Josh Parnell said that he was exhausted from working on it for so long and "circumstances have reached a point that even my endless optimism can no longer rectify”, Parnell said on Friday. He plans to release the source code for folks to poke around but makes clear “it’s not a working game”.

Limit Theory took to Kickstarter in November 2012, seeking cash to build a procedurally-generated sandbox space full of opportunities to do missions, build bases, lead fleets, and all that in a living universe.

Parnell wanted to show people exactly how much one can accomplish with a small budget and the immense power of procedural generation. Which he appears to have done.

Limit Theory raised much more than its $50,000 goal, drawing $187,865  in pledges but development has gone on years longer than anticipated. Costs have burned through that initial cash and started eating into Parnell’s savings.

“Every year that passes sees me becoming more desperate to make good on the dream with which you all entrusted me, but each such year I grow less and less capable of doing so as my mindset falls further away from that bright, beautiful hope that powered me from the beginning. I am not what I once was. It has been the most painful, difficult decision of my life, and I’m sure that there will be no shortage of blowback. But I cannot continue to destroy myself in search of a feat of which I am not capable. When I began this project, I felt that anything was possible. Here now, in the end, I must swallow the painful reality that: I, too, am human. I am limited by time, I am limited by finances, and I am limited by mental & emotional stamina.”

Most of the comments on Limit Theory’s forum are supportive of his decision to not continue to ruin himself.