General Godus discussion

Watch Dogs is a clear case of overblown marketing, same as Sleeping Dogs - both titles fall far short on what they were made out to be.
I'm not necessarily saying that the marketing was 'false', but rather that they were hyped up far more than a title of their caliber should have been.

But as you say, marketing has only one purpose/objective and that is to sell more copies, preferably convincing people that would not have bought it otherwise.
Steam has learned a thing or two for this, as have mobile platforms - by getting the entry barrier to the "Well, its only $x, what the heck." level.
Ofcourse that doesn't work for multi-million dollar developments. Especially not when they have to rely on a high quantity of day one/week one sales to justify the investment and recoup their expenses.

And thats my *biggest* reason for disliking the multi-million dollar direction that the industry is taking.
Because corners are being cut not only to justify and reach larger and larger budgets, but the money gets split across area's that ultimately have NOTHING to do with making an actual game anymore.
Somehow all these secondary and tertiary departments and parties got involved and they all want to get paid.

Priorities shift, and before you know it you're no longer getting money to make a game, but you're making a game to get money.
The "goal" becomes the means, and the means become the goal.

Most people would shiver to see open heart surgery too, but it is not one any would deny. My point?

I am queen of analogies and metaphors but really Arcades games and sausages have nothing to do with the fact the 22cans promised a classic non F2p PC God game and is now pushing this mobile F2p mega monetized horrid timed filled boring bullshit down our throats and trying to claim it is close to what they promised on the kickstarter.

It's not even close and no I don't give a rats ass if it takes another year to make the real game they promised or how lame or boring their updates were personally, the fact is they are never going to make that game and that is why so many people are getting so pissed.

I really am tempted to write the guys at Southpark and see if they might be interested in doing a follow up episode to their ep about F2p with some inside info from a backer from one such escapade.

Yep... Its evidenced by pretty much all other early access developers and kickstarter/crowdfunding creators.
Shit hits the fan once the "creator" takes liberties with the truth and with promises they've made without informing their backers and supporters.

Which is not to say that changes can't be made... They just have to be made with full knowledge (and support) of your audience.
And with good reasoning behind them.
Some people may not like it as much as others, but in general you'll almost always retain the support of your backers because they supported you in the first place in the basis that they *BELIEVE* you can make the game they want.


Prime example: "Torment: Tides of Numenera"
They had to choose between a turn-based combat system and a real-time w/ pause one.
They ended up doing a backer poll on this, with a very VERY lengthy discussion about the merits and downsides of both.
The backers gave their votes and opinions, the developers gave their votes and opinions and in the end a decision was made that for the most part people could live with.

Yes, there were those that got 'angry' that the decision was made to move away from the combat system as it was used in the original Torment game, claiming that this change would "negatively impact the game experience".
However - and I believe rightfully so - the developers argued that the qualities that Torment is well known for are its story and depth, its pretty much universally agreed that the combat system in the original Torment game is sub-par at best and is NOT the driving force behind what made the game so good and memorable.
Ofcourse, would they have pushed this change without involvement of the backers - the backlash would've been far greater.
But through communications and community interaction a massive problem was avoided.


If only 22cans had done this earlier in their development path and listened to the feedback given by the community.
Some of the mistakes made could've been prevented...

In my opionion: If 22cans had done this earlier in their development path and listened to the feedback given by the community, most - if not all - of the mistakes made would've been prevented. Period.

We've literally suggested, pleaded, warned, begged, and essentially predicted, every pitfall and misstep they've made along the way. I feel like a parent warning a mischievous juvenile delinquent, who responds with a 'couldn't-care-less what this know-it-all stupid person is blathering about now' attitude - yet they consistently disregard our guidance while getting themselves in constant trouble, and then beg us to forgive them with "I'll change my ways this time, please take me back into your home!" - so we begrudgingly do, because we care, and we ground them without privileges until they can prove their worth... only they sneak out the back window again as soon as we turn our backs. And the cycle repeats.

This isn't their "Second Chance", it's literally like the Nth degree of chances. It's preposterous, and frankly I'm officially sick and tired of it.

I will not believe anything Peter says until he shows me he deserves it; do your job, follow through with your promises. Then, and only then, can you come to us and ask for forgiveness.

Q&A fun: "How do you feel knowing we were right all along? =P"

Some employers are not keen on their staff on steam forums... even when they are otherwise allowed some non-work related site access.

I think it's the same here as it is on the Steam forum. The Steam forum just has a far larger audience leading to far more posts. Because there are more posts, even if the balance of positive to negative posts remains the same, there are so many negative posts that it becomes hard to find the positive ones unless you really delve deep into the forum.

To think there would be a topic I agree with you concerning...

Exactly. As we in Russia say, "there're no Ifs and Woulds in history".