Cheers folks, again I can't express how much we appreciate the support. This sort of thing gets to me on a very personal level, to the point where I literally have to take anti-anxiety medicine around the time of releases, and that's WITH skipping reading most public comments and reviews. There are few things less pleasant to me than releasing a new game (expansions are fine, though). Public speaking doesn't hold a candle to it; I'd gladly do that all the time, by comparison, heh.
Anyway, the reason it's so stressful is that it's always hard to know what general reception is going to be. It's always something we're really proud of, and (these days) always something that a core fanbase builds around in alpha and beta. But then you get things like the Shattered Haven fiasco with a lot of press seemingly writing it off for it's "side quests" (WTF, that's the actual game) while others that really play it more talk about how it's possibly our best title.
It's always this huge leap, like jumping out of an airplane, and it's terrifying rather than exhilarating when the result really has a material affect on your future. Putting your career and the careers of your staff in the hands of people who have often been dismissive or overly negative in the past, you know? That's the game and so I play it, and ultimately I wouldn't trade it in. But holy !@# is it stressful. You can't help but wonder if the haters are right when the "consensus" isn't in on a game yet, you know? With AI War it's easy to ignore because that's well-established as awesome. If someone doesn't like it, it's just taste. Same with Tidalis, and to a lesser extent the Valley games. But for a good 3-6 months after any new game comes out, it doesn't feel like that at all.
Hopefully someday this becomes less unpleasant, but so far no joy. I absolutely love making games and there's nothing I'd rather do; and the unpleasantness of this still isn't enough to push me away from the industry. But good grief, I could use a little more sunshine in my life around release times.
