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[Boem]

heh.

But seriously, they have lots of projects in development. From a RPS post:

Broken Age
Hack’n'Slash
Spacebase DF-9
Massive Chalice
Grim Fandango
Little Pink Best Buds
Bad Golf 2
Middle Manager of Justice

I think they took the two which were giving them less income (bolded), and "finished" them before they had planned at first, focusing the company in a smaller number of games.

Hack 'n Slash came out a week or so ago, and Middle Manager of Justice has been out for ages. And they didn't push out Hack 'n Slash early, it resulted in exactly the game they promised all the time while it was on greenlight. The full game would be a polished/expanded version of what was on there, and a final dungeon that wasn't in there yet - and that's what they released. Bad Golf 2 isn't made by Double Fine, just a bunch of community members who are creating a fangame with DF's consent. Also, as far as I know, Little Pink Best Buds isn't in development. It was one of the prototypes for their annual game jams, where they create a simple game in two weeks (and, depending on the reception, some will become full games). That also happened like 6 months ago.

That only leaves Broken Age part 2 and Massive Chalice - both of which are coming along nicely if you're following the updates - and the Grim Fandango remake. Not too bad, I'd say.

 

[Wiktor]

Glad I didn't support their Kickstarters or bought this in Early Access. I like Double Fine's output, but they're terrible at making stuff efficently. They're just the dev one can trust with their money before they deliver.

 

[Sloane]

Yeah, the game ended up being nothing like I expected it to be, saw the removed development plan a few months ago and realized what was going on. Disappointing, to say the least.

 

[Artadius]

This game is begging for a Space Station 13 mod to be created for it.

 

[markot]

I well never kick start or green light anything again

 

[Toma]

Hm.

Disappointing. Hope some players are devoted enough to continue the development.

 

[stump sock]

I well never kick start or green light anything again

Right, because greenlight hurts you how?

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

Never ever ever never pay for early access unless the game as-is is already worth the price to you and anything added is gravy.

 

[Nzyme32]

The dev plans page states in no uncertain terms that v1.0 will be the last major update. Double Fine won't stop working on the game entirely (there will be bugs to fix, after all), but don't expect any new features -- that's precisely why the source code is being released.

That's what I thought but was hoping was not the case. I haven't purchased the game but I expect far more from Double Fine. I certainly won't be supporting any other early access or kickstarters of theirs as I now lack the confidence that they will follow through on their advertised vision to a respectable degree, but I guess that is also the nature of Kickstarter and Early Access too.

I well never kick start or green light anything again

I still see great promise in these avenues, but being unable to follow through on an outlined vision is something that I find hard to tolerate. While the point of Early access is to allow for freedom during development in many ways, in this case I don't think they have achieved what they set out to do and promoted in the first place. This is an issue on Kickstarter and Early Access yet there are many cases where this is not the case

 

[Corto]

For a reason or another (mostly felt a bit expensive) I never bought Spacebase. It felt overly ambitious from the get go and even more so with an Early Access funding model. I'm sure DF put some of their own money behind it but considering all the financial gymnastics they had to resort to release Broken Age Part I that most certainly should have dried by now and development needed to stop or the rest of the company would suffer. They should have done a Kickstarter to test if there was enough enthusiasm on the concept to push it further. Hope everything is alright within DF.

 

[Wiktor]

Hm.

Disappointing. Hope some players are devoted enough to continue the development.

Seems like a waste of their time to be honest. Better use it to expand on actually finished games that trying to do dev's jobs for them.

 

[More_Badass]

This is why early access is a scam.

As stated in a similar thread:

Don't Starve, Infested Planet, Secrets of Raetikon, Drunken Robot Pornography, Doorkickers, Prison Architect, Sir You Are Being Hunted, Assault Android Cactus, Betrayer, Broforce, Divinity Original Sin, Hack N Slash, Planetary Annihilation, Endless Legend, Heavy Bullets, and more prove that Early Access works

The assholes who abuse it or abandon their game don't diminish the work and efforts of the developers that actually care about their game and community

 

[TekGryphon]

What makes this especially bad for me is that I just found out yesterday that Towns is kicking off development again. Fucking Towns. The game that everyone thought was the poster child of Early Access burns.

Now they're pumping out content regularly again while this game, from a supposedly "reputable" studio, is cashing out and running.

I've backed 30 Kickstarter projects and funded the Greenlight status of dozens more, and this is the first one I feel legitimately burned on. I payed $20 for it, hoping to get a fragment of the enjoyment I got out of games like Dwarf Fortress, Gnomoria, or Prison Architect. Instead I got a game that, for lack of a better phrase, was a "basic bitch". Half-baked concepts, horrendous interface, and a lack of any kind of depth.

 

[SteveWinwood]

What makes this especially bad for me is that I just found out yesterday that Towns is kicking off development again. Fucking Towns. The game that everyone thought was the poster child of Early Access burns.

Now they're pumping out content regularly again while this game, from a supposedly "reputable" studio, is cashing out and running.

I've backed 30 Kickstarter projects and funded the Greenlight status of dozens more, and this is the first one I feel legitimately burned on. I payed $20 for it, hoping to get a fragment of the enjoyment I got out of games like Dwarf Fortress, Gnomoria, or Prison Architect. Instead I got a game that, for lack of a better phrase, was a "basic bitch". Half-baked concepts, horrendous interface, and a lack of any kind of depth.

You've funded green light status? Like you paid the 100 dollar listing fee?

 

[Baron_Calamity]

Just hearing about this, I don't know how I feel about it. I don't feel ripped off. Going in I knew the risks. It isn't like Double Fine's history is unknown. However I am disappointed that I will never get to play the game they were building towards.

 

[deadfolk]

...Towns is kicking off development again...

Wait, what?

 

[Toma]

Seems like a waste of their time to be honest. Better use it to expand on actually finished games that trying to do dev's jobs for them.

Depends. If DF releases the source code, does it mean they wont charge any money for it anymore? Spacebase is a solid foundation if its freely available.

 

[Wiktor]

As stated in a similar thread:

Don't Starve, Infested Planet, Secrets of Raetikon, Drunken Robot Pornography, Doorkickers, Prison Architect, Sir You Are Being Hunted, Assault Android Cactus, Betrayer, Broforce, Divinity Original Sin, Hack N Slash, Planetary Annihilation, and more prove that Early Access works

The assholes who abuse it or abandon their game don't diminish the work and efforts of the developers that actually care about their game and community

Yeah. THose can work and allowed us to get a lot of beautiful games. But everybody needs to realize those are risky propositions and take that into consideration. I know I won't support DA again by Kickstarter or Early Access, at they've shown to be unproven. Meanwhile I have no problems supporting Klei because I know they have much more integrity than Double Fine.

It's even harder decision when it comes to stuff from new devs, but in those cases I just ask myself "Is the concept unique and likalble enough that I can't stand the thought of it not getting made? Enough that I'm willing to risk money to increase the chances?" If the answer is yes I give the devs the money, fully knowing it's a risk. And if I get burned by them tough luck, I will just not support anything made by those people again.

 

[Wiktor]

Depends. If DF releases the source code, does it mean they wont charge any money for it anymore? Spacebase is a solid foundation if its freely available.

Indeed. I meant it as a paid product. That would be just exploiting modders in a very dirty way.
If they make it free..that's whole different matter.

 

[JaseC]

Depends. If DF releases the source code, does it mean they wont charge any money for it anymore? Spacebase is a solid foundation if its freely available.

Not necessarily. As mentioned earlier, Hack 'n' Slash comes with the game's source code, and Blast 'Em (not a DF game) does something similar with the source code being available as DLC.

 

[Messofanego]

This is disappointing, but at least it wasn't kicked off Steam. I had my fun with it, might play it more down the line.

I guess it really was too many projects, cause even I had trouble keeping track of all their simultaneous game development.

 

[NumberThree]

Depends. If DF releases the source code, does it mean they wont charge any money for it anymore? Spacebase is a solid foundation if its freely available.

They're not releasing the full source code, just the scripting. Basically mod tools.

edit: Never mind, the engine they use (Moai) also seems to be open source, so technically that's the entire game covered.

 

[MacNille]

What double Fine need is an accounter who will make sure that they will handle their budget better.

 

[illage4]

Wow that's a lot of stuff that won't make it into the game. Shame too as most of that stuff seemed pretty cool.

 

[More_Badass]

Yeah. THose can work and allowed us to get a lot of beautiful games. But everybody needs to realize those are risky propositions and take that into consideration. I know I won't support DA again by Kickstarter or Early Access, at they've shown to be unproven. Meanwhile I have no problems supporting Klei because I know they have much more integrity than Double Fine.

It's even harder decision when it comes to stuff from new devs, but in those cases I just ask myself "Is the concept unique and likalble enough that I can't stand the thought of it not getting made? Enough that I'm willing to risk money to increase the chances?" If the answer is yes I give the devs the money, fully knowing it's a risk. And if I get burned by them tough luck, I will just not support anything made by those people again.

Also many of the Early Access games and Kickstarters I've supported, I've known about the games for weeks and months. Sure they may be new devs, but if they've been working on a game for months and have a Devlog or Tumblr with their notable progress and they listen to feedback, yeah, I'll trust them with my money and that they'll put effort into finishing their game

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Wow, they really lost a ton of good will over the last two years.

From everybodys darling to the gutter...

Sad...

 

[BibiMaghoo]

That is unacceptable.

I expect much better from them, when much smaller and poorer companies put out an EA update every month, and have done for a long time. This is shameful, and they rightly deserve shit for it. I hope it is removed from Steam altogether.

 

[kiguel182]

This kind of stuff is pretty normal in game development. Features are cut or the scope scaled back.

The problem of EA or Kickstarter is that this whole process is open to paying costumers that don't understand this so they accuse devs of this or that.

If sales weren't enough to keep development (or if they scaled things back for other reasons) it's a normal decision to take.

 

[binhoker]

How about you finish the games and release them,then I'll see if I am interested in them and as a result buy them?

 

[Kade]

What double Fine need is an accounter who will make sure that they will handle their budget better.

Accounters ain't cheap.

 

[mnz]

With Broken Age part 2, Grim Fandango HD, Massive Chalice and the various Amnesia Fortnight projects all in development, I suspect Double Fine may have stretched themselves a bit too much.

Yeah, they had so many projects going. Hack'n'Slash just got its final release and I think you might've missed their biggest current project Costume Quest 2. And they are publishing other indie titles now, like Escape Goat 2 and Gang Beasts.

I don't mind Early Access, but this is not the way to do it.

 

[megalowho]

It's too bad they won't be able to continue adding features, I know they had ambitions for a Dwarf Fortress like endless development but glad they're bringing it to a 1.0 state and releasing source code. I've gotten fun out of it and will probably return again at some point to mess around. There's some neat ideas in Spacebase but it never seemed to catch on with a wider audience.

 

[legacyzero]

Ugh. Im never buying early access again.

 

[More_Badass]

You know if you're looking for a good sci fi colony building sim/management game, you can't wrong with RimWorld. Game's on Alpha 6 and the dev has delivered with every release so far, each update adding big game-changing features.
http://rimworldgame.com

If I remember correctly, the Kickstarter was 1000% funded

 

[BibiMaghoo]

This kind of stuff is pretty normal in game development. Features are cut or the scope scaled back.

The problem of EA or Kickstarter is that this whole process is open to paying costumers that don't understand this so they accuse devs of this or that.

If sales weren't enough to keep development (or if they scaled things back for other reasons) it's a normal decision to take.

Customers understand this just fine. What the devs don't understand, or do not care to, is that when you commit to selling a game to the public before it is complete, you are also committing to support that incomplete game until it is complete. Otherwise you are not selling an early version of a game, you are selling a mockup. You are not selling an incomplete version of the game. You are selling an incomplete game. These two things are very different, and rightly so, because no one on this planet is going to buy a game that is not complete and never will be.

If you cannot commit to the customers that have committed to you, then you do not sell your game before it is made. These devs are not green, they have a vast amount of experience, and so this drop out is worse than a no name that made an error with funding or whatever. It is just bogus, lazy, and above all, greedy at the expense of fans.

 

[VibratingDonkey]

And that's why "When you buy an Early Access game, you should consider what the game is like to play right now. There are a lot of ways a game can go as it develops over time, so if you aren't excited to play the game in its current state, then hold off..."

You get the problem of the game getting less funding and potential to deliver on its promises if you don't support it, but frankly, that's the developer's problem. Putting games that are too early on Early Access is more of a gamble for everyone involved. In this case it didn't work out. Double Fine should've known better. Hope everyone learns the right lessons from this.

 

[Nabs]

Ugh. Im never buying early access again.

There are so many great Early Access games right now, cutting them all off because of a few fails seems a bit harsh. Especially when it's so easy to see how a game is progressing and if it's actually fun to play in its current state. DF-9 was never a game that seemed worth picking up, it was one that people always said had a lot of potential.

 

[bistromathics]

Was this JPs first time as lead on a project? It's been a while since I watched the Amnesia Fortnight videos, but I feel like I remember this was his first time holding the reigns. Anyone know?

 

[CecilRousso]

How about you finish the games and release them,then I'll see if I am interested in them and as a result buy them?

You have that choice already, stay away from Early Access and buy them later.

I guess it really was too many projects, cause even I had trouble keeping track of all their simultaneous game development.

I don't think it has anything to do with too many projects, it's just simple economy. Each project has a budget, and you only assign people to a project when they fit into the budget. If this game doesn't sell, and they can't expand the budget, then you have to pull the plug. If this game had been a huge hit, they would have continued the development longer, but it wasn't. And it wouldn't have helped if they had done fewer projects.

 

[Wiktor]

This kind of stuff is pretty normal in game development. Features are cut or the scope scaled back.

The problem of EA or Kickstarter is that this whole process is open to paying costumers that don't understand this so they accuse devs of this or that.

If sales weren't enough to keep development (or if they scaled things back for other reasons) it's a normal decision to take.

Nope. You can't have all the benefits of secrecy of normal development AND early access. It doesn't work that way. If you're going to be asking people to give you money on a promise of something you are obligated morally to deliver.
If they werent sure they were going to be able to finish it they shouldn't have started to sell it.

 

[More_Badass]

There are so many great Early Access games right now, cutting them all off because of a few fails seems a bit harsh. Especially when it's so easy to see how a game is progressing and if it's actually fun to play in its current state. DF-9 was never a game that seemed worth picking up, it was one that people always said had a lot of potential.

Two more to add to that list: Endless Legend and Heavy Bullets

Come on, people, don't make generalized blanket condemnations on a system that clearly works. Blame the devs who abuse it, not the overall system itself or the devs who do actually work hard and use their Early Access period to its fullest potential

Would it make sense to say some drivers get into car accidents, thus all cars and drivers are unsafe?

 

[Aaron]

For people shitting on this project, they said from the start they would update the game as regularly as they were allowed, and that they would stop basically when the money ran out with the project. They did exactly what they said they were doing. They were honest and up front about the realities of Spacebase, which was trying something new with early access.

If you want to shit on Doublefine, ask why there haven't been updates for the second half of Broken Age since... well, actually there haven't been any updates to the second half.

 

[Azure Dream]

I don't have a strong opinion about Early Access, nor do I know the success/failure/development purgatory statistics. But:

Would it make sense to say some drivers get into car accidents, thus all cars and drivers are unsafe?

If a lot of drivers are getting into accidents, then you should redesign the car, or look at the rules of traffic and the roadways provided. Or maybe you need to educate those drivers better about their responsibilities.

 

[DocSeuss]

I am extremely displeased. Like... kinda actually moderately angry.

I enjoy my faux rage on the internet, like everyone does. It's funny to blast someone with a giant string of capital keyboard mashing, especially when it's obvious it's tongue in cheek. Legit anger from me is somewhat impossible to produce.

Or so I thought.

I've been eagerly following DF-9 for a while now, and a few months ago, I decided to uninstall it because I didn't ruin the game for me. The features they were promising at the time were too tantalizing not to miss.

I'm seriously considering boycotting Double Fine's games in the future. I mean, I don't care about Stupid Dictator Sim or Stupid Horse Game (literally almost every other pitch in Amnesia Fortnite was better, ffs), I don't care about DFA, but I've got it on Steam so I'm receiving it whether I spend money or not. I kickstarted Massive Chalice, so I'm fairly confident there's nothing I can do to get my money back on that front, so late after the campaign.

Which leaves Costume Quest 2. :\

I think I'm done buying Double Fine games. This isn't cool of them in the least.

 

[HamPster PamPster]

Chris Remo's posts in the original thread are pretty amusing in retrospect. Hopefully Campo Santo is a bit more committed to finishing games

I've been waiting for this game to release. I'll probably still buy since even shallow base builders can be fun. Rymdkapsel was one of my favorite games last year

 

[Turin Turambar]

For people shitting on this project, they said from the start they would update the game as regularly as they were allowed, and that they would stop basically when the money ran out with the project. They did exactly what they said they were doing. They were honest and up front about the realities of Spacebase, which was trying something new with early access.

That's fair, imo.

 

[Sinatar]

It's absurd that they are charging $30 for this hollow husk of a game. What a joke this turned out to be.

 

[Zukuu]

I never buy ANY early access games.

a) Stuff like this happens
b) I rather play a full and polished game, than keep beta testing single player games and pay for it and tarnish my experience.

 

[Aaron]

It's absurd that they are charging $30 for this hollow husk of a game. What a joke this turned out to be.

I wouldn't go that far, but I wouldn't say the game is finished either. It never crossed the threshold from simulation novelty to actual game, and it's definitely not worth $30, but I can see people making a case for it being worth $10.

 

[R1CHO]

For people shitting on this project, they said from the start they would update the game as regularly as they were allowed, and that they would stop basically when the money ran out with the project. They did exactly what they said they were doing. They were honest and up front about the realities of Spacebase, which was trying something new with early access.

What about their comments on the forum a month ago?

A MONTH ago!

Yo guys this is DF here, not some obscure indie dev, we are not pulling the plug!!

A month later, it's done guys!

Obviously something happened between these two dates, but they are acting like this is a totally cool thing to do.

Again, if they can't continue the development they should at the very least be humble and apologize to their fans and consumers.