Demiforce Throws In The Towel on Onyx
Onyx developer Steve Demeter, best known for the very successful Trism, broke the unfortunate news on his blog yesterday. Fearing the uncertainty of not being able to guarantee the App Store's approval of the Onyx-enabled games, led the company to a potential business risk. The Apple store declined to elaborate whether or not Onyx would comply with the guidelines to the terms agreement contract and even though much time, money and effort was placed in the investment and development, Demeter decided to “throw in the towel.”
”The blame should lay with me for this,” Demeter stated on his blog. “I was the one who failed to acknowledge the gray areas in the Apple contract before starting Onyx. I sent out the initial announcement, getting peoples' hopes up by calling for potential beta testers. I take full responsibility for this, and I apologize to you if you were one of the many people who have been patiently waiting for it. I always intended for Onyx to be for you guys, my peers in the indie developer community, so the pain really hits home when I say it isn't going to happen.”
From online scoring to community forums to even level update packs for existing games, Onyx would have given developers a new outlet to create and erase solidarity game play as the only option for gamers.
However, there's no shortage of companies out there planning to offer similar services and Demeter is eager to see what other companies can create. Until then, Demiforce and Demeter are keeping their heads up and are excited about the new and innovative games they have planned for 2009.
Check out Steve's Blog for more info.
