What Went Wrong? - CodeHatch

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What Went Wrong with CodeHatch, Starforge, Reign of Kings and Heat? This is a "short" look into the portfolio of an indie development studio who has dropped the ball massively over the past decade. CodeHatch have been called many things, scammers, con-artists, but to me they seem incapable of making good decisions and have succeeded in abandoning every game besides Play Form: Human Dynamics.
CodeHatch, failed the following projects.
Starforge: This game had promise but only on paper, they boast a lot of experience in game development but none of it showed. Starforge released as an unforgivable, unforgettable and unfinished disaster that was so bad that it had to be taken off of Steam.
Reign of Kings: This was a fun game that a lot of people enjoyed, but was just abandoned. Left to waste by hackers due to how poorly built the game was. Reign of Kings could've been something if they stuck to it or sold it on.
Heat: This game is what happens when you copy and paste a game, hoping for the same results. Typically unoptimized and barely playable to most. This game clearly shows that they prioritise looks over substance with "better" graphics. Failing to see that people just wanted another RoK, not Heat.
0:00 - Intro
1:30 - CodeHatch
2:49 - Starforge Recap
8:37 - Reign of Kings
18:19 - Heat
26:30 - Latest Game / Conclusion

[@scottgrey3337]

CodeHatch reeks of the kind of people who fall in love in an idea, only to drop it for the next fun concept when they realize how much effort it’ll take

[@MythicOneOne]

Reminds me of Digital Extremes and Warframe, except Warframe is still kicking and loved by many and nowhere near as "hype-chasing" as these guys, only sometimes lol.

[@bfitz5610]

shit i think i dated codehatch

[@vizthex]

@@MythicOneOne wait, how's it remind you of Warframe? cuz they kept supporting it & still do.

[@CrystalMethEnjoyer]

ADHD - The game studio

[@pete5516]

@@vizthex because they try to do everything and keep going in different directions. Conservation, open worlds with village areas like Cetus that feel empty and desolate because they didn’t add any detail. Railjack, removing raids, controversial nerfs that seem to contradict the way they designed the game in the first place, yet it takes them years to get around to doing it. I could go on, yeah DE are truly great but they definitely have some management issues and keep trying to do too much instead of choosing a core idea and building on it.

[@RepostCollection]

This goes to show that +10 years of experience doesn't mean you're good at your job It just means that you've been doing your job for +10 years

[@temmieandchara]

Imagine working for 10 years and not improving 💀

[@oatmealman1586]

Nice keadonger pfp.

[@zyriantel9601]

@@temmieandchara That’s “keep your head down” mentality in a lot of cases, just doing what you know works and not trying to think outside the box too much (keeping your head down and doing the work, in other words) but that’s not what these guys are doing, else they wouldn’t be SO ambitious all the time. In this case, it’s just incompetence. If ten years of being stuck on a skill plateau was just them trying to pull in money without being too crazy, maybe playing it smart and putting out smaller products in order to build up funding and knowledge for a future big project, then I could forgive a lot of this video, but because they’re always trying to punch above their weight class, I can’t throw them that bone.

[@troodon1096]

Reminds me of a Japanese saying: "Do not be fooled by a craftsman that claims they have 20 years of experience, when they really only have had one year of experience, 20 times."

[@arandomcommenter412]

@@oatmealman1586 I hate how you knew the artist and I also did.

[@yomibeatzzz4221]

The Four Horseman of the EARLY ACCESS Apocalypse: SURVIVAL, CRAFTING, OPEN WORLD and of course who can forget, "SMALL" DEV TEAM. Classic. Gets me everytime.

[@LoganHunter82]

So true

[@R3_Live]

I disagree. That's an insult to games that fit that description but actually do deliver a good experience. Valheim, for instance.

[@yomibeatzzz4221]

@@R3_Live well of course you'll find a diamond in the rough eventually.. but the amount of shit EA games with the same description is absurd at this point.

[@trianglemoebius]

@@R3_Live It's not a question of if the games have them, it's how they are presented. While not all games made with a vision are good, all games made without one are bad, and if one has a vision, you'll have a concrete enough of idea of your product to sell it. Things like survival, crafting, open world, and 'small' dev teams are extremely vague concepts, and extremely common ones - both Minecraft and World of Warcraft are open world, for example, yet share very little overall in common. If a developer is actually going into game-making with a vision for their product, none of those four things are going to be its primary selling point. They'll be mentioned as applicable, of course, but when was the last time you saw a game (since Minecraft) where the PRIMARY selling points were any of those things and it ended up being something other than cloneware, at best?

[@FlyingNinjaish]

​@@R3_Live They're the Cursed Ruins. That's how curses work - sometimes they're nothing, other times it melts your faces off.

[@R.JoshField]

Showed their first two games to my professor when I was in school for game dev. He decided to use them in a lecture. He told us something along the lines of "this is the quality I expect from your projects here in school. If you try to charge people money for something like this, expect a call from me."

[@Dr.Oofers]

So he’s saying that these feel more like test/junior projects, rather than actual games? Dang.

[@IHMyself]

That's hilarious. 😂

[@Krejii05]

John wick of game development

[@BloodChampagne]

As a game dev student, I had the same thought. "I could do this" lol

[@erieriderschillingcorner1595]

@@hamtero sure, everything's bs on the net. Can't believe anyone right? Actually this whole video is bs. There is no codehatch, there are no games and WickedWiz doesn't actually exist.

[@Divert486]

This studio has made three products that became abandonware despite having good reception and strong community support. An absolute disgrace of a studio that borders a scam. I hope you didnt go easy on them.

[@flashbackfrank8781]

A story all to common, especially with na companies with kr parent companies.

[@MontyDotharl]

I don't think it's even close to being a scam. Not remotely. It's more like they aim too high and can't focus properly. At no point does it feel like they set out with the intention to just take people's money and run. I get the impression more that they very much wanted to make these games and make them well, but lack the ability to do so for various reasons. And then they come up with a new idea and figure they'll drop the one that flopped and try again but the pattern repeats.

[@patrickmcpartland1398]

@@MontyDotharl You can't really give them the benefit of the doubt when they have done it 3 times in a row.

[@MontyDotharl]

@@patrickmcpartland1398 I can, and I will. I've seen enough actual scams to tell. The fact that they actually put out functioning games makes it clear this isn't a scam. Maybe the games suck and they aren't what was promised, but they exist. Which is more than actual scams like Dreamworld, most NFT shit, etc. can say. And how many times have larger companies gotten away with doing this same exact sort of thing over and over and over? That's basically industry standard now. The only difference is Code Hatch is much smaller, so everything is more open and personal.

[@thomasphillips885]

I think they just don't have any long-term plans for their games. Once they're "done" in their eyes, they drop it and move onto the next thing.

[@Zarvanis]

The way they make games reminds me of myself in a strange way. I get incredibly passionate about a subject, obsess over it for months, then completely lose interest and move on to something else. Except I'm not a game developer letting thousands of people down by my changing interests.

[@PapaPercules]

Nothing wrong with a harmless ornithology phase!

[@aless7125]

Same here, it is so much fun starting out new and building it up for a while

[@zyriantel9601]

I’m pretty similar, myself. It’s why I’ve stopped publishing anything that I write on the internet, because while I’ll typically never forget the idea, I _will_ eventually get tired of focusing on it and want to think about something else, and then I’ll get tired of that and go back to the first idea for a bit before I get bored again and move on, again, ad infinitum. It means that I rarely, if ever, finish any project that I’m working on, so I figure it’s better to just keep it to myself and not set people up for disappointment in the first place. EDIT: A lot of people are chiming in about ADHD - pretty sure that’s not my situation. I can knuckle down and focus pretty easily when called on to do so, and while I do often experience boredom or get a bit fidgety, it’s never to the degree that I feel like it’s something going on upstairs. I’m pretty sure it leans more to the other angle people have mentioned, the depression angle. I’ve never been formally diagnosed, but I would be a fool to pretend that I don’t have some symptoms of at least a mild depressive state.

[@ba-ey1hu]

Yeah I can relate, at least I'm not underpaying developers or scamming thousands so there's that I guess

[@Ukieson]

I'm the same way

[@PrinceLuigii]

I wonder if Code Hatch should have been a company that sells proof of concept games to companies who can actually do what needs to be done to make it a full game. There is a business to be had for this. I know many companies that buy into such.

[@vizthex]

Agreed. And we know they're able to make a basic dev prototype which they could show off to potential buyers.

[@SecuR0M]

The one kind of game we need less of is generic survival games.

[@teaghanotto3465]

@@SecuR0M yeah, but they're fun

[@Darkoriax17]

If you wanna go the proof of concept route they basically gave No Man’s Sky proof of concept and now it’s a fantastic game.

[@SirBlackReeds]

Like Comcept?

[@Jame5man]

This studio treats games the same way I treat my Crusader Kings save files.

[@Lantern_Larry]

This is me having never technically beaten a bethesda/obsidian game.

[@zyriantel9601]

@@Lantern_Larry Hundreds of Dragonborns, and not a single damn one has made it to Sovngarde

[@AreGeeBee]

​@@zyriantel9601God, so true. Hell, fair few never even know they're dovahkiin before they get obliviated.

[@deathbybiscuit]

I'm gonna be honest, all 3 of those games looked like super basic asset flips. I'm genuinely surprised they were positively received and had an audience.

[@RoomerJ]

Right? I was thinking the same thing. Even the HEAT game just looks like a game using the new Unity pre-made assets.

[@planescaped]

For the first game, it was a different time, people weren't as aware of such things at the time. By Reign of Kings yeah, people should've know better...

[@theneosuperzero]

Most people who like it doesn't care about the graphics, but the concepts. It's the whole point of the video and has been repeatedly emphasised throughout the video. It's the same as you play 2d side scroller game.

[@RoomerJ]

@@theneosuperzero Man there's Nes side scrollers that look VASTLY superior to this game. Your point makes no sense.

[@557deadpool]

@@theneosuperzero imagine loving an idea instead of how well that idea was implemented. Also there are fucking flash 2D side scrollers that look and play better than this

[@mayzydayz611]

The graphics of Heat look like when you apply a really heavy reshade preset to an old game. Just slapping stuff on top to try and make it look HD will work to some degree, but in the end it's still Codehatch assets underneath.

[@flow185]

The defective edition

[@soultaker2254]

By "codehatch assets" you mean unity asset store assets, as most of their assets from starforge and reign of kings were just unity asset store assets.

[@mayzydayz611]

@@soultaker2254 that makes sense, they don't seem the sort of company that actually makes stuff themselves. Plus they seem to have no idea that they're doing with assets whatsoever.

[@damjanp7920]

yeah, and the fact it required a high end pc while looking that shitty and outdated...

[@ourgoldenspires]

@@flow185 GOD

[@matthosscomedy]

At the start of my evening, I didn't know who wickedwiz was. It's now 11pm and I'm going to get "Overpromised and underdelivered" tattooed on my chest. I've binged so many of these videos. They are riveting. Thanks for all the great work on this series. Really engaging stuff.

[@WickedWiz]

You’ve made the promise, now you can’t underdeliver!

[@matthosscomedy]

@@WickedWiz oh god.

[@zyriantel9601]

@@matthosscomedy See what your hubris has wrought

[@aaronbeardsell4964]

Be careful, or he'll be a man of his word and stand on you.

[@matthosscomedy]

@@aaronbeardsell4964 Oh no, not again!!!

[@RubberMayhaps]

It's hilarious how the game they abandoned the quickest was their most popular.

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

Well, the abandonment would naturally affect their subsequent level of success, logically.

[@TrevorZero]

After Star Forge I genuinely thought this company dropped off the face of the earth I had no idea they made three other games lol

[@Gatorade69]

Three other bangers !

[@liamzakhaev]

@@Gatorade69 absolute cap

[@ConorHil]

Same here, I knew one of the founders personally. He used to come into the restaurant I worked at and drank at the bar and we talked several times. He even gave me a few free copies of StarForge but I barely played it because it was abandoned shortly after

[@HaircombMan]

Me too

[@blizyon30fps86]

@@liamzakhaev in the right hands reign of kings could have been a rust alternative

[@Siniquitous]

Finally finding their footing with ROK only to drop it and move on to the next thing only to fumble that as well. You'd think they wouldve held onto the small bit of success they found and treasure that, especially after the issues with their first game. Truly bizarre

[@mechanomics2649]

I cannot wrap my head around their decision to drop and move on from RoK. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[@Loderyod]

"space boring, want knights!" "knights boring, want cowboys!" Their decisions are reminiscent of one's toddlers make when choosing a toy

[@spookyscarylamppost3431]

@@Loderyod So you're telling me the babies in Heat are self inserts?!

[@machinatingminotaur6285]

they probably couldn't figure out how to keep the money coming in, really

[@slightlyaboveaveragebutaverage]

They kept at it for years after the game died, though. Would you keep showing up to a job every day that doesn't pay? They could have ignored the issues and focused more on just features that sell. It's safe to say they don't really know what they're doing, but they at least tried to maintain it for several years.

[@SophieSquid]

To me, this just feels like if an entire video game studio had adhd. Starts off interested in an idea, attention span runs out, oooo look at this other cool idea we wanna do instead let's do that.

[@oz_jones]

SQUIRREL

[@SophieSquid]

@@oz_jones WHAT *WHERE?!*

[@ceinwenchandler4716]

It's that they have no self-control. Or perhaps they get overwhelmed by the current project and wimp out. The planning process is, after all, the easiest part.

[@simonmalmstrom9593]

Reign of kings is such a sad story, like I remember watching Vanossgaming play it and being absolutely amazed at how fun it actually looked and that they seemed to have had a blast so hearing how it was then just abandoned is just sad :(

[@brigandboy1425]

Over-promise, under-deliver. This is the hallmark of the incompetent, and the dishonest.

[@Gatorade69]

I see CDPR took a page from the Codehatch dev book for Cyberpunk 2077.

[@onomatopoeia7505]

DreamWorld, Earth2, everything from Ubisoft, and indeed, CDPR with Cyberpunk.

[@zyriantel9601]

@@onomatopoeia7505 Don’t forget Anthem. Not even Bioware is safe from this pitfall.

[@widjayagohpeircess5777]

early no mans sky as well, in fact the similarities of Starforge & NMS is rather similar glad Hello Games made an attempt to actually improve the game unlike Code}{atch

[@icycrusader1947]

@@widjayagohpeircess5777 I need to get back to playing it again but I can say that NMS is interesting and hopefully will have continued support. Only thing I had disliked the last time I played was lacking ship customization in terms of aesthetics, lack of things that keep people around between updates, and difficulty of pairing terrain manipulation with the base building especially at sea-level.

[@TheClintonio]

I'm a software engineer and ex-game dev and I am astounded that they had such major security issues with their game. Normally it would be the producers/directors/POs/etc pushing you to cut corners and "deliver now" over worrying about security, but two programmers starting a game studio should know better. Though, if I had to make another guess I suspect they are not skilled at API design and to save on server side performance did more processing client side than they should have, and probably worse - they likely did not validate inputs sufficiently. I know for real time games validating and doing everything server-side leads to rubber-banding and other performance problems but honestly, they should have been able to build something better.

[@zyriantel9601]

What’s damning to me is their claims of 10+ years of doing this. Over a decade of supposed experience and yet all this shit that got explained in the video keeps happening. There are one-man indie devs who have their shit more on the ball than this.

[@pete5516]

Apparently they’re owned by a Korean parent company. This makes sense because in Korea your identity is much easier to track via online activity. So if you get caught cheating and banned, that’s it you’re done with that game. Korean companies therefor have no idea what security and anti cheat are because they just ban people and be done with it.

[@kenjutsukata1o1]

@@zyriantel9601 Years of experience doesn't mean competence. I've met people fresh out of school who are wizards in programming, and people who've been in the industry for decades who can't code their way out of a serial box.

[@aleksandertrubin4869]

@@zyriantel9601TBF, maybe they didn't do any development on online games, and there are high-profile online games like Minecraft and VRChat that do a lot of processing client-side

[@Gzalzi]

This is exactly what's happened to Escape From Tarkov as well.

[@TenthSgtSnipes]

Hearing “they went ahead with easy anti cheat” followed by “hacking was still a big problem” is the least surprised I’ve ever been. Such a terrible cheap piece of software that devs keep implementing despite its flaws

[@blizyon30fps86]

It’s not easy anti cheats fault, it’s how it’s implemented and used within most games that makes it bad, I can name numerous games that use it and have a minimum hacker problem

[@herpderp3131]

AC dont work automatically you know...

[@Annoye]

@@blizyon30fps86name one

[@blizyon30fps86]

@@Annoye fortnite currently

[@Annoye]

@@blizyon30fps86 Good joke. I chilling with IOCTL, I make a good bread on fn.

[@Rin8Kin]

It's like those artists that learn the color and shading, but get bored to learn anatomy, and then wondering why people call their creations abominations, while they shaded so perfectly...

[@candy-ninja]

Even though their drawings are messed up anatomically I still like many of them because they have this weird, creepy charm. Codehatch just makes a basic concept and abandons it when they get people hooked

[@trentbrownstone1481]

The contours!

[@TheCencc]

😊😊⁰0

[@Edgeworth99]

In a weird way, I almost prefer the videos that are about scams/developers being terrible. Seeing how things can crumble beneath well-intentioned, honest devs is a fascinating look into the industry, but it's also rather depressing to watch at times.

[@djurrenlabs8449]

It's a bit more intriguing to watch. The closest analogy would be a car crash. You know it's horrific, but you can't just look away.

[@damjanp7920]

@@djurrenlabs8449 or true crime

[@no64256]

Plus It's always a good idea to hear about how things go wrong. Learning from successful projects and practices is only half the equation

[@alex_zetsu]

Honestly I'm a bit tired of videos on scam developers simply because almost all of them are the same. Just go watch Callum Upton's videos, they're all boring. At least when people are a bunch of incompetent dodos, they can fail in different ways. Or in the case of CodeHatch, it seems they never learn from their mistakes, but at least other incompetent devs make different mistakes. Honest but incompetent devs can be depressing to watch, but its more entertaining than the videos about scams.

[@Thebdippy]

"Well-intentioned" maybe "Honest" probably not

[@irkalla100]

Reign of Kings. I had some of the best multi-player survival experience with randos in that game. Had no idea Heat was a thing. After RoK I was done with anything codehatch touched.

[@cyonu5675]

Honestly wish I play Reign of Kings when it came out bc it sounds like it was an awesome time

[@anonamarth4291]

@@cyonu5675 Honestly? It was fun, even solo. But then you had hackers, and it became a thing of "Why the fuck would I even bother making anything when they can just delete it instantly while I'm not there?"

[@jade4781]

@@cyonu5675 some of the best laughs were had, Nothing like sneaking up on the king wrapping a noose around his neck then taking both of you to hell by jumping off a bridge.

[@R.JoshField]

I keep an eye out for Sworin and Smelly in case they ever decide to rebrand.

[@Nico_SL312]

The code hatch cycle: - Make game with the money you got from the previous game - Update it ALOT for like 2 weeks. - Forget about the game for like an entire decade - Remember it exists and update it like once? Maybe twice if the playerbase isnt noisy? - Tell people the game is finally coming out - Dont release the game - Repeat

[@ek7713]

The Reign of Kings segment weirdly brought so much nostalgia/deja vu. Not just from playing the game myself, but from watching HUGE youtubers like Vanossgaming playing it. It was actually so fun.

[@zyriantel9601]

“Standing, in fact, _melting,_ on your CPU” So YOU’RE the reason my computer is running slow!

[@Uzicide]

I'd love to see a deep dive on ENDLESS Dungeon. That game has been in development for a decade, and there have been NO updates.

[@PhailRaptor]

Kinda looks like they are doing a full reboot. As per kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3uxg61-mr9-hsk same gameplay loop, completely different visuals. Seems to be the same title, though.

[@FelisImpurrator]

Uhh... They just released a temporary playtest a month or two back that people could sign up for. It ain't dead.

[@Csylunmew]

couldve sworn endless dungeon got announced on the latest nintendo direct

[@damjanp7920]

more like endless development haha gottem

[@dc9662]

To answer the question, "What went wrong?" People didn't learn from The Scorpion and the Frog. They'll keep stinging you because it's their nature. Maybe stop giving them your money?

[@BottomBunkArt]

Given the sizable number of people who continue to defend the games and the developers in the comment section of this video, it seems people are just unwilling to admit or recognize when they’ve been conned

[@NineSun001]

Well said, but sadly even this youtuber bought everything they "developed"

[@robertkerr4199]

I live in Edmonton, and the guys from Code Hatch used to hang out at our hackerspace. They would always come in looking for free gear, and brag about Starforge. Then one day someone asked about the Juno situation. A tantrum was thrown, and we never saw them again. Maybe I'll go downtown and knock on the door.. see what they're up to. Or not... I am pretty lazy.. and disabled... but mostly lazy

[@itsjustme8947]

Hey, it sounds like they have good weed if your disability would benefit from that..........

[@R.JoshField]

Handouts, bragging, and public tantrums. This all sounds so completely on brand for those two. I hope to never meet them.

[@WhiteDragon103]

Ahem. I am one of those devs. Are you referring to the game dev meetups hosted by Logan Foster in that old brick building downtown or, previously, at the pub that was originally on 84th Ave and 109th St? I am honestly disillusioned by this story. We might have bragged on some occasions, sure, being young and stupid and drunk on what was at the time fame. But, free gear, juno, tantrums? Please refresh my memory. Juno certainly wasn't mentioned, as that crap storm happened after we stopped going regularly. But if I recall correctly, the expereince of going to these meetups have been nothing short of overwhelmingly supportive, constructive and pleasant for everyone I interacted with. If you're nearby, I can buy you a coffee at Tim's. Perhaps we can discuss current projects and catch up.

[@trentbrownstone1481]

​@@WhiteDragon103 get em!

[@JUSTANOREO555]

Glad to see your not quitting the What Went Wrong Series Wiz! 💪

[@AdminAbuse]

You're

[@JUSTANOREO555]

@@AdminAbuse 😂

[@dquigga328]

@@AdminAbuse yo'rue*

[@Gatorade69]

@@AdminAbuse ure. Oh I forgot. U're.

[@MachineSupremacy]

@@Gatorade69 ura ura 🐒

[@the_dark_jumper2211]

Personally, I hate the "games as a service" model. It encourages excessively grindy systems, predatory mtx or otherwise bad game-design. I don't recall a single GAAS game that I have fond memories of. All that remains is burnout and a bunch of games I never want to touch again.

[@Gatorade69]

Splitgate ? I guess that could be considered games as a service. It has easy to do daily challenges, pretty easy to unlock drops and they are not stingy with them. I went and bought the battlepass because I was enjoying it so much and wanted to support the devs. Without spending any money on the game (it's free 2 play) I already had a lot of epic or nice items. All items are only cosmetic and do not effect gameplay. Really It's the right way to do a system like that. If you are buying stuff It's only cause you want your character or weapons to look cool. Lots of fun for an arena shooter and more people need to play it. Really the only game with a battlepass that I can say I really F***in enjoy.

[@the_dark_jumper2211]

@@Gatorade69 I tend to avoid pvp shooters - because I suck at them. (I was fairly into Evolve when it was still going, but playing with friends doesn't really count) My horrible mouse-aim aside, I'm pretty sure the main issue is my inability to strategize (guess what: I also avoid strategy games like the plague) The game looks neat, odd that I've never heard of it, given the number of positive reviews.

[@JohnZombi88]

@@Gatorade69 if your game has a battle pass system or loot crates it's shit.

[@joseantoniovargas6548]

Four months late but a GAAS that has NAILED it is called Deep Rock Galactic, each season is bringing new content into the game, new weapons, skins and upgrades are implemented. Yes there are mtx but those are all cosmetics and you can still own a huge chunk of cosmetics for free just by playing and no it's not pay to win and it's entirely coop

[@wesleyward5901]

This is a prime example of why most developers stick to one game, finish it, and *then* move on to the next big title. It stops them from leaving a game half finished and abandoned. Of course that doesn't mean they can't go back and add more small updates like bug fixes, but it helps from getting completely sidetracked by a new project.

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

A “graphics heavy” game not many people can play is also known as “poor optimization”. This and many other devs I’ve seen is why I always do my homework before making any kind of contribution monetary or effort wise. Thanks Wiz!

[@SatchelGizmo]

Great video as always, but, speaking from an outsider's perspective who has never personally played any of these games, I think you went too easy on them at the end. While you didn't exactly endorse their new game, you talked about it with a pretty hopeful lens, suggesting that maybe this will be the game where CodeHatch finally learns from their mistakes and makes something good. I don't think they deserve that sentiment at all. Not after proving three times over that they're a shitty developer that would rather abandon their projects before they're actually ready than to commit to making anything with some semblance of polish. From watching your videos and others like them, I can say that CodeHatch makes janky, ugly, unpolished games with decent concepts and abandons them whenever they arbitrarily decide that the game is "done." They do not deserve any amount of trust moving forward, and I would hate if someone watched this video and ended up buying their new game (only to be disappointed) because they thought it showed promise like you said. I've already seen at least one comment on this video saying the new game looks fun. Point is, I don't think anyone should ever buy anything from this developer in early access. In my opinion, CodeHatch does not deserve a fourth chance.

[@Gatorade69]

Three strikes and you're out. They have proven they can't be trusted.

[@TaoScribble]

Yeah, I immediately got the impression that they're using early access as a shield.

[@FelisImpurrator]

Nah, I think the ending is exactly what it should be. So much of this supposed moral outrage about these guys just seems incredibly overblown, for the sole reason that people want to be suspicious and attribute malice.

[@TaoScribble]

@@FelisImpurrator With all due respect, considering the track record provided, you sound incredibly naive.

[@troodon1096]

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me four times, honestly I kind of deserve it at this point...

[@staris3712]

I got a weird fall guys vibe with the new game, so makes me wonder if multiplayer had been planned and the scope got pulled back.

[@LOC-Ness]

I get more Human: Fall Flat

[@luketfer]

@@LOC-Ness Yeah that was the exact game I was thinking, it seems like a less charming Human: Fall Flat.

[@TheAngelRaven]

I remember getting RoK. Had no idea who CodeHatch was... but then I learned years later. It hurts because the game had such great potential.

[@fidi324]

Man ur overwhelmingly balanced perspective and generally positive and empathetic framing of these games and their developers make up videos so refreshing

[@ameliamohsin8430]

Every time I think of CH, I think of hype and abandonware, that's how synonym they are.

[@maxvogt3515]

I’m so glad the what went wrong series is in full swing. I love your stuff and finding out you’re doing it full time is incredible!

[@BunnehGaming]

I always appreciate the quality of your videos - I only recently stumbled across your channel and have been really enjoying your content. Thanks for your dedication to what you're doing and I really hope that your transition to full-time content creation goes well!

[@adventuresoftext]

I've been developing an open world text adventure for 6 years now. I can completely understand them wanting to be done with their projects, but you can't just drop something when a community is looking at you like a God bringing them the holy grail. Though my game isn't something millions will play, I have a very small number of people looking forward to it. These people have a vast community and they chose to destroy them, where small time developers like me would faint having a large community backing them lol.

[@SherrifOfNottingham]

You CAN drop making a game if you're making it and decide to scratch it before release. But if you sell it on early access, a functional free market should end your career if you don't finish a game you sold to people.

[@Zonic3451]

What's it called?

[@trentbrownstone1481]

​@@Zonic3451 zorn

[@davidamaro1499]

Goddam, the ROK and the Heat games had such potential. I'd play them forever. Too bad dev's were that bad - not everyone is made to lead. They would work great in a creative team for a bigger company: give good ideas, present basic concept and let others do the work, while guiding them in the direction they envisioned. I'm really bummed by the ROK one tho

[@JackVice]

Batman: sees jokers calling card Also Batman: my god it even has a water mark

[@LadyOfTheEdits]

Lol XD

[@dankeykang9319]

Bat(e)man

[@IIIIIIllIlllllIlI]

Great video, I like how in depth you went with the content from the developer. You went into the pros and cons of the games but also showed the realistic side of things. Great video

[@renyoudie]

Man, it's been so cool to see ur channel grow with all these uploads recently, hope you keep it up my guy

[@elliejohnson2786]

Imagine if they released playform FIRST, focusing on the aspects they clearly want in their games and getting that right before moving onto actual titles.

[@Dubstepconcept]

Great vid as usual, brought up some painful memories but at the end of the day these guys should have learned their lesson by now.

[@joshuawiener5003]

Astounding work, wiz. This may be your best one yet and I cannot think of anyone better to cover the Code}{atch saga.

[@dos.factotum]

I like this video format where you've just kinda rolled 3 What Went Wrong videos into one to cover one studio. Keep it up :)

[@usernamepleasehere]

Lovely video about a bad company mate! I have been following you for a while now, I am looking forward to your future videos as a full time KZbinr, keep doing your great work.

[@Pers0n97]

This video made me realize there was another indy company I'd LOVE for you to cover, Uber Entertainement. It's (or rather it was) an actually great company that made some very decent game (chief among them Kerbal Space Program and the much underrated Monday Night Combat), but one that struggled to find success, until they did the biggest Kickstarter for gaming at the time with Planetary Annihilation, a game they totally botched and couldn't match their amazing kickstarter trailer to then double down and jump off the cliff (which killed them as far as I know) with their attempt at replicating their PA success with another game named Human Resources. The thing is, they released that second kickstarter when everyone was still waiting for them to finish PA, and it got pretty bad when everyone realized that apparently Uber thought of PA as an already "finished" game and were now moving to that new project, it went so bad that they didn't reach their KS first goal despite how MASSIVE the PA campaign was. The final nail was when they finally came back to PA dragging their feet after the failure of HR and decided to make an expansion for it... which was actually a standalone game that basically fucked over the people that bought the first game, it also made sure to split the already minuscule player base (something they already did once before with the "Super Monday Night Combat" expansion of Monday Night Combat). There's a great story here for you to dig trough.

[@sgtartorias7122]

Glad to see that the Fulltime thing seems to work out!We happy to support you man, keep up Gods work.

[@Gendo.]

Good videos dude, your narration and editing style makes your content stand out among similar youtubers.

[@itsallenwow]

The thing about incompetence is that you can’t blame it or inexperience for multiple titles and years of your life. At a certain point not planning and notcommunicating is a decision you make to be a scam. I wouldn’t be nearly as generous to this company as Woz is. But great video as always!

[@troodon1096]

It still has the effect of a scam, even in the absence of malicious intent. In the end you're not going to get whether you paid for, so whether that's because they're unwilling or incapable of providing that, hardly matters.

[@blakewithers7439]

Nahhh i subbed to you when you had around 10k subs and now you are at over 250k. Totally deserved man!

[@kerektamas209]

I was waiting for a "What Went Wrong?" for a while. Been checking your channel for days. Didn't even play the games, I just like your vids. Keep it up!

[@chrisxd146]

An interesting aspect to this story is seeing how what happens when a competent development studio follows through on an idea rather than abandoning it. Keen Software House began development of Space Engineers - a game similar in concept to Starforge - in 2013 and have successfully released the full version in 2019 with continued support. It's easy to come up with ideas for a fun video game, but it's incredibly difficult to actually create something that fulfills your vision. You not only need to know how to code in different languages, but you'll also need to have an in depth understanding of mathematics to properly implement keys ideas (even if you're using a game engine). Sebastian League, Indigo Quilez, and jdh are all excellent examples of guys who have an understanding of how to code and the mathematics that goes along with being a vision into reality.

[@alu2901]

Yes. Add to Jonas Tyroller (I think that's how you spell it).

[@HypnotiKSykotiK]

Starforge is the only game I have removed from my steam. Code hatch is also blacklisted from my book.

[@TheVRSofa]

Whoop! can't wait for this love the content mate. Check out railroads online that game NEEDS your critical eye for scams on it

[@reecejoyce5183]

Great video as ever! It's always sad to see games with so much potential go to waste

[@M0peyMoon]

I love watching your videos. I don't know most of these games but I mainly watch it for your thorough analysis on the topic. It's so interesting! I can tell how much effort you put into your videos and I love every second of it, thank you!!!!

[@brad-lynnfife4530]

I don’t really make comments often but after your video “I’m done”, I’m glad to hear you are following your dream. I wish you all the best and good luck. I really enjoy your videos and the way you present the information is done very well! I hope you see this comment one day and get to appreciate some positive feedback.

[@zerrierslizer1]

me and my friends LOVED Reign of Kings! we have some really fun memories from that game, and i was so god damn saddened when it was abandoned.

[@MrYoursomesanta]

Glad to see your other channel back up and running again

[@InVinoVeratas]

This channel is great, love the content. Puts things into perspective.

[@ValdVincent]

To be fair, I wouldn't say they didn't learn form mistakes, they sold more and fooled more people each time, and I bet they'll find away to do it yet again. Already got a Hat Trick.

[@trentbrownstone1481]

They are a successful games development company lol

[@Achtolz]

Since you announced you are going full time I always watch and click on ands. I dont have enough money atm to donate but I always love to support people taking big risks to pursue their Passion, I hope it will work out for you.

[@weirdkd54]

Another great video essay I didn't know I wanted. Thanks

[@AaronLyNxAI]

As someone who wants to make a game (not a huge project just something to take up some time and keep me entertained) these stories are really humbling because while I might not be the best at execution I do at least finish my projects eventually. It's hard to see all these good ideas being left behind to be forgotten

[@m.ccheddarbox874]

Announcing there will be no more added content after release is a great way to kill your game.

[@rosi3348]

Love your content, Wiz. I hope you dont feel pigeonholed into these “what went wrong” videos. I could listen to you discuss anything, dude. Hope you’re well.

[@johncheng2682]

Honestly kinda want to hear the opposite about games that did well. Or underrated games.

[@shadowbanisher1]

Great video wiz! Glad to hear the whole code hatch train in one.

[@skullkidsteve721]

I literally just got an ad for CodeHatch's newest project!

[@TommyLikeTom]

reign of kings genuinely did produce cherished memories for me

[@467lachlan]

i was no joke just checking on a post in the discussion forum on steam that i put on there new game warning people of them. sure as hell they moved it to locked thread and stopped public posting on there discussion post from non owners. then 2 hours later seen this ... keep up the good work and use your platform to warn others EDIT : at 28 minutes in the comment sections BFE Sacraficed is me xD yay im featured in your vid lol

[@PwnerforhighER]

Good work as always Wiz, I love your videos

[@BillyTheCat128]

I love your videos since they are a clear warning for any starting Indie Game Dev what "not-to-do" and why picking an "open world" game for your 'first game' is a VERY bad idea. I'm guessing most inexperienced people look at games and think to themselves: "Oh this sounds fun to make" or they throw something together in Unity and tell themselves: "Allright, I'm sure we can make this work" not realizing how much work it really is to develop a game from the ground up, that even those old Playstation, N64 and Xbox games had multiple people to develop those "cheap" party games or 'simple' platformers and I think a lot of people seem to forget that. As someone who plans to one day release their dream game I already made a game plan, I won't announce the game until it's at least 75% finished so that: 1. I'm reasonably sure I will be able to finish it on time without making people wait by pushing release dates back, 2. I won't be dealing with the same problem Cubeworld faced. (changing ideas mid-way through development which ended up dividing the player base and making some customers who WERE interested in the original concept quit) and 3. IF something were to go terribly wrong (like: hitting a bug / roadblock that as an indie I can't even HOPE to fix or worse: I get into an accident and physically won't be able to finish my game) I could at least release that version and sure, it would be a buggy and unoptimized mess but at least it would be the full game 'as promised' instead of a wasteland of broken promises like CodeHatch (and so many others) have done in the past.

[@singularityraptor4022]

Can you do a video on a game called 'GTTOD' aka Get to the Orange Door please? It's been in early access for 4 years and the game is still is in Alpha state. The dev redoes the game now and then instead of actually developing it. The old game is so different from the new trash. It has butt ton of positive reviews but are old. The Dev and his cult community is super toxic and attacks negative reviewers in steam, critics in steam and discord forum.

[@wolfwyvern3662]

RIP Reign of Kings, I had so much fun on that game for countless hours...

[@fuzzy8593]

Some of the funniest KZbin videos I have seen have been played on Reign of Kings back in the day. So silly, kind of miss those videos.

[@ragabashmoon1551]

And this is why I had to go around crowdfunding to back a recent RPG that I trusted (long standingsuccessful company for many years before crowdfunding was a thing, and they have delivered the digital content, the physical content will be shipping soon. I'm in the US and they are in the UK so shipping will take a bit longer.) My bank outright denies any "crowdfunding" sites. I literally had to pay the game developers through Paypal and have them manually add me to their backer software.

[@BunzingJeeper]

This is why I don't put any money in the first phase of early access games. As a consumer I need confirmation that the end game will be realised. I have been let down too many times to invest in something that might very well end in dissapointment.

[@jamescline6536]

Would love to see a Darwin project entry to this series

[@misatokitty76]

Starforge always amuses me when it comes up. A co-worker was trying out for a concept art job there when it was first talked about - didn't get the role, as far as I' can recall, but the stories were entertaining at the time.

[@wulf768]

Thank you so much for this video! May I suggest you make a video about "What went wrong with Balan Wonderworld"?

[@Miniman317]

Codehatch just seems like ADHD: the game company, they hyper focus on a single thing for a bit then drop it when they see something shiny. Not to say everyone with ADHD is like that.

[@consolas2514]

How long until the absolute movie that is "What Went Wrong with Yandere Simulator"? Lmao

[@citcoin-official2681]

Probably long time. It would have to reach a Crascendo of some type. That story is just a long long line of stagnation, with no ending in sight.

[@consolas2514]

@@citcoin-official2681 we've kinda hit the stagnation atm, everything imploded into the demo and for the moment it's calmed down. It won't be a full retrospective (the same way this one isn't) but in terms of going down hill, I don't think you get much more downhill than the past 2 years for Yan Dev (which he deserves lmao)

[@Prebound_]

@ 12:18... that is some serious heartbreaking terror right there!

[@foxyfoxington2651]

I'll never forget the weird starforge propeller thing.

[@Not_Basketball_Fanatic]

As an amateur game dev I dream of one day making such a successful failure that the Wiz reviews my game. What went wrong? The guy just wasn’t very good at making games 💀

[@HotandReddy]

Seeing how these guys are from my hometown in Alberta, their dev style makes sense. 😂😂

[@CyanShaman]

00:58 Your WikedWiz and being a man of your word, doing something Lewd on my countries mascot.

[@WantSomeWhiskey818]

The irony of Heat is that RDR2 now has a full fanmade client where you can join really active and fantastic roleplay servers, shoutouts to Wild West RP. The game it was trying to piggy back on eventually just replaced it.

[@ShidoMedia]

Honestly, they seem to have the "right" start-up mentality, but just dropping the project once they get bored/tired of it. If they had a structure to leave continued development and support to a team once they want to move on they could've been a great survival-jank game developer. They just kinda totally wasted it when they went looking for greener pastures.

[@gregorybentley5707]

Why did you just make your Dreamworld video private?

[@kanoaikawach]

27:06 - hey I remember those spinning thingies from the first failed game!

[@literallymalware]

Seeing a "What Went Right" kind of video with games like Slime Rancher or TABS would be pretty cool I think

[@EpicWinNoob]

All of these were pretty good, and then they just up and went "and now it's abandoned/done :)" about a million years before it actually has any actual progress made.

[@cuhzn]

CodeHatch is like if someone had a bad playthrough of Video Game Tycoon

[@sizzleMoose]

Awesome video. Congrats on your full-time move. It'll be worth it.

[@dimsumboy22]

He’s back! Honey it’s a new upload!!