KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Prototype Thread

[Sonus]

Niche games from a niche company don't make for big excitement to a large percentage of gamers. I do think it's odd that many gaming news sites have done one to several articles, yet insiders claim not to have noticed UA in the press. I see articles on the sites with zero comments, or mainly comments from people who already know about it. Famous people who game get the word out better in a Tweet or FB post, than several gaming news sites combined, or so it has seemed with this, accounting for the usual initial downslope of a Kickstarter.

 

[Spectacle]

It seems that they will barely reach their initial goal at this rate. I wonder why it's so unpopular compared to other kickstarters.

"Underworld" is not a particularly well known brand, and they don't have anyone famous on the team who can generate media attention on demand. We should be happy that it's actually on track to be funded and not languishing at 30K in pledges right now.

 

[Zed]

The game lacks incentives to back it beside the initial goal of "we'll make the game."

New areas — people don't even know how big the base game will be.
Toolkit — only a super small minority of players will use this.
Co-op — lol.

 

[Darkzone]

The game lacks incentives to back it beside the initial goal of "we'll make the game."

New areas — people don't even know how big the base game will be.
Toolkit — only a super small minority of players will use this.
Co-op — lol.

A true statement. They should give us some hints of how big it will be. And how much a stretch goal expands the game. But also the argument, that Underworld is not a anymore a particularly well known brand holds its water.

 

[Jaesun]

It seems that they will barely reach their initial goal at this rate. I wonder why it's so unpopular compared to other kickstarters.

They didn't do their Kickstarter homework on what makes a successful launch.

Though I am happy that they seem to be on track for the basic funding.

 

[Kem0sabe]

They just should have made a spiritual sucessor to system shock or thief kick starter, would have gotten them 10x the money without even a brand name attached.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

If they are going to make one game, I will take an Underworld. it will get funded certainly and perhaps it is a blessing that they won't have too many stretch goals to worry about.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Have they made any comments on when the prototype/pre alpha/alpha builds will start to become available?

Zep--

 

[Cazzeris]

It seems that they will barely reach their initial goal at this rate. I wonder why it's so unpopular compared to other kickstarters.

Most people don't know what true incline is even if it slaps them in the face.

How can it be true incline when they have former Zynga developers working among the design team? And let's not forget their plans on adding a co-op mode.

Those are important facts that prevent people like me from backing this one.

 

[CyberP]

I cannot defend those facts beyond just saying...Looking Glass, dude. They were exceptional, but also somewhat unsuccessful financially. They didn't really have a choice, at least not realistically. No choice but to join the safer, unambitious side of the industry. They fought hard to stay afloat for ten years, or so the stories and statistics indicate. Now we must support them, as we should have all those years ago (or not so much me, I was in nappies).

 

[Zombra]

And let's not forget their plans on adding a co-op mode.

FWIW - a) It looks like that stretch goal isn't going to be hit; and b) They have a forum poll up with a strong contingent arguing against co-op inclusion.

 

[Alchemist]

I'm totally fine with them just reaching the base funding - the stretch goals aren't necessary. Best that they focus on making a solid core game anyway. They can always expand on things after release.

 

[JarlFrank]

The game lacks incentives to back it beside the initial goal of "we'll make the game."

New areas — people don't even know how big the base game will be.
Toolkit — only a super small minority of players will use this.
Co-op — lol.

I like most of the stretch goals. Toolkit is awesome, and I like visual character customization so that goal is also good.
They're way up high on the stretch goal list though and less interesting goals come before.

Yeah, the co-op is a really bad idea. Should've left that out.

 

[Zombra]

I like visual character customization so that goal is also good.

Phew, for a second there I thought there'd be no customization at all without the stretch - but the goal is just "more".

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Here is a pot from Jeff Kesselman of Otherside that pretty much sums up my view on this kickstarter.

Not to sound like a broken record but, in the end, on any Kickstarter, you need to ask the trust question. And a big part of that is, who are these people and what track record do they have? Do they typically over-promise and under-deliver? or under promise and over-deliver? I think Paul's got a pretty good track record of under promising and over-delivering, which is part of why I signed on to do this. Its been a gamble for me, too, but I can't think of one I've been offered with odds I've ever liked better

And on the topic of funding and whether reaching 600k will be enough:

Mentioned earlier today, but to say again, we brought in some investment last year into OtherSide, so we're not starting our budget from scratch. The 600K is the additional funding we need to deliver the core PC game. We would love to reach one or several of the stretch goals beyond this of course.

 

[Infinitron]

That Jeff guy is a bro: http://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=198.0

Never seen the devs of any other Kickstarter just randomly shoot the shit about other games on their own forums.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I cannot defend those facts beyond just saying...Looking Glass, dude.

Yeah, seriously.

Some people deserve all the decline they fucking get

 

[Cazzeris]

And let's not forget their plans on adding a co-op mode.

FWIW - a) It looks like that stretch goal isn't going to be hit; and b) They have a forum poll up with a strong contingent arguing against co-op inclusion.

The problem is that I don't think it's a safe move to support designers that actually intend to add such feature in a game like Underworld. It's a thing that makes me wonder if these guys really have enough talent as videogame designers to deliver a worthy successor to Looking Glass masterpieces.

 

[CyberP]

And let's not forget their plans on adding a co-op mode.

FWIW - a) It looks like that stretch goal isn't going to be hit; and b) They have a forum poll up with a strong contingent arguing against co-op inclusion.

The problem is that I don't think it's a safe move to support designers that actually intend to add such feature in a game like Underworld. It's a thing that makes me wonder if these guys really have enough talent as videogame designers to deliver a worthy successor to Looking Glass masterpieces.

Well, System Shock 2 had co-op and Deus Ex had Multiplayer arena games. Both were added post release but they were there nonetheless. Yes it doesn't look good to us that they decided to include this but they obviously wasn't too confident taking on the role of a publisher. I'm starting to get worried about all the merchandise contracts, the PR, the kickstarter crowd rapport and more they have to organize and maintain whilst simultaneously making the game than the impact co-op alone will have.

I'm not overly confident they can deliver a grand classic to that old standard but they deserve that chance and we will regret it if this falls through. What if? What if LGS came back from the dead to give it yet another shot and we failed to support them again...

 

[Infinitron]

Hey, if people wanna whine about the devs' pedigrees, that's their prerogative. "They worked on mobile games, I don't trust them." "They said PC gaming is dead 5 years ago, I don't trust them." "They wanted to add social features at first, I don't trust them."

*shrug* Not much you can do. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, yadda yadda.

 

[Metro]

It seems that they will barely reach their initial goal at this rate. I wonder why it's so unpopular compared to other kickstarters.

They didn't do their Kickstarter homework on what makes a successful launch.

Though I am happy that they seem to be on track for the basic funding.

Problem is they always low ball the base goal such that's it's almost never what they actually need to complete the game.

 

[Infinitron]

UPDATE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts/1136796

Stephen Russell voice acting confirmed.

 

[skacky]

 

[Melan]

That's nice, but does he also do the acrobatics? That's what I would like to know!

 

[Infinitron]

$450k raised in a bit under 12 days.