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As best I know, there are only two game developers here on the forum. (My apologies if that is not true.) The two I know of have developed, marketed, made some $$$, and earned their living from making games. At the back end of their development, I came on board and have my hand in two titles. Unfortunately, one may never see the light of day. That's because of what I call "follow through".
The ability to "follow through" is offset by instant gratification of "money". Developers expect their finance people to "follow through" with the cash, developers aren't interested in "the cash has dried up", their interested in "show me the money". They put in a days work, expect a days pay. Sometimes the money starts to dry up before the project is finished. The developer's don't know that, only the finance people do, but quite often, it's the developers left holding the debts.
Evidence- Enigma: Sink the Hood. "Yo, finance man, where's the $$$?"
Now I understand when the money dries up, company's can close and go their own way, tell that to the developer when his house gets foreclosed because some finance guy folded. Most times though, the developer will continue to work on the project because he (the developer) has follow through, to the fans.
And sometimes those same fans are also lacking on follow through. "Hey where's the project?" "When is it going to be finished?" "Why is it taking so long?" Which eventually degrades to slurs, a little plagiarism, and the almighty "If it was me, I'd do it this way."
Yeah that's great, I'll wait to see your follow through but in the meantime, shut the ***** up. It will be done when it's done.
Your leisure time game is our livelihood, how we earn our living. The developers get it from both ends with lack of follow through, the wants from the public unable to be satisfied with instant gratification, against the $$ from above. Which leaves a third group, the only group, that has follow through.
The Diehards - those that never loose the faith who offer and help in between their real life, the moders who work tirelessly to patch, modify, improve and add in between their real life, and the Neal's of the world supporting the cause on their own $$, in between their real life.
Which comes back to "follow through". I'd gladly trade off the $81M expenditure to produce APB for one Neal, knowing how much "follow through" I'd get.
What's killing the video game business - and it is a business. It's the "follow through". Demand all and offer nothing.
(Q: How much info/help/mods/patchs have you taken from the subsim forums against how often have you donated?)
Neal knows where his group is, he can count it by $$ or by "follow through" not number of posts. A finished product is a many splendid thing, if you have follow through with $$, and the public gets their input. Take one away, and you may as well give up.
9 out of 10 games never make it to the finish, lack of "follow through" from the developers. Do I blame them? Hell no, why should I expect them to be the only ones with "follow through".
Sidebar: I did invite a developer/good friend of mine to comment on this thread, and it wasn't until I started penning my answer that I realize why. Unless you've had to earn your living by putting it together, there's no real reason for anyone to "follow through".
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