Game News Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Update #31: OMG DISTRIBUTION DEAL, also new HUD screenshots

[Infinitron]

Tags: Deep Silver; InXile Entertainment; Wasteland 2

Today's Wasteland 2 Kickstarter update announces inXile's cooperation with German p...pu...publisher Deep Silver for the game's physical distribution:

inXile Entertainment and Deep Silver today announced a distribution deal for inXile’s upcoming cRPG Wasteland 2. Deep Silver is a veteran publisher and already a long-standing partner for inXile.​

inXile is currently working on Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, both funded via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.​

The deal allows inXile Entertainment to focus on all creative aspects of developing the game, while Deep Silver handles the retail release of the game and the physical good fulfillment for the Kickstarter backers.​

“This is a perfect opportunity for inXile: it allows us to continue to focus all of our energy and money into the creative aspects of the game while letting Deep Silver take our game outside of the pure digital space. This has the added bonus of allowing us to spend more of the Kickstarter funds on development while continue to retain all ownership and control”, says Brian Fargo, CEO inXile Entertainment. “I’ve known the people at Deep Silver for many years and they have always been a first rate organization to deal with.”​

Deep Silver will also assist inXile in the QA testing of the localized international versions of the game.​

“The uber-successful crowdfunding of Wasteland 2 through Brian Fargo and his team has shown how much interest for an RPG with traditional values still exists on consumers’ side aside from what large publishers think the market needs. Deep Silver is very happy to support inXile Entertainment in bringing Wasteland 2 to the retail market”, comments Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media.​

In the comments, line producer Thomas "Brother None" Beekers clarifies:

To answer some quick questions:​

@tarasis Only physical versions will be handled by Deep Silver. Digital distribution is all done directly by inXile.​

@Michaeljack We still determine the release date, Deep Silver has no influence on that.​

@coperoco It was planned to find *a* partner all along and I think Brian has said as much in earlier interviews, we let you guys know as soon as we had one. Backers are getting a lot out of it; this deal represents a significant swing in budget so we have more money and time to spend on WL2 (quite a bit more) and because a third party handles fulfillment we won't have the physical goods creation and shipping problems some other Kickstarters have had.​

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.​

Sounds good to me, although the anti-publisher purists among you may disagree. I imagine that the vast majority of Wasteland 2 sales will be on Steam, but even there Valve take their 30% cut. Such is life.

Anyway, leaving that aside, the update also comes with a new screenshot of Highpool, a location from the original Wasteland, which is meant to demonstrate the current state of the game's HUD (click to enlarge):

​

inXile also generated another screenshot of the same location, but with the HUD customized in a different way, to demonstrate its flexibility. Graphically, the UI seems to be a bit rough (oh god that End Turn button) though I'm informed that this is all still heavily WIP.

Finally, the update announces that Wasteland 2 has a new Tumblr blog, which is meant to replace the old one that nobody ever updated. If it's anything like Torment's Tumblr, then it should be an excellent source of regular Wasteland 2 updates. Hey Obsidian, how about creating something like that for Project Eternity?

 

[AstroZombie]

That UI looks pretty bad.

 

[Logic_error]

I dislike this deal if it in *any* way implies more than a commission for the distribution of physical copies. I am actually upset slightly that badmouthing the publishers by Frian Bargo only went as far as a marketing gimmick.

 

[Lancehead]

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.

What about the distribution of physical copies of the backers? Who's paying Deep Silver for those?

 

[Gord]

The buttons could use some rework indeed.
They look somewhat like from an very old 1man indie game.

 

[FeelTheRads]

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.

What about the distribution physical copies of the backers? Who's paying Deep Silver for those?

I assume that's the money you paid for them. As in, instead of inXile spending those money to make the boxes, print DVDs etc it will be Deep Silver who does that.

 

[Zed]

I dislike the deal because it's unnecessary and supports a game publisher, regardless of what the deal entails. Deep silver is no better than any other game publisher.

I dislike the interface because it lacks aesthetics and coherency... and simply looks amateurish. I'm personally not concerned about UI modularity. Readability and functionality should be good in a default configuration anyway and that's what I care about.

 

[Lancehead]

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.

What about the distribution physical copies of the backers? Who's paying Deep Silver for those?

I assume that's the money you paid for them. As in, instead of inXile spending those money to make the boxes, print DVDs etc it will be Deep Silver who does that.

Yes, but Deep Silver aren't going to do that for free, are they? They would be getting some money besides for making and distributing physical stuff.

 

[LibertyRansom]

Jesus...all the above posters are being a bunch of whiny nitpicking babies.

(1) The Company is trying to save money and made a distribution deal without having any effect on their artistic output or DRM.

(2) The UD looks fine, better than Fallout 2. Who really gives a shit if the 'ooo the button looks streched'

Seriously, are we the codex or are we a bunch of whiny babies? The Incline is coming and we want to piss and moan about the fact that guys, that are cartering to us, are engaging in necessary business deals to see that their company succeeds.

 

[Scruffy]

Deep Silver is a veteran publisher and already a long-standing partner for inXile.

here's how my malicious brain reads this

they're a long standing partner, in fact, we had planned all along to use kickstarter with the "publishers are evil" gimmick to rake up money and then use a publisher anyway because fuck the supporters, we don't lose any money anyway (ahahaha you morons paid!) and even if the publisher keeps 80% of the sales, it's still all free extra money for us.

 

[Zed]

(2) The UD looks fine, better than Fallout 2. Who really gives a shit if the 'ooo the button looks streched'

it does not look better than fallout 2's UI and the people who care about it are people who thinks or knows it could be done a lot better by a teenager on no budget.

just because you're starving doesn't mean you can't critique the chef for rubbing his glans all over your otherwise fine food.

 

[Lancehead]

Jesus...all the above posters are being a bunch of whiny nitpicking babies

I'm surprised you read "whining" or "nitpicking" in my post, when it's a straightforward question. I ask that question because depending on the answer InXile could be lying.

 

[mindx2]

Seriously, are we the codex or are we a bunch of whiny babies?

There's a difference....?

 

[LibertyRansom]

Deep Silver is a veteran publisher and already a long-standing partner for inXile.

here's how my malicious brain reads this

they're a long standing partner, in fact, we had planned all along to use kickstarter with the "publishers are evil" gimmick to rake up money and then use a publisher anyway because fuck the supporters, we don't lose any money anyway (ahahaha you morons paid!) and even if the publisher keeps 80% of the sales, it's still all free extra money for us.

(1) Deep Silver is not a 'publisher' in the sense that it is making artistic demands. That is 'the publisher' that Fargo was raiding against. Here, deep silver is literally acting to put boxes on shelves and yes they will take a cut.

(2) Even if they take 80% of sales who gives a shit if it makes InXile more money? We want them to succeed


It sounds like you literally pledged to inXile not because you wanted a cRPG but because you wanted to fuck over video game intermediary companies?

If you pledged to get more cRPGS and help the incline then this is good.

If you pledged for the reason to see that a game is made inshop and uses no third-parties to help in the sales, then I guess you have legit reason to be upset. Shit, I hope they not having a BIG box producing company make those boxes for the game, that fuckin' lieing sack of shit. I heard their using the same BOX producing company that EA used. Damn!

 

[Kem0sabe]

Jesus...all the above posters are being a bunch of whiny nitpicking babies.

(1) The Company is trying to save money and made a distribution deal without having any effect on their artistic output or DRM.

(2) The UD looks fine, better than Fallout 2. Who really gives a shit if the 'ooo the button looks streched'

Seriously, are we the codex or are we a bunch of whiny babies? The Incline is coming and we want to piss and moan about the fact that guys, that are cartering to us, are engaging in necessary business deals to see that their company succeeds.

The F2 front end looks significantly better... 15 years ago.

 

[Brother None]

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.

What about the distribution of physical copies of the backers? Who's paying Deep Silver for those?

It's part of the overall distribution license, not a separate deal we pay for. I can't really speak to the details, but the total distribution pays for itself, and this deal represents significant extra monies to put right back into Wasteland 2. Or put another way, this deal means a higher percentage of pledge money goes back into the game rather than into physical reward fulfillment.

 

[Surf Solar]

(2) The UD looks fine, better than Fallout 2

 

[Brother None]

Speaking of better thans, we'd actually love to get some of that from people: tell us what UIs from videogaming you really like, and what you really liked about it. Cite specific games or show us screenshots. That'd be some great input to have.

 

[Scruffy]

It sounds like you literally pledged to inXile

no it doesn't

 

[Lancehead]

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.

What about the distribution of physical copies of the backers? Who's paying Deep Silver for those?

It's part of the overall distribution license, not a separate deal we pay for. I can't really speak to the details, but the total distribution pays for itself, and this deal represents significant extra monies to put right back into Wasteland 2. Or put another way, this deal means a higher percentage of pledge money goes back into the game rather than into physical reward fulfillment.

Okay, that's a good enough clarification for me.

 

[Wizfall]

Don't care about the publisher deal.
If they want to sell physical boxes there are no other way.
It's a distribution deal, like Steam taking 30% of any digital steam copy sold.
People don't say steam is an "evil publisher" while Deep Silver that will do the same, for physical copy, is of course indeed one.
Makes sense for sure.

The UD looks very bad. They should do something straightforward instead of trying too hard IMHO.
I like Fallout 2 UD "aesthetic".
Edit : i also really liked W2 gameplay UD, it just needed some contrast adjustment for me.

 

[Surf Solar]

Can the camera be tilted vertically in the game, Brother None? Also, what's up with this retarded depth of field effect, can it be turned off?

 

[Kem0sabe]

For me, a visually appealing UI, function aside, needs to have a common concept that originates all the different elements and designs. Take fallout 1 and 2 for example, the different UI elements are derided from the Pip-boy, or Dead Space, which is centered around the fact that the people in that universe interface through interactive holograms.

Inxile needs to figure out a central concept for what it means to be a Desert Ranger in a post-apocalyptic setting and how those Rangers interact with their environment, till now they showed us a mishmash of old computer parts with some office material thrown in.

I imagine these rangers out in the wilds won't be carrying around a significant amount of technology and after recently playing through The Last of Us and seeing the main character use is backpack as inventory management to great effect, Inxile could develop a concept where the Rangers used a worn-out notebook as character/quest management and a representation of a backpack or similar for inventory management.

The front-end UI elements could be re-imaginings of common outdoor equipment, like utility belts, harnesses and a traditional map/compass for navigation.

That's how i imagine it, not saying it could work out and can't be bothered to draw up a rough proof of concept, ill leave that to hiver.

 

[Monty]

Hasn't Hiver designed a Wasteland 2 UI yet?

 

[Brother None]

Can the camera be tilted vertically in the game, Brother None? Also, what's up with this retarded depth of field effect, can it be turned off?

I don't think there's free camera tilt right now, though the camera angle changes depending on your zoom level.

I've talked to Brian before about some people really disliking the Depth of Field effect, so yeah, I'm hoping we include a toggle (we're promising quite a lot of options, I'm a bit wary that not all of em may be in at release, but if not we can always patch em in).