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Game News Torment Kickstarter Update #63: A Look Back on Development (McComb on cut content)

Zed

Codex Staff
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
17,068
Codex USB, 2014
Tags: Colin McComb; InXile Entertainment; Torment: Tides of Numenera

There has been some drama recently in regards to crowdfunded content being cut from Torment: Tides of Numenera. I suppose the real stinker here is not necessarily that the content was cut, but that we (and backers) didn't find out about it until now: shortly before launch, and only after Codexer Fairfax' exposé.

Here's (a bit of) what Colin McComb has to say about it in the Kickstarter update:

During the Kickstarter, we had to move fast. We had to make decisions and add content on the fly. The problem is, as with any plan, some of those decisions looked great on paper but didn’t survive contact with reality. Building a game is not a straight line from start to finish. It’s not as simple as creating a design document, implementing it, and shipping it. It’s an endlessly iterative process, one where ideas must be thought up, discussed, prototyped, iterated on again, and tested in game. The cycle repeats frequently. Sometimes, these ideas don’t work out the way you intended or just don’t feel like they fit properly in the theme of the game. A lesson we've taken away since the Kickstarter campaign is to avoid being too specific in detailing early designs, locations, and characters – it's fun and exciting at the time for us and you, but...

[...] Some of our players and community members recently pointed out that they noticed that some features had changed from what we initially detailed. The one that has come up the most is the companion roster. The early access version doesn't feature the companion list we initially had our sights on. This is true: for the release version, there will be six. While we laid the groundwork for more, while building the game we realized that we had to make a tradeoff between companions with depth, or a larger amount. We chose to focus on the added richness and personality that you expect with a smaller group. The game’s scope increased considerably over what we originally set out to build, and we underestimated the amount of time and iteration it would take to make our companions as reactive and branching as they needed to be.​

He does apologize for the lack of transparency:

But our focus on the game led to a different disservice. Namely, our lack of communication. We have always been major proponents of openness during development, but we did not communicate these changes earlier, and we should have done so sooner. For this, you have the entire team’s sincerest apologies. Going forward both with Torment and our future games, we hope to increase our efforts in making sure that you know the status and future plans for inXile’s projects.​

If you're still pissed off about all this, and you're an Italian, you can e-mail them for a refund, because they're cutting Italian localization too (at the same Obsidian adds it as a stretch-goal to Pillars II – what a strange coincidence).

Also in the update: Monte Cook releases a novella.
 

CRD

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
297
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Can some first hand backer ask them directly if the orchestrated music is there or gone?

I can't as I traded for the game one divinity 2 key (what a shit trade I did)
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
207
Location
Inside your mind
I accept he's apology.

And a message for all the Italian backers:
imparare l'inglese (LEARN ENGLISH) !!!!

The only thing that concerns me is the quality of the final product.
I don't give a flying fuck about the rest.

Cut some NPC'S, cut some Scenes or even cut your balls and donate them to the Codex!
In every game, in the history of the gaming industry, some stuff cuts out.
We just know nothing about those decisions.

And because of Kickstarter, the era of transparency began.
And like a spoiled children we began to get upset when we don't know EVERYTHING.

"Why didn't we know that McComb wrote shit about elves?!"
"Why didn't we know that Fargo have golden toilet (which the word "Codex" engraved on the bottom of it, so he can shit on us every day) like Trump?!"
"Why didn't we know that Heine have 178648273462 children in Thailand?!"

So I try to take shit in prospective, and understand what's most important to me - THE GAME ITSELF!
Let me remind you that the Torment campaign was more than successful!
I really don't think that the guys from InXile was ready for this kind of success, so they start to think of new tiers for the game, while the clock of the campaign was ticking.

The only sin in all of this, is that InXile should have inform their backers about the cuts - because once the game comes out, people will figure this out by themselves (Only the Italians probably won't understand why they can't understand Italian anymore - It's called English you stupid fucks!!!) .

But the truth is, and I backed lots of games, that I don't give a fuck about the tiers after a game's being fully funded...

I'm backing a game because it's sounds interesting to me. and not because it has Spanish localization or a female NPC with two dicks.

In conclusion,
I played the beta, and loved every second of it.
So, I place my trust in InXile decisions.
If they want to cut some stuff - LET THEM CUT!
And i don't mind that they won't tell me about it.

All i care about is the quality of the final product.
If I'll enjoy it - than they made the right decisions.
If not, than next time i'll think twice before helping them funding a game.
 
Last edited:

alphyna

Ice-Pick Lodge
Developer
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Oct 23, 2015
Messages
43
Location
St. Petersburg, Russia
Hooo boy.
I wonder how the situation unfolds. TToN seems like a relatively well-anticipated game. Will this stain mar its reputation strongly enough for the hype to wobble? Will the game be good enough for everyone to forgive and forget? Gotta get my popcorn.

If anything, it was worth it for the drama (and I'm saying this as a backer).
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
207
Location
Inside your mind
Hooo boy.
I wonder how the situation unfolds. TToN seems like a relatively well-anticipated game. Will this stain mar its reputation strongly enough for the hype to wobble? Will the game be good enough for everyone to forgive and forget? Gotta get my popcorn.

If anything, it was worth it for the drama (and I'm saying this as a backer).

I thought the BETA was amazing.

My expectations from this game are very high (after the beta).
The writing is by far the best I've seen in years.
The atmosphere is precisely what you would expect from a Torment game.

The graphics are O.K. (played the BETA before the big updates so... maybe it's better now)
The UI was shit, but again, I played the BETA before the big updates...
And the Crisis system is far better then the combat system in PS:T!

I believe that most of the people who enjoyed PS:T will enjoy this game as well.

So, I bet that most people will forgive InXile for their stupidity.
 

alphyna

Ice-Pick Lodge
Developer
Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Messages
43
Location
St. Petersburg, Russia
Hooo boy.
I wonder how the situation unfolds. TToN seems like a relatively well-anticipated game. Will this stain mar its reputation strongly enough for the hype to wobble? Will the game be good enough for everyone to forgive and forget? Gotta get my popcorn.

If anything, it was worth it for the drama (and I'm saying this as a backer).

I thought the BETA was amazing.
I didn't, but tastes differ. I reserve any judgement until the release.
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
7,471
Location
California
I accept he's apology.

And a message for all the Italian backers:
imparare l'inglese (LEARN ENGLISH) !!!!

The only thing that concerns me is the quality of the final product.
I don't give a flying fuck about the rest.

Cut some NPC'S, cut some Scenes or even cut your balls and donate them to the Codex!
In every game, in the history of the gaming industry, some stuff cuts out.
We just know nothing about those decisions.

And because of Kickstarter, the era of transparency began.
And like a spoiled children we began to get upset when we don't know EVERYTHING.

"Why didn't we know that McComb wrote shit about elves?!"
"Why didn't we know that Fargo have golden toilet (which the word "Codex" engraved on the bottom of it, so he can shit on us every day) like Trump?!"
"Why didn't we know that Heine have 178648273462 children in Thailand?!"

So I try to take shit in prospective, and understand what's most important to me - THE GAME ITSELF!
Let me remind you that the Torment campaign was more than successful!
I really don't think that the guys from InXile was ready for this kind of success, so they start to think of new tiers for the game, while the clock of the campaign was ticking.

The only sin in all of this, is that InXile should have inform their backers about the cuts - because once the game comes out, people will figure this out by themselves (Only the Italians probably won't understand why they can't understand Italian anymore - It's called English you stupid fucks!!!) .

But the truth is, and I backed lots of games, that I don't give a fuck about the tiers after a game's being fully funded...

I'm backing a game because it's sounds interesting to me. and not because it has Spanish localization or a female NPC with two dicks.

In conclusion,
I played the beta, and loved every second of it.
So, I place my trust in InXile decisions.
If they want to cut some stuff - LET THEM CUT!
And i don't mind that they won't tell me about it.

All i care about is the quality of the final product.
If I'll enjoy it - than they made the right decisions.
If not, than next time i'll think twice before helping them funding a game.

nice poem you got there
 

Turok

Erudite
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,056
Location
Venezuela
I accept he's apology.

And a message for all the Italian backers:
imparare l'inglese (LEARN ENGLISH) !!!!

The only thing that concerns me is the quality of the final product.
I don't give a flying fuck about the rest.

Cut some NPC'S, cut some Scenes or even cut your balls and donate them to the Codex!
In every game, in the history of the gaming industry, some stuff cuts out.
We just know nothing about those decisions.

And because of Kickstarter, the era of transparency began.
And like a spoiled children we began to get upset when we don't know EVERYTHING.

"Why didn't we know that McComb wrote shit about elves?!"
"Why didn't we know that Fargo have golden toilet (which the word "Codex" engraved on the bottom of it, so he can shit on us every day) like Trump?!"
"Why didn't we know that Heine have 178648273462 children in Thailand?!"

So I try to take shit in prospective, and understand what's most important to me - THE GAME ITSELF!
Let me remind you that the Torment campaign was more than successful!
I really don't think that the guys from InXile was ready for this kind of success, so they start to think of new tiers for the game, while the clock of the campaign was ticking.

The only sin in all of this, is that InXile should have inform their backers about the cuts - because once the game comes out, people will figure this out by themselves (Only the Italians probably won't understand why they can't understand Italian anymore - It's called English you stupid fucks!!!) .

But the truth is, and I backed lots of games, that I don't give a fuck about the tiers after a game's being fully funded...

I'm backing a game because it's sounds interesting to me. and not because it has Spanish localization or a female NPC with two dicks.

In conclusion,
I played the beta, and loved every second of it.
So, I place my trust in InXile decisions.
If they want to cut some stuff - LET THEM CUT!
And i don't mind that they won't tell me about it.

All i care about is the quality of the final product.
If I'll enjoy it - than they made the right decisions.
If not, than next time i'll think twice before helping them funding a game.

"If they want to cut some stuff - LET THEM CUT!"

Then you will be happy to know that the game is only the beta you play, after that everything was cut.

I guess you are still happy.

LET THEM CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!

I really really want to know what happen to the stronghold.
 

jdinatale

Cipher
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
422
apology for poor english

when were you when content cut

i was sat at home playing balders gate when colin ring

'content is cut'

'no'
 

waveplay

Literate
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
17
First time poster on the Codex here.

I'm a backer for TToN and am okay with McComb's explanation. It's lame that they didn't announce that they're cutting the Toy companion, axed the Italian translation etc at the time they made the decision.
It's a Kickstarter and though I'm not sure just how binding stretch goal rewards are legally, but I always back anything on these sites with the mindset that I'm really just donating monies so that these people
can do the things they're wishing to do. If the game is released and I obtain my rewards that's a great bonus. Don't back games as a way to preorder.

Game development is a mess where things get added, cut and changed. It's like with any creative process.

I played the beta last weekend to get a taste of the game and I enjoyed my time greatly. I completed one real quest (the one with the guy getting executed) and was impressed with the above average number of branching points, be it skill checks or dialog options or whatever.

As always, any real judgement can only be cast once the final product is out.
 

Jarpie

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
6,603
Codex 2012 MCA
What I find very suspicious is that, afaik, they havent said how big part is the beta of the final game. From what I've gathered beta is just some hours and if it's close to the half then TToN will be pretty damn short game.
 

Sprout

Educated
Joined
Apr 5, 2013
Messages
67
What I find very suspicious is that, afaik, they havent said how big part is the beta of the final game. From what I've gathered beta is just some hours and if it's close to the half then TToN will be pretty damn short game.
If I remember correctly it was said to be roughly around 1/3.
 

Turok

Erudite
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,056
Location
Venezuela
What I find very suspicious is that, afaik, they havent said how big part is the beta of the final game. From what I've gathered beta is just some hours and if it's close to the half then TToN will be pretty damn short game.
If I remember correctly it was said to be roughly around 1/3.

But, they lie before, what stop then to lie again?

Trust Is So Hard To Earn Yet So Easy To Lose
 

kolton

Novice
Joined
Sep 1, 2015
Messages
8
imparare l'inglese (LEARN ENGLISH) !!!!

It's not always as simple as that. For example, Pillars of Eternity writers deliberately used archaic verbiage in an attempt to make their game seem more unique and hipster. It just ended up being another of its many design flaws and made it difficult to follow for non-native speakers and probably for a lot of native speakers as well. I don't remember having to constantly alt-tab just to see what certain words meant in any other game.

I can only hope that won't be the case in Torment. I obviously haven't played the beta so I don't know what writing is like so far.
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
207
Location
Inside your mind
imparare l'inglese (LEARN ENGLISH) !!!!

It's not always as simple as that. For example, Pillars of Eternity writers deliberately used archaic verbiage in an attempt to make their game seem more unique and hipster. It just ended up being another of its many design flaws and made it difficult to follow for non-native speakers and probably for a lot of native speakers as well. I don't remember having to constantly alt-tab just to see what certain words meant in any other game.

I can only hope that won't be the case in Torment. I obviously haven't played the beta so I don't know what writing is like so far.

The Beta was filled with "exotic" words ...
But for me, it was part of the atmosphere of the game...
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2015
Messages
242
Location
Ziniguistan
I don't buy that, after wasteland and PoE it's extremely improbable that they weren't planning the whole campaign in advance.

If I say I'm Italian can I get a refund?
 
Last edited:

Turok

Erudite
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,056
Location
Venezuela
I don't buy that, after wasteland and PoE it's extremely improbable that they weren't planning the whole campaign in advance.

If I say I'm Italian can I get a refund?

I was asking myself the same, last mistake i made was with bards tales IV, i hope i can get refund if i say i am italian.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
Shanna Germain should have fought harder for The Toy.

Well, it's an in-joke that's terribly amusing to me.
 

MrBuzzKill

Arcane
Joined
Aug 31, 2013
Messages
650
Apparently the backer Collector's edition is going to be different and SHITTIER and (have been) more expensive that the retail CE.
Retail CE:
Torment-Tides-of-Numenera.jpg

Backer CE:

02550d9ccd884e1688219c2978628b53.png



Thanks, inXile. Real big THANKS for giving us, the people who supported your project back in 2013 when it was just words on the screen, a SHITTIER collector's edition than the one any regular joe can buy in Game stop.
 

FeelTheRads

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
13,716
Actually they might not, because Techland is, as expected, incompetent:
https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=17074

I'm expecting that if I ever get my backer rewards they will be in worse shape than those DeepShit did for Wasteland 2.

Also it would be hilarious if it came in a shitty DVD case like in that screenshot with the other stuff outside of the box. But even a DVD case would be better than the sandwich box of W2.

Edit:

Infinitron, you can do your damage control starting... now!
 

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