Sony676
Well-Known Member
- Mar 14, 2021
- 1,965
- 4,447
- 387
Ready to Release. Forced to Rebuild.
Dear supporters,
We have some difficult news to share with you today.
About a week ago, a new team member joined us as we prepared for the Steam release. We were setting up Syncthing to synchronize project files across our team's computers when a misconfiguration led to disaster: a sync command triggered a deletion process on our main project folder.
We noticed within 2-3 seconds and stopped it immediately. It wasn't fast enough. Nearly 2000 render files, all scene layouts, and animation assets for the final portion of Chapter 6 and the entirety of Chapter 7 were wiped out. Worse still, our backup system was connected to the same sync network—so the deletion cascaded across every device we had.
The game was 100% complete. We were just waiting on the final angle renders for a handful of animations. We were that close to the finish line when everything slipped through our fingers.
We tried everything to recover it.
We spent the past week throwing everything we had at this problem. Around $300 on professional data recovery software subscriptions. Dozens of different programs. Consultations with data recovery specialists. The answer was always the same: the TRIM system on M.2 NVMe SSDs wipes deleted data instantly and permanently.
Here's the part that really hurt: we "found" most of the files. But everything we recovered was just metadata. Thousands of files sitting there, looking intact, refusing to open. Corrupted headers. System errors. Unreadable content. Empty shells of what used to be months of work.
These are all the files we managed to recover. None of them work.
We lost the script files too, but by sheer luck, one of our testers had a copy and we were able to get it back. The menu design we'd been working on wasn't so lucky—we salvaged a few pieces, but most of it is gone. We're putting the menu on hold for now and channeling everything into content production.
Why this hits so hard.
We're asking for a moment of empathy here.
Dallas has been pouring himself into this project for months. He pushed through a period of illness, and the moment he recovered, he was right back at it. Sleepless nights. Relentless deadlines. Everything lined up to deliver this update on time. And then... one wrong click. A few seconds. An irreversible outcome.
Months of work vanished in seconds. After a week of desperate attempts to undo it, we had to accept that it's gone.
Where do we go from here?
Our morale took a serious hit, but our resolve hasn't wavered. This month, we're rebuilding Chapter 7 from the ground up—new renders, new animations, all of it. It's a massive workload, but we're committed to keeping the delay as short as possible.
We need you to believe us.
We still have the previews of the content we lost. This work existed. We weren't stringing you along—we've been working on this for months.
We know some of you won't believe us. And honestly? That's fair. When you see "files got deleted, update delayed" online every other day, why would you trust us?
But here's the thing: We could have stayed silent. We could have drip-fed you previews for months to buy time. We could have made vague promises like so many other developers do. We didn't. Because that's not how RWA Studios operates.
Our only promise is this: We will rebuild Chapter 7 from scratch, as fast as humanly possible, and prove ourselves through the work.
One last thing.
If you need to pause or cancel your subscription, we completely understand. No hard feelings, no guilt. You supported us when you could, and that already means the world.
For those who choose to stay—thank you. Not just for the financial support, but for believing in us when we're at our lowest. We won't forget it.
Either way, when Chapter 7 rises from the ashes, you'll be the first to see it.
— RWA Studios
Dear supporters,
We have some difficult news to share with you today.
About a week ago, a new team member joined us as we prepared for the Steam release. We were setting up Syncthing to synchronize project files across our team's computers when a misconfiguration led to disaster: a sync command triggered a deletion process on our main project folder.
We noticed within 2-3 seconds and stopped it immediately. It wasn't fast enough. Nearly 2000 render files, all scene layouts, and animation assets for the final portion of Chapter 6 and the entirety of Chapter 7 were wiped out. Worse still, our backup system was connected to the same sync network—so the deletion cascaded across every device we had.
The game was 100% complete. We were just waiting on the final angle renders for a handful of animations. We were that close to the finish line when everything slipped through our fingers.
We tried everything to recover it.
We spent the past week throwing everything we had at this problem. Around $300 on professional data recovery software subscriptions. Dozens of different programs. Consultations with data recovery specialists. The answer was always the same: the TRIM system on M.2 NVMe SSDs wipes deleted data instantly and permanently.
Here's the part that really hurt: we "found" most of the files. But everything we recovered was just metadata. Thousands of files sitting there, looking intact, refusing to open. Corrupted headers. System errors. Unreadable content. Empty shells of what used to be months of work.
These are all the files we managed to recover. None of them work.
We lost the script files too, but by sheer luck, one of our testers had a copy and we were able to get it back. The menu design we'd been working on wasn't so lucky—we salvaged a few pieces, but most of it is gone. We're putting the menu on hold for now and channeling everything into content production.
Why this hits so hard.
We're asking for a moment of empathy here.
Dallas has been pouring himself into this project for months. He pushed through a period of illness, and the moment he recovered, he was right back at it. Sleepless nights. Relentless deadlines. Everything lined up to deliver this update on time. And then... one wrong click. A few seconds. An irreversible outcome.
Months of work vanished in seconds. After a week of desperate attempts to undo it, we had to accept that it's gone.
Where do we go from here?
Our morale took a serious hit, but our resolve hasn't wavered. This month, we're rebuilding Chapter 7 from the ground up—new renders, new animations, all of it. It's a massive workload, but we're committed to keeping the delay as short as possible.
We need you to believe us.
We still have the previews of the content we lost. This work existed. We weren't stringing you along—we've been working on this for months.
We know some of you won't believe us. And honestly? That's fair. When you see "files got deleted, update delayed" online every other day, why would you trust us?
But here's the thing: We could have stayed silent. We could have drip-fed you previews for months to buy time. We could have made vague promises like so many other developers do. We didn't. Because that's not how RWA Studios operates.
Our only promise is this: We will rebuild Chapter 7 from scratch, as fast as humanly possible, and prove ourselves through the work.
One last thing.
If you need to pause or cancel your subscription, we completely understand. No hard feelings, no guilt. You supported us when you could, and that already means the world.
For those who choose to stay—thank you. Not just for the financial support, but for believing in us when we're at our lowest. We won't forget it.
Either way, when Chapter 7 rises from the ashes, you'll be the first to see it.
— RWA Studios
