So, I've been catching a lot of flak in #rm2k (my main IRC haunt) about why KC(A) was canceled. The reason is pretty simple really... except for maybe one or two people, outside of #rm2k nobody has ever cared about KC. That's it.

Kinetic Cipher has always been a labor of love. RPG Maker games kind of have to be; games made with illegal software which use resources ripped from commercial products aren't exactly a lucrative endevour. In other words it was a hobby. There was a time when just making the game for myself was enough to keep me motivated. Eventually that tapered off and I canceled the game. I picked it up a few times after that but, after KC#8, I was done. I couldn't bring myself to keep going.

I don't even really remember why I wanted to remake the game, but I put together the first dungeon of KC(A) and showed the guys in #rm2k, and they loved it. I didn't touch it again for a long, long time... until my pal Lys hosted a thing at GamingW called "Release Something" in which everyone would have to release something no matter what it was. I resolved to finish the first few adventures of KC(A) and include it in that promotion, to see if I could get an audience. I succeeded in finishing and releaseing KC(A)#2, and was proud of myself. What I had released was the most impressive work I'd ever done with RPGMaker and I was really happy with how it came out. I had a little of my steam back.

Over the next 18 months I resolved to work very hard on KC(A) and try to get enough of a fanbase that I could stay motivated on the project indefinately. I knew the forum monkeys at GW were not the audience I wanted, so I posted KC(A)#2 at a few other RPGMaker forums. My posts were ignored and rolled off the first page of those respective forums to no avail. So, someone suggested that since KC(A) isn't graphically impressive, I should create a website showcasing some of its other merits. I did that: it's the website in front of you right now. But that didn't work either. People who didn't care enough to download KC(A) out of my forum sig or by word of mouth certainly weren't going to click onto the website and read all this information to have their minds changed.

I trucked along on KC(A)#3, sometimes half-heartedly (although I made VERY sure that the end product itself was never half-hearted) and released it. Again, I was extremely proud with how it came out. Kyrie Desert is by far the best dungeon I've ever put together, and I really liked how I was developing some of the characters. I really thought KC(A)#3 was good enough to stand on its own merits, so I released it here on the site and at GW. But again, nobody seemed to care. My IRC pals loved it, of course, but a fan base of ten or twelve guys wasn't enough to get me to want to keep going. Again, someone suggested that I should open some forums to encourage dialogue about the game. So I did that. You can click over to the message board and see what a big joke that turned out to be.

So I kept going, working on KC(A)#4. Lots of towns and sidequests. Two little mini-dungeons. Another big dungeon. But I totally ran out of steam. I ended up so disgusted with the work I was putting into the project compared with what I was getting out of it (ie: essentially nothing) that I threw the download up on the site without having even changing the download page to read "#4" instead of "#3". I didn't even bother to put in a real ending for the demo or fix any of the bugs.

I still love KC(A). I do not love working on it. I would love to love to work on it, but that won't happen. For a long time, keeping all twelve of KC's fans happy was enough for me. Now, it's not. I want an audience. I can't get one with KC. I have to move on to something else.

It disgusts me that vapid, soulless games get posted at GW (and really, that's the only RPGMaker website that has a "decent" community around it... and the word "decent" is in scare quotes for a reason) and get scores of fans. At GW, it isn't about your product, it's about who you suck up to. I don't want KC to be popular because I whored it out to the right people. I want it to stand on its own merits. Apparently, its merits are not good enough. That's a shame, but it's reality.

This website, and the current demo, aren't going to go anywhere. I might even change my mind later. It's happened before.

If you want to see KC(A) continued, get the word out. An outpouring of support is exactly what I need to re-motivate myself. All twelve of my fans assure me this support exists but I've never seen it. The website's stats don't reflect it. My email inbox doesn't show it. If there really are KC fans out there, get yourselves organized and show the creator that, hey, this is worth working on and we're behind you. Otherwise, leave me in peace.

-Ricky Scibbe
6/6/07