Game News Project Eternity Kickstarter Update #2: Stretch Goals Revealed

[General Maxson]

Seriously, a player house for $200.000 USD ? The most indies would be able to create a stunning RPG for that development budget.

Be Pro about this. If you go over there and ask for [..] the ability murder children as a stretch goal you are going to hurt your own goals no matter how funny you find it.

Sir, I get your point! This is definitely the most attractive stretch goal for a PC game I can possibly imagine.
But before, they have to add children at all (I guess that costs another 500.000 bucks).

Does anybody know details about the 2D background thing?

Well, it should be similar to TOEE as far as I know. What details did you mean?

PS. I hold higher hopes for Chaos Chronicles than this, so you better not fail!

 

[Gakkone]

Gosh, the Codex is such an emotional bunch. Everything now sucks

 

[toro]

Seriously, a player house for $200,000 USD ? The most indies would be able to create a stunning RPG with that development budget.

Be Pro about this. If you go over there and ask for [..] the ability murder children as a stretch goal you are going to hurt your own goals no matter how funny you find it.

Sir, I get your point! This is definitely the most attractive stretch goal for a PC game I can possibly imagine.
But before, they have to add children at all (I guess that costs another 500,000 bucks).

Does anybody know details about the 2D background thing?

Comprehension problems? We don't know shit about the game except a map and some artworks. This is the most bizarre kickstarter ever, cause they have nothing to show, therefore they simply ride the waves of nostalgia.

 

[Darth Roxor]

This is the most bizarre kickstarter ever, cause they have nothing to show, therefore they simply ride the waves of nostalgia.

You mean like wasteland 2?

 

[l3loodAngel]

so much butthurt here, Obsidian really do know their trolling ways

200k for a player house? A stretch goal for hardcore audience? Since when does adding elves, dwarfs and orcs qualify as creating a "New setting"?

 

[General Maxson]

This is the most bizarre kickstarter ever, cause they have nothing to show, therefore they simply ride the waves of nostalgia.

You mean like wasteland 2?

Well sure, but at least W2 promised things I cherish, unlike this, and had more interesting stretch goals. Party creation, turn based tactical combat, C&C etc... We don't know anything about this, could have IWD or Baldur's Gate level of C&C (among other things).

Even if W2 fails as a game, at least it goes down trying against popamole. Obsidian gets a chance to make best of their creativity, and talent, and to make a game that is not mainstream like all the others they are "forced" to make by publishers and what do they offer? 200k for an in game house.

Anyway, the probably most embarrassing thing is they seem to have been almost totally unprepared for kickstarter, as it seems, because I cannot fathom why else would they put up such unexciting and stupid stretch goals...

 

[jewboy]

1.4 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!

Expands your options for character creation and adds a companion of the new class.

This doesn't cost very much to add and can add to replay value. Not a big deal, but okay.

1.6 million, a Mac Version of Project Eternity and The Story Grows!

We've listened and we’ll make a Mac version of the game at this tier. We're also going to add a new major storyline along with new quests, locations, NPCs, and unique loot (special histories everyone?).

OSX, +1 storyline for an additional 200k. Seems like a good deal. Nothing wrong with this.

1.8 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!

The options grow for your main character and the roster of your motley crew expands with the addition of a new companion from the selected class.

Nothing wrong with this goal except that it is becoming repetitive. I'd rather see a larger, deeper story or maybe even (gasp) some improved graphics, or a more sophisticated combat system.

2.0 million, Player House!

Get your own house in the game that you can customize, store equipment in, and where your companions hang out, or, as the elves say, "chillax".

Obvious Biodrone pandering is obvious. OTOH, it doesn't take much money or development time for them to add it and if it leads to a bunch of biodrone gamer chicks helping to fund the game just because they'll pony up for any game that lets them play house in some way then I don't have a major problem with it. As long as it doesn't turn the game into the Sims. It's just a location where you can put stuff. That should take a programmer maybe a few hours to implement. I think it's the focus on the biodrones more than the goal itself that is alarming.

2.2 million, a new Region, a new Faction and another new Companion! And, dare we say it... ? LINUX!

Great news, everyone! For the Tarball Knights of Gzippia out there, we'll be adding Linux support!
Also, the world of Project Eternity grows in a major way with the inclusion of a whole new faction and the territory it holds. This adds new NPCs, quests, magic items, and hours of gameplay. And yes, you got it, another companion.

Linux support is awesome and it's difficult to imagine this project not reaching 2.2 mil. I love this trend. Pretty soon we won't need Windows for much of anything at all. All the best games nowadays are Kickstarter games and most of the best projects seem to be adding a Linux port. As Windows 8 approaches and shows what Microsoft's vision is for the future of their OSes (basically tablet focused OSes), I am migrating mostly to Linux now. Windows only for games, Adobe, Autodesk, and other linux-unfriendly applications. My goal is to spend 90% of my computer time in Linux.

DRM Free

: We are looking into it! Please check back for updates.

I am thinking of donating $500, which is about 2/3 my monthly income, but not having a DRM free version has really been giving me pause. I'd at least like to wait to donate until this is confirmed. I hate steam. Steam is the only reason that I still play a pirated, cracked version of FONV. A non-steam version has been requested on the Beth forums many times, but has always been ignored. For Steam only at best I'd throw in $65, but probably only $20-$25.

 

[Darth Roxor]

This is the most bizarre kickstarter ever, cause they have nothing to show, therefore they simply ride the waves of nostalgia.

You mean like wasteland 2?

Well sure, but at least W2 promised things I cherish, unlike this, and had more interesting stretch goals. Party creation, turn based tactical combat, C&C etc... We don't know anything about this, could have IWD or Baldur's Gate level of C&C (among other things).

What can I say

 

[Infinitron]

Sup jewboy



I take it you only show up for Kickstarters?

 

[Baron]

We don't know ANYTHING about the game. What races? What story? Nothing. Just a map and some artworks. It's absurd to claim that you will add a new race, when we don't know neither one of the starting races. Maybe they think this behavior is clever, but is not. With this kind of shit is not a wonder that Obsidian is an weak financial position. First angry the buyer and then ask him to buy your product. Fucking amateurs.

Actually, it's not fucking amateurs, it's fucking professionals. I've withheld pre-ordering because like you I don't shit about what they are planning, just that some devs I like have put their stamp on it. I wouldn't contribute to a kickstarter unless someone had laid out what they have planned, show some concept art, and maybe a glimpse of a giant robot scorpion. I think it's the 'fucking professionals' part of this crew that expect to be paid for all of their work (strange, I know), including the intial concepts time. Obsidian's a business, and they should be paid for all their time and concept development, just as if they were building websites or television advertising. They've developed enough games where people know what to expect, unlike some art student who promises a groundbreaking MMO. Although, as I said, I don't even know if this high fantasy will have elves. I hate elves. I do not need to see another elf. I'm not parting with my gold upfront only to have someone have elves join my adventuring party and tell me I'll enjoy it. Done with elves.

 

[toro]

This is the most bizarre kickstarter ever, cause they have nothing to show, therefore they simply ride the waves of nostalgia.

You mean like wasteland 2?

Except that Wasteland 2 is a sequel and a direct successor to Wasteland 1, so in gross lines we kind of know what to expect.
On the other hand, PI is a new IP and therefore saying that is a spiritual successor to BG's is not enough. Dragon Age 2 is a spiritual successor to BG.

Seriously, the entire campaign is underwhelming. They could go with Arcanum 2, ToEE2, Torn, Van Buren or anything else which doesn't sound as bland and generic as Project Infinity.
I know Obsidian have the talent to do a good game, but they fucked up the start. Just saying.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I know Obsidian have the talent to do a good game, but they fucked up the start. Just saying.

1mln100k reached in 1 day = massive fuckup.

People on the Codex (!) cumming buckets at the kickstarter announcement = massive fuckup.

 

[toro]

We don't know ANYTHING about the game. What races? What story? Nothing. Just a map and some artworks. It's absurd to claim that you will add a new race, when we don't know neither one of the starting races. Maybe they think this behavior is clever, but is not. With this kind of shit is not a wonder that Obsidian is an weak financial position. First angry the buyer and then ask him to buy your product. Fucking amateurs.

Actually, it's not fucking amateurs, it's fucking professionals. I've withheld pre-ordering because like you I don't shit about what they are planning, just that some devs I like have put their stamp on it. I wouldn't contribute to a kickstarter unless someone had laid out what they have planned, show some concept art, and maybe a glimpse of a giant robot scorpion. I think it's the 'fucking professionals' part of this crew that expect to be paid for all of their work (strange, I know), including the intial concepts time. Obsidian's a business, and they should be paid for all their time and concept development, just as if they were building websites or television advertising. They've developed enough games where people know what to expect, unlike some art student who promises a groundbreaking MMO. Although, as I said, I don't even know if this high fantasy will have elves. I hate elves. I do not need to see another elf. I'm not parting with my gold upfront only to have someone have elves join my adventuring party and tell me I'll enjoy it. Done with elves.

+1 for critical thinking. Unfortunately in my case the balls are doing the real thinking, therefore I backed them up.

And I will stick with them only for the reason to find the answer to the ill-fated question: Is Obsidian capable to do a good game on its own? They fucked up with Alpha Protocol, but this is their second chance.

 

[ironyuri]

We don't know ANYTHING about the game. What races? What story? Nothing. Just a map and some artworks. It's absurd to claim that you will add a new race, when we don't know neither one of the starting races. Maybe they think this behavior is clever, but is not. With this kind of shit is not a wonder that Obsidian is an weak financial position. First angry the buyer and then ask him to buy your product. Fucking amateurs.

Actually, it's not fucking amateurs, it's fucking professionals. I've withheld pre-ordering because like you I don't shit about what they are planning, just that some devs I like have put their stamp on it. I wouldn't contribute to a kickstarter unless someone had laid out what they have planned, show some concept art, and maybe a glimpse of a giant robot scorpion. I think it's the 'fucking professionals' part of this crew that expect to be paid for all of their work (strange, I know), including the intial concepts time. Obsidian's a business, and they should be paid for all their time and concept development, just as if they were building websites or television advertising. They've developed enough games where people know what to expect, unlike some art student who promises a groundbreaking MMO. Although, as I said, I don't even know if this high fantasy will have elves. I hate elves. I do not need to see another elf. I'm not parting with my gold upfront only to have someone have elves join my adventuring party and tell me I'll enjoy it. Done with elves.

I haven't backed a kickstarter so far for similar reasons. I'd argue, however, that the problem is not that they don't show what they're planning: this is their game, and they're asking us to fund them to make a "fantasy game in an original setting", if you trust Obsidian to do what they've done before, but with more creative license, then you'll fund it. If you want to be discerning and actually fund something that is pitched to you as if you're the publisher and you specifically want to fund only what you like, you're essentially treating this like a shareholder's meeting where you are the most important big dick in the room, and you're swinging it around to make that clear.

I funded this kickstarter at 20$ (first time I've pledged on anything) only because I, A) support Obsidian moving away from a publisher funding model and will be happy with whatever they produce as long as it's a working product, and B) they want to make an "original fantasy setting" title, well, I can't tell them what to do and my approach to kickstarter is, if we're community funding we have to move beyond individualistic taste. They can't please everyone, and not every individual should consider themselves the most important member of the tribe. We're all putting out money down for them, and we should trust them to produce something worthwhile. IF they don't, there won't be another successful kickstarter for them next time.

 

[Dexter]

If you wanna complain about the lack of details, complain to Fargo. He gave them "Tips" on how to get most efficient backing e.g. promise something vague at first like "in the spirit of Baldur's Gate/Planescape" etc.
Then release Updates and shit as the time goes on to keep people thinking and journos writing about the game for an entire month. Always the businessman xD

If you want to complain about the retarded "stretch goals" complain to Obsidian, apparently none of them expected to reach their goal so fast and they made that shit up on the spot or something.
They should've taken a look at how Planetary Annihilation did it instead, they had pictures and "hidden goals" and all that ready and did it fully professional.

 

[Frusciante]

Seriously, a player house for $200,000 USD ? The most indies would be able to create a stunning RPG with that development budget.

I dont know if you're allowed to talk about your budget, but what kind of budget are you working with for Chaos Chronicles? Can you give a rough estimate? Is it like a big kickstart project budget (around 3 million), or 3-10 million, or even 10-20 million?

Edit: This is what Sawyer has to say about the lack of info on the kickstarter page:

we are, in fact, stalling a bit because literally none of us believed that this would get funded at this speed. I simply don't have a coherent blog update to give you right now and I apologize. I will be spending a great deal of tomorrow writing a blog post that explains fundamentals of the world, but that's not a "jot down a few words" sort of thing to be taken lightly. Again, sorry'

Why dont they prepare this kind of stuff in advance? When you do a kickstarter you should have the first couple of updates ready just to be sure.

 

[toro]

I know Obsidian have the talent to do a good game, but they fucked up the start. Just saying.

1mln100k reached in 1 day = massive fuckup.

People on the Codex (!) cumming buckets at the kickstarter announcement = massive fuckup.

Yes. They fucked up the start. They should have asked for 2 millions. And bring artworks and shit. Someone with economic insights should have been involved in this campaign and make a more realistic estimation for the base goal fund.
Because right now, a lot of people have coitus interruptus seeing the bland stretch goals and they start asking themselves for what they pledged their support. And frankly Obsidian doesn't have anything to show for it.
With that team and their history, anything less than 3~4 millions is a failure. So, technically they had a good start which just got gimped by the stretch goals, which will make the 3~4 millions as wishful thinking.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Hm.. Player House is good. But 've hoped for gay-romance stretch, first person view stretch, Todd Howard as lead writer stretch...

 

[skuphundaku]

The stretch goals are a big, steaming pile of disappointment. I mean, apart from the OSX stretch goal and the Linux stretch goal, they could have compressed everything into a single stretch goal saying "enlarged world". The simple fact that they didn't have the stretch goals ready since before they hit the initial funding goal is clear indication that their planning is shit and that they have little idea of what they're doing on the planning side of things.

Also, putting the "We're thinking about DRM-free" statement in the same update makes it feel that they view the DRM-free thing like some off-the-record stretch goal, like they're just giving us some privilege out of the goodness of their hearts, not as a hard demand from the people that are funding their game.

 

[toro]

I haven't backed a kickstarter so far for similar reasons. I'd argue, however, that the problem is not that they don't show what they're planning: this is their game, and they're asking us to fund them to make a "fantasy game in an original setting", if you trust Obsidian to do what they've done before, but with more creative license, then you'll fund it. If you want to be discerning and actually fund something that is pitched to you as if you're the publisher and you specifically want to fund only what you like, you're essentially treating this like a shareholder's meeting where you are the most important big dick in the room, and you're swinging it around to make that clear.

Not really. It's called informed purchasing decision. Nobody wants to be the publisher and even if it wants, the kickstarter implementation doesn't allow for it.

 

[jewboy]

On the other hand, PI is a new IP and therefore saying that is a spiritual successor to BG's is not enough.

They claim it's an IWD/PS:T/BG(presumably BG2) sequel-in-spirit.

Dragon Age 2 is a spiritual successor to BG.

No it isn't. And neither is DA1. Dragon Age represents the new consoletard Biowhore. Biowhore never did a spiritual successor for BG2 and they never will.

Seriously, the entire campaign is underwhelming.

Actually I thought it was pretty damned good. The video might not be quite as creative as Fargo's, but it was very professional and still had me cumming buckets in seconds. The relatively minor biodrone pandering could be seen as a bad sign, but I don't think it means anything yet other than the fact that Feargus likes to get paid. If they had wanted to make a biowhore-ish game they probably could have gotten traditional funding for it. My biggest concern is going to be what happens when the forums are flooded with biodrones requesting the Sims. They will need a high willpower to resist the call from the dark side. Although I don't see small token bows to their requsts as a major problem. A chest in some house where you can put stuff and a few optional micro-romances which represent a few extra lines of banter dialogue aren't exactly going to break the bank. They could even throw in some token homo banter as long as it's optional and very, very limited. Again, this is just a funding strategy, not the essential nature of the game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Because right now, a lot of people have coitus interruptus seeing the bland stretch goals and they start asking themselves for what they pledged their support.

They fucked up the expectations with the stretch goals, yeah. Not with the very start.

 

[toro]

Because right now, a lot of people have coitus interruptus seeing the bland stretch goals and they start asking themselves for what they pledged their support.

They fucked up the expectations with the stretch goals, yeah. Not with the very start.

That's what I was trying to say in my convoluted way

 

[Don Peste]

Stupid Mac support way before Linux support? FUCK.

But player house is OK if that means the Bio & Beth acolytes helps us reach the Linux goal.

 

[skuphundaku]

Stupid Mac support way before Linux support? FUCK.

But player house is OK if that means the Bio & Beth acolytes helps us reach the Linux goal.

Senor Peste, I agree with you on using the Biowhores and the Bethtards to help us to the prestigious Linux goal. However, if Obsidian hadn't royally fucked up all the stretch-goals, in all senses of the word, then getting to the Linux goal would have been just a matter of fact. Don't even get me started on the "we're thinking about DRM-free" thing because some computer peripherals may become involuntary participants in an impromptu crash test.