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[Capo]

By Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...te-and-tom-hal

[Panthro]

an "old school RPG"?

It's very light on content, no idea on the title, the world, the setting...

Even then, they most mention Wizardry, Ultima and Anachronox - three games/series which have relatively little in common.

Without more solid details, I'm not sure I can back them too highly, and I think they'll struggle to make the money.

[RRS]

I had a similar reaction. When you're trying to sell a product that doesn't exist yet, you must enthrall people with your coherent idea, not present them a generic concept.

But heck, "we have recognizable names!"

[El Quia]

Originally Posted by RRS

I had a similar reaction. When you're trying to sell a product that doesn't exist yet, you must enthrall people with your coherent idea, not present them a generic concept.

But heck, "we have recognizable names!"

Unfortunately, except for indies, that seems to be the case with most of the old school people with recognizable names. For example, Double Fine's kickstarter didn't said much beyond "I am Tim Schafer, and we will make a point & click adventure game! Give us money!". And that's just one of them...

[Smiling Spectre]

1. Well, Shafer was one of the first. And he consistently make good games in quite distinct manner. So... it's tolerable. Once. I think.

2. Speaking about Hall, it's much more difficult to judge. First at all, he personally responsible for only one RPG - Anachronox. And it is good indeed. But... only one?

3. Kickstarter advertising looks very bad for me. It looks like it's almost purposely bad! Very strange. No direct info, over-the-top price, strange phrases, bizarre pledge rewards... Let me illustrate this:

Tom Hall's visionary design on Commander Keen™, Anachronox™ and DOOM™ set the standard for character development, world design and over-the-top immersion.

A-nox - ok. But... character development in Keen and Doom?! What the heck?!

Progression: Gain experience and gain levels to hone your characters to your exact liking.

Wow, isn't it a revelation?!

60$: All the previous rewards + EARLY BETA ACCESS + DIGITAL ADVENTURER'S GUIDE + A REALLY, SERIOUSLY OLD SCHOOL DIGITAL PEN-AND-PAPER EDITION of Old School RPG

On this stage it's still ok...

100$: All the previous rewards + a BOXED EDITION OF OLD SCHOOL RPG + CD CONTAINING THE OLD SCHOOL RPG AND SOUNDTRACK + EXCLUSIVE OLD SCHOOL RPG LOGO T-SHIRT + VIP IN-GAME CHARACTER HONOR + CUSTOM OLD SCHOOL RPG METAL MEDALLION.

So for extra 40$ I am getting CD, T-shirt and aluminium medallion? Yay, it's great! Give me five of that!

But there are more!

1000$: All the previous rewards + BECOME AN NPC, LOCATION OR ITEM + IN-GAME DIAMOND CHARACTER HONOR + IN-GAME LISTING IN OLD SCHOOL RPG "HALL OF HONOR" CREDITS.

So I am giving extra 500$ (as previous level is 500) to have name in-game, extra string in credits (and I already have similar string in credits for 500$) and some bizzare "Diamond honor"? Oh! Totally worth extra 500$! :/

Also, where all this CAPITAL LETTERS originate from? Is it supposed to be very convincing, or what?

All in all - very strange entry. I am surprised that they managed to get 100 000 already. Well, names sells, I suppose.

[RRS]

@Smiling Spectre: that's common to Kickstarter games. "pay $2000 more and experience the developer's handshake!" "pay $10000 more and party with us" etc.

[twillight]

Originally Posted by Panthro

an "old school RPG"?

It's very light on content, no idea on the title, the world, the setting...

Even then, they most mention Wizardry, Ultima and Anachronox - three games/series which have relatively little in common.

Without more solid details, I'm not sure I can back them too highly, and I think they'll struggle to make the money.

From what they say it seems to refer this genre:
- all background data (including plot, wolrd description, anything) will be in the manual instead in the game
- it will look/work like Might and Magic 1-5.
- it will be also full of bugs, as Ultima, Wizardry, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Morrowind was.
- it will be "no plot" (aka. "free roaming") game, like Oblivion or Fallout 3. Yes, there will be a "main story", but it will not excell from the other, and will even be dwarfed by some "side" quest, which will be mostly generic anyway.
- the look will be (based on some character-graphic) like Fallout3, and the system will be overly complicated) based on the few pictures).

Lastly: to take them seriously we'd need the "money bar" on their official pages (facebook & twitter).

[Panthro]

According to KickTraq, they're really struggling to make their money.

It's quite possible this will fail unless they get a proper promotional campaign (with clear information about the type of game they're making!).

@Twillight:

What makes you say it will be full of bugs?

Also, if you're bullet points are correct, there's no way I'm backing this.

[twillight]

Originally Posted by Panthro

@twillight:

What makes you say it will be full of bugs?

To be honest I'm the first one hoping against probability, but according to the referred and developed games, and especially the supposed genre (free roaming) it just cries for bugs.

To be honest I never seen a "free roaming" game without obvious bugs, especially if it is "no plot" game, like Oblivion or Morrowind.

Let me tell you why this is: these games ARE hugh. They also try not to limit the visitable areas in any way, so even lvl1 characters can at least run through all areas skipping the fights, but collecting quests, rewards and even items.
The result of compexity, hugh size, plus the fact you REALLY can go the way you want by design (this is where eg. Fallout 1-2, or Baldur's Gate escaped this fate) means tons of combinations.
Now each and any combination means a possible bug.

As a Real-Free Roaming game has no order of events in it, and the quests are basic-simple (many times they are even assembled randomly), this means the number of possible bugs just skyrocket, simply caused by the fact that the developers can't find order in their creation, so simply skip many things, resulting a buggy program.

[Smiling Spectre]

twillight, most free-roaming games have "fail-safe" mechanisms installed. No ancient dragons for you until you know spell "arcane unlock" to access their lair, and that given on L25. No flying cities with alien powerful weapons, if you not proficient enough to pilot ancestral spaceship. Etc., etc. "Metroidvania" games, actually, totally build on that principles, and they are thriving! So it could be done right - you simply need to thought out needed possible outcomes and bar all others. (And yes, I know that Bethesda consistently failing with that.

And speaking about their page on Kickstarter, they revamped it greatly! Wow! Now it takes right forms - no empty words, no SILLY SPELLING, and now here are pictures and interviews! (It's a pity that it seems too late