Showing posts with label Exploding Rabbit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exploding Rabbit. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Glitch Strikers Scam

jay pavlina from exploding rabbit
public image used



Glitch Strikers steam greenlight scam

Alright so today jay pavlina from exploding rabbit did something, they created a game called glitch strikers. Or wait, it is just the exploding rabbit scam continuing. People please do not fall for this again, it is so sad seeing backers get excited only to be let down again. let's look at this

Jay pavlina has spent 8 months creating a trailer and posting glitch strikers on steam greenlight and changed the name of super retro squad yet again to glitch strikers.

That's it folks, nothing else has happened.

Jay pavlina from exploding rabbit would have you believe something has actually happened here, it hasn't. He said he spent the last 8 months working "hard" on that trailer. So that means the rest of the 4 years it has been were spent NOT working on anything to do with the super retro squad scam. Oh wait, the name changed again, now it is glitch strikers. Jay pavlina from exploding rabbit put a trailer for glitch strikers on steam greanlight but glitch strikers is just copyright infringement. NES game levels slapped together with ever so slight tile editing. Wonderful.

Backers already had a trailer for glitch strikers, when it was called super retro squad, its on kickstarter and been there since 2012. Its now 2017 and backers have a new trailer and the name of the game changed to glitch strikers. I guess in 2022 backers will get another trailer and yet another name change. Just ducky.

Please, please, please backers, do not continue to fall for this glitch strikers exploding rabbit scam from jay pavlina. We have been here before and know how it goes. Do not fall for it.....

Make sure to ask the right questions
  1. Backers still want refunds and have literally been ignored, when will they be refunded?
  2. What state is the game in, no gameplay footage is shown and jay pavlina says glitch strikers would be coming this summer.
  3. What exactly was jay pavlina doing the last 4 years if he has only been "working" the last 8 months
  4. What was backer money used for? His house, his rent, his equipment, his unemployment? Demand a detailed accounting of every dollar, get the FTC involved. I tell you about that and how to Sue Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina in my post.
  5. How much money did jay pavlina make from paypal and the super mario crossover e-begging and what was it used for
  6. How much money has jay pavlina made from patreon and what was that money used for
  7. What exactly is it jay pavlina done since the kickstarter funding in 2012 besides find more ways to take money from people
  8. What is the plan if glitch strikers is not greenlit on steam or when Nintendo sends a cease and desist on glitch strikers 
Jay pavlina from exploding rabbit, why don't you talk to the backers, go ahead and comment here, you don't need to sign up or anything. It's easy, don't be scared jay pavlina from exploding rabbit.

Backers, please, please do not fall for this glich strikers exploding rabbit scam again. Do not get your hopes up over nothing, I don't want to see you hurt and more then you have been

I'll tell you what, if your into the exploding rabbit scam, give me $50,000, then more money on paypal, then more money on patreon. I will then do absolutely nothing for you for over 4 years. I will also be sure not to respond to you. Then when its been close to 5 years, I'll whip up a quick trailer when you already had one. Sounds nice right?




Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Super Retro Crossover - Scam Update

Jay Pavlina wont refund super retro crossover
public image used

Oh hey there, I guess SOMEONE should update backers on Super Retro Crossover from Jay Pavlina of Exploding Rabbit. Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit have not posted an update on Super Retro Crossover since November 19th 2016. Why that's 73 days ago.

I am sure that people still want their refunds for the Super Retro Crossover Exploding Rabbit scam. Ian Bergren recently posted a comment on Kickstarter about still not receiving his refund as well as the poll we put about receiving refunds for Super Retro Crossover.

What can you do about all Jay Pavlina's Super Retro Crossover scam? Read about how to Sue Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina

Stay classy backers, and I'll keep going until everyone gets their refund for the Super Retro Crossover scam from Jay Pavlina of Exploding Rabbit.



Sunday, December 4, 2016

Sue Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina

Source: pixabay.com

Suing Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina

I wrote a detailed article about how to sue Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit for the undelivered rewards for Super Retro Crossover in the post about Super Retro Squad being cancelled. Maybe things became to real for Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit after that, because he made a token post on Kickstarter to make it seem like Super Retro Crossover was actually going to be made and Exploding Rabbit would deliver of the rewards. Based on the track record of Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina, this poor soul he is working with will be driven away by Jay Pavlina and then he will go silent for months, maybe years, and nothing will actually be delivered. Long story short, the lies about Super Retro Crossover coming from Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina should not be believed.

Can Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina really be sued

Yes. The answer is a definite yes, and its not that hard. I told you the steps in the post about Super Retro Squad being cancelled. But wait, has anyone done this, and did they win? Why yes, yes they have. In fact the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ("FTC") took action over another failed Kickstarter called "The Doom that came to Atlantic City." The Fed found that the creators used "deceptive tactics" by raising over $112,000 and using the money on things like RENT, MOVING TO OREGON and PERSONAL EQUIPMENT! The Fed ordered this failed Kickstarter to pay $111,794 and no longer participate in crowd funding. You might think there are potentially a a lot of similarities here. Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina admit to spending the money on things like RENT, MOVING TO OHIO and PERSONAL EQUIPMENT! I wrote about it in the post Jay Pavlina thinks you are dumb. You can read the case here from the FTC website.

Whats next for Super Retro Crossover and Exploding Rabbit

So if the FTC took action against another Kickstarter for "deceptive practices," then why have they done nothing with Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina yet over Super Retro Crossover. It seems like Super Retro Crossover could potentially have also been a scam. The FTC probably has not yet heard about Super Retro Squad, Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina. Maybe it is time they should? The contact information from the FTC action taken on the other failed Kickstarter is below



Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., CC-10232
Washington, DC 20580
Helen Wong
Peter Lamberton

Good luck backers! I am happy to be your voice when nobody else seems to care!



Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Super Retro Crossover - Scam Returns

source: pixabay.com

Super Retro Crossover Scam

The Super Retro Squad scam is being continued by Jay Pavlina of Exploding Rabbit and he went back to calling it Super Retro Crossover. This isn't a new name, I wrote about it when he changed Super Retro Squad to Super Retro Crossover back in 2015 in the post Super Retro Crossover Scam.

You should know Jay Pavlina is just continuing the scam. Basically Jay Pavlina posted to make it look as though something is happening, get poor Kickstarter backer hopes up that there would ever be a Super Retro Crossover from Exploding Rabbit. But there won't be, its just more scam so he thinks he gets out of refunding backers and getting sued. One backer named Inazuma asked a real good question about Jay Pavlina's Super Retro Squad post nonsense

"Does this mean that you won't give me the refund I've been waiting years for? I still want my refund."

Jay Pavlina from Exploding Rabbit answers with

"@inazuma: Most likely not, but we'll see.  "
"@Inazuma: Although I won't be delivering the documentary. Maybe after the game is released I can use the money to refund some people..."

Ridiculous. Keep in mind Jay Pavlina is hoping to continue to e-beg on Patreon to collect EVEN MORE MONEY while not refunding for Super Retro Crossover like he should. You can check out my post on the Exploding Rabbit Patreon Scam or about how to sue Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit to get your deserved refund in the post about Super Retro Squad being cancelled.

I think most people know that Super Retro Crossover and Exploding Rabbit are a scam, but please people, do not trust the lies of Jay Pavlina again. Jay Pavlina just wants your money and Super Retro Crossover will never be made. It is a scam, always has been. Serena Nelson on Cliqist writes

"Sometimes a Kickstarter comes around where you can’t help but cringe a little every time you get news on its development. And this is certainly the case with Super Action Squad."
"I may not have personally backed Super Action Squad, but looking at the past track record I’m glad I didn’t."

Well put Serena. I'll keep everyone updated on this Super Retro Crossover Scam until the lies stop and backers are refunded.



Monday, September 12, 2016

Super Retro Squad Cancelled

Jay Pavlina scamming
Public image used

Super Retro Squad is cancelled

It has been 4 years since Super Retro Squad was funded to Jay Pavlina and appears to finally have been cancelled. Now Jay Pavlina does not have the respect enough for backers to ofically say that Super Retro Squad has been cancelled, no his technique is to just sweep it under the rug like the Super Retro Squad Kickstarter scam never happened.

 

What Jay Pavlina did

Jay Pavlina scammed backers out of their money which was pledged for Super Retro Squad. To this day, the rewards go unfulfilled (breach of contract). Jay Pavlina has gone ahead and removed anything about Super Retro Squad from explodingrabbit.com, including the refund page. This means there is no way to even request a refund anymore. Obviously during the way he changed the name of the "game" several times but really didn't produce anything at all.

 

What can be done

So now that Jay Pavlina is just pretending that the Super Retro Squad scam never happened, has not delivered all the rewards and there is no way to even request a refund anymore, what can backers do? Start by reading the post about getting a refund for Super Retro Squad and then you will see that the only option left is to sue Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit. This option is all that's left because Jay Pavlina removed a way to request Super Retro Squad refunds.

 

How do I sue Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit

Exploding Rabbit is set up as a limited liability corporation (LLC) and is officially called Exploding Rabbit LLC. After speaking with a lawyer you would want to send any demand letters or serve any court papers to the corporate address on file mailing it certified mail so Jay Pavlina has to sign for it and acknowledge receipt. This address is for the house that Jay Pavlina appears to have bought with backer money.

Corporate Address:
Exploding Rabbit LLC
6386 S Canterbury Rd
Parma, OH 44129

Jay Pavlina you may have scammed people and think you got away with it but we will never forget! The fact Exploding Rabbit is still scamming people on Patreon is truly amazing. Good luck with the law suits backers and let us all know how it goes in the comments.

 

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Top Kickstarter Fails - Exploding Rabbit



Top Kickstarter Fail

Super Retro Squad by Jay Pavlina of ExplodingRabbit, is a game that received more than $53,000 in Kickstarter funding and is one of the top Kickstarter fails. This top Kickstarter fail by ExplodingRabbit and Jay Pavlina is the very the reason some people have lost faith in Kickstarter. Because of the empty promises and complete failure to deliver Super Retro Squad by Jay Pavlina of ExplodingRabbit, Super Retro Squad has been named number 2 of the top 5 Kickstarter Disasters by GamerFromMars (starts at 3:25).

ExplodingRabbit's Super Retro Squad Kickstarter fail has really had an impact on backers who still to this day have not received refunds for Super Retro Squad


Monday, June 6, 2016

Super Retro Squad Update

Picture of Jay Pavlina from Exploding Rabbit
Public image of jay pavlina from exploding rabbit

Jay pavlina and exploding rabbit are not updating backers like they should so the exploding rabbit scam blog will step up and do it.

Incredible folks, remember that Super Retro Squad by jay pavlina of exploding rabbit is.... wait for it.... still not made!

It is seriously mind blowing the level of epic failure on the part of jay pavlina and exploding rabbit. As a reminder, super retro squad was funded on kickstarter on July 19, 2012. It is now June 6, 2016!! Yes that is right, jay pavlina of explodingrabbit has had almost 4 full years to complete super retro squad. Check out our Exploding Rabbit Super Retro Squad Timeline.

So what on earth has jay pavlina and exploding rabbit been doing? Well that's a good question. Jay pavlina set up a patreon page to e-beg for more money. Luckily nobody is actually falling for this nonsense.

Of course jay pavlina changed his mind on so many things several times. Jay pavlina from exploding rabbit changed the name to operation pyxel and then joined up with JForce games but of course that didn't last long because they quickly realized jay pavlina is a joke and does not actual work.

Here are a few of the updates from the exploding rabbit patreon scam as written by jay pavlina of exploding rabbit
"I don't really know how to schedule the google hangout."
"It's very important that patrons read this because I changed what I am doing."
 "You should read over the rewards because I changed them. I also changed the goals just so that I can focus on the game."
"I'll try and do a better job of having something by the end of the month instead of shortly after."

In summary - Jay pavlina is not competent or qualified to make games. He is just selfish and wants to milk money out of people so he doesn't have to work a normal job. Please people, stop enabling this madness.

Just say no to jay pavlina and exploding rabbit



Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Exploding Rabbit Patreon Scam

Exploding Rabbit Patreon

Oh hey Rob-in it looks like Jay Pavlina is at it again with the new Exploding Rabbit Patreon scam. And is the game Super Retro Squad, Super Action, Super Retro Crossover, Project Pyxel? I just can't tell anymore! We need to put a stop to this stupendous scamming skipper of Exploding Rabbit saliently!

Quickly to the Ratmobile.......
* Just a bit of fun and parody of the Exploding Rabbit company the Exploding Rabbit Patreon page and Project Pyxel.


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Super Retro Crossover - Scam

Image from: stock.xchng

So I don't believe I am writing this but Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit is continuing the scam. Now it's called Super Retro Crossover.

Just to recap, Jay Pavlina swindled backers on Kickstarter out of over $50,000 back in July 2012. He did a whole lot of nothing and certainly never fulfilled the rewards of the backers, to this day, May 2015. He did buy himself a nice house though with the backers money.

Backers have been demanding refunds and rightly so. Here are just a few quotes from Jay Pavlina's loyal backers on Kickstarter;
"You guys are horrible. You begged for money, we gave it to you, all you did was play games and push back release dates while you fumbled through changing your game design every other day, then you just up and quit and steal our cash?
Don't bother making another game. No one will touch it."
"I requested a refund, was told I would get a refund, but did not get a refund. Sent a PM."
"Thanks for basically making me avoid kickstarters like the plague thanks to your disgusting work."
So needless to say these poor backers of Super Retro Squad had not received their rewards and are not even being given the refunds they deserve from Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit.

Get ready for this though, you won't believe it....

Jay Pavlina of Exploding Rabbit has now changed the name of the game, yet again, to Super Retro Crossover. It is now to be a fan game continuing to steal assets from Nintendo and others.

Jay Pavlina from Exploding Rabbit has a Patreon page asking for more money. Yes that is right, let me say it again that the owner of Exploding Rabbit, Jay Pavlina has created a Patreon page to swindle more money then he already has and is not even refunding backers of Super Retro Squad.

Super Retro Crossover is a scam. Jay Pavlina of Exploding Rabbit has really stooped to an all time low here. I truly feel bad for the backers of Super Retro Squad, who have been so badly disrespected and slapped around by Jay Pavlina and Exploding Rabbit.

Super Retro Crossover is not a finished game, and uses stolen assets. Please, please, please do not make the mistake that a group of backers made with Super Retro Squad with this new Super Retro Crossover scam.

It is just sad what Jay Pavlina is trying to do with Super Retro Crossover and scam even more people.

Here are just a few more quotes from Super Retro Squad backers
"This "game" has definitely soured my experience with Kickstarter. However Divinity Original Sin, another Kickstarted game just came out and is fricking awesome."
"this is yet another perfect example of why i will never kickstart anything again"
"Thieves"
Call it Super Retro Crossover, or call it Super Action Squad, or call it Super Retro Squad.....
We all just call it a SCAM!


Friday, April 25, 2014

Getting a Refund for Super Retro Squad (Super Retro Crossover)

Image from: stock.xchng


Well unfortunately the day has finally come where Super Action Squad, formerly called Super Retro Squad, has been cancelled. Jay Pavlina wrote a huge article over on explodingrabbit.com which basically makes excuses and then throws his team members under the bus.


More importantly let's talk about refunds. You asked for my help and I will accommodate you. It appears he refunded a few people so they would stop bad mouthing him, basically buying them off. There are a bunch of other people who have asked for refunds and not received them as of today and in looking at the comments on Kickstarter and the explodingrabbit YouTube channel, Jay is not even responding to people. Long story short people want refunds, and as usual Jay has gone MIA an ignoring them.


So here is what you can do.


First of all, you are legally entitled to a refund because he didn't fulfill the rewards. You can read more about that on my post here Timeline for Exploding Rabbit's Super Retro Squad (Super Action Squad)


Right now you basically have 2 options to get the refund.


Option 1 - Ask Jay Pavlina for a refund

You can continue to ask him for a refund though he doesn't seem to be responding to people at all and has pretty much vanished. You could ask on Kickstarter, where the funding took place or attempt to contact him via the "contact form" on explodingrabbit.com. Beware of the contact form though because you have no idea where that goes, will have no record of the email, and he will track you personal IP address. In my opinion this option doesn't seem to be working out.

 

Option 2 - Sue Jay Pavlina

As a backer you legally entered into a contract with Jay Pavlina. You gave him money and in return were to receive rewards. The rewards were not provided and it appears never will be. What you would need to do is sue him. It would be a civil matter and you would sue him in small claims court. Specifically you would sue him for the damages which is the amount you gave him for the rewards as well as court costs. Court costs include court fees and your lawyers fees. Most lawyers will work on contingency which means they won't be paid unless you win the case, and like I said you won't have to pay anything because you would sue Jay Pavlina for the court costs as well. That is basically the overview and if you want to do this, just reach out to a lawyer and find out of they will take the case on contingency. The lawyer will then walk you through the specifics of what you need to do. If a lot of people are interested in this method I can reach out to a lawyer who would do a class action suit on Jay Pavlina on behalf of all the backers. Let me know guys, I am here to help.


Friday, February 28, 2014

Super Action Squad vs Shovel Knight

Image from: stock.xchng
 
So Jay Pavlina's game Super Action Squad and Yacht Club Games's Shovel Knight are both retro games that were funded on Kickstarter and are being produced by "indie" developers. I want to do a comparison of the two so people can see the clear difference between two indie games that were both funded on Kickstarter. Hopefully this will help backers in their decision of what games to back in the future.

Lets start out with Yacht Club Game's thoughts on the risks of developing an indie game;

"Making great video games is hard. Like, really hard! Art, design, and technology have to be blended seamlessly to create a cohesive experience. On top of that, it takes time to iterate and expand on ideas. There is a reason lots of awesome games take forever to come out!
The biggest risk is that Shovel Knight would take longer than anticipated. If production were to go late, cash would be the biggest problem. If catastrophe truly struck, our backup plan would be to pool our remaining funds and partner with venture capitalist or publisher to get the game done. This game is our livelihood, so we will do whatever it takes!
However, perish the thought of failure! Yacht Club Games has an experienced staff that has shipped more than 30 projects on more than 8 platforms. We work as a team, we have made games of this type before, and we know what we are doing!"

I at least think that this sums up the risks pretty nicely. Yacht Club adresses the risk and says what they will do in the case it happens. Jay Pavlina did not even acknowledge or discuss risks at all on the Kickstarter page for Super Retro Squad (now called Super Action Squad).

Missing the deadline is certainly one of the major risks in backing an indie game on Kickstarter. Both Shovel Knight and Super Action Squad missed their deadlines so let's take a good hard comparison of how both indie developers handled the situation.


It's pretty easy to see the situation and I'm actually not even going to say anything about the data, what do you guys think?


Friday, January 31, 2014

Jay Pavlina's Illegal Profits

Image from: stock.xchng

"Exploding Rabbit makes $16,000 per year"


How does Exploding Rabbit make Money

This might seem crazy because Jay Pavlina of Exploding Rabbit doesn't sell anything and claims to have created a "non-profit" game called Super Mario Crossover. So how then does Jay Pavlina pull in $16,000 per year you ask? Exploding Rabbit makes this money from the Google advertisements that you see all over his site, explodingrabbit.com . He publically admitted to this in his video "An Inside Look at Super Action Squad" where he said the average Exploding Rabbit employee makes $2,000 per year and because there are 8 Exploding Rabbit employees, that equals $16,000.

What is on explodingrabbit.com to make money from

If you take a look at explodingrabbit.com you will notice that it is absolutely full of Nintendo stuff. The site background, the wiki, the forums, and of course the game Super Mario Crossover. Even the keywords for the site and the description of the site mention "Mario." Thus, he is purposefully using the fact that Nintendo characters are known and people search for them to bring people to his site and then make money off of advertisements.

Does Jay Pavlina own the rights to anything on explodingrabbit.com

Although most of what is on explodingrabbit.com is owned by Nintendo, Jay Pavlina does own the rights to the following only
  • Super Mario Crossover source code
  • explodingrabbit.com source code
  • Exploding Rabbit images
  • Super Action Squad

Summing it all up

To sum up, 90% of the content on explodingrabbit.com is owned by Nintendo and Jay Pavlina makes $16,000 a year from this illegal content. The funny part is that Jay Pavlina claims the ads are for "other things." As you can now see, as if you couldn't before, that is just not true.


What do you guys think?


Sunday, December 29, 2013

Super Action Squad Update - Explodingrabbit Game

Image from: stock.xchng
Jay Pavlina from Explodingrabbit originally budgeted and asked for $10,000 to create a game called Super Retro Squad (later changed the name to Super Action Squad).

He ended up actually getting $53,509 from kickstarter on 7/19/2012. Specifically he got $43,509 more than he claimed to need to make the game for the purpose of adding stretch goals.

Pretty much exactly a year later 0n 7/20/13 Jay Pavlina sets up a page on explodingrabbit.com for Super Action Squad to ask for even more money. He asked for $235,000 more in fact. So pretty much he originally estimated the game to need $10,000 to complete but then "re-estimated" the cost to be a whopping $288,509 dollars. So he is saying his original estimate was only 3% of what he actually needed? That is truly incredible how inaccurate his estimates are. Check out the nifty graph below.


Now mind you that in that year from 7/19/12 to 7/20/13 Jay Pavlina did not provide any tangible updates on what was going on with Super Action Squad.

This new page asking for more money has been called "e-begging" but how well has it worked? Let's do the math.

As of today Jay Pavlina has allegedly got $4,465 through "e-begging" for Super Action Squad as far as I can tell from explodingrabbit.com . It has been 162 days since 7/20/13 so he is getting an average of $27.56 per day or $137.80 for a typical work week (5 days). Now there is certainly no way to tell how this is divided up among the explodingrabbit people, but that is way less than anyone would get from a minimum wage job. This pretty much means that anyone on the explodingrabbit team would be crazy to quit any kind of job to work "full-time" for explodingrabbit.

But then again in a video Jay Pavlina said that the average explodingrabbit employee makes an average of $2,000 per year. Assuming that is split equally among all 8 explodingrabbit team members, Jay Pavlina is pulling in $16,000 per year from advertising revenue for an illegal fan game. Nintendo, can we say damages/lost revenue maybe?

And lastly it looks like on Alexa that explodingrabbit.com had a high point in early 2012 and has been in steady decline since with a current bounce rate of 60% and a global rank decline of 91,277 over the past 3 months. In fact explodingrabbit isn't even ranked on Alexa after around August 2013 because it is not popular enough.


Now the good news is that since this blog has been around, Jay Pavlina has actually been posting updates about Super Action Squad on kickstarter and responding to people's comments on youtube. He has also done some stuff with the illegal game Mario Crossover, but that doesn't matter.

Its great to see the blog had an impact and happy holidays followers!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Timeline for Exploding Rabbit's Super Retro Squad (Super Retro Crossover)

Timeline for Exploding Rabbit's Super Retro Squad
Created from Kickstarter Milestones and Kickstarter Backer Updates

Sometimes it is easier to see visually. Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina are significantly behind on delivering the rewards promised to backers of Super Retro Squad (now called Super Action Squad).  On the Kickstarter Blog they discussed accountability on Kickstarter.

Here is what Kickstarter has to say


It is now November and there have been no updates from Exploding Rabbit or Jay Pavlina since early September. It looks like Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina are not able to deliver the rewards promised.


Looks like Kickstarter says Exploding Rabbit / Jay Pavlina are legally required to deliver the rewards or refund the backers money. Because Exploding Rabbit is not accountable and likely will not even be able to deliver the rewards it is about time for backers to request refunds. Jay Pavlina is LEGALLY required to refund your money.

Demand a refund for this vaporware or accountability from Exploding Rabbit and Jay Pavlina. It is your legal right.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Jay Pavlina thinks you are Dumb

Exploding Rabbit owner Jay Pavlina wrote a lengthy FAQ about Super Retro Squad (now called Super Action Squad) in response to the large amount of negative feedback he has been getting related to the Kickstarter scam.



The problem with the FAQ is that Jay Pavlina assumes his backers and supporters are dumb, like very dumb. He actually included the cost of people's rent and utilities in the budget for the game, seriously? Now in case you missed what he did here, the question you need to ask is if Exploding Rabbit pays for the one team member who does not live in the house's rent and utilities. Meaning, does Jay Pavlina or Exploding Rabbit cut that team member a monthly check for their rent and utilities? My guess would be a definitive NO. There is not a single game company or other company on earth that pays your rent and utilities, a company your employed with pays you a salary that you use as you wish.

Thus, his entire argument and statements here are designed to defraud you the backers and supporters. Maybe even to defraud his own employees! The game should have been made remotely but Jay Pavlina wanted backers to buy him a house which is a pretty sweet deal if you can find people dumb enough to fall for it. Please be informed and don't fall for nonsense like this, ask the right questions!

The FAQ does not have a section to post comments so you can't even discus it! Luckily you can discus it right here, anonymously if you choose!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Definition of Hypocracy

One fine day Scorpion42 asked for the source code to Super Mario Crossover on the Exploding Rabbit forums.


Seems to be a pretty reasonable request. And the response from Jay Pavlina from Exploding Rabbit about the Super Mario Crossover source code was


So Jay Pavlina want's control over what he created, Super Mario Crossover. Makes sense, and that's actually why copyrights exist so that the creator is the only one with the right to copy what they created.

HOWEVER.....

Jay Pavlina seems to have no issues taking that right away from Nintendo when he uses their assets in Super Mario Crossover.



That's all ladies and gents, what do you think?

Is Jay Pavlina a good Project Manager

Image from: stock.xchng

Kickstarter is used to gain funding for a project like Super Adventure Squad, like you would go to a bank and apply for a loan.  A bank has a strict set of rules and requirements that have to be met before they will grant the loan.

It is probably safe to say that most backers on Kickstarter have never been a loan officer at a bank or have any experience with venture capital or anything like that so it is understandable they are not aware of the many pitfalls.

The first thing you need to look at is the character and abilities of the team. Jay has demonstrated that he works well individually and can make a fan game on his terms, that is about it.  This should be a red flag though.  What it says is that Jay has some game in his mind, and he is going to make it the way he wants, on the timeline he decides.  His questionable ethics also come into play.  Even though Super Mario Crossover is most definitely illegal, he flaunts that he "believes" he has found a loophole by not "directly profiting from Super Mario Bros Crossover." Even thought that is irrelevant, it is still copyright infringement whether you make money or you do not.  The penalties for copyright infringement while profiting are just higher and could even result in criminal (on top of civil) penalties. He also consistently demonstrates he is going to do things his way and that it. Which is fine for Super Mario Crossover, but people paid for Super Retro Squad (before he changed the name to Super Action Squad).  The information on Kickstarter is there as promises for what you will get from your backing. Including a release date, which Kickstarter forces you to pick because a solid project will have realistic goals and deadlines that will be achieved. It is meant to weed out deadbeats and those unwilling to commit to their backers so that for example a game can'' take as long as it wants to make."

But let's not go with what I say, how about what Jay Pavlina from Exploding Rabbit has to say about changing the name from Super Retro Squad to Super Adventure Squad.
Pay special attention to the
"Most people don't seem to like it, AND THAT'S FINE"
Jay Pavlina is in it for Jay Pavlina, and that's it.

An Example
I mean just think, GTA V just came out, what if Rockstar just stopped responding to the press, fans, everyone and didn't realease the game when they said they would.  Later they finally say "we just started the game, it'll be out whenever." Rockstar would be torn apart (like 3D realms for example) and would probably have difficulty making another game.

Advice for Backers
Just simple advise to all. If your going to back something, demand the following and hold them accountable and know that these requirements are way lower then what a bank would require for a loan;
1) Who is the project lead, what is their education, their track record of project management
2) Who is the team, how much will they be paid, what are their qualifications
3) What is the timeline, meaning definite milestones and release date
4) Define the project, what are you getting for backing (this is the description and stretch goals)
5) What is the money for, where will it be spent, does it make sense to spend it on that?
6) How will communications be made and how often
7) Who will approve scope changes


Anyway, if you want to back Super Retro Squad, now renamed Super Action Squad, go right ahead.  Just keep in mind, you will not be treated as a stake holder, you are mostly giving Jay money for an illegal fan game, Super Mario Crossover, or funding his dream of having a game company, don't expect anything else.  That's all well and dandy, but usually you have to have a proven track record and solid games before you would consider something so major as getting office space for example.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Super Mario Bros Crossover Legality

Image from: stock.xchng

Now, I am not a lawyer and this sure ain't legal advise. But at a certain point you really have to wonder. The game Super Mario Crossover uses illegal assets and the owner Jay Pavlina seems to be no literally bragging that he makes money from the game. It even seems that the revenue from Super Mario Crossover supports him so he doesn't have to work a job like normal people.

It looks like a Kickstarter backer, Dag Härdfeldt, has even let Nintendo know about this.

Honestly, if Nintendo knows about Super Mario Crossover and that Jay Pavlina makes money from it and it has not received a cease and desist, it is almost like Nintendo has said, sure its ok, go ahead and use our assets and profit from them. We'll see what happens I guess.

Though how would Nintendo even contact Jay? He hides behind a "contact form" on his site with no email address.....

Super Action Squad - What happened to the money

Lowered resolution image used to demonstrate the subject of this post

So here is what it seems like happened

1) Jay got money from a successful Kickstarter which reached many stretch goals for a game called "Super Retro Squad" and was due to be released by March 2013 (5 months ago from today).  It has been suggested this was a thinly veiled attempt to make a profit from the illegal game Super Mario Bros Crossover.

2) Jay and some people bought a house, made a video about it

3) They made a dance video and Jay did a let's play video

4) Radio silence from Exploding Rabbit for months.

5) Jay makes a video to ask for MORE MONEY with nothing whatsoever delivered besides a few mock ups and what appears to be a very basic simple demo of a character jumping and collecting coins.

6) An update to the illegal game Super Mario Crossover was released, and as stated by Jay Pavlina, for the strict purpose of making money and attracting people to his site to make ad money.

7) Now people have been told development BEGAN in August 2013 and the scope of the project has changed significantly with no discussion with the share holders (Backers)

madness ladies and gents...

Doing our part

So there is a lot of upset people over on Kickstarter talking about what happened with the Kickstarter funding for "Super Retro Squad" which has been renamed to "Super Action Squad" now.

We want this blog to be about updates on what they are doing, well or rather are not doing and the comments can be anonymous so anyone can say what they want about this. Comments on YouTube can be "removed by the author" for example so you may not even be able to get a comment in.... geeze.

That's it, have fun.....