Interview Matt Chat Special: Neal Hallford on Thief of Dreams

[Infinitron]

Tags: Betrayal at Krondor; Matt Barton; Neal Hallford; Thief of Dreams

Matt Barton has followed up his two part interview with Neal Hallford with a one hour bonus interview, which is all about Neal's Thief of Dreams novel. Neal reveals various details about the original Betrayal at Krondor sequel Thief of Dreams over the course of the interview, and explains how the novel will relate to his plans for that game. Oh, and he also mentions the Codex. Several times.

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The Thief of Dreams Kickstarter campaign ends in three days and has raised $10,449 out of its total $24,000 funding goal.

 

[commie]

Of course he mentions the Codex. He's a well known and respected member.

 

[Rhuantavan]

Again, since I cannot brofist:

 

[Crooked Bee]

Such a shame this isn't doing well enough.

 

[DeepOcean]

If the world was a just place, he should be on a decent RPG developer writing good stuff, his work on Betrayal of Krondor should had get him some attention. A really good writer get almost ignored while a certain Bioware writer can shit as much as he want for years and don't be punished by it.

 

[stony3k]

Ok, which of you guys is this:

ten tron about 2 hours ago

"Being a creative means putting yourself out there, and that's never a no risk proposition."
No, being creative means you actually "create" stuff. Something that your previous Kickstarter didn't do and something your current Kickstarter hasn't done yet. As far as you talking about the risk involved in this is laughable. 100% of the risk of this Kickstarter falls on the backers and thats the main reason its failing. He basically wants to be paid up front without any work done. That's a very poor business model. You don't have the "celebrity" status that you think you do to make Kickstarter rain money on you. Theres no free money here. You're going to have to do it the old fashion way and get a piece of paper and a pencil and write a book on your free time, like on weekends or after work. Sadly, you've had 15 years to do this and it never happened.
When this Kickstarter fails, don't beat yourself up. Just write. Write the enitre book and then come back to Kickstarter and they'll help you publish it.

 

[Grotesque]

^exquisite

 

[Broseph]

I really need to finish my Betrayal at Krondor playthrough.

 

[dunno lah]

My words may not mean much since I've never played BaK or heard of it till last year, but if Neal is bringing incline and the codexers approve of him, why not make a fundraiser for him?

 

[Rhuantavan]

My words may not mean much since I've never played BaK or heard of it till last year, but if Neal is bringing incline and the codexers approve of him, why not make a fundraiser for him?

I already pledged, but still... I'm so in.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Neal shit the bed on this, and deservedly so. The man clearly doesn't have his shit together and I'd place more faith in Cleve than him at this point. If he wanted to write, he had ample time to do so the last 15 years. At the very least a chapter or two should have been a part of his original pledge. This kickstarter was wishful thinking on his part. The guy who wrote Betrayal at Krondor is long gone. This seems like a lazy attempt to fund a pizza addiction to me. I fucking love BaK too, but it's over. I hope for Neal's sake, he proves me wrong and writes this fucker anyway. Goddamn do I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Neal shit the bed on this, and deservedly so. The man clearly doesn't have his shit together and I'd place more faith in Cleve than him at this point. If he wanted to write, he had ample time to do so the last 15 years. At the very least a chapter or two should have been a part of his original pledge. This kickstarter was wishful thinking on his part. The guy who wrote Betrayal at Krondor is long gone. This seems like a lazy attempt to fund a pizza addiction to me. I fucking love BaK too, but it's over. I hope for Neal's sake, he proves me wrong and writes this fucker anyway. Goddamn do I hope I'm wrong.

Crooked Bee antibrofists this

Seriously, Neal is cool. Yeah, he could've found some time to do blah blah and blah, but the man obviously just isn't very good at self-promotion. Cut him some slack, not every is a suave businessman like Fargo.

Also not everyone can manage one's time in an efficient manner. That doesn't mean Neal wouldn't do a great job writing a BaK 2. I'm 100% sure he would.

What he really needs is team up with some big name who's also good at project management.* It's p. clear he isn't cut out for doing Kickstarter campaigns on his own.

* (Like Warren Spector )

 

[LeStryfe79]

Your hearts in the right place Bee, I'll give you that.

 

[Crooked Bee]

 

[Infinitron]

Neal shit the bed on this, and deservedly so. The man clearly doesn't have his shit together and I'd place more faith in Cleve than him at this point. If he wanted to write, he had ample time to do so the last 15 years. At the very least a chapter or two should have been a part of his original pledge. This kickstarter was wishful thinking on his part. The guy who wrote Betrayal at Krondor is long gone. This seems like a lazy attempt to fund a pizza addiction to me. I fucking love BaK too, but it's over. I hope for Neal's sake, he proves me wrong and writes this fucker anyway. Goddamn do I hope I'm wrong.

sup ten tron

 

[tuluse]

I think it's pretty common in the book writing world to be given an advance so you can spend all your time writing. He's also explained why he can't really write a novel part time, but whatever skeptics gonna skep.

 

[Gakkone]

My words may not mean much since I've never played BaK or heard of it till last year, but if Neal is bringing incline and the codexers approve of him, why not make a fundraiser for him?

I already pledged, but still... I'm so in.

I think it's kind of a prerequisite that the Kickstarter goal has been reached or will be reached undoubtedly, otherwise people might be giving their money away for nothing.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Also to be honest this particular KS may have been "wishful thinking" but I just don't think Neal could've imagined Wildman wouldn't succeed. So yeah, this is clearly a plan B, but I dunno why you would deride him for that.

Also I would imagine doing hack jobs for 15 years wouldn't be particularly great for anyone's morale unless you're an iron man or something. Maybe all Neal needs is one KS project of his to finally succeed.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Well, I feel like a horrible person now. I might as well hit the bottle...

 

[LeStryfe79]

I love you, Neal...

 

[Crooked Bee]

I love you, Neal...

I see you want me to feel like a horrible person now

 

[LeStryfe79]

I love you, Crooked Bee...

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Neal shit the bed on this, and deservedly so. The man clearly doesn't have his shit together and I'd place more faith in Cleve than him at this point. If he wanted to write, he had ample time to do so the last 15 years. At the very least a chapter or two should have been a part of his original pledge. This kickstarter was wishful thinking on his part. The guy who wrote Betrayal at Krondor is long gone. This seems like a lazy attempt to fund a pizza addiction to me. I fucking love BaK too, but it's over. I hope for Neal's sake, he proves me wrong and writes this fucker anyway. Goddamn do I hope I'm wrong.

I'm sorry if I come somewhat mean, but please, kill yourself.

Seeing as you are a drunk, consider drowning in alcohol or something.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I love you, Crooked Bee...

~Achievement unlocked: Codex romance~

 

[LeStryfe79]

I'm sorry if I come somewhat mean, but please, kill yourself.

Seeing as you are a drunk, consider drowning in alcohol or something.

Neal's a nice guy, and BaK is amazing. Saying stuff like that makes me want to drink, trust me. Yet, I believe what I said was the honest truth of the matter. I'm fucking sorry.