Smalland: A Case for Transparency in Early Access Games - Sensationalist Headlines

i too got offered to work on this, at the time i rejected the offer since i was busy with other projects but i could really never forget that the way the guy was speaking to me seemed pretty...raw and unprofessional?, looks like i dodged a bullet

$1.6k is nothing for a contract like that. I can't believe they'd rather risk hell being raised rather than just paying you. I really hope they just fix this right quickly, rather than fighting back for whatever good that would do them. Also could you throw down a paypal.me link or something so I can dump a little cash too? I'm a contractor/commissioner myself and it hurts to see this happen.

Funny how they don't give a shit about artists wanting to get paid for their work until it brings the public eye back on them, isn't it?

I'm jumping in too. This is seriously some underhanded behaviour on part of the development 'team'. If you need anything for any reason, hit me up. I'm almost always online (phone). Phobos001#4774

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/361289/455593a6-966d-4be9-bfa3-f2cf37f56ad6/Screenschot.JPG After that he posted some screenshots from April because the month was 04 of you admitting you were behind? He quickly deleted them though so I wasn't able to show them in the screenshot. Really sorry about what's happening man.

So... I'm being threatened because I'm "breaking the NDA". Not sure what the best course of action is from here, but I'm very happy that this article has been received well. And, I'm so fucking appreciative of all the people offering to help. For the time being, I'm going to have to decline because it doesn't sit well with me to accept money from something that was sort of my fault.

Damn, this sucks. I hope this gets sorted out for you ASAP.

So apparently exposing wage theft and fraud is covered under the NDA so I'm on the run right now guys. See you when his lawyer inevitably takes all my assets including my Steam games.

That's not how contracts work. You should lawyer up, this would be a very easy case to win.

I'm fairly sure an NDA cannot just absolve the contractee of legal rights.

NDAs don't cover criminal acts. Contracts are civil agreements, they don't trump the law.

Bullshit. If he tries to take it any further, he's not going to get away with it. Stay vocal. Do not let them silence you.

A couple of days ago I posted your article in the Steam Subforum for Smalland, obviously I got from it today banned and the thread got deleted. But surprisingly, Rustic hit me up on discord. https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237476/9cbef5cf-1c9a-41cb-90fe-9e4f7298f4b1/Capture.PNG

I'm extremely sorry for not reading employee messages in a timely manner. Sadly when he was let go we ran into issues at the same time with our legal side and I was overwhelmed with work related to those issues and the community was upset that I wasn't replying to them. The stress I was under during that time led to several poor choices - I know that I should of at least made an effort to stay in contact with my own staff but the stress was getting to me. For a time we ran severely low on financial assets due to those troubles with further exacerbated the whole situation. Due to the stress I chose to ignore many things, including community and employee messages. This was an awful decision and I'm just now realizing what my employees must of been thinking during all that time. I did reply to emails but many messages went unheard until I had dealt with all the legal issues - including Reg's messages. Once you posted your article, I again came under fire on all fronts and again responded poorly. This indie project is my passion and I want to make every effort possible to ensure we make the best game we can. I'm finding out now there is more to running an indie studio than just making a game. These events have made me realize how I've been acting, not just towards you, but towards the rest of my staff and community as well. Reg, I know I messed up, and I'm sorry things have been allowed to come this far - This whole situation is entirely of my own making. I'd really like to talk with you again and at least give you what I owe. If you don't want to talk with me anymore then I understand that, at least allow me to do this for you though. I had help writing this letter - English is not my native language and there was a lot I wanted to say, I didn't want to risk being misunderstood if i had written my thoughts out myself

You (if you're Rustic7) said "he was paid enough" weeks after saying he would be paid 1.6k, which on its own would be bad enough. You can't tell someone you'll pay them for work, have them do that work and then decide they'll get nothing anyway, only to the then decide that not only will they now get nothing, that you were being generous with the money you did give them so the agreed on fee shouldn't matter, and that you're now suddenly not happy with the work they did despite being fine with it at the time, and that after all those excuses and threatening him over something which shouldn't be covered by an NDA, say that you're sorry and that you'll now suddenly give him the money after everyone knows about this and it's making you look bad. I'm not a developer or anything but even i know that isn't how contracting/commissioning stuff works, that's just extremely scummy.

In my opinion, making mistakes is ok as long as you and the others involved learn from them. When criticisms arise, take them seriously and consider making changes. A bad reputation is hard to recover from. Hopefully Reg can get what he was promised, and your community can get what they were promised - and everyone is happy! Remember, being open and communicative is very important both in group projects and especially as an early-access developer. Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck in completing your project. (Disclaimer: I obviously don't understand the situation as well as you and Reg and the rest of the team does.)

We received a request from the developer of this game to remove this thread. I will not be removing this thread

But he said please

Maybe if the word Smalland is said enough times typing Smalland in google to search up Smalland will link to this Smalland thread about how the Smalland developer partakes in wage theft of people who did work for Smalland and then tries to censor anything that points out that Smalland did this. It helps that even the Smalland developer made an account called SMALLAND to post in this Smalland thread. Smalland.

I love watching karma fucking someone in the ass.

That people still fall for the Streisand effect in this day and age... Yo developers of Smallland, maybe grow a brain?

It is no "Fucking Incredible" but Smalland will have to do.

Smalland? More like Smalldick.

sticky it instead preferably globally, but i dont think we have that yet

Lmfao jesus christ theyre so petty

Good. Fuck them. Come at me developer.

Nice try Smalland.

That's fucked. I had this game on my wishlist because it seemed pretty interesting conceptually, but now that I can tell the developer's a shitheel that's coming right on off there. Hope shit works out for you Reg.

It's good that Smalland is being exposed as a scam.

How about you just own up to being scummy assholes who are attempting dig up anything in order to justify what you did to him. Paying him for his work and just owning up to what you did is going to cost you a lot less. However, if you keep trying to discredit him and go about the way you are your business reputation will be ruined and your little project will become a huge money sink. You guys had a agreement - he held up his end and you failed to hold up your end of the bargain. Trying to attack his work ethic or anything else as a tactic to discredit him doesn't change the fact you have not held up your end. Don't even try to threaten him with NDA violations because NDA's are designed to protect knowledge, work, and other information related to the parties or project. It is basically a way to protect your project from having assets or information stolen or sold to another dev team. NDA's don't cover breach of contract which you are doing right now. Don't get mad because you are being exposed for shitty practices. Even then you would have to prove that it was breach of contract and I highly doubt any judge in a civil court for the amount of 1.6k would even agree with you. Second of all, you have to actually legally enforce the NDA, so how are you going to enter a court room with the argument of breach of contract when you did the same exact thing? Even then, is your NDA legally binding? I highly doubt it, if you cannot afford to pay him I highly doubt you could afford a lawyer to have a NDA professionally written out. So I'm willing to bet your NDA has all types of loop-holes, isn't constructed correctly, and struggles to hold water. TLDR; quit being petty and pay him his money or make arrangements to pay him according to the original contract. All you are going to do is make a mess out of your case, get yourself in legal trouble, and be stuck paying him and legal fees. Stop being a scum bag and pay him the money because that is what you agreed to and what is right.