Development Hell: Difference between revisions

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The term originates in the film industry, referring to films mired in pre-production without casting or production ever beginning. A common occurrence with [[The Film of the Book|book adaptations]] and other licensed materials, as legal squabbles over rights, [[Executive Meddling]], budgetary problems, and [[Creative Differences|differing artistic visions]] keep the project from going before the cameras. And even if it does make it to the shooting stage, a [[Troubled Production]] can easily derail it and throw it right back here.

 

 

Projects in other media can sink into similar cesspits. The [[Video Game]] equivalent of this phenomena is [[Vaporware]]. Compare [[What Could Have Been]]. This can overlap with [[Schedule Slip]] when it comes to miniseries or other works that are released in installments but could also be considered parts of a single as yet unfinished work.

** And let's not forget the fact that the English release of said 3rd OAV series' 2nd and 3rd volumes languished for a year due to the fact that Funimation screwed up on its contract.

* ''[[The Dream Machine]]'' the last film by [[Satoshi Kon]] was back on track for a short while but recently financial difficulty has put the film off indefinitely.

* The planned [[Spiritual Successor]] to the ''[[Wings of Honneamise Royal Space Force]]'', ''Aoki Uru'', entered preproduction ''in 1988'', but hasn't been completely abandoned yet. Despite it being shelved indefinitely, [[Gainax]] is still wishing to eventually produce it, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto still releases the concept arts from time to time.

 

== Automobiles ==

* Monica, a French luxury automobile brand, created 22 '''prototypes''' and only 8 '''production cars''' before work was stopped indefinitely. Read more [[wikipedia:Monica (car)|here]]. It was a sign of [[What Could Have Been]]. [http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/z_Monica.jpg Here's a photo].

* Due in large part (but not entirely) to [[World War Two]], the VW Beetle design was finalized for production in 1938 but the first cars delivered to retail customers weren't until 1947.

* Fiat has been teasing the return of their [[wikipedia:Alfa Romeo|Alfa Romeo]] brand to the United States since about 2003. Aside from a few [[wikipedia:Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione|8C Competizione supercars]] being sold to American collectors, nothing has come of it. Now that Fiat owns Chrysler, though, it should happen in 2013 at the earliest...

== Buildings ==

 

* The Ballpark Village shopping/entertainment/apartment complex in downtown St. Louis, designed to revitalize the area. Building began in 2005 with a planned completion date of July 2009. Around 2008, building stopped as financier Bill DeWitt refused to spend any more money on the project (and he is a multi-billionaire who makes a lot of money off of the St. Louis Cardinals, so his penny-pinching is completely inexcusable). Cut to late 2011, and it looks it will never be finished (due to DeWitt's frugality and the state basically neglecting the city and its needs).

* La Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain has been under construction since 1882.

* An animated ''[[Elf Quest]]'' movie has been "coming soon" since the mid eighties. Though much of the (albeit scarce) pre-production art looks great, it's still never gotten further than that and will likely never be produced.

* ''[[Sasmira]]'': The second album of the series has been expected for 12 years and counting.

* The manga-inspired ''[[Battle Chasers]]'' was meant to be Joe Madureira's magnum opus, spanning several years and hundreds of issues. However, thanks to his obsession with playing video games and, in the early 2000s, pretty much abandoning the industry to draw concept art for start-up game publishers, it petered out at about ten issues, with the final issue having a delay of about 1 1/2 years and ending on gigantic cliffhangers. (And no, not [[Ms. Fanservice|Monika's]].) A continuation had been promised, but going on eight years later it still hasn't materialized.

* ''[[Firefly]]'' -- "A Shepherd's Tale". Announced in 2007, finally released in November 2010.

* ''The [[Samurai Jack]] Movie''. [http://www.kungfucinema.com/j-j-abrams-to-produce-samurai-jack-film-11829 It seemed to be seeing the light of day again]... in 2009.

* In 2004, the CGI film ''Food Fight'' was announced(though it had been in development since the 90s, with production being halted in 2002 when the files containing the animation were stolen from a hard drive and the animators had to start over from scratch). Best described as "''[[Toy Story]]'' in a supermarket", the film promised to bring together over 80 famous [[Product Placement|beloved advertising characters]] (not to mention, the process of licensing that many food mascots took YEARS) with voice talent including Charlie Sheen, Hilary and Haylie Duff, Wayne Brady, and Eva Longoria. The creators expected it to be a real commercial hit, merchandise for the movie started appearing on store shelves before the movie even had a release date... unfortunately the film ran into countless problems as detailed here [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/whatever-happened-to-foodfight.html More info can be found here.] After many years, a trailer was finally shown at AHM in 2011:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[[X 9 r 4 pfo T 1 As]], and [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/foodfight-coming-to-dvd.html?commentSubmitted=true#comments a company has the bought the DVD rights for this film in Europe], so it looks like it might finally see the light of day in the U.S. after all.

* ''Last Days of Coney Island'' from [[Ralph Bakshi]] was announced in 2005, but due to distributor and production problems it was put on hold a few years later. Although believed to be canceled, Ralph still insists every now and then that it'll see the light one day.

* Disney's 2D adaption of "[[The Snow Queen]]" has been going in and out of production, most recently in 2002 [[What Could Have Been|when John Lasseter expressed interest in the project.]] However, it went back on hold after the lackluster box-office performance of ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', and remained in limbo until being brought back into production in 2011 as the CGI film ''Frozen'', set to be released in 2013.

* The unfinished 1938 production of ''I, Claudius'' was waylaid by an accident involving its lead actress and by the difficulty that Charles Laughton had in getting into Claudius's role. Only a few scenes from the film were ever publicly released in the 1960s. (The DVD release of the TV version of ''[[I, Claudius]]'' includes a documentary which features this footage.)

* The ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' movie is rather notorious for its stint in Development Hell amongst its fanbase. The filmic style of series VII was considered a dry-run for the then relatively-certain movie production, and the project itself got as far as script readings and prosthetic make-up tests for Robert Llewellyn (the actor who portrays Kryten) in the early '00s. However, the project mysteriously disappeared soon afterwards with very little mention of how production was proceeding or indeed any indication that it was even still alive. Doug Naylor, one of the co-creators of Red Dwarf, cleared up the matter with a statement on the Series VIII DVD, explaining that the movie had run into serious financial difficulties, and Grant Naylor Productions were having problems garnering enough funding from potential investors. With the 3-part special ''Red Dwarf: Back To Earth'' airing in April 2009, it is likely that the Red Dwarf movie will never see the light of day, although some may argue that if the specials do well enough it may provide the movie with a second chance.

* A remake of ''[[Creature from the Black Lagoon]]'' has been in on-and-off development since at least the early 1980s, when John Landis tried to launch a production helmed by the director of the original movie, Jack Arnold. In 1995, Peter Jackson was given a choice between helming a new ''Creature'' movie or doing ''[[King Kong]]''. [http://www.the-reelgillman.com/news/remake.html This fan site] shows a stream of news and rumors about a remake going back over ten years. Stephen Sommers, Guillermo del Toro, Brett Rattner, and a crossover with [[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]], of all things, have all been mentioned at one time or another. The latest would-be director is Breck Eisner (director of ''[[The Crazies]]'' and son of Michael Eisner), but who knows when or if a remake will actually materialize?

** Given that the comic revolves around a character going on a quest to kill God, it's understandable why people are hesitant to touch the property, it's likely too controversial for any major studio to helm.

** It is Q2 in the year 2012, and the live-action Evangelion movies are still in development hell. Apparently, the producers got so far as that they needed Gainax to hand over the rights so they could get moving finally. ...that's when things fell apart. When ADV went to buy the rights they had optioned, Gainax backed out, citing certain unfulfilled conditions. The producers lost their window with the studio (at least for the moment), and ADV is now suing Gainax over the rights. This happened Q3 2011, and no word has been heard since. Given both ADV's and Gainax's track record with managing money, this may take a while.

* ''[[The Sandman]]''. Considering that the people interested in filming it were Joel Schumacher and [[Executive Meddling|Jon]] [[Giant Spider|Peters]], though, it may be fortunate that this film never got off the ground. One of the proposed scripts is available online. The script Roger Avary and the guys behind ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' worked on was a pretty sweet blending of the first two collections and the "Endless gather again for the first time" scene from ''Season of Mists''. But then the script was sent in for rewrites under Jon Peters, and Neil Gaiman called the script not only the worst ''Sandman'' script he'd seen, but one of the worst scripts he'd ever seen.

** The film adaptation of ''[[The Sandman]]'' spin-off ''Death: The High Cost Of Living'' has also been in development hell for several years. IMDB has a release date of 2013 (as of April 2011), but there's not even a ''production company'' attached yet.

* Guillermo del Toro examples:

** He was also planning an adaptation of ''Domu: A Child's Dream'', by [[Katsuhiro Otomo]] (better known for ''[[Akira]]''), which has apparently been called off due to rights issues.

* ''[[The Hobbit]]'' - Peter Jackson has threatened to move production of ''The Hobbit'' over production woes. as Cleolinda [http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/908754.html#cutid1 put it,] "Did you guys try to film something over an ancient burial ground? Because, seriously, I can't figure out why we can't make this happen." However, as of 2010/07/28, it now appears [[James Cameron]] has joined as producer, and gotten the studio to back del Toro's vision of a big budget, highly faithful adaption (shot in 3D of course).

** ''[[Battle Royale]]'' might be fast tracked depending on the performance of the ''[[Hunger Games]]''. In fact ''[[Hunger Games]]'' may open a new renaissance of human hunting human movies in the same manner as 28 Days Later ressurrected the ''[[Zombie Apocalypse]]'' genre

* The ''[[Castlevania]]'' Movie seemed to have been this one for some years, and still is, thanks to the [[Writers Strike]].

** This may be underway now, with James Wan attached as director. But it looks like it won't be anytime soon as he's has other projects in the forefront.

* There is a rumor that there would be a ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' movie, but it seems we're in for a long wait.

* ''[[Rendezvous With Rama]]'': Now dead since Morgan Freeman (the rights holder) doesn't want to do it now.

* A few years ago there were competing development projects about Hannibal Barca. One with Denzel Washington, another with Vin Diesel. Either one could have been interesting. But so far, nothing.

* ''The Sky Is Falling,'' which is said to be the greatest screenplay never filmed.

* Similarly, Brian Flemming's ''Danielle''

** Fresnadillo has also left the project

** [[The Suffering]] is currently slated for a 2012 release. Given that the only available info on the project is from 2005-7, it doesn't seem likely.

*** [[Steven Spielberg]] is attempting to revive the ''Halo'' film, but is instead focusing on the novelizations like ''Fall of Reach'' in order to avoid legal issues with Universal.

*** [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/04/halo-movie-generation-xbox/ This Wired article] provides an in depth view of the drama, and points out that the film's failure to materialize is likely due to Microsoft's inexperience in dealing with Hollywood politics.

* ''Tongue of Fury'', the sequel to ''[[Kung Pow]]: Enter the Fist'', was announced since the end of the first film in 2002. However, no word of it has ever surfaced. [[Word of God]] states that Steve Oedekerk is still sifting through a huge library of Hong Kong martial arts films to find the right scenes to lift. There were also rumors of a possible 2010 release.

* The ''Elfstones of [[Shannara]]'' and ''[[Magic Kingdom of Landover|Magic Kingdom for Sale -- SOLD!]]'' movies. Yes, there are plans. One version of the proposed script for the latter would have given Ben a son and daughter, but Terry Brooks nixed that because their characters weren't developed enough.

** And now ''[[Skyfall (film)|Skyfall]]'', the 23rd entry in the series, has been lagging in development hell since 2010. A tentative release date of late 2012 is now scheduled.

* ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'' has two of these: The sequel film ''Buckaroo Banzai vs. the World Crime League'', which stalled out despite enthusiastic responses from the original cast; and an animated spinoff TV series on Fox, ''Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries''. At this point, they can both be considered dead. The DVD release of the original move was this for about a decade, due to a complicated rights issue that was not resolved until the death of the license holder.

* Even after the under performance of the first ''[[Reign of Fire]]'' film, actors from the film still indicated that their still might be a sequel in the works.

* The third ''Alien vs. Predator'' film.

* There's been talk going around about filming ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'s first installment, ''The Eye Of The World'' since the turn of the century, but absolutely nothing has come of it. Probably because nobody likes the implications of filming the first in a series of 14.

* Something called ''Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill'', starring [[Borat|Sacha Baron Cohen]] and written by [[Tina Fey]], was supposed to come out around 2007 or 2008. It's still listed as an upcoming project on both Cohen and Fey's IMDb pages.

* The remake of ''[[The Wiz]]'', which was rumored to star [[Aaliyah]] and R&B singer Ginuwine. This was back in 1999-2000. But the idea seemed to stall even before Aaliyah's untimely death.

* The new adaptation of ''[[The Crow]]''. Nobody could agree on a script. Stephen Norrington eventually left the project. Then a lawsuit between Harvey Weinstein and [[Relativity Media]] threatened the project again. Relativity won the suit and F. Javier Gutiérrez was named as director in January 2012.

* Directors have been offering to make a film adaptation of ''[[The Catcher in The Rye]]'' since its release. When author J.D. Salinger was asked permission, he said no.

* ''The Minds of Billy Milligan'', the story of a (actual) man with multiple personalities, was adapted into a screenplay called ''The Crowded Room'' by Todd Graff in something like the late 1970s. Dozens of actors, producers and directors including James Cameron (who wrote a second screenplay) and Steven Soderburgh have signed onto the project and quit.

** Though now there are currently rumors that [[Anne Hathaway]] is attached to the remake.

* There is little news of the American adaptation of ''[[Death Note]]'' which was said to be released in 2011 (with a rumor around that the protagonist would be played by [[Zac Efron]]). A director had just been announced, so it might be a year or two before production starts.

* ''[[The Great Khan]]'', Sergei Bodrov's follow-up to the 2007 ''[[Film/Mongol|Mongol]]''.

* The ''[[Skins]]'' movie. It was supposed to be released in summer 2011, but as of the last report they're having difficulty even just figuring out which characters are going to be in it. While it was originally supposed to focus just on tying up Generation 2's loose ends, they also were trying to shoehorn in a few characters from Generation 1, and then with the new third generation things became even more complicated. Especially with some fan speculation that the upcoming sixth series may be the show's last, and the film may end up being the wrap-up to the ''whole franchise''. Maybe now that the US remake has been cancelled Bryan Elsley will be free to focus on the film again and we'll start getting some answers.

* ''[[Kick-Ass]] 2''. The film was intended to be ready in time for a 2012/2013 release but has been put on hold due director Matthew Vaughn being busy with other projects and star Aaron Johnson wanting to be closer to his family. So far, the only things that were known were Hit Girl would become the main character and Katie would return.

* A few years ago, [[Tom Hanks]] expressed interest in making and starring in film adaptations of [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey|2061]]'' and ''3001'', although nothing has been heard of this since.

* A ''[[Gunnm|Battle Angel]]'' film with director James Cameron. On again off again with rumors as far back as the early 2000s including supposed casting calls for a lithe girl who could move like a cat ... then nothing. Then he said he was waiting for the technology to catch up to his vision. Then ''[[Avatar]]''. Is he even working on it still? Who knows.

* The ''[[Clue (film)|Clue]]'' remake, first announced in 2006. At first it was announced as a straight remake of the 1985 comedy, then it wasn't, then Gore Verbinski joined the project, then it was a straight remake again. The Wikipedia page for the 1985 film currently lists a release date of 2013.

** Ultimately, the project was sunk by the failure of ''[[Leatherheads]]'', which studios believed signified there was no money to be made in a movie about football in the 1920s. As the article mentions, ''Leatherheads'' was itself stuck in development hell until [[George Clooney]] stepped into the picture. Fleming's ESPN colleague Rick Reilly wrote the original screenplay in 1991... and it hit theaters in 2008. It's a point of contention between Fleming and Reilly as to who got the worse deal.

* A [[Robotech]] live action film was announced in 2008 by Harmony Gold and Warner Bros. A certain Tobey Maguire was said to be producing it. Also heavily hyped was the announcement that Lawrence Kasdan (yes the same one who wrote ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', and ''[[The Bodyguard]]'') had written a script. Things were looking up until the fans were informed that Mr. Kasdan's script was handed over to Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (writers of [[Smallville]] and ''Herbie Fully Loaded'') for a rewrite. The script was then handed to another writer named Tom Rob Smith for yet another rewrite. Just given the questionable sanity involved in not just going with a script by a lauded screenwriter (let alone entrusting it to a two mediocre writers and then one nobody to "rewrite") Robotech fans are no longer optimistic that this film will be worth seeing if it is ever made.

* Donald Knuth's ''The Art of Computer Programming'' was started in 1962 (which may as well be the Bronze Age as far as computer programming is concerned) and not all the volumes are out yet. Initially not helped by Knuth deciding to create a typesetting system from scratch since he was not satisfied by what was available.

* [[Timothy Zahn]] and [[Michael Stackpole]] collaborated on a six-issue [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] comic for the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' which bridged over into Zahn's [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Thrawn]] [[Hand of Thrawn|books]]. It's called [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Reenlistment_of_Baron_Fel The Reenlistment Of Baron Fel]. But the [[X Wing Series]] comics were canceled [[No Ending|abruptly]]. So Zahn and Stackpole worked on the script and turned it into a four-chapter novella, something that they've done before. And Del Ray did not buy this script. Both versions are languishing on their hard drives, and it's been something like ten years since the [[X Wing Series]] was going.

* Wherefore ''[[His Dark Materials|The Book of Dust]]''? We've had a sequel novella and a prequel novella, and they are nice but?

* Stephanie Meyer [[Creator Breakdown|put off writing]] ''[[Twilight (novel)|Midnight Sun]]'' because an unfinished copy was leaked. She said in 2008 that if she can go two years without hearing anyone mention it, she may begin work on it again once "everyone's forgotten about it", but that clearly did not happen.

** She also has talked about working or planning to work on a story from Renesmee's point of view, a story from Leah's point of view, a mermaid story, a ghost story, and a time travel story. There's no sign of any of these.

* ''A Dance with Dragons'' has been in the queue in the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series in one form or another for nearly a decade. It was originally going to be one massive book, but it eventually surpasses a reasonable publication size so author [[George R. R. Martin]] decided to split it into two books based on certain Point Of View characters and plotlines. The "A" half of the novel (the characters Martin had finished at the time) became ''A Feast for Crows'', while the "B" half of the novel became ''A Dance with Dragons'' (a title bestowed on then revoked from a few ''ASoIaF'' books now). This occurred in 2005. Martin claimed that he was more-or-less finished with ''Dance'' at the time ''Feast'' went to print and there is a post-script at the end of ''Feast'' where Martin promised the book would be out the next year (which would have been 2006). It's been over five years since that time and it's still nowhere near finished. In the intervening years, a rabid [[Hatedom]] has sprung up in response to the seemingly inexplicable delay.

* They did get someone to finish the [[Author Existence Failure|late lamented]] Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series.

* Another book example is the [[Harlan Ellison|Harlan Ellison-edited]] anthology ''[[Dangerous Visions|The Last Dangerous Visions]]''. It was originally announced for 1973 and has not yet appeared as of 2008; Ellison still claims he's eventually going to release it.

* Indie band [[Havalina Rail Co.|Havalina]] announced their sixth album, ''Pacific'', in 2004. The recording got delayed because the bassist wanted to add the percussion of a library cart being hit, and it took months for him to arrange to record this (the library wouldn't let him borrow the cart). Then the bassist left, and Matt Wignall found a new bassist, renamed the band to Matt Death & The New Intellectuals, rerecorded two songs, and tweaked the track list of the album (renamed to ''Death on the Pacific''). Matt Wignall has said that the album is finished, and that he plans to release it as a free download. That was back in 2008...

* Tapeworm. The super-band was headed by Trent Reznor as a side-project to [[Nine Inch Nails]]. Lineup was made of musicians from A Perfect Circle and others bands in the same "music genre"... Nothing resulted. Except a song that A Perfect Circle played live once and used in their last album (The song being "Passive"). More info [http://www.ninwiki.com/Tapeworm here].

* The music industry is notorious when it comes to shelving or stalling albums by female pop artists. [[Unfortunate Implications|Unfortunately]], female pop artists have the least creative control. Usually they have to fight over artistic direction and their own [[Hotter and Sexier|public image and style]], thus sending their albums to development hell territory.

** This is especially true for female Pop, R&B, and Rap artists, Adina Howard being among the most known examples. Her '97-'98 ''Fantasy Island'' record was shelved because she wanted to do more than just sexually explicit songs. It was eventually bootlegged and released to the streets. Funnily, the album was still rather overtly sexual, leading people to wonder just how much sexier her label wanted the album to be.

** Female rap group Da 5 Footaz ''Lifetime'' album never saw the light of day either, despite press kits being available. Their album was suppose to have been released as far back as ''''96'''. It has since been released underground via bootleg.

* [[Skinny Puppy]]'s ''Handover'' album was planned to be released in 2009, but it fell into limbo when their label, SPV, went bankrupt. Now scheduled for a November 2011 release.

* Nas' collab with DJ Premier, announced back in 2006, hasn't had any other info released since, but ''supposedly'' it's still being worked on.

* LaToya Jackson's ''Startin' Over'' began its production on November 2001, has had some singles released, but has no date for hitting shelves yet.

* [[The Kovenant]]'s ''Aria Galactica'' has been in limbo since 2003. Sort of the ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' of music.

* The follow up to Australian plunderphonics collective The Avalanches' debut album ''Since I Left You'' has been in development hell for nearly a decade. Every so often, a member of the band claims its done and they're just clearing the samples (this being important, since they're a plunderphonics group that means almost ''all'' of their music is samples), but then nothing in heard for a few years. The latest estimation is late 2011/early 2012.

* [[My Vitriol]] are another famous example. Their 2001 debut ''Finelines'' faced no success in the US due to [[Executive Meddling]] which caused exhausting touring that put them into a 4-year hiatus. Then they got back together and started recording and then scrapped an album's worth of material (except four tracks that appeared on an EP) after lukewarm fan reception. Since then the follow-up has left fans waiting over 10 years. The band has had no word on when or if the album will ever be completed.

* [[Christina Aguilera]] usually takes four years between albums.

* [[The Veronicas]] recording company pushed back their third album 3 times now.

* Forest For The Trees' debut (and [[One-Book Author|only]]) album took four years to be completed, due to Karl Stephenson having a nervous breakdown. The interesting thing is how much the final result seemed like a more world-music-influenced ''[[Beck (musician)|Odelay]]''; Stephenson, who produced and co-wrote several songs on [[Beck (musician)|Beck]]'s ''Mellow Gold'' including "Loser", had actually started working on this material when Beck was still a relative unknown, so who knows how the album might have been received had it come out a few years before ''Odelay''...

* Leona Lewis has had her album Glassheart pushed back by a year (Originally due Nov' 11 now due Nov 12) by her recording company. Her first two albums "Spririt" and "Echo" didn't have this problem.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** With the release of the Necrons during the halloween of 2011, the Sisters of Battle is now literally the oldest range, having not received a new model in the longest time.

* [[Gary Gygax]] had always wanted to release a version of his iconic "Castle Greyhawk", the location that pretty much launched ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' while at TSR. Due to his busy schedule as the head of TSR, and his writing duties on a myriad of other modules, he never was able to complete or even start the module. (His being sent to Los Angeles to develop the ''D&D'' cartoon series didn't help either). In 1982, the module had been advertised in Dragon Magazine, but as of 1986, when Gygax left the company due to "[[Creative Differences]]", no module had been published. In '87, TSR did a wild and [[Dude, Not Funny|mostly unfunny]] parody version of the Castle that bore no resemblance to Gygax's design. It was seen by many gamers as little more than a parting shot against Gygax, and the module has been pretty solidly rejected by players and [[Canon Discontinuity|pretty much disowned]] by TSR and [[Wizards of the Coast]], leading to a second try at the module which was much more warmly received.

* d20 Spectaculars was a [[Superhero]] add-on to ''d20Modern'' that was supposed to be published by Wizards of the Coast in 2006, but it never materialized (possibly because ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' already had rules for d20 supers and did it very well). Possibly because that's when they started work on 4th edition.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]] 4th edition'' was supposed to be released alongside a series of software tools. The most notable was a "virtual game table" allowing people to play live D&D online, complete with 3D models of characters and monsters. But all that was postponed and the game came out without any of the promised tools. A Rules Compendium was later released, then a Character Builder (still in beta). A year later, and still no sign of the virtual game table. Probably because there's plenty of free software online that does the same thing.

* ''[[GURPS]]: [[Girl Genius]]'' may be headed in this direction, due to an edition change since the Foglios wrote most of the content.

* Also from GURPS, the third edition had a Middle Ages I (which dealt with England) and there was supposed to have been a Middle Ages II (for the continent) which never materialized.

* ''Capcom World Tournament'' was delayed for a while, then put on hiatus, due to issues with Living Room Games being unable to guarantee a profit through traditional distribution and being unable to risk alienating retailers with distribution methods that would be more likely to turn a profit, like electronic-only format or Publish On Demand. It's still not officially "canceled", despite their decision allowing the license to lapse and their not being able to release it now if they wanted to. This particular bit of vaporware essentially killed the company, too.

** There was some talk of releasing it with the Capcom elements removed, but Living Room Games folded due to the financial loss incurred by not actually releasing the game before this could happen. Many RPG fans are disappointed, as by all accounts, it was one of the best and most novel applications of the d20 system ever.

** In the 1990s, RTG licenced Mekton to a Japanese company to produce a ''[[Gundam]]'' RPG. In about 2000, RTG then licenced this RPG with the intent of eleasing an english translation in the West. Since then, there has been no news on the progress of the translation, despite being 'in progress' for nearly a decade.

** Mekton Zeta itself was subjected to a lot of development hell. The first sourcebook for the edition was out over a year before the rulebook was released. The mecha in it were contructed with a hybrid of Mekton II and Zeta rules and contianed a number of substantial differenes to the construction rules from either. By the time that Zeta was released, the rules had been further revised, leaving the book effectively obsolete and unsupported.