Clang, the crowdfunded swordfighting game by author and swordfighting aficionado Neal Stephenson’s Subutai Corporation, has run out of money.

The game attracted more than half a million dollars in pledges via Kickstarter in June of 2012, but that money has been spent and the game’s prototype is “underwhelming”, according to an update on its Kickstarter page.

“We stretched the Kickstarter money farther than we had expected to, but securing the next round, along with constructing improvised shelters and hoarding beans, has to be our top priority for now,” said Subutai.

“We are working on Clang as an ‘evenings and weekends’ project until such time as we get funding for a more commercial-style reboot.”

The team cites “the current state of the video game industry” as well as risk-averse investors as reasons for its current predicament.

“To a game publisher crouched in a fetal position under a blanket, Clang seems extra worrisome because it is coupled to a new hardware controller,” said Subutai.

“Coupling the success of Clang to concurrent developments in hardware adds an additional element of perceived risk that is off-putting to the small number of people who are still willing to even consider funding games.”

However, the project wasn’t dead just yet, said Subutai.

It is urging backers to fund Sixense’s Stem motion tracking system, which it believes will solve Clang's hardware woes and thus make it a more attractive proposition to venture capitalists.