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That's an important point. I was immediately reminded of Limit Theory ( http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/04/08/mia-limit-theorys-josh-parnell-has-gone-quiet

by Udo 11y ago

That's an important point. I was immediately reminded of Limit Theory ( http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/04/08/mia-limit-theorys-josh-parnell-has-gone-quiet/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/04/08/mia-limit-theorys... ), where the creator went dark suddenly early this year. I think this might be a psychological hole creators can fall into. Maybe it starts out with them not wanting to communicate, one more time, that the project will take a while. Meanwhile ongoing development has hit rock bottom in term of perceived (or actual) speed. Then former fans start getting anxious, or upset, or leave - and this actually raises the bar you need to pull yourself over in order to start communicating again.

thenomad 11y ago
It's not just about communicating with your crew, but also your public. If you don't have a fanbase waiting for your work to come out, it'll be much, much, MUCH harder to achieve a successful launch. I'm very good at launches, and even so, I found that the years of silence really eroded the splash I was able to make with my project when I launched it. That's why these days I'm making a point to keep on Twittering, blogging, HNing, and so on, even when stuff is months away from release.
- IronTowerStudio 11y ago
  I'd say it's nearly impossible. One of the biggest mistakes aspiring indie developers make is that they keep their cards close to their chest. They don't want to spoil the storyline, they don't want to share their ideas because someone might steal them, etc. Well, if you run out of steam because you don't have any support, there will be nothing left to steal and nothing to spoil. You have to share everything. If you tell people that you're making an RPG, nobody would care. If you show everything you have, discuss all your ideas, then people will get interested and will stay with you and support you by giving a fuck - the best kind of support there is.
TeMPOraL 11y ago
It might be. I know I fall into it all too often. When the only thing you can write is "I missed the deadline. Again.", writing a report suddenly becomes a big psychological pain. But of course if you don't communicate, you're digging a deeper hole for yourself, with every missed status e-mail it becomes harder to write the next one (unless you suddenly succeded with everything, that is, but in my experience, when you end up not writing those reports then the problem is usually deeper than missing a date by a day or two). Since then I learned to force myself to write something, anything, just to keep people in the loop; it makes things easier for everyone, even if it hurts your self-esteem.
- Udo 11y ago
  That's exactly how I imagined it, thanks for sharing your experience. From the fan perspective I have to say that I don't care whether the creator missed a deadline or not. I just want to know that, somewhere, someone is working hard on making something cool. If you share a screenshot or a video every once in a while I'm happy pretty much indefinitely. Of course there are always people dissing you for every conceivable move, but I suspect the majority of backers understand the modalities of what they're backing.

by Udo 11y ago

thenomad 11y ago

It's not just about communicating with your crew, but also your public. If you don't have a fanbase waiting for your work to come out, it'll be much, much, MUCH harder to achieve a successful launch. I'm very good at launches, and even so, I found that the years of silence really eroded the splash I was able to make with my project when I launched it. That's why these days I'm making a point to keep on Twittering, blogging, HNing, and so on, even when stuff is months away from release.

IronTowerStudio 11y ago
I'd say it's nearly impossible. One of the biggest mistakes aspiring indie developers make is that they keep their cards close to their chest. They don't want to spoil the storyline, they don't want to share their ideas because someone might steal them, etc. Well, if you run out of steam because you don't have any support, there will be nothing left to steal and nothing to spoil. You have to share everything. If you tell people that you're making an RPG, nobody would care. If you show everything you have, discuss all your ideas, then people will get interested and will stay with you and support you by giving a fuck - the best kind of support there is.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

It might be. I know I fall into it all too often. When the only thing you can write is "I missed the deadline. Again.", writing a report suddenly becomes a big psychological pain. But of course if you don't communicate, you're digging a deeper hole for yourself, with every missed status e-mail it becomes harder to write the next one (unless you suddenly succeded with everything, that is, but in my experience, when you end up not writing those reports then the problem is usually deeper than missing a date by a day or two). Since then I learned to force myself to write something, anything, just to keep people in the loop; it makes things easier for everyone, even if it hurts your self-esteem.

Udo 11y ago
That's exactly how I imagined it, thanks for sharing your experience. From the fan perspective I have to say that I don't care whether the creator missed a deadline or not. I just want to know that, somewhere, someone is working hard on making something cool. If you share a screenshot or a video every once in a while I'm happy pretty much indefinitely. Of course there are always people dissing you for every conceivable move, but I suspect the majority of backers understand the modalities of what they're backing.