Moo's six month annoversary

He faces three intractable issues:

First he is underresourced.

Second he is starting from 2 years down the track and being judged accordingly.

Third, we understand 22cans are siphoning off godus revenue for Betrayal. If all the godus revenue was going in a godus only pool he wouldn't be under the same financial pressure.

Precisely.

On top of that, he also has to deal with the PR and the management of 22cans for continuing to create a lovely atmosphere that makes me think they're going to use him as a fall guy. As such, I could more appropriately rate Moo if there were more actual effort going on there at 22cans, but right now it looks like he's just being used for show at best, but certainly has been made to shoulder the runner the other developers at 22cans pulled* since now he's "lead designer" - a meaningless title when there's really only one...and he can only colour in the lines by the stipulation of the mismanagement.

We saw Moo try with what little he was given...then we saw the rest of 22cans collectively fuck that up through a manner that could only be intentional sabotage.

* - To be fair, I can't blame those who bailed from 22cans for leaving that mess, but I think it is really remarkable how 22cans has "burned out" some developers clean out of the industry.

That's not my point. You can't blame Konrad for where things are and neither can you separate konrads performance from 22can's. In fact the problem is by stripping the resources off godus 22cans have actually set him up to fail while at the same time hiding behind the charade that the game will be completed one day.

I don't think my report card is unfair. I'm acknowledging his good intentions but also his inability (because of resourcing) to achieve much. Ultimately you have to put the progress in the context of six months having passed. If we have to wait six months for this, how long for the next step and what progress can we expect it to bring?

Not only is our patience limited but so too is the development months they have left before they have to space base the game. If godus is to live it needs to get to the point where it's a viable PC game. Six months further on and almost 2 years since EA release and it's so incredibly far from a viable PC game. All this means it's circling the proverbial drain.

What is the point of this thread? To stir up a bit of trouble? It reads like a passive-aggressive jab at the person who genuinely wanted to set things right.

At this point the Godus community is so sour I think 22Cans should just cut the project where it's at and move on. It's clear nothing they do for Godus at this point will ever be enough.

Well yeah, but framing it as a report card for Konrad makes it seem like he has personally failed, when (as you've said) a lot of what happens is most likely outside of his control. We as a community should also be given an F by these standards, because despite our own best efforts and endless feedback we've been incapable of influencing the development in any constructive way.

The point that Konrad has been on board for 6 months in the capacity of lead game designer, and that in the last 3 months 22Cans is supposed to have been working harder than ever before to get Godus into a good condition, is more pertinent. Godus appears to be stagnating, despite endless updates about how much work is allegedly being done on combat (which is a feature that everyone is kind of lukewarm about anyway). I seem to recall that when Konrad first started engaging with us he was asked to justify the focus on combat. He said that he was prioritising work based on quick wins, which is not at all unreasonable, however if combat was supposed to be a "quick win" then Godus is truly up the creek. Combat was also supposed to be something that needed to be in place for various other things that he wanted to achieve with Godus, but whether those goals were multiplayer or a move towards a more RST-type game has never been fully explained.

I really, really wish Konrad would come back and speak to us again, or anyone for that matter, and explain just what the hell is going on right now.

I don't get that at all.  What I see is that it illustrates how someone who was trying to be honest and productive has has their work continually subverted by the mismanagement of 22cans while being censured by their superiors for doing so.



That goes especially when 22cans are making it obvious that they don't care about Godus' development, but for some reason want to continue with this dog and pony show that there is actual full development upon the title.

That combination might be why the community went from a bit hopeful with Konrad into becoming even more soured, along with the moderation and other antics going on.

I think that is where I judge 22cans the most, because since day one they asked us to trust their BS "no plan" design methodology. They seemed to lurch from one monetising opportunity to the next with no greater plan than getting the cash through the door.

I think it's fair to give the lead designer a report card. He is the face of the project and should be fronting up. I get he can't magic up resources but he's the face of the project. If his resources are so scarce he can't deliver on anything perhaps he is just a diversion and if he's just a diversion shouldn't we question that?

I don't want to be an asshole that throws shit at a person trying to fix this mess but at the same time I can't countenance pretending this mess has a chance of being fixed when all evidence suggests it doesn't.

Ultimately if 22cans have any confidence in their ability to deliver they would show us a plan and stop discounting the game. They've done neither which tells me they know it's hopeless and perhaps they are just playing for time until betrayal can be released.

Konrad is in a really tough place. He has a lot of ambitions for Godus but is working within a very challenging and restrictive environment, with no way of communicating these limitations to the community and no way of escalating his needs within the company (because they aren't interested and urgently need to focus on the new project to avoid insolvency). When he first started out he engaged very well with the community, which was clearly against the will of 22Cans because he was quickly shut down and hasn't spoken to us since. It was his honesty that led to 22Cans being torn apart in the press and frankly he is probably lucky to have kept his job. Most sickening about the whole thing was how PM took the line that Konrad was mistaken in his claims and had misunderstood the inner workings of the company. Peter tried to encourage people to ignore and disbelieve Konrad, even though all evidence suggests that everything Konrad told us was 100% accurate.

It has been clear from the start that Konrad has been a scapegoat for 22Cans, and this will probably continue to be the case. Holding him accountable for the on-going failings of Godus is exactly what PM wants us to do. Then at the end of it all he can say "I made the mistake on entrusting Godus with someone inexperienced but that's how I roll, trying to encourage new talent, guess this one didn't work out, oh well, all I can say is I'm sorry and I won't let it happen again." I imagine the only reason Konrad is sticking with the role is because it's a rare and special opportunity for a guy with his experience, and who knows, something might come of it - if nothing else it's something for the CV.

Konrad is the ONLY person in 22Cans who we've seen openly challenging PM and trying to proactively work with the community to improve the game. He's the ONLY person who has been actually honest about what's going on at the studio (and he paid for it). 22Cans is terrible but if we're going to call out anyone individually, let's not pick Konrad. 

I wish it too, but unfortunatly your never going to hear the open and honest opinion that everyone respected from him, He is now subject to NDA which is an absolute travesty in a kickstarter/early access game. Everything that comes out now is filtered through the corporate bullshit-o-meter.