Remember Godus, the Kickstarter project headed by Peter Molyneux and his new studio 22 Cans that aimed to achieve all kinds of goals? Things haven’t panned out for the game as key features were cut, the main PC release has no ETA and the only thing the studio has to show for it are the shoddy free to play mobile games.

It didn’t help that designer Konrad Naszynski revealed the various issues and inner workings at 22 Cans that had delayed release. In a new community update, both Naszynski and Molyneux sat down to talk about what went wrong with the project.

Molyneux stated that, “Firstly, I don’t think the community can ever be blamed. Because you know we need to appreciate all the range of comments form the positive to the negative. I do however take the blame and put blame on my shoulders. Hindsight is always a perfect way of looking at life and you can look back on the past and say ‘why did I do this?’

“But there is a catalogue of things that I did badly and incorrectly because I had never done a Kickstarter campaign before, I had never released on Steam Early Access before, I had never done a mobile game before, and [on] all of these things I made some horrendous mistakes.”

What are your thoughts on the development woes behind Godus? Let us know in the comments.

Kickstarter may have started out as an amazingly viable platform for game developers and studios but it’s appeal has since waned, according to Godus creator Peter Molyneux.

Speaking to Tech Radar, Molyneux stated that, “What I’ve learned is that doing Kickstarter and Steam Early Access, before you’ve got something which is defined and playable, is a hugely risky undertaking that can be very destructive to the final quality of the game.”

Ideas and concepts change down the line and many who participated in the Early Access release of Godus found it different from what was promised. “What ended up happening with Godus is that people get a view of what the game is going to be like from what you’ve said here, and that view is quite often different from what the final game is.”

Regardless, crowd-funding as a medium is still very strong – Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen, for instance, recently crossed $63 million in funding. What are your thoughts on Kickstarter at this point? Let us know belo.

Speaking to TechRadar, Molyneux stated that, “I know Microsoft, I know they were only doing things because they thought they were long-reaching and long-thinking. But the world we live in now is that we have to realize, especially if you’re a big corporation, if you make one step wrong, the world will leap on you, and unfairly, very unfairly, they will judge you.”

The Xbox One formerly required 24 hour authentication, limited used game sales and sharing, and was region locked. This prompted an enormous outcry from consumers who took to skewering Microsoft for weeks until the latter reversed its policies.

“Whether as consumers we like it or not, just like every form of technology interaction, there’s an inevitability of online. We know that online is so much a part of our existence now that we’re going to be in a world very soon where we have to be online all the time. A mobile device is more and more non functional without a connection to the internet, and why should that be any different for consoles?”

Molyneux was a part of Microsoft when the publisher acquired Lionhead in 2006 and worked there until 2012.

“In terms of audience and engagement, I’d argue [consoles] already have [been overtaken by mobile and tablets]. What this show’s all about is making products for a core audience.

“This audience is kind of fixed, we know who it is, we know how many people are going to buy Call of Duty, whether out of habit or excitement. Is it really cutting edge? Do consumers out there think, ‘Wow there’s another console generation coming’ or is there an irrelevance to it?”

“It’s interesting how while the Microsoft conference was going on, so was the Apple conference. And they announced that they would start supporting wireless controllers [for iOS]. All they have to do is flick a switch and your Apple TV becomes a console. You don’t have to invest 400 quid.

“It’s already there, it’s already plugged in. And this industry seems to be oblivious to it. This show’s completely oblivious to it. That’s fine if we’re happy making games for this core audience. In 10 years time, are we still going to be making games for 10 million people? I’m not sure we can afford that luxury.”

“The vast majority of games on display on E3’s show floor or the ones that were showcased during the Sony and Microsoft press conferences are filled to the brim with shooting and explosions and violence. There’s nothing wrong with those games, but there’s just too much of it, he stated in conversation with GamesIndustry International.

“We’re not truly exciting our audience. We’re not realizing that there are many more gamers out there that love relaxation based gaming. This show is all about adrenaline based gaming, but there are tens of millions of people that love gaming because they can relax. There’s nothing… there’s not a single title in that show about relaxation based gaming.

“I was on this IGN panel, looking at the Microsoft show and what I found incredible about that, being a designer sitting with the press, is that I start to understand how the press think, what they get excited about and what they don’t, and everybody just went for a toilet break when the Battlefield demo came on.

It’s not just gaming that has had this problem though – Hollywood has long since about wowing audiences with special effects in place of a compelling story. The rise of stereoscopic 3D for movies is evidence of the same.

“Hollywood has this problem as well. The most memorable films aren’t the special effects driven films – we’re kind of bored with it – the most memorable films are when they take a character like Batman and make him vulnerable and real and it’s all about his character and why he’s like that. It’s going to be interesting to see what they do with Man of Steel, because it has to be more than special effects.

“We [the games industry] have to make that leap. I think Hollywood has started to make that leap, especially with television. If Breaking Bad was done 20 years ago it would probably be all about shooting people, but it’s all about the characters and their exploration. We’ve got to make that leap in this industry now.

“I deeply care about this industry and I do worry about it. I’m not saying I have any of the answers but I just feel we have been in an amazingly easy world for a long time where we’ve got fans and core gamers that we’ve been unbelievably abusive to and if we’re not careful we’re going to lose the belief of those people.”

Speaking to GamesIndustry International, Molyneux stated that, “I just think it was very unprofessionally done. There was one message from one Phil [Spencer] and then another message from another Phil [Harrison], and they seemed to be kind of shooting from the hip. Always online is simple for me. As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I’ll be happy with it.

“At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don’t want that. But if there’s some way you can give a huge benefit for the consumer, and make the message super clear, [it would be accepted].

“Right now it’s not very clear; it went from once every 24 hours to not at all to all the time, and I got very confused by it.

Referring to smartphones, Molyneux stated that, “They just need to be very clear, focus on the benefits, and after a while, we’ll be in the same place as this [smartphones]. This has to be always online and we didn’t have to think about it.

“Things like Clash of Clans is always online, and I don’t mind, I don’t care, I just enjoy playing Clash of Clans. So I think it’s a little hiccup in the industry. I think consumers are being spun up by things like Twitter and Facebook.

“We need, as an industry, to be super clear to our consumers, and when you’re at E3 you kind of forget about consumers for a while. It just seems to be all about the show.”

Microsoft has been taking a beating since even before E3, after revealing that its console will require authentication online every 24 hours, feature fees for used games and even require the waiver of class action in its terms of use.

Peter Molyneux is a games industry veteran yet he believes that the games medium has not reached millions of people. Well you could argue with facts but what’s the point. If a console sells 100 million, is that not mass market or am I missing something here?

Here’s what he had to say at the Montreal International Summit (Via GamesIndustry)

“Back in the ’80s, the dream that we all had in this industry was that we would be truly another form of entertainment. You know what? To a certain extent we failed on that dream. We failed in it because we’ve made some fantastic experiences for a very small number of people,” he said.

“Now is the opportunity to make fantastic, amazing, unique experiences, to use all this technology to make amazing, delightful, incredible worlds for millions of people.”

His Fable games sold decently with Fable 2 being the highest seller, his Curiosity game is doing pretty well too with over 300,000 users. Not in the millions though, but it may soon be after all who doesn’t love to troll?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

As a developer it’s a bit shameful to talk about monetizing, according to Peter Molynuex, who has just released his new game Curiosity: Behind the Cube. That game contains monetisation and Molynuex explains why he feels that way to GI.Biz.

For a developer, monetisation is still slightly disgusting to talk about.

“You’re not supposed to do this for money. But, actually, if you all pin us down and put a bright light in our eyes, feed us truth drugs, I bet all of us would be. Well, you need money, let’s be honest.”

He is a pretty straightforward person when it comes to sharing opinions and that makes him likable too, however he tells a bit about greed and how it infests the Indie world.

“The thing that we’re disgusted about, in the indie world, is greed. I’ve got this big thing about free-to-play at the moment: in a lot of freemium games I’ve played it’s obvious to me that they just want to wring me for everything I’ve got, in the shortest possible time. That’s all,” he said.

“They want to squeeze me into ten hours of gameplay, get everything out of me, spit me out and that’s it. And that’s wrong. In a lot of free-to-play games I’ve felt dirty about spending money: I feel like I cheated, I feel like I’m impatient, I feel like I’m bored.”

Do you agree with him? Let us know in the comments section below.

Curiosity What’s Inside the Cube is an experimental game by 22 cans and they plan on to create more games like that so that they can gain some vital info and put it toward their mega project.

People are obviously interested to know what’s in the Cube? Well if you’re looking for Half-Life 3 release date, you’re out of luck here. But Molynuex does say what’s inside it will “change your life forever.”

What you won’t find is a copy of Half-Life 3, a dead cat or a sports car. Damn I sort of wanted that. There are 60 billion parts in the cube which makes it quite complex. More such experimental projects are planned in the future.

You stand to win if you tap more, according to Molyneux. What it could contain is a Minesweeper like game, or photos of prolific tappers.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Peter Molynuex will be at Eurogamer Expo this year. He left Lionhead Studios this year to focus on his dream and is behind the studio called 22 Cans. The event timings are: 11.30 am on Sunday, September 30th. He will be there to discuss his latest game – Curiosity: What’s Inside The Cube.

He is not the only one to be at the Expo, though, as Frank O’Connor from 343 Industries (Halo 4) and Hideo Kojima (Kojima Productions), and many more are expected.

“Peter Molyneux is one of the most interesting figures in the world of gaming today and we’re delighted to welcome him back to the Eurogamer Expo to talk about his new projects,” said Eurogamer Operations Director Tom Bramwell.

The Eurogamer Expo will be returning to London’s Earls Court from 27th-30th September 2012 and is expected to welcome over 50,000 gamers.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been confirmed at the Expo as well.