Oh, you know, game developer stuff. Last part of making a game is the hardest part. The plan for the next game is to just keep the game a complete secret until it's done, *then* announce it. The announcement itself will contain a huge lie saying that we just started working on it. Then we'll wait a month or two, so it looks like we're busy developing it when we are in fact completely finished. That way, we could be sure to release a game exactly when we think it will be released. No delays, no missed release dates, no disappointments.
Aww. We're not *that* bad are we? But seriously, as a consumer I have mixed feelings about a dev doing that. On one hand, I really like having a new game to look forward to and information about it. But on the other hand, if the new game I'm waiting for gets delayed I can't help but get a little disappointed. From your perspective I'm sure it is a bit of a pain to have to feel a need to communicate about release dates or delays just because you announced a game. I have an idea - maybe just announce games in the future but give absolutely no indication at all of when it will release? I know the "its done when its done" philosophy has worked for many other game companies (id, Blizzard, etc). Anyway - I'm going to purchase this day one as soon as it comes out and obviously I'd like to get my hands on this sooner than later, but I'd rather it not be released until its ready - even if that should take another several months. I don't consider something "delayed" unless the dev says it will be out at a certain time and then it doesn't get released. And I for one have never felt Mage Gauntlet was delayed - I don't think you've ever really come out and said you're definitely going to release it by a certain date. You've just been sharing information with us about the game is all. So no delays here...
It's mostly just that it's depressing to miss a self-imposed deadline. And I was mostly making a joke based on my reaction to the Fargoal thread. Yeah, the Valve/Blizzard way of doing it is better. Though they kind of take it to an extreme, if they announce something and then not release anything for four years. The Valve/Blizzard/3dRealms way. Still, I think the next game we make will be kept a secret until we're about to release it. Other than that it will be a free to play game. It will also be a game with a much shorter development cycle, so it won't be secret for too long.
Please don't do a Crescent Moon. That means announce a game when you've just decided to make one, and then release it two+ years later.
The whole thing was due to boss fight bugs and issues, so we ended up just rewriting that system. Now we're rebuilding those parts.
