slopesandsam

I wasn't trying to flame anybody, or cause upset. I merely thought it might be constructive to give a possible reason for why some backers have not taken an active role since the kickstarter. I apologise.

As I said above, I wasn't trying to make out like I distrusted or disliked Chris in any way, it was more me trying to explain what turned me off being an active participant in the online community. And, I suspect, my sentiments are shared by a number of others (your reply suggests this is the case, given that you imply that Chris has suffered the "who the hell is this guy" treatment multiple times since the project started). Based on other Kickstarters, and how game developers in general have interacted with fans during the age of the internet (and I understand that Scott and Mark predate that era), I think a lot of people were expecting Scott and Mark to be the primary voices of the SpaceVenture. Tim Schafer is clearly the major voice behind the Double Fine Adventure. Obsidian Entertainment's Project Eternity kickstarter (which is going on right now) is primarily being driven by the guys who will actually be building the game. So with the SpaceVenture, you can probably understand why a lot of the backers had misgivings when the guy doing the lion's share of the talking and interacting with fans was someone they'd never heard of before. Escpecially when you consider that, unlike most game developers, Scott and Mark are actually a part of their own game's lore - they're more prominent than most game developers are. So not having them be the spokespeople for their own game just seemed odd.

I wasn't trying to diss Chris - as I said, I really don't know anything about him. I was just explaining the impression I'd gotten, and that it might be the impression that a number of backers got. The websites don't give the impression of being professional. They're both quite busy, visually, and their tabs don't make much sense as far as grouping information goes. Why, for instance, is the News tab not just the front page? Why are there two separate websites? Why divide the content like that? Compare them to this website, spacequest.net, which is much cleaner looking, and has tabs that are immediately understandable, with information grouped into a simple tree structure of clear categories. Sorry, I don't like that my first two posts are such critical ones. I was inspired to write the first simply to explain my reasons for being a non-active backer, and this one as a response. I just want to re-iterate that I am still very enthusiastic about the SpaceVenture, and can't wait to play it.

After backing the SpaceVenture, I went on a spree of playing through all the SQ games. It was awesome! I hadn't actually played some of them since, I think, I was in high school (I'm 31 now). I even wound up re-reading the Red Dwarf and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books after I finished playing SQ because I hadn't sated my hunger for comic space opera yet. However, I haven't been particularly involved since then. I actually only just thought to check up on any SpaceVenture news, saw this thread and signed up to join the forum just so I could post this reply. A big part of why I haven't been active, for me, was because the SpaceVenture's online presence hasn't been particularly compelling. The websites that have gone up (twoguysfromandromeda.com and svrewards.com) both look pretty rough, and are not easily navigable. I also haven't liked how all the instances of Mark and Scott talking have been filtered through this Chris Pope guy. I was excited to listen to the commentaries of each game, but I was expecting Mark and Scott to just be chatting, like a director's commentary. When it turned out to be Chris interviewing them and directing the conversation, I switched off. This isn't because I dislike Chris. I don't know anything about him. Perhaps if I took the time to listen to the podcasts and commentaries, I'd be reassured. But the initial impression I got, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was like this for a number of backers, was that he was just some guy who'd elbowed his way into things and tried to take it over. That was my first impression, and it turned me off. My enthusiasm for the project hasn't waned. I'm still excited about the finished product. I just wanted to hear from Scott and Mark directly, and to feel like they're in control. Those are my reasons for not being active online, anyway.