Clearly Pasta disagrees with the physics I create for HSS cars and hates the ones I've developed for the JGT cars. I just simply ask that everyone
please try out the several HSS cars here on OverTake first, and sees if what Pasta is saying is actually true about the driving experience...
Pasta also keeps comparing us to VRC and RSS, which I'll take as a compliment, and the goal is to produce content at that level. But I and our supporters recognize that they have been developing projects for AC for a long time... there is a reason that RSS can charge much higher prices than we can for contract work. We start at $1k per km for tracks and $4k for cars, with shared ownership rights, for our contract work.
All of our projects have been, and will be, supported into the future. The ultimate goal still remains to bring the visual quality of all our projects up to that "VRC and RSS" level.
We produce FREE mods for people to enjoy here on OverTake.gg, whose development is funded by our monthly supporters' generous donations.
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I. We negotiated a contract with terms we discussed beforehand, and further which I used with other clients during your time with HSS. You were fully aware of EVERYTHING you agreed to... that is the entire point of entering into a contract.
II. You complain about our UV mapping, and that is frankly an area that several of our developers struggled with, and have now gotten much better at over the last few years. You act like hiring people who have Facebook accounts is a problem... but
I primarily reach out to creators on OverTake.gg, and ask if they would be interested in working with the HSS team.
The talent can range from extremely high to newbies... all are welcome on the HSS team, and we all work together to better our skills. One of those areas we have had to focus on improving is our UV mapping... and I will say, all of our current artists handle creating paint schemes quite easily for us. And I pay the same rate now, as I did then: $10 per advanced paint scheme with more simple schemes generally bundled together for ~$5 per scheme.
III. The HSS team is known to be comprised of hobby artists and part time creators who are passionate about historical cars. Yes, I do pay them for their work... because they deserve something, but it is 100% not the amount any of them deserve... if I could afford to pay them more I would. HSS has yet to have turned a profit financially, as I reinvest 100% of our profits back into the team. I have never made a PENNY off of HSS, and in fact have invested over $90k in HSS over the last 5 years getting our studio up and running. We primarily invite creators to join the HSS team who I see are producing really cool projects. This can be on Facebook, OverTake.gg, or elsewhere. These creators used to have a 30 day time bonus for certain stages of the project, this was actually eliminated during the period of time Pasta was working at HSS, as it was becoming financially difficult to pay these time bonuses (to be honest). There are rarely any overall timelines/deadlines for the projects, so that the team can balance their work/life commitments with their part time commitment to HSS. We have two primary development teams, one here in the USA, and the other in Brazil. Overall we have people on the HSS team from Italy, UK, Germany, Pakistan, and India... and from all different faiths and religions. You dislike South American developers, but I've found them to be some of the most passionate car fanatics and also really hard workers. Remember, we are a team of volunteers and hobbyist creators, who I give the entirety of HSS' profits to... then we release the majority of our finished projects entirely for FREE to the community.
IV. Exactly a month has passed between that photo and my message to you asking if you had made any progress on the P-5's liveries. In my follow up message, I was totally fine with him not having done anything, everyone is different in whether they might work on a laptop to avoid boredom or not, and I totally understand that.
V. At the end of the day, I authorize and am responsible for the physics for all HSS cars. In terms of research and historical data, we do base the physics code first on that information and use it to develop our cars... and then when no longer have that specific data to rely upon. I do then actually take a more holistic approach to development, talking with drivers of the cars, watching YouTube videos of the cars (both onboard and external) to help fill in the gaps to complete development.
VI. Unfortunately much of our conversations and posts from last year were deleted months ago. However, following the release of the P-5, which Pasta had mistakenly believed was going to be released on his OverTake.gg page, his work quality began to lag significantly as I think he had lost inspiration for working with HSS. He also became increasingly critical of our projects, to the point that I was getting several complaints from other members of the HSS team. If he was also making more money working independently, then that was probably a factor too. Meanwhile, multiple other skin artists were doing an incredible good job for HSS. After discussing it over with some of the HSS leadership, it was decided that if Pasta did not want to improve the quality of his work, then we would let him know that he would no longer be getting more work from HSS. I approached Pasta in the conversation that Pasta has in his document, and ultimately when he refused to improve the paint schemes, I decided to let him know that we would be using the services of another paint scheme artist. Could I have sent a more eloquent "release" statement, I suppose. But generally I keep these things sort of things brief and to the point.
VII. I stand by my previous explanation. It remains accurate, and now you have a further understanding of the details in this much longer comment. Pasta was not given a "timeout" timeline, but myself and the HSS leadership had plans to continue to work with him in regard to the JGT cars once he cooled off. He wasn't even removed from the HSS dev group until he flew off the handle later criticizing our projects and the HSS team (our South American developers in particular). I still post regular updates on the JGT cars on Instagram, Facebook, and in the public News section of our Discord Community. Meanwhile, you've continued to share constant negativity towards HSS and even more concerning, directly towards myself, here on OverTake.gg, in GPLaps discord group, and in VAC's discord group.
VIII. I think the Toyota 415S is an incredible car to drive in AC, and many other think that as well. In fact, due to some of the initial backlash from your camp I made the differential even more forgiving, which has led to me getting some feedback that the car is now (too easy to drive)... so you can never win as a physics dev in this industry.
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Speaking directly to Pasta, one final important point,
you've actually breached the confidentiality clause of our contract, especially in regard to disclosing images and information related to that one important client's project... which at the time I had strictly reminded you needed to remain confidential pursuant to our agreement. Please remove that one portion ASAP.
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Overall, I just ask you, the reader, to please try the ENTIRELY FREE historic mods that me and my team have worked on for the last several years and released for you all to enjoy! The HSS driving experience will show you that Pasta is frankly... nuts, when he refers to the 1968 Toyota 415S (Toyota 7) as "seeing the horrid state of the car." I have over 50 satisfied clients who I've completed projects for the last 5 years, and they are generally pleased with HSS' commitment to transparency, historical accuracy, the affordable development costs (compared to larger studios like VRC and RSS), and the overall driving experience of the final projects. I hope this disagreement can be water under the bridge as everyone moves forward, and I've directly told my supporters to ignore Pasta moving forward as I have zero desire for this to escalate or continue further.
