Oh man, this is not good news. Look what happened to the Hobbit after Joe Balcer left. The designer of a game needs to remain until production begins. Is there no chance of a resolution?

Oh man, slapped down by Keefer! Would you accept: "...went from strength to strength."

Hey! I replied, see post#58.

Seriously though, I wasn't meaning to offend and my apologies if I did. I think it is great that JJP is trying different things with the Hobbit.

I merely meant that to me, a mere spectator from the outside, things seemed to progress in a more disorderly fashion after Balcer departed. Stuff that was in the initial design was removed, habitrail VUKs became solid metal and then back again, Bag-End changed to a book and then disappeared completely, Smaug's tail became a gate, etc. To the casual observer this could appear as if there was no one person with a vision directing all the changes.

Now, obviously I have no idea about what went on behind the scenes and all this could just be the normal development of a design that happens with every game but is usually hidden from view. Keith says that things have changed for the better so I can accept that.

Even though it is probably not fair (a design has to evolve), I do think it is somewhat natural to be a little disappointed when we, the public, are shown a initial design with lots of interesting features (wireform around Smaug, seemingly different target at Bag-End, unusual arrangement of kickout hole at the right VUK, etc.) that are later removed from the game.

Edit: Actually, I went back and looked at the early designs and have to admit, not that much has changed. It may have just been that I had unrealistic expectations of what the finished game would be like after I saw the initial designs. So...carry on!