lugum: That combined with their previous hidden object games..
HypersomniacLive: They've made a number of HOGs with Puzzle/ "Adventure" elements that - I assume - were commercially successful, i.e. they've established a certain customer base that may or may not have played the first five Tex Murphy games.
What makes me nervous the most is that the gameplay of Tesla Effect might be so much
adjusted that the Tex Murphy fans will not enjoy it as much as this specific customer base.
Quite the contrary, they got burned by the casual market, the "3 Cards" games didn't really give them much cash.
That's why they went to Kickstarter, before that the plan had been to fund the Tex game with the casual game money, but apparently they learned the hard way that, in spite of appearances, casual and adventure don't mix that well.
Direct quote from Aaron Conners, from around 2010 (oy, italics still don't work or am I dense?):
"Our hope with the 3 Cards series was to create a game that would be casual enough to appeal to casual gamers, but offer enough story and challenge to please the more core adventure gamers; after making these two games, I'm not sure it's even possible. Many casual gamers aren't patient enough to get into the story and think even the easiest difficulty levels are too hard, while many adventure gamers find the structure too restrictive and repetitive. We used to think that there was some crossover there (and maybe there will be in the future), but what makes a successful casual game is mostly a direct contradiction to adventure design.
At this point, Chris and I are in deep discussions about our future. Unless something significant changes in the casual market, it's just not viable for us as a 3rd party developer. The only way to make any money at all is to do contract work (which we are doing) and get paid to develop a game for a publisher. It doesn't pay much, but it's guaranteed income and that keeps us in business.
In the near future, expect to hear an announcement about a return to our roots: a traditional (though updated and contemporary) adventure game. This may be our swan song, but we're not going to die on the vine without shooting off all our ammo in one last attempt. We feel a bit like Butch and Sundance down in Bolivia...let's just hope for a happier ending!"
After all that I wouldn't worry too much about them making their "swan song" too casual ;)