Dreamworld gets even worse?

[@CallumUpton]

quick update, received this from the company the music belongs to. yikes gyazo.com/8c56caf6c0f8388d1eaab3c3b2d6d38f

[@greteh92]

Massive yikes.

[@pskry]

Well, that's a bit wishy-washy. Does the "pyramid scheme alpha" the boys put out count as "launching a product"? The studio is probably not going to pursue a failed dream project of two youngsters, even if they distributed copyrighted material without holding a license to do so. But what do I know. PS: thanks for sharing!

[@chrisblake4198]

Has anyone been in touch with Kickstarter yet? At this point, if they know what's going on they may not even hand over the money. I kind of hope that's what happens, because if the cash makes it into these guys' hands, the chances of anyone getting it back plummet.

[@AngelMass]

Yikesss

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

my fiancé left me my best friend Gary left me my parents left me my discord server left me. I'm crying, that was hilarious.

[@buntklut6451]

My tears left me watching it lmao

[@AaronVictoria]

@@buntklut6451 LOL this comment made even more tears leave me. As I'm trying to stop laughing I had to be dumb and read the comments. My soul left me...

[@Quencyisalmostgone]

+1 Rly had to laugh 😂👌🏻

[@asrea9704]

His ambitions left him too, before the project even started 😂

[@FrostyMikhail]

Same, can't handle that part, too hilarious xDD

[@SmilinAislinn]

Thank you so much for being so transparent with me in our conversations! And for asking for my direct “ok” to include anything from those convos in this video 😊 REALLY appreciate it 🙏

[@pralinor]

We are all sorry to have you involved in all that shit. Truly, we are.

[@CallumUpton]

Absolutely! I'm really thankful you took the time out of your busy schedual to discus this 😅

[@benturner3458]

I feel sorry that you have to go through this drama, even after drawing a line under the sand in this relationship.... I've been unfortunate enough to be involved with someone who lied pathologically in the past, and all I can say is that it was emotionally and physically draining for me. And took me some time to get back to myself after it. I just hope you have come through it all stronger. You got everything going for you so I'm sure you've got an amazing life to look forward to👍

[@DeathMetalDerf]

I know I'm very late to the party as usual here, but for whatever it might be worth, I'm very sorry you were treated poorly by this guy, and I know things are very well done and over with, but for personal reasons, I'm very sorry you suffered the abuse and gaslighting you were subject to. I'm sure you know this, but you didn't deserve that.

[@doclewis8927]

You dodged a bullet. Hope you're doing well and never (please never) get with another liar and manipulator like him. You deserve better, especially for being so transparent with the whole world about what's happened. I've known people like him and I guarantee you that he would've trapped you with marriage and possibly a child while stepping out on you (if he hadn't already). Good luck and good health!

[@CallumUpton]

P.s. a massive thanks to Josh strife Hayes and Slopes game room, i wouldn't have such an incredible audience without you

[@CallumUpton]

@Ryan John haha, i at least gave him the honors of appearing in the thumbnail ;)

[@davidcanada1927]

Kira and Josh are both awesome I love this shit fuck scammers thanks for exposing this

[@onomatopoeia7505]

"My dignity... left me." Deep sigh. "My integrity... left me." Deep sigh. "My massive and bloated ego... still here."

[@reecebrauer7289]

I liked the video immediately after this part. hilarious stuff

[@nickyblue4866]

"My discord... left me."

[@iamwritingrightnow8217]

„My fucking lying ass...still here.“

[@xellios]

Every time I see a Dreamworld update from Callum Upton, KiraTV or Josh Hayes I get excited. This rabbit hole is better than most of the shit on Netflix. Excellent video, and just tell everyone you did this is 4:3 aspect ratio for artistic effect. Dreamworld Drama - The Snyder Cut.

[@CallumUpton]

Thanks man! and from what i can tell, me kira, josh and slopes are all gonna be making some sort of "the full story" video once/if this ever comes to an end haha

[@DeadNoob451]

Man, this turned from your average Kickstarter hit&run into a real nasty situation. I wonder if these guys are aware just how badly they screwed themselves (and any investors, be they small or big) over. They are waaay beyond just burning their reputation at this point. Also i wonder how this will reflect upon yCombinator, considering that the entire purpose of that org. is to prevent situations like these. Awesome research yet again mate.

[@CallumUpton]

This is already a massive stain on Ycoms record, but rest assured it seems like there's going to be some movements on their side now. and as for the dreamworld duo.. the internet is only forever right? ;)

[@kagarisa1426]

They probably know they have fucked up, but don't seem to care

[@DeanAshford]

"We got so excited I made a discord channel.... and it left me" Oh my days that slayed me.

[@auqustfire]

There's so much music that you can use for free, I can't believe they instead stole one that you have to pay for. It's like they did everything wrong on purpose.

[@CallumUpton]

these guys could make a "how not to run a kickstarter" guide. We never even thought to look in to the music initially as we ASSUMED they were just using free music

[@xalzor740]

Thats what con artists do

[@XperimentorEES]

Which is both laughable & concerning, that level of ineptitude is what you read about in books, but if they get away with it then it won't bode well for others.

[@germanslice]

@@xalzor740 They say they had 9 years of game development experience but how many years of that game development experience was in Unreal Engine?

[@ironrose6]

They have no experience with any engine. Zach was a waiter in New York whose ex-fiancée confirmed he's had absolutely zero experience with any kind of programming or development.

[@CallumUpton]

my apologies guys, this video was rendered in widescreen, no idea why it cropped after render, thanks for the support as always. much love

[@CallumUpton]

@Poopyface Chomp the video file itself is rendered in 4k which is odd, guess i need to work it out haha

[@Eincrou]

The video's aspect ratio is _almost_ the cinematic anamorphic widescreen format (2.40), but you needed to drop 14 pixels from the height 😛

[@xalzor740]

I agree he should be filming with a Blackmagic URSA 12K Camera... Kappa

[@derGhebbet]

Of course you did... and Dreamworld will go gold later this this year. =P

[@CallumUpton]

@Poopyface Chomp right thats the final straw! next vid in 240p

[@benfoote9945]

I could see this being made into a Netflix documentary, similar to Fyre Festival.

[@CallumUpton]

i will promise this, once this comes to an end i'll be making a well edited Peter Jackson cut of this lmao

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

Internet Historian should get on this lol.

[@SobrietyandSolace]

@@TearThatRedFlagDown Yep and/or Wayvywebsurf or Whang!

[@ArDeeMee]

„A thousand subs! What!“ 1.5 years later you‘re at 72k subs. Congrats! =)

[@sammyers9576]

Please continue to produce videos. You think critically, ethically protect your sources, and clearly have a lot of insight into game development. Excited to see what you have next!

[@Orkillester1]

As soon as they mentioned the game would be making the clients do most of the work to run the servers, I instantly suspected there might be some malicious code (maybe to use kids computers to run blockchain mining shit perhaps). This suspicion only heightened when you were on Slopes stream and his antivirus kept flagging the game. However after this video it seems like they don't even know how to write malicious code lol. They really have no idea what they're doing!

[@CallumUpton]

trust me, i'm surprised these guys can write a sentence, let alone code!

[@andrewelliottgamedesign]

Following this story with interest. As a small time game developer myself working on my first solo game i've spent 3 months just getting the character movement set up.. And these guys go make 60$ pretty much overnight ripping off other peoples work.. I hope your work on this helps the investors to get their money back. Keep up the good work.

[@germanslice]

Is there anything that they done in Unreal Engine that's actually been original. I use some pre-made assets to build things but I also put my own original ideas into unreal engine...

[@wheeloftimem8481]

On some levels, this is more spicy than the Chronicles of Elyria drama.

[@devinmorse3607]

As a developer myself, I am always hesitant on a Kickstarter project that places "pre-alpha" into their trailer. Pre-alpha is a playable build of the game with a proper representation of the player character. You need that player character in order to accurately design the levels. At that point you are either getting ready, or are starting, to put final artwork into the game and preparing for Alpha testing. What Dreamworld showing is a prototype or a concept trailer.

[@knessing7681]

This concept of "Pre-Alpha" was and is popularized by another successful kickstarter scam project known as Star Citizen.

[@animepeaches22]

Ok literally snorted laughing at that “left me” montage @1:00 😂🤣😂

[@CallumUpton]

i cant take credit for it sadly, but every time i saw it it had me dying, glad it made you laugh!

[@animepeaches22]

@@CallumUpton it’s brilliant! Also great video and congrats on blowing past 1k!

[@Expertspecter]

@@CallumUpton Do you know who did? They deserve some love for their meme skills.

[@cheerscliff]

Looks like you're about to hit 1.5K subs now. Congrats and keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing how this train wreck ends.

[@CallumUpton]

if i told you i had finished filming that ending less than 24 hours ago... ive gained 550 subs in that time. its INSANE! and thank you, your support really means a lot!

[@lauralazulis4599]

I haven’t been so interested in drama since I started watching the O.C. In high school, 15 years ago. Can’t wait for more.

[@CallumUpton]

yeah, this is just otherworldly. nothing makes sense

[@Alexander-dk8tb]

I posted your initial video in a reddit post that got on the front page of /r/games so I'm going to take some of the credit for you getting so many views Callum! Hahah but all seriousness you're doing a great job with this dreamworld saga. You have really good investigative skills and I'm keen to see what else you unfold. Would be interested what Justin Kan would have to say about this as he's pretty active on youtube and he's part of ycombinator.

[@CallumUpton]

haha thanks! i'd be interested to know too!

[@Keile1111]

Much love man. This was my first video of yours that I have gotten to see. Great content and great investment in your detective work to find out real facts. Also I saw how hard you were working to choose your words carefully, it's something I really enjoy about Kira. Keep it up and will be following your content.

[@CallumUpton]

Welcome aboard! glad you enjoy the content, and yeah i realize a lot the topics here need careful wording

[@americanzero2114]

I just discovered you, Josh Strife Hayes, and this whole dreamworld scam a couple of hours ago and I’m so fucking invested in this

[@crowcoregames1785]

"they whent on holday the day the kickstarter ended" i physically faceplamed

[@pskry]

You sir have a bright future in covering kickstarter scam drama.

[@Frostgnaw]

Josh showed a part of your video in his cover of Dreamworld. I really enjoyed your analysis of their bs, so I subbed. Glad he gave you a shoutout.

[@vcmattsucr]

"My Discord server left me..." I AM DECEASED

[@TheFettz]

This is some tremendous work on this, Callum. It’s so bizarrely intriguing.

[@PhilBoswell]

"We are about to hit a thousand subscribers!" As of this time you have 13·6k subscribers, so well done you! Looks like you're doing what people want to watch, keep it up.

[@Calibre-s3g]

Really appreciate the work you do Callum and you've earned my respect and sub. More people and KZbinrs like you are needed to weed out the horrendous amount of game-related scams to increase public awareness, effectively taking money from the "unethical" devs. Keep up the good work.

[@justplainrye]

As someone who had a short stint with game development, I just want to say this and Josh's content are what aspiring game devs and gamers need to see more of. The industry is way overhyped and needs to get taken down a peg before it crashes on its face again (may be too late). Case studies on both good and bad game development (including the business practices that go along with it) can only help people gain more awareness and hopefully correct many of its current vices. Congrats on the great investigatory work. Looking forward to your next videos

[@Relocklabs]

this reminds me of YMS covering cool cat and Daddy Derek. it just keeps getting better

[@kastalofficial7383]

Literally the Fyre Festival of MMOs... its pretty crazy that stuff like this keeps happening

[@1024BenZ]

A shitty Kickstarter, defrauding professional investors that actually have money, stolen code, stolen music... yikes. Wonder if they'll come back from their vacation.

[@CallumUpton]

if they're wise they'll stay there lmao

[@-MesDC-]

literally a jaw dropping video. like I'm sitting here 100% shocked. Hella work youve done here! kudos

[@guntherkuhlschranktur2121]

Great in deep dive and commentary on this crazy story! Keep up the good work! And on the lighter note, super cool haircut (even if one doesn't see it entirely due to the headphones)

[@feron450]

This saga is incredible. The work all of you guys are doing to bring this to light and save people money is fantastic.

[@TE5LA-GAMING]

But you're forgetting their biggest feature: "Speedy city sidewalks"

[@MrMoriLives]

"Dream World Drama 2: Ex-Fiance Boogaloo" is being criminally ignored in these comments. Love ya man, keep up the work

[@CallumUpton]

I'm so glad somebody appreciated this! thank you, i'll try my hardest!

[@wraithgear4216]

Congrats you are a reporter now, with contacts, and follow up research and everything.

[@videopostrrr]

ahh just watching this now and youre on 58k subs. Well done- your scam content is amazing, entertaining and im glad youre exposing these people.

[@curtisyue182]

1:16 I love the 4 seconds of Callum's pensive face.

[@TE5LA-GAMING]

Note how they said in that video: The game our fans "think" we're making... Giveaway.

[@skupipup]

Here from Kira's channel, here's a comment for the algorithm.

[@CallumUpton]

thank you! the algorithm will repay you one day

[@roguegargoyle914]

This is the first video of yours that I've watched and you now have another sub. Good content that obviously has some work behind it, well done and keep it up.

[@zaynegaming1669]

You're awesome! It's always a risk to call things out, cheers to you for taking it on!

[@mprojekt72]

His "My left me," ad nauseum, sounds a bit like the lyrics to a country song that was written and performed by a self-entitled tech bro.

[@Thor-Orion]

The “it left me” part at the beginning is my favorite edit in the history of the internet. I wish he had talked about his dog so you could have edited it to have him say his dog left him. And his pet hamster. And his entire ant farm. And his pet worm. Even worms don’t want to be near Zachy boy.

[@Thor-Orion]

Oh, and by the way, I always recommend your channel to people I talk to in the comments on other channels when they cover kick-scammer topics. You do a great job with your research and you come across as incredibly genuine and likeable. Crazy to think that you had 1k subscribers when this video came out. You’re about to hit 20k! Before you know it you’ll be receiving your 100k subscribers plaque from the Tube of You. Congratulations on all the progress and best of luck with everything moving forward, buddy. I love your work and i’m glad Kira and Strife turned me on to this channel, it’s been a great place to get more detailed and extremely thorough breakdowns of topics that others do a good job of covering generally. You provide a great service with the additional level of detail in your breakdowns.

[@baynaraoa921]

We are about to hit 1k subs, 1 hour later almost 1.5k subs, gz men ur videos are really well done and informative

[@CallumUpton]

i started editing thit last night, so this has all happened in 24 hours!!

[@adamsimmons2655]

Dude your intro is amazing! Comedy gold!

[@CallumUpton]

thanks! glad i can get a laugh out of it

[@chipi_media9883]

Garrison seems like the type of guy who forgets to change the name on the essay he's ripped from the net before he hands it in lol

[@dartrow1055]

So he probably manipulated her into thinking he had a little decency left but in reality he is a big liar.

[@Aussie_Tom]

Congratulations on the growth Callum! Always a fun time to see someone grow from such a small start. I guess some good has come out of Dreamworld ;)

[@fridayhawks-spangenberg8979]

That edit of the sob story was solid. Freaking. Gold.

[@zombiekidd24]

These kind of scams just hurt people who actually want to make a fun game.

That 1K subs went by pretty quick huh 😂 You deserve the attention you got, thank you for your insights 🙂

[@calumb4281]

Great video also great to hear what new news will come

[@Mainsail1975au]

Thumbs up initially just for the thumbnail and then the mashup (left me...), and for all the other good work.

[@hedition9346]

I am only here to watch the Dreamworld ship sink.

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

Rewatched that "left me" edit a couple of times, it's still funny.

[@Lariat_V]

Grats on the growth, can't wait to see what you'll produce on the future

[@DYNANiK]

18:07 I love how the folder structure of this "game" is just a bunch of asset packs lol

[@FullMoonGame]

Dream World is a slap in the face to all of us game developers who work hard day after day to make our projects come to life. Great videos

[@shiroekuroha6007]

This aged too well with the current situations.

[@count_dcinamon]

Funny to me how it took them a while to make a shitty "thank you" video for their backers. Just show you how much shit they actually give for the project or their backers. I really hope that they will be held accountable for what they did in the end. Btw good job on the video!

[@sethanon8732]

bit late to this video for some reason, but excelent content man really glad i came to watch this, keep up the great work!

[@PenguinDT]

This just keeps escalating! How is this even possible? Do they have a checklist of 'things not to do' and the buffoons read it is 'to do list'?

[@H4Pl0l]

Hey everyone. Make sure you download Zachs new hit country single "They Left Me" on Sound Cloud!

[@georgeristo]

This is such a good story can't wait for more! It's like the fyre festival of the gaming industry

[@harryrichardspicer3554]

my fiancé left me my best friend Gary left me my parents left me my discord server left me.

[@MechaAkuma]

Do not assume malice that which can be adequately explained by sheer stupidity

[@bertconnell]

I’m subbing all you watchdogs because I’m a solo dev and I want to stay In touch with realistic criticism of indie projects not just the scams.

[@TourFaint]

This is good stuff, you actually do original research instead of just repeating the same stuff like some other channels, surely worth a sub~!

[@BarbarianGod]

I hope this leads to some stricter internal reviews at ycombinator, they've been kind of a joke / random number gamble for a few years now in some circles

[@manraiderofficial]

So, since this video was posted was 986 subs and now, out of the bloom, you got over 75k subs!

[@SsnakeBite]

It's bad enough to be con artists, but there's something especially frustrating about _incompetent_ con artists. This is a major public platform, where people are going to expect to see something come from the campaign, and yet it seems the entirety of their plan was "1. get crowdfunding money". Can they seriously not even be bothered to at least keep up appearances? Do they not realize they need a cover so people don't notice that they're running away with the money? No, slap together a shitty demo made up of a collection of generic assets, then go on holiday, but still don't have any kind of exit strategy or even pretend to be running a legitimate campaign. I'm just saying, we deserve a better class of criminals.

[@runtimus5743]

Man, i'm glad your channel has boomed. I've been waiting for this bad boy and you didn't disappoint.

[@spinn1144]

Star Citizen have earned over $ 2 million in the first two years, and $ 300 million in the last 10 years and have yet to release the game. I think these scammers are trying to do the same thing.

[@BasilOnatopp]

Keep the great content coming!

[@CallumUpton]

as always sir!

[@ACameronUK]

Just wondering - everyone is focusing on how they may be scamming Kickstarter and the backers, but given the relatively small amount of money coming from there, isn’t it more likely that they’re scamming ycombinator? 🤔

[@CallumUpton]

VERY interesting that you comment this, tomorrows video focuses on exactly this ;)

[@Alfkdna]

This is a comment posted to please our robot overlord.

[@matthew_jw1318]

Glad you're committed to more content!

[@MEATOGRE]

The guy that Zackary is talking down to in the discord call on thinkhouse gaming’s channel sounds exactly like the developer of Legion the eternal war

[@zangetsu2k8]

Congrats on reaching 8x more subs since this video was uploaded :)

[@swordsmangear3046]

Great content also nice job on the chili peppers.

[@CallumUpton]

thank you! its the one living thing i've managed not to kill, i think its mostly thanks to the self watering 3D printed pot if im honest

[@khandimahn9687]

It's amazing just how quickly this keeps getting worse and worse. I just hope someone's giving all this information to Kickstarter so they can refund the money instead of giving it to these scammers.

[@adzomac33]

Project Steel might be the next one to look into on Kickstarter, looks sketchy.

[@CallumUpton]

dont you worry my friend, i'm already deep in to that one!

[@edwin4625]

I recommend checking on 'Ship of Heroes', 'City of Titans' and 'Valiance Online'. These game have been in development for a long time.

[@lorgarmor5886]

I so hope these jerks are held accountable are go to jail for this. But at least the "...left me" montage made me giggle during all this anger building up. :D

[@LAKXx]

Dreamworld is like watching a train crash in Slowmotion

[@CallumUpton]

LMAO, this!

[@richardblackhound1246]

Here's you celebrating 1000 subs and less than four weeks later it's 5420!

[@CallumUpton]

Its pure insanity!

[@painexotic3757]

And now he's at 7.5k lol

[@ZorgNothing]

Really enjoyed your video, your opinions are smart and entertaining, and you seem very respectful with your sources

[@erojzmmo2661]

CU, great videos. Someone needs to hold these clowns feet to the fire. Honestly, not only them but kickstarter. They are allowing the scams to continue. Keep it coming.

[@Rahvenahk]

Sorry, late to the party. Congratulations on your 1.55k subscribers as at time of observation. Keep up the good work. It be very entertaining.

[@CallumUpton]

Thanks, will do!

[@masterchief7098]

Hello man. Love the video. Always fun to watch prople busting scammers hucksters mlms and pyramid schemes and boy does dreamland fall into a number ofcategorys.

[@edmundmondo1682]

My dog...left me My parrot...left me My priest...left me My car...left me My butler...left me My credit card...left me 😂🤣

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

"Me and the boys enjoying some drama"

[@SalariaStudios]

Love some good old fashioned drama and love it when a mob goes after the obvious scam

[@wfjhDUI]

12:17 How do you know where their network code came from? Did you get access to their source? How?

[@CallumUpton]

yes we have access to their pre-alpha. and we researched the library they had used we're talking client side networking code as they're not using a typical server model and instead using peer to peer

[@wfjhDUI]

@@CallumUpton I'm so confused. I don't understand why they gave any outside party source access given the scrutiny they're under. Did they knowingly give _you_ source access??? That seems insane. I also thought they were completely full of shit when they said DreamWorld would be peer to peer. I don't see how that's possible in a meaningful way if cheating is a concern. You'd have to bookkeep so much data on central servers that it wouldn't really be peer to peer. (Also, thanks for the quick reply.)

[@CallumUpton]

@@wfjhDUI the source code for the networking is not inside the game but a separate file included, its fully accessible and they knowingly handed this out to all backers haha (the multiplayer is a mess) you can definitely mess up other players

[@wfjhDUI]

@@CallumUpton gotcha. So this game currently has some degree of actual multiplayer that works over a P2P network? It seems like there might have been a good amount of friction getting UE4 multiplayer to work with a P2P library so the dev is at least reasonably skilled if that really is the case, right? It's a shame that he's a narcissist who chose to scam. lol

[@Kule02]

@@wfjhDUI The dev who worked on the networking solution quit late March and hasn't been seen since. The network code was inspected with IDA and it's full of comments that include people's names who are unrelated to the game. So after looking these people up it became obvious that the DreamWorld "devs" used a project called quic-go, which is under MIT licence. Nothing about DreamWorld is as stated, and unfortunately it's all a pack of lies. The game world is also not procedural and the claimed pvp is faked as no data is sent over the network in regards to it. The game connects to a server in California hosted by DigitalOcean, so I don't think it's even p2p at this stage.

[@alexxxk]

has anyone has already had fun on the Dreamworld ? yesterday i met a girl on there, while i was visiting the dream world houses ... so magical times we had there ... in Dreamworld we meet people while we watch art... does anyone knows if dreamworld will be avaiable in 3d ?