All of the money we raise through Kickstarter is being spent on making the game. Most of the cost of development is in paying for the team to create the game. There will be a team of engine programmers, game-play programmers, UI engineers, character artists, environment artists, animators, effects artists, UI Artists, sound designers, composers, writers, game designers, systems designers, level scripters, and testers. Not to mention all the interns it will take to handle the mailing out of the physical goods. It is simple math that the bigger this budget gets, the more jobs it will create. The bigger the team, the deeper and bigger the game gets. If you want a deeper and larger game, and we think that you do, you want us to raise as much money as possible to spend on the game.

Did I just hear all 43,000+ of you say ‘How can we help?’ I am glad you asked!!

One thing you will notice in that list of potential jobs above is that nowhere in that list do you see ‘Marketing Lady’ or ‘PR Guy’. That is because we don’t have these positions, nor do we plan to hire them. We want to spend the money on the game, and only the game.

This is where you come in… All 43,000+ of you are our marketing and PR team. We need your help to get the word out that the Kickstarter countdown is on.

• Post to your Facebook pages with links back to the Kickstarter.
• Follow @BrianFargo on twitter and retweet my Wasteland related tweets.
• Post it to forums where you think it is relevant.
• Send emails out to everyone you know.
• Go to our website and put our Doomsday countdown clock on your website.
• Get a friend or family member to buy in.
• Shout it from the rooftop.
• Do some early shopping for Christmas 2013!

If every person who has pledged manages to get one more person to buy in for $15, we will increase the budget by over $600,000. You can help the project in very tangible ways by helping us get the word out.​

Lastly, I am very excited to release the first official piece of Wasteland 2 concept art. We asked the very talented Andree Wallin to help us establish the look and feel of the Desert Rangers. I think this image speaks for itself…

I remember tons of phone conversations with Alan that began because Ken had called him, tried to get Alan to do something, and they just weren’t communicating well. Ken would call me to vent. I’d listen, figure out what it was he wanted to do, and mentally translate it into something a programmer could work with. Then I’d call Alan, we’d mull things over, and not only come away with something that would let Ken do what he wanted, but a whole bunch more. This is precisely why, in Wasteland, you see a door that won’t open and you don’t have the key, you can pick the lock, you can shoot it off, you can blow it up (and so much more). If I recall correctly, there were 14 different ways to open doors, and depending what you did to open a door, you’d find different things on the other side.

Wasteland’s strongest point was that actions had consequences. Radical concept, I know. Because of that, how a player approached the game would determine the result he’d get. It allowed us to provide a different gaming experience for different players. It required more than just a hack and slash mentality—sure, you could get to the end that way, but if you used skills and smarts, the path would be different, and often more rewarding.

This is what so excites me about Wasteland II. I remember all the things we wanted to do but couldn’t, simply because of the limits of machines back then. The game’s scope will be huge, and the things players can do, the strategies that will win the game, will likewise expand. Being able to add atmosphere through music and voice acting will make the game that more immersive. In the original game we could only supply a small slice of a world, but now we’ll be able to provide a vast landscape overflowing with adventure and discovery.​