Obsidian's doing a Kickstarter, what are your thoughts?

[DoPo]

So...I was emailed. Obsidian have their stretch goals for what to do when overfunded.

We are excited to announce the stretch goals for Project Eternity!

1.1 million, Base Goal ? Achieved!
Base game includes three races, five classes, and five companions. We have ideas for these, but we want to hear your opinions on what you'd like to see. Stay tuned to Kickstarter, our website, and our forums to join in on the conversation.

1.4 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!
Expands your options for character creation and adds a companion of the new class.

1.6 million, a Mac Version of Project Eternity and The Story Grows!
We've listened and we?ll make a Mac version of the game at this tier. We're also going to add a new major storyline along with new quests, locations, NPCs, and unique loot (special histories everyone?).

1.8 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!
The options grow for your main character and the roster of your motley crew expands with the addition of a new companion from the selected class.

2.0 million, Player House!
Get your own house in the game that you can customize, store equipment in, and where your companions hang out, or, as the elves say, "chillax".

2.2 million, a new Region, a new Faction and another new Companion! And, dare we say it... ? LINUX!
Great news, everyone! For the Tarball Knights of Gzippia out there, we'll be adding Linux support!
Also, the world of Project Eternity grows in a major way with the inclusion of a whole new faction and the territory it holds. This adds new NPCs, quests, magic items, and hours of gameplay. And yes, you got it, another companion.

We've been listening to your feedback, and have the following announcements:

DRM Free: We are looking into it! Please check back for updates.
Digital Only Tiers are coming!
PayPal is coming asap. Please be patient!
New $5k Tier. We are looking into a new $5k tier since it sold out so quickly! We are looking into equivalent alternatives.

Thank you fans!

Obsidian

Did you see that - DRM free. Well, they are considering it, but still. Just keep that in mind because did you see that other thing?

2.2 million, a new Region, a new Faction and another new Companion! And, dare we say it... ? LINUX!
Great news, everyone! For the Tarball Knights of Gzippia out there, we'll be adding Linux support!

Let's make this happen, people!

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Think back to 1992-96. Then the isometric games from that time. Then to their trailers. What were they? Just random CG and cutscene excerpts, because, gameplay from an isometric game is useless in a trailer. Naturally, an indie dev wouldn't have budget for a CG up to today's standards. Saying the trailer for an isometric game is bad is like saying water is wet.

The game you're talking about isn't from 92-96. Its from last year. And I've seen plenty of trailers for isometric games that made me interrested. Avernum's trailer does not, probably because it isn't very good.

CD Projekt Red's first game, The Witcher, didn't sell well at all. By the time the second game came out it had a bit of a renaissance due to word of mouth and actual existent marketing for this second game. And by modern sales standards, the measly one and a half million sales of The Witcher 2 is still uber crappy.

Apparently it sold well enough for them to make more triple A games.

And besides, that wasn't my point at all. My point was most game consumers are completely unable to stay updated on new games unless they come from big name devs/ pubs, excessive word of mouth or heavy marketing. They make zero effort.

The key part being word of mouth. Games that people like get internet street cred. And then they are able to build a following and build more games from it. Just like obsidian is duing.

Many ill-fated games could have done a lot better if new games were as visible as, say, new TV shows. After all, if you have a TV channel, you'll mostly know what their shows are and whether they'll interest you if you watch TV, right?

Yes much like I know for the most part what games devs are working on releasing. Unless they are the videogame equivalent of telamundo and I don't give a crap. Which is what Spiderweb software apparently is. Nobody except the most obsessed TV fanatics make it their business to know every single TV show on every single channel. It's a waste of time.

And why do I care if don't do that well? The games that are smaller lesser known dev studios that are good, become well known like Vampire Bloodlines and Arcanum. Because people talk about them on forums and spread the word. And then studios like Obsidian can say, hey a lot of our guys worked on that game, and then people get excited and donate tons of money to their kickstarter. And they become well known, thereby exposing the dreadfully unfair fact that games people like are more successful than games people don't like for the financial success of a studio.

Games that are average made by big studios get well known and bought up. Games that are average from lesser known studios get ignored for the most part. And I'm fine with that, because I don't play games that are average so I couldn't care less either way. Making videogame isn't a fair business but I'm fine with average studios getting swept under the carpet. They don't need to magically get the same money just because their product is as blasé as a big studio's is.

For a month? I've had to use offline mode a lot and it has never lasted for a month. In fact, Steam's offline mode is programmed to deactivate and demand a connection every week, on update day.

I haven't used it for like two years, last time I did I was able to go for about a month. Perhaps they have changed it. Why is it that big of a deal? Internet access is almost a necessity for most people in the modern world. Is reconnecting to the internet for 30 seconds once every week really that big of a problem?

 

[aguspal]

I never understood WTF the whole Kickstarting thingy is.

And Obsidian... Um... Well, they were the makers of Alpha Protocol and Fallout New Vegas right? Well, both where average-semi good games... Whatever the Kickstarter crap is, I hope its good for them.

 

[Windcaler]

Ill be happy to throw some money in. Usually Im more of a $20 guy but in this case Im gonna go ahead with $100 since this is a type of game Ive really missed. Plus its a chance to get obsidian a new IP and I enjoy nearly all of their games (despite their buggy natures)

 

[DracoSuave]

My thoughts: Obsidian really is in a bad state if they have to use a kickstarter to fund their project.

They need funding for it because what Publisher would fund an isometric RPG in this day and age?

There's quite a few out there that wouldn't give them the requirement to stick to a draconian schedule, allow them to make an original game they want, AND be able to make it so that they wouldn't need millions of sold copies to break even.

 

[Tropicaz]

Loving that they've made stretch plans. Very sensible way of showing that they were prepared for the support and arent just going to spend the extra on blood or sacrifices or whatever else EA spend their spare money on. Also means people arent dissapointed when Obsidian have an extra $1M or whatever and dont have an extra $1M of content to add.

 

[Rob_Zander]

-Original IP in an industry bereft of them

Made by Obsidian, known primarily for sequels and licensed games.

-Supposedly a combination of Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, and Planescape Torment

SOUNDS ORIGINAL TO ME!!!!!

-It's made by Obsidian

Known for sequels and licensed games, and shit-tons of bugs.

-Seriously, these guys made KoTOR II, Torment, and Mask of the Betrayer. How can this not interest you?

Most of those being sequels or licenses. Funny, for knocking the industry, these guys don't seem much different from the norm. Except in quality control issues only rivaled by Bethesda.

So, what do you think?

Screw a large developer for begging for money?

Well, you did ask.

You're right! How dare a developer that made sequels make an original IP! What bastards! How could we have not seen it before? I bow before your superior wisdom.

Your Wisdom continues! We should of course demonize them for their buggy games, despite the fact that it has never been their fault, and the one game that was not fucked over by publishers was largely bug-free!

Obvious troll is obvious.

Straw man argument

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Put it this way. I've never used Kickstarter before. No project has convinced me to. This one made me register and donate.

Roll on 2014!

 

[Something Amyss]

At least they're begging the fans for money and cutting out a shit publisher who will rush the game and probably ruin it.

Yeah, the last thing we'd want is a game below Obsidian's normal quality control standards...

 

[Harb]

At least they're begging the fans for money and cutting out a shit publisher who will rush the game and probably ruin it.

Yeah, the last thing we'd want is a game below Obsidian's normal quality control standards...

Actually you might be interested in knowing that QA teams for both Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas were put in by publishers and answering directly to them and following their guidelines, not the developer's. Please inform yourself next time before saying something, saves dignity .

 

[sunsetspawn]

But does anyone know if it's going to be PC exclusive? I don't want to pay for a game I can't play.

Hmm, good question. The information released so far seems really light on actual...information. Other than what the game is going to be about. It doesn't say anywhere, so it might be that it's not decided for sure yet. And Obsidian's official Project Eternity page [http://eternity.obsidian.net/] is remarkably unhelpful. Seems it is broken.

Due to the nature of consoles I'm going to assume that this will be a PC exclusive. Not that Obsidian wouldn't want to give it a console release, but MS, SONY, and Nintendo are part of a problem that Kickstarter is trying to solve: corporate asshattery destroying good games.

 

[eimatshya]

But does anyone know if it's going to be PC exclusive? I don't want to pay for a game I can't play.

According to this Kotaku article, it will be PC exclusive:

http://kotaku.com/5942307/the-people-behind-fallout-and-planescape-are-making-my-dream-rpg

Here's the quote:

"They're targeting a spring 2014 release. The game will cost you $25 (or $20 if you're an early supporter). And it'll be PC only, because Avellone is 'tired of designing content and interactions that caters to consoles and console controllers.'"

 

[lacktheknack]

I guess I'm in the minority that thinks Kickstarter is an ABOMINATION and the worst thing to come out of the internet in a long time.

Digital panhandling, or more accurately a one step pyramid scheme where the person with the "big project" simply allows any idiot to give them money with zero insurance that anything productive will even be done with it is pretty exciting.

Bypassing the system currently in place that makes this, or any other industry work properly and keeps people employed is also exciting. Why bother having an industry at all when anyone can just say "I can maek gewd gam, I can haz monez?" and they take all they can get and vanish.

And yet it was all worth it, because it made what is possibly my GOTY happen.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light

Released, purchased, MY GOD IT'S WONDERFUL.

As pessimistic as you want to be (and why would you want to be that?), there's a really good reason Kickstarter games started existing. This is it.

 

[Something Amyss]

I thought publishers weren't interested in a isometric RPG 2-D RPG that doesn't have action gameplay and full voice acting ?

So Obsidian are liars? Because they were the ones claiming it....

 

[Something Amyss]

You're right! How dare a developer that made sequels make an original IP!

Yes, that was the point. Not that the likelihood it will really be an original IP or anything like that.

Thank you for telling me what I really meant. It may appear to the untrained eye as missing the point entirely, but instead, it is revealing the fact that I was saying something other than what I thought I did!