PzC Kharkov '43 Just Released

[Volcano Man]

(Not directed to anyone specific)

If anyone thinks that Mr. Tiller does not listen to the public then you are mistaken. However, I want to try to put this into perspective, because I am seeing some hateful and ill informed posts in another thread:

The sad fact of the matter is, game designers spend YEARS making these games, and there is very little money in it; I can personally attest that I spent over four long years making France '14. I certainly made it out of love, otherwise it would of never have seen the light of day, but compensation is nice, especially since it directly determines how much you can reinvest in future titles and improvements. I am sorry that everyone feels like someone is being cheated here, but the real truth of the matter is, the people that work long and hard on these games are the ones getting cheated (not by piracy alone mind you, but by publishing costs). It is unfortunate that there cannot be more understanding of that fact, but that is the way of things - people see what they want to see. Please do not put words into my mouth here that anyone is looking for sympathy, or that I am suggesting that understanding and patience should only flow one direction, this is naturally a symbiotic relationship but there are some things must be kept in perspective here.

Love it or hate it, this is the future of software distribution. Shipping out CDs is nice, I certainly liked having a CD myself, but the old way must eventually give way to the new in a niche market where very little money is being made. DD allows prices to stay low, yet profits to be higher so that money can be reinvested into the games themselves. There are several alternatives to DD, which is continue making physical copies and scratching out a minimal existence, or to simply stop developing altogether (I am not suggesting that will happen, I am speaking hypothetically). So, you have a situation where there is very little money, so DD is the method which alleviates the problems and it also provides the consumer the ability to have the game NOW, on demand, without waiting for it to arrive my mail. However, with DD comes the side effect that we are talking about here: you cannot just give your software away as a download without any protection, that would be akin to slitting your own wrists as a developer -- the people who spend *years* of their life making these "games" are, in good sense, not interested in that approach. :(

This is just something to keep this in perspective. The main change here is the shift to DD for obvious reasons. As someone said, DD was not invented yesterday, and it has become method of higher efficiency that a niche market requires to be successful. You can dispel those false assumptions that someone was sitting around with feet-on-desk, puffing-on-fat-cigar trying to figure out ways to force a DRM method on everyone. The DRM is a necessary side effect/evil of digital download. Who knows, maybe the DRM may change to allow multiple activations with one serial number, the whole thing was only announced today and we get the idea: there should be more than one activation allowed for those that might want to put the game on a laptop for traveling purposes. That is perfectly understandable. Lets be patient as, with everything new, some things might have to be ironed out (or not, who knows). Just remember to keep both sides of the issue in mind...