Yogventures substitute TUG delayed by investment setback

Open world sandbox Kickstarted title TUG, the game given to Yogventures backers when the Yogscast’s Kickstarter project fell apart, has been delayed due to the developer suffering significant layoffs.

The 25-strong team of Nerd Kingdom has been reduced by half following the failure of an investment that would have kept the company running. As a result, the planned January launch is now no longer possible.

The investment failed when Nerd Kingdom refused the money. Although the cash injection would have kept the company afloat, it would have meant the developer would have to have relinquished ownership of TUG.

’We are not huge fans of being owned by investors like this. Sadly, we need to cut off a few limbs to be able to ensure this does not happen,’ said a Nerd Kingdom spokesperson on the team’s Kickstarter blog. ’It’s the hardest thing we have ever had to do, but it’s what we all collectively have agreed is the best move for us, and you, our community. We certainly have had people come and go from this project for many reasons, but this core group is all family and its heartbreaking.’

The post also offers advice to other fellow developers that they should never take money from people who don’t understand games and technology.

Work is still continuing and in a blog post announcing the delays, the team did highlight how well the project is coming along. The developers have recently put some work into the modding API and have had some help from the MInecraft modding community too.

TUG managed to raise $293,184, surpassing its $215,000 target, back in May 2013. The developer has not yet offered up a new projected release date for the game.

Access keys for TUG were distributed to backers of the Yogventures project earlier this year when that project fell through. Developer Winterkewl Games shut down and the game collapsed despite having raised $567,000.