Dear friends, about the "Nostromo" affair.
I've seen posts stating an agreement had been met with Wonderdice.
That is not true! I've signed nothing, agreed to nothing so far... Even though I left the door opened to talk.
I've nothing to hide, so here's where I'm currently at:
In the first phone call, I was offered 2 things:
1 - To credit me in the rulebook as "Based on an original idea from François Bachelart"
2 - To design with them another game if the first was successful…
It's quite hurtful to be taken for a monkey you throw a fistful of peanuts at… Really!
But I kept my cool, still in the spirit of finding a common ground, so I made things progress. They seemed offended when I started to talk about "money", because of course, everyone knows designers are just enthusiasts who live on foamboard and spray glue!
After discussing further and reaching new terms, I received a agreement protocol "drafted" by the WD team. This document offered me the same as a royalty contract (without naming it so), my named on the box cover ("based on an idea from François BACHELART" – they refused to write "designer") and an advance on the share I could earn from sales).
All this in exchange for my silence and any comment harming WD's reputation.
I forwarded this document to my lawyer who had to fix everything (spelling, grammar, legal shortcomings and other mistakes a legal practitioner would never make) this Monday. He told me he's quite worried from the lack of Trade and Company registration number [asked 24 hours ago and still not received]. Do they even have an actual company? It's another issue.
Anyway, I tried to go down the negotiation road with the Wonderdice team.
But I was expecting a better offer. At least one a bit better than an average publishing contract, which was the least they could do in my opinion.
Two new events led me to put an end to these talks:
1 - An agressive phone call from Nathanaël on Sunday afternoon meant to make me sign their lousy protocol. Which was meant to silence me and made me accept their terms…
2 - The video posted today…
I won't go through it in detail… It's filled with bad faith and inaccuracies. For example, Aldebaran didn't sent me a message before or at when they launched their "campaign", as he told, but after he saw the issues with the community. The email (that I kept) was received on Tuesday, April 17 at 10:28 am. And I feel like I'm almost held responsible for having my own game published without me since I didn't get back to them… How could I guess this past two years that a bunch of people were developing my prototype to sell it???
I didn't feel like working with Wonderdice before, but after watching this video, even less!
I would find myself compelled to work with people I don't esteem. Who, even after being caught red-handed, are in total denial (or almost). Who would force me to work with them because they borrowed my prototype. Who would buy my silence with an advance and a contract inferior to what real publishers offered me in the past. Who complain they don't have any capital. Who show an incredible level of amateurism and think they're smarter than others. No, and no!
And to have people believe that in developing my game, they came up with a whole different design that's not mine, it's really going too far!
I've worked with the Edge Entertainment team on my next game, and the final version that will be produced soon is really different from the prototype I designed 6 years earlier.
The developing work on a game is crucial and can be very long. Gilles, Stéphane and Hervé spent many hours with me working on the game and I thank them once more for their kindness and professionalism. Same goes for the Lumberjack team who's currently finalising with me a game based on a French comic book, and we lost count of the hours we spend developing this design.
WD developed Nostromo. I guess they worked on it, hired an artist, maybe paid for the IP, ok, but they just forgot to work with the designer. Offering to pay me through a agreement protocol is actually another obvious proof they admit working from my prototype (and they tell that much in the video).
So no sirs, having significantly transformed a prototype through its development doesn't make the final game yours, you didn't get it right.
If so, hide away your prototypes guys, because if we let this go, any publisher can do the same. I've always known it, but I also that WD would understand the seriousness of their actions and that they would own up to them.
I THEREFORE OFFICIALLY ASK WONDERDICE, OR RATHER TO THE TEAM WHO SEEMED TO BE WORKING OUTSIDE OF ANY ORGANIZATION, TO IMMEDIATELY STOP SELLING THE NOSTROMO GAME.
I once again thank the whole board game community, players, designers, publishers for their ongoing response because this indeed affects our industry at every level, especially if the WD team get by unharmed.
Fellow gamers, Alien fans, I won't blame you if you buy the game, but you should know that behind all this, there's a passionate designer, as enthusiast as you about Alien, who denounce the unauthorised use of his work and who may never get a dime out of it.