Town of Salem is back in business

[Slaol]

The product has changed

Why does the product not match your claims in this thread for the ways roles operate? As well, why did the link you posted for information not match your claims or the product.

Kickstarter requires you to finish the product after you are funded.

You aren't allowed to work on it until it is funded, but you just said you made new features and had bug fixes. Which is it?

If you want to help us make the game, then please do so.

I would if you would respond to actual questions instead of repeating the same pattern of never answering anything, (Please see part one of this post). People want to know what their money is going to, and all you have done thus far is lie or refuse information. I'd like to support it, but.... you have to work with the people you want to work with you dude, lol.

Someone who is extremely skeptical wouldnt use a crowdfunding website anyway so I don't want to spend time convincing you of what Kickstarter guarantees.

Again, you ask for money but refuse any actual discussion and cooperation. Why?

[BlankMediaGames]

Why does the product not match your claims in this thread for the ways roles operate? As well, why did the link you posted for information not match your claims or the product.



You aren't allowed to work on it until it is funded, but you just said you made new features and had bug fixes. Which is it?



I would if you would respond to actual questions instead of repeating the same pattern of never answering anything, (Please see part one of this post). People want to know what their money is going to, and all you have done thus far is lie or refuse information. I'd like to support it, but.... you have to work with the people you want to work with you dude, lol.



Again, you ask for money but refuse any actual discussion and cooperation. Why?

You misunderstand, Kickstarter guarantees that the product will be finished, we can still work on it in the meantime and we have been. What differences are you talking about in terms of roles? I will respond to any question that you have as long as it is constructive to the thread.

[Slaol]

You misunderstand, Kickstarter guarantees that the product will be finished, we can still work on it in the meantime and we have been. What differences are you talking about in terms of roles? I will respond to any question that you have as long as it is constructive to the thread.

Everyone else is being more constructive than you.

Please answer the accusation by oops_ur_dead in a way that will convince us to maintain trust. Even users like Clementine, who were blatantly less aggressive than myself or Bruno have felt you refused to actually work with them. I ask you to actually answer the questions you have clearly avoided. Everyone loses when you won't work with us.

[BlankMediaGames]

Which questions are you referring to? I don't want to seem like I am ignoring a question by reading through the thread and missing one. If you list them out for me, I will answer all of them for you.

[oops_ur_dead]

Which questions are you referring to? I don't want to seem like I am ignoring a question by reading through the thread and missing one. If you list them out for me, I will answer all of them for you.

I've asked twice what "Legal fees" means and what artwork you have left to do. You also didn't tell me why you aren't sharing your past spending

[Helz]

I don't really get all the falk on this thread. Sure he is not replying like you want but why would he? He made a free to play game and is attempting on getting compensation and money to spend on the game. It was pretty silly of him to suggest that all the money would be spent on the game but that much is obvious in every kickstarter. This topic has just been 5 pages of people making fun of his work and demanding erroneous explanations with no real point. Ease up a bit. Especially those of you that have zero intentions of supporting the project regardless of what he says.

[oops_ur_dead]

I don't really get all the falk on this thread. Sure he is not replying like you want but why would he? He made a free to play game and is attempting on getting compensation and money to spend on the game. It was pretty silly of him to suggest that all the money would be spent on the game but that much is obvious in every kickstarter. This topic has just been 5 pages of people making fun of his work and demanding erroneous explanations with no real point. Ease up a bit. Especially those of you that have zero intentions of supporting the project regardless of what he says.

I don't think you guys understand the issue with him keeping money to himself. Here's what I'm saying: Yes, in most Kickstarters some of the money goes to the developers. And of course that's fine. But the people who are going to profit off of the game should not get that money because their money should come from the success of the project, and how solid their idea is. In other Kickstarters and game dev studios, the developers get hired, they get paid their salary out of the CEO's investment money, and the CEO absorbs the risk of the project failing, but also gets to keep the spoils if it succeeds, while the developers don't make any bonuses from the game being successful or not. This is especially scummy when the majority of the money that he's claiming is going to be spent on the game is going to be spent on himself instead. Hell, we don't even know if his other costs are legitimate because he's been keeping quiet on them.

[Dark.Revenant]

If the developer doesn't have money to live, he can't make the game and must work some other job. Ergo, if a dev doesn't spend the Kickstarter money on bills and ramen, the game isn't made.

[Nick]

I don't understand the brouhaha if Kickstarter guarantees that a funded project will be completed.

Shouldn't the concern be: how successful will the funded project be once completion?

That said, obscure financial plans and fuzzy project timeline do not generate confidence, and turn away donors.

[clementine]

I have a few more questions:

1. When will the game be open to non-facebook logged users?
2. Are the example pets/fairies just unfinished concept art or the actual art to be used in game?
3. Is there a reason your forums are not visible from logged out? If possible I would appreciate being able to lurk around for a while before deciding whether or not to create an account.

And more of a comment than a question:

I remember last time I felt like the artwork was thematically inconsistent. i.e. Town of Salem/the crucible player figures/houses juxtaposed with wild west role images (shown on your kickstarter page), and now add mythical creatures i.e. fairies/dragons to the mix. I just worry that by straying from the theme of the game (Town of Salem), the atmosphere and immersion quality of the game will suffer. All three themes (town of salem, wild west, and fantasy) are good on their own, but I assume you picked ToS for a reason. I personally wish that you guys showed a little more gumption to stick to the theme, but keep in mind this is coming from someone who hasn't had a chance to try out the game due to not wanting to log in with Facebook. I don't know if I'll feel differently after playing it.

Could you possibly comment on the thematic divergence? I'm just interested to know why those decisions were made.

[Nick]

Sometimes the producer is the developer. A man's gotta pay the bills.

Perhaps. But they should at least say whom they hired, for which work, for how long, and how much they are paid. Similarly for other items.
With these information, at least the donors can chip in ideas, help to find cheaper alternative etc. It's called accountability.

For future donors, it's called a clear project plan.

No reason to be afraid of donors questioning their finances as long as they are justified.

Eg. are they paying the producer cum developer 1k per month for full time work or 10k per month for full time work.

[oops_ur_dead]

if Kickstarter guarantees that a funded project will be completed.

But it doesn't. What, do you think that they'll hunt them down and hold a gun to their heads until they finish it? Plenty of Kickstarters have fallen flat on their faces and gone nowhere after they received funding.

[clementine]

I don't understand the brouhaha if Kickstarter guarantees that a funded project will be completed.

This is actually untrue. Quote from the Kickstarter FAQ:

Kickstarter Basics: Accountability

Who is responsible for completing a project as promised?
It's the project creator's responsibility to complete their project. Kickstarter is not involved in the development of the projects themselves.

Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it.

There was a huge scandal over the summer when this one Kickstarted Board Game that was way overfunded ended up getting delayed by about a year and eventually canceled due to money mismanagement. This started a pretty large discussion about due diligence that investors must take when deciding to fund Kickstarters, as essentially you are responsible for deciding whether or not you believe in each product and people's ability to produce said product. The lawsuit is ongoing, and you can read more about it here: https://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/07/...s#.UwV_cHnYA38

Kickstarter is a great platform for games, but you have to weed through a bunch of duds to find the ones actually worth funding.

[BlankMediaGames]

I have a few more questions:

1. When will the game be open to non-facebook logged users?
2. Are the example pets/fairies just unfinished concept art or the actual art to be used in game?
3. Is there a reason your forums are not visible from logged out? If possible I would appreciate being able to lurk around for a while before deciding whether or not to create an account.

And more of a comment than a question:

I remember last time I felt like the artwork was thematically inconsistent. i.e. Town of Salem/the crucible player figures/houses juxtaposed with wild west role images (shown on your kickstarter page), and now add mythical creatures i.e. fairies/dragons to the mix. I just worry that by straying from the theme of the game (Town of Salem), the atmosphere and immersion quality of the game will suffer. All three themes (town of salem, wild west, and fantasy) are good on their own, but I assume you picked ToS for a reason. I personally wish that you guys showed a little more gumption to stick to the theme, but keep in mind this is coming from someone who hasn't had a chance to try out the game due to not wanting to log in with Facebook. I don't know if I'll feel differently after playing it.

Could you possibly comment on the thematic divergence? I'm just interested to know why those decisions were made.

Thanks for making your questions itemized and easy to answer, it helps a lot when I am trying to manage loads of stuff at the same time

1.) Our login system will likely be the very first thing we will do for our beta. I expect it would be live 1-2 weeks after the kickstarter ends.
2.) The pet art is concept art made by a friend. The artist we normally use for our character art will remake these and give them cool animations.
3.) I can do that no problem Turned them visible before I posted this.

If you are referring to the desert map as "wild west theme" it is a customization option you can choose. If not please let me know, we aren't going for wild west as a theme really. As for the central theme having dragons and stuff, we want to have the setting be an alternate universe Salem, MA that doesn't follow the rules of our world. This will allow to do fun things like have dragons or have alien abductions be an execution. We want it to be fun, we don't want the game to be too realistic and we don't want it to be taken too seriously.

[BlankMediaGames]

As for the plan for spending the money after the Kickstarter gets funded:

operating costs $8,500.00 (500 for server expenses [expanding servers, bandwidth usuage, etc], $2k per programmer per month to live on while working on this full-time)
artwork $2,500.00 (role rework art, new role art, scrollbar art, art for new UI elements talked about in our future plans on the KS, etc)
sound $200.00 (we may not need all 200 to go to sound but we want new music, new sounds for the new UIs, etc)
legal fees $2,300.00 (trademark, copyright, terms of service writeup, binding legal docs like an NDA, non-compete, contractor agreement, investor agreement, IP protection, registered agent, an hour with a lawyer for legal questions, etc)

I hope this extremely itemized list will answer any questions you may have. I don't think that there should be any other questions after this about our spending. If you want to suggest a cheap artist, lawyer or sound guy please be my guest.

[BlankMediaGames]

Actually you are right, I thought that they themselves guaranteed the project or they would sue but it look like the contributors can sue the company directly instead if the project isn't completed. Sorry, I was misinformed about that part. Though with our project, there is little risk involved since we already have a working Alpha and just need to get over this last hump in order to Release.

[oops_ur_dead]

As for the plan for spending the money after the Kickstarter gets funded:

operating costs $8,500.00 (500 for server expenses [expanding servers, bandwidth usuage, etc], $2k per programmer per month to live on while working on this full-time)
artwork $2,500.00 (role rework art, new role art, scrollbar art, art for new UI elements talked about in our future plans on the KS, etc)
sound $200.00 (we may not need all 200 to go to sound but we want new music, new sounds for the new UIs, etc)
legal fees $2,300.00 (trademark, copyright, terms of service writeup, binding legal docs like an NDA, non-compete, contractor agreement, investor agreement, IP protection, registered agent, an hour with a lawyer for legal questions, etc)

I hope this extremely itemized list will answer any questions you may have. I don't think that there should be any other questions after this about our spending. If you want to suggest a cheap artist, lawyer or sound guy please be my guest.

8500 + 2500 + 200 + 2300 = 13500

Where's the extra $1500 going?

[BlankMediaGames]

Kickstarter + amazon takes 9%

[Orpz]

if u have a pet and u get lynched, does ur pet get lynched too?

[Helz]

if u have a pet and u get lynched, does ur pet get lynched too?

That would be really entertaining

[Coast]

Together til the end.

[BlankMediaGames]

if u have a pet and u get lynched, does ur pet get lynched too?

Your pet cries over your dead body

[BlankMediaGames]

We will be doing a Let's Play with youtube channel TakeThisStudios today.

[Techies]

We will be doing a Let's Play with youtube channel TakeThisStudios today.

In how many hours/minutes? NVM too late.

Anyways some thought:

Facebook only Login chasing people away.
Need more publicity.
Guilty/ Innocent button needs to be highlighted so you know if you clicked it.
One line chat in lobby is kinda annoying, especially for those peeps with long names.
Show how many players are in the lobby.
Show numbers of players currently online, so it doesn't feel like a ghost town.

[Techies]

As for the plan for spending the money after the Kickstarter gets funded:

operating costs $8,500.00 (500 for server expenses [expanding servers, bandwidth usuage, etc], $2k per programmer per month to live on while working on this full-time)
artwork $2,500.00 (role rework art, new role art, scrollbar art, art for new UI elements talked about in our future plans on the KS, etc)
sound $200.00 (we may not need all 200 to go to sound but we want new music, new sounds for the new UIs, etc)
legal fees $2,300.00 (trademark, copyright, terms of service writeup, binding legal docs like an NDA, non-compete, contractor agreement, investor agreement, IP protection, registered agent, an hour with a lawyer for legal questions, etc)

I hope this extremely itemized list will answer any questions you may have. I don't think that there should be any other questions after this about our spending. If you want to suggest a cheap artist, lawyer or sound guy please be my guest.

Why a NDA, I've never seen an NDA doing actual good for a game. Just look at Strife from S2Games, that's an experienced company that no the uselessness of a NDA. We live in a world where every bid of word of mouth is valuable for start up games and where accessibility is the key.

[oops_ur_dead]

We will be doing a Let's Play with youtube channel TakeThisStudios today.

You mean these guys?

[Bruno]

Autistic meets game tailored to his needs


Lol 76 subs

[BlankMediaGames]

In how many hours/minutes? NVM too late.

Anyways some thought:

Facebook only Login chasing people away.
Need more publicity.
Guilty/ Innocent button needs to be highlighted so you know if you clicked it.
One line chat in lobby is kinda annoying, especially for those peeps with long names.
Show how many players are in the lobby.
Show numbers of players currently online, so it doesn't feel like a ghost town.

Thanks for your constructive support. It is good to see people who are positive
Facebook login will be the first thing to go after the Kickstarter ends. We don't want to do any game breaking changes while the Kickstarter is up. In the future, FB will be only one option to login.
We are trying many avenues of advertising/marketing but if you have any suggestions please let us know. We are always open to suggestions.
G/I buttons issue is a known bug and is on our list to squash. Same with the chat wrap, players in lobby and players online. These will be getting fixed over the next week or two.

Again, thanks for your feedback.

[Oliver]

Pledged.

Really looking forward to this one.

[BlankMediaGames]

I wanted to let everyone know we are doing a testing event tonight, 8pm CST. Check out the event on our Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Town-...36824076554384

[BlankMediaGames]

There will be a testing event at 4pm this Saturday, 03/01/14. It's targeted at that time so we could get more Europeans on.

[BlankMediaGames]

Continue-play wrote an article about us. https://www.continue-play.com/news/to...n-kickstarter/

[TurdPile]

Why a NDA, I've never seen an NDA doing actual good for a game. Just look at Strife from S2Games, that's an experienced company that no the uselessness of a NDA. We live in a world where every bid of word of mouth is valuable for start up games and where accessibility is the key.

An NDA for employees. Almost every company has them, whether its a mutual NDA or not. It stops people from taking code and disclosing it to the next company they go to. The NDA is what made the Zynga vs Kixeye lawsuit a big deal.

[Psyduck]

Here's some constructive criticism :

#1.Make an option for a private game.
#2.MAKE A DIFFERENT LOGIN! * If you MUST have fb login, at least allow the user to make a "username" Alias ....
#3. Some people haven't been speaking english, so I suggest fixing that, like making rooms for english, etc.
#4. All the text is white, it's hard to differentiate Names from chat. Make the Names colored.
#5. Make a report player afk for mafia, & town, so it will kick them like say : Godfather is afk, if other 2 mafia vote then he is gone. (or do something like if they dont type they have a heart attack)
#6. if no one is killed after 3 days, then do some sort of secret ballot ....

I MUST STRESS THOUGH HOW IMPORTANT the login feature is . You really do need to fix it .I don't think people will play this if you do not fix the login/names crap. (and add colors) It shouldn't be that hard to do this man...

And I really think people would want the chance to play with their friends in a private game.
And there really needs to be citizens , this game is pretty much a joke without citizens... I've played plenty of mafia and werewolf before DARK Made this game... What the others are saying about citizens is true. and taking out what was it , detective , is stupid.
Your game MIGHT have a chance if you actually listen to people man. how old is this thread now, and so far you haven't tried what these people are saying? Please at least try adding citizens it wouldn't be that hard to slap a name on a cartoon char you have already created. I don't think people like their real name being known in a game so fix this , or GG for you....
sorry for the disappointment but it's true.

[Oliver]

'#1.Make an option for a private game'

Might just encourage point abuse, wouldn't it?

'#2.MAKE A DIFFERENT LOGIN! * If you MUST have fb login, at least allow the user to make a "username" Alias ....'

I think if they complete the Kickstarter, they said within 2 weeks they could remove the necessity of Facebook. In the meantime, it takes all of 30 seconds to create a fake facebook account.

'#3. Some people haven't been speaking english, so I suggest fixing that, like making rooms for english, etc. '

They've talked about making the game multi-language, but I don't imagine this is something that's coming anytime soon. I think English only for now, is fine. Not doubting you, but I personally haven't yet played a game, where someone spoke in another language.

'#4. All the text is white, it's hard to differentiate Names from chat. Make the Names colored. '

Yeah, that's something that has already been suggested : )

'#5. Make a report player afk for mafia, & town, so it will kick them like say : Godfather is afk, if other 2 mafia vote then he is gone. (or do something like if they dont type they have a heart attack)'

100% agree

'#6. if no one is killed after 3 days, then do some sort of secret ballot ....'

Don't know if this is necessary, as long as #5 is in place.

'And I really think people would want the chance to play with their friends in a private game. '

Not 100% against it but I think this is would just lead to point abuse. Besides, there aren't very many players on the game at the moment anyway, chances are you can make a full game just made up of people you know. There's never been a point where I've logged in and haven't yet had to wait to play a game.

'And there really needs to be citizens , this game is pretty much a joke without citizens'

I'd have to agree there. The Developers say that the role is 'boring' and so won't include it. Roles like the Mentalist and Retributionist might be kinda fun but really aren't balanced at all. They have said they'll be adding new roles soon, lets hope these include ones like Cultist and Detective and not some new, heavily problematic role. These roles might be fun to get, but make the game less so for everyone else.

[Bruno]

If the game isn't funded AGAIN, will you consider making changes the community has been recommending since the first KS?

[BlankMediaGames]

Here's some constructive criticism :

#1.Make an option for a private game.
#2.MAKE A DIFFERENT LOGIN! * If you MUST have fb login, at least allow the user to make a "username" Alias ....
#3. Some people haven't been speaking english, so I suggest fixing that, like making rooms for english, etc.
#4. All the text is white, it's hard to differentiate Names from chat. Make the Names colored.
#5. Make a report player afk for mafia, & town, so it will kick them like say : Godfather is afk, if other 2 mafia vote then he is gone. (or do something like if they dont type they have a heart attack)
#6. if no one is killed after 3 days, then do some sort of secret ballot ....

I MUST STRESS THOUGH HOW IMPORTANT the login feature is . You really do need to fix it .I don't think people will play this if you do not fix the login/names crap. (and add colors) It shouldn't be that hard to do this man...

And I really think people would want the chance to play with their friends in a private game.
And there really needs to be citizens , this game is pretty much a joke without citizens... I've played plenty of mafia and werewolf before DARK Made this game... What the others are saying about citizens is true. and taking out what was it , detective , is stupid.
Your game MIGHT have a chance if you actually listen to people man. how old is this thread now, and so far you haven't tried what these people are saying? Please at least try adding citizens it wouldn't be that hard to slap a name on a cartoon char you have already created. I don't think people like their real name being known in a game so fix this , or GG for you....
sorry for the disappointment but it's true.

1) We will have a new lobby system that will allow for private games and games that have reserved spots you can invite people to. Private games won't count towards achievements or give you experience for leveling to prevent abuse.
2) We are working on the new log in right now. It has been alot of work but it is almost ready for testing then itll be a day or two before we release it. I'll let you know when it goes live
3) Hopefully we can figure out a way to where non-English speakers can queue into people who speak their same language but that is something that is kind of a low priority right now but we will look into it in the future.
4) We used to have each number be a different color and it hurt the eyes too much so we took that out. We are looking into other ways to differentiate players in chat.
5) We will be implementing an AFK system at some point. It will include in-game and in the lobbies.
6) We are implementing a stalemate detection system that will have a similar feel to it. If we think there could be a stalemate (3 nights with no deaths after a certain day, maybe day 7 or something) we will tell everyone they have 1 more night before a draw happens.

[BrockSamson]

You mean these guys?

That dude has an uphill battle in life.

[BrockSamson]

On a serious note, the game needs to be streamlined...see previous comments. And also. given the level of internet hostility, I would prefer that certain players not be given my name on facebook.

[BlankMediaGames]

We have gotten some great reviews/let's plays from some big names on the youtubes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...SndvoT8Anc#t=5

[creedkingsx]

totally skype cheating. lol

[Geth Prime]

We have detected a critical error with this kick-starter so far. We have calculated that a disproportionate amount of money comes from the large donations.

We are giving an example. In this case, nearly 50% of the current donations come from 3 people out of 87. CALCULATION: 50% comes from ~3.3%. That is highly disproportionate.

We are continuing our calculation. . . . . .

We have also reached the consensus that the average donation is what organics would deem a whopping 62 dollars.

Our calculations place a low chance of success on this Kick-starter as the average donation is too extremely high for it to ever hope to reach the full budget.

[Orpz]

Median is more resistant to outliers

[acku11]

As Secret head of Secret Admin force, i am proud to announce a compilation of Town of Salem
Enjoy

Enjoy!

[MasterHe]

As Secret head of Secret Admin force, i am proud to announce a compilation of Town of Salem
Enjoy

Enjoy!

Morde es numero uno hue hue hue

[Oliver]

Over 300 users currently playing, 20 something different games running. Well on its way to a success.

[TurdPile]

Over 300 users currently playing, 20 something different games running. Well on its way to a success.

600 now.

[Techies]

700 now
And most of my previous suggestions on previous page have been implemented or being implemented.

Game has hit it's critical mass, stand good chance of hitting the kick-starter goal, and the improvements that have been made so far has been very meaningful.
This is gonna remain in my Bookmarks for a long time, instant game of mafia.

Thank you streamers!

[Orpz]

useful for instant mafia in Comp Sci since my school blocks epicmafia

[Orpz]

there's 11 days and its only 53% funded rn

RIP