Henry Spencer wrote: Suzuki just seems like such a nice, humble bloke, yeah. He must have thanked us about ten times on the stream last night. The fact that he started crying a couple of times on the stream, just goes to show how much this project means to him.
He is so genuine. Nothing about his is contrived him at all, which is so refreshing in comparison to some of the heads of western game studios. He just seems like a kind soul.
On some level, I'd imagine he feels like he is imposing to a degree, or at least a little embarrassed to have to ask for money from fans to make a game. Have to remember that he's from a different generation as well.
In regards to Nocon Kid: many, many developers got their break in game studios modding games; very common pathway for developers.
Alan Kertz created mods for Battlefield 1942, along with the Desert Combat mod in the early 2000's. His work was picked up by DICE, and he's now a producer for them in Sweden. There are countless more examples.