@Van_Thunder, can you provide some explanation of what this means? This is quite literally the most cryptic "status update," we could possibly be provided with.

Sorry, we didn't mean for it to be cryptic.

We're not working with Stardock on Servo any longer.

We're figuring out what that means.

We'll get a new update out once we do.

Originally posted by godgiB:

Sorry, we didn't mean for it to be cryptic.

We're not working with Stardock on Servo any longer.

We're figuring out what that means.

We'll get a new update out once we do.

Woah, that's a pretty huge wrench in the works, dudes.

This really sucks to hear :\ I hope this doesn't hurt you guys too much.

It's okay. Now that this is done, we can figure out how best to move Servo forward. So, that's exactly what we're doing. Suggestions welcome.

Thanks for the update!

Originally posted by godgiB:

We're not working with Stardock on Servo any longer.

We're figuring out what that means.

I'm not trying to be rude, however, it's quite a bit more black and white than you're putting it. If Stardock was providing a development budget and is no longer, it would be helpful to know that's the current position of the project. I, like many others here, paid for your software and we're trying to determine if that means that it was money discarded.

If the development budget has dried up and there's no interest in supporting the project, it's best to address that head on. If the budget isn't there, however there is interest in continuing it, say so. Some here may have genuine recommendations or means to assist.

This is just my perspective: It was not a financial hardship for me to back this, if it is indeed a loser. I've backed losers before and surely I will in the future. I'm bummed to see the stagnant state of this, I was looking forward to sharing it with friends (in fact, you can see that I have... I purchased multiple copies and gifted them). Own up with the situation, either way it's headed. I don't suspect malice but this is certainly being negligent of the group that wants to see you succeed.

Originally posted by Van_Thunder:

We'd like to apologize for the recent delays in getting Servo updates out to our Early Access players. Going forward, BonusXP will be developing the game independently from Stardock, and we look forward to getting a new version out some time soon. We'll update you again when we have more details on how that will come together.

-The BonusXP Team

Stardock dumped them which I assume means any financial assistance they were providing the developer is gone. Considering the current sale figures for Servo it would indicate to me tthat you may have to write this off as a bad investment (sounds like Stardock did)..

You are both just assuming that BXP relied that much on SD.

We were developing Servo well before the arrangement with Stardock. When we decided to partner with them, we made some changes to schedule, scope, etc. (as anyone would do).

The change in our relationship with Stardock is amicable and mutual. We're still friends. But, just as things changed when we partnered with them, there are likely to be some changes now that we are not working with them.

We are figuring out how Servo moves forward. If we had concrete plans, we'd share them. As I posted above, we're keen on any suggestions folks have.

FWIW, most of the issues to solve are not about the actual development. Well, to be more clear, we're not worried about solving those issues. We can fix bugs, improve balance, swap out something that's not fun for something better, etc.

Like most devs, we partner with pubs for marketing, PR, QA, etc. The things we don't do. We need to figure out how we take care of those needs going forward.

We know everyone is upset about the lack of comms. In hindsight, we should have been more open while things were in flux.

I hope you lean more towards schedule changes than scope changes.

Marketing is going to be hard to solve, best of luck with that. I suggest considering replays again. Adding another feature probably isn't that enticing right now, but it is something you can do as developers who don't have a marketing department. I don't wanna overstate the power of viral marketing or whatever, but it might be a better idea now than it was before.

None of this explains why you have been silent for more than half a year. It isn't like you guys had no idea people were wondering what was going on. Which sucks because there are people on your team that I've had a lot of respect for, and the way this has been handled has shown that maybe that was misplaced. If it wasn't for Stardock's policy on not issuing refunds for games that haven't been released yet, I would have taken my money back.

KickStarter.

You have the pedigree, you have something approaching a finished product.

People like KickStarter's when there is something tangible that they can try.

Create a super polished vertical slice single player level, some cool promotional materials to distrubute online.

Investigate how much tshirts and statues and whatever else people want from video game kickstarters these days.

Then figure out how much money you need, then ask the public.

Tick boxes for this game, in no order what so ever.

>Moba-ish ness with Big Robots. (There hasn't really been a good scifi moba if you exclude HOTS)

>RTS-ness. If you do it right, people will come out the wood work to buy it. There is a base for a good RTS here but I'm not liking the units besides that of the robots if I'm honest.

>Giant Robots. Giant Robot fans are STARVED of good content. We never got a good Pacific Rim game, we haven't had Armoured Core for ages. MechWarrior Online has no singleplayer. Heavy Gear is taking a long time to come to fruition. MechWarrior Tactics died and the new singleplayer turn based game is a while out yet.

>Great Graphics. Already got a lot of great looking game that can't take to much work to make fantastic

>RPGness. Loot system seems like a great idea. Not really into the daily resource drops and the like though, too close to an freemium iPhone game or something. A random daily mission would be much cooler.

>Not that much work left to do. One of the best kickstarters I backed was Strike Suit Zero. The game was close to completion but the kickstarter pushed it all over the edge and we ended up with something not half bad.

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I was a believer in this game and given the marketing and time this would've been great. It does feel a little like we got ditched for an iPhone game maybe if im honest but if something still comes out of Servo I'll be happy.

Otherwise: Still a better game than Planetary Annihilation

No one is going to back a kickstarter when they see how poorly t he developer handled their first attempt at the game. Face the facts, its vaporware.

It's not vapourware, and it looks like they've had publisher troubles they were unable to talk about.

Don't be a negative nelly.