Kickstarter

Creator Jonathan Jou 2 days ago

Alex,

The mere fact that you're still committed to this is commendable. It looks like you'd made some attempts at being more forthcoming and honest with the status of this project, and that's also to be commended.

As it stands, your funds won't see you through to completion, your fundraising prospects haven't come through, and it seems like what you'd really like is to be shielded from the scrutinizing eyes of educators, developers, and other hopefuls who hoped you would succeed. We're still in the position where we don't know what you're making, when you plan to deliver, or how you plan to accomplish this, and it's unlikely that there's any good will left to count on as you announce deadlines you later find unrealistic.

If you want to keep working on Code Hero, I applaud you. If you want to keep chasing your dream, I won't stop you. But if you have any hopes of salvaging the relationship you have with your backers, I'm going to recommend the following:

1. Stop developing the game. For now. Not everyone on your team has to stop, but as the face of your company, your priority is to bring us back into the loop.
2. Show us what you have. Right now. Odds are, you'll impress a lot more of us with what you have done, than disappoint us with what you were hoping to have ready.
3. Let the world help. We believed in you, your project, and your vision, because we wanted you to succeed. If you've got something great, there are over seven thousand people who want to be a part of it.

It may be a long time before you can become commercially viable, but the path to a thriving, enthusiastic community around your platform is not only shorter but necessary for positive press and earning back our trust. It's been over a year now since you started this Kickstarter, and you really have come a long way. But the chances of this being an overnight success are unrealistic, and the path to profitability is a pipe dream at best.

You've made a lot of promises. It's okay that you don't fulfill all of them, but be honest with the people most invested in your success. Give us what you have, and then, when you're ready, wow us with what you knew you could achieve. The world will still be here when that happens, and our watchful eyes will hopefully become more patient.

Best of luck,
Jonathan

Creator Scott Mahan 3 days ago

Well, the 21st has come and gone, and as usual, the air around this project is reeking of more BS, and I don't mean Banker-Speak. Granted, Peake didn't say the 21st of WHICH month...

Creator MIchelle Hoole 3 days ago

I'd like to request a refund too. As a teacher, I was really excited about this and am very disappointed with the whole situation.

Creator Dustin Deckard 3 days ago

Here's the news post that was published on primerlabs.com by Alex on Monday night: "Code Hero's first alpha was released at last year's PAX. Our second major alpha is coming at this year's PAX and we've submitted a build for the PAX 10 showcase. We're going to post the new build tomorrow for all our backers and players to try. We look forward to telling you more about it tomorrow night!"

Creator Cody Claborn 3 days ago

It's the 22nd. Has the alpha been released yet?

Creator Dustin Deckard 5 days ago

Requests were made back in Dec/Jan (and further back than that, from some users) to provide clear instructions on how to access the existing alpha builds - they were never given, although in a previous update (#20) they did say again that you can log in with "guest mode" - although this is not what backers want, it should be reiterated that it's an option if you're just looking to take a brief look at the game in its current condition. Also, there's a special support page at primerlabs.com/support/codehero for those still trying to get help with their login credentials.

Hopefully that helps a few backers, like Nancy and Evan below - it's a shame Shaun (the community manager) appears to have jumped ship, since no one else seems to be helping backers simply log into the game in its current condition.

Creator Nancy Hutchins on May 18

I agree with Evan. I also can't use the password reset to get into my supposedly set up account. And Alex, if your are scrambling for funds to finish the project, then where did all that KS money go in the first place? Didn't you already have this project started before launching the KS campaign? Then the funding should have been used to finalize this game.

Creator Evan Walker on May 16

I'm trying to figure out how you ran out of funds when you knew full well what it would take to actually do the project? Code Hero is a great idea, and I'm sure tons of people would actually play it, but now the name of the project (as well as your name, btw) is mired by the fact that you are now the most famous Kickstarter project, not because it's a good project, but because you've failed miserably to keep the backers apprised of what's going on and drastically underplanned the scope of the game.

I'm not wanting a refund just yet. More of what I'm after (and this may just be me having faith in the project), is help getting my CH account set up. It says I have an account, but it isn't actually sending the pw reset links.

Creator Cody Claborn on May 13

How do you go about requesting a refund? I was excited for this project but in the time it has taken just to make a half functioning demo I've taught myself how to program. I really was looking forward to this, but I'm extremely disappointed at the lack of progress and the lack of communication.

Creator Seth Hall on May 13

I guess it's a good thing this scheme wasn't titled "Project Hero: A Game That Teaches You to Meet Deadlines."

Glad I didn't lose too much money on this, anyway, but I agree with @Tomimt -- the people that paid lots of money for this must be a little unimpressed by what they've seen thus far.

Creator Tomimt on May 12

I think it's safe to say, that this particular project is pretty much dead. Alex and co. aren't even trying to communicate anymore. Personally my loss here isn't that great, but I do feel for those who pledged that 10k.

Creator Yi Xu on May 10

@Dustin: When are you plan to start the class action and salvage remain of this project? I doubt few backers still have faith in this project. I don't think Alex has anymore funding to complete this project nor refund much to everyone. I personally like to open source the project if possible.

Creator mrmonkeypbbt on May 10

so what happened to the weekly updates from the community manager?

Creator Yi Xu on May 7

I would also like to request a refund. There just too many missed promises and updates. This may soon lead to legal actions.

Creator Jack Barrington on May 5

I may as well request my refund again too. I haven't heard from anyone about my refund since I requested weeks ago.

Creator The Black Well on May 3

I guess I will go ahead and request my refund again as well. I think @Scott summed it up.

Creator Scott Mahan on May 2

Having not heard from anyone in months, despite your promise earlier in the year to communicate weekly via email, I requested a refund via email a few weeks ago. I've heard nothing back. Since it seems there is more responsiveness here, along with the signs and symptoms of a failed, busted project which include repeated missed promised deliveries, I'm again requesting a refund. Let me know if you need more information to process the refund.

Creator Dustin Deckard on April 24

I have been trying not to clog the feed here with my face, but it's been 7 days since my last comment. I have attempted to contact Shaun Hansel, the alleged community manager, but have not gotten a response. I would, once again, like to request a refund. I am tired of watching Alex fail to meet even his own goals over, and over, and over again.

Creator Chris Francis on April 22

This is such an insane trainwreck.

Creator Jack Barrington on April 17

Right, I see... Well I pledged $52 dollars so if I don't get a refund I will be very unhappy. I had to add an extra $10 for postage too..

Creator Dustin Deckard on April 17

Pete Edge received a refund via Paypal, but he was also a very squeaky wheel. :) He's the only refund that's been processed to my knowledge, and I believe he had pledged at the $13 level.

Creator Jack Barrington on April 17

Has anyone actually had a refund yet? (The ones who asked). Because I have asked Alex personally and asked Primer over an email without a reply.

Creator Dustin Deckard on April 16

Hey look, another self-imposed deadline missed. Maybe just stop telling people that you're doing anything and just surprise us whenever you get something done. Not even joking at this point. I am tired of being disappointed.

Creator Dustin Deckard on April 11

IN THE MEANTIME, if you want to try another game to teach you programming, here's a neat little game to teach you Java. Looks like Mac only for now. I'm not affiliating with this in any way... just read about it on RPS today like I'm sure many of you have. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/11/first-person-game-teaches-java-as-magic/…

Creator Dustin Deckard on April 11

Dan - your comment is fair enough, but I don't think you're considering a few factors. Namely the fact that we DID try to communicate with Mr. Peake, for many months. We used the proper chanels - we emailed, called, messaged on Kickstarter, left comments, tweeted, used Facebook... you name it, we tried it. For months. It was only after I started receiving complaints from other backers, and saw that there were SERIOUS problems with this project, that I got aggressive and made my frustrations public. The fact that Alex currently has no way to fulfill rewards is very plain evidence that this project has failed. He's also failed to make commitments and communicate nearly every step of the way. You can disagree, and that's perfectly fine - I hope you're happy with what you get out of this project. But some of us aren't, and that's fine too. Personally, I've given up, and consider my money lost. The size of my donation does indeed play a role in how I can communicate with other backers. I'm every bit in my right as a backer to express dissatisfaction in these comments. I've been less than tactful, sure - that's my bad. I've been extremely frustrated, for reasons that have already been discussed to death. So yes, I could have been more tactful in this whole thing. But do you think Alex deserves that? He hasn't kept up with his self-committed update schedule, he has avoided certain questions for months and months now, he promised refunds and then took back his word, he has no money to fulfill rewards, no staff to finish the game, and a community manager who has done... uh, nothing, I think. Maybe us angry folk will all be wrong and in another year or 18 months Alex will have figured out a way to deliver on his promises. As I've stated before, I hope that's the case.

Creator Dan Stark on April 11

As a Fellow backer, I am a bit disgusted with Mr. Edge and Mr. Deckard. We all share in the frustration of this project not being where we all hoped it would be, but size of your 'Donation' does not validate a reason to take your frustrations out and try to shame the developers on their page. Keep your complaints between you and Mr. Peake, as the rest of us apparently have more patience, or at the very least, more tact than you wish to exemplify here.

Creator Pete Edge on March 20

Alex,
Three and a half weeks ago I left the following comment:
"So, after everything else that has happened, and the promises to do better with communication in the future, you STILL sit on a supposedly weekly update for no apparent reason. I'm beginning to think YOU are the one who wants this project to fail."
Since that time, not one update has been sent out on the Monday. One of those "updates" was nothing more than a simple tutorial.
On January 9th this year I wrote an email to alex@primerlabs.com including all the information needed to process a refund of my donation. You are yet to reply to this email.
You have given no indication of any intention to deliver on any part of this project. I am therefore led to conclude that this is simply a scam, much the same as tactical corsets (a subject which you are notoriously shy about).
What's the situation Alex? What's your excuse this time? Are we ever going to get satisfaction?

Creator Dustin Deckard on March 19

Another Monday missed. When can we expect a dev update? I'm hoping for clear answers to some questions that have been outstanding for months... like what your plan is for the art direction of the game. You paid a dedicated artist for some time, correct? Where are his resources? Are you using any of them or is the "final" art as previously planned now scrapped? Do you have volunteers working on the project now? What about the changelog you said you'd work on back in December? Can you provide a roadmap for remaining features planned for a 1.0 version? We don't even know what you plan for the game at this point, and the last big "feature" to be added was a web browser, which I doubt many of your backers care about at all.

Creator Pete Edge on March 12

Another week gone, still no refund

Creator Mohammed Ameen on March 5

Wonderful update! Can't wait to try out the new Code-Gun. I guess I'll be building my own Unity game after all! :)

Creator Pete Edge on March 5

Still no refund.

Creator Dustin Deckard on March 5

I know you put out the anniversary build late Feb, but I was hoping for a development update as we're in March now. I like the tutorials in the smaller updates, but I'm pretty sure more backers are interested in dev news.

Creator Mohammed Ameen on February 26

@Pete Edge: That particular Firefox warning is due to an unrecognized Secure HTTP connection. There is nothing malicious on the Primerlabs.com site.

Also, the project has been delivered, download the game and play it. The fact that he is constantly updating the game means that he is indeed interested in seeing this project through. Being abrasive never helps anyone.

Creator Pete Edge on February 25

Alex. Firefox is telling me your website is an "Untrusted Connection". Get your shit together or give me my money back. I have lost all faith in you and you have put me in the position of now wanting nothing more to do with this whole sorry exercise. You are a man who is incapable of ever delivering on this project.

Creator Shaun Hansel on February 24

Hi Pete. Our updates are scheduled for release by Monday of each week. Last week's update, linked to below, showed how to make a spiral staircase using the Code Ray in Code Hero, with a description of nearly each line of code. This week, as Alex says in his most recent post, will be discussing the Code Ray and game mechanics, as an introduction to how the game works.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/primerist/code-hero-a-game-that-teaches-you-to-make-games-he/posts/409304

Creator Pete Edge on February 23

So, after everything else that has happened, and the promises to do better with communication in the future, you STILL sit on a supposedly weekly update for no apparent reason. I'm beginning to think YOU are the one who wants this project to fail.