Manywhelps: Tough question. Typically we're limited by funding. In this case, Gearbox isn't funding development, we have separate funding for that. Gearbox is helping in other ways (and in good ways too - this is far from the typical predatory publishing situation).
hummer010: So, out of curiosity, if Gearbox isn't funding development, who is? The KS campaign netted ~$330k. Your KS campaign loosly stated June 2016 for release. Your over a year passed that date, and have now set a release date for April 2018. Obviously, $330k doesn't pay a team of 12-40 (started around 12, grew to around 40) for very long, and yet there doesn't seem to be any "we're running of cash" urgency (unless you listen to the consipiracy theorists that figure this whole price increase thing was a stunt to sell more games at $30).
[Edit]I broke my own rules, and fired up the Life in Technicolour update using WINE. It worked .... OK. Everything worked fine, but it wasn't exactly performant, and while my laptop isn't a gaming powerhouse, it isn't entry level either (i7 - GTX765M - 8GB RAM). It was my first time
actually playing it. I didn't get too far, but it was fun. Made me look forward to a proper Linux version, and the final product.[/edit]
We typically spend more in one month right now than we raised in the Kickstarter. So yeah, things have changed a huge amount since 2015.
The funding for the game has come from a range of sources, but the past year and for the next year basically comes from some private investment and sales made on the Early Access game. We reinvested pretty much everything back into the game, so when I say that Early Access has resulted in the scope increase, I'm not kidding around :) As you suspected, the conspiracy theorists were wrong - we are funded right now for at least 12 months.
Re your playthrough, your graphics card is actually under our minimum specifications. Actually surprised it works well enough for you to play on WINE! I guess our recent optimizations were better than I thought. That's pretty cool.
Manywhelps: To be fair, our E3 2016 video wasn't the debut trailer - we'd been openly talking about the game for over a year, had two trailers beforehand, plus a Kickstarter campaign, a hands on demo at both PAX 2015 and PAX 2016, and a pre-alpha version available in Kickstarter backer and media/Youtuber hands in 2015.
FilthyAssistant: I knew what it was when I bought it, because I had read about it in Game Informer long before that E3. I'm just saying that it shouldn't have been surprising that so many people got the wrong idea from that trailer. It's fine that you had talked about it previously, but the audience then, even at PAX, is a tiny fraction of the amount of people who pay attention to E3.
Even so, knowing it was a survival game, I was expecting more story content than there was when it launched in EA. I think it also didn't help many people's first impressions that you start in that super run-down area and have to complete multiple objectives before you even get to the parts that are interesting, with Joy and house traps and whatnot.
I haven't played the game in a while, but I did like it. I would count it amongst the very few survival games that are actually worth playing (off the top of my head, The Long Dark is the only other one I can think of) and wish you and the WHF team the best... I just wish you hadn't gotten involved with shitheads like Gearbox.
Manywhelps: I'm sorry you have strong feelings for Randy and that we've made it so that you're supporting him indirectly. He's not really the devil you think, but still I can understand how that might be frustrating.
FilthyAssistant: I don't know him personally, but everything he's been involved with in the past decade-plus has been a disaster. Colonial Marines, Duke Nukem Forever, Battleborn... There was a time when I liked Gearbox's games, and it was for the period of time when they released the first two Brothers in Arms games. Oh, and HL: Opposing Force.
Wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so obnoxious in every interview and on twitter, acting like their games are gifts from God that mere plebes can't appreciate. His denial in Battleborn's DOA status was pretty funny too.
Sorry for not quote nesting properly!
Re story, you'll find it's quite a lot different now. We have more story in the in dev version, and we do a MUCH better job of showcasing previous story too. It was easy to complete skip by all of it.
Re Randy, fair enough. That being said, Gearbox is also responsible for Borderlands, which has some of the best DLC around (even if I disagree with what they did with the season pass), the Halo PC port, a half life offshoot, etc. It's easy to focus on the negatives. I'm not here to defend them, just to say their publishing team is working hard, doing their best and if we make mistakes together, we'll fix them.
AlienMind: For the record, I have more respect for Manywhelps than all the gog staff who is going the "talk PR or die" strategy lately. At least he's trying to engage in a conversation in eye height.
And of course everything he says is his own opinion, like with every individual, so don't get butthurt, everybody.
I wish you luck Compulsion Games and that you know what you want and not let anybody force you otherwise. Game dev is the hardest job in the universe, but in the end you can give humanity something to remember you by fondly. I and most people sure have not the nerve to pull that off, so don't let people belittle you.
Thank you. Although for the record, the GOG team has also always been cool to us. Sorry to be a contrarian! Agreed with your point about what we do - impacting hundreds of thousands of people's lives positively is a pretty great opportunity.
