Game News Seven Dragon Saga Kickstarter is LIVE

[J_C]

Well well, a shout-out from Obsidian in one of the PoE updates. Let's see what happens.

Care to share a link?

Edit: I found it.

 

[felipepepe]

"MOAR marketing" doesn't mean banners on IGN or a twitter hashtag campaign... it could be just someone to help them make a proper presentation, defining who the hell they are talking too and how to better showcase the features.

 

[MRY]

What do you imagine the game playing like outside of combat?

A glitchier version of Prelude to Darkness, probably. Maybe a more streamlined version of Avadon.

What we want (or what I want) is not MOAR marketing but to see some geeks talking design and being really fucking excited about it.

I guess. But some of what's annoying me (and others) isn't quite that, right? I mean, having the team talk about their past projects, having a better microphone, having a better website, things like that. But also, I dunno, do you really think these guys are not "geeks" and are not "excited" about their project? I'm sure both are true. It's really a problem presentation, which to me is marketing.

They are asking our money upfront, so I think they should tell/show us interesting things about the game.

There is much more information than there was for the initial Wasteland pitch. But the WL pitch had better marketing.

I'm not trying to accuse people of being shallow -- to begin with, I'm probably the most annoyed by truly shallow stuff (like microphones) of anyone in the thread. I just think it's interesting that this project will probably fail because they treated charisma and luck as dump stats, given that I'd like to think of someone who cares most about wisdom and intelligence.

 

[Athelas]

I'm not trying to accuse people of being shallow -- to begin with, I'm probably the most annoyed by truly shallow stuff (like microphones) of anyone in the thread. I just think it's interesting that this project will probably fail because they treated charisma and luck as dump stats, given that I'd like to think of someone who cares most about wisdom and intelligence.

A wise and intelligent person wouldn't dump charisma and luck.

 

[J_C]

What do you imagine the game playing like outside of combat?

A glitchier version of Prelude to Darkness, probably. Maybe a more streamlined version of Avadon.

What we want (or what I want) is not MOAR marketing but to see some geeks talking design and being really fucking excited about it.

I guess. But some of what's annoying me (and others) isn't quite that, right? I mean, having the team talk about their past projects, having a better microphone, having a better website, things like that. But also, I dunno, do you really think these guys are not "geeks" and are not "excited" about their project? I'm sure both are true. It's really a problem presentation, which to me is marketing.

They are asking our money upfront, so I think they should tell/show us interesting things about the game.

There is much more information than there was for the initial Wasteland pitch. But the WL pitch had better marketing.

I'm not trying to accuse people of being shallow -- to begin with, I'm probably the most annoyed by truly shallow stuff (like microphones) of anyone in the thread. I just think it's interesting that this project will probably fail because they treated charisma and luck as dump stats, given that I'd like to think of someone who cares most about wisdom and intelligence.

Unfortunately being charismatic is even more important than sharing a lot of details. Infinitron (and a few others) said that Underworld Ascendant had an even worse pitch, but I disagree. While they didn't talk more about the game, didn't share more deatils about it, but their presentation was more interesting. They could sell themselves better, I got to like the devs after watching the pitch video. It is not fair to write down the TSI devs because their awkward appearance on the screen, but this is the harsh reality. David Shelley couldn't even use a better microphone to film for fucks sake, his appearance was like a low budget youtuber.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

A wise and intelligent person wouldn't dump charisma and luck.

I don't get it, a Codexer would. Oh wait, nevermind.

 

[Vault Dweller]

"MOAR marketing" doesn't mean banners on IGN or a twitter hashtag campaign... it could be just someone to help them make a proper presentation, defining who the hell they are talking too and how to better showcase the features.

Felipe-bro, do you need someone to help you define the audience your book is aimed at? No. All you need is an opportunity to present it and you'll chew the audience's ears off.

What I fucking loved about Craig's video was how excited he was and how well he explained his game (for people who like this kind of games). He is one of us - a geek who loves and knows RPG and wants to do it for a living and you can't fucking stop him even if his KS fails.

I don't want the industry veterans telling me that I can like make a party with like stats and skills.

 

[Alchemist]

"MOAR marketing" doesn't mean banners on IGN or a twitter hashtag campaign... it could be just someone to help them make a proper presentation, defining who the hell they are talking too and how to better showcase the features.

I think this is the crux of the matter - even the most aggressive rallying of their colleagues in the industry, on twitter, more interviews, etc - won't save the fact that their KS presentation is really lackluster. Getting eyes to see the KS page is only half the battle. Once there, they need to be impressed enough to pledge.

 

[Vault Dweller]

What we want (or what I want) is not MOAR marketing but to see some geeks talking design and being really fucking excited about it.

I guess. But some of what's annoying me (and others) isn't quite that, right? I mean, having the team talk about their past projects, having a better microphone, having a better website, things like that. But also, I dunno, do you really think these guys are not "geeks" and are not "excited" about their project? I'm sure both are true.

I don't know. There are geeks and there are people who are working in the gaming industry. Is Fargo a geek?

 

[Athelas]

I don't want the industry veterans telling me that I can like make a party with like stats and skills.

You should listen to them, Age of Decadence would be much better if you controlled a party.

 

[Dorateen]

Kickstarter is counting the start of the campaign as of 1:00 pm EST. They better make sure that they credit TSI the 2 hours late start because of technical issues. Maybe it won't make a difference in the end, but they should have until 3:00 pm EST on April 13.

Anyway, so it raised $30,000 in the first 24 hour period. This thing will be funded in 15 days.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Anyway, so it raised $30,000 in the first 24 hour period. This thing will be funded in 15 days.

It's not how it works.

 

[Dorateen]

Right. The sooner they pull the plug on kickstarter, and go fully independent, the better. Dave Shelly already has the unity tools, he can work on this in his spare time and then sell the game when it's a finished product. Or Klein can start looking for traditional funding. $450,000 seems like a decent enough mortgage to get out there in California. Let him finance his business if he wants to do it like a grown up and leave this unreliable crowd funding behind.

 

[Hobz]

Anyway, so it raised $30,000 in the first 24 hour period. This thing will be funded in 15 days.

They'll more likely get a third of the total amount the first 3 (to 4) days and another third in the final spike. That game is far from kickstarted.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Right. The sooner they pull the plug on kickstarter, and go fully independent, the better. Dave Shelly already has the unity tools, he can work on this in his spare time and then sell the game when it's a finished product. Or Klein can start looking for traditional funding. $450,000 seems like a decent enough mortgage to get out there in California. Let him finance his business if he wants to do it like a grown up and leave this unreliable crowd funding behind.

Sarcasm? It's not a life-ending event. If it fails, they wait a few months, then try again, this time doing it right and probably get 600-700k.

 

[Dorateen]

No, that's the position I have had all along, taking a dim view of their prospects. I think kickstarter is the wrong platform for the kind of game they are trying to make.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Sadly, we have no idea what kind of game they are making, which explains the abysmally poor performance.

 

[Dorateen]

I know exactly what kind of game they are making. A classic turn-based RPG with full party creation, in a setting that fits comfortably with Dungeons & Dragons-derived fantasy. That appeals greatly to me as well as some 600 other people who respect the work SSI achieved in this industry. The problem is, that's not the game the vast majority of the kickstarter culture wants.

 

[Aenra]

i'm with the dwarf in this one

this is not the way to go for something that was legend when i was six years old. And i am 36 right now
edit:someone will mention W2 as an example sooner or later. My sincere apologies, but...the same should have applied for W2..the product that actually -did- succeed in KS? I cannot connect with that either, sorry :S
this is something you announce in advance, in detail, open donations manage at your private site. You do not do this on hipster/youngster hype
this is something you pitch with a big ass manual, okay, in PDF today, and some RPG-specific terms that outsiders would not get

and to add something further:
this is something that someone like me should connect to. Look at the footage again and tell me what am i meant to connect to that reminds me of the old ones

 

[Turok]

pledged and hope it succeeds. cant understand why some people percieve it so negative.
the idea alone that there is a studio that tries to bring back the spirit of ssi makes me wish them all the best.

Spirit of SSI? most people like me don't even know what the fuk is that and i am 28 years old, why the video don't show a little of that magic that are you talking about.

It could be that most SSI players are in a retirement home?

 

[Dorateen]

If I could retire at 40, I'd stay home and make modules in Dungeon Craft or IceBlink all day.

 

[Aenra]

It could be that most SSI players are in a retirement home?

FU, i'm in no retirement home!

Got decades of productivity ahead of me, thank you very much, lol

 

[Gord]

I can definitely relate to Turok there. Unless you already know what they allegedly try to make, e.g. from your past experience with Goldbox games and SSI, chances are you will not really get that much out of the vid. There certainly should be a decent amount of old fans around to rely on, given that they manage to reach them, but explaining somewhat better and with a little bit more enthusiasm what they want to do would probably help to bring in some new players more easily.

 

[Vault Dweller]

A classic turn-based RPG with full party creation, in a setting that fits comfortably with Dungeons & Dragons-derived fantasy.

Which can mean just about anything. I want to know ABOUT the character system, combat system, magic system, non-combat gameplay, faction dynamics, etc. I don't think that my pledge is precious and should be earned, but I want to know more about the game before deciding whether to support the KS and how much or pick it up on the first Steam sale 2 years from now.

 

[Lurker King]

But some of what's annoying me (and others) isn't quite that, right? I mean, having the team talk about their past projects, having a better microphone, having a better website, things like that. But also, I dunno, do you really think these guys are not "geeks" and are not "excited" about their project? I'm sure both are true. It's really a problem presentation, which to me is marketing.

What is really bothering is that they don’t seem to have a clue about what they’re doing. They are asking a pledge of 25 bucks for a digital copy of the game and don’t understand what their target audience is or wants. If they are having a hard time understanding this simple stuff is hard to believe that they are able to make a proper cRPG at all. If they get funding and prove me wrong, I would be happy, but things don’t look great.