by Chris Schreiber
Justin, I appreciate the additional details on the decision making.
I also understand that Stephanie Straw interviewed Rob Daviau today about the new games and that retheme was discussed. Great. Stephanie is a terrific interviewer, they have a great rapport together; I'm looking forward to listening to the podcast.
My assumptions:
- I know you would have gotten the Bob Pepper art if you could have. And you knew those expectations would be high.
- I totally trust that you will improve the gameplay. That's a big plus.
My concerns:
- Dragonmaster was a card games that kids could play. The current game title has the word indulgence with blood dripping off of it. And it's about papal intrigue and selling indulgences. That's a complete audience and tonal change.
- Even if you don't feel that it is the case, your company is leveraging nostalgia to create buzz and interest in what you are doing. You surveyed us about our memories and early days of gaming. I thought that was a great touch. Please don't suggest you aren't making an appeal to nostalgia. To me, that's just being slippery. You know you're leveraging nostalgia even if you have subtle distinctions about what that does and does not mean for your design process.
- Your logo suggests restoration is a new coat of paint; your comments suggest you guys are okay with bulldozing things down to the foundation and plumbing. That's cool. I, however, was excited for a new coat of paint and modern appliances. So I was disappointed.
My expectations:
- I'll give the game and art a fair shake, but I won't preorder it like I would have.
- I'll buy an extra copy of the original if I can find it.
- Restoration Games will recognize they disappointed some people today and everything will move forward as planned. In the best case, you guys will realize that even if nostalgia doesn't inform your design process, you can admit that it fuels the expectations and buzz around your titles. That seems fair to me.