The Mandate - Not Coming to You Anytime Soon

[Myrthos]

The development team of The Mandate has shrunk in size given the publishing woes they are having and the lack of funding because of that. According to their most recent update, there still is a small team working on the game and they are asking for your feedback. If you want to have the game finished as soon as possible, answering that you don't want any of the things mentioned in the questionnaire, could help. Although that might not be the game you want to play.

In March we went through difficult times, the team size was reduced to only a core team since January, as consequence of the still ongoing negotiations with our publisher about the remaining funding. We have been working on securing more fundings since the end of 2016. It is still a work in progress and we will follow up with you in upcoming developer's updates when we have managed to close a deal.

Despite having a smaller team, we have focused our efforts on improving the space combat.

Within this context we would like to invite you to answer this survey:

https://goo.gl/forms/8cllWWWhLbvnd1yT2

so we can collect more feedback from your side for our next iterations of space combat. The other aspects of the game will remain in our vision for the Mandate. Because of team size constraints, we can only tackle one big chunk at a time. Crew and missions aspects of the game had to be put on hold temporarily, but once space combat is more advanced, resources will be reallocated to work on these aspects of the game.

More information.

 

[Darkheart]

Sad story! I really hope they can deliver an enjoyable game at some point, though.

This kinda sounded too good to be true right from the start...

 

[TheSHEEEP]

I think that is called biting off more than you can chew.

Agree it sounded too good to be true.
What I understood from the Kickstarter back then was some kind of Star Trek experience with you at the head of the bridge (and some RPG and C&C).
What they have shown so far is a space battle ala Battlefleet Gothic: Armada.

I would've preferred my first impression

Lesson learned: Do not trust too vague KS projects.

 

[Aerth]

The project was not so vague during the campaign and was quite exciting. The focus of the game was you and your crew and climbing ranks and changing ships and affectations. All was about life in your ship and what happened to your ship, your crew and you.
They changed that bit by bit to a game where crew just provided a vague +3 in some component and as you say some kind of BGA, but without the lore and the dark.

I backed that one in 2013, gave up any hope after another changing-orientation-DEV-communication in 2015 and I am all but surprised to see the disaster in 2017.
Still sad about it. One of the project which made me stop using Kickstarter.

 

[ChaosTheory]

I think that is called biting off more than you can chew.

Agree it sounded too good to be true.
What I understood from the Kickstarter back then was some kind of Star Trek experience with you at the head of the bridge (and some RPG and C&C).
What they have shown so far is a space battle ala Battlefleet Gothic: Armada.

I would've preferred my first impression

Lesson learned: Do not trust too vague KS projects.

Actually, it wasn't vague, it was too specific. They showed us a LOT of what they wanted to do, which is why I gave them money. It was just too big for their limited resources. If I were them, I'd sell the idea to a larger company to make as I think it could be a kick-ass, XCOM-like game with grand-strategy overlays.

 

[joxer]

Grimoire2.

 

[TomRon]

I've only backed two multiplayer focused games and will probably never do so again.

Maybe we should start a thread with lists of our biggest Kickstarter disappointments and successes? This one wouldn't make it in on my top 5 disappointments simply because I never expected it to actually succeed.

 

[vurt]

One of many crap KS games i've backed (well, perhaps not crap always, but 9/10 KS games are extremely average games imho). Haven't backed anything since 2 years.

 

[Silver]

@vurt
Recently Thimbleweed Park and Yooka Laylee have both turned out very good. I put a 10er down for Yooka which was a great price.

I've had my share of disappointments through thats for sure with games like Dead State cough*Dead Weight*

Only one has failed to produce a game for sure called Rocket Ranger Reloaded. With a name like that I should of worked it out.

I'm still hopeful the Mandate guys can produce something good out of this situation provided they get picked up by someone but its certainly been a roller-coaster. Thats what I don't like most about Kickstarter, too many unexplained developments because the work wasn't done upfront in the planning stage or they just plain didn't ask for enough money.

 

[six]

Don't regret backing this but it is saddening to see yet another fail story for kickstarter.

 

[JDR13]

I've had my share of disappointments through thats for sure with games like Dead State cough*Dead Weight*.

Is Dead State that bad? I own it on Steam but haven't played it long enough to form an opinion. Most people seem to either love it or hate it.

 

[Couchpotato]

Damn and this game had promise when it was announced a few years back. Turns out the original idea was to ambitious, and seems like it cost more then was estimated.

I still hope the game will get finished someday still.

 

[Silver]

Is Dead State that bad? I own it on Steam but haven't played it long enough to form an opinion. Most people seem to either love it or hate it.

The game is okayish but rough in alot of ways. It just felt very amateurish, especially with its character models and UI which while functional felt cheap. The game is average which is the crime of most Kickstarter games really. It needed longer in the oven and more funding which is the most frustrating thing because there is the kernel of a good game in there somewhere.

 

[abharsair]

The game is okayish but rough in alot of ways. It just felt very amateurish, especially with its character models and UI which while functional felt cheap. The game is average ...

Totally agree there. I had fun at the beginning for a couple of hours, but then it became obvious how bad the combat system is and how boring/half-baked some of its aspects are. Even worse, with the release of "Dead State: Reanimated" they declared the game to be complete and never bothered to fix some really obvious and annoying bugs.

 

[wiretripped]

Indeed, too bad. The premise sounded extremely good, though I guess this will be one of the KS projects I backed that will turn out to be a dud.

 

[Fimbul]

It pains me to see how the game degenerated from the initial vision. The video of the space combat actual state at the end of the survey is awful. too distant, too static and has nothing to do with the battle orchestra they intended to make. Just cheap and the survey is cleary to check what other feature they could cut off.

 

[Stingray]

Turns out the original idea was to ambitious, and seems like it cost more then was estimated.

That much should have been completely obvious to anyone who followed the Kickstarter. The amount they were asking for was a joke compared to what they claimed they were going to do. I backed it anyway, but shrug.

They even put this on the Kickstarter campaign page:

So could everyone and their grandma make The Mandate for $500,000? Probably not. Can we? Hell yes we can.”

:lol: