Ducks is 100% correct with everything he has stated here. I do want to address why what he did wouldn't be any different from our decision.
- Henshin re-exporting the images at a higher resolution: This is due to us choosing Android initially. If I was going to do PC and only PC we would have to do the same thing for android now (lower quality to fit the requirements). It's a this or that decsion due to SU size. plain and simple. I would argue Android is much more difficult to deal with, and if we went PC first we would have most likely never done an Android version.
I'm going to piggy back your comment with that of Ducks regarding art editing. SR7 does use head swaps on characters, and there is no denying that. But what many don't realize is that we cannot get away with the level of quality from the editors. I want to put the hiearchy of trained eye into perspective. The fan editors (like Ducks, and many from that thread) are very well versed in knowledge of the assets of SU. But they come a distant 3rd to Henshin, who even he is a distant second to SR7. Let me give you an example. SR7 and Henshin can pick out where the editors got the pieces instantly, SR7 can tell what has been redrawn.
I invited a few fan editors to our team server to talk with us on how they do their work. First off fan editors spend 6-8+hrs on an image, this is additive to SR7 time. I shared a few of these images to SR7 and he immediately can see "oh that's Lex's leg from xyz, and he used the arm form the cell, notice how that leg is bigger than the other, it needs to be redrawn. Her body and shading aren't correct as they used a body from xyz and her foot wouldn't bend that way". I won't touch BG reusage, as many fan artists stick with very similar perspectives due to their inability to draw BGs. So yes, fan art and editors are great, and modding will be amazing but don't think for a second we wouldn't get crucified at the fucking stake if we released any of that. We have people trying to prove SR7 isn't that good daily here, some even use fan art as an example.
There are exceptions though. Some fan artists have artistic talent, and can redraw elements like legs, and alter shading. We worked with one fan editor who got an "it's alright" from SR7. Which is probably the highest complement he can give lol. Although that took several iterations, and a watchful eye of Henshin to cross the line.
SR7 style, and speed, and lower quality due to quantity approach, has birthed this great community. Mods will be awesome as well, and I have set up a section in our community for these types of things.
You quoted Ducks, but I think you meant to reply to me. Sorry if that isn't the case.
We have talked internally about exactly what you have said. We could use the event structure as a way to create off shoots of the cell content. This could open up possibilities of fan led content, or other insane ideas. At this point though we are trying to tackle 10 years of techinical debt without creating anymore.