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[Data]

It's only dishonest if it's not true.

I have been working on this on and off for literally a decade now, with several year-long lulls in development as other things in my life have periodically diverted my attention (school, jobs, divorce, etc). This game isn't 100% of my life, and 'Indie Game Developer' isn't 100% of who I am. No amount of pleading and complaining is going to change that

All I know is that I am still passionate about finishing the vision Arne and I have for this project, and I'm truly enjoying working on it as I see fit. Unfortunately, I'm just not as passionate about keeping everyone else in the loop.. and that leads to a lack of expectation management, which easily leads to disappointment among the fans who are eager for more.

I understand and sympathize with all this, and I have tried to come up with solutions, including hiring a PR person to write blog posts etc..(tough job when there's not much to report during one of my development lulls). Maybe we'll try a twitter feed or something where there's a lower barrier of effort for me to write about what we're working on. (quick 140 character blast vs a full-blown blog post with image, formatting etc).. we'll see.

However, to say that I have done literally nothing to show progress is to exaggerate. There are several posts in the dev log showing the campaign metagame, and the latest build has a lot of changes under the hood in preparation to support the metagame mode. I am hoping to finish the devlog post detailing these changes if I can take a break from running around and wasting time putting out PR fires like these. Needless to say, I'm not making any progress on the actual game while writing forum and blog posts, which is exactly why I do so little of both!

- D

[eva_]

question: why is it in the humble bundle when something that's playable could be in it instead!!!

[Smithy]

Data! This is an outrage of the highest order! I demand to see your manager at once! I'm going to have you FIRED!

[Bandages]

I remember paying $20 to get Cortex Command a few months ago

I remember that regret

I'm well over it now, and I hold no hard feelings against anyone involved in the project, I just want them to know they are never getting my money again, because of the miserable service. That's how business works :B

[s0]

Wow dude, you really showed those paying customers. I mean, how dare they be dissatisfied with your glorious and flawless product? They should be glad you were generous enough to even let them transfer their hard-earned money to your Paypal account.

[Christian Knudsen]

and I have tried to come up with solutions, including hiring a PR person

[snip]

I am hoping to finish the devlog post detailing these changes if I can take a break from running around and wasting time putting out PR fires like these.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

But, really, people need to chill.

[Smithy]

The "customer is always right" mentality produces a lot of entitled-feeling, pamper-me assholes who are wrong.
That's just the way it goes.
You guys paid a cut price for a game with cut content. He's working on it. Life is tough, but you'll get the thing when he's done. Lay off.

[Rob Lach]

I understand and sympathize with all this, and I have tried to come up with solutions, including hiring a PR person.

Perhaps instead of hiring other people, you should hire a programmer to work full-time on it. Maybe Dan Tabar.

Note:
JOKING (INTERPRET IN JEST)

[deathtotheweird]

I don't think it was a wise choice for the Humble Bundle to choose CC when there are tons of other completely fine and finished or bug-free games out there.

Every thing about it is broken in one way or another.

I can't change my resolution, and I get some weird error when I start the game. I click campaign and there's not a campaign. Ok fine. Go into tutorial with text so tiny it hurts my eyes to try and read it.

I play some random level and I got stuck in the ground and have to restart. The game crashes. I go back in and try another mission, only to notice that most of the missions in the list aren't playable? So I'm limited to 4 missions with sub-par and terribly buggy gameplay.

It's just a poor choice to put this game in the bundle. I'm not mad or anything and I'm not calling him lazy and I'm not demanding he finish it now (or ever). I'm just kinda miffed on why this was chosen for the Bundle over the hundreds of other indie games out there.

[Data]

chrknudsen: Aye, a break would be nice. Said PR person (Andy Moore of SteamBirds fame) moved on because he became an active developer himself (which is awesome!).. it didn't make sense to try to find and hire someone else right away afterward.

I'm not opposed to giving it another shot though, should the right person come along. The Wolfire guys are super lucky to have someone as awesome (and bearded) as John Graham for their PR hero.. this thing isn't as easy as you make it out to be!

[eva_]

chrknudsen: Aye, a break would be nice. Said PR person (Andy Moore of SteamBirds fame) moved on because he became an active developer himself (which is awesome!).. it didn't make sense to try to find and hire someone else right away afterward.

I'm not opposed to giving it another shot though, should the right person come along. The Wolfire guys are super lucky to have someone as awesome (and bearded) as John Graham for their PR hero.. this thing isn't as easy as you make it out to be!

read the post above yours instead

[s0]

The "customer is always right" mentality produces a lot of entitled-feeling, pamper-me assholes who are wrong.

I agree but there's no need to put fuel in the fire by basically telling your customers to go fuck themselves.

[Christian Knudsen]

chrknudsen: Aye, a break would be nice. Said PR person (Andy Moore of SteamBirds fame) moved on because he became an active developer himself (which is awesome!).. it didn't make sense to try to find and hire someone else right away afterward.

Ah, that makes sense, then. I thought you still had the PR dude.

[deathtotheweird]

He should not have agreed to put it in the Bundle. It's obvious he really doesn't have the motivation to work on it much anymore (if at all), so it seems to me like he just wanted to milk a few bucks out of it while he still can before he totally gives up on it.

[PaleFox]

It's just... the game is so broken in so many ways. I don't see why it's in this bundle with ostensibly good games, except to get a little more profit for Data, since noone in their right mind would buy this game as it is.

You can't walk across a level surface, much less a hill; you can get stuck inside things; squatting over a gun causes it to vanish without a trace; rockets can fall over, causing them to become useless unless physically destroyed; etc etc etc.

Yes, it's not finished. That's fine, I guess, if you want to sell preorders or whatever. But don't put it in this bundle with games that are complete and polished. Playing this after playing Braid is such a bizarre contrast.

[Zaphos]

someone as awesome (and bearded) as John Graham

He's not bearded anymore!   Please spend the next two minutes and forty-eight seconds of your life watching this youtube video of John Graham having his beard shaved and feel mildly uncomfortable about doing so:

[Chris Whitman]

Data is reacting pretty much exactly how I would react if complete strangers told me I was lazy and trying to exploit them because they paid $20 for a game I made absolutely clear was unfinished with no fixed schedule, and then later it turned out the game was unfinished with no fixed schedule.

Other than that, I see more or less the same "why was X included when I like Y better?" bullshit.

TIGSource conspiracy, guys.

[Data]

Hey guys, I'm truly sorry you're not satisfied with the current state of the game. I was approached many months ago about having it included in the bundle, and I made it clear to them that it wouldn't be a "finished" product by the time of their launch. They were OK with that, because the game IS in active development (despite exaggerated rumors to the contrary) and they would clearly state that on the bundle page - which they have.

As with any work in progress, there's unfortunately rough edges and crash bugs in there. Even so, I am getting a lot of positive feedback from new customers exposed to Cortex Command through the bundle, so I am still proud of what the Data Realms team and I have put together so far!

- D

[ChevyRay]

Good man, Data. I don't think you need to say anything else here. Most of these sickeningly sarcastic posts directed towards you don't even warrant attention, never mind a response.

Good luck with your game, and I hope the feedback you get from bundle-buyers helps a lot towards finishing it up!

[eva_]

k then enjoy the quarter million dollars or whatever you "earned"