Quelques détails sur dakka dakka
Et un erratum : j'ai dit que le Discord n'était plus en ligne, ce qui est partiellement faux. En fait, ils l'ont rendu privé, le temps de le purger de tout commentaire estimé désobligeant puis ils l'ont rouvert. Mais quiconque mentionne quoi que ce soit en rapport avec la situation actuelle est immédiatement viré.
J'ignorais les antécédents de l'entreprise (comme quoi il ne faut jamais faire l'économie des recherches sur le pedigree passé des personnes impliquées dans un projet). Pas perdu grand chose dans l'absolu (un playmat et deux figs) mais j'insiste sur la nécessité de demander un remboursement que si vous avez backé un de leurs deux projets sortis après Rivenstone (apparemment, ils remboursent si on demande de manière peu affable).
Les deux projets en question sont Forged : a massive miniature collection et Broken Anvil Studio Paint sur Kickstarter. Ils ne verront pas plus le jour que Rivenstone.
Citation :Former Broken Anvil employee here to clarify some stuff.
Obviously this is a throwaway account and you can't trust an anonymous source, so believe me if you want or not.
There's been some discussion about Level 52 and Broken Anvil being separate. They aren't. They're the same thing with the same people working on both companies projects. Level 52 is the original company that makes statues and Broken Anvil is just a DBA under a different name.
Rivenstone was successfully funded and we had every expectation of fulfilling the KS but due to the success the company grew too big and was hemorrhaging money. Same goes for the Patreon. We had like 4 sculptors working on the patreon and three engineers. They did pay decent so at the end of the day the patreon was barely breaking even. I don't agree with the change in direction it went but that's the decision that was made to try and save money. Due to the company losing money, Rivenstone money was diverted to other projects to try and make more money that way. That's where Forged came in. The genius of Chris thought Forged would be a giant success (like reaper bones) and we'd have so much money that we could fulfill Rivenstone and Forged easily. That didn't happen obviously. Forged started funding twice on Backerkit and didn't take off as quickly as Chris hoped so he went to KS. It funded but didn't make nearly enough to even fund it's own production. I can tell you for a fact that absolutely nothing has been done with that product since the campaign ended, besides the STLs, but those were already made since they were all Patreon rewards already. That money is gone and spent and it is never being made.
The paints were actually super great and everyone in the office was real excited about them. They are some of the best paints I've ever used to be honest. I was super hopeful that these would actually be made because all of the work was done beforehand and all Chris needed to do to fulfill the KS was to email the company in China and tell them to make the product and send it to us. We had enough from the KS to make them but again, Chris used that money to delay the inevitable bankruptcy of his company so I don't think they're ever getting made which is a real shame.
Me and almost everyone else there was laid off in May. For months before then there had been exactly zero work done on any projects except for new ones that would bring in new money. I was told directly that Rivenstone was on the backburner and didn't matter. Those infographics on the KS showing progress are completely made up. Some of the molds were done but they didn't produce the minis for them. Now that everyone is gone there's zero way to produce the minis in siocast so that's why he's asking backers if 3D printed minis is okay because it's easier for him to pump out subpar 3D printed minis than properly make the minis. Super ironic considering he kept bashing PP for going to 3D printed minis. Dude's just a giant hypocrite.
As for the acquisition, or merger, or whatever Chris wants to call it, it's been dead for months now but he's been talking about it like it's in the process of happening as a way to delay. As you know PointEast was in talks to acquire Level 52. Chris would become their sales guy (like some of you saw on his Linkedin before he made his profile private) and they'd gut the company and use it for it's contracts and business partnerships with companies to produce statues. They didn't want Broken Anvil but Chris was pushing for them to keep it alive. PointEast is a smart company so when doing their due diligence when in talks with buying L52 they discovered all the sady business practices Chris and Hanna were up to and they saw the financials and just how much we were losing money. They backed out quick after that and I don't blame them at all. Since then there have been two people working at the company and one of them is just part time. Chris hasn't been in the office in weeks and Hanna has been working for family in another state. The company is dead and everyone's money is long gone but Chris is too narcissistic to rip off the bandaid and tell everyone it's all over. We had so much wasted talent there and it kills all of us who loved working on minis and games because we could have had something great but it was killed by leadership who don't know the first thing about business or the minis industry. I love everyone I worked with there, besides Chris and Hanna obviously, and we are as heartbroken about it all as much as everyone else. The only solace I get from this experience is knowing that Chris and Hanna's reputations are ruined and they'll hopefully never be able to scam anyone in this industry and hobby again.
We hate your guts Chris.
Sincerely,
Everyone who has ever worked for you.
Citation :Chris has responded to this thread on their now locked discord admitting he's been lying about the merger - even though he doesn't mention they FIRED him TWICE (he just mentions they backed out of the merger) and is claiming Hanna is "fire fighting in orgeon" (shes working at a desk) and blames the companies failure on keeping employees on board - not him lying, gaslighting and running off every client they've ever had. Forged + Paint KS are not in development and he can only work on Rivenstone - he also confirmed only 1 full-time employee and 1 part-time employee currently remain.
The biggest crock of gak he's saying is how they never took paychecks. Chris is one of the most wasteful spenders I have ever met in my life. Doordash 3 meals or more a day. Every new video game, every DLC, played once. Random boardgame purchases he would never play, miniatures he would never paint. When the company was failing before the layoff, he was bragging about wanting to buy a new car - as they WENT ON VACATION. He is truly a huge POS and I hope bankruptcy forces him to stop pretending to be a millionaire with what he told us he had all the time - "adult money".
Et un erratum : j'ai dit que le Discord n'était plus en ligne, ce qui est partiellement faux. En fait, ils l'ont rendu privé, le temps de le purger de tout commentaire estimé désobligeant puis ils l'ont rouvert. Mais quiconque mentionne quoi que ce soit en rapport avec la situation actuelle est immédiatement viré.
J'ignorais les antécédents de l'entreprise (comme quoi il ne faut jamais faire l'économie des recherches sur le pedigree passé des personnes impliquées dans un projet). Pas perdu grand chose dans l'absolu (un playmat et deux figs) mais j'insiste sur la nécessité de demander un remboursement que si vous avez backé un de leurs deux projets sortis après Rivenstone (apparemment, ils remboursent si on demande de manière peu affable).
Les deux projets en question sont Forged : a massive miniature collection et Broken Anvil Studio Paint sur Kickstarter. Ils ne verront pas plus le jour que Rivenstone.