What do you guys think? Personally, I’m pretty sad to hear that things have gotten this bad for a company I care about so much and love! I also feel it’s very easy for AK to pass his judgement from the outside, without being tangled up in all the inside politics anymore.
It feels a bit wrong to be discussing something like that here. Not because it’s their forums so much as how visible it is and how relatively small the communication gap is between fans and Failbetter is. It’d be nice if we keep this thread on the kinder end of things and not speculate or gossip too much about behind the scenes.
Be that as it may, we can’t really say much on AK’s comments without knowing more. On one hand sure it easy for him to judge, inasmuch as it would be to anyone with the luxury of an outside but connected view, but then it also depends on how different circumstances actually are to when he was there. It’s also surprising that he’d speak out that way despite still being so close to everyone, I’d be a little miffed to be in FBG shoe’s right now. Then again I’d be miffed in AK’s too.
It gives me much less hope that we’ll be seeing any significant content updates to Fallen London though. The focus will be on Skies for a while, even after release. After that I wonder. Will they risk it on another game, approach it differently? Will they focus on Fallen London for a little bit? Try a new avenue (a Fallen London tabletop or boardgame)?
I don’t think it’s either bad or inappropriate to discuss the news, and the Eurogamer article, here. Everyone who contributed to the article knew they were talking to the media and that what they said would become public. Since it is public, and relates to a company Forum members here care deeply about, I think it is information that may be publicly discussed. And I think it helps FBG to know, through these Forums, what its fans are thinking about the current state of the company.
But the article does suggest areas that need improvement. I also found the comments very interesting, in that they come primarily from SS players. I would suggest there are nuggets of information in there that are well worth taking into account for Skies. They certainly reflect my own experience playing SS, which I really struggle to enjoy at times.
What a shame they ditched the “sentient rats” game – now that, I would have loved to play.
Of course, expressing my sympathy to my favorite company, and hoping that they will manage daringly, with steadfastness, and without much melancholy.
At the same time, I can’t shake the feeling that planning business around “early access” sales is cancerous practice for titles like SS - those are games, that are best experienced finished + ensured long life via moddability. I miss seeing “early access” as purely bug hunting/design proving ground for the most dedicated players, without any (or much) finances involved. I am sure that the sales of finished game won’t disappoint - I just can perfectly understand, why many wouldn’t want to get into early access, and wouldn’t it be for supporting the company, I wouldn’t jump into the bandwagon either.
Second thing that needs fixing is half-baking. We had Sunless Sea release on iDevices, but not on much bigger Android market (instantly filtering me out of buying the game for the second time). It had base game, but not Zubmariner (filtering me out again, even if it would have android release). We had mobile application, but it stopped being improved at all, past some point. We had “Fallen London reworks” as kind of one-time project, while for a game that lives on fate purchases/exceptional friend membership, those should be rather constant state of things. And those things go on…
I know Failbetter is small company, and can’t do everything at once. But I also believe doing the things i mentioned from start to end would result in net financial gain, not loss due to man-work hours required for it. Being half-finished, they sound more like wasted potential, than effort wasted from the starting point.
I can also sympathize with attempts to delay the staff laying-off as much as possible - it is natural in company, that is somehow almost like family. But I also believe that “pink glasses” after kick-starter were worn for too long (esp. mixed with counting on always-unreliable - in my opinion - early access incomes), and the situation turned out for even worse, as result. I really, really hope that FB will be able to sort it out. Too many grim news on various different fronts, lately :(
The creative talent at FB is amazing! And they have such a precious thing going on here. There’s so much potential! But I fear that silence might poison them. Some people will always make themselves believe that harsh realities will go away if you deny them, and it’s all the more likely if the immediate day-to-day can be made to look normal. But it’s a bad road to tread, better to stare into the abyss than pretend the Laudanum is water.