Underhero | Know Your Meme

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History

In September 2015, Paper Castle Games created an Indiegogo page with a flexible goal of $12,403 USD to raise funds for the development of their video game Underhero. On September 20th, the developers posted a demo video of the game to YouTube announcing its addition to the Steam Greenlight program (trailer shown below). A demo for the game was also released that month on the game’s itchi.io page.

Underhero did not reach its crowdfunding goal, earning only $372 by the time the page closed. Despite this, the developers continued to work on the game, documenting the process on their Tumblr dev blog, routinely releasing songs, artwork, and video clips relating to the game (examples shown below).


Cartoon Liberty spikes Human body Jaw Neck Mammal Gesture Happy Sleeve Art Headgear Wing Snout DER HERO Underhero Purple Cartoon Pink Violet Font Magenta

On September 19th, 2018, the complete version of Underhero was released to Steam. On February 11th, 2020, it was released on PS4, and on February 14th it was released on Xbox One. On February 27th, it was released on Nintendo Switch.

Soundtrack And Physical Release Problems

_Underhero_’s soundtrack was produced by composer Stijn van Wakeren, and received considerable praise from fans of the game. The first track from the game released by Paper Castle is titled “Overture,” andwas released to YouTube on November 22nd, 2016 (shown below), gaining over 26,000 views in four years (shown below).

On September 19th, 2018, the day of the game’s full release, the soundtrack was released on multiple platforms under video game music label Materia Collective, notably not seeing a release on Steam (further examples shown below).



On March 15th, 2021, Twitter user and composer of the game Wakeren posted a series of tweets revealing that he and the developers at Paper Castle planned to release a physical edition of Underhero including a CD copy of the soundtrack (shown below). This involved contacting and getting permission from Materia Collective, who owns the release rights to the soundtrack. According to Wakeren, their repeated attempts to contact Materia Collective were largely ignored, halting Paper Castle from producing a physical release. Wakeren also mentions how Materia Collective repeatedly ignored requests to put the soundtrack on Steam.


Stijn J @StijnvanWakeren ... I want to share my experience with @MateriaColl They are preventing us from releasing the Physical Bundle of Underhero, as well as having prohibited me from releasing my soundtracks on Steam for years now. .. 1/14 Organism Font Stijn J @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... Replying to @StijnvanWakeren First off, I want to make clear that if I had any other option I wouldn't be making this statement. Sadly, this is where we're at...2/14 27 3 1 76 Stijn @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 A little while ago, work started on getting Underhero (a game I composed the soundtrack for) a physical release. This would include a physical CD release of the soundtrack...3/14 ... 27 3 1 67 Stijn @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 Since I signed the soundtrack with Materia Collective (more on that later), we will need their approval for it to be released. So naturally, we approached them about this. ..4/14 ... 27 2 66 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... Long story short, we've been pleading to them for months now, included a drafted agreement which is ridiculously generous, and we still haven't gotten anywhere... 5/14 1 17 2 68 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 If we do get a response it'll be something along the lines of: "We'll look at it next week!" Followed by months of radio silence. That brings us to where we are now... 6/14 ... 27 2 69 Font Software StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 We have a physical bundle of the game we want to release but we can't until Materia Collective decides to give me the light of day... 7/14 1 27 2 66 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... I'd like to also state that this isn't anything new. These problems have been going on for years. Back when I started composing professionally, I decided to sign the handful of soundtracks I had with Materia. It seemed like the smart choice at the time...8/14 27 3 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 So far, Materia has made it impossible to release any soundtracks to Steam. Which I'd like to mention is the most important place for game soundtracks. Especially during launch... 9/14 27 2 1 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... I've tried many many times to get them to set-up my soundtracks on Steams, but it has always ended in radio silence. All the while having to reply to eager fans "We're doing our best to get it to Steam!". . 10/14 27 2 1 66 Stijn @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 I don't even care too much about all the revenue l've missed. It just sucks that people are not able to get their hands on the OSTS. Same now, with the physical release. .. 11/14 1 67 Font Screenshot Stijn@StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 I don't think it would be unfair to say that everything Materia Collective was supposed to make easier, they ended up making outright impossible... 12/14 27 2 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 And again, I'm not writing this in bad faith. If I'm honest, the people at Materia have always seemed like kind people. Nonetheless, I don't know what else to do... 13/14 1 67 Stijn@StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 I hope that this can be resolved painlessly. If Materia Collective really doesn't have time for me, I would love to get the rights to my music back. Or to have this be resolved in any way. 14/14 88 Font Screenshot Software Technology

Later that day, the Twitter page for Paper Castle Games, @papercastledevs, tweeted support for Wakeren, echoing his sentiments in a statement of their own (shown below).


Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs We can no longer keep silent about our experience with @MateriaColl regarding the Underhero soundtrack. Please read Stijn's thread first. We have some things to say as well. 1/8 Font Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 Replying to @papercastledevs As you may have noticed, Underhero's soundtrack composed by our team member @StijnvanWakeren is available in most online music stores, except for Steam (arguably the most important one for a videogame soundtrack). 1 17 1 31 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 ... We signed a deal with Materia (along with Stijn) a mere week before Underhero's Steam launch on September 19 2018. It was very close to launch, so we thought it was understandable to expect a delay. It has been more than 2 years now, and there's no soundtrack on Steam yet. 1 28 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 ... We asked and asked about it until we just gave up. There was always a lack of response from them, but their message was clear. We are not important enough. Not only is it frustrating, but also a very disrespectful way to treat any artist/dev you're working with. 1 27 2 34 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 Now jumping closer to the present, we got the amazing opportunity to work on a physical edition of Underhero which would include the soundtrack as cds. Materia was contacted once again in October of last year in hopes of reaching an understanding to get the soundtrack to fans. Font Screenshot Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 But once again we were met with "we'll talk about it next week" type of responses, followed by silence. This has been going on for months now, and we are at the end of our rope here. The last thing we wanted was to make a statement like this, but they refuse to pay attention. 1 31 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 We believe Materia is trying to improve. Recent events have shown honest intentions to correct their mistakes. But continuing to ignore smaller artists and developers is not the way to go. 1 27 2 36 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 ... All we want is to finally get the soundtrack to the fans, both on Steam and physically. Please work with us, talk to us. Help us make it happen. 8/8 42 Font Screenshot

Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/underhero