The Broken Hourglass finally breaks

The Rampant Games Blog reports on the death of long-awaited indie RPG The Broken Hourglass.

The official site contains the following announcement:

Planewalker Games LLC is formally abandoning development of The Broken Hourglass as a commercial product. I have concluded that it is infeasible for PWG to deliver the game promised, and unacceptable to try to market a product that would not meet expectations. I take full responsibility for this decision and the factors leading to the conclusion.

It is my intention to release the game materials for TBH and the underlying WeiNGINE game code in some open source/open content license model which will permit the ongoing exploration and development of the game as a non-commercial, community project. The exact licenses and scope of this public release have not yet been determined, and there is no specific timetable for this public release to happen. The intention will be to give the greater community the best chance possible to explore the potential of TBH and to honor the efforts of the dozens of people who have been involved with TBH’s development over the years.

Support from RPG players and press has been overwhelmingly positive and constant during the long development cycle of TBH and I am extremely grateful. It remains to be seen if PWG will attempt a commercial project of more manageable scope in the future. Until that day, please accept my apologies for coming short of the mark, and my thanks for your interest.

– Jason Compton

It seems that personal difficulties in the lives of the game’s developers may have had a role to play as well. One of the game’s artists has her own thoughts here.