Torment Torment: Tides of Numenera Pre-Release Thread [ALPHA RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[tuluse]

I refuse to participate in GraphiCodex

 

[hiver]

Though it is much, much, much easier to make your life matter if you are immortal. Surely.
You do loose a sense of urgency - which was something very clearly communicated in PST.

Remember, you and your creator are being hunted.

I know. But other then mentioning that it hasnt been elaborated at all - which is of course not that strange this early in the project.
But sure, bigger direct danger from that end would serve as a sense of urgency booster.

 

[FeelTheRads]

They are considering "personal base" but not 2D?

 

[Blaine]

It's p. obvious they are saving such an important stretch goal for 4 million or something. Money will rain down when they announce it, Fargo isn't dumb.

Taking a second look at those "New ideas", they appear to be submitted by users and allowed onto the list on a case-by-case basis through administrator approval. Just because it's there as a list item may not necessarily mean it's "optional" per se.

2D backgrounds are already a requirement now that they've reached $2.5m+. They'd have been optional if the campaign had been crawling along, but it's thriving, so there's no excuse not to have them. I'm quite sure they'll be included, but this carrot-and-stick business is so annoying.

If they DON'T have them and include something stupid instead, I'm pulling my pledge. Obviously.

 

[Koschey]

Brian Fargo @BrianFargo
Another super fan donated 10k today to show their love of the traditional RPG. There are now 8... pretty incredible.

 

[Rake]

Though it is much, much, much easier to make your life matter if you are immortal. Surely.
You do loose a sense of urgency - which was something very clearly communicated in PST.

Remember, you and your creator are being hunted.

I know. But other then mentioning that it hasnt been elaborated at all - which is of course not that strange this early in the project.
But sure, bigger direct danger from that end would serve as a sense of urgency booster.

Propably the Angel will be one of the few powers that can kill you permanently, like LoP or Lothar

 

[Infinitron]

2D STRETCH GOAL https://torment.uservoice.com/forums/192241-stretch-goals/suggestions/3742526-2d-backrounds-like-p-e

Vote for this.

I think they will announce 2D after they will reach it, to don't discourage potential backers. They will probably show cool looking screen like Project Eternity.

I think they will announce it when they're closer to it.

 

[CMcC]

We promised Brian we would not impact his schedule too seriously.

(I can't believe he's still falling for this line)
Also, in re: working with Ziets and Mitsoda:

 

[Lady_Error]

Who is Veronica Mars and why did she reach $1 million faster than Torment?

Brian Fargo @BrianFargo
Congratulations to @robthomas for smashing our Kickstarter record for Torment. Loved your video.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project

 

[Excidium]

It's a TV series.

 

[Volrath]

"Cult" show about a teenage detective. No joke.

 

[Aeschylus]

Who is Veronica Mars and why did she reach $1 million faster than Torment?

Brian Fargo @BrianFargo
Congratulations to @robthomas for smashing our Kickstarter record for Torment. Loved your video.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project

Brian Fargo ‏@BrianFargo
I cannot compete with a cute blonde dammit!

 

[evdk]

"Cult" show about a teenage detective. No joke.

Well, it probably is cult, as it has 1.5M already.

 

[Volrath]

"Cult" show about a teenage detective. No joke.

Well, it probably is cult, as it has 1.5M already.

Yeah it's odd. They even seem to have limited their shipping to only the US. Would have even had more money otherwise.

 

[norolim]

The actress is hot, I admit.

 

[hiver]

Though it is much, much, much easier to make your life matter if you are immortal. Surely.
You do loose a sense of urgency - which was something very clearly communicated in PST.

Remember, you and your creator are being hunted.

I know. But other then mentioning that it hasnt been elaborated at all - which is of course not that strange this early in the project.
But sure, bigger direct danger from that end would serve as a sense of urgency booster.

Propably the Angel will be one of the few powers that can kill you permanently, like LoP or Lothar

Then im hoping for some epic very direct noncontroversial whoopass early on to drive the point home. And much more danger + delayed consequences then shades in PST achieved in actual gameplay.

oh, hey CMcC , almost didnt see you there...

 

[Brother None]

Y'all don't know Veronica Mars? It's p famous I thought. I've seen one or two eps, it seemed alright. And Kristen Bell is one of those objects of geek idolation, so yeah, it makes sense it does well, and good on them. Pretty surprised to see almost all their tiers are US-only. That's even more impressive.

 

[Aeschylus]

The actress is hot, I admit. Is this a porn TV series?

No, but you can see her pretending to fuck in this movie.

 

[Diablo169]

I voted for the classic 2d style backgrounds, fingers crossed we get it.

 

[Jashiin]

Stupid blonde whore gets more money than computer games, what a surprise.

 

[Infinitron]

https://torment.uservoice.com/forum...stions/3742876-advanced-tools-5-mio-or-beyond

Reactivity is ultimately a form of intelligence. Of course you can have your writers and scripters supply this intelligence, but manpower is limited, and the effort required to craft reactivity goes up exponentially with the number of interactions.

Unless you want to put this burden on your writers and scripters, you are much better off to develop tools to craft reactivity. Seeing what inXile already has proposed for T:ToN, I am pretty sure that this is more economic, i.e. past the threshold where an investment in developing the tools will pay back already during the project's development. Even in the case that your leads have identified a way to develop T:ToN without such tools, it would make the game infinitely greater if reactivity can be expanded to a level that would allow the exploration of T:ToN's themes to a bigger extent that mirrors the infinite depth of the themes and realizes their potential more fully.

Shift in team composition would merely require to use an additional budget/stretch goal for hiring programmers with strong skills in math and building advanced tools/pipelines, because these have most likely the skills to envision the necessary components and architecture for such an advanced system.

Tools for crafting reactivity have a number of key advantages: it frees your writers, adds more depth, gives the players a vastly bigger space (in terms of possibilities) to explore and customize their experience, and ultimately more choice and meaning for their actions -- reactivity is a tool that gives your writers power to craft linear and non-linear paths to combine the best of both worlds. Because reactivity is the concept at the core of this work, it is equally important for development and how players will experience it.

I can understand that the devs are reluctant to go this route, because you can sink a lot of money in tools that will not add much more than generic reactivity. That's the reason why I think my experience with breakthrough AI can make all the difference, foremost because of the dualism between reactivity and intelligence. They might also be reluctant to make their fate dependent on an unknown, but I can provide advice how to go about this in a well controlled staged way that nicely controls the risks, and always leaves them fallback options to their original design open.

Still, the Kickstarter is running NOW, my main point is that Brian & the team have to make up their mind now and at least consider the world of possibilities they have at their disposal and propose a stretch goal that gets people buzzing -- a bold vision of reactivity that underpins their uniquely compelling design and setting.

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

Veronica Mars is actually a really good show. Much better than the premise (high school girl detective) would lead you to believe. The creator/showrunner is the same guy who did Party Down, which is genuinely excellent.

 

[Koschey]

tl;dr

Only skimmed over that suggestion. Is the guy fishing for a job as an AI expert?

 

[hiver]

Y'all don't know Veronica Mars? It's p famous I thought. I've seen one or two eps, it seemed alright. And Kristen Bell is one of those objects of geek idolation, so yeah, it makes sense it does well, and good on them. Pretty surprised to see almost all their tiers are US-only. That's even more impressive.

That was one impressive Pitch they did there.

Really, really well done - totally perfect.

 

[Stabwound]

Crowdfunding continues to surprise me. The concept in general is one of the most things to happen to not only computer gaming but apparently other types of entertainment, too. I hope that private crowdfunding (to avoid the kickstarter 10% tax) becomes more popular, though. They don't deserve so much for doing so little.

The only thing that would ruin it is big companies coming on to exploit the system when they don't really need it. Example: Richard Garriott. This Veronica Mars thing is a little sketchy, too. The lowest tier that gets to see the movie itself ($35) is way more than anyone would spend to watch any other movie. Contrast that to how game kickstarters work, where you're basically getting a huge discount for preordering.