Anyone heard from 'But I Love You' recently?

[tahu157]

This EVN: https://vndb.org/v25179 was funded on Kickstarter in 2016. I wasn't a backer but I've been somewhat interested in the project since it was announced. The dev seems to have disappeared though. There have been no kickstarter updates since 2016. I checked their kickstarter profile and it turns out that they haven't actually logged into their account since 2016 either. And last but not least their domain name has expired: http://www.novellagaming.com 

I can't tell if this was a scam or an actual project that just ran out of steam. Either way, it kinda looks like the dev doesn't plan on delivering the VN anymore.

[Plk_Lesiak]

Considering Kickstarter updates and authors Twitter account going silent back in 2016 (it looks like the Kickstarter campaign was run in December 2014/January 2015), the project is definitely long dead. Considering how abrupt the radio silence was, I'd suspect some RL disaster striking the dev and derailing the whole process completely. Purposefully scamming people on a VN Kickstarter and then delivering updates for the next years and a half sound like the most tedious way on Earth to steal money.

EDIT: Just to be clear, the utter lack of communication and no attempt at taking responsibility for the failed project during the three years since it went off the rails is still absolutely disgusting. I just think it's very unlikely that was the author's original intent.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[tahu157]

Think he’s in jail or something? Dead, even?

[jansonseth]

4 minutes ago, tahu157 said:

Think he’s in jail or something? Dead, even?

That might be the case, considering they still posted updates.

[Plk_Lesiak]

28 minutes ago, tahu157 said:

Think he’s in jail or something? Dead, even?

People on Kickstarter mentioned that she occasionally does some VA work for a YouTube channel, so that's probably neither from jail nor from afterlife. At the same time, she has set all her social media private and apparently never addressed the issue, so we'll quite likely never know, unless someone literally sues her out of spite (I don't believe you can recover more money a such case than you'll spend on a lawyer, even if large portion of the backers band together to do it). 

[kratoscar2008]

I remember someone in the Huniedev twitter mentioning a VA scamming people.

Anyways i think KS doesnt gives you refunds at all, i remember a project called Unsung Story having some drama and most of the KS posts are about users asking for refunds.

[Nandemonai]

5 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

People on Kickstarter mentioned that she occasionally does some VA work for a YouTube channel, so that's probably neither from jail nor from afterlife. At the same time, she has set all her social media private and apparently never addressed the issue, so we'll quite likely never know, unless someone literally sues her out of spite (I don't believe you can recover more money a such case than you'll spend on a lawyer, even if large portion of the backers band together to do it). 

You probably wouldn't recover anything.  If the project died because of creative troubles (i.e. 'I wrote myself into a corner, I can't fix it, the project's dead') but there was money left, it would likely have already been returned.  Like you said, it doesn't smell like a scam project either.  (If it was, there's a very slim chance some governmental entity intervenes and makes her disgorge whatever it can find, but unfortunately the amount's probably too low to interest any of those.)

So either the project is technically-not-dead but shuffling along so slowly it will likely never come out, or it ran out of money years ago and is dead.  It doesn't matter which it is, the instant anyone files suit (or threatens to) and she lawyers up, the lawyer will say 'This project's attached obligations onto you.  You can't reasonably fulfill those obligations, so you're insolvent.  Declare bankruptcy.'

See, a failed Kickstarter project is the kind of thing bankruptcy law is for.  Before it was invented, if you launched a project like this and it went belly-up, you either made everyone good or you went to jail 'until you did'.  But going to jail just meant you were even less able to pay people back, so you rotted there forever.  Naturally, people were very unlikely to launch such projects under the circumstances.  Bankruptcy is set up to protect people in the event something like this goes pear shaped on the theory we're all better off if people can take risks like this without completely ruining their lives if it goes badly.

TL;DR - If anyone sues, she declares bankruptcy and walks away.  Even if she doesn't, and you actually win, the reason the project died in the first place is there IS no money.  You can't squeeze blood out of a stone, and if you try it's your hands that come away bloody.  A court can issue a piece of paper saying she owes you money, but if she hasn't got it, well, you aren't going to get it out of her.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Nandemonai

[Ranzo]

Ohhh yeah this one I was interested in it when I first randomly stumbled upon it

I didn't back it and it seems like that was a wise decision in hindsight

Which sucks because I like the premise of it..

[Stormwolf]

14 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Considering Kickstarter updates and authors Twitter account going silent back in 2016 (it looks like the Kickstarter campaign was run in December 2014/January 2015), the project is definitely long dead. Considering how abrupt the radio silence was, I'd suspect some RL disaster striking the dev and derailing the whole process completely. Purposefully scamming people on a VN Kickstarter and then delivering updates for the next years and a half sound like the most tedious way on Earth to steal money.

EDIT: Just to be clear, the utter lack of communication and no attempt at taking responsibility for the failed project during the three years since it went off the rails is still absolutely disgusting. I just think it's very unlikely that was the author's original intent.

Guy might have created a framework showing of a game and scammed the hell out of people.

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 hour ago, Stormwolf said:

Guy might have created a framework showing of a game and scammed the hell out of people.

Aiming for literally the least profitable niche in gaming? Still sounds like a bit of a stretch.

11 hours ago, kratoscar2008 said:

I remember someone in the Huniedev twitter mentioning a VA scamming people.

Anyways i think KS doesnt gives you refunds at all, i remember a project called Unsung Story having some drama and most of the KS posts are about users asking for refunds.

KS at least doesn't give refunds directly, and as Nandemonai suggested, if the author's broke you have pretty much no hope to get anything back. The Unsung Story is actually an interesting case of a fuckup of epic proportions, that ended with another company claiming the project, bit not any of the KS money and being unable to provide refunds because of that.

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[Okarin]

There have been cases of people who advertised a project (mildly interesting), it got funded, and ran away with the money. Of course, the project never didn't even start.

Like this:

Man, to get 8000 dollars (even through a scam) has to be nice.

 

[Plk_Lesiak]

22 minutes ago, Okarin said:

Man, to get 8000 dollars (even through a scam) has to be nice.

Minus KS fees and whatever went into preparing the fake campaign. The page and promo material there doesn't look like something you can prepare in one evening.

[tahu157]

Despite listing it as a possibility in the OP, I never really thought that this was an outright scam. I do think that the dev has run off with the money, but I don't think that was the plan from the start.

[Nandemonai]

$40K is not a lot of money.  I'm pretty sure it just didn't go nearly as far as she thought it would, and 18 months later the Kickstarter money was gone along with a giant pile of her own.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Nandemonai