I love the game, I like RomanHume, but right now it does feel as if there's no real base for some of the reactions to criticism I've seen, neither by other posters nor the dev himself.
There'll always be whiners, but fe. making a humorous remark in regards to late updates isn't whining, not when there were several missed release dates, often for a long time period.
I'm generally laid back when it comes to the dissenters and the unhappy. I take it all in stride. But when someone calls me out directly and dangles a false carrot in front of my nose to get a rise out of me. Well then I'll oblige, it just won't be the rise they were hoping for.
Normally I politely ignore the dm's or posts. But this particular individual has been pretty relentless here and elsewhere. So I had have a little fun to maintain my sanity.
If you like a game, if you like a dev and how he interacts here with us, it's normal to feel protective about both, but not necessarily to an extent where we are blind to actual flaws or disregard fair criticism and tbh it does seem like exactly that from some of you guys.
I'm perfectly willing to wait, I won't come into the thread to complain about how the update takes so frigging long, about how much content was expected and what was actually delivered. No, I'm fine just waiting as long as it takes, but I do understand people doing the former.
And it's not necessarily just acting entitled, not if there are actual reasons for criticism. And yes, I do think that you can criticize development of a game, even if you are not an active patreon.
You can't demand shit, but you can sure as hell say you are disappointed with what's happening.
And I generally agree with all of this. I'm perfectly find with someone expressing disappointment. I have disappointed people, I own that fact, lock, stock and barrel. But I think there is a line between "Man, I'm really disappointed you can't make this game faster." vs. "You need to stop screwing around with new software and focus on your game." (Quoting this from a message on Patreon from a non-patron that I know is on this thread.)
One is clearly an expression of disappointment that I accept full responsibility for, the other is a directive.
In the end, a dev has to show that he actually delivers, with regular updates with a fair amount of content, then it's alright to pile up a little on the whiners and those who start complaining as soon as one lousy update comes a week or two late.
Let's be honest, this is not the situation we have right here. This isn't Sisterly Lust or Where The Heart Is with updates coming for years by now at regular intervals, with barely a missed deadline etc..
I'm sorry if I'm ruffling some feathers here, but I try to stay un-opinionated and just look at the actual facts, without blindly defending or bashing games/devs. And the facts are that by now this is a game with irregular and very slow updates and with updates not containing all that was initially supposed to be in them.
You're not ruffling any feathers. Quite the contrary, I've always appreciated your opinion because you rely on simple empirical evidence when making your points. I clearly recall that it was you that observed how much damage I was doing to the game's reputation by consistently failing to meet deadlines. That was very solid advice that I took to heart. I'm proactively keeping track of my current pace of development to improve my forecasting skills. Hopefully in another four or five months I can start providing precise estimations of completion and give players a date they can rely on.
Great game, great dev, but right now definitely with problems regarding content updates. And yes there are reasons, and yes they are valid reasons, I'm not arguing that.
This game still has my 5 star rating and I stand by that. It has the potential to be one of the best games on this site, but it has to deliver again.
I appreciate all of that! Truly.
Reality is, we started this game with a lot of ambition and zero skill. I'll be the very first to tell you that this game has been developed like it's total fucking amateur hour. As the team dwindled and everything distilled to me, it would have been so very easy to hang this up and move on. Let it die like so many other unfinished projects. But for whatever reason, I just can't let that happen.
I'm very serious about wanting to make this game and doubly serious about wanting to do it well. I have a 60 hour a week job, I'm raising three kids, and yet some how, I look forward to those precious few hours every night when I get to sit down and work on this project. And those interim moments when I have some free time in the day, I'm watching tutorials or studying material that is going to help me do this the best I can. (I'd like to think the ever improving art is proof of that.)
If people want to come on here and express their disappointment in me, that's fine. I'm a big boy. I can take it. And in many cases I'll apologize and even agree. Believe me, I want this thing moving a lot faster too! I'm just sitting on all these great tales and they're dying to get out of my head and into the code. I get excited thinking about the upcoming plot points. I truly get it because I want this to go faster too!
So by all means people, please, express your disappointment and we'll bemoan the facts together. I'm there with you. Seriously, I feel it too.
But to the others, please stop sending me messages, emails and posts implying that I'm simply not working hard enough, putting in enough time, or dictating, with or without bait, what I 'need' to do. If you do, depending on my mood, I'm going to clown you. I have to. Otherwise I'm letting you add to the pressure I'm already feeling from the players I actually care about.
botc76 Seriously, much respect! I appreciate that you care enough to even respond to all the nonsense that's been happening here. And I hope that one day I get to read a post from you along the lines of, "He started out really rough, and it took some time, but he finally got his shit together."
(I know I got a ways to go for that, but I'm working toward it!)
Salute mate!
