Obsidian funds new RPG via Kickstarter

[StarSword]

Project Eternity. My donation's already in, since their last entry in this genre was Neverwinter Nights 2, one of my favorite games.

[xthetenth]

I went for it. Not because of NWN 2, but because of Mask of the Betrayer. Mask of the Betrayer was an outstanding game. NWN 2 was a few moments of brilliance (the trial springs to mind, and I'm really fond of Ammon Jerro's personal dungeon) surrounded by way too many combat slogs and too many party members without enough characterization (How many can I name? Not enough. How many can I describe? Fewer still. For MotB, it's most of them and all of them in detail.)

I am sorely tempted to start a betting pool on whether it'll take forever or not and whether it'll be properly finished what with it being Obsidian and all their games having been forced on the market incomplete by the publishers. Hopefully they manage their money well enough, because the only major RPG that wasn't theirs that I think was worth much of a damn in recent memory was DA:O because of the way the quests interlinked in that and gave a feeling of it being a real world rather than setup, then clear four areas that exist in isolation from each other and possibly the plot, and then finish the mission like Bioware is so wont to do (KOTOR, I'm looking at you for making it look acceptable).

[fgalkin]

They're making a "spiritual successor" to Torment. Planescape Motherfucking-Torment. With much of the original team.

Holy shit.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Havok]

These guys made one of the best games I have played in Alpha Protocol.
I may give it a shot.

[xthetenth]

They're making a "spiritual successor" to Torment. Planescape Motherfucking-Torment. With much of the original team.

Holy shit.

The only person I really want on that who isn't is George Ziets. Other than that it's pretty much entirely covered.

[weemadando]

The world building stuff they've been posting is pretty damn cool. Some really interesting ideas that have a lot of potential.

[Starglider]

Backed at the 'design an adventuring company' level.

[xthetenth]

They're making a "spiritual successor" to Torment. Planescape Motherfucking-Torment. With much of the original team.

Holy shit.

The only person I really want on that who isn't is George Ziets. Other than that it's pretty much entirely covered.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obs ... sts/325242

I want so bad. Mask of the Betrayer was phenomenal as far as I can tell in large part due to him, and he did a lot of work on New Vegas.

[Starglider]

Two hours to go on the Kickstarter and it has gone very well, raised $3.86M (+Paypal backers), funded two Baldur's Gate sized cities, writing by George Zeits, Neverwinter Nights 2 style stronghold, 12 level Watchers Keep style mega-dungeon etc. The last target is $4M for inclusion of an orchestral score (& dev commentary, but I'm sure that doesn't cost much).

[Stark]

Do we project more or less failure to deliver with no publisher interference/pressure?

I mean aside from hordes of screaming pledgers.

[Ford Prefect]

When Project Eternity was still an ambiguous 'revealed in three days!' thing I was kind of interested, but then it was revealed to be a medieval European fantasy RPG with elves and dwarves in the style of Baldur's Gate. Yawn.

[Stark]

What's known about the mechanics they're using for characters and combat? Surely there's no reason for them to stick with their horrid DND stuff.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Last word I heard is that they're going for the gameplay style of Baldur's Gate II, but that may have just been something said to try to attract attention at the start of the drive, since building a game in 2012 around 2nd Edition AD&D is apparently an attractive choice?

[Stark]

I know there's little reason to expect anything innovative or whatever from a game so retrospective in outlook, but there's been a lot of change even to the DND-based shit in the last decade. Hopefully they'll put some new ideas in there.

[Starglider]

The game is targetting an Infinity Engine play feel but with original combat mechanics, which seem to be taking elements from various contemporary RPGs. To be honest saying 'it will feel like Planescape Torment' etc is a much more sensible idea for a large crowdfunded project than 'it will be some radical new thing we can't describe', for the same reason that Linux succeeded because it cloned existing Unix design rather than being another radical experimental OS project. Obviously I don't have a problem with 'this project will focus on good writing rather than 3D graphics or gameplay innovation'; not every game has to push the boundaries of gameplay design.

The stretch goals announced are all just 'more content', so I think it's fairly low-risk as Kickstarter goes; meeting them is just a case of hiring another couple of designers and putting them to work cranking out the art/writing/scripting/etc. Similarly Obsidian have enough of a track record that I'm pretty sure they can crank out a Temple of Elemental Evil clone no problem. The main risk is whether they will be able to deliver on all the intangibles about the game being more engaging/interesting/replayable than ToEE, i.e. will it turn out distilled coolness or derrivative crap, but that's always a big risk with any kind of video game project. As always with Kickstarter backing a project is somewhere between a pre-order and a charitable donnation.

[Starglider]

The Kickstarter completed and including PayPal donations, the project raised $4.1 M and met all stretch goals. Some of that will go on fulfillment, but then Obsidian are also adding an undisclosed amount of corporate funding. The stated development timeframe is 18 months, but frankly I'd be suprised if that didn't slip given all the scope increases.

[Stark]

And, again, Obsidian's track record of incomplete projects. Every Obsidian takeover ever played has been unfinished. If they believe that much of their market has already give them money, thy may be in even less of a hurry than usual.

[Starglider]

And, again, Obsidian's track record of incomplete projects. Every Obsidian takeover ever played has been unfinished. If they believe that much of their market has already give them money, thy may be in even less of a hurry than usual.

I can only imagine the amount of contempt you must have for this project, or at least, its backers.

[Stark]

I'm way ahead of you on that, man. At least Obsidian's plan is an actual plan. It puts them above most of the rubbish you see on kickstarter.

The biggest lol is that literally anything about an Apple product will be funded. Even that goddamn stand for taking polaroids of the goddamn screen.

[Starglider]

The biggest lol is that literally anything about an Apple product will be funded. Even that goddamn stand for taking polaroids of the goddamn screen.

The funniest one I've seen is double dipping Kickstarter for an 'updated iPhone 5 version' of a 'sustainable wood acoustic dock". Even though the original version was overfunded and sold plenty of wildly overpriced sanded-off lumps of wood, and even though the creator admitts that the iPhone 5 works in the existing design and he has plenty of business coming in, he's still asking for free money to make a varnished version. And why not, Apple fans are perfectly primed and ready to milk for cash after all.

[Stark]

I saw a guy with a kickstarter to make little pegs that hold the smart covers rigid at the joins, and it got funded.

PS you can use actual pegs. :V But doesn't have enough laser-milled branding on it I guess.

[Cycloneman]

What's known about the mechanics they're using for characters and combat? Surely there's no reason for them to stick with their horrid DND stuff.

They are not using D&D mechanics (praise the sun), but a new custom-built system. It's squad-based real time with pause. Combat and noncombat skills are completely decoupled, so you don't need to choose between one or the other. There's pseudo-Vancian casting that I can't remember exactly how it works. I think some of your spells (the lower level ones) are on cooldown/per-encounter and some are on a per-rest system.