IMPORTANT: Project Stealth goes into cryo-sleep.
After the failed crowdfunding on Kickstarter, half of the team members moved on. The game has been in development for over 7 years without a schedule. There were periods of many months that nothing happened and there were periods when we got a lot done in days. Based on those estimates we thought we could get the game done in about 6 months when working fulltime with a small team when we got funding.
Unfortunately we didn't get the funding. The money that was pledged was not even enough to cover the costs of the crowdfunding campaign which makes it unlikely we will ever recouperate the total sum invested over the past few years. The numbers are clear: people do not care enough. We had 15 pledges from Facebook, out of the 800 likes. Disappointing.
The bigger gaming sites didn't want to write articles or were very late. We were very unlucky in the PR department even though we tried and had external assistance. We spent a considerable amount of money on it and on ads in the time leading up to the campaign. Unfortunately to no avail. Expensive lessons have been learned.
So... what's next? Unreal Engine 4 is really awesome and we will try to continue with PS in a slow pace, like in the past. There are no estimates when it will be done, if ever. We want to get more gameplay in UE4 and then we'll see about another Kickstarter. The team members who are staying as volunteers are Morten and me (Frank). This means the position of 3D artist/technical artist has opened up.
The future of the Heartcore Games company that was set-up for PS is still uncertain. Its focus on nice games will probably shift to also include "serious games" for educational purposes.
I'd like to thank the backers and also the other fans who couldn't find a way to back us but who wanted to. You can continue posting in the forums for now, although we might freeze those too at a later point in time.
Last, but definitely not least, do I want to thank all the team members who have worked with us for so long and who have decided to move on. Your contributions have been great and I hope we can still see them in action in the future.
Thank you for reading and stay stealthy,
Frank
Producer of Project Stealth