Deceptive Marketing

[MrDeath]

Edit: As suggested i'm editing this first post. To clarify: When i made the original comment i was angry for what this game marketing made me feel.
I'm still thinking that the way this game was and is published is misleading and deceptive.
When all the marketing for a product is 99% centered on something, you can think the product is gonna be centered on that.
In this case:
-Screenshots
-Trailers
-Demo
-Description
-Publisher tags
-streamers (the first days of release, even until today some of them)
Were all showing what we now know as "act 1", painting it as the whole experience.
I don't know if the dev or publishers made it with bad intentions, what i know is that there is clearly a case of bad marketing where what they show us do not corralate with what we finally get.
What i suggest:
I said this many time in this post but i will say it again.
I suggest showing screenshots of act 2 and 3 because it will not spoil the plot twisy. Including how the game board looks on each act.
Modifying the description into something that clearly warns the potential buyer that the product is not what looks at first and that it will change both artistically and mechanically.
Posibly addying one fight of act 2 and 3 on the demo.
These changes should be made on every platform the game is being sold.
First original title: People defending the scam is delusional?
FIRST ORIGINAL POST:

I played the demo, watch the trailers and screenshots, and read the description.
ISN'T THAT ENOUGH?, i do that wit EVERY OTHER GAME and never feeled so misled like in this one.
No, but you NEED to know this dev....Why tho?, most of my indie games i own i didn't needed to know anything apart from what the store page showed me. AND I SUPPORT A LOT...A...LOT, OF INDIE GAMES. And never feeled this way.

[King Ballsmear]

引用自 pale_horse：

引用自 The Forgotten Killer：

Except all the development time was wasted on Act 2 and Three when they should have been spent on act one

No. I would not have played it if it was just another trash card game.

Go play Magic or Hearthstone or something.

That's why I bought this game when it released. I didn't get what I paid for or was advertised.

[pale_horse]

引用自 Ninethousand：

The artist can have as many visions as he wants as long as i get my money back. I'd rather give those 20 bucks to some guy on the street who will clearly use them to buy drugs.

You seem to feel this way about many games after you play them.

You should stop playing games.

Also stop talking about games.

Try gardening?

[Agent J]

it's a Dan Mullins game. You know what you're getting into. Or don't. That's the point.

Play his other games.

[Killial]

引用自 Agent J：

it's a Dan Mullins game. You know what you're getting into. Or don't. That's the point.

Play his other games.

I don't want to stir up this anthill, but some of the comments are still very funny to read.
Do you seriously think that all people should know who Dan Mullins is?

Not all surprises are worthy of being surprises. And some point are not worthy of being point.

I will now give an allegory.
This would be an exaggerated example, but nonetheless. The more serious the better:
Suppose I have a friend who is allergic to bananas.
And let's pretend he chooses a birthday cake in a restaurant.
And a certain person taking the order, named Dan, decides to surprise him and shows him a sponge cake, describes the composition of the cakes and cream very well... but does not mention a word about the filling to surprise him, but the filling actually contains bananas in it (although they don't talk about it and it's not described in the product card - because it's a surprise).
And even when a customer asks - "Are there bananas in the cake?".
The answer is - "Read the description for the product".

The person buys a cake, eats it and has an allergic reaction, a rash, and ends up the birthday party in a clinic.

But it was a great surprise! Right?.. Everyone definitely loves bananas.

And if you object to this, they will tell you:
"Oooh c'mon! It's just Dan!
You should know Dan and his pies with surprises!
What did you expect? Be happy, everyone here loves Dan and his special pies!"

[pale_horse]

引用自 Killial：

I will now give an allegory.
This would be an exaggerated example, but nonetheless. The more serious the better:

No.

"More exaggerated" is not better, it is intended to be emotionally manipulative to people that have trouble processing the incompatibility of your manipulative story.

A surprise ending to a movie, book, or game is not the same as "literally killing someone". It is gross that you are trying to harass people into thinking that they are similar.

The fact that you are saying "a game I didnt like is similar to being killed" just highlights how unstable some of the people complaining are.

[Cheshire]

引用自 Agent J：

it's a Dan Mullins game. You know what you're getting into. Or don't. That's the point.

Play his other games.

This argument has a little merit for larger studios. EA is known for microtransactions, Ubisoft is known for bland-ish sandboxes, and Valve is known for not being able to count to 3. If someone bought a Bethesda game and was shocked to find game-breaking bugs, then that would be on them.
But Daniel Mullins is... some dude. His name is no more memorable than the name of any other game director. Even if someone has played any of his other games, they're still probably not going to recognize his name, or remember him as "the subversive game guy".

[Ninethousand]

I played and loved Pony Island. Didn't know about that garbage second game he made until after i bought this. The people i saw advertising Inscryption even ALL said "It's the guy that made Pony Island!", nobody ever mentioned that catastrophe that was his second game.

So yeah, even if you think you know someone, turns out, somewhere he released some other garbage, that nobody knew about, and now YOU are the one who "should have known" that he "only made one good game and only garbage after that"...

引用自 pale_horse：

...how unstable some of the people complaining are.

Yeah, it's unbelievable how you get your money stolen, and then everyone craps on you for expecting laws would be upheld. Can you imagine that in real life? Some old lady gets her purse stolen, and then you punch her, because she complained?

Because that's pretty much the equivalent of what most people here are doing. Supporting the devs' scam.

[pale_horse]

引用自 Ninethousand：

引用自 pale_horse：

...how unstable some of the people complaining are.

Yeah, it's unbelievable how you get your money stolen,

Hey mods - this person was 'literally robbed' and had their money stolen. Please contact the police and then remove them from the public forum until the investigation is complete.

[Scyobi_Empire]

引用自 Agent J：

it's a Dan Mullins game. You know what you're getting into. Or don't. That's the point.

Play his other games.

I never heard of him until this game, he isn't some AAAAAA God Dev

[Cheshire]

引用自 Theatrics：

Your examples are the furthest thing from independent devs you could have possibly come up with. Unsurprisingly, this first name/last name dev on his third total game isn't comparable.

What *is* super easy is Googling him or any other info. Use your brain *once.* Dude was on the 30 under 30 list as far back as 2017.

"No one knows..." *YOU* don't know, homie.

Yeah, that's the point. He's an indie developer. He's released a handful of niche indie games. He's not the household name that you seem to think he is.
And don't act like googling the name of the lead developer before making a purchase is some common practice, that's expected of every consumer. How many times have you done that?

[๖ۣۜMark]

引用自 Cheshire：

Yeah, that's the point. He's an indie developer. He's released a handful of niche indie games. He's not the household name that you seem to think he is.
And don't act like googling the name of the lead developer before making a purchase is some common practice, that's expected of every consumer. How many times have you done that?

Your argument suits better the opposite conclusion though, is by the fact that you don't know who the dev is and therefore knows nothing about their work that you should be more dilligent and more well informed with your purchase, no?

You say that googling indie devs prior isn't common practice, but is there any good argument why it shouldn't be?

[Scyobi_Empire]

引用自 ๖ۣۜMark：

引用自 Cheshire：

Yeah, that's the point. He's an indie developer. He's released a handful of niche indie games. He's not the household name that you seem to think he is.
And don't act like googling the name of the lead developer before making a purchase is some common practice, that's expected of every consumer. How many times have you done that?

Your argument suits better the opposite conclusion though, is by the fact that you don't know who the dev is and therefore knows nothing about their work that you should be more dilligent and more well informed with your purchase, no?

You say that googling indie devs prior isn't common practice, but is there any good argument why it shouldn't be?

Ah yes, when I brought Skyrim I googled: Todd Howard, Guy Carver, Matthew Carofano, Bruce Nesmith, Matt Daniels, Ken Cockerham and Emily Sears. I only knew Todd before I googled "Skyrim credits", tell me do you google the names yourself?

[๖ۣۜMark]

引用自 Scyobi_Empire：

Ah yes, when I brought Skyrim I googled: Todd Howard, Guy Carver, Matthew Carofano, Bruce Nesmith, Matt Daniels, Ken Cockerham and Emily Sears. I only knew Todd before I googled "Skyrim credits", tell me do you google the names yourself?

I mean firstly you're attacking something I never brought up, there is a good reason why I put "Indie dev" in my phrase since smaller projects usually have a less compromised vision.

Second your argument isn't really attacking the notion that people should be dilligent, it's just trying to call me or other people out saying nobody does therefore nobody should.

Third, I did google the dev from inscryption, it's how I found out he was the dev for Pony Island and The Hex, since I had previous experiences with those games I knew for sure I wouldn't regret buying the game, I also google the names of people involved in the kickstarters I've supported, it'd be foolish of me to not do so.

[Cheshire]

引用自 ๖ۣۜMark：

引用自 Cheshire：

Yeah, that's the point. He's an indie developer. He's released a handful of niche indie games. He's not the household name that you seem to think he is.
And don't act like googling the name of the lead developer before making a purchase is some common practice, that's expected of every consumer. How many times have you done that?

Your argument suits better the opposite conclusion though, is by the fact that you don't know who the dev is and therefore knows nothing about their work that you should be more dilligent and more well informed with your purchase, no?

You say that googling indie devs prior isn't common practice, but is there any good argument why it shouldn't be?

You're missing the point. People are claiming that the dissatisfied customers were ignorant and irresponsible for buying a game without researching the name of the lead developer.

So they're clearly claiming that this already common practice. But I guarantee that none of them do it for every indie game they purchase, if they even do it at all.

And this also means that they expect every "responsible" customer to go in already knowing that there will be subversion, as well as the nature and extent of that subversion. And yet, simultaneously, it would be completely unacceptable for the store page to "spoil" the subversion in any meaningful way.

[Scyobi_Empire]

引用自 ๖ۣۜMark：

引用自 Scyobi_Empire：

Ah yes, when I brought Skyrim I googled: Todd Howard, Guy Carver, Matthew Carofano, Bruce Nesmith, Matt Daniels, Ken Cockerham and Emily Sears. I only knew Todd before I googled "Skyrim credits", tell me do you google the names yourself?

I mean firstly you're attacking something I never brought up, there is a good reason why I put "Indie dev" in my phrase since smaller projects usually have a less compromised vision.

Second your argument isn't really attacking the notion that people should be dilligent, it's just trying to call me or other people out saying nobody does therefore nobody should.

Third, I did google the dev from inscryption, it's how I found out he was the dev for Pony Island and The Hex, since I had previous experiences with those games I knew for sure I wouldn't regret buying the game, I also google the names of people involved in the kickstarters I've supported, it'd be foolish of me to not do so.

Ok then, Reassembly. A team of 1, I don't even know their name when I brought it (nor do I now) and it's one of my favourite games.