Okay 505, Holiday's over. Time for some answers. (Linux/Mac)

Man, with some of the attitudes from a couple of the people wanting refunds, it's getting hard to sympathize anymore.

I'd say good luck with legal action, but I think that would cost way more than just buying a Switch or something.

Question said he'd touch base again. The world doesn't become what you want it to by throwing a hissy fit. Learn some patience in the face of adversary as although I still stand on the side of refunds being the right thing to do, a couple of you have attitudes that I can no longer align with.

browren and raptor85, this was commenting on progress on the game and proof of its being a thing period, not the Mac/Linux versions. See the last sentence of clivethebarker's post "All this is ignorning the dropped Linux/Mac which doesn't bode well". It was speaking on a more general concern than yours.

As far as no screenshots, demo or update showing the Linux or Mac versions, there has been such for only one version anyway - Windows. That's not a case unique to Linux/Mac where they were singled out, passed over, ignored, etc. The game is always shown running on PC with Xbox controllers. So, by this same token we could as easily say that it doesn't exist for Playstation 4 for example.

To clear, I'm not saying it can't be done, but it is probably riskier than it seems at first glance, because they're not a group of enthusiasts making a game as a hobby with open source software: they're a company that's licensing technology and generating intellectual property.

By intellectual property I mean both the assets and the source code.

Giving more detail about what's being done and why without violating contractual obligations can be difficult.

Also, some people believe they are experts at everything and will basically trash the developers whenever they admit to having a problem.

IGA: "We're having trouble getting X part of the engine and running."

BACKER: "You're doing that at this point in development! X is normally the first thing you do, how did you make it to this point, this game is a fraud!"

IGA: "Well, we did do it first. And that's how we got here, but we just realized we can't use it because we lost the rights to that piece of code when we switched devs / pubs. Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that as per our contract. Now I'll be sued by people who actually will follow through with their threats and probably never work in the industry again. But at least I have your understanding, right?"

 BACKER: "Your game is a fraud!"

The point I want to make is that providing more information about the dev process is also fraught with danger, and not just because some users might find it boring.

I personally think the biggest "problems" with the updates is simply that the game has been in development for a lot longer than we'd like.

Hi there. Apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

The main questions are ‘why no native support for Mac/Linux’ and ‘why no refund’.

The initial Kickstarter goals and platforms were chosen back in 2015, long before the first coder, artist or level designer was hired for the project. Things can change over time, but is had been our intention throughout development to provide native support for Mac and Linux.

Unfortunately, as we began platform compatibility work, we ran into difficulties with the ports that we did not anticipate. The developer time and resources needed to address these issues would have to be taken from other areas of the game.

As we look at the overall development of the project, we have to weigh the merits of putting time and money into each part of the game and make some difficult choices. This is one of those difficult choices, but we expect it to be the last.

While we are disappointed that we will not be able to provide native versions of the game for Mac and Linux users, we think that the PC version of the game will be playable on Mac and Linux using external tools.

As to the refund question, refunds for Kickstarter projects come out of the pool of funds initially raised by backers. As per the KS terms of use, if an element of a project cannot be completed and there are funds remaining, a refund should be offered. In this instance, the initial funding for the project has been expended on development. Our current progress towards launch is due to additional funding from the publisher, 505 Games.

As per the Kickstarter Terms of Use (https://www.kickstarter.com/terms-of-use#section4), we are working to complete the project in the most satisfactory way possible. We will continue to make regular project updates on Kickstarter and keep the community appraised of where we are in development. I believe the extensive work we have shown via Curse of the Moon and the backer beta are indicative that we are working hard to deliver the game.

To answer some specific questions:

Is DICO still working on the project: Yes.
Will the game come out in 2019? Yes.
When in 2019? We will be announcing a release date soon.
Will more crowdfunding be needed?: No.
How much of the game is done (levels/art/models/etc)? Assets, in-game systems (i.e crafting, inventory, etc.) and the levels/environments are nearly complete. Basically, all of the elements of the core game are there. We are working to populate and tweak the levels. We are also working on platform compatibility, playtesting and of course smashing bugs.

Thanks for your patience as we work towards launch. We apologize for disappointing our fans on Mac and Linux.

Yeah, but it was good to get this transparent answer in a timely manner after the Holiday break. I really appreciate Question doing this. And despite the flak this latest response may produce--even speaking as someone who lost my lead platform for the project (Wii U) and now likely will not be able to play the game on launch--I have to say I'm proud of the developers for fighting to make this game better, and all it can be, even after Backer funds dried up. Credit to 505 for believing in the game's potential and kicking in, because the demo showed me it has a lot of phenomenal potential with some polish. I just want the game to turn out amazing at this point, and I'm happy the demo feedback will be playing into that possibility.

While I appreciate the swift response post holidays, personally speaking I am still disappointed in the handling of the refunds.

I get why they technically can't do refunds and I also get that they have no obligations to use non-backer funds to do so and that this is 100% okay from a Kickstarter's terms point of view. I'm not even personally touched by this as I only have Windows.

Still, offering refunds for those whose platforms got cancelled earlier and not to the Linux/Mac users feels wrong. So one can potentially be stuck with a version of the game they can't play because their platform of choice got axed later? Again yes, they can do that, I understand. Backers with no other platforms than those are few, sure. Nothing stops them from buying a new platform (not only for this game hopefully), yeah, that could happen.

But it's still a disappointment for me personally, coming from a team who up to some time ago handled the campaign and development very well even through some hardships. Especially a disappointment considering how important is for me the person that put his reputation on the line to pursue this project in the first place (I obviously know that Igarashi isn't directly responsible for this kind of decisions, but it's still him who represents the Bloodstained project). This whole matter leaves a sour taste in my mouth that'll be hard to neutralize.

Will this platform be provided?  Seriously, saying stuff like that is what's frustrating us, it's downright insulting and unprofessional.  I do not own a windows license key, it would cost near $200 for me to buy one without a OEM distributor license....if 505/Artplay were willing to provide one that I could install in a VM or something and use honestly I would be ok with that, a quick google shows a bulk buy brings the per license cost under $80, less than half of what I paid.  I'm just not willing to dump $200 to play a game I already paid for...

Man, you taking the time to say that means a lot. The community at large believes you deserve your 30 bucks back. I hate that Igarashi's name is getting smeared by this, but I totally understand. Thank's for not going bananas and for being respectful.