Our Fan Era

What happened to all of our earlier games? Especially… that one?

Whether you’re in the know or not, we feel it’s important to reflect on how our team got started.

The Internet in 2004: Before YouTube or Reddit or Discord were a thing, when communities were built around bulletin-board forums and Internet Relay Chat (IRC), an idea began to take shape. What if we rebuilt one of our favorite video games, but reimagined from a different perspective?

This concept appealed to many up-and-coming creative spirits all around the globe, sparking press coverage and inspiring nearly 150 people to contribute to this new game idea. Together they made thousands of digital art images, over a hundred music tracks, and several flavors of gameplay demos. It was quite a spectacle at the time!

Sadly, after a few years the project broke down due to its monumental scope, leaving behind just a faint murmur of activity. Despite this, we know that a number of people continued pursuing their newfound interests far beyond our site, later becoming professional artists, musicians, and programmers. We call them Old Team, and you may have even seen their work without knowing it!

Team SCU’s story could have easily ended there, and for many it did.

But the seeds were already planted for something more.

Most members had joined without any experience making games, so they’d spent the first few years learning from scratch how to do things like draw pixels, arrange MIDI music, and write code. What started as fun and carefree activities soon turned out to be pretty useful skills to have, too!

In fact, from an individual’s perspective it almost didn’t matter that the large-scale collaboration fizzled out, as sad as that reality was. Anyone could still derive joy and value by simply continuing to build, reflect, and grow as before. For me, I directed that momentum into my personal game engine, knowing that someday it might be ready for Team SCU’s vision.

Little did I know, I wasn’t the only one riding that wave. For many years our little fangame’s spark was secretly in motion all around the world…

And in 2015, Old Team returned! Well, actually just a few people came back. But with wisdom and renewed enthusiasm, this new ensemble took the work seriously: regular meetings, modern teamwork tools, a structured roadmap, and a gorgeous new art direction. It was really happening now; the excitement was palpable!

Before diving into the main game, we chose to launch our efforts with a much smaller project in order to bond as a team. This mini-game would be an original concept, and everyone seemed eager to brainstorm ideas for it! However, the next meeting… didn’t happen. Each developer had independently lost interest and didn’t return.

It’s up to interpretation why that happened, but one explanation is that the group’s passion may have unwittingly stemmed from making a fangame rather than a non-fangame. Regardless, more idle years passed…

At last, the planets aligned once again! An even smaller subset of Old Team regrouped, now focused solely on the fangame to stay motivated. In secret we carefully crafted each aspect by hand in our own style, and after 3.5 years we unveiled a surprise demo that received far more attention than anyone had expected.

Unfortunately, the landscape had changed since 2004. Just as we were expanding our numbers and gearing up to finish the rest of the game, we were notified that we could face legal action if we continued. Because it was perceived that our fangame had elements too closely resembling the game that had inspired it, we would have to remove them before proceeding. Wishing to be respectful and avoid conflict, we decided it could be a fangame no more and halted development.

Navigating such boundaries is complex, and this outcome is not necessarily inevitable for a fangame. While we may have been in a position to simply change the course of our game, such an option had not truly been part of the plan. With crushed spirits, Team SCU now faced the ultimate challenge. Our non-fangame had failed because it wasn’t a fangame, but our fangame had failed because it was a fangame. How could we continue?

Would we be able to hold onto our identity as a team, or would life naturally pull us in our separate ways, one final time?

Thank you for your patience as we try to navigate these new waters, pivot into new directions, and search for our new purpose.

In the end… our passion for making games together has prevailed. We’ve found great joy releasing free demos on April Fool’s Day, now available on this website. And just as it happened before…

The seeds are planted for something more.

Signed,
~ Troid92