They always brag about a week's update, It wasn't there now. And about May, they did not write exactly what. According to your logic, they do not cheat. I think they will say that there is a new idea and its implementation will take the entire July (yes, yes July). Well, of course, there will be a bug that crashes the passage.
No, I didn't say they didn't "cheat". They've lied to us before (by way of failed promises). In fact, they can get downright shady which is what I said.
However, I don't think they rise to the level of outright scammers. They
do deliver; albeit, in a deliberately slow manner (usually amongst a few excuses and missed target release windows). They *have* to do a better job communicating with folks and let them know what's up in a honest, upfront manner instead of the roundabout way of leading folks on. Don't think for one moment that I'm giving them a free pass,
kobak et. al. I'm not.
Long waits between updates is fine as long as you let folks know that is the plan and
be open and honest with progress reports. Many devs do this (i.e., Eva Kiss), and others provide frequent updates typically on a monthly basis (i.e., Sierra Lee). Then there are the real scammers out there -- devs that are completely disingenuous about stuff and straight up lie to their patrons despite frequent posts
(i.e., Crushstation) or with no communication at all. So, where does Hreinn Games fall on that spectrum? They fall between the extremes. The updates takes a while and they aren't open about their progression which is shady behavior, but at the same time they're not just taking people's money and running away with it. Sometimes they drop art packs and other things, and people will question about the apparent lack of progress to the main project itself. Development is hard and the way they operate needs improvement, but I wouldn't call them scammers either. Shady sure, but not scammers.
Does that make the distinction clearer? Potential patrons for this project usually know that it may take a while to receive an update from them since they
don't hide that fact; though, they may not realize that progess reports won't typically be forthcoming from this team. **Hreinn Games aren't thieves but because they often fall short on their promises and are either unwilling or incapable of communicating with their fans well**; thus, they have tendencies to make them look like thieves or scammers. Since they're
not, many of us all wish them to improve and hope for the best for them. Otherwise, why would we? Though I personally wouldn't support them again financially
until they improve on the communication front and do a better job following through on their promises, but folks are free to make that choice themselves. They got their work cut out for them since they've burned a lot of goodwill over time, BUT they're slowly improving despite missteps -- I just wish they wouldn't lead people on ('cause that
is shady behavior) and be more honest and open about their progress.
So just be cautious. Don't be so pessimistic that you can't wish them to improve or only have negative thoughts on what they do. At least you know that the team will eventually drop an update at some point. So there's that. ;]
