Axiom
Member
It's been almost a decade.
Don't get me wrong - Exanima is a great game. The themes, style and design are reminiscent of what was mentioned in Sui Generis. While taking place in the same universe, Exanima is different. This much was made apparent early on, and especially in the last update from Kickstarter - where things slowly but surely left the topic of Sui Generis and shifted over to what we have now.
I don't mean to scathe what has been done here - I enjoyed the dozen hours I put into Exanima. But there is obviously an elephant in the room that is being ignored. The field of play we are working with is a fraction of what was supposed- the level of freedom, exploration, and development is microscopic to what was promised.
The progress of Exanima is apparent. What started out as a tidbit to first enwind players into the universe of Sui Generis has become the mainstay of Bare Mettle - the showpiece. It has become painfully apparent that all developmental focus has shifted towards Exanima, and what has been coined a "tech-demo" of sorts, full of features from the main project, is now precisely that.
And that's fine.
When I first began playing Exanima some-odd six or seven years ago, I immediately knew that the game was something different. There isn't anything else quite like it on the market. And yet where Exanima fails to deliver - Sui Generis succeeded to promise. The game we are receiving updates for, is - and by all means - a very different title than what this project - this company - marketed their focus on. At least, that'd be what I would be saying.
It doesn't take a genius to look between the two here and realize that Exanima is - for all intents and purposes, Sui Generis. That the development of Exanima isn't really a "precursor dating 20 years prior", and more or less the current adaptation to an ambitious and ultimately failed project, too wide of a scope for long-term success.
Harking on the developer(s) here isn't my intent. But there is obviously a clear lack in transparency that is quietly brushed away while things continue to keep on running, updates occasionally being pumped out each year while the contemporary community patiently waits, unaware or noncaring of what was initially promised.
And it's hard to blame them.
Of course, everything isn't cupcakes and rainbows. Game development is a difficult, often painful and exhaustive endeavor. I've taken my own few stabs with various projects, though nothing with the scope and developmental length that Sui Generis has promised to achieve, at whatever eventual cost.
Though the radio-silence isn't helping. It is abjectly clear that these two projects - both Sui Generis and Exanima are marketed to be different, with their own intents, ideas and philosophies. But we have only received experience on one of these, and seldom anything recent beyond summarizations in the coffee-house.
What I mean to make clear here isn't weather or not Exanima is the focus of the project, that much is obvious. It's a better understanding of where Bare Mettle is headed - what the fans of this aging series are supposed to look forwards to - if anything at all. This is a talented indie studio with massive potential and I feel it a shame that we have stood on an empty and uncommunicative stance on where the development of Sui Generis lies.
It's hard to reason that Sui Generis is being developed on at all. If development were to shift completely towards Exanima, (which it has) - most of the contemporary playerbase wouldn't really care. Not that it would've changed anything. But the importance of communication in a project like this is key.
There is a no-longer a clear distinction between these two titles anymore. If Sui Generis is the flagship series, than Exanima is the only thing to show for it. If there is no development goals towards Sui Generis existing, then I feel saddened and confused as to why there even needs to be a distinction between the two anymore, to pretend as if they are not the same game - and that, by all means of development, they always have been.
Thank you.
Don't get me wrong - Exanima is a great game. The themes, style and design are reminiscent of what was mentioned in Sui Generis. While taking place in the same universe, Exanima is different. This much was made apparent early on, and especially in the last update from Kickstarter - where things slowly but surely left the topic of Sui Generis and shifted over to what we have now.
I don't mean to scathe what has been done here - I enjoyed the dozen hours I put into Exanima. But there is obviously an elephant in the room that is being ignored. The field of play we are working with is a fraction of what was supposed- the level of freedom, exploration, and development is microscopic to what was promised.
The progress of Exanima is apparent. What started out as a tidbit to first enwind players into the universe of Sui Generis has become the mainstay of Bare Mettle - the showpiece. It has become painfully apparent that all developmental focus has shifted towards Exanima, and what has been coined a "tech-demo" of sorts, full of features from the main project, is now precisely that.
And that's fine.
When I first began playing Exanima some-odd six or seven years ago, I immediately knew that the game was something different. There isn't anything else quite like it on the market. And yet where Exanima fails to deliver - Sui Generis succeeded to promise. The game we are receiving updates for, is - and by all means - a very different title than what this project - this company - marketed their focus on. At least, that'd be what I would be saying.
It doesn't take a genius to look between the two here and realize that Exanima is - for all intents and purposes, Sui Generis. That the development of Exanima isn't really a "precursor dating 20 years prior", and more or less the current adaptation to an ambitious and ultimately failed project, too wide of a scope for long-term success.
Harking on the developer(s) here isn't my intent. But there is obviously a clear lack in transparency that is quietly brushed away while things continue to keep on running, updates occasionally being pumped out each year while the contemporary community patiently waits, unaware or noncaring of what was initially promised.
And it's hard to blame them.
Of course, everything isn't cupcakes and rainbows. Game development is a difficult, often painful and exhaustive endeavor. I've taken my own few stabs with various projects, though nothing with the scope and developmental length that Sui Generis has promised to achieve, at whatever eventual cost.
Though the radio-silence isn't helping. It is abjectly clear that these two projects - both Sui Generis and Exanima are marketed to be different, with their own intents, ideas and philosophies. But we have only received experience on one of these, and seldom anything recent beyond summarizations in the coffee-house.
What I mean to make clear here isn't weather or not Exanima is the focus of the project, that much is obvious. It's a better understanding of where Bare Mettle is headed - what the fans of this aging series are supposed to look forwards to - if anything at all. This is a talented indie studio with massive potential and I feel it a shame that we have stood on an empty and uncommunicative stance on where the development of Sui Generis lies.
It's hard to reason that Sui Generis is being developed on at all. If development were to shift completely towards Exanima, (which it has) - most of the contemporary playerbase wouldn't really care. Not that it would've changed anything. But the importance of communication in a project like this is key.
There is a no-longer a clear distinction between these two titles anymore. If Sui Generis is the flagship series, than Exanima is the only thing to show for it. If there is no development goals towards Sui Generis existing, then I feel saddened and confused as to why there even needs to be a distinction between the two anymore, to pretend as if they are not the same game - and that, by all means of development, they always have been.
Thank you.
