We know it’s been a long time since we have updated Kickstarter or our social media and we’d like to start off by sincerely apologizing. We know a lot of people have been let down by our lack of updates and we are aware that many are angry with us as well; rightfully so. It was not right for us to disappear in such a way and leave the people that believed in us to wonder what was happening with the money they so generously donated. We’d like to finally give you the update you deserve and explain our absence.
Firstly, we cannot apologize enough for the way we handled things. As supporters of Audilis and its members, you trusted us and generously gave your funds to help us try to achieve our dream of creating an indie game for people to enjoy. Unfortunately, the opposite came to be and so we are taking action to rectify the situation:
We will be refunding our backers and dissolving the company.
We will be working with Kickstarter on the best method of returning funds and will update with further details as soon as we solidify the procedure. This process will take a few months as there were many backers for the project so we ask for your patience just a little while longer.
A lot has happened in the past few months and even though we tried, it set us back further than we thought it would.
One of the issues that upset our backers was the change in staff after the Kickstarter launch.
Unfortunately, this change in staff was not something we had anticipated. The original team members that helped us create the demo were never hired as a temporary crew. When we hired those individuals, it was with full intent that we finish the game with the original members. It was only after we launched our campaign that we were notified of their departure from the team. We never envisioned we’d have an entire change of house and we were wrong to announce the departure of members after the Kickstarter. It was admittedly ignorant to think that backers were only supporting the game and overlooking their support for specific artists. In reference to contracts expiring at the end of the demo, we have a reason for creating them in that way:
Each contract was created to cater to demo-specific roles and tasks which included detailed segments describing payment, milestones for the project’s demo, and a guaranteed contract offer for the rest of the game’s development. The reason we did not ask members to sign a contract for the entire game is because no one wanted to be locked into a project for an undetermined amount of time. At the time of their hiring, we did not have an estimated time for the Kickstarter launch and so we felt it unfair to have them sign a contract for such a long term. During the duration of the demo development, we believed that all members would continue to complete the game. When this changed without warning we found ourselves in an extremely difficult situation.
Our lack of communication is another reason we’d like to apologize: Over the past several months we have been absent from Kickstarter, Tumblr, Facebook as well as our other social media platforms and no matter the reason, it was wrong to leave our supporters without any clue about our progress. While we intended to update regularly, the drastic change in the project’s stability completely disoriented us and we quite honestly didn’t know what to post. We were so caught up in damage control and trying to keep the game from falling apart that we failed to communicate everything we were struggling with.
Finding new team members that fit our work style took a lot out of our earlier months. When we launched our Kickstarter, we anticipated our original team making more progress and instead, that time had to be used just to find replacements. Having to completely reassemble a staff is beyond difficult, especially when they have to be familiarized with the work of a prior member. This means we not only had to find new staff but we would have to spend time getting them up to speed and making sure their work blended with existing content. With the majority of our members being full-time students in several different countries, we also had to work out schedules for us to all make meetings and turn in work. This also affected our speed because, as a team, one member may not be able to start on their task until another is finished with theirs. We have been working at a slow pace and are willing to post what we have finished to show that we did take our game seriously.
Another reason we struggled with progress and internet presence was stressors in our personal lives. As real people, we have each been dealing with big life changes and anxiety. We by no means aim to use this as an excuse for our behavior; we only owe you an explanation.
Audilis was created to be a safe, positive place for otome fans. We wanted to help show that indie games can be great and, regrettably, we fell short.
We understand that there will be questions and we will do our best to answer any you may have for us. Please understand that we do have real-life obligations and will answer them as promptly as possible. We would greatly appreciate it if all questions were sent to [email protected] as this will help us organize all messages and get back to you quicker.
Thank you to everyone that helped us along. We will always cherish the positivity and support you showed and we hope that in time, you can forgive us.
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