joka wrote: This new age of Kickstarter and social media has always had me a bit worried as when you need fans to fund the game pre-dev there's a danger that they expect to be involved and you feel the pressure to let them be.
As long as fans don't impact on the story then that's the main thing for me- even passively.
The poll being a good example- so for instance Yu changing how the relationship between Ryo and Nozomi ends because she came out highly liked in fan polls. I'd rather if they're not meant to be that's how it stays.
Influence of mini games, bonus content, even design (to a certain degree) I'm not so worried about but I have faith in Yu's vision and commitment to that to not be too worried about it!
At the same time, I can see the other side of the argument: follow your vision to an extreme, and you end up with Mass Effect's color-coded endings that left virtually nobody happy. I'd much rather a good ending that wasn't originally intended over an awful ending (or twist, or plot arc, or whatever) that "matches their vision".
An ending where Yu has his dream relationship of Ryo and Fusako Kondo won't do it for the community, hahah. A Shenmue III that makes nobody happy does nothing for anybody.
And it can go the other way too, I know: fans might clamor for Nozomi and Ryo, and we might end up with a changed ending that is really forced and silly, and we would have been better off going with Yu Suzuki's vision.
I think there's a pleasant middle ground, and I feel like Yu can hit it. I want him to feel like we trust him enough to stick to his guns, and I want him to be able to realize, when confronted with a strong recommendation that Fusako Kondo isn't the way to go, he will trust us enough to consider changing it. I really feel like the Shenmue relationship between creator and community is symbiotic at this point.