Game News Guido Henkel's Deathfire Goes Episodic, Launches Direct Donation Drive

[Infinitron]

It's not gonna be as bad as the Black Isle thing, but I don't expect him to get like any more pledges after a week or two.

lol After Reset has a solid structure/income flow to support it, but the Kickstarter was managed as poorly as it possibly could be. Plus, it's not the guy's fault, but if your IRL name is Richard Nixon... try to avoid speaking engrish and talking about child killing/hookers at the very least. Otherwise you'll get serious trust issues.

on-topic, when amazing minds are prone to mood fits... The Walking Dead from Telltale was a commercial success (and will continue to be), but every fiber of my being rejects episodic gaming. wish him luck though.

He was talking about this: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ement-program-what-is-this-i-dont-even.79073/

 

[AbounI]

Don't care if my pledge diseappaer in the nature in case of another failure.That's nothing in my roleplayingamer's life.I support Guido for what he has done and what he wants to make.Time will tell if i'm right.If I loose, well, at least I would have try another time.Indies need our support

 

[Applypoison]

He was talking about this: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ement-program-what-is-this-i-dont-even.79073/

Ah this clarifies a lot, thanks.

what the fuck are you talking about?

Check this out for another"Black Isle thing" that failed badly... but before that, pinky swear you'll never curse at me again.

 

[Monty]

This is just sad now. And how long can he pay his team for with $50k anyway? Is this to just get some sort of demo on Steam early access?

Is he going to do all the writing for the 'deep storytelling with choice and consequences', or if not how will he fund this? Even just for a playable first chapter the scope will have to be reduced significantly.

Time to face reality.

 

[Metro]

Fuck episodic games.

 

[V_K]

I don't get all butthurt about episodic format. It's not like 90% of existing RPGs couldn't be easily fit into it.

 

[Grauken]

are you delusional? changing the format to episodic means completely restructuring your approach, this isn't novel writing or any other linear narrative

 

[Roguey]

The early access versions of Blackguards, Age of Decadence, and the Wasteland 2 beta are pretty much episodic RPGs without officially being called such.

 

[V_K]

Most RPGs out there already follow a "linear main story + sidequests" format. It's piss easy to break the former into episodes and distribute the latter amond them. Yes, that'd take away some player freedom - but Deathfire was never meant to be an open-world sandbox anyway.

 

[stony3k]

I know "episodic" sounds bad, but if you really think about it, games like BG (1 and 2) were very episodic in nature (with maybe 5 or so "chapters"). So while it does make the game less linear, it can still be enjoyable if done right. I do think he should have gone back to KickStarter with this concept, and at the very least discussed it with the current pledges before taking this decision.

Guido reminds of a manager at work who keeps trying to take all decisions himself all the while complaining that decisions are "teh hard!" but never asks for help which would make his job so much easier.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I would like to see an interview done answering questions from members here. I have a few.

 

[himmy]

I know "episodic" sounds bad, but if you really think about it, games like BG (1 and 2) were very episodic in nature (with maybe 5 or so "chapters"). So while it does make the game less linear, it can still be enjoyable if done right.

Yeah, but, then again. NWN. Oh, a new chapter presents a completely fresh and innovative reason to collect four MacGuffins from four areas of the map surrounding a hub. Joy. If that were to be released as episodic, virtually the entire fanbase would be put off from buying anything past episode 3.

Dude better have some good cliffhanger/whodunit for people to return to the franchise, even if it turns out decent. Or at all.

 

[Fireblade]

Don't know why he wouldn't just do another Kickstarter with the 50K goal, especially given that he implies he needs to hit that 50K goal to make the 1st episode - the sort of situation Kickstarter is intended for. Maybe having to do a 3rd Kickstarter is just too embarrassing.

 

[Zed]

he's hiring for a job if anyone's interested
https://twitter.com/GuidoHenkel/status/409465830561546240

URGENT! Looking for a web developer with php/mySQL skills and ideally some #phpBB knowledge to write a user account/portal for us! #php

a good thing to have in order before starting a pledge drive, I think...

 

[Elhoim]

If he would approach it as doing episode one, release, then make episode 1+2, then episode 1+2+3, with increasing prices it might work and will avoid the pitfalls of just episodic content.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Over $10k now. I think it's definately doable.

 

[stony3k]

Don't know why he wouldn't just do another Kickstarter with the 50K goal, especially given that he implies he needs to hit that 50K goal to make the 1st episode - the sort of situation Kickstarter is intended for. Maybe having to do a 3rd Kickstarter is just too embarrassing.

Ego

 

[Morality Games]

Don't know why he wouldn't just do another Kickstarter with the 50K goal, especially given that he implies he needs to hit that 50K goal to make the 1st episode - the sort of situation Kickstarter is intended for. Maybe having to do a 3rd Kickstarter is just too embarrassing.

KickStarter and Amazon split 10% of donations.

 

[Lady_Error]

When it comes to game design - Guido knows what he is doing. So even even if it is something new like an episodic traditional RPG, I trust that he can make it work well.

When it comes to the business side of things - I also don't get why he doesn't simply repeat the Kickstarter with his $50.000 goal. Much easier to get much more money that way than the Paypal pledging on his website.

Also, the Paypal pledges will get refunded if they do not reach $50k within 2 weeks. As long as a Paypal payment is not claimed, it can be returned.

 

[CappenVarra]

Come on Guido, hire 3 people (1. somebody who isn't completely incompetent at marketing 2. somebody who isn't completely incompetent at project management 3. an artist who isn't your wife) and we'll talk. We've been through this before, ffs. Yours sincerely, a dude who pledged for Thorvalla but was terminally unimpressed by Deathfire.

 

[Lady_Error]

He already has other artists - some of them were introduced in the updates.

Also, he won't do Steam Early Access, because according to him it is not a good idea for traditional RPG's. I guess that is the reason they decided to go with the episodes, so they can still get sales on Steam pretty soon.

Also, fuck the haters and doubters.

 

[HiddenX]

I pledge for this and wait to play the game 'til all episodes are released -> problem solved.

http://deathfiregame.com/pledge-information/

 

[theSavant]

Sigh... after some consideration. Maybe it's indeed not much difference... maybe the episodic format can work... ... maybe it's not so evil after all. But why not a new KS campaign?
Granted some people pledged on his website already. Yeah the forums got a bit fuller. So he took a small part of the Kickstarter momentum into his lair. I'd like to be proven wrong in my assumptions. Let's wait for another week and see how it performs... I still believe the flow of backers will dry out very soon.

 

[V_K]

He explains why no new kickstarter in the latest update: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/g3studios/deathfire-ruins-of-nethermore/posts/687941. TL;DR: he's burnt out and would rather be developing the game than marketing it.

also, about episodic format:

However, instead of having individual smaller games, each new chapter will be entirely integrated in the whole, giving you ONE GAME that will get ever bigger!

So it's more like F:NV DLCs only without having to buy the base game

 

[Shannow]

And once again Codex rather bitches about the way Guido tries to get funding for his game instead of discussing its merits (or lack thereof).
And once again I feel disgusted. Any game that's funded via publisher with all the drawbacks that entails (aktshuun, DRM, dumbing down, DLC, etc.pp.) gets more support here than an indie that intends features that mostly sound good to great.
I really wonder why all his campaigns fail. After all, the high-brow-hard-core RPGers judge projects on their planned features... Oh wait,... his name is not MCA and he doesn't own a publisher's bitch studio. Silly me.

Episodic is not much different from games having chapters. Sadly, of course, one has to expect that such a game will be more linear. But it's not as if this had been their first choice. Getting all planned episodes still only costs 20 bucks. So I'll pledge for that and simply wait with playing until all episodes are finished and I can play it in a row. (Though I seriously doubt that this will be anymore successful than any of his other campaigns. Given the "Radiant" support of the "hardcore" RPG crowd )