Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD development halted
As if attacked by some kind of predatory lizard, Flashbang's Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD has been cut down before its time. The developer has announced that it has stopped work on the standalone sequel to the browser game Off-Road Velociraptor Safari. "We may still finish Raptor Safari at some point," Flashbang founder Matthew Wegner said, "although certainly not anytime soon (not this year, or even next year)," adding that it was "entirely likely" that the project will never ship.
Development was halted due to a combination of budget constraints and malaise. "Much of Flashbang's revenue stems from affiliate programs in the casual market," Wegner said. "Many of these programs are either shuttering completely or have drastically altered their terms in punitive ways, probably as a result of the casual market itself being hurt by Facebook [and] web games."
Flashbang originally intended to give the game a fully HD makeover, but then determined that to be an unrealistic goal for a three-person team and decided upon a unique art style instead. Wegner called its HD development "a trap." "We were spending time on normal-mapping our rocks," he said, "a very dangerous thing indeed when your team is 3 people."
The team, used to short development cycles for games made for the Blurst platform, found itself weighed down by the continued development of a single game. "When I imagine a year of Raptor Safari development," Wegner said, "I feel drained, and when I image a year of something else I feel energized. The rest of the team feels the same way, so our choice was clear."
If you've already pre-ordered Velociraptor Safari HD, your order now includes a Blurst Bundle Pack. Refunds are available for those who don't want to wait for a game that might not be released.
