https://media.makeameme.org/created/its-too-savage.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Barone
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https://media.makeameme.org/created/its-too-savage.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Barone
The deadline was my planned cut off. Barone's move will give us some idea of what's going on and if we can actually get a refund.Quote:
Originally Posted by PreZZ
I fully support you, Barone, and anyone else claiming a refund. I hope Fonzie delivers. As for me, I don't consider myself a part of WM any longer and haven't been in a very long time. There is still an unannounced project I spent a lot of time and love into a few years ago which I think will be further developed after Paprium is out. But I don't think I have either the time or will to contribute any more to that. I can develop Mega Drive games without WM :cool:.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zebbe
Just discovered your blog :D lol with apologies for the delay on every post hahaa
I'm not surprised at any of this. I'm still in personally, but this is the last time I'll buy anything from WM, it's not the length of dev time that bothers me so much as the total lack of communication.
Guess where that is coming from ;).Quote:
Originally Posted by matteus
Unless something's gone spectacularly wrong I can't see the guy just throwing his arms up and ceasing the development at this stage, the blow to his ego and the status of owning the biggest piece of vaporware in the retro community would be too much to bear.Quote:
Originally Posted by XGoldenboyX
I don't know Fonzie from a bar of soap, but I invested in this project in good faith as a result of WM's previous game managing to ship and being a high quality production. I would be a lot less lenient now if that wasn't the case. What I didn't count on was the glacial development time (I realised this would take years, but this many)?, and the virtual dissolution of WM with Tulio leaving and others involved in the project seemingly frozen out of the loop as much as the worried investors.
Being my first 'crowdfunded' project I was frugal with how much I invested but I'm aware some guys have a lot more tied up than me in this thing (and perhaps friends cash to land them copies too). No wonder people are pissed off, and fair play to Barone for initiating a refund at this point.
I'll admit seeing the video trailer was heartening, but that was a long time ago now and apart from some nebulous communication via social media, rather than the official forum (IIRC) relating to some issue with Paypal, we've basically heard ziltch.
Well, someone suggested the game had entered the manufacturing phase at some point as well...
That would be great if you could pry some info outta him dude.Quote:
Originally Posted by XGoldenboyX
What you said makes sense and it was one of the reasons why I was still waiting.Quote:
Originally Posted by XGoldenboyX
But, let me give you another perspective:
- AFAIK, pretty much no one has tested the game so far.
- The promo video released last year had graphical glitches, collision glitches, no sound and no music. Just very short and certainly hand-picked demonstrations which by any stretch of imagination guarantees that the game is actually fully functional and much less that it can actually be completed. No sign of a saving screen or anything which could indicate that the whole "RPG" part of the game is actually implemented.
- The sprite work is inconsistent which only highlights the ups and downs of a very troublesome and loooooong development cycle.
- The use of the enhancement chip is very sketchy, to say the least. He had some of the best MD composers in his team and the tracks shared with us sounded phenomenal already. So, was it really necessary to add an expensive chip which also adds complexity and costs to the manufacturing of the boards? All that for extra sound layering? Are you kidding me?
- The completely false, horseshit release dates. Last September? We're FIVE months removed from that and no sign of a realistic release schedule.
- The bs stories: Air France, Paypal, etc. All excuses for delays which are marginal compared to more than five YEARS of "development". And then the media stunt from a guy who is remarkably averse to any communication; "coincidentally" it was used to raise funds through an ilegal pre-order system because it was simply not a pre-order.
- He moved to China.
- On top of all that, there's an endless list of people he screwed up in the process: valuable people, great professionals, long term members of the MD scene, former partners, etc.
The whole thing doesn't look good at all.
I'm afraid to think he doesn't have a fully functional game yet.
I'm also afraid to think he has already burned all the money from the investors and falsely-advertised "pre-orders", and doesn't have enough money nor leverage (given how great he is at burning bridges) to even start a small production run of these clusterfuck 64 Mbit cartridges with enhancement chips.
The longer he takes to answer me and issue a refund, the worse it will look for him.
I'm guessing it's also intended to act as DRM.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barone
That said... has anybody involved who isn't Fonzie even played the game? Because all this discussion is suddenly reminding me of certain translucency inconsistency in a screenshot I could never figure out. I know some people argued it may have been the enhancement chip in charge, but I always wondered if it wasn't just a mockup...
The screenshot is the one with glass in front of the characters if somebody wants to repost it.
TL;DR;
I don't think Fonzie will fail to deliver, but he could definitely have done it already if he wasn't alienating his team and the customers about the true status of things.
The funny thing is, I have no doubt about his effort, and that he's working his ass off to make this happen. My problem has always been how he alienated everyone around him with his "need to know" policy. Fonzie somehow deem himself the only capable of doing this or that and will not share the burden. I don't know if it's out of pride, out of jealousy, or insecurity.
Fonzie's biggest beef with me has always been that "I'm too reactive". But if we look at the pattern that's exactly how he conducts his business with the customers: Let the complaints and unrest mount to a dangerous level, then release some update to "calm the masses".
You keep adding these kinds of attitudes and top with a pre-historic managerial authoritarianism, where "I'm the boss and you should obey me because I outrank you. And I can verbally abuse my employees because they are nothing without me" is the norm (Maybe other French in the forum can say whether this hierarchical pattern is common in France, but I think it's his isolated character) then you have a recipe for disaster, be it short or long term.
WM is so lucky to be in the niche that deals with our fond memories and nostalgia, enough to build such loyalism that people are okay to put up with being treated like second-class customers, all for the greater good. In any other market, WM and Fonzie would have been totally crushed by now.
Given all of these things (and many more that I rather not discuss so that I don't turn this into a bashing rant), I was left with no choice but to leave, considered that he wasn't going anywhere, and I really needed to get back my ability to sleep.
Whether Fonzie realized the importance of the role I played in the company, I have no doubts - one would have to be blind not to notice -, but whether he's mature enough to admit it, that remains to be seen. I seriously doubt it.
Bravo, Barone for taking action and defending what's yours. Even if this game becomes a massive collective mega-hit worth 1000+ a copy, I don't think the stress is worth it. Just like my leaving WM, I'm sure you won't regret it.
Even the video, I honestly believe it could have just been animated. I've seen Fonzie working and he's capable of great things, when it comes to mock-ups. So anything that's meant to look like a photograph of the game on a screen, or even a scan of a magazine... he is VERY skilled with graphical tools.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sik
That said, Luis claims to have played it, and I believe him... but yeah. Either Fonzie has a heck of a NDA, or we're really missing the evidence of people who tested it.
All the best, people!
This sounds so bad...
Wow.Quote:
Even the video, I honestly believe it could have just been animated. I've seen Fonzie working and he's capable of great things, when it comes to mock-ups. So anything that's meant to look like a photograph of the game on a screen, or even a scan of a magazine... he is VERY skilled with graphical tools. That said, Luis claims to have played it, and I believe him... but yeah. Either Fonzie has a heck of a NDA, or we're really missing the evidence of people who tested it.
Ok got the screenshot I was referring to earlier:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C__6jRZUAAAhsWY.jpg
The hand of the character at the left (RIP) seems to overlap a part it shouldn't, and the guy at the right seems to be affected inconsistently by translucency. I was wondering what kind of trickery could behave like that (the speculation given here was the coprocessor but I dismissed that as ridiculous >.>), but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a mock-up too.
Not confirming it as mock-up but wouldn't rule it out either.
Edit: you know, knowing what the coprocessor can do would help too <.< So far it was implied it only does PCM but who knows.
That screen is a mess, composition-wise... It just reads really bad. I wonder if the idea is to have that vertical column spinning around the whole elevator. As it is, it would be hard to see enemies and player sprites. Also looks like an item drop on right in front of the enemy on the right. If it had dropped just to the left, you wouldn't be able to see it.
I was never a rarities collector, to begin with. Collectibles are everywhere, as are the kickstarter projects with similar appeal.Quote:
Originally Posted by TulioAdriano
I have a steam account with 2,200+ games, Everdrive MD, multiple retro consoles, dozens of accessories for each platform; I get the feeling it will hardly move the needle for me even if it's the best thing ever. And if it is, I can still buy it IF it really gets released.
Also, I have other hobbies now (five years is a lot of time); such as riding my motorcycles and that takes a good chunk of my weekends; so I feel like I have way more games than time to enjoy them. And even less time to keep up with this bs.
And, really, the special value I saw in this project had much more to do with the people involved in it and the idea of building piece by piece a great game which would benefit from the historical evolution of gameplay and level design.
Now I see it as something which was used to push people around and fool many of us. It doesn't give me a good feeling anymore.
About his technical prowess, I don't question it but I doubt about it's effectiveness in the long run.
I don't develop games, but I've developed software for more than a decade (no big deal, I know). I've worked in different companies which are well respect in my area and I currently lead a group of nine developers; day in, day out.
No amount of technical expertise will suffice if you have no social skills and don't know how to create a healthy environment for your team. And he seems to fit the bill right here.
Also, the lack of social interactions doesn't make you better over time, quite the opposite. I've seen several very good developers who got so messed up with their personal stuff they couldn't do shit at work anymore.
IF he is really working as hard as he said in the last year interviews, alone, in China, during overnights and all; man, that's something to cause concern instead of good expectations.