Project Sunburst -- any hope?

[Yamishi]

Seriously, this game is the biggest disaster and disappointment in WP7 history. A great (though not perfect) tower defense game is bugged, bugged again, and then swept under the rug. Why? I paid for this game, and now I can't even play single player modes, because there's no server.

What would it take to have the server restored? Why has no one dug through the mess of stupidity to try to get this game back?

Twin Blades left, but later came back. Is there any hope to be held for this game as well, or are we just left to forever have this black mark on our phones (and, in some cases, Gamercard as well)?

I only have one achievement remaining anyway, and it's not even one of the glitched ones. Who owns the servers and who can I pay to get them back up? Seriously, I got money to throw at this if it'll work.

Edit: I am also trying to do some digging myself, and I discovered the page of Charles 'Chicky' Surmonte, an individual who worked on Project: Sunburst. I dropped him an e-mail requesting information on who I can contact for more details about Sunburst.

 

[DarkSynopsis]

I never got around to play this due to having a Phone till after it was removed and it was always a game that I felt would be fun to play and I would easily pick it up if it was to return!

You can't even play the game now at all? That is pretty bad and should at least get refunded for something so broken.

 

[Yamishi]

I never got around to play this due to having a Phone till after it was removed and it was always a game that I felt would be fun to play and I would easily pick it up if it was to return!

You can't even play the game now at all? That is pretty bad and should at least get refunded for something so broken.

I certainly agree. The game was playable for a few days after it was delisted, but then the servers went offline, and any time you start up the game, you are immediately told that you can't play, and it boots you back to your game menu. Only people who bought it in the 60 days before its death were entitled to a refund -- those of us who were day-one adaptors got the shaft.

I'm just one person, so I doubt there's much I can do, but I'm bothered by the fact that I cannot erase this game from my Gamercard, I cannot complete it, and I cannot get a refund.

Honestly, if they wanted a few hundred bucks per month for the server to stay active, I would start fundraisers just to keep it online. I would chip in as much of my paycheque as I could.

Alas, the developers have hidden themselves really well -- I guess they're all ashamed of what they did.

 

[clmbngbkng]

I certainly agree. The game was playable for a few days after it was delisted, but then the servers went offline, and any time you start up the game, you are immediately told that you can't play, and it boots you back to your game menu. Only people who bought it in the 60 days before its death were entitled to a refund -- those of us who were day-one adaptors got the shaft.

I'm just one person, so I doubt there's much I can do, but I'm bothered by the fact that I cannot erase this game from my Gamercard, I cannot complete it, and I cannot get a refund.

Honestly, if they wanted a few hundred bucks per month for the server to stay active, I would start fundraisers just to keep it online. I would chip in as much of my paycheque as I could.

Alas, the developers have hidden themselves really well -- I guess they're all ashamed of what they did.

Yeah, the devs really don't want to be found out. I've tried to get their contact info a number of ways even through @WinPhoSupport on twitter and got nothing.

 

[Yamishi]

Yeah, the devs really don't want to be found out. I've tried to get their contact info a number of ways even through @WinPhoSupport on twitter and got nothing.

This is the only person I've found so far:
Microsoft Game Studios - Seed Team - Projects - Charles Surmonte - Video Game Programmer

As I mentioned, I dropped him an e-mail, but haven't heard back. I'm assuming he hasn't updated this page since Sunburst was pulled from the market, so I'm not sure if the e-mail address on there is current. Still, fingers crossed.

According to IGN and a few other game websites, the devs of Sunburst were known as "SEED" -- but from Mr. Surmonte's page, it sounds like SEED was a part of Microsoft Game Studios. Maybe MGS has been the culprit all along...?

 

[selfcreation]

great game , but you get bored of it prety quick!!!! it VERY easy and you basically do the same mission over and over and over and over and over..........

your not missing out on much , i know it sucks that you lost cash ( i did as well ) but we have WAY better TD games now.

unless you see project sunburn THE SECOND COMMNG , with crazy new feature and option , it simply will NOT come back , its not worth it for the developers.

 

[Paul Acevedo]

I also found it extremely repetitive and a chore to play through after a while. I'm missing one Achievement myself...

 

[Yamishi]

I also found it extremely repetitive and a chore to play through after a while. I'm missing one Achievement myself...

I actually didn't find it boring until I started going for this last achievement that I'm missing -- the one for maxing out one turret type. I just set up a base at max level with a bunch of lasers, and aimed them around my base (since you need to touch-target for the achievement).

Honestly, it wouldn't bother me so much if I had gotten all of the achievements. At least then, I could say "I'm finished with this game."

At this point, I just want to know who hosted the servers, if they still exist, and if I can throw some money at them to make the servers come back -- even if only for a while. All of the leads I track down end up with "Unfortunately, we don't have that information" or "Unfortunately, we can't talk about that."

Frustrating is an understatement.

 

[Terrin]

seed the people who created this were part of mgs the problem is after the update the game got pretty buggy and they couldn't get it working right if I remember so they just said **** lets shut down the servers which sucks cause I really did want this game but the glitched achievements always turned me off

 

[danj210]

I did really enjoy this game, it did get repetative but it did have a lot of potential. I loved how you could invite friends into the game but at the time I didn't have enough friends on my list to test it out, I do now but obviously the game is no longer operational. Still the game did have some good potential and after a few updates they could've made it something awesome.

I do wish they would bring this game back, I don't really know the true reason to why they pulled it in the first place. I know some stuff was broken but I was able to play the game with no problems at all.

 

[Yamishi]

Sorry for the thread necro, but I just wanted to bring this back up.

I still have the game on my phone, and check it every once in a while, just in case the servers came back up for whatever reason (maybe a new version, a la Twin Blades?).

Seriously, this missing achievement is bugging the crap out of me. It's killing my entire Gamerscore hunting buzz. The main reason I was drawn to Windows Phone was because of its Xbox Live functionality, and now I'm getting games that are broken and permanently unavailable.

Does anyone know anything that could help us get some answers?

I just want the servers back, even if it's only for a couple of days, so I can finish the last achievement (which, in my case, isn't a bugged one). Moreso, if I could dream, I wish we could get the entire game back. But none of this can happen until we find out who made it.

All I've figured out is that it's a "SEED Studios" which is allegedly a part of Microsoft Game Studios. Anyone up for some more digging?

Edit: By going through GiantBomb, I found this website: http://www.seed-studios.com/
Obviously, it's not 100% confirmed as being theirs, since the information on GiantBomb may be user-submitted. But it's (possibly) a start.

Edit 2: Sent the aforelinked Seed Studios an e-mail, asking if they were, in fact, THE Seed Studios of Project Sunburst fame.

Edit 3: Gamespot suggests that Seed Studios has a website here: www.seedstudio.com/ -- I sent them the same e-mail I sent the other Seed Studios. I swear I'll get to the bottom of this.

Edit 4: I swear, I'm not trying to edit-spam or anything, but... I found an interview here:
https://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Crackdown-2-Project-Sunburst-on-WP7--Xbox-LIVE
It features a couple of guys who are part of the Microsoft Game Studio team, which according to the previously-linked page of Mr. Surmonte, has the Seed Studios as a part of it. From there, I found this:
http://platformbiased.com/
It's a website with a podcast hosted by a handful of MGS guys. Naturally, this led me here:
http://www.facebook.com/platformbiased
Where I will try to get a hold of someone who actually worked on Project Sunburst, or maybe find out where one of the creators can be contacted.

Honestly, is my passion worth nothing to these people?

 

[Terrin]

kinda shocked that ms sense it is there game that they didn't have the job to another studio to fix probable wouldn't be that hard

 

[TheBadGuy_88]

Im surprised this game just died out, and no one even picked up on this concept! I wish i was a game developer! i would definitely jump on the opportunity to expand on the tower defense over real maps concept!! This seems like a great game that can take advantage of Today's larger screens, could definitely become a success