Sharin no Kuni——一场疯狂的 Kickstarter 众筹，为推出翻译版视觉小说耗时超 10 年

Hopefully we can just skip all the shitting on Kickstarter and how you should never back Kickstarter projects. Also it sucks for anyone who did put money in to this and is still waiting to get what they put money up for. But at this point, how long this has taken, along with the incompetency of the development that it would take longer than a AAA game to release a translated version of a completed game is just insanity.

I can't help but to watch how this turns out but the fact that they seem to continue to try and get this done and the fact that they did refund Vita backers makes it seem like it's not the complete scam that many people will jump to the conclusion of. Plus, the parent company has other projects in the works so I really think they are just incompetent rather than trying to rip people off.

But the latest update was just a "holy shit, are you serious" moment that I felt compelled to list out the entire timeline of events. It's an absolute train wreck, but I feel compelled to watch each update as they come out.

Re: Sharin no Kuni Project

A classic, dystopian visual novel which has stirred countless hearts. Help us bring the official English localization to life!

www.kickstarter.com

TIMELINE

11/21/16

- Kickstarter Campaign goes up

12/1/16 - Kickstarter Campaign hits $80,000 goal to be funded

12/19/16 - Vita port stretch goal reached at $120,000

12/21/16 - Kickstarter campaign ends with a total of $188,176 with an August 2017 target date for some rewards and October 2017 for other rewards

6/30/17 - Final call for BackerKit surveys to be locked down in 24 hours

8/3/17 - First delay announced with a now expected December 2017 and February 2018 respectively. Vita version to follow about 2 to 3 months afterward. The reason for the delay is the translation is taking longer than expected.

10/19/17 - Translation has been completed

11/13/17 - Pre-Order Store closing, final card charges soon announced

12/21/17 - Delay announced with an expected April 2018 and June 2018 respectively. The reason for the delay is that due to the number of changes and updates needing to be made to the original game, it's taking longer than expected.

4/27/18 - A number of unanticipated bugs have caused delays in finalizing a stable build. The Steam page was also expected to be ready but a few necessary assets haven't been obtained yet. Goal now set to launch the final game in May. Final manufacturing of rewards to begin soon with still a target of June 2018. Vita development will take longer and an update will detail that in another update soon.

6/25/18 - Unexpected bugs and issues have come up trying to get the game engine to run on Windows 10 and work properly with Steam. Now an expected date of September 2018 and October 2018 respectively. Fully confident that the Vita port will arrive despite the announcement of Vita physical manufacturing ending in March 2019.

9/13/18 - States the game was completed at the end of July, but still had some bugs and had anticipated an August submission to Steam in order to release by September. However, due to the situation with the Vita, focus has shifted to that platform so it can come out in time and before the PC version. Thus the PC version has been delayed until December 2018 and February 2019 respectively.

12/21/18 - Game is currently in the debugging stage, but some bugs and translation errors have caused a further delay. Now expected February 2019 and April 2019 respectively.

2/27/19 - Development of the Vita port has finished and the manufacturing and publishing process has been cosigned to an external company but further details cannot be disclosed at this time due to contract confidentiality terms. Assurances that Vita backers will get their reward. PC version is in the late stages but the schedule was too optimistic but the Steam page should go up soon. Merchandise rewards production is going smoothly.

3/25/19 - Merchandising samples shown but cannot comment on the game development due to contractual reasons with the manufacturer at this point.

5/17/19 - Vita version is stated to be completed again and inn the final stages of production but due to contraction restrictions with publishers, they cannot say much further. Limited Run Games now is no longer the publisher of the Vita version of the game due to being at risk of missing the deadline for North American manufacturing. A new publisher has been picked in another region to avoid this issue. Steam version is in the final debugging stages but some bugs relating to running on newer versions of Windows is causing crashing so the entire base program was replaced and some minor fixes are needed. Submission to Steam for evaluation will happen soon.

7/25/19 - Eastasiansoft Limited announced as the new Vita publisher. The Steam version has encountered a very serious problem forcing to do extended debugging time. Expected to be delayed until the Fall.

10/18/19 - Debugging for the Steam version was broken into two stages. The first to debug the game engine and thee second to debug the game itself. The previous update they were well into the first stage. Unexpected issues have stopped them from completing the first stage so they can move on to the second stage. The Vita version is in the latest stages of finishing an agreement with Eastasiasoft Limited.

3/17/20 - Fixed the unexpected issues mentioned in the previous update but doing so caused new issues. Working on the first stage is still in progress. The Vita version is finished as mentioned in the previous update and taking steps for the physical production. Some parts of the process are dependent on the PC version though.

4/28/20 - Speculation from some is that the Vita production has come to a halt but they want to rest assure people that this is not the case. They cannot reveal many details due to restrictions that are in place but all the procedures required to manufacture the Vita version are in progress.

6/4/20 - Although many restrictions are in place limiting what they can say about the Vita version, they can confirm that many of the steps necessary in order to manufacture has been cleared except for the latest debugging steps.

7/3/20 - The Vita version is in the debug phase with attention going to graphics related issues.

8/3/20 - The Vita version is in the latest development and debugging of the UI and other graphical aspects of the game. Due to regulations they must follow, further details cannot be given.

9/7/20 - Debugging and final adjustments of the localized UI are still in progress for the Vita version. The PC version also is in the debugging stages in tandem with the Vita version.

11/13/20 - Debugging of the Vita version in the final stages. Debugging expected to be completed by the end of November. Manufacturing should start in December 2020. Manufacturing completion in February 2021. Shipping should begin in March 2021. Difficult issues surrounding the PC version has caused further delays but the Vita version is currently being made a priority with the PC version to be completed after the Vita version.

12/10/20 - Although some complications with the Vita version has occurred, the previous schedule is still the target plan. The PC version is expected to finalize debugging sometime between the end of December and January. In January details will be shared of the distribution of the digital PC version. February will complete manufacturing with shipping in March for the physical and digital distribution.

2/15/21 - Vita version cancelled due to being unable to meet the deadline for production. Refunds will be given to backers. Since the Vita version was outsourced, while the PC version was done internally, the PC version is still on track to be released. The PC version has been delayed a month until April 2021 now.

3/16/21 - Development of the PC version is progressing smoothly

4/13/21 - The PC version went gold at the end of March. The game has been sent to the press factory for manufacturing. Shipping of the physical version should take place by the end of May. Digital version should be distributed by the end of May. Steam page should be open in April.

6/2/21 - Due to different reasons, about a month delay is expected. However, these reasons are not internal like in the past but due to external reasons due to Covid. Currently expect the physical version to ship by July with the digital version in June. Steam digital store page expected to open in June.

7/9/21 - Delays happened in development and a review of the update patches for both physical and Steam versions. Now expected to ship in August. Digital distribution codes expected to go out July 15th. Digital store opening is now TBA and waiting for game approval on Steam.

7/15/21 - Digital rewards have been sent but the digital game code could not be sent out due to server issues and problems with the distribution files. A new date will be announced when it is ready.

7/16/21 - We have identified the problems with the server and distribution files and are in the process of resolving it with an expected release of the middle of next week.

7/21/21 - The issues with the server and distribution files have not been resolved yet and unlikely that the game can be released this week as expected. They can't give a new date at this time but hope to have it resolved by the end of the month.

7/30/21 - The cause of the server and distribution file issue has been identified and is currently being fixed. While they can't give a new date, they can definitely say that it's not a big problem that will need months in order to be fixed.

8/6/21 - The issue is about 50% of progress and going smoothly. A rough estimate is expected to be given next week.

8/16/21 - Still in the progress of fixing bugs but about 80% of the way through now. A more concrete schedule should be given in the next update.

8/26/21 - 100% of the bugs have been fixed and now in the final stage of testing the remastered version of the game. A more concrete schedule should be given next week.

9/10/21 - Although it was reported that 100% of the bugs were fixed, new issues have popped up from the bug fixes. These bugs were unexpected because it was supposed to be a simple process to fix. A current timeline cannot be given at this time.

9/21/21 - Still currently investigating the new issues discovered in the finalization process and are working with in-house and new external development company to resolve the issues.

10/12/21 - One of the main issues relating too the bug is the function that enables the changing the resolution between 16:9 original console assets and 4:3 original PC assets. Investigation is still in progress and the external development team is helping us resolve this issue.

11/9/21 - The problem mentioned in a previous update, which was implemented due to response of the request of many backers, is related to the memory control system. They are confused how such a fatal problem could appear so late in the process. Further investigation shows that the development team handling the port lacked the technical skills to implement the functions they were trying to achieve and that the debugging process was lax.

12/21/21 - Further investigation has shown that trying to fix the existing issues in the current engine would be difficult so the plan is to replace the current engine with a new one which features the latest technical specifications for visual novels and created by a trusted development company. The move, while time consuming, should eliminate the possibility of underlying bugs and other potential risks inherent to older outdated software. Currently they are working hard so that this move can be completed in no more than six months.

4/16/23 - Yes, over a year since the last update. The biggest problem that they faced was a bug that prevented them from implementing the ability to allow for changing the aspect ratio. This is a bug that was discovered being related to the memory control system of the game. Development has switched to a new development company with more technical capabilities and a proven track record. The base program has also been replaced and added support for the latest Windows OS. The claim is it's almost like a complete "restart" of the project. The solution to the screen switching is to not allow it and to split the game into two different clients, one for each aspect ratio. Digital standalone now expected by August 2023 and a Steam version is TBD.

7/31/23 - The game itself is finally complete and final pre-production checks are underway.

9/1/23 - They're preparing to publish the download page for the digital standalone version. It is expected that the specific release date and distribution method will be by the end of next week. Back in April the goal was to release by the end of August so they deeply apologize for the delay till September.

9/23/23 - The website and method of distribution are almost finalized. However, during the last stage of adjusting the game to meet the regulations of the distribution site, a technical glitch related to the plug-ins was discovered and are now being worked on. Most of the problems have been fixed, but some are ongoing. The cause has been identified and they're working to resolve it by the end of September.

1/30/24 - The problems from the previous update has not been resolved yet. While the game engine itself is working fine, due to the long development period, some of the executables and plug-ins that were created in the early stages of the project are interfering with the latest play environment and causing errors. They're currently trying to identify the causes of the errors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to estimate when this will be completed. They assure that development has not been halted, or that the project has failed, or that the team has been disbanded. The development team meets once a week for an update status.

10/1/26 - After two years and nine months since the last update, they finally gave an update that development has not halted and they plan to complete the game still. They still have not resolved the issues from the previous updates. Despite that the game is still being worked on, they are offering anyone who wants one a refund and needs to go to this link to process their refund - https://forms.gle/REdb9gqoNgKy2nwf9. Also, a change in the teams involved has been made where Tokyo Otaku Mode, who was in charge of the Kickstarter page, will no longer be involved due to their contract expiring with Frontwing.

Update Edit (10/2/26):