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[starsrift]

Do you think this is the end of pre-alpha/alpha buy-ins/kickstarter projects, or do you think The Internet is smart enough to realize it's a one-off thing and move past it?

[HyperDuckChris]

They're still getting the game I believe, only things will be a little backdated, I think if the developers maintain the faith by carrying on despite the horrible thing that has happened (really sorry to hear it, couldn't be more devastated for them) then they'll show those who supported them that despite turmoil, the money and faith invested in these developers was well placed.

I really doubt it is the end though. Hardly the end! No no no no no, nope.

[st33d]

Do you think this is the end of pre-alpha/alpha buy-ins/kickstarter projects, or do you think The Internet is smart enough to realize it's a one-off thing and move past it?

Well it worked out so badly for Notch didn't it? He's penniless and unknown now.

[1982]

No it is not end. Maybe only for those idiots who think blindly that by paying beforehand they eventually get what they paid for. Not always it goes like that; developers can be robbed, developers can die, it might be a scam, there is mega tsunami, nuclear blast, internet crashes.

Im not saying that this crowd funding thing is there to help develop scams, but it should be everyones own personal judgement of should they invest or not. And if invest, invest only as much that is worth the risk. Always be aware that it might not come true what you paid for. Crowd funding is about trust, of both sides.

It has been saddening to see how stupid people can be about this Zomboid thing. Yes it is stupid of not properly backup lifes work, but it is also very stupid pay 8 dollars, lose it, and then file death threats.

 

[Mikademus]

Backstory plez for us lazy bastards that don't know what you're talking about.

[Tumetsu]

Developers had only very old backups outside their own computers. Someone came in their apartment, and stole their computers. Now they have to deal with months old versions and people on internet are moaning and bitching about valid and invalid reasons. Also, devs set up good twitter fiasco afterwards insulting their already pissed fans.

[1982]

Also, devs set up good twitter fiasco afterwards insulting their already pissed fans.

Haha I didn't know that, is there any tasty quotes?

[Christian Knudsen]

http://www.nerd-age.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Project-Zomboid-fan-made-twitter-diagram.gif

[1982]

http://www.nerd-age.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Project-Zomboid-fan-made-twitter-diagram.gif

I lol'd

[C.A. Silbereisen]

Already said this in the other thread, but I can kind of sympathize with the anger of the fans seeing as this entire "fiasco" could have been easily avoided with some decent version control or, hell, a Dropbox account.

[Ashkin]

Looking on the bright side, this has convinced me to back up my code on both Github and Dropbox. Yay for awareness!

[st33d]

I have a backup on my usb key with me at all times.

[MattG]

usb keychains, servers, and local drives on different cpus. I cant believe lemmy is gonna quit 

[C.A. Silbereisen]

Looking on the bright side, this has convinced me to back up my code on both Github and Dropbox. Yay for awareness!

I started doing "proper" backups (flash drives and dropbox) after my hard drive died last year taking most of my music and game projects with it.

Though the difference between me and the Zomboid guys is that I'm not the creator of one of the most anticipated indie games with tons of preorders. I think it's reasonable to expect a bit more professionalism from these guys.

[randomshade]

1: sucks for the devs. Being robbed is really horrible; it has happened to me :/
2: what a bunch of horrible dialogue between the dev and the fans(?)...
3: Free SVN repo/Git hub hosting for small teams http://unfuddle.com/ is good.

[RichMakeGame!]

dropbox is cool but for those that don't already I suggest encrypting your files. There was a little fuss a while ago when they left all accounts unlocked for 4 hours http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/dropbox/

probably no harm came from it, but a good reminder to encrypt anything which could potentially be publicly available somehow

[Tumetsu]

I have backups with Dropbox and Syncplicity which update my files automatically and occasional Flash memory copies. I think I could try some source control software, but most of them seem to require a server machine and only possible server machine I could get is far more unreliable than my other backup solutions. Also after looking into the Git, it seemed rather complex to me, even though I'm not completely newbie with command line. :/

The biggest problem with backups for me is how to automate it, since I don't feel like or remember to backup everything manually regularly.

[---]

My files are backed up onto an external hard drive. I should probably upload them on the internert

[Tumetsu]

I would use my uni's servers but personal file storage is just 300MB and most of my projects are well over 100MB with all PSDs etc. Of course I could use it just for code backups and ingame gfx...

[dEnamed]

I don't think it will be a fiasco for funding projects, although I do feel that they're somewhat of a fad that might fade out again in a couple of months. The whole private funding thing is the idea of cashing in on the "Best Buddy: Indie Dev" Idea. Meaning: Indie Devs are usually persons you can actually get in contact with, they usually interact with their fanbase and offer a much more involved insight in the whole developing process.
A lot of people appreciate that and pay good money for it. This in my opinion, is why the funding thing actually works. For an example of how this can turn into a backlash, see the Cortex Command Situation where a lot of patches suggested active development, only for it to drop into complete silence. Now if there were more scenarios like Cortex Command or the magically cursed Project Zomboid, which deal with issues in a poor way, it will invariably lose some people. Good riddance I guess, at least according to a lot of angry internet kids I've had the "pleasure" of reading in the last couple of days.
Queue forward a bunch of accidents, cause shit does happen, drunk people sadly having twitter access happens, egos being thrown about like it's a pissing contest happens, well that's all natural. However: Each incident will lose a handful of more people's trust.

Will this kill the funding idea? No, absolutely not. As long as there are outgoing Devs, that manage to invoke sympathy and an aura of collegiality and professionalism, there will be individual stories of success. The whole indiscriminate trust, indie games have gathered over the years, for being a place of unrestricted ideas and down to earth people, will however suffer from this. It'll also suffer from the hubris issues and the fierce art debates. It'll be interesting to see if Indie Games can keep gathering enough trust to outweigh the trust tarnishing actions of a few but prominent figures.

No it is not end. Maybe only for those idiots who think blindly that by paying beforehand they eventually get what they paid for.

Now there's a shocker, people pay money and form expectations based on that money! How could they! Must be all idiots. Hint: There's a very distinct difference between funding and donation based models.
Also the quantity of the funding doesn't matter. 8$ isn't a lot to me or you. It's nothing to shrug off to a lot of people, even in the midst of Europe with rising poverty rates.