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[ChairmanPoo]

Assuming it's true. Like SeaBee said, it makes one raise an eyebrow...

At any rate, I'll keep an eye on the upcoming game, for the moment. I don't think I'm willing to invest in it  atm given the circumstances..

[Jimlad11]

deleted

[Leatra]

The things this Lemmy guy and his crew have been saying on Twitter / Reddit are not very appealing. Also ... how do funded projects not use revision control offsite? This guy never had a hardware failure or something? From where I sit (the sidelines), it doesn't seem to be very respectful of their pre-paying clients.

I don't have a dog in this fight, though. Just saying ... these guys are melting down in all the wrong ways.

(Full disclosure: I admit this whole thing is fascinating, seems like everything that can go wrong to this team does. Which raises questions.)

Edited to add a link to an image of some of his tweets, since he's in the process of deleting them/his Twitter account to make it all go away (Twitter style, so read from the bottom up): http://i.imgur.com/guW7t.jpg

Wow. I feel sorry for this guy. Experiencing a burglary is a bad thing and having your months of work stolen? That sucks.
 
I have been robbed two times. One time the burglar used some kind of a sedative which put the household into a deep sleep. But we only lost our cellphones and some cash. Laptop was hidden (I kept telling my mom that she is being paranoid... Thanks mom) and we didn't have many valuable stuff in the house.

One time, I was working on an TES:Oblivion mod and a trojan completely destroyed everything. I kept saying to myself "I'll make an external backup... eventually" but I never did. Then I just gave up modding.

I slightly know what that feels like and people saying "bah ur game was crap anyways" and stuff like that will only make it worse. I experienced a similiar attitude at that mod incident. This is the time these guys need support. Nobody needs support if they are having a good time.

[KaelGotDwarves]

Spoiler: Here's a longer, uncut version of the Twitter meltdown before he deleted it. (click to show/hide)

Once again, read bottom up.

I don't really have much to say other than this surprisingly vindicates paypal. Oh, and he called reddit arseholes for being upset when they accounted for hundreds, probably thousands of sales.

[Mookzen]

Well, at least Cataclysm is going strong.

[lordcooper]

I don't really have much to say other than this surprisingly vindicates paypal. Oh, and he called reddit arseholes for being upset when they accounted for hundreds, probably thousands of sales.

Did you actually read that Reddit?  It was basically one long torrent of abuse.  So yes, arseholes would fit the bill nicely.

http://www.theindiestone.com/lemmy/index.php/2011/10/16/final-post-and-apology/

They're carrying on and Lemmy is dropping from the public line of sight.  This can only be a good thing for them on the whole.

[Rumrusher]

Dang I never thought to see a game developer version Dwarf fortress act out online.
Such a horrible thing to happen, Snatchers ran off with their PCs
and one of the developers threw a tantrum.
Is this some hidden curse that these folk accidentally unleash on themselves?

[Jimlad11]

deleted

[burningpet]

If they had a good PR or a Marketing manager, none of us would have even known about that incident and they could just say that they delay the game due to polishing and bug fixing and all of we would have been really happy and grateful for the dedication to the product.

Its their fault they didnt backup, still, it is not any of the business of the constumers to know or whine. they payed for product without a single promise of a release date. things like this happen and i am sure that they can recover from it in no time.

[Dr. Johbson]

If they had a good PR or a lying Marketing manager, none of us would have even known about that incident and they could just say that they delay the game due to polishing and bug fixing and all of we would have been really happy and grateful for the dedication to the product.

You would rather be lied to, than told the truth about what happened, and left to wonder why when they finally do release a new update, the many months of 'work' they talked about wasn't there? That seems like recipe for disaster to me, not to mention even more unprofessional than not having good backups.

[Necro910]

If they had a good PR or a lying Marketing manager, none of us would have even known about that incident and they could just say that they delay the game due to polishing and bug fixing and all of we would have been really happy and grateful for the dedication to the product.

You would rather be lied to, than told the truth about what happened, and left to wonder why when they finally do release a new update, the many months of 'work' they talked about wasn't there? That seems like recipe for disaster to me, not to mention even more unprofessional than not having good backups.

I'd rather be told the truth, no matter how depressing. But it would be better for the Indie Stone if they lied about it, as now he is getting floods of hate and flames. Hell, wouldn't surprise me if they quit the whole thing all together due to the PR fail.

[Dr. Johbson]

There is a middle ground, us being told that because of a setback the next release will be delayed, but of course hindsight is 20/20 and if they weren't emotionally damaged by the robbery they could have caused less PR trouble.

Besides the whole mess of hate directed at them, I don't think they will quit working on their game, they've had bad setbacks in the past and I think they know they have a very promising title. I wouldn't be surprised in seeing the project fading out of public view for a while, not updating the blog or such, but still working on it in quiet.

Seriously though not having backups continues to blow my mind.

[alexpoysky]

It's the one thing that baffles me. I KNOW lemmy, I have spoken to him in the past and I am now hard at work on my own game.

I can assure you guys that supermalparit and I make backups on a NIGHTLY basis. It's as easy as hosting it on megaupload or whatever site and just boosting it up.

It serves more than one use as well, as it can also help you track down which bugs cropped up overnight, or even prevent material theft.

It's not that I don't believe them, it's simply the fact that well, it's weird that in this day and age one would resort to local backups only. Not even an external hard drive? Nothing?

Regardless, I feel their loss, and can understand their absolute frustration, a power outage and fifteen minutes of lost work enrages me, two months of work is just a mess.

Condolences

[burningpet]

If they had a good PR or a lying Marketing manager, none of us would have even known about that incident and they could just say that they delay the game due to polishing and bug fixing and all of we would have been really happy and grateful for the dedication to the product.

You would rather be lied to, than told the truth about what happened, and left to wonder why when they finally do release a new update, the many months of 'work' they talked about wasn't there? That seems like recipe for disaster to me, not to mention even more unprofessional than not having good backups.

No, i wouldn't. but i am also not developing the game and risking my immediate future on it. fact is, it would have been much better told in some kind of a post mortem, after the game has already launched.

Obviously they would have needed to make explanations to the setbacks, if only to maintain a minimum amount of pre orders and show a sign of life, but they could have given many other explanations that wouldn't have caused such a stir. hell, they could have just out right say they re-write the code without giving the exact reason. this way they dont lie and the mog does not try to burn them.

[nenjin]

There's no denying: Having a good PR person would have prevented, at the very least, Lemmy going on the warpath and basically making an ass out of himself and making this situation worse for them.

Since the very beginning, people that I've turned on to PZ have noticed that whoever is writing their news articles is inarticulate. They write too much, babble a lot, and basically write like someone would on a forum rather than as a representative of a game.

I think PZ is turning into a case study of what happens when people that are just good at developing games try to go the commercial route. There are hundreds of pitfalls, many of which Indiestone has walked right into. Distribution. Trying to figure out their design scheme while they're selling the game. Not taking data security seriously enough. The list goes on.

While they have been really concerned about their financial stability, I think the truth is someone over there needs to start treating Indiestone like a business. Because "businesses" don't let their founders go on drunken, vengeful rampages and they don't react at Twitter speed to shit that happens. Deciding to post a "woe is us" news article on your website before even your whole team has heard the news and had a chance to digest it as a team? I mean, what the hell? Who is running the show over there? Because they need to take their hands off the keyboard for just a second.