Fall From Heaven Standalone Falls

This is a sad one. We reported that the minds behind the Civ ultramod Fall From Heaven were working on a standalone commercial game in the same universe. Well, no longer. Kael reports that the game - "Fall From Heaven Tactics" - is being put on ice due to the funding falling through. I've republished the short Q&A below...

What was the game?

It was a Fall from Heaven Tactics game set in the time after the events in the FfH2 scenarios. You recruited characters, fought tactical level battles, gained levels, got treasure, etc. The setting and story were very specific and detailed and covered the return of Laroth, sailing off to investigate the missing Aifon's, follow up in the Deadlands and the Fane of Lessers after the defeat of the Sheaim and the Infernals, etc.

Will this game ever be made?

Maybe, I still think it's a great game and I would like to see it made (not to mention I have a 210 page design doc and tons of my time invested in it). But right now it has been shelved.

Who were you working with?

The full story is more convoluted than this brief description, I'm not going to go into all the details. There are some side projects and other proposals that play into it, but I don't want to start naming names. The FfH team members (especially SeZereth, Nikis-Knight and Loki) have been involved throughout as well as games industry people from various companies. They were all great people to interact and work with.

The project didn't fail for lack of talented people helping out.

Why did it fail?

Lack of financing (isn't this always the reason).

There were 2 ways this project could have been financed, both fell through. We developed up until the point where it was clear exactly what the investment would need to be to complete the game, at that point a business decision had to be made. Was the risk and investment worth the potential reward? The folks providing the budget decided that it wasn't. There was no animosity and no ill will. Simply a business call.

Was it a waste of time?

Maybe. I was paid as a lead designer so I made some money on the deal and came out of it with a big design that I own. I enjoyed the experience and got to work with some very cool people so I'm happy I got to do it, but sorry that I don't have a game to show for it.

Would you do it again?

Yes, in a heartbeat. These are amazing opportunities. They don't always work out, But you have to try just on the chance that it does work. I would do it again, I hope to do it again.

Have you considered ?

Yes we have. We considered everything, community financing, preorder funding, community development, etc. I'm not saying we won't follow up on any of them. Just that for now this particular project is dead.

What's next for Fall from Heaven?

I don't know, the team and I are talking. Right now I need a little time to decompress, I'm going to be a modder for a little while. There will be more FfH projects.

Is there any good news?

Yeap, Civ5 comes out next week! This means I have plenty of time to play, mod and dink around with Civ5. I'm excited to see what can be done and how to do it.

Well, at least we'll be seeing more modding from Kael. Still - this is a real shame. You'd have hoped that one of the PC strategy publishers would have seem the merit in funding this. And I'm very aware that several them read this site. C'mon, guys. Give Kael that cheque.