KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Prototype Thread

[Zombra]

What is Garriott's connection? He plugged for them in the pitch video? I don't like him either, but that seems like a strange dealbreaker.

 

[Infinitron]

• Zepcodex: @otherside_entertainment When do you expect prototype/pre-alpha/alpha access date-wise?
• Otherside_entertainment: @Zepcodex Fall 2016

No answers, Zep?

 

[Zep Zepo]

• Zepcodex: @otherside_entertainment When do you expect prototype/pre-alpha/alpha access date-wise?

Otherside_entertainmentZepcodex Fall 2016

Confirmed: they ain't got shit. Just bullshots and idea talk.

Zep--

 

[Blackstaff]

http://www.thumbsticks.com/kickstarter-interview-underworld-ascendant/

Kickstarter Interview – Underworld Ascendant

Thumbsticks: As you mentioned in your Kickstarter video, Ultima Underworld inspired a lot of developers. What kind of things are you doing to stay true to original game, while making sure you Ascendant is innovative in its own right?

Otherside: The vibe will very much be the same. Being tossed in a dark, vast and dangerous underworld. Then the arc where you go from barely surviving to mastering the subterranean world. Plus, since we can use all the IP from the original except for the Ultima brand itself, a lot of the original characters, places, monsters and such will be showing up again.

At same time, visuals and audio will be leap years ahead of originals. Also, we’ll will use a modern user interface. But what we’re jazzed about most are some of the innovations, such as a new approach to co-op play.

This... is a little too worrisome for me. Obviously their focus is not mine, and co-op/online features are always shit for drm-free release.

I've pulled my pledge on that one.

 

[Gord]

It's definitely the most risky kickstarter I pledged to so far.
Really not sure how it will turn out. Other than the hope that they can recreate some of the old magic they worked when they did their old classics, they are not offering much.
Might regret it in the end, but the possibility that they do create another Underworld is worth it for me.

 

[Zombra]

Yeah, was really not jazzed to hear them boosting co-op. Sounds like something they're going to go ahead and do anyway even if they don't get the extra development funds for it. Fuck the plan, let's just do whatever.

 

[Infinitron]

Timstellmach: Infinitron The Kickstarter prototype served as a proof of concept on some of the technically riskier game systems questions (not all of which you even see in the Kickstarter video, like spiders crawling on ceilings and stuff). We have a further prototype planned for the next few months that will flesh out core game systems.

Yeah, was really not jazzed to hear them boosting co-op. Sounds like something they're going to go ahead and do anyway even if they don't get the extra development funds for it. Fuck the plan, let's just do whatever.

Don't think so, they seem pretty proud of their disciplined project management skills.

 

[Metro]

Could end up great, could end up a trainwreck. IMO, $600k isn't what they actually need and unless they go sufficiently over that mark this is going to be plagued with delays.

 

[Zep Zepo]

I got your further fleshed out prototype right here!

*grabs crotch*

Zep--

 

[Melan]

Award the Oh The Edge trophy to Zep, his hard-hitting square-jawed gumshoe journalism is clearly exposing these guys for the money-hungry frauds they are.

 

[Zep Zepo]

I'm starting to think this is more of a money grab then even SotA. At least he had the balls to make a web store before he even had a game.

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

Could end up great, could end up a trainwreck. IMO, $600k isn't what they actually need and unless they go sufficiently over that mark this is going to be plagued with delays.

"Not enough money" does not typically result in delays. You don't need to be worried about delays. You need to be worried about the game coming out earlier than expected. See: Jagged Alliance: Flashback.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Award the Oh The Edge trophy to Zep, his hard-hitting square-jawed gumshoe journalism is clearly exposing these guys for the money-hungry frauds they are.

Nah, I just think peeps need to take off the They Live Nostalgia glasses and really look at what they have (which is nothing).

Zep--

 

[Metro]

Could end up great, could end up a trainwreck. IMO, $600k isn't what they actually need and unless they go sufficiently over that mark this is going to be plagued with delays.

"Not enough money" does not typically result in delays. You don't need to be worried about delays. You need to be worried about the game coming out earlier than expected. See: Jagged Alliance: Flashback.

Fair enough, but obviously neither is desirable. I'm still taking a wait and see approach. As it evolves they can always get my money through website/early access sales. KS isn't the only means of funding -- I just wish they had a little more to show at this stage but I guess they needed the influx of cash.

 

[Zombra]

Yeah, was really not jazzed to hear them boosting co-op. Sounds like something they're going to go ahead and do anyway even if they don't get the extra development funds for it. Fuck the plan, let's just do whatever.

Don't think so, they seem pretty proud of their disciplined project management skills.

I predict they'll try to shoehorn it even if they don't go a dime over basic goal.

 

[Metro]

Needs brothels to go along with VR and coop. Or did I already make that joke?

 

[Zep Zepo]

If they even make their first stretch goal I'll be surprised. I played those first games when they came out! I am their target audience as far as nostalgia goes. They are not even giving me a chub let alone a hard-on.

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

Twitch is over. There was some decent Q&A near the end after they stopped playing the game.

Nah, I just think peeps need to take off the They Live Nostalgia glasses and really look at what they have (which is nothing)

You don't know a lot about Kickstarter, do you? inXile had shit. They gave us this crappy-ass footage months AFTER the Kickstarter for Wasteland 2 was over. Obsidian had shit - they were making things up as they went along. Harebrained Schemes, in the first Kickstarter, had shit, and were originally going to make a $400k tablet game. You seem to think the Larian situation was the norm - it isn't.

I think this stuff just isn't for you.

 

[Metro]

InXile had a good video with 12 year old game executive. Also it was a different world back then... before the massive wave of everyone with their e-hand out groveling for funds.

 

[Infinitron]

• Infinitron: You guys have had successful careers: for this project, are you to some extent working pro bono?
• Timstellmach: Infinitron I'm not going to have a big income tax bill for 2014, I'll tell you that.

 

[Metro]

Pro bono publico!

 

[Darkzone]

They are on good track. Even the lost 10k, have only corrected their revenues towards my back of the envelope calculations.
[whiny]But they don't have a prototype[/whiny] Fuck neither inXile, HBS or Obsidian had one. They have already invested 4 months into it, and even if they would throw out, their current build, just with the whole game, it would be enough.
Can they make a functioning ecosystem? There are quite good functioning simulations. If they implement only basic rules and make the amount of variables small with just two to one Lotka–Volterra equations, then i would state yes.

 

[tuluse]

I thought that last update was pretty good when they explain how they envision improvisational gameplay working.

All the stuff before then was pretty weak though.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

If they even make their first stretch goal I'll be surprised. I played those first games when they came out! I am their target audience as far as nostalgia goes. They are not even giving me a chub let alone a hard-on.

Zep--

Old age has made you pessimistic. Who shows up to a Kickstarter campaign with more than ideas and hopefully some street cred? Of the very few (of which Otherside is one) that come with actual protype to look at and work with to build systems, I can guarantee that none will satisfy you because you expect to see proof of glory and realized incline not two weeks into the campaign. Are you dim or jaded?

 

[Zombra]

Eh, some of his reasons are a little weird, but Zep is right to be cautious. The only smart reactions to any Kickstarter are either "I'm willing to risk $X much" or "I'll wait for a finished product review".