Wintermute Engine Forum

Game development => Game announcements => Topic started by: SBOVIS on March 17, 2008, 05:29:04 PM

Title: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: SBOVIS on March 17, 2008, 05:29:04 PM
Hi,
    We have just had confirmation from our publisher that the game has been released in UK, web release so far, shop retail to follow and Europe. Also we have just signed a contract with a USA publisher to publish the game there.

 ::rock to WINTERMUTE!!
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Alex ASP on March 18, 2008, 08:00:19 AM
Russian release of this game was on March 14 according to the publisher's website (http://games.1c.ru/limbo/). Congratulations!
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: SBOVIS on March 18, 2008, 01:07:05 PM
Hi,
    Many thanks, and thanks for the info regarding the RUSSAIN release, Never knew this until today hahahahahha  :D
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Orange Brat on April 07, 2008, 08:30:50 AM
Congrats! Was the game a success sales-wise in the US?
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: SBOVIS on April 07, 2008, 11:06:54 AM
Hi Orange Brat,
                     Has not been released yet in USA, contract signed, packaging being approved, will let you all know when a release date is set.

Thanks  ::rock
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: MMR on April 07, 2008, 11:12:32 AM
Hi SBOVIS!

Do you plan to release it in Spain??

Greetings!
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: SBOVIS on April 07, 2008, 11:15:09 AM
Hi,
    At the moment we are lookig for an European publisher to publish in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

A UK english version can be bought now though but not a localised version for the above.....................yet.  ;D
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Alex ASP on April 07, 2008, 11:37:26 AM
Heh... Russian publishers can release any game they got cheap (though I was really surprised you've managed to sign with "1C")... It seems you need to work hard to attract the european publisher... "Just Adventure" IMHO gave your game much greater score then it deserves... Don't want to be too harsh but how on earth have you managed to make all the mistakes possible in adventure games? 8-0 The brightest side of the game is chapter 3 but even it can't stop me giving the game 15 of 100. I'm really deranged...
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: SBOVIS on April 07, 2008, 11:41:54 AM
Thank you Alex ASP for your feedback, everyone is entitled to their opinion. The setup for the RUSSIAN release was done through G2 GAMES our UK publisher and not direct by ourselves.

and yes....................I agree you are deranged!
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Gentlemen on June 12, 2008, 06:17:08 AM
I'm amazed  O0

How could you have the cajones to release a game with stolen content, and stand by it so proud?

Here is some information for users of this forum to take into account before reading any further posts by you.

Limbo of the Lost stole content from many games. The biggest example is Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. It was not just the textures that were stolen, but the actual levels themselves. I noticed some content from Diablo II in your preview video as well. The only thing I can say is.. you wasted 10+ years on that? Really? Hah.

Link with side by side screenshots: http://www.gameplasma.com/limbo_of_the_lost_or_oblivion/
Link confirming the creator of Oblivion is seeking legal action: http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/1343/bethesda-legal-team-looking-into-limbo-of-the-lost

SBOVIS, do you have any comments? Pro Tip: Don't try to mess with the internets... You will nevar win.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: metamorphium on June 12, 2008, 07:35:44 AM
This is a sad day for us independent developers. I fear our work will be even less accepted by publishers "thanks" to affairs like this.  Our games are published because of trust publishers place into our games and with such events we can easily lose this privilege. If every game will fall under precious scrutiny for "stolen contents", they rather save the money for titles guaranteed by bigger studios.

SBOVIS  - I strongly recommend you NEVER EVER write on this forum. I don't think anyone here would help you with your copy/paste code requests anyway.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: FogGobbler on June 12, 2008, 09:32:59 AM
I totally agree with you, metamorphium! I couldn´t believe my eyes when I saw the screenshots. I think its okay to be inspired by other games but to copy whole screens like that is really too much.

I wonder why my team and I spend so much time on double-checking if we can use a texture/soundfile that we´ve found on the internet for a commercial product..

It´s so much easier to just press "screencopy" .. and voilá you´ve got a "new" game.. ::thumbdown

Sorry for being so sarcastic about this, but I´m really sour, but this affair won´t make it easier for us to find a publisher...
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: metamorphium on June 12, 2008, 10:51:52 AM
Judging by the number of game assets which made it into Limbo of the Lost, I think that even if 2 of the companies sued Majestic Studios, those guys will never make it in one piece.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_of_the_Lost#Controversy

Quote
The game features apparently stolen graphics that, according to news site GamePlasma and fanboy community NeoGAF, are identical to the game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.[1] Further screenshots and video have suggested[2] that environments and features have also been stolen from Diablo II, Painkiller, Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004, Thief: Deadly Shadows, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Silent Hill 4, Crysis, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, scenes from the 1997 film Spawn, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, World of Warcraft and other bad games and movies.


Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: niksha on June 12, 2008, 11:00:49 AM
Heh, I have been following Wintermute's development since day one.. but never registered or posted once (just lurking :P). So I was really surprised when I found someone using it to plagiarize on this epic scale. I mean the news is on every game site and I have seen stuff similar to not only Oblivion but UT maps as well. Developers sometimes use texture packs to sound or even model packs so things might end up looking similar from one game to another.. but the big guys don't use model packs, and Limbo just ripped off the whole damn locations somehow expecting that no one will ever notice. I don't think they even tried moving a brick in the scene to make it look different.

I just hope this doesn't bring bad name to Indies or Wintermute as well..
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: HarryTuttle on June 12, 2008, 12:57:59 PM
Seriously, I've never met anybody in my life stupid enough to do anything like that. It's a mystery to me. Especially with an engine as excellent as Wintermute. You've brought the worst kind of disrepute on yourself by doing this. I would never buy anything ever published by you and I hope the entire planet will follow suit.

Just nakedly lifting out screenshots from other games and using stolen assets is so absurd it is the kind of lunacy you would expect from Russia. I think the communists must be putting something in the drinking water over there, seriously.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: odnorf on June 12, 2008, 01:15:36 PM
@HarryTuttle

Let's keep this civilized please. This game is NOT a Russian title and the developers are NOT from Russia but from UK afaik. It just happened that it got published there (along with UK & US). Political discussion is unrelated.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: metamorphium on June 12, 2008, 01:18:12 PM
HarryTurtle: what does Russia has in common with British development studio?  ???
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: maze on June 12, 2008, 02:49:36 PM
I just read at Adventure-Treff that (some) backgrounds was stolen from the elder scrolls. I never play the elder scrolls oblivion game, but if it's true I really think it's very bold to sell such a game.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Nihil on June 12, 2008, 03:51:16 PM
Limbo of the Lost has become the worlds most famous adventure within just a few hours!
If I were you, I'd hire these guys for your marketing-department ;-)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Sally (MG) on June 12, 2008, 06:01:24 PM
There is a difference between famous and infamous... :p

You know what I'm ashamed of? I must have played this game for like at least 5 hours and DIDN'T NOTICE A THING! Aside from graphical incoherence, that is. I just thought "wow the bacgrounds are well composed but looks like it's designed by a bunch of difference people" but not "hey I recognize that from thief!"

And they still spent 3 years in making this? Spent most of it drinking beer, I presume?
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Mnemonic on June 12, 2008, 06:20:15 PM
There is a difference between famous and infamous... :p
They say there's no such thing as bad publicity... In any case he made some publicity for this forum :) *Mnemonic waves to those 100+ guests reading this thread*
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: gooberific on June 12, 2008, 06:32:11 PM
There is a difference between famous and infamous... :p
They say there's no such thing as bad publicity... In any case he made some publicity for this forum :) *Mnemonic waves to those 100+ guests reading this thread*

I am one of the visitors drawn here by the controversy, however this is not my first visit here or my first exposure to the engine.

Out of morbid curiosity I looked through the post history of SBOVIS and from what I can tell he didn't know a lick about coding. You had to hold his hand through the simplest things as he borrowed code from all over. How did this joker get a publisher? Did it ever seem odd to you that this guy was releasing a commercial game but apparently lacked basic programming ability?
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: maze on June 12, 2008, 06:34:04 PM
@Mnemonic: Have you change the banner or is it a hack?   :o
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: space boy on June 12, 2008, 06:41:42 PM
They say there's no such thing as bad publicity...

That's only true for Paris Hilton. I think WME deserves something better than that. There are comments all over the net about the shitty quality of the game. Lest people think it's the engines fault. I'm glad you take it with humour(I do find the new banner hilarious myself), but I'm sure you'd like any other game but this one to advertise the engine. WME really has potential and this sorry excuse for a game is very good at hiding that.

Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: leybi on June 12, 2008, 07:01:48 PM
Well I'm one of those who discovered this engine with the controversy, and I think Wintermute looks cool ! I'll surely give it a try :)

Also, the banner made me laugh ;D
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: FogGobbler on June 12, 2008, 07:24:22 PM
The new banner is great  ;D

Can anybody please tell me how to code a game like oblivion in WME.. Is there a "make game button" somewhere in the editor or has anybody got some code for me?  ;)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Scout on June 12, 2008, 08:18:12 PM
It's been a while since I posted here, but Wintermute is a wonderful engine that doesn't deserve this kind of bad publicity.  I hope that the knock on effect from these idiots isn't too damaging for the whole project.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Nihil on June 12, 2008, 08:22:23 PM
I can't imagine how that should seriously become a problem for WME ... as long as there is no importFromOblivion()-function mnemonic should be on the safe side ;-)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Gentlemen on June 12, 2008, 09:13:10 PM
Personally I don't see an issue for the Wintermute Engine. This is my first exposure to the engine, but anyone who can read for 20 seconds can understand its the engine is open for anyone to use, and is 2.5D, so you can use any screenshot for a background of a scene or whatever.

I don't see how they got it to be ~2.5gb with all that but hey ;) I "grabbed" a copy for myself but I don't think I have the will to install it.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Roman Navratil on June 12, 2008, 09:44:33 PM
As someone said, Limbo Of the Lost has become of the worlds most famous adventure games (and maybe PC game in general!), so those guys could really work in marketing (but probably not in PR :-) )...

But I would suggest to keep it down, we are just human beings (i am not sure, if this is the right expresion in English) and there is no need to beat those guys even here :-)... Why? Well i think, that the upcoming days, weeks and months will be full of beating these guys from any "game side" :-), and even if not, the court of law will compensate it more the good.

So lets act like "humans" (i know that this expresion is incorrect in english :-) ).

But lets talk about the issue, if anyone can be so naive and silly or if it is really one BIG conspiration advertisement :-)...!?
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: TeLeStIc on June 12, 2008, 10:23:51 PM

But lets talk about the issue, if anyone can be so naive and silly or if it is really one BIG conspiration advertisement :-)...!?


I've really began to think the conspiracy theory. I just can't believe that anyone (not just them) actually assumes nobody will realize such a scam. I've even persuaded myself that it's nothing more than a farce, like a marketing one...

 ::slug "We really don't see any stolen screenshots, it's really a totally original game...." ::slug ::slug

 ;D
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Gentlemen on June 13, 2008, 01:56:16 AM
But lets talk about the issue

I don't think not talking about the version is the best reaction. Making a big deal about it will certainly discourage any other people from attempting the same thing. They must have really thought they got away with it seeing as recently he was looking for more people for a sequel :P

It looks like they did not get away with it, and the law will handle them accordingly. I feel sorry for their families however.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Alex ASP on June 13, 2008, 10:05:02 AM
Don't think this incident will harm WME in any way. Publishers know that WME is an engine, and using any engine you can create both original an not so original games. Several original and licensed titles based on WME were created and sold here in Russia, several are in development - the engine has a good reputation.

As for "Limbo of the Lost" - I was really surprised to find out that a game published by one of our leading companies (the same that published The Elder Scrolls 4) is such a crap (though even selling crap to international partners is not something new in this world). Well, we have holidays here now and any official publisher's statement on the "LotL"-case may appear not earlier then on Monday.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Roman Navratil on June 13, 2008, 11:02:58 AM

It looks like they did not get away with it, and the law will handle them accordingly. I feel sorry for their families however.

Well i do not think, that it will harm their families, because those people live in "none-game" world probably, such as people around their families (neighbours, friends etc.), i mean that they do not care about PC games and thus will not probably be affected by this "incident". On the other hand, if the game companies, who own the assets stolen in Limbo will take some llegal actions, they will probably notice "something".

BTW, do you think, that those companies will really take some legal actions? The team and the project (Limbo) is really small and "poor" i belive. I also belive that they did not sell many copies of the Limbo the Lost, and thus the big companies would probably see only a little compensation, which might not even be worth it (talking about the need to pay the lawyers etc.) So do you think, there will be some "more serious" legal actions from these big companies?
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: deps on June 13, 2008, 11:42:38 AM
Another one who discovered Wintermute yesterday reporting in. I think the whole thing is hilarious!  ;D

Wintermute looks like a nice engine, and I will give it a go when my current project is done. Got some quick ideas of restarting an old and abandoned  project and redo it as an adventure instead. :)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Gentlemen on June 13, 2008, 03:57:51 PM

It looks like they did not get away with it, and the law will handle them accordingly. I feel sorry for their families however.

Well i do not think, that it will harm their families, because those people live in "none-game" world probably, such as people around their families (neighbours, friends etc.), i mean that they do not care about PC games and thus will not probably be affected by this "incident". On the other hand, if the game companies, who own the assets stolen in Limbo will take some llegal actions, they will probably notice "something".

BTW, do you think, that those companies will really take some legal actions? The team and the project (Limbo) is really small and "poor" i belive. I also belive that they did not sell many copies of the Limbo the Lost, and thus the big companies would probably see only a little compensation, which might not even be worth it (talking about the need to pay the lawyers etc.) So do you think, there will be some "more serious" legal actions from these big companies?

While they may not get much out of the LotL team, lawsuits will be filed (it has been confirmed by Bethesda). I'm sure the 10+ companies stole from will indeed ensure that LotL is never distributed again, and any money made of the game will end up in their collective hands.

Game studios and publishers are very series about intellectual property, and thus protect it like rabid dogs :P

The reason I feel sorry for the families is law suits cost money, so they will end up pretty broke at the end of this (at least the direct family ala wife/kids).
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: J. Rubbernecker on June 13, 2008, 09:55:15 PM
They say there's no such thing as bad publicity... In any case he made some publicity for this forum :) *Mnemonic waves to those 100+ guests reading this thread*

Well, this whole mess drew me here and I've got to say I'm really impressed with the lengths the community went to to help somebody who was clearly in way over his head.  How do we nominate Mnemonic for sainthood?

One afternoon in grade school the teacher told us to sit quietly and write short stories.  Robert, front row left, raised his hand and asked how to spell once.  We were old enough that we should know, but the teacher told him after the giggling died down.  It wasn't his fault, after all.  But two minutes later he asked how to spell upon.

For fifteen minutes we all watched Robert stare at his paper and work up the courage to ask about time, and I get that same feeling again and again watching SBOVIS inch closer to the point where he'd just post his code and ask somebody else to do it.  The fact that Steve Bovis managed to demo, sell, and deliver a fully-functioning game is a real testament to WME and its community.  Really.

So congratulations to everyone who leant SBOVIS a hand; your snippets and fixes now belong to the ages.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Roman Navratil on June 13, 2008, 11:04:59 PM

The reason I feel sorry for the families is law suits cost money, so they will end up pretty broke at the end of this (at least the direct family ala wife/kids).

Well, according to the age of the developers, i think, that we can at least be quite calm and stressles about their children, because they are so old that they can raise money for themselves alone :-).

BTW i did not get the point of the topic above me, should it end up in good or bad mood for WME community :-D...?
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: J. Rubbernecker on June 13, 2008, 11:20:19 PM
BTW i did not get the point of the topic above me, should it end up in good or bad mood for WME community :-D...?

Good: based on the tech support alone, I'll recommend WME every chance I get.  :)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Orange Brat on June 14, 2008, 09:41:15 AM
The whole thing is pretty disgraceful. I hope it doesn't rub off on WME; however it appears that a few curious souls are discovering just how cool the engine is. Too bad it took something "infamous" to hook them. It's going for big bucks on eBay, now. Wow.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: atm_deev on June 16, 2008, 08:41:08 PM
Indirectly, the scandal could help WME. :)  ::beer
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: talamaska on June 16, 2008, 11:23:24 PM
Hello Adventure/Rpg Fans,

first i have to say pls forgive me my bad english. This is really really sad what i read here but it showed me the way to this forum I'm really shocked what happens. I think you do outstanding work on this forum and i see it so without this ripoff i never heared about it ^^. think positiv. I just would show u some movies that will give u ur enthusiasm back (i hope)

And Steven thats for you, im so ashamed about you... pls watch the following movies they made with moviemaker and stuff is made of voluntary work of oblivion for 0 £. Just be ashamed and i hope i will never ever hear something about you. >.>
Best Oblivion mods (same game but totally different):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SX3o4Hdcp78
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rjc6soH1P40
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8aMPoqdrNwU

Thanks to Couly from youtube.com and all the modders


P.S Again its volutary work and made with movie maker ;) THE INDIE DEVS MAKES OBLIVION TO OBLIVION AND THE "REAL" DEVS KNOWS AND LIKE IT^^
I really wont know what Steveboy stole from tes modders >.>

P.P.S Another great fan project http://youtube.com/watch?v=3mhp0NOaRXU, http://youtube.com/watch?v=CoQAQuaEFCg. without £.£
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: ohiocake on June 17, 2008, 09:48:52 AM
woot, posting in a legendary thread, on the most legendary gaming site ::wave.



as for steve the thieve, i cant beleive you ripped footage from Disney man lol, what a classic. I bet that the mickey mouse laywers are at least 5 times as aggresive than those of Microsoft rofl. you sir, have reached a level of fvcked that was previously thought unreachable. also, posing as a regular customer on boomers was win as well.
and finally, i have to say this, the snow effects you put on those UT 2004 maps is downright awesome.

edit: i apologize, never my intention to insult ya, its just so amazing he got away with this without anyone knowing about it.
hope to see some quality games soon from you're engine.
good luck :-)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: odnorf on June 17, 2008, 10:16:16 AM
i feel real sorry how this slimebal brought shame on this community, but to be honest this dude has been asking for assistance quite a few times, surely somehow some of you must have seen some of his handy work when in beta stage?

Your assumptions are wrong and to be honest insulting. We helped him with scripting questions (step by step many times) but we were never part of the beta testing and he was very secretive about his game so he never posted screenshots (now we know why). So no, this hasn't brought any shame on us but to himself only.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: space boy on June 17, 2008, 01:03:47 PM
I'd just like to remind you about BURDEN OF PROOF. If you come here and assume that respected people are being dishonest about a quite serious matter you better have some evidence. I'd be really pissed if the reputation of the WME crowd took damage because of people spreading unverified bullshit like its a proven fact(which is already being done in certain places).
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: jlinam on June 17, 2008, 07:17:49 PM

Man, what a spectacular train wreck!

I only hope this doesn't affect the publisher, who is probably innocent of any wrongdoing but may well become the "deep pockets" in the numerous lawsuits that are no doubt coming. It's unlikely that Majestic has a lot of cash for a big settlement to the copyright hodlers.

On another note, I don't know how copyright works in the UK, but if it's anything like the US, the boys behind "Limbo" may end up behind bars. Deliberate, knowing, repeat copyright violation is a criminal offense and people have been sentenced to prison for less egregious acts.
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Amo on June 19, 2008, 07:02:00 PM
We were totally shocked by this but thought for a long time it could be just a big fake. Somehow it turned into something thats known as the truth. At least the empty shelves speak this language. I also really hope that this does not negatively affect the publicity of WME but I do not expect so. What could start to be more of a problem is, that this could harm the Indie scene as well and the publisher.
At least the publishers can't be harmed in a financial way, (normally contracts contain a part were the developer grants that his product is free of rights of third and fully responsible for doing not so) but it could be bad publicity.
We are just lucky like hell that we did it through the major international contracts before this curiosity started.

Cheers

Martin (after a long time of abstinence)
Title: Re: Limbo of the Lost UK release
Post by: Mnemonic on June 26, 2008, 03:23:31 PM
(I had to lock this thread because some idiots don't have anything better to do than post crap)

EDIT: I don't mean the above posters, but the posts I removed ;)