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How a Lack of Communication Kills Credibility
4 years ago
General
Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: game development is hard. It's time consuming, requires a lot of skills, and an intense amount of knowledge in both art and in programming to pull off. Not a lot of people can pull this unique set of skills off flawlessly. In all likelihood, one skill set is much more preferred over another. It's also why, so often, it requires multiple people to work on, say, a game.
The thing is, an important aspect in developing a game is communication. This is especially true when you have users who are financially supporting your efforts.
One person who was seemingly able to pull off not only the Goldilocks of skill needed to pull off developing a game as a solo effort, but also pulled off being able to be open about development while at the same time making progress. That user is Fek.
Now, Fek, of course, had a lot going for him. He had the track record of producing several other games before getting in to the hotly anticipated game of Rack 2. This, of course, helped a lot of those who are cynical about supporting such an effort. What also helped along the way is regular streams, progress reports, and, of course, updates. For the early years of development, Fek was pretty much the gold standard for how to communicate to your audience and build that credibility up to the point of being an overwhelming success. It's not really a surprise that he was pulling in over $25,000 per month off of his Patreon.
I've seen some who were constantly calling the guy a fraud and constantly saying that he was going to "take the money and run". The problem was that updates were still being released and these perspectives really never had any merit.
Where things started going wrong seemed to be happening around sometime last year when Fek was developing multiplayer for the game. It wasn't necessarily a feature people were asking for, but it was a feature that Fek seemed interested in implementing into the game. There was word that there was the intention of incorporating real life sex toys into the game as well. Who knows what else was being planned behind the scenes.
There is the problem of feature creep at play here. Should something like this have been added? It's hard to say. Still, the perception has been that, ever since, development has effectively ground to a halt. Fek, and those close to him, will know to what degree that is true or if it's completely false. Still, that hasn't changed the fact that there have been so few comments noting progress from Fek in the last year. The last status update was dated clear back to January to say that multiplayer is still in the works. For those who are following Fek from the perspective of waiting for Rack 2, it's been largely radio silence ever since.
From the users perspective, some people feel that the project has been abandoned. Others think that this is proof that he really did take the money and ran. To this day, for those who love to just call him a fraud, I've seen numerous frauds over the years, and what I've seen does not match up. A partially working game packed full of features would be WAY too much work to put into simply making a fraud happen.
If anything, a more cynical perspective would find that Fek taking on a bit more than he should have with the concept of multiplayer would at least be somewhat credible.
Regardless of the speculation, the effect has been very plain for a long time now. Fek has been increasingly less talked about and the donations per month (yes, in this context, it's donations) has plummeted to under $15,000 which is a heck of a drop from the heights in years past. Additionally, the comments left behind have increasingly been negative towards Fek and they offer reasonable reasons for why they are dropping support.
I'm not going to lie, the situation does suck. Watching something so exciting in the fandom getting reduced to the current state of affairs really is a gut punch to see.
I don't think it had to be this way. I think that a status update once every other month would have made a world of difference. I recognize Fek isn't into streaming his coding sessions because he feels straight coding would be boring, but in place of that, some text explaining what has been happening would have made a world of difference. Specifically, maybe talking about the process of developing multiplayer instead of just "it's being worked on" would have gotten plenty of traction (and maybe some good feedback to make the process easier). Maybe something along the lines of reducing lag for inputs from other players or how to make such a connection secure, or maybe even something else that is currently being worked on. At the very least, offer some details and insights into the process of this "boring" coding process would have been appreciated. Even if users don't understand the details, I think users would read such details with interest anyway much like how people love wallpapers of star systems even if they understand very little about it.
Another rout that would have been also nice to see is probably devoting some time to more minor features that users could tangibly see in updates. This way, updates can be seen even if they only add small amounts to the overall gameplay. Working on both angles might have been a good idea as well as it shows that there is still progress being made while still working on multiplayer.
Regardless of your opinion, I think it's safe to say that the current way of handling things isn't working that well. I think Fek can repair some of these credibility issues by at least communicating more often - especially by sharing the details of what all is happening behind the scenes even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to 99% of users out there.
What's more is that I think a lot can be learned by what Fek has done. Despite what I consider to be mistakes made by Fek, there are a LOT of things Fek did right. This includes starting with a simple small project and taking that project to completion rather than plunging straight into a highly complex feature rich game from the get go. Another thing Fek did right was hosting streams of him working on the game (even if it seems distracting). Fek also had a Trello to showcase progress and potential timelines which I think was a good idea. Fek also posted regular updates on his Patreon which really is a good way of shoring up those who support you by offering this info directly to them first. What's more is Fek advertised these updates on free accounts like FA, etc. Amazingly, Fek even hung out on "pirate" sites and communicated with users there in a non-combative manner.
There are not a lot of developers that did all of that. Obviously, developers have every right to do things how they see fit, but even if Rack 2 is dead at this point, there is considerable learning opportunities for those who followed Fek (like I have, actually).
One last thing is that I think Fek has helped inspire a number of developers to look at game development (as much as I think artists can get a lot out of simply animating things instead). There are plenty of games now when, back when this whole adventure started, there wasn't that many. Examples that come to mind is Frost by Furrier, Vestina's game (can't remember the name off of the top of my head), Heatgame, Kincaid, Breeders of the Nephelym, Wild Life, Carnal Instinct, Hunt and Snare, HybridsVR mini-games, and, honestly, too many others to count. I think the community is in a better place now on this front than we were even 2 years ago. Some of that may have been thanks to Fek capturing the imaginations of some artists. If Rack 2 really never gets beyond the more than year old update, I think the lasting impact this project has had is, at the very least, positive on the community at large.
The thing is, an important aspect in developing a game is communication. This is especially true when you have users who are financially supporting your efforts.
One person who was seemingly able to pull off not only the Goldilocks of skill needed to pull off developing a game as a solo effort, but also pulled off being able to be open about development while at the same time making progress. That user is Fek.
Now, Fek, of course, had a lot going for him. He had the track record of producing several other games before getting in to the hotly anticipated game of Rack 2. This, of course, helped a lot of those who are cynical about supporting such an effort. What also helped along the way is regular streams, progress reports, and, of course, updates. For the early years of development, Fek was pretty much the gold standard for how to communicate to your audience and build that credibility up to the point of being an overwhelming success. It's not really a surprise that he was pulling in over $25,000 per month off of his Patreon.
I've seen some who were constantly calling the guy a fraud and constantly saying that he was going to "take the money and run". The problem was that updates were still being released and these perspectives really never had any merit.
Where things started going wrong seemed to be happening around sometime last year when Fek was developing multiplayer for the game. It wasn't necessarily a feature people were asking for, but it was a feature that Fek seemed interested in implementing into the game. There was word that there was the intention of incorporating real life sex toys into the game as well. Who knows what else was being planned behind the scenes.
There is the problem of feature creep at play here. Should something like this have been added? It's hard to say. Still, the perception has been that, ever since, development has effectively ground to a halt. Fek, and those close to him, will know to what degree that is true or if it's completely false. Still, that hasn't changed the fact that there have been so few comments noting progress from Fek in the last year. The last status update was dated clear back to January to say that multiplayer is still in the works. For those who are following Fek from the perspective of waiting for Rack 2, it's been largely radio silence ever since.
From the users perspective, some people feel that the project has been abandoned. Others think that this is proof that he really did take the money and ran. To this day, for those who love to just call him a fraud, I've seen numerous frauds over the years, and what I've seen does not match up. A partially working game packed full of features would be WAY too much work to put into simply making a fraud happen.
If anything, a more cynical perspective would find that Fek taking on a bit more than he should have with the concept of multiplayer would at least be somewhat credible.
Regardless of the speculation, the effect has been very plain for a long time now. Fek has been increasingly less talked about and the donations per month (yes, in this context, it's donations) has plummeted to under $15,000 which is a heck of a drop from the heights in years past. Additionally, the comments left behind have increasingly been negative towards Fek and they offer reasonable reasons for why they are dropping support.
I'm not going to lie, the situation does suck. Watching something so exciting in the fandom getting reduced to the current state of affairs really is a gut punch to see.
I don't think it had to be this way. I think that a status update once every other month would have made a world of difference. I recognize Fek isn't into streaming his coding sessions because he feels straight coding would be boring, but in place of that, some text explaining what has been happening would have made a world of difference. Specifically, maybe talking about the process of developing multiplayer instead of just "it's being worked on" would have gotten plenty of traction (and maybe some good feedback to make the process easier). Maybe something along the lines of reducing lag for inputs from other players or how to make such a connection secure, or maybe even something else that is currently being worked on. At the very least, offer some details and insights into the process of this "boring" coding process would have been appreciated. Even if users don't understand the details, I think users would read such details with interest anyway much like how people love wallpapers of star systems even if they understand very little about it.
Another rout that would have been also nice to see is probably devoting some time to more minor features that users could tangibly see in updates. This way, updates can be seen even if they only add small amounts to the overall gameplay. Working on both angles might have been a good idea as well as it shows that there is still progress being made while still working on multiplayer.
Regardless of your opinion, I think it's safe to say that the current way of handling things isn't working that well. I think Fek can repair some of these credibility issues by at least communicating more often - especially by sharing the details of what all is happening behind the scenes even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to 99% of users out there.
What's more is that I think a lot can be learned by what Fek has done. Despite what I consider to be mistakes made by Fek, there are a LOT of things Fek did right. This includes starting with a simple small project and taking that project to completion rather than plunging straight into a highly complex feature rich game from the get go. Another thing Fek did right was hosting streams of him working on the game (even if it seems distracting). Fek also had a Trello to showcase progress and potential timelines which I think was a good idea. Fek also posted regular updates on his Patreon which really is a good way of shoring up those who support you by offering this info directly to them first. What's more is Fek advertised these updates on free accounts like FA, etc. Amazingly, Fek even hung out on "pirate" sites and communicated with users there in a non-combative manner.
There are not a lot of developers that did all of that. Obviously, developers have every right to do things how they see fit, but even if Rack 2 is dead at this point, there is considerable learning opportunities for those who followed Fek (like I have, actually).
One last thing is that I think Fek has helped inspire a number of developers to look at game development (as much as I think artists can get a lot out of simply animating things instead). There are plenty of games now when, back when this whole adventure started, there wasn't that many. Examples that come to mind is Frost by Furrier, Vestina's game (can't remember the name off of the top of my head), Heatgame, Kincaid, Breeders of the Nephelym, Wild Life, Carnal Instinct, Hunt and Snare, HybridsVR mini-games, and, honestly, too many others to count. I think the community is in a better place now on this front than we were even 2 years ago. Some of that may have been thanks to Fek capturing the imaginations of some artists. If Rack 2 really never gets beyond the more than year old update, I think the lasting impact this project has had is, at the very least, positive on the community at large.
I setup a discord for my patrons which is basically something of a devblog. I've only just started to post in it again. The last time I shared a development update apart from that was in January. I think I've gone too private with my correspondence, because in the last 28 or so updates I've made on that server, only one person has responded, 4 times. I think I'm seeking social interaction in the wrong way(s).
I can only really blame myself for how I've got into this situation. I don't want to pin it on my mental health issues because that would disempower me to change. I'm engaging socially again, and I'll probably seek extra avenues for that too.
As for why it's been a long time since I put out an update, apparently I'm not able to conceptualise time or organise myself properly. I don't know how long something's going to take, especially with lots of problems that inevitably happen along the way. Aside from that, I'm maybe making some unhealthy moves when it comes to adding content to the game. I've made numerous firsts in the development of the game in the past several months, but the reason that I haven't put out an update is because they're all kind of stuck together.
Like, I've got a couple of new environments which I've made the graphics for, but I also need to script them into the game. And I've made a set of animations for a character who converses in the game, and I've made a subroutine so the animations match the length of the dialogue, but I need to put her in the environment, and I've written some dialogue so, you know, she's actually got something to say. There's a scene with the character I'm adding, but to access it you solve sort of a puzzle, so that needs its own scripting and its own art assets. It's difficult to determine where one feature ends and another begins.
Going forward I want to be able to figure out how to disentangle these technical enmeshments so I can more easily put updates out regularly. It's like balancing the backend work with the frontend work, I think.
Hopefully Fek hasn't got too sucked into this multiplayer feature he's working on. I won't speculate on how he's feeling about it but I know I would find it difficult to back out of a feature after I'd started working on it. Probably mostly out of fear of disappointing people who were looking forward to it. I think there's something about doing too much backend work without being able to show your supporters what you're doing. Or maybe it's more difficult to put the nature of the work in terms that help people understand what it is you're actually doing? I have to say my devblog, such that it is, is so full of snarky, self deprecating humour and complaints about tools I'm using not working right, etc. I've probably just created an uncomfortable environment that means no one wants to hear my bellyaching, which is fine.
Netplay is often considered to be the final boss of game dev, at least in the indie communities I've frequented in the past. It's one of those things that's more complex than you can theoretically predict. I wouldn't fault anyone for getting consumed by it. But I have to wonder more about the psychology behind the programmers who socially isolate themselves. It doesn't have to be as lonely as some of us make it. I think. I don't know.
I haven't kept abreast of furry game development at all. I probably should. I feel though that I can't focus enough on my own work and that should come first. It's nice to know that the community is out there though. It's time to engage again.