SpaceSimCentral

I can't find anything definitive, but here's what I've gathered.

[url][/url]

Talks about someone leaving the team.

[url]http://forums.ltheory.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6573[/url]

Was from July and mentions Josh being alone again.

This coupled with a quick perusal of recent dev blogs where Josh goes from "we" to "I" pretty well paints a picture of Josh being on his own again. I think it really boils down to one simple fact. Josh has zero desire to produce a game, and every desire to tinker behind the scenes for decades. Thats just my opinion however.

Ugh, thanks IronHound. Josh was in that thread in Aug. So it happened fairly recently.

Well I guess only more time will tell with LT to see if it might make its 2019 release....? I did enjoy last year that demo video of the ship random generator it was slick. LT definitely has some tech behind it, but it means nothing unless you get it into peoples hands

There goes the neighborhood. Without commenting further:



The End
Posted by Josh Parnell (Creator)
It is with a heart of lead that I write this announcement. Not in my darkest nightmares did I expect this day to ever come, but circumstances have reached a point that even my endless optimism can no longer rectify. I can not finish Limit Theory.

After six years, I am finally at the end of my means. Financially, I am beyond the initial investment and have exhausted most of my personal savings. But significantly more troubling is that I am entirely out of energy -- emotionally, mentally, even physically. Every year that passes sees me becoming more desperate to make good on the dream with which you all entrusted me, but each such year I grow less and less capable of doing so as my mindset falls further away from that bright, beautiful hope that powered me from the beginning. I am not what I once was.

Despite what felt like an incredible amount of progress in the last year alone, Limit Theory remains frighteningly far from feature completion. It is my own fault, for having underestimated at every turn the amount of work that goes into such a creation. It is my own fault, for having overestimated my own cognitive resilience and for believing that no number of setbacks would ever inhibit my ability to bring a passion project to life.

I don't know how to make this right. For years now, I've been running on pure loyalty to you all -- it has been quite a long time, if I'm honest, since I was actually working from a place of inspiration -- yet even with the purest of intentions and the deepest desire to honor my commitment, I find myself unable to bring about miracles. No matter how hard I try, it's not enough to bring LT to fruition, and this pattern of failure has evicted all self-confidence and hope from my mind, leaving only doubt, anxiety, and despair. Some days I think to myself "how absurd that a game should make me feel this way," and I realize just how unfit I have become to build a source of joy. I wanted so, so badly to make you all proud. To bring you all joy. There are no words to properly convey how sorry I am that I have failed you all.

I imagine I could go on and on with this gushing of negativity -- the years have left me with no shortage of it. But I don't think much good will come of it. Those of you who have followed the project closely, you already know how much I have put into it; how I have given 110% of myself. Trying isn't the same as doing, so I don't expect any thanks for it, but I hope you all do know just how hard I've tried. I've simply got nothing more to give.

So, what now?

Well, I will prepare the source code for release. It's not a working game, and in my frenzy to get things working I've left huge swaths of code in a half-refactored or half-complete state. But releasing it is the least I can do. I don't imagine it will be of any use to anyone, other than as a monument to a failed dream. Perhaps those who are interested in game engines will glean a thing or two from the engine, as it is a fairly solid piece of engineering, much more solid than the Lua game code.

For the moment, though, I wanted to get this off my chest as soon as possible. It has been the most painful, difficult decision of my life, and I'm sure that there will be no shortage of blowback. But I simply cannot continue to destroy myself in search of a feat of which I am not capable. When I began this project, I felt that anything was possible. Here now, at the end, I must swallow the painful reality that: I, too, am human. I am limited by time, I am limited by finances, and I am limited by mental & emotional stamina.

One last time, I would like to thank everyone who contributed. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in Limit Theory. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to try for something wonderful. One last time, I am so sincerely sorry for having let you down. I hope, at the very least, that some of you have enjoyed the ride as I've pitted my brain over the years against one challenge after the next.

I'll be in touch when I have readied the source code for release.

~Josh

yep, that makes more sense.

I saw him at PAX South and the game looked pretty rough still.
I didn't understand how he still had funds for himself, much less for the team with him or to afford a booth at PAX.

A sad day when a talented young man like that has to give up on his dream.
I don't know but perhaps this isn't the last we have heard of Limit Theory. There is a lot of major development houses out there that are keen to get a slice of the space sim pie. Maybe one of those could take up and build upon what Josh started? Stranger things have happened.

This absolutely would not be the thing a major development house would pick up.

There is absolutely nothing distinctive about its IP. After all, the entire point of the thing was to be almost entirely procedurally generated. There is no reason for another studio to pick this up when they could either pick up something with a more defined art style or direction, or just create their own procedural generation system if they wanted to.

Maybe, but most of the work Josh put into his project wasn't graphics but rather "under the hood" code and not just for procedural generation either. Still, it's a shame if this really is the end of LT.

Oh thank god. How long have I been predicting this? Limit Theory was one of the 3 games that I routinely used in conversation to discuss development hell. From the very beginning Josh wasn't the guy to get this done. He was too young, and while bright ideas and passion will get you far, that spark will die out. Organization is absolutely required to make a cohesive video game. His idea was great, but he had no idea whatsoever what he was getting into.

I'm happy for several reasons.

1. Its over. Nobody else has to get their hopes up for something that will never happen. (Btw. Working on someone else's code? Especially someone as disorganized as Josh? Basically impossible. That source code will never amount to anything. Not being negative, but its reality. Heroes of Might and Magic III was released on steam minus the expansion. Why? Because the source code was flat out gone. Similar thing applies here. Coding is difficult enough without having to figure out someone elses work. You need help to learn another language, you don't just listen to Chinese and pick it up in a usable form quickly. Anyway, the important thing is that people aren't being lied too anymore. Their money is gone, and hopefully they learn from giving cash to a child.

2. He can start to grow as a person. I've watched all of my dreams die. I can never fly a fighter aircraft. I'm color blind. Its fact. Now I'm getting too old to enlist so even if those color blind glasses do work. Its over. I wanted so much from life when I was young. And as those dreams and ideas crumbled under the cold finality of the human condition, I grew. I learned. I adapted. He will do the same. I'm just happy it happened sooner rather than later. Josh was a foolish young person. I was too. Now he can learn and move on. I wish people hand't crowdfunded his obsession with tinkering with code, but not much for it now.

Now I’m getting too old to enlist so even if those color blind glasses do work. Its over. I wanted so much from life when I was young.

Never say never!!! I 've started practicing fencing with medieval swords (HEMA Longsword ) a couple of years ago. I am nearly 50 years old now, and many times I have kicked a 20 something's butt in a tournament !! (And many times I had my butt kicked by a twenty something, but that's normal!!!!! ). Being 50 year old, is one my best times in my life, for creative activities!!!

Good for you Captain Kal.
You keep showing those young wippersnappers that there can only be one! o7

Like most of you, I had a gut feeling about this kickstarter in the beginning that one person was going to do all this...? Six years later we now see that the task was indeed too much. This kickstarter made over $100k so there is going to be some people kinda pissed about this. I guess I feel good that I didn't kickstart this and I decided to wait and see.

I think this is totally why CIG is constantly selling ships and whatever so they can continually fund the development of two separate games (Squadron 42 and Star Citizen). The pressure and stress is a lot to bring a triple A game to market because expectations are usually high and the youtubers will slam your game hard if you don't deliver which will affect sales and your motivation in the end.

I have a heavy heart for for the kickstarters not getting what they promised and for Josh as well who suffered actual health issues during development which were brought on basically from the stress of the development process and the long hours.

Like Iron Hound mentioned, bringing dreams alive or just staying in the dream is tough and sometimes impossible because of random factors. I guess one thing I learned in my time in the Army was how you deal with adversity is a huge part of life. Are you the person to push through any obstacle to accomplish the mission or are you content in staying safe and sinking down into your foxhole....?

Why even bother releasing source code, it will take months/years to get people familiar with it to do anything with it. Like I touched on earlier, Josh should have concentrated on make making an amazing procedural engine for gamers to create content for. With so much modding talent out there people would have made some amazing things if the engine was solid. But I guess we will never find out... Josh I recommend you not read the LT forums and kickstarter areas for a while because I would bet there is a lot of negative comments being written because of the development stoppage of Limit Theory .... RIP.

The forums are filled with positivity. Most people are happy for him and feel they got their moneys worth just following the development.

That's good, Star Citizen forums not always like that Josh always seemed like a likable guy and you knew he was genuine in his efforts for Limit Theory so I could see how the community took the damage ok and supported the decision. I hope this doesn't mess with Josh's head with this project and affect his jobs/motivation for coding.

Good for you Captain Kal.
You keep showing those young wippersnappers that there can only be one! o7

Amen to that, brother!!!!! I raise my fictional glass, in salute!!!!!

Brother?

I forgot not everyone lives in the U.S. or is familiar with Military statutes and limitations. In the U.S. all jet powered fighter/strike aircraft (like my beloved F-16.) can only be operated by qualified individuals chosen by the Air-Force. One of their non-negotiable limits is color blindness. I can never even qualify for training let alone operate one. Its impossible. A limit that cannot be overcome within my lifetime. (There are age requirements as well.)

My example was to show that, despite what the television tells you, life owes you nothing, and no matter how hard you try... some things just aren't attainable. Its fact. I will never be King of the United Kingdom. ( I actually have no idea how that works. Is the royal family over the entire Kingdom, or just England? I know Scotland and Ireland each have their own respective royal families...)

Although it is pretty cool that you can Fence! One of my heroes Fred Bear, is a famous Archer here in America who helped bring archery back into hunting. He didn't start archery until his late thirties if I recall.

Brother or Comrade in Arms?

Brother or Comrade in Arms?

I forgot not everyone lives in the U.S. or is familiar with Military statutes and limitations. In the U.S. all jet powered fighter/strike aircraft (like my beloved F-16.) can only be operated by qualified individuals chosen by the Air-Force. One of their non-negotiable limits is color blindness. I can never even qualify for training let alone operate one. Its impossible. A limit that cannot be overcome within my lifetime. (There are age requirements as well.)

Same here, since every NATO member follows the same guidelines concerning training in combat fighters. I was mistakenly diagnosed with short-sightedness, so my career in Air Force was also over, before it could even start!!!! Well, I can still boot up my favourite combat flying sim, even if my eyesight is not what it was used to be!!! I actually have no idea how that works. Is the royal family over the entire Kingdom, or just England? I know Scotland and Ireland each have their own respective royal families

There is only one royal family for the entire Commonwealth (including Australia and Canada, I think).

Well he not the first and he won't be the last, as I have said in the past any crowd funding is gamble on weather they can do what they say they are going to do.