Sure, I guess DF is just unlucky that they're one of the early (big) devs who are setting a precedent for this. Like you said, it's definitely something people need to get used to from now on. Being able to cancel a project is a right Early Access devs need to have.
Yup. As Patrick said, games get cancelled all the time, the difference is that we now get to see that first-hand because of Kickstarter (and to a lesser extent Early Access). The normal model is for devs to announce games when they're pretty far in development, and few of those games get cancelled at that point. We normally don't hear about the game that are cancelled, or at least we don't hear about it before after the fact. With Kickstarter people get in on the ground floor, so we'll see a lot more cancellations going forward for a variety of reasons. The fact that a lot of the people who contribute to Kickstarter feel an "ownership" of that project helps to make the reaction even worse when something happens.
If you're cancelling a project you need to at the very least be able to show that you didn't just take the money and run, and you need to be open and transparent about it.
I think the thing with other games being cancelled is that EA doesn't ask me to give them 60 bucks to make a Steven Spielberg game (LMNO) and then tell me "too bad, so sad" when they cancel it and move on to another project.
There's a Kickstarter I backed called Hero-U, from the makers of Quest For Glory. The game is late as hell, but they are still working on it.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1878147873/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption/posts/941777#comments
Well, at least we're telling the truth about it.
As for consequences, they're severe - Lori and I have gone almost $100K into debt and are not taking a salary until we release the game. So yes, we believe in consequences and dealing with them. But we don't believe in rushing a game.
Now, I really don't know how I feel. On the one hand, I don't want people to lose their homes in order to make a game that I paid 20 bucks for. But on the other hand, 20 bucks is still 20 bucks, so I would appreciate if they gave me a finished product, so I am happy that they are still working on the game.
Ultimately, the risks should be placed up front - "If 10,000 people don't buy this game, then we will shut down development" - but the financial pain should be felt by the developer, not the consumer.
