Are we supposed to be able to play right now? The game acts like it's going to send me in, but it just keeps booting me back to the main screen. Is this the last bug you mentioned?

Steam isn't loading the game for me.

I believe in this game. Both parties have good reasons to want this game to be successful, and we're slowly removing the things hindering that progress. There's been improvement over the years. Maybe not enough for some, but I believe in Asylum.

Ah, my apologies. My two other points still hold, though. Thank you for the information.

I'm sorry for being blunt, but once you gave them that $250, whatever happened to it after was not under your control. The money we put into this game was in pure faith, to support a product we could not see but trusted would exist. The product we currently have is flawed, but our support was not for the first thing we saw. It's for that final product. This isn't the game, this is a beta module. Once we claimed our keys, we had vowed to see this to the end. You took your key, and so you're bound just like anyone else. I'm sorry you regret it, but there isn't much to say in way of comfort here. If your problem is you don't like your money going to what you see now, then try to think about the final step here, not the first. Imagine someone wants to bake a cake. They don't have the ingredients, so they ask people for them. People chip in and give them sugar, baking soda, eggs, all the works. You want a cake. The cake they are saying they want to bake sounds tasty, so you buy a nice bag of flour and give it to them. The person says they'll make a cake and goes to the kitchen. Later on, you all go to check and see how the cake is doing. The person is mixing the ingredients together. That's not a cake. You ask for that flour back, because you're hungry now and you can't eat what's in the bowl. You no logner want him using the flour because that mixture isn't cake. All the flour was used, though, and you can't get any back. While the flour is gone, the hope of a good cake is still real. The person just needs to finish.

The servers are down. No one can play right now. It's beign worked on, and we should have it back up soon.

Even if you've lost faith in this game, there are real people on the development team. Please still treat them as decent human beings. That's the very least people can do. I believe in them. Keep on, Devs, you have my support.

Servers are down right now, so that's why you can't play. This can't be a prank for three big reasons: 1. Steam, a highly reputable and respected company, has agreed to license and publish this game. If Steam thought this game was going to mess with us all, they wouldn't release it. They wouldn't gain enough money to repair the damage it would do to their reputation. Steam has bad games, but a bad game is different from a prank or scam. 2. The Devs entire livelihoods depend on this going well. Sure, they made a ton of cash, but they've been using it for this game. We're seeing content, and that has to come from somewhere. We know they're paying people and have a team. They didn't take the money and go golfing. If this was a scam, then the funds would stop coming once everyone caught on. You can't fool people forever. Putting it on Steam was the exact moment this couldn' be a sham anymore. We'd realize it was fake the moment we got to play, then money would stop coming. it this wasn't real then steam would never be involved. If they dangled it above us, then I'd be more inclined to believe it wasn't really what they said it was. Their careers would be over if they messed with all of us. 3.There are a lot of people supporting this. A lot of unnamed, unknown people, who could be able to do anything. What if a very powerful, affluent person was scammed? What would they do to Asylum? Even throngs of irate, offended people are threatening on the internet. We're too much of an unknown variable to toy with. Of course, if you don't agree with me, I understand. This is what I firmly believe, though.

You're probably going to have to find some people dedicated to RPing at this point right now, and wait until people can actually play. Once things settle down, it should get better.

They made many mistakes, and we made many mistakes. There were rumors, misconceptions, and just miscommunication on varying levels. This game means far too much to all parties involved for it to stay like this. Asylum's entire livelihood depends on this game at least satisfying those who've already supported it. They can't fail this. If they do, it's all over for them. They know this. They've delayed and patched and delayed and patched over and over because this needed to go well. Meanwhile, the fanbase is clamoring for a release, getting angry, and really not being in the background. I'm not trying to say Asylum is an innocent victim, and we are their bullies, kicking their body on the curb over and over. Neither party here, us or them, are blameless. People got angry. They have a right to. Asylum panicked, and handled things wonkily. People do that. We were all just being humans, but we forgot that. Asylum had to get this right, so they were already pressured. Combined with repeated errors and constant criticism from their backers, I'm not surprised it seems they've become a bit fearful of our reactions. A lot of people would be. On the other hand, the supporters have a very good reason, actually, many good reasons, to have behaved as such. Do I think it's right? No. Do I want us to keep doing it? Absolutely not, not to this degree. However, do I think we were unjustified? No. Asylum lied, misdirected, and upset a lot of people. They tried to do damage control later on, but with such a large group of people, when someone starts crying out, a lot of people tend to follow. It was easy to berate the Devs. While, of course, there were always a smattering of people trying to quell the masses, we were treated as fools, and that probably drove away that positivity. It was almost like the Devs and the fandom were circling each other, trying to see who was going to strike first, only to trip and impale themselves instead. We waited for the Devs to give us content, then tore it to shreds to see what we liked and didn't like. If we were displeased, they'd learn very quickly. People were getting angry and impatient. Time will do that, but it never justifies attacking people. Meanwhile, the Devs were always watching to see how we reacted. Most of the time, it was just grumbling, and when content came, it became fresh, hot anger at whatever people thought was wrong. That would scare anyone, so they started silencing those they believed they could. Then we got scared. What do you do when you're scared? Run away or fight. This is the internet. Not a lot of people run away, here. There's no real threat. It's so easy to just lash out and fire back when you feel wronged here. Both sides started feeling wronged. I think I'm digressing far too much, so I'm going to come back to my main point here. A lot of mistakes were made. Bad mistakes, small mistakes, you name it. Both parties messed up. Neither is a victim, but neither is an abuser. We put our money into this. There is no going back. We can't change that. We either keep fighting the people who have no choice now but to deliver at least a satisfactory product, or we try to limit ourselves and see if we can work together like we should. We all want this game to come out and be good. We're all people. We're going to be goofs. Let's just be goofs together, and try to pick each other up when we fall. Let the Devs hear some support more often. Devs, please don't silence those who are scared and concerned. Reach out to us first, and if that goes badly, then you can do what you feel needs to be done. Don't be afraid of your own supporters. It's hard to trust where there is no trust.

Huh, I never realized that. That's kinda cool!

Not quite sure you expected a follow-up, but I assure you I am no game developer.

And by no means do I believe you are wrong to feel that way. I may not be as upset as you, but I too am not pleased. I just want to remain hopeful things will be righted soon enough. : )

I 100% agree with you on that. No matter who it is or wat they're doing, seeing such harsh backlash will interfere with at least something. As I've been told, never criticize unless you have a solution, or an alternative. A lot of anger has just devolved into the developers being inept at something they've dedicated years of their lives to.

I share your feelings on this about the game, Stethepea. When it's out, it will be lovely, and I'm excited. Not everyone feels the way I do, and with such a large group sharing that feeling, I can't help but think there's certainly a reason for it. Things got messy very early on, and so it started making it harder to have optimistic supporters for this game. People had misconceptions, and Asylum wasn't always the best at handling the fans. I think people have a reason to be upset right now. We were promised a date, after a very long time, and it arrived. That was good. It is good, actually. The problem is after waiting so long, a lot of people expected more substance. Now, I'm not saying Asylum is to blame for that, because we raised our own expectations regardless of what Asylum said or did. Hopefully this will pacify itself to the usual grumbles. Until then, as people are getting excited and shot down, we're going to see some anger.