Is BT4's funding level a disappointment for inXile?

[Pope Amole II]

My god, they have a learning disability, they don't evolve with times, they want to get fucked over by publishers, over and over again. They fully deserve it too, now.

Actually, they get the feel of times quite right. Kickstarter, however cool it sounds, didn't really change anything in the industry. It also didn't exactly grew over the years - as a matter of fact, after the initial honey-moon period, it even shrinked a bit and became rather barren for the indie-devs. For the major guys it stagnated at best - I mean, look at the bard's tale IV. Sure, they've almost reached their goal, but I bet they expected much more than that. Not to mention that their goal is pure obfuscation and of course they need much more than 1.25kk to create a proper Bard's Tale IV.

Not to mention that it's not like they're even getting the full sum they gather - kickstarter takes its cut, they're probably paying some taxes from that and, of course, they'll have to spend some part of it on the backer rewards. Those may not be the hugest losses, but considering we're talking about a budget which isn't exactly adequate even when it's "full"... ATM, kickstarter is more like a scam & attention whoring hybrid instead of a proper funding platform. At least for the projects of this scale - I mean, I look at the Underworld Ascendant & their promises and I have no clue how can you actually fulfill that on 860k if you're situated in Boston. In a non-checkbox manner, at least.

Not to mentin that sure, you get a lot of promotion, but you also get an ultra-caustic community as a bonus. So I'd rather respect Obsidian for not wanting to deal with this shit once again.

 

[Roguey]

Bard's Tale is doing impressively well for a blobber, which is a niche within a niche. Just look at Guido Henkel's failures.

Also this came to me after I made my post: "Grognards don't have to be your audience. Grognards are over,"-- Josh Sawyer

 

[Bester]

as a matter of fact, after the initial honey-moon period, it even shrinked a bit and became rather barren for the indie-devs. For the major guys it stagnated at best - I mean, look at the bard's tale IV.

It's certainly a sound theory, but I'm not a big believer in it. I think Baldur's Tale is suffering from being a blobber and not from anything else. I think Fargo can pull in 4m for an isometric RPG any time, no questions asked.

He didn't mention any of the big rpg names, didn't say there'll be a dialogues, C&C and all that, while his audience is primarily made up of rpg fans. So it'll just be a blobber with puzzles and only a subset of Fargo's rpg loving followers are into blobbers, therefore he's getting less money.

 

[Trodat]

I have to agree with Roguey. Bard's Tale is not a big brand by any means, I know people who are not familiar with Baldur's Gate and they are not popamolers or retards. So name dropping Bard's Tale is not going to make you swim in money.

 

[Sensuki]

If all he wanted was more money he coulda mentioned Legends of Grimrock as well.

 

[Bester]

He did mention it once in an interview, but slightly pejoratively. I don't think he's a big fan.

 

[Infinitron]

It's also kind of inappropriate to declare that you're making a successor to another company's series that isn't dead. "Hey, Grimrock customers, come here, I want to steal you!"

 

[prodigydancer]

as a matter of fact, after the initial honey-moon period, it even shrinked a bit and became rather barren for the indie-devs.

It's nice how you try peddle your opinion as a fact when it contradicts actual facts:
https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/
https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/playtonic/yooka-laylee-a-3d-platformer-rare-vival/

Sure, they've almost reached their goal, but I bet they expected much more than that.

That's not how crowdfunding works. If you really need $5m for your project then $5m should be your campaign's goal. You must be honest with yourself and with your backers, otherwise you should stick to publisher funding.

 

[Bester]

It's also kind of gauche to declare that you're making a successor to another company's series that isn't dead.

It is kinda inappropriate to tap into other people's franchises, but he didn't mind mentioning The Room at least a dozen times, so I don't think that's it. I think he doesn't want to evoke the most memorable gameplay elements of LoG, simply because BT4 rejects them. What comes to mind when I remember LoG are: 1) grid based movement and square-tiles based level design, and 2) exhaustive repetitive visual style of the dungeon (only stone walls... everywhere...). Both of those things are strongly rejected, so no point in even mentioning LoG.

 

[Pope Amole II]

It's nice how you try peddle your opinion as a fact when it contradicts actual facts:
https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/
https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/playtonic/yooka-laylee-a-3d-platformer-rare-vival/

Sorry, but indie devs are some fuckwits with no name and a bright idea, not veterans of the industry with some freaking mass audience hits under they belt. And it's, like, turbo-decorated veterans - Guido Henkel, for example, is pretty much a noname when compared to the Igarashi.

That's not how crowdfunding works. If you really need $5m for your project then $5m should be your campaign's goal. You must be honest with yourself and with your backers, otherwise you should stick to publisher funding.

In an ideal world - yes.

 

[Infinitron]

It's also kind of gauche to declare that you're making a successor to another company's series that isn't dead.

It is kinda inappropriate to tap into other people's franchises, but he didn't mind mentioning The Room at least a dozen times, so I don't think that's it. I think he doesn't want to evoke the most memorable gameplay elements of LoG, simply because BT4 rejects them. What comes to mind when I remember LoG are: 1) grid based movement and square-tiles based level design, and 2) exhaustive repetitive visual style of the dungeon (only stone walls... everywhere...). Both of those things are strongly rejected, so no point in even mentioning LoG.

There's a difference between "tapping into" and declaring that you're going to make a successor to a game that you're directly competing against. The Room isn't a dungeon crawler.

That said, there's also the matter that mentioning Grimrock (and also MMX) diminishes inXile's claims that they're reviving somethig, so they'd rather people forget those games exist.

 

[Semper]

That's not how crowdfunding works. If you really need $5m for your project then $5m should be your campaign's goal. You must be honest with yourself and with your backers, otherwise you should stick to publisher funding.

if brian would be comfortable with the development of the bard's tale campaign, then he wouldn't have pulled the "spread the word"-card this early. right now he's loading the big guns to finally get funded.
also with only 50k the stretch goals are very close together. i have a feeling that inxile hoped for much more hype and backer support. perhaps it would have been better to wait for the release of w2 ehanced edition, hopefully with modding tools.

 

[J_C]

That's not how crowdfunding works. If you really need $5m for your project then $5m should be your campaign's goal. You must be honest with yourself and with your backers, otherwise you should stick to publisher funding.

if brian would be comfortable with the development of the bard's tale campaign, then he wouldn't have pulled the "spread the word"-card this early. right now he's loading the big guns to finally get funded.
also with only 50k the stretch goals are very close together. i have a feeling that inxile hoped for much more hype and backer support. perhaps it would have been better to wait for the release of w2 ehanced edition, hopefully with modding tools.

Brian is a clever businessman, he must have known that this project won't get 3-4 million. Even I knew that, and I'm an idiot.

That being said, I think everybody anticipated the project being funded much sooner. After the initial spike, this has become one of the slowest kickstarter I've seen when it comes to well known devs.

 

[Bubbles]

Everybody's still too busy playing PoE.

 

[prodigydancer]

Sorry, but indie devs are some fuckwits with no name and a bright idea, not veterans of the industry with some freaking mass audience hits under they belt.

Could you link me a KS VG campaing that fits your definition and raised $1m or more?

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Brian is a clever businessman, he must have known that this project won't get 3-4 million. Even I knew that, and I'm an idiot.

I would agree had Fargo not said himself in an interview that he hopes that BT4 will make the same amount of money as Torment.

Of course 'hoping' is not the same as 'expecting' but man, these were some pretty high hopes.

 

[Infinitron]

Brian is a clever businessman, he must have known that this project won't get 3-4 million. Even I knew that, and I'm an idiot.

I would agree had Fargo not said himself in an interview that he hopes that BT4 will make the same amount of money as Torment.

Of course 'hoping' is not the same as 'expecting' but man, these were some pretty high hopes.

I can tell you they weren't seriously expecting to get as much as Torment, and not even relying on getting as much as Wasteland

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Alright? So how do you know, inside information?

Then why did he say so in an interview? I guess he can hardly say 'We expect this to be far less successful' but also noone forced him to bring up Torment and make that comparison in the first place, so thats kinda weird.

 

[Infinitron]

Alright? So how do you know, inside information?

Then why did he say so in an interview? I guess he can hardly say 'We expect this to be far less successful' but also noone forced him to bring up Torment and make that comparison in the first place, so thats kinda weird.

I think you've answered your own question? I don't know, strictly speaking he didn't have to bring it up but I guess he assumed that's what the interviewer had on his mind so he obliged him. This is the interview btw: http://www.gamepressure.com/e.asp?ID=124

 

[Semper]

I can tell you they weren't seriously expecting to get as much as Torment, and not even relying on getting as much as Wasteland

but they'll need this amount of budget if they are serious about shipping a halfway decent blobber of the quality shown in the engine trailer.

Of course, there’s been some other dungeon-crawlers – like Legend of Grimrock and Might & Magic X – and they’re great but we are making something bigger.

 

[Infinitron]

I can tell you they weren't seriously expecting to get as much as Torment, and not even relying on getting as much as Wasteland

but they'll need this amount of budget if they are serious about shipping a halfway decent blobber of the quality shown in the engine trailer.

Of course, there’s been some other dungeon-crawlers – like Legend of Grimrock and Might & Magic X – and they’re great but we are making something bigger.

Well, they do have the extra 1.25 million dollars, to start with.

Of course, after this campaign is over, inXile will have to ask themselves how much extra money they really want to invest in this, because fewer backers likely also means fewer buyers when the game is released. But that's a problem for another day.

 

[Jarpie]

I think without Legend of Grimrock Fargo's The Bard's Tale 4 would get more money as LoG already (at least) partially filled the demand for modern blobber.

 

[Kz3r0]

Brian is a clever businessman, he must have known that this project won't get 3-4 million. Even I knew that, and I'm an idiot.

That being said, I think everybody anticipated the project being funded much sooner. After the initial spike, this has become one of the slowest kickstarter I've seen when it comes to well known devs.

I think that they anticipated that this wa an uphill battle but expected to get funded in the first three days, they should have asked for jusy a million, now they are bogged down, still on the road to two millions but I suspect that missing the two millions and half marl will be a bummer for them..

I would agree had Fargo not said himself in an interview that he hopes that BT4 will make the same amount of money as Torment.

Sales 101, never sells yourself short, it's not good for hype saying that you know in advance that you will get less money.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

I would agree had Fargo not said himself in an interview that he hopes that BT4 will make the same amount of money as Torment.

Sales 101, never sells yourself short, it's not good for hype saying that you know in advance that you will get less money.

Fair enough, but if you raise the bar too high yourself it will make you look like a loser if you don't meet that goal (hence threads like these).

 

[Kz3r0]

Fair enough, but if you raise the bar too high yourself it will make you look like a loser if you don't meet that goal (hence threads like these).

Sales are in the "NOW", as long as he gets millions everything is fine.