Sui Generis - Post-Funding Update #20

Couchpotato · August 31, 2013

Bare Mettle Entertainment has a new post-funding update with news about the promised video for Sui Generis.

We promised you a public video but then we got cold feet. We're not very comfortable with showing the game while it's still so far from completion. While we see the progress we've made it's inevitable that people will only see what we haven't done yet, the flaws. Don't worry though, we are actively working towards a video again now.

In general we're focusing much more on big stuff and less on features that can be completed quickly. This is more true now than ever before. While prototyping stuff, doing mockups and just the odd bit here and there is fun, it's actually more harmful than beneficial at this stage. We need to work methodically and make sure we do everything in the most efficient and actually useful way possible.

So, expect a video before long, really this time. We're taking some time off the big stuff to polish up a few things and add a couple of cool features even though it's not the best thing for us to be doing right now. Thank you for your patience, you funded this project and you have every right to be kept in the loop, we've been overwhelmed by development work but we do honestly want to make an effort to communicate more with you.

More information.

rjshae · August 31, 2013

Frankly the stuff they showed us during the Kickstarter campaign was pretty darn good, so I'm not sure what they're so worried about. Understanding viewers will understand that it's pre-release; critics will criticize regardless of how good it is. Better just to develop a thick skin about gamer comments…

daveyd · August 31, 2013

rjshae said:
Frankly the stuff they showed us during the Kickstarter campaign was pretty darn good, so I'm not sure what they're so worried about. Understanding viewers will understand that it's pre-release; critics will criticize regardless of how good it is. Better just to develop a thick skin about gamer comments…

It did look good but I can understand why they're hesitant… When I watched the recently released gameplay video for Wasteland 2, I thought it looked pretty good overall.. but it seemed like 95% of the comments were negative. There is definitely room for improvement and lots of people gave legitimate constructive criticisms, but others just nitpicked over every little thing. A lot of viewers will ignore a label of alpha / beta and proceed to nitpick; which I imagine is very frustrating to developers who know full well the game isn't perfect and just haven't polished it yet. It's probably a lot more useful for them to wait until they have almost everything the way they intended it and then get feedback on the near finished project.

ChienAboyeur · August 31, 2013

Showing anything to backers is useless: the game is already sold. That kind of effort delays the completion.
They might want to attract new customers though.

GhanBuriGhan · August 31, 2013

ChienAboyeur said:
Showing anything to backers is useless: the game is already sold.

Wrong. Backer of your past game are also the most likely backers of your next Project - you'd like to Keep them happy. They'll also be the core that will greatly influence word of mouth for your projcet leading up to and following release to the public.
Finally, they are a valuable Focus Group to test your ideas and results against.

SonOfCapiz · August 31, 2013

GhanBuriGhan said:
Wrong. Backer of your past game are also the most likely backers of your next Project - you'd like to Keep them happy. They'll also be the core that will greatly influence word of mouth for your projcet leading up to and following release to the public.
Finally, they are a valuable Focus Group to test your ideas and results against.

Well certainly not useless but there's a grain of truth there. Best way to get your present backers to be your future backers is to deliver a quality game. I'd think people would be likely to forgive a lack of updates if the final product meets its promise. As you pointed out however, they'd be the ideal focus group for testing and input

Carnifex · August 31, 2013

Showing people current changes and progression can also get those that contributed to increase their amount. I think it's a good idea to give updates periodically.

-Carn

rjshae · September 1, 2013

daveyd said:
It did look good but I can understand why they're hesitant… When I watched the recently released gameplay video for Wasteland 2, I thought it looked pretty good overall.. but it seemed like 95% of the comments were negative. There is definitely room for improvement and lots of people gave legitimate constructive criticisms, but others just nitpicked over every little thing. A lot of viewers will ignore a label of alpha / beta and proceed to nitpick; which I imagine is very frustrating to developers who know full well the game isn't perfect and just haven't polished it yet. It's probably a lot more useful for them to wait until they have almost everything the way they intended it and then get feedback on the near finished project.

Well the same thing happens in the P.E. forums. Update details that I generally find to be of decent to high quality and quite acceptable for game play just get picked to death by a small group of flaming critics. I think it's just the nature of the internet. What's unpleasant to observe is when that small group seemingly gains excess leverage on game design decisions. It must be hard for the game designers to hold their tongues sometimes. Personally I'm okay with them making design decisions that I don't necessarily agree with. After all, it's their career and their future.

Sui Generis - Post-Funding Update #20

Couchpotato

Part-Time News-bot

rjshae

Periapt vs Paronomasia

daveyd

Turn-based lifeform

ChienAboyeur

SasqWatch

GhanBuriGhan

Wose extraordinaire

SonOfCapiz

Sentinel

Carnifex

SasqWatch

rjshae

Periapt vs Paronomasia