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Broken Age Nears Final Stretch And Tim Schafer Defends Molyneux In Double Fine Video Message
In a new video from Double Fine, Tim Schafer shares an update on Broken Age and reacts to the recent controversies surrounding Peter Molyneux and Godus.
Schafer recorded the video after finishing a voice over session for the game with Elijah Wood, who plays one of the game's main characters. The game is running on PlayStation 4 and Vita, and the team is focusing on bug fixing and minor tweaks as the full game nears final release.
Regarding Peter Molyneux, Schafer finished out the video offering his own thoughts on recent events surrounding Godus saying, "We’ve seen some extremely rough treatment of Peter on the Internet and games press. I think it’s really unfortunate and unfair and I don’t think it’s healthy. Obviously, things did not go as expected on his game and because of that people are making some nasty accusations about Peter – and I can relate to that, believe it or not. I’m not saying developers like Peter and I shouldn’t be responsible and shouldn’t be accountable for deadlines – I am just saying the reaction to recent events and the tone of that reaction are really way out of proportion to the seriousness of the events themselves.” Schafer continued by saying, “The problems that Peter is having are not unique to him. In fact they, happen to many if not most projects," and reiterated an early goal of the Double Fine Adventure saying he hopes his team's approach to open development and the documentary surrounding it will help give the average gamer an inside look at the development process. You can check out the video message from Schafer below.
For more on the development difficulties facing Godus, head here. For more on Bryan Henderson, the contest winner who stood to gain profit from Godus, bu has yet to do so, head here.
[Source: Double Fine on YouTube]
Our Take
As a fan of Double Fine and someone who is looking forward to playing the rest of Broken Age, I am glad to hear the game is on track for final release. Regarding Molyneux, it's nice to see Schafer standing up for his friend and colleague. Molyneux and 22cans certainly deserve criticism for coming up short on Godus with and losing touch with Henderson, but I do agree with Schafer – some of that criticism has been extreme and unfair. Mike Futter recently wrote an opinion piece about the importance of consumer research regarding Kickstarter, which you can read here. It touches on many of the issues surrounding Kickstarter development and how backers should do their research before throwing money at a project and its very pertinent to the issues surrounding Godus.
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