How come after 7 years this game is stil just a scene viewer...?
I rember thinking of downloading this game 5 years ago, but thinking "meh i'll give it some more time.".
Now 5 years later i checked it out..
And, yup, it's just a scene viewer, pick character, watch one of 10 animations, maybe move some placeble objects...
That's it...
How the hell is that 7 years of game dev time...XD
I've shot off this opinion a few times before here but generally some folks here take it almost personally that something that they're not even working on isn't coming up to snuff.
Add another 7 and it will still only amount to a scene viewer. Tool around in ue5 for 4-5 months, then launch wildlife and you'll laugh.
My 2¢. This is a hussle that pushes something that sits on the edge of a minimally viable product, in perpetuity. I mean think of it this way - where is the impetus to actually finish this product if they're likely to make more off a slow patreon dev cycle than actual sales of a 1.0 release? You don't do patreon for a finished product, so why rush to a "release?". Hell, just do the big brain move and put the onus on the end user to make up their own content, so if they're not satisfied, then its clearly an end user problem while you slowly add/remove/rework things and release roadmaps and concept art like thats real progress.
Besides, they're developing on someone elses money. Normally a studio gets set funding or self funds, then has to work off a budget/schedule and a general scope/concept for a game and from that starting point you can build something out and work towards a finished product. Wildlife as a product right now is nebulous, vague, and directionless. The development speaks for itself, loudly, but some users here have never had a post nut clarity it seems. Patreon supporters don't demand milestones like a studio, so they'll take the drip of whatever is called production and the spigot stays open for yet another month of funding.
Reminds me of "The Day Before". No matter how obvious it was that the game was going to be a disaster, there were still a shocking number of people who defended it right up until release. The game finally comes out and then just like that, they all vanished. People don't see the problems, not because they can't, but because they refuse to.