The 3000AD founder made mention of the refund in a comment on Blue's News last week. "If you're a space sim fan, can't wait for the demo and you buy the game... but think its crap, I'm tits up and talking trash, I'll personally refund your money," Smart wrote on the site. He noted that those who pursued a refund would not have their license keys disabled, though he failed to detail the specifics of the refund process.

"I'm quite certain that there may be other takers," Smart wrote MTV Multiplayer regarding possible exploitation of the offer. "Who knows. But regardless, people know who they're dealing with, so its not like they're going to try and pull a fast one. After all, this is Derek Smart weÂ’re talking about :D."

Galactic Command: Echo Squad was originally produced as a four-part episodic series for digital distributor GameTap. The company axed the deal last month, noting that though Echo Squad was not the right title for GameTap audiences, it was among Smart's greatest work.

Smart, who had been plotting to release a revamped version of Galactic Command: Echo Squad following the initial GameTap offering, unleashed the first episode of the series via several digital distribution platforms, including Direct2Drive and GamersGate, last Friday.