Broken Age - Double Fine's Kickstarter Adventure Game

[J_C]

Who? MCA? I think this is a bit too much money for one person to fund.

I meant that Obsidian should start a similar thing to get money for a real RPG.

I just backed the project.

Oh OK, I misunderstood. I agree, Obsidian should start their own project.

 

[Metro]

Wouldn't work with a cRPG. Hell, half the Codex wouldn't even donate... they'd just wait for the TPB version~

 

[Infinitron]

The problem with doing this for an RPG is that, unlike point and click adventure games, there is no one classic, untainted model that everybody is nostalgic for.

What would you be donating for? A Bethesda hiking simulator? A Bioware dating simulator? A roguelike or dungeon crawl? The genre is too spread out.

 

[Alex]

Metro and Infinitron

Eh, there isn't a single adventure model either. You have adventure games that are mostly puzzles and ones that are mostly story telling. You have parse games, like the good old Infocom and you have games like Full Throttle with only 5 verbs. You have games where the puzzles are woven into the story and where they are pretty much separated from it. I think the reason Double Fine got so much money has little to do with the genre and much more to do with name recognition.

And while I think it is great this is working so well, I really would prefer they gave a better idea of what they are going to do. I will wait until we know more about the game itself before backing it up.

 

[Infinitron]

Metro and Infinitron

Eh, there isn't a single adventure model either. You have adventure games that are mostly puzzles and ones that are mostly story telling. You have parse games, like the good old Infocom and you have games like Full Throttle with only 5 verbs. You have games where the puzzles are woven into the story and where they are pretty much separated from it. I think the reason Double Fine got so much money has little to do with the genre and much more to do with name recognition.

Yes, but those aren't what people remember after so many years. They remember Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road. The classic model.

Games like Full Throttle are more like a variation on that model than a new type of game.

 

[Castanova]

Also, RPGs take way too long to develop. I mean, shit -- they're going to finish this game by October?!?!

 

[felipepepe]

Yes, but those aren't what people remember after so many years. They remember Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road. The classic model.

Games like Full Throttle are more like a variation on that model than a new type of game.

I'm sure lot's of them remeber Full Throttle, or Grim Fandango. And nowhere says if the game will be 2D or 3D...people just trust the guy.

 

[Infinitron]

Yes, but those aren't what people remember after so many years. They remember Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road. The classic model.

Games like Full Throttle are more like a variation on that model than a new type of game.

I'm sure lot's of them remeber Full Throttle, or Grim Fandango. And nowhere says if the game will be 2D or 3D...people just trust the guy.

I don't think 2D or 3D is really important nowadays. Telltale's games are 3D but don't play any differently than a 2D game would.
The exception is if you want realistic background art, but that's not DoubleFine's style anyway.

 

[janjetina]

Sam and Max was already with icons instead of text options, if I remember correctly.

 

[Antagonist]

Sam and Max was already with icons instead of text options, if I remember correctly.

The problem wasn't the icons per se but the reduced set of possible interactions. This already started far earlier if you compare the original Maniac Mansion or Zak McCracken with Day of the Tentacle. Anyway, I've pledged as well, mostly because I'm curious if Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert still have it in them to make a great adventure game. If they fuck this up they will have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[janjetina]

I will chip in, but if the game sucks or vapourizes unusual accidents may occur.

I would similarly chip in in the case of a RPG, or a strategy game by game developers that I respect, provided that their design goals match my taste.

 

[HanoverF]

As the total ticks up to 900,000 (it'll probably be there by the time I hit post reply) and who knows what it will eventually rake in, I wonder what kind of pressure the folks at Double Fine are feeling. Should make the documentary more interesting.

 

[shihonage]

Obligatory OMM link is ignored.
Let's leave the dark ages behind us. I've found that the recently made TellTale adventure games have had perfectly logical puzzles.

Yes they did. But that has nothing to do with recency (people weren't dumber in the "dark ages"), just with a specific company that works with preexisting franchises which had well-developed lore (Back To The Future and Sam & Max). Someone tread the ugly paths before them, making it easier to create logical paths through the story.

Most companies don't have that luxury and, most likely, neither will this "original" Kickstarter project. Most adventure games are, in fact, exactly like that OMM article, ignore it or not.

Mostly because the engines were never sophisticated enough to account for any degree of non-linearity. There aren't properties, or forces, that are affected by certain other properties or types of items... there's always just very specific triggers that work in very specific circumstances and not in others.

That's what an adventure game is.

It puzzles me that Bioware games are trashed for being linear and consisting largely of meaningless dialogue options interrupted by an occasional cutscene, yet here's an entire genre, the kindest description for which is "utterly primitive", for which a Codexer will willingly accept these conditions.

Wait, I guess it's that infamous "Monkey Island" sense of humor and the charming/funny storytelling in "Full Throttle".

It's true, it was far better than listening Mass Effect NPC #17 drone on about Faction Delta and their plans for fumigating the airducts, and I guess some people are willing to endure constant backtracking, repetitive cursor hovering and object combining for the story that's actually somewhat coherent and funny.

Without doubt, a heavy dose of nostalgia/emotion is involved.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

50k for the privilege to suck Tim Cain's and MCA's cocks

An exciting return of feelies included in the purchase of a game!

 

[Infinitron]

Wait, I guess it's that infamous "Monkey Island" sense of humor and the charming/funny storytelling in "Full Throttle". It's true, it was far better than listening Mass Effect NPC #17 drone on about Faction Delta and their plans for fumigating the airducts, and I guess some people are willing to endure constant backtracking, repetitive cursor hovering and object combining for the story that's actually somewhat coherent and funny.

Without doubt, a heavy dose of nostalgia/emotion is involved.

Absolutely. Adventure games had charm and they were good for what they were, but...I am posting on the RPGCodex.

 

[felipepepe]

You don't see us raging about Battlefield 3 lack of C&C or dialog trees either...maybe because it's a fucking FPS that sells itself like one...

 

[Antagonist]

Yeah, it pretty much boils down to different expectations. That doesn't mean that one has to dislike a certain genre only because it is overrepresented in another genre where it shouldn't be (i.e. the overly linear, action-oriented nature of many RPGs today). I guess I'd be equally pissed if I bought a new Serious Sam title and would have to create my character first and decide whether to specialize in small arms or bazookas. ;-)

 

[trustno1code]

nostalgia/emotion

+1

 

[Infinitron]

nostalgia/emotion

+1

 

[Roguey]

Not gonna donate, might check it out if the concept intrigues me.

The problem with doing this for an RPG is that, unlike point and click adventure games, there is no one classic, untainted model that everybody is nostalgic for.

What would you be donating for? A Bethesda hiking simulator? A Bioware dating simulator? A roguelike or dungeon crawl? The genre is too spread out.

There's absolutely no harm whatsoever in trying though.

 

[Angthoron]

Getting to 1,1 million now. Darn, that's seriously impressive.

TimOfLegend Tim Schafer:

$955k! Guys, I'll make you a deal. If we hit $980k I'll add RTS elements to the game! And if we hit $1M, I'll take them back out!

Heh.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Elzair]

Interestingly enough, they got more than half their money from people donating 100$ or more. In fact, as of now, donations of 1000$ or more add up to a pretty crazy 81000$. Although I suppose nobody else does pre-order bonuses like lunch with Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert.

Bioware should give it a try. Lunch with David Gaider and Felicia Day in a Tallis costume.

I would donate if they got Gaider wearing a Darth Gayder t-shirt and Yvonne Strahovski wearing this

So if I donate $50k will I get both an undoctored and a doctored picture of Ron Gilbert? Will I be able to tell the difference?

I would donate if she were wearing this.

 

[Stinger]

Hmmmm. I admit, I've got Kickstarter fever now. I feel like a bunch of doors suddenly appeared in game development.

Oh Mr Avellone, you tease.

 

[Elzair]

It puzzles me that Bioware games are trashed for being linear and consisting largely of meaningless dialogue options interrupted by an occasional cutscene, yet here's an entire genre, the kindest description for which is "utterly primitive", for which a Codexer will willingly accept these conditions.

Wait, I guess it's that infamous "Monkey Island" sense of humor and the charming/funny storytelling in "Full Throttle".

It's true, it was far better than listening Mass Effect NPC #17 drone on about Faction Delta and their plans for fumigating the airducts, and I guess some people are willing to endure constant backtracking, repetitive cursor hovering and object combining for the story that's actually somewhat coherent and funny.

Without doubt, a heavy dose of nostalgia/emotion is involved.

As others have said, it is probably because Monkey Island et. al. are adventure games and are marketed as such. Tim Schafer is not a former cRPG great trying to pass of a Gears of War or Ocarina of Time clone as an RPG. Therefore, there is no hatred arising from a perceived betrayal. Imagine if Bethesda had renamed Fallout 3 as Capital Wasteland: Revelations and removed all Fallout references; do you think there would have been nearly the same rage from RPGCodex and NMA?