The Arkh Project
thanks to a mouse at wank_report for the write-up
So, the Arkh Project is a game in development, made by queer POC and focusing on queer characters of color. True, they've been targeted by bigots, but that's only served to bring more attention to the project. All good, right?

Well... maybe not so much. For starters, they're ultimately trying to fundraise $100K-250K to make this game, which seems a bit... ambitious for crowd-sourcing. It gets iffier when you find out that none of the people involved seem to have actually completed a game and that they explicitly chose IndieGoGo because it wouldn't require them to refund the money if the project goes bust. To make things even worse, all they have so far is some concept art; there's no concept or design document, and they plan to farm out all the art, design, and programming to other people (as detailed on their IndieGoGo campaign). They do plan to release a design document by the end of the month, but that's about it for now.

To make things worse, there's evidence that one of the main people behind the project, dumbthingswhitepplsay, is gisei_nashi_ni:
see this chain of links: Sf_drama

plus they were the only genderqueer person working for Kinou Games, last seen being hounded off various LJ communities for being a hypocritical, abrasive jerk (greatest hits at sf_d, trigger warning for racism and rape ).

Anyway, I hate linking to tumblr, but some notable posts (+notes) include:
anti/criticism posts:
http://ardeb.tumblr.com/post/16890249680/okay-ive-been-wanting-to-make-this-post-for-a
http://ardeb.tumblr.com/post/17144475360/alright-this-is-a-more-in-depth-post-about-the
http://privilegedenyingdude.tumblr.com/post/16599011960/image-courtesy-of-a-commenter-on-themarysue-com

pro posts:
http://dumbthingswhitepplsay.tumblr.com/post/16892324535/bay-sick-all-lee
http://clitt-tastic.tumblr.com/post/17116402049/reasons-why-i-say-fuck-all-of-you-that-are-boycotting
http://alexandraerin.tumblr.com/post/17183434038/anybody-who-thinks-that-when-people-are-offering-to

You can also look at the tag though not everything is tagged, of course.

There is also a new post at SF_D, with highlights in the comment including links to gnn talking in other communities on lj about working on a game that clearly is The Arkh Project, and possible tracing of some of the character art that The Arkh Project has posted.

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ekaterinv
2012-02-09 11:26 pm UTC (link)

One reason I'm leaning hard towards "someone here is trying to scam people" is the amount of money involved. $250,000 is the biggest number they're quoted as needing. If one spends five minutes researching how much it actually costs to make a AAA rpg, one learns that that number is laughably tiny.

Then there's the fact that the game has basically no design documentation, just a few brainstormed ideas. There's no there there. And when anyone criticizes them, the developers go ballistic. It sets off a ton of alarm bells.

And also! Con artists usually succeed by appealing to peoples' sense of goodness. "We're doing good, so it's okay that xyz". That's going on here like woah.

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rhosyn_du
2012-02-10 12:29 am UTC (link)

Agreed so hard.

The lack of design documentation really set off a lot of bells for me. If you've got more than just a premise, you're going to have some design documents. Mechanics. Level design. Gear design. Story arcs. Something. As much as (more than?) anything else, game design is an engineering endeavor, and if you don't have base design documents for everyone to contribute to and work off of, you're not making a game. At best, you're involved in group-effort daydreaming.

And the money thing, holy crap. Unless they're expecting everyone to work for free and primarily use their own equipment, there's no way $250k would cover their expenses. Not even close.

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ekaterinv
2012-02-10 01:07 am UTC (link)

Yep. As I wrote earlier, you need more than what they've got for a mod with story and character. If I saw someone saying they were gonna make a mod and were so excited about it and this was all they had so far when they announced it? I'd be 99% sure the mod would never, ever happen.

Heck, there's not enough here to make a short story out of. Everyone else I've seen in indie game development has gameplay, story, setting, and character almost completely worked out before they ask for money. They have stuff under their belt that shows they're capable of completing projects.

One thing this kerfuffle has shown, though, is that there's a vociferous and dedicated market for roleplaying games starring queer POCs. I hope other people jump on this and make them -- starting with smaller aspirations at first, to prove they can do it, then moving on up to bigger things.

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sandglass
2012-02-13 08:41 am UTC (link)

Considering the popularity of games on the iPad/iPhone/iPod, which can sell for a dollar or two and make big money if they sell enough, and be easily ported to other platforms like Android, I really wish someone would look at this and make a game for us. I'd support it if they weren't GNN and actually showed the ability to make a game!

Also the fact that Arkh isn't making or considering an iOS/mobile game is another reason I'm thinking they've got no idea what they're doing. I don't even touch my DS or PSP anymore because my iPhone is so great for games and the App Store makes buying them so easy.

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sandglass
2012-02-13 08:37 am UTC (link)

And the money thing, holy crap. Unless they're expecting everyone to work for free and primarily use their own equipment, there's no way $250k would cover their expenses. Not even close.

They actually estimated $100k if they got people to volunteer their own time, and $250k to buy everything.

They're also apparently toying with the idea of not charging for the game, so apparently they're not intending on having people invest time/money to be paid back later.

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underwaterowl
2012-02-11 01:30 am UTC (link)

I don't think it's a scam. If you read the link to the blurb about the project going bust, it looks like it's actually saying that they're using this fundraiser program because kickstart forces a refund if they don't reach the entire fundraising goal, not if they don't complete the project. Meaning they could set a really high goal, and proceed with partial funding.

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	ekaterinv 2012-02-11 01:47 am UTC (link)
	My point was that the goal isn't high enough. There is no way anyone who did research could possibly believe $250,000 would be enough to make a AAA RPG. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	underwaterowl 2012-02-11 02:19 am UTC (link)
	Ah, you're probably right about that! (Reply to this)(Parent)

anonyrat
2012-02-12 12:56 am UTC (link)

I don't know if they're scamming people in the sense that they're totally insincere and planning to abscond with the money, but the fact that they're claiming to be capable of producing an AAA game on $250,000 in two years is really setting off alarm bells in my head.

Either they're monumentally ignorant about what kind of money and manpower goes into an AAA title (for reference, this is a category that includes stuff like Bioshock, the Elder Scrolls games, and Assassin's Creed), or they're greatly exaggerating their expected output.

Either way, people are donating to something that is pretty much guaranteed not to happen.

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