Crack in the Red

Crack Dot Com is out of money.

That's not as bad as it might seem, however. Crack's Dave Taylor posted a plan file on Monday stating that the company behind the side-scroller Abuse was in deep financial trouble.

"We're not in debt and refuse to enter debt, but we just ran out of cash and are not making payroll. We have a lot of potential opportunities, but the easy ones tend to be short-term Band-Aid-ish opportunities that detract from the company mission, which is Golgotha, Golgotha, and oh yes, Golgotha," Taylor wrote in his .plan file.

Taylor wrote that most of the Crack team was staying on, even though he couldn't (for the time being) pay them. But two team members - composer Gene Rozenberg and computer artist Stephen Wilson - do not have the financial resources to weather Crack's fiscal instability. So, Taylor is hoping to help get them jobs with other game companies.

Other than those two employees leaving, Taylor doesn't think the financial shortfall will hurt the development of Golgatha. "We're all confident the money will come in, including those of us who can't afford the loss of income. here is just too much value in the project, it's inexpensive to complete, and there are too many opportunities even outside Golgotha," Taylor wrote.

"Anyway," he continued, "I wanted to dispell any rumors that we've "closed our doors." We've tightened our belts, we're now working on our personal dimes, and our eyes have a few more bags under them, but Crack isn't yet headed for the crapper."Dave Taylor's plan file:

Conventional biz wisdom says you shouldn't announce this sorta thing, but I do so because of an annoying decency streak. So before the rumors start to fly, I should announce that Crack is in deep financial sh*t. We're not in debt and refuse to enter debt, but we just ran out of cash and are not making payroll. We have a lot of potential opportunities, but the easy ones tend to be short-term band-aid-ish opportunities that detract from the company mission, which is Golgotha, Golgotha, and oh yes, Golgotha. Those of (us) will stay on. We're all confident the money will come in, includingthose of us who can't afford the loss of income. There is just too much value in the project, it's inexpensive to complete, and there are too many opportunities even outside Golgotha. But two of us, Gene & Stephen, don't have the reserves to miss a single payroll, so I'd like to help place them at other companies. Gene (Rozenberg) is a simply brilliant composer, and it will totally hurt to lose him. I count my lucky stars that we at least got the game's soundtrack done. Whoever gets Gene wins The Big Prize. I've worked with a few great composers, including Bobby Prince, Thomas Dolby, and Trent Reznor,and I know what I'm talking about. Gene is the sh*t. Stephen (C.E.S. Wilson) is an absolute expert at all things military, passionate about it, and a damn good artist when it comes to modelling, texturing, and animating the same. He's a consistent source of excellent, pragmatic design ideas, he's ex-military, and a perfect employee to groom as a lead designer or producer. You can check out his portfolio & resume on his home page. Give me (or them) a write if interested. I pride myself on rolling in all the good resumes, and these two guys are real winners.

My e-mail is ddt@crack.com. Theirs are gene@crack.com and stephen@crack.com. Anyway, wanted to dispell any rumors that we've "closed our doors." We've tightened our belts, we're now working on our personal dimes, and our eyes have a few more bags under them, but Crack isn't yet headed for the crapper.