If any of us are getting paid, I sure am not aware of it (or I've forgotten). This certainly includes everything related to Starward. We're the Freaking Volunteers for a reason, after all.
It's *uniquely* the moderators who are not getting paid on a given project that are *most* able to give the warning signals when something isn't going right. I can try, I certainly did on both SBR and Raptor, but I'm more of a pariah on the outside. I can't do what you moderators can and that's deliver the news in the morning as it is.
You have to understand, that while there's often "inside knowledge" and such, we cant give "warning signals" and such about it because that sort of thing simply isn't allowed. It's not our information to give.
It is true that with Starward this is often different; I for instance tend to just talk about whatever or show screenshots of upcoming stuff, particularly things that are my doing in the first place. Starward is a different story though; that project was handed over to us. But even that has rules; we couldn't talk about the Humble Update until it happened, for instance. There's a couple of other things right now that cant really be mentioned, either. Them's the rules.
If we have permission on something, yes, we can give news. But things being the way they are, if that's the case, Chris usually has already given the news, so everyone here is usually already aware of it. Arcen has always been good about keeping everyone informed, particularly since the opinions and thoughts of the community tend to play into a lot of things so much. And we mods don't necessarily have anything to add to it beyond what anyone else could come up with.
Hell, my own thoughts on things are rarely based on financial viability and such. Finances are beyond me and I tend not to deal with money in general outside of random impulse purchases, so I often don't think of that. Usually I'm thinking of the quality and viability of the gameplay only. This was why I kept saying that Raptor had potential; because I knew where the game was meant to head as far as gameplay goes, and in that, to me, it did have potential. But in terms of marketing and such? All I know is "it's tough for everyone right now". That's about it. I mean, something like, say, Valley 2, right? My main concern with THAT game was that they were giving it away to people that already owned the first. I remember thinking that it seemed like a risky move. Beyond that though, I really liked the game itself, and basically that was what I'd be thinking about in further comments. That's what influences whatever I'm saying at the time.
SBR, now... I mostly just complained a lot. That game had issues and we all know it. I thought it had potential, but it never hit the point of actually meeting that.
Don't assume that we wont voice concerns or anything simply because we're talking to "the boss" or whatever. Usually we speak up when we feel it's necessary (or in my case, complain a lot). If we were dealing with something like a jerkbag AAA company, that'd be one thing. That's one of the benefits of indie devs though: They don't have to act like that, and in my experience, they rarely do. I've never met one that cant be spoken to in a very frank and honest way. I complain to others I know just as I do here.
Really, as Cinth says, you're attributing more importance to us than we have. We help around the forums, and work on Starward. That's it, really. And since these forums are so peaceful, most of that bit is "stomp bots", which is certainly why I do it (I really cant emphasize how much I hate those things).
....also we don't get "pre-redshirt" copies of things. In my case Starward and also TLF were exceptions; I was directly in Starward's main development, and same for TLF's first expansion. So of course I'm going to have development versions of those. But things other than that? It hasn't happened, and aside from Cinth working with them on AI War 2, I'm betting this is the case for the others too (correct me if I'm wrong). It just wouldn't make any sense to do that, because what the heck would be the benefit?
Aaaaanyway. All I'm really saying is not to get the wrong impression. I know this whole thing has been bloody frustrating, so something like this is expected and I've no problems with it. But yeah, just explaining some things here.
One way or another though, overall, I just wish this project could have worked out differently. It seriously sucks that the KS didn't go through.
