by Major Banter on Sat May 05, 2012 12:15 pm
A fully objective view is impossible, but I have spoken to Prassel myself. And done a lot more sleuthing than most internet hate mongrels. That doesn't make me more or less biased mind; just a bigger perspective. Whether you believe him or not is up to you, but if you don't, why do you blindly believe people posting on the internet? Just because they're the underdog? Anyway:
I was told that when the money came in, there was also a surprise firing run. That fake concept art, the duplicated vendors, some of the music and so on were the reasons people were fired. They tied 2 and 2 together, when those 2s didn't belong in the same sum, and raged about it. I understood that the animator was fired because, while talented, he was uncommunicative and temperamental. There were also rumours of leaks and all sorts of stuff. So Prassel cut them out. At the very best, it was bad timing and some of that stuff inevitably ended up at GDC. At worst, he didn't want to pay them - though money was never promised. I understood that contract and money thing to be a lesson he learned from. Whether he did or not, I don't know.
Considering the $17,000 was being poured directly into development and GDC tickets to find investors, I wouldn't call Prassel a moneygrabbing dickhead - he was using it as the Kickstarter investors were told.
However, as for the rest, I'm not sure where I stand. I've heard all of the above, but I'm not going to simply believe one party or another. All I know is that I haven't got my beta.