Size Five puts The Swindle on hold

The creator of Gun Monkeys and Ben There Dan That has put development of what was to be his next project on hold.

‘Steampunk cybercrime caper’ title The Swindle, first revealed in 2011, has been taken out of active development after developer Dan Marshall admitted that, put simply, he wasn’t happy with several of its key elements.

I love The Swindle. I’m a big fan of the concept. It’s a great game, but it’s a fucking complicated beast, and I’m simply not sure I can afford to make it the game it deserves to be right now,” he wrote.

Looking at it with fresh eyes, several elements didn’t work, lots of bits need a huge rewrite, and because of its open-ended structure it’d need months and months of beta testing alone to make sure it’s balanced. Coming back to it after a few months off, I can see what needs addressing, and the bad news is I can’t reeeally afford it, especially if it doesn’t turn out to be a big seller.

If it didn’t sell astonishingly well, it’d be the end of Size Five, and that’s just far too many eggs to put in a single basket. I certainly don’t want to make it and have it sub-par because I can’t afford to make it properly. That’d be awful.”

Marshall added that his immediate future will see continued support for Gun Monkeys as well playing with a few ideas from which he will make a decision on what will be his next project

I’m prototyping some new stuff,” he added. Something that’s a bit more A-to-B than The Swindle, something a bit more story-based. I’m pleased with the plot and the structure, and there are some really interesting and unique mechanics to it… It’s looking pretty good, and crucially it’s a much more manageable project.”