Are you happy now? A situation that could have been resolved peacefully ended up ruining another VN with unnecessary drama and hate.
It’s truly embarrassing that a team full of adults would behave so childishly and unprofessionally.
I don't want this VN to be ruined too, but I hope at least the team members regret what they did; otherwise, I really feel sorry for them. This community shouldn't become a place for hate and destroying each other.
Tbh, whole situation could've been handled more professionally by both sides.
But you can't blame Cienie devs for trying to defend themselves where big name of G.Square attack your vn with false accusations because your vn doesn't have sex.
Secondly I don't know if you didn't read the Echo patreon announcement or you're just playing ignorant.
There is the "past few years" of George's drama was at fault, it's not the first time he tried to bully someone, sadly it probably won't be the last.
Sorry if I come off as rude.
I'm not just fully support George.
Saying that the Cienie devs had no fault in this situation is wrong.
George at least had a point, and that was the false advertising. Using NSFW art to promote the game when there’s nothing like that in the actual game.
And I consider turning a simple message on Discord into harassment to be an exaggeration. That message in no way constituted harassment.
Overall, this issue could have been resolved much better, but both sides made it worse, and I can't fully support either of them.
Ok, first I never said Cienie devs weren't at fault, you just made that up.
As it seems the rest of your message, But I will bite.
Cienie devs never said there is going to be sex in their visual novel.
In fact, you can scroll through the page and you will find it.
Also It's a furry fandom everyone turns sfw things into nsfw art they enjoy, and the false "promo" art you spoke off is just artistic nudity.
Beside it wasn't even promo art... It was Just simple thank you art and Christmas wishes.
And before you bring up that people behind the cienie draw art of their character in nsfw poses, yes they did.
THEY'RE ALLOWED TO.
It's their right to do so.
So please stop trying to blame them for everything when you clearly don't grasp the situation.
False advertising such as, a single artistic nudity piece back in 2022 (which especially with how the vn process goes the creators coulda been unsure if they wanted to include nsfw or not), and something they made for april fools day. So idk where this sort of idea that this vn engage in false advertising, not once have they claimed they were going to add nsfw scenes into the story, even if you look at the game page here there's literally no indication or lies that there's nsfw in the story. So besides those two pretty lazy examples, the rest of the "false advertising" is them showing support for fan art, so if you wanna cry a river over fan art then thats a you issue
Everyone else is responsible for George's words and actions, never George himself apparently.
Even then as a lead dev of one of Echo Project's most prolific works, he has a duty to uphold the professional reputation of their group and games. He's not some no-name rando he has a responsibility to watch what he says.
Like even if the Cienie people never brought up The Things That Georgesquares Himself Openly Talked About in relation to their game, it would have been something else in the future that got him fired. This wasn't his first and only incident, not by a long shot. Guy had a long history of FAFO, and it's finally caught up with him.
The Echo message says "irreconcilable differences over the PAST FEW YEARS" and you default to this recent event.
You guys have completely glaze over the fact that George gave terrible treatment to his co-workers such as Redd & Orion that have been even visible in public chats. Redd was pretty much bullied off the project and put in a state of terrible mental health. He got into fights with McSkinny as well. The ex from 2019-2021 having been handpicked by George to mod the server only to extend his control and silencing his opposition, and mentioning there was at least one artist that has been underpaid.
This has been a long time coming. And I'm only scratching the surface.
George being on thin ice with EP isn't just from 2024. Or 2023. The fact that people can't fathom he was a toxic element, while also the same people claiming being fans of Echo, a work with one of the many themes being to recognise toxicity and let go and move on from it, is insane to me.
How do you all not understand that he wasn't just a PR nightmare, he was legitimately poisoning the well?
Oh, and how quickly you’ve forgotten George’s good things; he’s now become the villain of the story.
The promotions George did for all the VNs helped the community grow significantly due to the Echo Project and especially TSR, leading to the creation of many other VNs.
Right now, everyone is just angry and looking to spread hate. I’m sure over time, people will understand the meaning of my messages, but unfortunately, it will be too late.
For someone who accuse us of "looking to spread hate", you're pretty forgiving of harrassment and mistreatments when it's not about George/being inflicted by George.
Would you work for with/under someone in exchange of being berated and feeling your soul leaving your body, and in the case of Orion: FOR FREE VOLUNTARY WORK?
I liked TSR in 2022. But no. Hell no. Even if it was a brilliant masterpiece, it's not justified.
You care too much about the media itself to care about the human factor and understand their decision.
