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Old 04-17-2012, 03:46 PM   #604
ozzie
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Originally Posted by marcd2011 View Post
i wouldn't be too sure that being self published is a good thing for Jane Jensen. Even with a publisher pushing for the game to be finished, it took years for Gray Matter to see the light of day, and it wasn't that great when it did finally come out so i wouldn't like to see how long it takes her to release something when she doesn't have anyone pushing her.

Personally i think it's a bit of a piss take for this and the LSL project to be on Kickstarter at all, while indie developers like Indiestone (Project Zomboid) and Chris Bischoff (Stasis) are struggling under the constrants of self funding. Surely these developers have made enough money over the decades they've been making games to fund these games themselves?
First of all, Gray Matter's development didn't take so long because Jane Jensen couldn't get her design finished. In fact, if I recall correctly, she finished her design years before the game finally shipped.
If you read the Post Mortem by Scott Bilas about Gabriel Knight 3 (another game that was significantly delayed), then you'll notice only positive mentions about Jane's contributions. To quote:
Quote:
The game's design was a major success and deserves special mention. GK3 would have simply fallen over and died had we had a less experienced designer than Jane Jensen. Throughout the entire development process, the one thing that we could count on was the game design. It was well thought out and researched, and had an entertaining and engrossing story. Best of all, Jane got it right well in advance -- aside from some of the puzzles, nothing really needed to be reworked during development. She delivered the design on time and maintained it meticulously as the project went on.
I wouldn't say publisher dtp handled Gray Matter very wisely. For a start, they gave it into the hands of a largely unproven Eastern-European studio (I think Tonuzaba Entertainment). Maybe they thought it would be cheaper this way? I'm just speculating. Turned out this team couldn't get it done, so then Wizarbox handled further development duties and got it barely out of the door, probably (I guess!) well over the budget dtp bargained for.

Secondly, Jane indeed funds the Kickstarter project partly herself. But a good adventure game, especially as ambitious and substantial as we expect from her, doesn't come cheap.

Thirdly, I think she deserves the money because of the good name she got. You have to be proven or otherwise have an incredibly intriguing pitch at hand to be able to raise this kind of money. You know, you can't just say you want it to get it. That's just how it goes.

Last edited by ozzie; 04-17-2012 at 04:07 PM.
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