Following its fiasco with The Day Before, developer Fntastic assured fans that it was going to embark on a path of redemption and righteousness. Well, I’m not so sure, looking at its latest post in its community Discord. The studio is currently working on a new project called Items, and despite criticism for using volunteers to help get The Day Before out of the door, it seems the path of redemption and righteousness doesn’t include eliminating free labor. It has just launched a competition where it urges fans to design a new map for the game, and in return you’ll get, erm, a free copy of the game.
Since The Day Before was unceremoniously wiped off of Steam after less than a week, Fntastic has announced two new games – one that has since been shelved after missing its fundraising goal, and this new Items project that is described as a multiplayer game with “action-horror prop hunt” vibes. This will be Fntastic’s second crack at a prop hunt game – while its servers are no longer online, it created Propnight before it embarked on The Day Before, and Items definitely seems like a spiritual successor.
Following the shuttering of its survival game, the studio laid out its “Fntastic 2.0” plan for repairing its reputation, avoiding any other The Day Before-style disasters, and just generally making games in the right way going forward. It says it will now focus on core principles such as honesty, transparency, and professionalism, but the reveal of its new competition gives me the sense that Fntastic is still leaning into its old ways.
“This contest is a chance for you to unleash your creativity by designing a map card that, if it wins, will be added to the game in future updates!” it says in a post on Discord, first spotted by TheGamer. Map designs can be submitted as 2D drawings, 3D models, or in any other medium fans like.
The winner of the competition will have their map “fully designed and playable in the game,” their name will be displayed “somewhere” in the map, and they’ll be sent a free copy of the game – should it ever actually launch. While the latter may somewhat resemble compensation for someone’s work, the fact there is no other financial reward just feels like Fntastic is taking advantage. Were the game already established and had dozens of studio-designed maps already, maybe this wouldn’t feel quite as predatory. But this early on in Items’ development? It just sucks.
As mentioned earlier, we know that during development of The Day Before, Fntastic recruited lots of volunteers to help build the game or perform other duties like Discord moderation – some volunteers made some pretty damning claims about the studio as well. While I’d like to give Fntastic the benefit of doubt and say that this competition is just a bit misjudged, its track record makes it hard to do so.
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