything that lists it as 2020 anymore!
Either I'm totally mistaken in that *ever* being a release target, or they've quietly delayed it.
@@2leftthumbs Would make sense given how the year has been.
@@2leftthumbs It's here now! The trailer for act two of Hiveswap is out in the Homestuck Official UA-cam channel :DD It says November 2020 so I'm hoping everything is well for act 2.
i was very active in the tumblr fandom at the time of this, and holy crap it was such a mess. i was genuinely convinced that hiveswap would never be released. i had a lot of fun with act 1, friendsim, and pesterquest though so i hope the game can somehow make it out of development hell. im sadly still very much a huge homestuck fan, so im trying to hold on to hope, but idk if it will actually make it out alive.
Was that chapter 2 trailer on youtube real?
Yup, that one was posted on Steam last October.
Yup. Still only set as a generic "2020" release all this time later. TBD what happens with that
I just wanna know if there is gonna be an act 3
Good news then. Act 3 is in the works, new character art has been released.
@@calebgoodman3028 >:D
.. But ive got to be stopping soon, for my sanity >:/
@@dotsdot5608 It’s still a ways off. Also how is this hurting your sanity?
Thankfully the rumor is false, now that Hiveswap Act 2 is out