Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Jarpie]

I think Kickstarter takes 10-15% depending on Amazon overhead costs. Oh and there's also the physical manufacturing (not sure if you pay for shipment) of all the rewards, not sure how expensive that's gonna end up.

Also I don't think the initial 1.1m$ was enough to make even a highly edited version of the game.

Check my calculations from my post from the previous page.

And this is from Kickstarter's own FAQ:

What are the fees?
If a project is successfully funded, Kickstarter applies a 5% fee to the funds collected.Additionally, payment processing fees work out roughly to 3-5%.
In the US, pledges will be processed by Amazon Payments, while in the UK, pledges will be processed securely through a third-party payments processor. See US and UK payment fees.

 

[bminorkey]

TBH I skipped your post because for some reason you have commas in your numbers.

But yeah that turns out to be 10% overhead costs, and depending on how much the physical production and manufacturing is gonna cost we should be safe lopping off another... 6%? 9%?

And I guess there's probably a few other things involved that they're gonna have to pay for that don't go into development.

 

[evdk]

TBH I skipped your post because for some reason you have commas in your numbers.

The problem are not the commas, it's that he uses two different systems for decimals together in one calculation.

 

[Jarpie]

TBH I skipped your post because for some reason you have commas in your numbers.

But yeah that turns out to be 10% overhead costs, and depending on how much the physical production and manufacturing is gonna cost we should be safe lopping off another... 6%? 9%?

And I guess there's probably a few other things involved that they're gonna have to pay for that don't go into development.

Commas removed your highness, happy nao?

 

[Jasede]

Those large numbers are difficult to parse without commas; add them back in.

 

[bminorkey]

TBH I skipped your post because for some reason you have commas in your numbers.

But yeah that turns out to be 10% overhead costs, and depending on how much the physical production and manufacturing is gonna cost we should be safe lopping off another... 6%? 9%?

And I guess there's probably a few other things involved that they're gonna have to pay for that don't go into development.

Commas removed your highness, happy nao?

As happy as my royal butt can be.

Those large numbers are difficult to parse without commas; add them back in.

go_fuck_yourself,jpg

 

[LeStryfe79]

Bet Obsidian gets close to a million dollars in pre-orders and whatnot. This will pretty much offset money lost to fees and delinquent backers.

 

[Arkeus]

TBH I skipped your post because for some reason you have commas in your numbers.

But yeah that turns out to be 10% overhead costs, and depending on how much the physical production and manufacturing is gonna cost we should be safe lopping off another... 6%? 9%?

And I guess there's probably a few other things involved that they're gonna have to pay for that don't go into development.

I believe Obsidian was much more careful with the physical production stuff than Double Fine was. They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

 

[bminorkey]

They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

That's n-nice of them.

naivegoyimclingingtofalsehopes.jpg

 

[evdk]

They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

That's n-nice of them.

naivegoyimclingingtofalsehopes.jpg

They are going to raise money for it by releasing a "Men of Obsidian" calendar. Jaesun would order at least five. Crates.

 

[DraQ]

They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

That's n-nice of them.

naivegoyimclingingtofalsehopes.jpg

They are going to raise money for it by releasing a "Men of Obsidian" calendar. Jaesun would order at least five. Crates.

 

[bminorkey]

They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

That's n-nice of them.

naivegoyimclingingtofalsehopes.jpg

They are going to raise money for it by releasing a "Men of Obsidian" calendar. Jaesun would order at least five. Crates.

Hehehehehhhrhh, more like "Green Women of Obsidian".

 

[almondblight]

I believe Obsidian was much more careful with the physical production stuff than Double Fine was. They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

Eh...the money coming from different places is more of an illusion than anything.

 

[Raapys]

That's really untrue. BG and BG2 mechanics are REALLY differents. Half the low-level spells had been changed, and the higher-levels ones flat out didn't exist. Not only that, but most other classes were different, too.
As for the 'content', keep in mind that a game with a publisher also means lots of slowing down and changing stuff on the publisher's whim.

Also, BG2 was made when those people were much, much less experienced (just see the differences between the companions in BG and BG2, and how many of those were in BG2). Honestly, i expect this game to be almost as big as BG2+ToB. Especially if we include the later expansion.

They're not "really different". Changing a few spells around is a few minutes worth of work. Making the high level spells was easy when all the systems were already in place and you just had to change a few numbers and add new graphical effects. Doesn't hurt that WotC already designed most of the stuff for you, leaving just game balance concerns. And the actual combat and game mechanics/logic were kept pretty much identical, with the exception of some new abilities and whatnot. Still thac0, still the same save rolls, weapons and items still worked the same, etc.

As for experience, that goes both ways. The BG2 guys had experience with making that kind of game since they'd already made the first one and really just had to continue working on the same stuff. The guys making PE( some of them at least) might have more experience making games in general, but have to get used to an entirely different game engine, a new setting and any new tools they have to work with.

So yeah, I don't really see where you're going with this. They have to make everything but the graphics engine from scratch on a budget that most likely ends up being half the size of BG2 when all is said and done. Expecting it to be of the size and scale of what's possibly the most content-rich RPG out there is quite a reach.

 

[Arkeus]

I believe Obsidian was much more careful with the physical production stuff than Double Fine was. They also said more than once that all this stuff would be paid in-house, and not from the game budget.

Eh...the money coming from different places is more of an illusion than anything.

Sure, but Obsidian is not going to only do Eternity for the next two years, so it makes sense that they allocate a budget for it, so all the "goodies" coming from a different budget than the game is a good sign.

They're not "really different". Changing a few spells around is a few minutes worth of work. Making the high level spells was easy when all the systems were already in place and you just had to change a few numbers and add new graphical effects. Doesn't hurt that WotC already designed most of the stuff for you, leaving just game balance concerns. And the actual combat and game mechanics/logic were kept pretty much identical, with the exception of some new abilities and whatnot. Still thac0, still the same save rolls, weapons and items still worked the same, etc.

No, that's not true. The actual combat in BG1 and BG2 is very, very, very different. The types of abilities are not alike at all. It's not just a question of 'stronger', it's a question of 'different'.

As for experience, that goes both ways. The BG2 guys had experience with making that kind of game since they'd already made the first one and really just had to continue working on the same stuff. The guys making PE( some of them at least) might have more experience making games in general, but have to get used to an entirely different game engine, a new setting and any new tools they have to work with.

So yeah, I don't really see where you're going with this. They have to make everything but the graphics engine from scratch on a budget that most likely ends up being half the size of BG2 when all is said and done. Expecting it to be of the size and scale of what's possibly the most content-rich RPG out there is quite a reach.

The guys making BG2 had to completely change the design of the game, completely change how the gameplay worked as well as the companion system. They were also shackled by Hasbro and the existing IP.

The guys making PE are not only more experienced at making infinity engine games, party-games as well as games in general, but they also have the advantage of building their own thing without a need to confirm withing an existing IP- this means a lot more freedom.

Now, i am not saying it WILL be as big as BG2. After all, it may very well completely fail and never come out, etc etc, but i wouldn't be surprised at all if it was quite a bit longer than BG2 given their better tools as well as better experiences doing that work, and that the money itself isn't really less.

 

[Tigranes]

If we take out Kickstarter/Amazon 10%, then use Double Fine rates for failed pledges and physical merch costs, then Obsidian will have little over 3 million left for the actual game. That's less than half of TW2. If they distribute the physical costs then that's a few extra hundred thousand dollars for PE though.

 

[Jarpie]

If we take out Kickstarter/Amazon 10%, then use Double Fine rates for failed pledges and physical merch costs, then Obsidian will have little over 3 million left for the actual game. That's less than half of TW2. If they distribute the physical costs then that's a few extra hundred thousand dollars for PE though.

Check my calculations from this post.

 

[Esquilax]

If we take out Kickstarter/Amazon 10%, then use Double Fine rates for failed pledges and physical merch costs, then Obsidian will have little over 3 million left for the actual game. That's less than half of TW2. If they distribute the physical costs then that's a few extra hundred thousand dollars for PE though.

Other than what Jarpie said, Double Fine also had way more physical rewards than PE did, IIRC. Only time will tell, but I very much doubt it'll set them back as much as it did Double Fine.

 

[Kraszu]

I think Kickstarter takes 10-15% depending on Amazon overhead costs. Oh and there's also the physical manufacturing (not sure if you pay for shipment) of all the rewards, not sure how expensive that's gonna end up.

Also I don't think the initial 1.1m$ was enough to make even a highly edited version of the game.

BTW what some people are missing about my comment is that I wasn't just talking about the budget: another big city and a 15 floor dungeon are a big deal. They're going to have to revamp their entire plans for the setting to account for the undertaking, maybe even have it revolve around that. It's nice to want "more" "big stuff" but people really need to consider how something is going to affect the coherency of the design before creating a hype-train on the forums.

Obsidian had set this dungeon as a tier themselves, so I guess they know what to do with it. The dungeon was already planned to be in the game but it could had been few levels smaller so I guess that it was important for they settings. They got slightly more backers then Wasteland 2 so they had to be expecting that the dungeon could go about this deep.

 

[Infinitron]

They got slightly more backers then Wasteland 2

12,000 people is "slightly"?

 

[Blaine]

12,000 people is "slightly"?

Pedantry does not behoove us — there are many ways to present (or massage) any kind of data. I could reasonably say that for every 6 backers Wasteland 2 had, Project Eternity had approximately 7, which seems very much like "slightly more." In any case, nitpicking is completely beside the point he was trying to make. Also, he's from Poland; English probably isn't his first language, you insensitive monster.

I just did the math for curiosity's sake. PE had 20.7% more backers than Wasteland 2. PE also averaged $53.89 per backer, versus $47.86 per backer for Wasteland 2, which explains why PE raised 26.4% more money than Wasteland 2. I believe Wasteland 2's development team was somewhat smaller to begin with, and it had no outlandish stretch goals. The lack of outlandish stretch goals most likely accounts for Wasteland 2's lower donation average and quasi-slightly smaller pool of backers overall.

I can only watch the ongoing discussion here re: the mega-dungeon, the second big city and the health mechanics with bemusement. I choose not to speculate before we know more than the very earliest details that aren't even a proper design document yet.

 

[Kraszu]

They got slightly more backers then Wasteland 2

12,000 people is "slightly"?

That is ~20% more, nothing that they couldn't expect, they did get money, and backers faster at start it did look like it will do the best, it isn't like something unthinkable had happen that they wouldn't take into account when planing tiers.

 

[HanoverF]

If we take out Kickstarter/Amazon 10%, then use Double Fine rates for failed pledges and physical merch costs, then Obsidian will have little over 3 million left for the actual game. That's less than half of TW2. If they distribute the physical costs then that's a few extra hundred thousand dollars for PE though.

Check my calculations from this post.

I refuse, there aren't any commas.M:

Double Fine spent nearly half a million dollars on rewards/shipping, they gave away way too much shit though, T-shit, Poster, Buttons, Stickers for $100, and that stuff was all shipped out before boxed copies. PE was wisely much more stingy with physical goods as rewards, but I have no idea how many add-ons they sold. So it's still gonna be a sizable chunk of money spent making and shipping out the stuff and I don't think Obsidian has that kind of money just lying around.

 

[Jarpie]

Didn't they say that rewards wouldn't be paid from pledges?

 

[wormix]

Where'd they say that? All I remember seeing was that the expansion tiers/addons wouldn't take money out of the kickstarter.