Please remember that we are under NDA, so we cannot give away answers to a lot of questions that are being asked except in the broadest terms. This leads a lot of people to not post, because why say something when you can't give clear answers? And why can we not talk about things? Various reasons...none of them nefarious or backhanded. Most of the time it's due to the natural process of game development, meaning that things change, at any stage of development and giving specific details only risks a possible change later and then you'll look silly. So that's one reason.
Of course, sometimes talking to fans can be scary as well. Words of RED's tend to be put under a microscope and analyzed from every possible angle and sometimes, no matter how clear we try to be, they will be misinterpreted, which can lead to problems down the road.
Again, I do not think we are scared, so much as we can't really address it here. For example, I can't tell you details about changes from the version that was shown at E3 to what we have now. I can't talk about them, because again, various reasons and none of them have malicious intent behind them.
One other main reason is that we simply do not have the time to really post here and the people who do have time, seldomly have a deep insight into the systems or parts of the game that are being talked about. I am taking about half an hour out of my day right now to write this post. Half an hour I could be spending polishing a quest (and will be, because I'll add that half hour to the end of the day, but you get my meaning).
A lot of us prefer to let our game speak for itself. It sometimes is a bit frustrating (and leads to the desire to not talk publicly) that there is a feeling of distrust from fans. While perfectly understandable in today's industry, please try to understand this from our point of view. as well. We try our best to deliver a great game. But while it is in development, things are in flux. Things change. Yes, even "close" to release.
Little addendum here. People WERE actually clapping and cheering for the Witcher Demo at the MS conference. The stream/audio just did not capture any of the crowds reactions. But from what Konrad told us, there was a HUGE reaction to the demo.
I would not go so far. People are acting like this because they care about the game. This is understandable. Trust me, it would be a lot worse if there would be constant silence or only praise from the community. As someone pointed out, nothing will ever make EVERYone happy. It is important that the community voices concerns and gives feedback.
It is also important for people to realize that we have reasons why we do things the way we do. Sometimes, it feels like fans just assume we are not showing things when we COULD show so much more. And if we can't show more, it must be because our game is completely unfinished or whatever horrible disaster reason.
The truth is most often much simpler. We are making a game. Things change. Showing things in development is something we only do sparingly, because we always try to show the best possible representation of the game we can, be it screenshots, trailers or other marketing things.
In the end, I guess, I am asking for a bit of trust. I know that's hard to do with something you hold so dear. And I am not asking for you to not speak out your mind if you see something that seems weird/lacking/could be better. Just try to not assume the worst simply because there is no screenshots/videos for a while or we do not respond to every question asked. Keep in mind that our main focus lies in making the game amazing and that does not always equate to having amazing trailers all the time.
Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm. It helps us a lot.
