KickStarter Tortured Hearts - successor to NWN module series

[HiddenX]

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1424869054/tortured-hearts-or-how-i-saved-the-universe-again

https://torturedhearts.com

Spoiler

Zoltan Gonda started a new Kickstarter campaign for Tortured Hearts: Or, How I Saved the Universe. Again. , a humorous indie RPG they are currently developing. The project is party-based and uses a 3D cartoon style - currently they are taking feedback on whether to make combat RT or turn-based. Here's a snip from their Kickstarter page and you can also check out the official site.

Tortured Hearts: Or, How I Saved the Universe. Again. (TM)
is an epicly epic, light-hearted RPG, dedicated to the proposition that most RPGs take themselves far too seriously. Since almost every imaginable plot scenario and character has already been used and overused to the point that cliches are unavoidable, TH instead revels in pointing out that the life of adventurers is one endless heroic cliche, some sort of existential trap created by the gods of RPG worlds. In other word, it has everything every other RPG game ever had, and introspective humor too. [...]
The Gameplay
Tortured Hearts™ is a typical old-school RPG, the kind that other nice people are trying to revive as well. There are six playable races: human, elf, half orc, halfling, dwarf, and gnome.The PC appearance can be modified as to head and gear. Races have different starting statistics as in most RPG. Character skills (e.g. communication) and abilities (e.g. strength) can be developed freely. There are no predetermined classes with built-in limitations, only trends which you can follow or not. Besides skills and abilities, there are sidelines, which are crafting skills that can earn gold and other rewards. You don’t have to be a crafter to get what you need. Generally speaking, the game world is rich and generous. You don’t have to play nice all the time although you will probably do better if you aren’t playing the jerk role. There are often ways to solve problems that don’t involve killing something.You can access all companion inventories. You can also train them individually and use their skills and abilities to make up for your own limits. They can help you automatically or you can tell them to bug off, you want to do it yourself. Combat is party based and real time, with tactical choices in the process: BUT, if we get a lot of feedback requesting turn-based combat, we can do that instead. Combat uses a party controller widget.​

 

[Excidium]

Not interested in backing because lulzy settings don't tickle my fancy, but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Alex]

I was going to just pass this one by, but it seems to be made by the guys who made the original newcomer. That changes things a bit.

 

[HiddenX]

Tortured Hearts 1 & 2 are two of the best hardcore NWN-mods out there.

 

[felipepepe]

Tiers give you in-game itens that increase XP gain?

 

[Excidium]

You missed the exclusive dungeon for tier 8 people.

With big publishers you need to pay $15 for content that should be in the game, with kickstarter you need to pay $5000.

 

[Zed]

Tiers give you in-game itens that increase XP gain?

This + The pitch video is basically just a fly-through in some unity scene.
According to their kickstarter page they have the following:

What’s done so far? LOTS:
1. Over 200 areas
2. Over 500 NPCs
3. Over 100 quests
4. A long and complicated plot
5. A crafting system if you like to spend your play time working

Yet they show nothing of it. Bullocks!

 

[SubBassman]

Hi guys

I'm Zoltan Gonda, one of the designers of TH.

Thank you for the topic HiddenX

We are going to add more updates on skills, attributes, conversation samples and probably graphics. (it's not that easy though)

felipepepe:
It is optional, if you don't want the boost, you don't use the potion you get at the start.

 

[felipepepe]

Update my journal:

Kickstarter done right:
Double Fine Adventure
Wasteland 2
Banner Saga

Kickstarter done wrong:
Tactical Shooter
Tortured Hearts

felipepepe:
It is optional, if you don't want the boost, you don't use the potion you get at the start.

But you understand that you are doing what Excidium said, selling day-one DLCs at insane prices? That's exactly the kind of publisher bullshit that people that go to kickstarter wants to avoid...I won't get the full game unless I donate $5,000!

 

[Zed]

Official website offers some incline though.

Do you want Turn-Based or Real-Time Combat?
85 votes
Turn-Based 83.5%
Real-Time 16.4%

 

[Stabwound]

The graphical style looks like a clone of Dragon Quest 8. Seriously, it's almost identical except the black borders and lines are thicker. Other than that, the town demo could easily be straight out of DQ8.

Not to be a downer considering the man behind the project is here, but this seems extremely premature considering the amount of money asked for. It just comes across like someone throwing a short animation together and jumping on the Kickstarter wagon. I mean, come on, you didn't even put together a real website.

 

[SubBassman]

Tiers give you in-game itens that increase XP gain?

This + The pitch video is basically just a fly-through in some unity scene.
According to their kickstarter page they have the following:

What’s done so far? LOTS:
1. Over 200 areas
2. Over 500 NPCs
3. Over 100 quests
4. A long and complicated plot
5. A crafting system if you like to spend your play time working

Yet they show nothing of it. Bullocks!

It's no wonder. The format we use is unpublishable yet. Data must be converted to Unity 3D first.

 

[SubBassman]

[quote="Stabwound, post: 2022496, member: 10270"

Not to be a downer considering the man behind the project is here, but this seems extremely premature considering the amount of money asked for. It just comes across like someone throwing a short animation together and jumping on the Kickstarter wagon. I mean, come on, you didn't even put together a real website.[/quote]

Please consider the length, the content that needs to be done in a reasonable timeframe and also please read one of the updates about the issue. Thank you.

 

[HiddenX]

I don't need a cool website, or a super advertising movie - just a new good crpg. Tortured Hearts 1 & 2 and Newcomer are good proofs that Zoltan Gonda aka SubBassman can do this.

 

[Zed]

I really like the graphics of the game and what I read about it sounds good enough. What I am criticizing is the lack of gameplay footage and more tangible proof of concept. I haven't played TH1, 2 or Newcomer. What I would like to see is a glimpse of what the game can really be, be it world interaction, dialogue, combat or character sheets/inventory screens etc.

 

[Alex]

Welcome to the Codex, SubBassman!

First, let me reiterate Felipepe's point: Some people are really going to be annoyed by the scheme you guys are using to gt people to donate more money. It does seem a little unfair, to me, that I would need to scrounge up $5000 dollars (a quantity I really can't come up with right now for something like a game) to get access to the private dungeon. Now, if you believe this will get people to donate more, I say go for it. If the choice is between no game at all or a game without a super special private dungeon, obviously I choose the former. But I hope you see (and are prepared to deal with) how this may bring some bad will to the project.

Another point is that most of the in-game perks are stuff that seems to be gameplay changing. At best, this stuff will make the game less fun, which is bad because people will be less inclined to pay for the higher tiers. At worst, it will make the game more fun, which means people in the lower tiers will be stuck with a worse game.

Still, I hope I am not discouraging you. I have played a little with Newcomer enhanced and I eagerly await the ultimate edition. I know you guys are capable of making a great game. I just hope you understand where most of the criticism I expect you are going to get here is going to come from.

 

[Johannes]

Yeah, not digging the tiers. If I want to cheat I'll do I'll cheat, it's not something that I'd pay for.

 

[SubBassman]

Welcome to the Codex, SubBassman!

First, let me reiterate Felipepe's point: Some people are really going to be annoyed by the scheme you guys are using to gt people to donate more money. It does seem a little unfair, to me, that I would need to scrounge up $5000 dollars (a quantity I really can't come up with right now for something like a game) to get access to the private dungeon. Now, if you believe this will get people to donate more, I say go for it. If the choice is between no game at all or a game without a super special private dungeon, obviously I choose the former. But I hope you see (and are prepared to deal with) how this may bring some bad will to the project.

Another point is that most of the in-game perks are stuff that seems to be gameplay changing. At best, this stuff will make the game less fun, which is bad because people will be less inclined to pay for the higher tiers. At worst, it will make the game more fun, which means people in the lower tiers will be stuck with a worse game.

Still, I hope I am not discouraging you. I have played a little with Newcomer enhanced and I eagerly await the ultimate edition. I know you guys are capable of making a great game. I just hope you understand where most of the criticism I expect you are going to get here is going to come from.

Thank you for the reply. The 5000 bucks pledge is not about having a dungeon, it's mainly a special commitment along with other rewards that are accumulating (say more than 60 licences, pet, you can be your own companion, you are eternalized in the game, T-shirts,CD, Comic Book whatnot) We are a small company, we can hardly offer anything else and we are supposed to make a game too.
As a matter of fact, every single dollar helps, moreover, I think this is where the power of Kickstarter lies. The small money of many people can make big things.

 

[Berekän]

Way to miss the point.

 

[felipepepe]

I really like the graphics of the game and what I read about it sounds good enough. What I am criticizing is the lack of gameplay footage and more tangible proof of concept. I haven't played TH1, 2 or Newcomer. What I would like to see is a glimpse of what the game can really be, be it world interaction, dialogue, combat or character sheets/inventory screens etc.

Exactly. To the NWN mod community they may have the same status as Fargo or Avellone, but anyone that didn't play it have no idea of what they are capable of. 300k is a lot of money to ask for, and all that I see is some good concepts, little proof, loads of day-one DLCs and a rushed bad blog being sold as a forum. I want as many old-school RPGs as possible to be made, but I need to "get" the concept of what's being purposed and have faith on the team if I am to donate my money almost in the dark like that.

And it's been days since the kickstarter begun and they only have 37 backers, and even a dedicated RPG community like the Codex is only aware of the project now because HiddenX posted it. I can't help but think they are jumping the kickstarter bandwagon and should have prepared their showing and the community some more...

 

[SubBassman]

I really like the graphics of the game and what I read about it sounds good enough. What I am criticizing is the lack of gameplay footage and more tangible proof of concept. I haven't played TH1, 2 or Newcomer. What I would like to see is a glimpse of what the game can really be, be it world interaction, dialogue, combat or character sheets/inventory screens etc.

Exactly. To the NWN mod community they may have the same status as Fargo or Avellone, but anyone that didn't play it have no idea of what they are capable of. 300k is a lot of money to ask for, and all that I see is some good concepts, little proof, loads of day-one DLCs and a rushed bad blog being sold as a forum. I want as many old-school RPGs as possible to be made, but I need to "get" the concept of what's being purposed and have faith on the team if I am to donate my money almost in the dark like that.

And it's been days since the kickstarter begun and they only have 37 backers, and even a dedicated RPG community like the Codex is only aware of the project now because HiddenX posted it. I can't help but think they are jumping the kickstarter bandwagon and should have prepared their showing and the community some more...

We are not disheartened by this.
If we fail, we'll allot more skill points to our stats and retry...

Update soon...

 

[Stabwound]

Can I ask if this is inspired by Dragon Quest 8? Now that I watched it with sound on, even the town music is very DQ-8 sounding. Not that this is a bad thing; DQ8 is one of my favorite games and I'm a fan of the visual style. I would be very surprised if this isn't modelled after DQ8.

The game interests me in theory, but you really need to showcase some of the things you say you have done. I'd love to see some screenshots of the game systems. I mean, you say you have over 200 areas done and that the game is playable in the development environment. There should be no reason why you couldn't give examples of these.

I think you could honestly have a successful kickstarter campaign if you set it up better. Give screenshots, examples of the game systems that are implemented and working, etc. The graphical style looks really cool, and Dragon Quest 8 has a lot of fans, whom I think this game would instantly appeal to.

And in the interest of giving constructive feedback, I would honestly recommend designing a website that doesn't look like it's from 1998. Even the most basic wordpress blog would look much better and professional than what you have now.

Having said all of that that, I unfortunately agree with the people that think the kickstarter tiers are very bad. Getting locked out of content for various reasons is one of the biggest complaints people have about modern gaming and DLC.

 

[zeitgeist]

Hi guys

I'm Zoltan Gonda, one of the designers of TH.

Remember Ultimate Newcomer? Giving money to people who have been promising a release (of something that appears to be pretty much done, and has appeared so for years) yet not delivering for so long doesn't seem very prudent, unless perhaps we get in writing that the first few bucks will go towards the purchase of a calendar.

 

[Alex]

Hi guys

I'm Zoltan Gonda, one of the designers of TH.

Remember Ultimate Newcomer? Giving money to people who have been promising a release (of something that appears to be pretty much done, and has appeared so for years) yet not delivering for so long doesn't seem very prudent, unless perhaps we get in writing that the first few bucks will go towards the purchase of a calendar.

Actually, from what I understand from this article, they are different people. Both Newcomer and the enhanced version are finished. The ultimate version is being made by other people and is the one that has not been released yet.

 

[SubBassman]

Hi guys

I'm Zoltan Gonda, one of the designers of TH.

Remember Ultimate Newcomer? Giving money to people who have been promising a release (of something that appears to be pretty much done, and has appeared so for years) yet not delivering for so long doesn't seem very prudent, unless perhaps we get in writing that the first few bucks will go towards the purchase of a calendar.

As Alex said, I'm not working on Ultimate Newcomer whatsoever. If I was, it would have been finished long ago.