Been reading up a bit on the recent drama.. and imo.. Yes it is a bit of a dick move to start criticising such a project like this Smart guy, but at the same time, they totally deserve it. What they are doing with the "crowdfunding" is simply shameless, and the crowdfunding itself very much looks like it was/is the main thing they are doing.
And they do have a big problem showing what they have done for those 90 million..
I think Oberyn is right, this will be a serious stinker, there will be big big drama about this whole thing. Not that I completely blame them either though, I can see how it could have gone wrong, step by step. You can see it in the stretch goals gradually loosing touch with reality, as well as gradually becoming less and less inventive.
It would be easier if they had a strict set of limits from the start, 1 million, 10 million, 100 million. At least then the game could be forged inside those limits, and you would know what you can and can't do. Controlling this growing monster, for even the best dev in the world would be very difficult..
The most absurd being hiring top actors for voiceovers and inventing alien languages... As a filmmaker, I can tell you that there are great great actors out there, that are not famous or expensive! They will do just as good a job as an AAA actor when it comes to the craft. They only thing they won't do as good is selling the movie for you.
These are things that will do nearly nothing for the gameplay. Ah the gameplay.. Not exactly in focus is it? Just because you throw everything good and exiting and expensive into a salad doesn't mean it's going to be a good salad. What they have is a bunch of ingredients, and no recipe.
Back to the drama, one thing is this Smart guy bashing them (and if you read his blog, he comes across saner than Chris Roberts do), another is these 7 employees basically confirming his points. It's very funny, and tragic, to see the fanboys defending RSI like they do though.. They have managed to create such hopes, such big wet eyes, and cynically exploited it like the marketing geniuses that they are. There's zero reason to distrust the motivation of Escapist mag here. There's potentially a huge story out there, if all that money cynically drawn from "donators" have been wasted.
Now, as a final disclaimer: You never know, in movies, art and I can presume games, how good something is going to get. The shittiest set often creates the best movies, and the most controlled movie set creates the worst ones. A good example is how few good movies coming out of Germany! They have money, they have a super efficient and professional film set culture, but their movies, alas, are shit.
So I won't judge the final game. But I do believe, and can easily see how, they are having serious troubles making it. I won't be surprised if it bombs completely..
