New Interview on AMFP - "Infection" Mechanic Was Cut

[Ashtoreth]

I read this interview the other day when it was added to the AMFP Information Portal.


"The completion on Dark Descent was so massively low."

I wonder where the statistical data that supports Dan's affirmation can be found. The game might take a lot of time to complete for many players, because of how effectively scary it is, but it doesn't mean they don't finish it. Yes, I know that there are people who have never finished playing The Dark Descent, but using the word "massively" seems pretty exaggerated to me. He's trying too hard to justify why he decided to make AMFP less scary, to the point where he now resorts to claims he simply can't prove.

Did he ever stop to think that perhaps even less players who started Dear Esther felt compelled to reach the end of it? Making a game purposefully linear and simple for the sake of completion (in order to tell a complete story), doesn't guarantee that more people will finish it, no matter how wonderful and magnificent the story being told is.

Creative works like films, music, books, games, should NEVER be made by the artist with the thought of "completion" in mind. It's up to the audience to decide whether they want to experience the work from start to finish or not.