Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD Put on Hold

After revealing last year that it would cease making smaller web-based games like Minotaur China Shop and Jetpack Brontosarus in favor of a full-featured rendition of its free-to-play sensation Off-Road Velociraptor Safari, developer Flashbang has now pulled the plug on the project.

"We are suspending development of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD/64 with no plans to resume development in the foreseeable future," Flashbang's Mathew Wegner revealed on the company's blog. "It was a trap to pursue the 'HD' expectations... It narrowed our possibilities instead of expanding them. We were spending time on normal-mapping our rocks, a very dangerous thing indeed when your team is 3 people."

The company, which pursued the full-featured project instead as traffic to its gaming portal Blurst "has not increased to levels where it will pay for itself," will continue to pursue contract work but notes "it's hard to say what we'll all be doing in four months."

Explaining the situation in-depth, Wegner cited a combination of funding issues, the fact that Flashbang wasn't ready to abandon "Blurst style of development, where we can get away with 'good enough' in many areas of a game" and the lack of a clear direction.

"It isn't blindingly obvious where to take [Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD] yet," he explained. "Finding that clarity is a very taxing job; we're just too burnt out."

Added Wegner: "I don't think we would continue development [of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD] at this point even if a sack of free money fell right into our laps."

As a way of saying "thank you" to those that pre-ordered Off-Road Velociraptor Safari HD, the company has given pre-ordering folk "downloads for all of our games" with those that "opted to send us extra money" getting "a special something."

Refunds are also available by contacting Mathew Wegner directly.

"To be clear, we're actually in a positive state of mind," he concluded. "We aren't depressed! It feels like a relief to spend time on awesome prototypes and ideas again."