What happened with OKAM?

[chadzTheDonkey]

There is a lot of frustration around OKAM's clusterduck (our previous project). This is quite understandable.

Here is what happened:
We gave all rights away to a company that promised us to fund our development. They promised us that we can get the rights back if we work hard enough. We were working for practically no wage, we made barely enough money to live and eat. We worked on average 80 to 120 hours per week. This is not an exaggeration, I mean that literally. The release date was not up for discussion. It had to be met, period.

After we slaved ourselves away for the release, we wanted to improve things. Hire new people, improve work situation, get control of the steam page and fix its wrong information, etc.
We were met with ignorance and ridicule. They were happy with the arrangement, and they knew we couldn't leave because we would ruin our reputation. We were the public face, they were not.

We've had enough of broken promises and it was clear that we're just being exploited. We left, and we had to leave absolutely everything behind and start from scratch - money, rights, etc.

Do I regret? Yes, I regret not leaving the project before release. I regret not accepting sooner that we were being exploited. And, more importantly, I regret being naive, picking the wrong partners. I certainly do not regret leaving OKAM.

I was told that all this is considered "business secrets" and I'm not allowed to share it under a threat of a lawsuit. I often wonder how many other young naive developers are in a similar situation, scared into shutting up.

Now, I'm no stranger to cynicism in the internet, so believe what you think is true. But what sounds more plausible:
- a young indie team working 5 years on a scam that nets them public hate and zero money?
or
- a young indie team being desperate about finishing their game, picking the wrong partners and getting exploited?

There's a reason we didn't change our name. We're still Donkey Crew, we have been for 8 years, that's us. They took our game away, I'm not letting them take our name away too. For the record, we have nothing to do with them any more, we're proud of what Last Oasis is, and we will restore our name.

[Ouki]

amen

[Siegbert]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
So, they couldn't sue you for sharing the story, I take it? That's some foul tactic

[derk]

Hello, OKAM?

Sorry, OKAM machine broke.

Understandable. Have a good day.

[Siegbert]

Give him a break. They're still a rather young indie studio that hadn't made a proper game before. We don't all have the luxury to be born with a silver spoon in our mouths. I'm sure they have gained a lot of experience those last years.

[Siegbert]

It has everything to do with funding. Chadz just informed us that they sold their entire project in order to be able to continue working on it only to find themselves unable to work under the conditions put up by their superiors.
I have no doubt that if they had been in charge they would have worked on it until the end. Which is the case now.

[Bloody-Nine]

Originally posted by Salt Extractor:

Originally posted by Siegbert:

Give him a break. They're still a rather young indie studio that hadn't made a proper game before. We don't all have the luxury to be born with a silver spoon in our mouths. I'm sure they have gained a lot of experience those last years.

What the hell are you talking about? what does being 'born with a silver spoon in our mouths' have to do with any of this? These guys made a game and promised certain things and then failed miserably. OKAM was nothing short of a scam, why on earth would anyone 'give them a break'? They've proven they can't be trusted making Early Access games.

Ok you don't trust them, so maybe time to move on?

[ladoea von Krems]

Glad the full explanation is out there. Buuump.

[Spleeeno]

Originally posted by chadzTheDonkey:

a young indie team working 5 years on a scam that nets them public hate and zero money

sounds plausible...

uhm, I mean how could you!
you were supposed to be the chosen one!

someone post some star wars memes, I'm too lazy...

[ladoea von Krems]

Originally posted by Salt Extractor:

Originally posted by Siegbert:

Give him a break. They're still a rather young indie studio that hadn't made a proper game before. We don't all have the luxury to be born with a silver spoon in our mouths. I'm sure they have gained a lot of experience those last years.

What the hell are you talking about? what does being 'born with a silver spoon in our mouths' have to do with any of this? These guys made a game and promised certain things and then failed miserably. OKAM was nothing short of a scam, why on earth would anyone 'give them a break'? They've proven they can't be trusted making Early Access games.

It was the first game they've ever made and as brand new indie dev's they fell for sweet words from a sugar coated stick and bit down hard. They made a mistake once and it cost them their entire game, I've known these guys for years and their dream has always been to make a video game of their own.

Do you seriously think a dev would be that stupid as to scam everyone and then come back under the same name to do the same thing again? Get real lol. They made a mistake and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up big time; unfortunately they can't take it back, all they can do is move forward and make a game that this time, rolls through and becomes what OKAM should have been in the form of a success.

[Ikarooz]

Sheesh, I mean I sometimes read similar stories on gamasutra or dev forums, but it gives me the shivers that foul practices like these are still a thing in the industry. So you lost the rights for your very own game, hundreds of crunch time hours but got a (undertandable) beating from the community instead, wew.
And then there's people like Salt Extractor who bawl over their lost 25 shekels and think that being a game dev is always about either youre good or youre a scam.

Thanks for explaining, good luck!

[[{******---Dead4Life---******}]]

Originally posted by Salt Extractor:

Originally posted by Siegbert:

Give him a break. They're still a rather young indie studio that hadn't made a proper game before. We don't all have the luxury to be born with a silver spoon in our mouths. I'm sure they have gained a lot of experience those last years.

What the hell are you talking about? what does being 'born with a silver spoon in our mouths' have to do with any of this? These guys made a game and promised certain things and then failed miserably. OKAM was nothing short of a scam, why on earth would anyone 'give them a break'? They've proven they can't be trusted making Early Access games.

I understand if people are frustrated with their previous project. Hope they redeem themselves. Time will tell.

[Foxe]

Can't believe that someone would do this type of thing to another human being

[Eiree]

Its actually super disgusting what they did, I have super high hopes for Last Oasis.

[Goblin]

pogosan for president 2020

[I am your Undertaker]

All that Donkeys have to do is buy rights for Okam and restore it. Maybe then someone could believe them. Actions, not words.

To tell the truth is the only right thing. Good thing you did it.
The only issue here is why you signed yourselves into slavery without any guarantees. People can promise golden mountains and if it is not in a signed document, there won't be any gold.