Do you know what the entire thing here reminds me of? Yup, the "Stella" vocal synth fiasco.
I'm a bit surprised I'm not seeing more talk (in general, not just here) about the primary purpose of the crowdfund - to help a friend out. This is genuinely such a crazy thing to just casually drop like that and I would feel incredibly betrayed if I were a backer. Is this not actual fraud?
I'm not expecting a lawsuit to come of this or anything, since technically yes the money did need to go to their single developer who wouldn't be able to do any work if they ended up being deported, but people were not contributing to the crowdfund knowing that was happening. That's actually insane to me.
I'm not expecting a lawsuit to come of this or anything, since technically yes the money did need to go to their single developer who wouldn't be able to do any work if they ended up being deported, but people were not contributing to the crowdfund knowing that was happening. That's actually insane to me.
Wait, I completely skipped over that part. What?? How do they expect anyone to trust them after admitting that....
At least with the Stella situation, Planty was just planning on releasing albums. In a reality where she wasn't revealed to be fake, I can't even see the albums raising that much money. I am noticing the similarities since you brought it up. This one is just more damaging than Stella's situation.
The revelations paint a picture of a project that unfortunately failed at every level. I believe the folks saying that this project was draining, damaging, even traumatizing. I feel bad for them and I hope they can create space for themselves from this for the future. Simultaneously, I'm frankly aghast at the lack of accountability from basically all of these people. There's too much that could be said about too many things in that area so I won't go down that road.
I have some thoughts on the continuation of this project that some folks seem to be committed to.
In my opinion, they should dissolve Crescendia (especially if Crescendia is Natalia's entity?), and formally cancel Maghni.
Good for them if these guys want to develop an engine on their own time, but it makes zero sense to do so on this fundamentally broken foundation. "Maghni" as it was promised on social media and in the IndieGoGo campaign ostensibly does not exist. It is still not clear if there are plans to make it exist in the specific ways that were promised. I personally doubt it. So, can it.
I think it may be tempting for the remaining contributors to think they can "make good" on the Maghni promises by spinning up an engine & maybe reusing the Maghni frontend. In my opinion, unless these folks are contractually obligated to do so (which I seriously doubt, if it is true that employment terms were discussed on the phone and not committed to paper, and if the NDA permits this much to be said) it is a bad idea to accept that baggage, no matter how well-meaning. And, clearly, the reality of a complete engine of any kind is very far away.
To be clear, I do believe that these folks mean well, but I think this is entirely the wrong way to go about it at this point. In my opinion, they can't be specific about deliverables because they do not know what is within their capacity, and on what timelines. That being the situation, it may be the case that some or all of this may never be within their capacity. Even unintentionally, the public is still effectively still being led on. They can choose to stop doing that. If they're valuable, they can take their prototypes, do something else, and come back when it exists.
Maghni is a failed business venture. The quicker they accept this, the easier this becomes for everyone, especially their fans that were led astray.
My favorite excerpt from the blog post:
I have some thoughts on the continuation of this project that some folks seem to be committed to.
In my opinion, they should dissolve Crescendia (especially if Crescendia is Natalia's entity?), and formally cancel Maghni.
Good for them if these guys want to develop an engine on their own time, but it makes zero sense to do so on this fundamentally broken foundation. "Maghni" as it was promised on social media and in the IndieGoGo campaign ostensibly does not exist. It is still not clear if there are plans to make it exist in the specific ways that were promised. I personally doubt it. So, can it.
I think it may be tempting for the remaining contributors to think they can "make good" on the Maghni promises by spinning up an engine & maybe reusing the Maghni frontend. In my opinion, unless these folks are contractually obligated to do so (which I seriously doubt, if it is true that employment terms were discussed on the phone and not committed to paper, and if the NDA permits this much to be said) it is a bad idea to accept that baggage, no matter how well-meaning. And, clearly, the reality of a complete engine of any kind is very far away.
To be clear, I do believe that these folks mean well, but I think this is entirely the wrong way to go about it at this point. In my opinion, they can't be specific about deliverables because they do not know what is within their capacity, and on what timelines. That being the situation, it may be the case that some or all of this may never be within their capacity. Even unintentionally, the public is still effectively still being led on. They can choose to stop doing that. If they're valuable, they can take their prototypes, do something else, and come back when it exists.
Maghni is a failed business venture. The quicker they accept this, the easier this becomes for everyone, especially their fans that were led astray.
My favorite excerpt from the blog post:
This shit is so unserious.