Mproteau, it has been great working with you. You know where to find me. Please don't let us lose touch. You are great people.

When I get some time beyond the random post (And after I get my blank templates done) I plan to play with conversions myself and even designing brand new TLX compatible terrain (For personal use only so don't go nuclear on me!) if I get good enough.

Don't get me wrong, I love their terrain, but it will inevitably die or change standards. When that happens I don't want to be left without any way to expand other than printing out the same thing over and over again causing it to be overused. TLX has become the new standard for my terrain. Everything else has been replaced (Though everything was really destroyed in a storm and my group just decided to stick with TLX from now on lol) with TLX. And with minor work it can even have more depth (Using miniatures grass/gravel/ect on the tiles and I'm going to experiment with embossments to get rid of the flat look).

I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for if they come back or hand over the keys to someone worthy and release sets again, yet I'm still preparing for the possibility that day may never come. You don't plan on crashing but you still wear your seatbelt. And when you do crash you'll be happy you're wearing one or be horribly sorry that you didn't.

Mike, I sure will continue to follow you on your blog.
And I'll continue to upload here the kitbashes we have from you. If you feel like doing a few more, I'll gladly upload them as well. If you feel like stopping, so be it.
Like Talae said, I hope we can stay in touch, because it was a real pleasure to exchange with you

Mproteau

I really feel for you. There is so much potential (hobbyist, not financial) in WWg, it makes me weep to see it squandered like this.

I really hope that after a break you come back and start contributing. I would love to see the kitbashes you mentioned in TLX.

I enquired myself about part ownership in WWG last year and eventually got a similar reply to yourself. I have a new job and my wife is very ill, so I opted to take it no further. I am kind of glad of that really. Let me make it clear, I have no artistic skill at all, but I am sure I could help on the backstage side of things and learn to manage the storefront etc.

I still think there is mileage in a collective fan based ownership of WWG going forward. If (say) 10 of us could get together virtually to discuss options, I am sure we could come up with a proposal for Denny and co. Something along the lines of opening up the TLX standard to independent designers, charging a minimum for purchase of new sets and giving most of the profits to the set developers. I wouldnt want to make money from it, just see a thriving community enjoying an ever expanding set line.

If anyone is interested in discussing this further, get in touch with me and I will set up a group discussion somewhere where we can bounce ideas around. Perhaps one of the forum mods could set up a private board for us and we could invite Denny to contribute.

Fingers crossed.

Frank

MProteau - believe me when I tell you that your hard work and most excellent kitbashes have been appreciated.

I think that your continued support is one of the things that have kept this site moving along at all.

Take a break, regroup - but come back, even if it is only just to chat.

I wholeheartedly agree with many of your points - and those same issues are allowing the competition to entrench and solidify their hold on the market.

I really wish that Denny had taken advantage of Kickstarter while WWG still had enough of an impact on the market for it to matter - but some excellent companies have risen during the long hiatus.

Lord Zse Zse makes some beautiful models, and Dave Graffam makes some very useful buildings - and both blend in well with existing WWG models.

Have fun trying out some of the other models that are around, and see if it helps you to rebuild your enthusiasm.

The Auld Grump

What ashame. I was hopeful for a return of WWG via Mike.

I actually did what some of you guys are also contemplating, start my own modular system and put all my work into something that is 100% mine and not from a dying company/system.

I got into Terrainlinxs and Terraclips at a very late stage but its still sad despite me being here for only a year or so.

Thanks for all of your work to keep things going. I agree that it's not up to you.

I would love it if you built things and put them on DriveThru -- I'd get them in a minute.

Step back, recharge, and think about what YOU want.

Steve

Well...poop.
Sorry to hear that you've burned out. Your kitbashes have been a great addition to this place and have managed to keep it alive much longer than I thought it would go after the departure of the creative staff.

All the best and let me know if there is any assistance I can provide with your future endeavors.

-Eric

P.S. I'm jealous that you have chickens, my neighbors won't agree to their presence.

Same sentiments here.
Thank you for you GIMP advice.

Thanks for all you have done, I hope you can find enjoyment in modeling again.

Mprotau, let me join in with thanking you for all you have done. It's been a real joy coming here and seeing all you have done.

I wish things had gone differently, but understand exactly where you are.

Keep in touch!

mproteau, you are cherished here. Recharge your batteries. Wherever you go from here, you alreafy have a following.

Sent you a PM on FB.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I'm neither dying (as far as I know, other than the typical day-to-day inevitable we-all-gotta-go-sometime dying) nor am I leaving (unlike the folks that own the place, I find it pretty easy to keep a browser tab open and switch to it now and again to see what's up). I am still open to a path forward with WWG, but it will have to require them contacting me, not the other way around. They know how to get in touch.

Speaking of which - I apologize if you find me chatting with you outside of the forums and I get you confused with someone else. I've always struggled with my ability to remember names, and I thought I was doing GREAT by getting to know people by their forum names. I'm trying to keep a table mapping forum names to real names so I don't get confused.

I've always offered myself up for chatting about stuff - you can get a hold of me via AIM or Steam chat - I'm "mproteau". I'm also on Skype as "michael.a.proteau" but I *only* have Skype installed because that's what was asked of me for talking to the Ungers about WWG... If you ever have a question about GIMP, or ideas you'd like to float by someone, or even a simple kitbash you'd like to see, feel free to contact me. I may say 'no' but I'll do so politely.

I have a blog of sorts that I post to in some minimal fashion at paperdungeons.blogspot.com - feel free to follow me there and every now and then I'll be posting build pictures, links to cutfiles, or occasionally some ramblings about potentially new stuff.


As long as the forums are open, try to keep the discussions positive and inclusive of anyone who wants to be here, and whenever possible, post pictures of builds in action or submit a kitbash however small. If I ever do get the chance to pick up the reins, I'll end up owing you a bit of gratitude for helping keep the community going!

I agree with everyone else here that your work has been very inspiring and helpful. I hope things continue to go well for you in the future, whether you can spend much time here or not.

Mproteau, though I'm sad to see you so frustrated, I can hardly blame you. Communication from the heads of WWG has been abysmal. And it has most definitely influenced how I feel, not only about WWG, but also about Cloudhead Games.

I'm not sure if Denny & Co. have thought through the consequences of their actions here. I (and many others, I think) have always understood and supported their decision to pursue their passion by creating Cloudhead Games. And while once I was eager for the chance to follow their work in the videogame industry, I now find myself asking if I really want to purchase games from a company whose owners could at any moment abandon their customers with only the barest shreds of communication if their product isn't successful enough. And the answer, honestly...is no.

Talent and ability will get you so far, but reputation is important as well. And in my eyes, the reputation of Cloudhead Games is already tarnished by what has transpired here. I totally understand why developement at WWG ceased, and for what it's worth, I think Denny made the right decision in doing so. There's no way he could have devoted the necessary amount of time to keep both companies running. But there's also no excuse for not returning emails from people who are working for FREE to try and keep your back-burner business up and running. There's no excuse for not popping on the forums here at reasonable intervals to keep us informed as to what was going on. Heck, he could even have used his forum posts to get us excited about development at Cloudhead Games.

But nope. He chose the path of near-total radio silence. I'm sorry, but if that's how you run one of your two businesses, it's a pretty safe bet that that will be how you run your other business as well. I've no reason to believe otherwise, and I've the personal experience with the way this forum has been treated to back up my suspicions. When someone claims they are too busy for simple communication, that is a huge red flag.

Sorry, I don't want to sound unkind. I really, really don't wish Denny & Co. anything but success with their new venture. But the amount I wish to be involved with Cloudhead Games is directly proportional to the amount that they have chosen to involve themselves with the WWG community (in terms of simple communication).

It really is just common courtesy.

So, Mproteau, if you do open up shop somewhere, I'll definitely check it out. I appreciate everything you've done here. Take care, man!

It looks as though the user galleries have disappeared, with no fanfare that I noticed...

That makes me nervous.

I hope if things go dark here I'll have a final chance to buy stuff and some warning to make sure I see it...

beginning of the end?

Well the loss of the Gallery's kind of clinches it for me.

I have for a few years now run a little Delve at a local convention, generally using WWG stuff to partially promote it and a few other things I like (a miniatures line etc.). Not doing it this year as there is no desire to do it on my end. No new sets coming out to spur my interest and honestly not going to waste my time promoting a company that is in a coma. I used to put the pictures up in the gallery, but that is gone. Hope I still have some of the pictures some where of the builds I did I really liked some of those....

I passed this information along over Skype to the Ungers the day it went missing. I didn't get any reply, but I trust that they're at least aware of the situation.

Even the Zsezse kickstarter, clocking in at $22k isn't exactly a 'success' - it feels like they very much underestimated the work it would take to pull off what they promised. That's a huge pile of work they've made for themselves. I trust them to deliver eventually, and I trust it to be pretty cool stuff, but man, that's a lot of work for $22k, and a good lesson in project planning.

I'd like to put together a small set that would be compatible with other things. I'm working on it. But, my day job pays me a lot and expects a lot from me in return. There is no possible way a kickstarter campaign, for me, could turn out well.

The thing is, some folks use kickstarter as a way to raise funds to pull off something they otherwise couldn't. Others use it simply as a marketing tool and a pre-order vehicle. Either one is fine with me. But, for little ol' me, I don't need to raise funds. That means I'd be drumming up business and letting folks pre-order something. Doing that means I'm committing to a timeline. I don't have that luxury - no matter what artificial deadline I set for myself, it's going to conflict with my 'real job'. So, I'd have to be mostly done in order to jump on that wagon, at which point, the whole thing seems a little disingenuous (a little tongue in cheek, but the term 'trick' you use in your message makes me feel like that's an appropriate word). Well, that, and the overhead to making a good kickstarter is enough to make me think it's definitely NOT a good path for anyone like me who wants to dip their toe in the water.

I get you...

the way I would do it is find a few artists (maybe 3) and first design the core system (which I would promise to make open source after the kickstarter.. maybe as a starch goal?) and work on sets

I would have 1 set 100% done before the kickstarter went live, with the other two sets having something like 30% done... maybe 40%.. just enough to show off what we have in mind.

then I would get in contact with some other artists and have them on stand by if we hit more goals.

I would not expect to make more then 10k.. but for a print it yourself paper scenery company I can see that being a good start-up fund.

if it hits 30k things get interesting

while you may think a 30k kickstrarter is not all that much I'm willing to bet it made more then most of the sets found on this website.

there is a market to be had.. heck the tarraclips like kickstarter made 297k in dollars

I spoke to the guys and I have a good idea of their overhead.... they made a nice amount of cash on that project....

btw as a business owner, all businesses have their tricks.... like charging 9.99 because there is a mental brake at 10.00 (most people see it as spending 9 bucks)

As a large and active market for new products, Kickstarter is also a sales channel for new businesses and products. While established businesses and creators with proven track records tend to take out the big $, Kickstarter is still great way for new entrants to generate revenue and establish market presence (customer base, brand recognition, etc.).