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Tags: Bard's Tale IV; Chris Keenan; InXile Entertainment
Kickstarter gamification. We've all seen it before. For every X Facebook likes, we'll unlock this. For every Y backers, we'll unlock that. With E3 coming up and all the organs of gaming journalism attuned to its presence, inXile feel the need for publicity more acutely than most. And so, in a move that would make Josh Sawyer proud, they've unveiled a unified gamification system for The Bard's Tale IV to handle all of those things and more. The latest Kickstarter update explains:
In anticipation of the wave of backers that will hopefully result from this initiative, inXile have also announced a new stretch goal:
Ah, crafting. Crafting never changes.
Kickstarter gamification. We've all seen it before. For every X Facebook likes, we'll unlock this. For every Y backers, we'll unlock that. With E3 coming up and all the organs of gaming journalism attuned to its presence, inXile feel the need for publicity more acutely than most. And so, in a move that would make Josh Sawyer proud, they've unveiled a unified gamification system for The Bard's Tale IV to handle all of those things and more. The latest Kickstarter update explains:
Let’s dust off those chairs in the Adventurer’s Guild and start exploring! We thought we’d do something fun, encouraging you to spread the word and giving you cool stuff to unlock by doing – including some bonus rewards as a thank-you to our backers! As we reach the milestones shared below, a story will unfold detailing our collective journey through the Enclave of the Fairy Host. Each time we complete an achievement, a new piece of story will appear, detailing the struggles and triumphs of the excursion. Along the way, we might even have some interactive decisions that will modify where we go. So here is what you can do to aid in our quest…
That’s only half the fun! As you rack up achievement points, we’re unlocking rewards at every 4 points (represented as rooms in the dungeon above)! At the first 4 points: we add a physical code wheel to *all* physical tiers, including $65. Digital tiers will receive a digital representation of this code wheel. The code wheel will not be required to play the game, but using it will unlock additional lore and flavor throughout The Bard’s Tale IV world.
Of course, we will reveal more rewards as you progress!
- Facebook Likes: like The Bard’s Tale IV on Facebook and get your Facebook friends to do the same!
- Twitter Followers: follow @Brianfargo on Twitter and encourage others to do the same!
- Tumblr Followers: follow our brand new Tumblr page and reblog our posts to spread the word!
- YouTube Subscriptions: subscribe to inXile’s youtube page and spread the word!
- YouTube Video Views: spread the word on our in-engine video everywhere to rack up those views!
- Retweet Brian’s Message: retweet this tweet and encourage others to do the same!
- The Bard’s Tale Fan Art: send us your fan art drawing or sketch through a Kickstarter message or Facebook post/message.
- A Bardic Song: record video or audio of you performing a bardic song, upload to YouTube or elsewhere and send us the link through a Kickstarter message or Facebook post/message.
- Kilt Photos: take a photo of yourself or a group of people in a kilt with a sign that says #BardsTale4 and send it to us through a Kickstarter message or Facebook post/message.
That’s only half the fun! As you rack up achievement points, we’re unlocking rewards at every 4 points (represented as rooms in the dungeon above)! At the first 4 points: we add a physical code wheel to *all* physical tiers, including $65. Digital tiers will receive a digital representation of this code wheel. The code wheel will not be required to play the game, but using it will unlock additional lore and flavor throughout The Bard’s Tale IV world.
Of course, we will reveal more rewards as you progress!
In anticipation of the wave of backers that will hopefully result from this initiative, inXile have also announced a new stretch goal:
We’ve got plans for some exciting stretch goals and even announced our first one: at $1.3 million we’ll add an Enhanced Companion NPC System and add 2 more CNPCs. What’s next after that one? At $1.35 million, we’ll add a Crafting System.
As we showed in the Kickstarter text, items are very much a part of our sense of discovery and mystery, and you can thoroughly study many weapons and unlock ways to enhance or modify them. When we hit the $1.35 million stretch goal, we’ll compliment the item interaction with a robust crafting system allowing you to find ingredients and components throughout the world that allow you to make all kinds of game modifying items and weapons. By tying this in with our magic system, you can influence the newly created item’s abilities directly through many of the various abilities. With this system, after unlocking an item’s potential you can imbue it with power from a certain school of magic, or a specific spell, or even a Bard’s song to give it a new, unique capability.
As we showed in the Kickstarter text, items are very much a part of our sense of discovery and mystery, and you can thoroughly study many weapons and unlock ways to enhance or modify them. When we hit the $1.35 million stretch goal, we’ll compliment the item interaction with a robust crafting system allowing you to find ingredients and components throughout the world that allow you to make all kinds of game modifying items and weapons. By tying this in with our magic system, you can influence the newly created item’s abilities directly through many of the various abilities. With this system, after unlocking an item’s potential you can imbue it with power from a certain school of magic, or a specific spell, or even a Bard’s song to give it a new, unique capability.
Ah, crafting. Crafting never changes.
