Ok guys, I talked to a professional programnmer (his primary income is from industry not the game community even though he has 2 good games out) who wished to remain anonymous but this is what he wrote to me....
"But to get back to the scam thingy you were referring to. One of the problems he is facing with this game of his is that it is 2D. After a while it looks like scam because the more options you put into the game the more things you need to consider as a game developer.
I am getting things done since I have one storyline with no branches into other optional storylines. Once you go this route with many branches you need to divide your time into these branches and i guess this is why so many projects are slowing down siginficantly once they reach a certain size.
And 2D does not help either , you need a character to wear a different dress in the same situation. Needs to be positioned and rendered.. and if she needs to wear this different dress in other situations then.. well.. position and render.
3D is a big initial payload at first BUT once you have the main things going for you , it is just making animations which are ALWAYS reusable in nearly all situations and maybe some clothes which are also be useable in all situations.
Or.. maybe to get it simple , imagine creating a sims game in 2D. Imagine now that you would have to make pictures for EVERY possible combination of things that can happen.
With 3D you just enable and disable clothes and done. BUT the initial payload is massive.
This is what i think , why many of the 2D games are getting slower.. and slower.. and slower overtime."
So there you have it, a rational explanation for time and complexity... he also mentioned thats not a guarantee of the problems with ES but it is a factor. I can see it getting herder and harder to talk to your fan base when it takes more and more to get anything to press.
