Game News Torment Kickstarter Update #17: What's Next?

[Infinitron]

Tags: InXile Entertainment; Kevin Saunders; Torment: Tides of Numenera

The first post-funding Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter update has been published. The folks at inXile haven't counted all of their money yet, but they already have plans on what to do next. It looks like that final 4.5 million dollar Stronghold stretch goal may yet be attainable. I quote:

So, What’s Next?​

Colin and I are meeting today and tomorrow to plan the next steps before he returns to Michigan on Monday. We’ll send an Update on Monday with the final totals and some additional information about add-ons and the PayPal store. As before, the majority of the team at inXile HQ continues to charge forward on Wasteland 2.​

Meanwhile, after a short break to recover from the intense past couple months, our Torment pre-production team will be moving ahead. We’ll be looking at the gross total of funds raised and determine how much we project for the development budget (i.e., taking into account the fees and costs of physical goods and fulfillment). Over the upcoming weeks, we’ll be developing our plan for Torment and better establishing the scope of the game. Meanwhile, we’ll also be working more on the creative and design aspects of the game, in preparation to fully engage the writers later this year.​

Stronghold and the $4.5M Stretch Goal​

We don’t have the final PayPal numbers yet, but we expect to be far short of the $4.5M Stretch Goal. (While Torment’s budget will be bolstered by the generous $200K total in contributions from Brian Fargo and Steve Dengler (@dracogen), these aren’t included in the Stretch Goal calculations. The Stretch Goals were set with these contributions already considered – that is, the $200K sum didn’t apply to determining whether or not we reached any given Stretch Goal. But all of it will be applied to creating a better game and help counterbalance the impact of fees and dropped pledges.)​

Many backers have asked about the “Stronghold” that was at the $4.5M Stretch Goal, however. At your request and suggestion, what we’ll do is allow all PayPal contributions through the end of April to count toward determining whether or not we reached this goal. On Monday, we’ll tell you exactly how far we have left to go and through the end of the month we’ll provide more frequent updates on tumblr and Facebook about progress toward that $4.5M goal.​

If we do make it by the end of April 30th, we’ll declare that final Stretch Goal achieved! In this case we would include the Stronghold, designing it to fit the flavor of Numenera and to fully support Torment’s themes and narrative.​

I guess that means we can run our fundraiser until April 30th. Have you done your part, citizen?

 

[A user named cat]

I'm still curious whereabouts in Michigan Colin is from. Not that I'll Roguey him or anything. Unless he's into that, in which case I'll come sit outside his window and watch him work on Torment.

 

[Roguey]

I'm still curious whereabouts in Michigan Colin is from. Not that I'll Roguey him or anything. Unless he's into that, in which case I'll come sit outside his window and watch him work on Torment.

Grosse Pointe Park*

*Source: Wikipedia

 

[Sprout]

Heh, I bet that'll stick in someone's craw, from what I remember there were some people vehemently against the idea.
It'll be interesting to see what they'll do with that bit of a game if they do manage to squeeze out the few more dollars.
Maybe they'll actually invent something satisfying.

 

[Brayko]

Now we wait.

and wait and wait.

 

[almondblight]

I hope it's not some ToB style pocket dimension. I wouldn't mind some ninth realm RV though.

 

[LeStryfe79]

I guess the 200k was a lie. It's as if Fargo is saying that if they go over budget he's willing to actually finish the game as long as InXile gets within 200k of completing it. Hope this project doesn't need an extra $200,000.01 or I guess Torment will be a bug ridden piece of shit. I wish these public faces would quit giving us compliments while treating us like we have shit for brains behind our backs. This brand of bullshiit gets noticed and always will.

Yeah, we get it Brian.

 

[hiver]

I guess the 200k was a lie. It's as if Fargo is saying that if they go over budget he's willing to actually finish the game as long as InXile gets within 200k of completing it. Hope this project doesn't need an extra $200,000.01 or I guess Torment will be a bug ridden piece of shit. I wish these public faces would quit giving us compliments while treating us like we have shit for brains behind our backs. This brand of bullshiit gets noticed and always will.

Yeah, we get it Brian.

Kickstarter and Amazon will take 10% off, mkay?

Thats 400.000 dollors.

 

[Avantre]

I guess the 200k was a lie. It's as if Fargo is saying that if they go over budget he's willing to actually finish the game as long as InXile gets within 200k of completing it. Hope this project doesn't need an extra $200,000.01 or I guess Torment will be a bug ridden piece of shit. I wish these public faces would quit giving us compliments while treating us like we have shit for brains behind our backs. This brand of bullshiit gets noticed and always will.

Yeah, we get it Brian.

What are you talking about? If you meant the Dengler/Fargo 200K going towards the stretch goals then they said a few times in individual comments and in updates that the extra money wouldn't be counted in that, including in Update 8 from a couple of weeks ago when they said: "For simplicity, the matching by Brian Fargo and Steve Dengler isn’t included in the ongoing tally for Stretch Goals. Those boosts (which are approaching the full $200K at $3M!) will still go toward improving the game, of course, and also serve as an insurance policy against cancelled pledges when the campaign ends"

 

[LeStryfe79]

Yes, I did indeed read that stuff. I'm saying that those contributions are smoke and mirrors. If they need that money to finish the game, Brian will spend it anyway as a good investment. On the other hand, that money was part of Torrment's Kickstarter showcase. It either has to do with kickstarter or it doesn't. These contributions land somewhere halfway between legitimate and horseshit. I'm well aware that specific amounts of funds for specific features are all part of the Kickstarter ruse. The problem here is that they didn't go all the way with it. They should have invented features that the 200k was going for. Extra polish and canceled pledges isn't a feature it's a contingency that InXile would have prepared for anyway. These funds come across far too disingenuous and don't really accomplish anything but nerd rage.

 

[Infinitron]

I am very upset about what other people choose to do with their money

 

[t]

 

[Kz3r0]

I am very upset about what other people choose to do with their money

Skyrim, ten millions copies.

 

[Infinitron]

BTW same thing happened with Wasteland 2. Brian had 100k earmarked for the game, but ended up not using them at all. That's "worse" than this situation if you think about it.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Eh whatever. I didn't want a stronghold anyway. I still say the 200k has a smell to it no matter which way you slice it. I figure if they want to do a stronghold, more money will magically appear. If they don't then than it won't.

I know I'm just nitpicking and playing devil's advocate, but...

 

[LeStryfe79]

That's cool. The next kickstarter I pledge to, I'm gonna ask that my cigarette money only goes to cover the costs of canceled pledges. I guess some folks might think that's ridiculous, but apparently increments of $100,000 makes everything gravy.



$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$




Damn, those are some expensive smokes!

 

[tuluse]

Just pretend every goal is 200k higher than listed, boom no problem.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I can't see the issue here. It seems like a sound business decision to put aside money to be used to replace withdrawn pledges. At least SOME pledges will be withdrawn and there's a good chance that a hefty portion of that money willl be needed.

If it wasn't needed, then I can only see a reason to spend it if it was crucial to getting something 'really cool'. A stronghold does not fit into that category. Done right, they can be a lot of fun (although I struggle to think of ANY game other than BG2 that does it right) but at heart they're just (a) money sinks, and (b) an easy way of having environmental interaction in a way that's mostly removed from the rest of the game. Both of those aims can be easily achieved in other ways.

 

[Tigranes]

There is no issue, only a dumb Codexer.

What is a dumb Codexer? The one that chose the wrong shit to be angry at.

Happens to all of us.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Well, he is perpetually drunk by admission.