Let's be clear before I start this, all I'm doing here is expressing my worry about how this entire thing reflects on Larian as a company, because I think they make damn good games, appear to be a damn fine bunch of gentlemen and I'd love for them to get all the support they can possibly get.
So basically, with the D:OS 2 Kickstarter, every other factor should be ignored except the Linux version of D:OS? No mater what benefits could be expected starting it now, and no matter what conflicts or problems there could be with a delay, a separate group of people working on a different game should just wait?
If there weren't a target release date for the Linux version, and it wasn't fairly soon, you might have a point. As it is, the D:OS 2 Kickstarter is not going to delay the EE release, and delaying the Kickstarter would not speed up the EE release.
I, personally, have faith that they *will* eventually deliver that version, however one can hardly expect people to have that much faith in a company in an age where broken promises or just plain bullshit marketing are the norm rather than the exception. Most people are blissfully unaware that Larian has come pretty close to bankruptcy chasing their dreams on multiple occasions.
Moreover I think you can agree that *not* having delivered a pretty major part (unless you agree that support for an entire platform is not a "pretty major part") of their previous KS before launching a new one is not exactly going to reflect on them in a positive way. Whether finishing that up first or not is technically feasible is not something most people will give a damn about, the only thing the "general public" sees is "did not deliver x, as promised" (there's still lots of people unhappy about the day/night cycle too, and that, in comparison, was a minor setback, at least in my book).
Planning is part of development. And yes, that is where the issues with Linux started, as described by Lar in a forum post some time ago (a topic which you posted in).
Rather than paraphrase my post incorrectly to label it as "borderline insulting" you could try addressing the content. Or ignore it; either way isn't going to change anything at this point.
Saying that they are owed nothing because KS is not a contract which is basically saying that they have no right to expect anything and that if they do not like it they can go take a hike. *That* is what I was referring to, it feels like you are downplaying their concerns and I think people have every right to be disappointed in how things turned out (and to voice that concern). It won't magically make the problem go away, but nobody said that it would.
I don't see how anyone here is asking for anything unreasonable either, unless you mean that the Linux version isn't even in a beta-able state yet, which might actually be cause for concern with a release date set two and a half months from now.
Larian did not try to "cut corners". It was explicitly the plan from the very beginning to start the Linux version after the Mac version was finished, and development of the Mac version had been halted and only resumed once the Kickstarter reached its funding goal. At the time Larian wasn't sure if the Mac version would catch up by the game's release. Being up to that point a Windows only developer, Larian was of course focused on the Windows version, and never claimed otherwise.
I mean that not developing multiple platforms in parallel is "cutting corners" as that's the right way to do it if you're committed to delivering on those platforms. But, as I've stated in another forum, doing this is *hard* so what I said is a statement of fact and not meant as an insult (and my sincere apologies if it came over as such).
