Shane Hensley interview

JStrike

Posting this here for you guys as well, since it's being referenced in some of Shane's answers here and it'll save everyone time.

 

Please bear in mind the questions were sent before any answers were given over here, so repeats aren't intentional.

Hi Shane, first off let me thank you on behalf of the Stargate Worlds community for taking the time to answer these questions.

 

Thanks for giving me the opportunity. I was heading up one of the much smaller studios before things got bad. I've done a decent job at moving things forward, I suppose, and was asked to head up product development for the folks who were able to weather the storm a while longer. It's a big challenge, and I have big shoes to fill, but I'm going to try and play to my strengths and get help for my many weaknesses.

 

We are all aware of the financial troubles Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) has had recently in terms of finance. While we are told that the global economic recession is to blame, do you feel this is wholly true, and if not, what mistakes do you feel led to the situation prevalent?

 

I believe the economy is the number one problem we had. Our fundraising team was flying when I got there and the sky was the limit. Were they too ambitious? I guess so in hindsight, but as one investor said recently, "that's how we put men on the moon too." More in the next question...

 

A big criticism from the community and gamers in general has been that CME tried to run before it could walk. Do you feel that CME made a mistake in opening multiple studios and working on several games at one time?

 

Initially no, though of course I'm somewhat biased. So you know though, the budget for most of those studios was *miniscule* compared to publishing and SGW. It was still money, however, and in hindsight I think it was probably a mistake. But the thinking at the time was that many investors had said they wanted to invest in a *publishing entity*, not just a single game. I think Tim, Gary, and the rest picked the projects they thought were relatively safe and inexpensive--like mine--and believed funding would continue at the pace it had for the past year.

 

 

The biggest detriment to CME's downfall reputation wise has been MGULS, as it is owned by Gary Whiting, who also owns CME. This is basically a marketed pyramid scheme using Stargate Worlds as its poster child. We have been told there is no link, and we've also been told that all employees were offered platinum accounts for discounted prices, as well as being told funds were siphoned from CME and its investors and into MGULS. Definitively, what is MGULS to CME, and what has it been?

 

Moguls is Gary's company, but if you're calling it a "pyramid scheme" you're calling it illegal. I have very little direct knowledge about how it works, but from what I've seen it's an MLM. The former is illegal, the latter is not. Amway and Avon are MLMs and seem to be respected. It's definitely not my thing though, and none of us are involved with it. The only exception to that is I think one or more artists did a logo or something for them, and a small group of CME folks did a freelance project for them at one point.

 

Moguls originally showed SGW and other internal projects as games it would offer on its site, but it also showed World of Warcraft and other games (I'm pretty sure we don't own World of Warcraft, but I'll check...) :P

 

Oh, and we were never offered any sort of Moguls incentive that I know of. Someone has said they have a copy of an email we were supposedly sent offering a membership, but I never saw it and have never heard anyone speak about it. For the record though, I wouldn't care if that was true. I also wouldn't take it personally. Again, just not my thing. I'm a hands-on product-in-my-hands guy.

The iSNAP concept was mentioned all the way through development of Stargate Worlds (SGW), was MGULS its intended fruit?

Nope. I believe the iSNAP concept was created by Rod Nakamoto's original project, which was a gaming social network site, then adopted by the marketing department under Darren Steele as the central portal for all our games. One group was working on that portal for a while and it was actually beautiful. This was really where investors (I'm told) got excited, because they saw the growing power of Facebook and MySpace and believed that a real gamer portal, anchored by a major franchise like SGW, would be a big hit and allow many, many more projects to come. Now part of the idea for Moguls may have certainly been inspired by the iSNAP idea, but you’d have to ask Gary about that.

 

Do you feel staff/investors were deceived at any point?

 

No. If I did I wouldn't be here.

 

Ultimately, without being too personal (if that is possible with this question, please evade it if you feel it inappropriate), do you feel Gary Whiting is a major factor in CME's fall from grace?

I don't mind the question--I'm just not sure how to answer. Jim Brown and Todd Ellering started the company with their vision of SGW. Gary was a fan and threw his money into it, and then raised an amazing amount of funds to build it. If the game was launched by now, everyone would talk about how great he is. Because it's had definite problems, he gets the blame. That's part of the job and he accepts it, and I have little doubt that like all of us he's made mistakes, but I also believe he's the most passionate person there is about SGW.

 

Rumours abound about deadlines and ultimatums from MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) with regards the Stargate IP. Can you tell us how CME's relationship currently stands with MGM? August 1st as doomsday, misnomer, yay or nay?

For the record, I've never talked to the MGM folks--that's Tim Jenson's job, and SGW Creative Director Chris Klug also has a relationship with them. August 1st is a milestone for us, and they could pull the license, but they can do that at any time for any reason. That's always been in their contract. My firm belief is that if we have a real commitment of funds that would allow us to get back to work there would be no problem whatsoever in doing so. Despite our delays, the core game itself is fantastic in many ways, and if we get the chance to finish it, should do MGM proud.

Are CME really in need of $8,000,000 to continue using the Stargate IP, if so by what date, and are you confident of finding the investor infusion in time?

 

I'm not comfortable giving out our exact budget, but that's certainly in the neighborhood. Am I confident in finding an investor in time? I would say "optimistic." The realities are daunting, of course.

 

How close is CME to finding the kinds of investors it needs to stabilise and resume 'normal business'? What kind of sum would see CME 'safe'?

 

There are several groups of investors working very hard to save Stargate and CME in general. I believe they won't put any money in unless they know they have enough to successfully finish and launch the game.

Were CME to become stable, do you (honestly) feel it would learn from its mistakes and be successful this time around?

 

Of course. And to be fair, we've learned from the things that were successful as well. The original SGW team built a big beautiful game. It still needs significant work, of course, but if it didn't you'd be interviewing someone about the expansion. :P

 

How many people are currently still working for CME?

 

There were around 20 people at lunch today. A much larger number are on leave but still local and interested in coming back to work if we get funding.

 

Is Stargate Worlds now the only title being (actively) produced at CME? We have heard about a game called 'Stargate Battles', a small FPS game being produced to appease investors and fans alike, instead of SGW, or to raise funds for it. Is this true or Chinese whispers due to a fan made game of the same name?

 

Our license for Stargate covers more than just Worlds, and we absolutely have explored other games that take place in the SG universe. I honestly can’t say more than that at this point until we know what kind of funding we have to work with, but Stargate: Worlds—the fully-featured MMO that the team has spent years building—is still our absolute number one long-term objective.

 

 

Of the people working on SGW, how many are interns?

 

I think three of the people there were technically interns, but I will be removing that designation if we're able to move forward. And these "interns" are extremely talented and well-versed in Unreal. “Intern” does not mean “guy off the street.”

 

Are all of the necessary departments (art, world builder, audio, coders etc) still presently represented in production staff?

 

Yes, but with some very critical spots unfilled.

 

Of the people that left, how many left on open terms (in other words, how many would be willing to return if conditions stabilise)?

 

I believe a lot of them. Please understand though that I don't know all of them personally--many left before I was asked to help with Stargate and our teams weren't really close prior to that.

 

As Head of Product Development, what are your daily roles?

 

I oversee the producers and am trying to catch up on my Stargate lore. Right now there's unfortunately a lot of waiting around for me personally until we see what happens over the next few weeks.

Some people may be discouraged that, while you are making it your goal to become familiarised with the IP and the game, you aren't explicitly a 'Stargate guy'. How many of the remaining devs/staff working on SGW have a good knowledge of the IP?

 

I know how I'd feel, and I understand that discouragement. It is not the optimal situation from a fan’s point of view and that's a fact I won't lie about. But I'm learning fast, and Chris Klug is still on staff as well and he's an expert, so hopefully my learning curve won't impede the work done by the rest of the staff.

 

In its present situation, what are the odds of CME/Firesky finally completing and shipping Stargate Worlds?

 

Very large if we get funding and very small if we don't. But we wouldn't have stayed here for four months with no pay if we didn't think we had a chance.

 

With regards the episodic patches, are any being/have any been produced ahead of launch?

 

Nope.

 

What would you give as a rough timescale for SGW's release; is there an ultimate 'breaking point' (at which time you will release the game no matter if it's incomplete, or may as well admit defeat and close shop)?

 

I'm afraid that will have to wait until we see what happens over the next month or so with the investors and how many former CME employees are able or willing to return.

 

An obvious question with a likely obvious answer, but in present shape, what are the odds of closed beta being anytime soon, and if not soon, is there a target date?

It certainly won't be any time soon.

 

Has CME/Firesky contacted, or been contacted by, other studios in regards to taking over the SGW project?

 

There were talks before I got involved, but they never went anywhere. I think the other major publishers have their hands full with their own projects.

Do you feel that if CME goes under, SGW will be picked up or lost in the ether?

 

I really don't know.

 

Are you aware of the efforts of 'Stargate Worlds Weekly', and do you feel that if time needs to be saved, you could give them exclusive disclosure, or some kind of recognition down the road for their dedication to the game and its community?

 

I'm not.

 

Everyone here in the SGW community would like to extend our best wishes to the developers/staff past and present for their hard work, dedication and for working through adversity. We hold no developers to account for leaving. Please pass this sentiment on to whoever you can.

Once again, thank you for your time Mr. Hensley.

Thanks! I understand the frustration out there and will do my best to reopen our lines of communication. That doesn’t mean I’m going to answer every question or respond to baiting, but if you have constructive criticism, feedback, questions (or even compliments!) I’ll try and respond in an open and timely manner.

 

Cheers,

 

Shane Hensley

CME

Thank you once again to Shane for opening this channel with the community.

Cyborg99

Hey your bold and italic font didn't work, also in before Agricola1.

JStrike

Fixed the formatting

Agricola1

First of how exactly is the economy to blame? He gets most of the funding by 2006 (if not all) and the game was supposed to be released Q4 2008. By the time the money ran out (Q4 2008) the game wasn't even in alpha! What really happened was that they had the funding to complete the project but spent it all by summer 2008, the economy took a nose dive at the sametime they were looking for investors. However the point is they spent all of the money they had to complete the game before launch date, and they barely had a working alpha. Spent too much money doing too little and blame the economy because no one else wants to invest.

Probably a mistake to make those cash sink studios? Of course he tis biased, he wouldn't have had a job otherwise! What exactly did any of those studios actually produce? I haven't seen anything, as for his justification for it all it sounds like bologne to me. Firesky was made so that they didn't have to meet milestones from a publisher, because as you can see from where they are now the publisher would've pulled their investment long ago as MGM will with the license. All an elaborate smoke and mirrors act.

He knows nothing little about pyramid schemes and MLMs but he knows that Gary (his boss) is legit. Employees at CME were being offered platinum memberships by upper managment and being encouraged to sign up their families. Believe me or believe the guy that works for Gary Whiting.

What he says about isnap sounds like a load of bologne too, or just another lost cause that CME/Firesky/Cash sink studios were wasting man hours and investors money on? Who knows?

He feels no one was decieved. Need I say more?

Doesn't want to give a direct answer as to wether his boss has screwed up, maybe he's worried about not getting the 4 months back wages owed?

20 people working there, I doubt it's even that. I mean even Aventurine managed to release a game on a fraction of their budget and 10 - 20 developers!

Doesn't want to comment on SG Battles, so it's probably true.

Blah blah blah, no one is working here but lots will come back once we have divine intervention and pay back wages ect...

Goes on to describe his job (AKA inactive post) then states they have a big chance of launching the game if they get funds ... DUH!

Mostly he answers nothing, gives vague responses, states the obvious and talks some bologne. Just another smoke and mirrors act, nice try Gary, good luck blowing smoke up MGMs behind tomorrow!

ariccaron

Some very diplomatic answers there.

Raltar

Wow Agricola1, you are really REALLY mad about this. I can't say I blame you. Maybe you feel the same way about this game that I once felt about Shadowbane.

Its ture that he didn't really anwser our questions. Mostly he just confirmed what we already knew: If the game gets more funding then development might continue and if they don't get more funding then the game might die. I'll admit that this isn't new information. But atleast he actually TALKED to us. Nobody hates game developers more than I do, but I have to say that this is the very first time one has ever come down from their ivory tower to talk to me. Even if he said nothing, atleast we know that someone hears all the complaining we do on these forums. Thats a start to getting this industry back on track, if not much of one.

Bottom line though: This does still mostly leave us where we already were. All we can do is wait and see if they get more money before someone pulls the plug.