Baron_Calamity
Member
Any idea how its selling? Seems fairly low on the top sellers list, or the Day Z and everything else list has its become to be known. :\
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Broken Age |OT| A Double Fine Adventure! [iPad/Ouya Act One out now]
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I'll be honest, I loved what I played and I'll use the added cards as an excuse to go for a second playthrough sooner than I planned, but if I hadn't backed it I would wait for a sale and/or for act two to come out.
When you make things episodic you'll always risk having people who'll just wait it out. It's what I'm doing with TWD season 2, even though I totally dug the first one. I have a feeling Broken Age will be very popular during sales, but I hope they at least hit their projections with the full price and only Act 1 released. I'm looking forward to hearing something on that front in the following documentary episodes.
When you make things episodic you'll always risk having people who'll just wait it out. It's what I'm doing with TWD season 2, even though I totally dug the first one. I have a feeling Broken Age will be very popular during sales, but I hope they at least hit their projections with the full price and only Act 1 released. I'm looking forward to hearing something on that front in the following documentary episodes.
I don't know, but maybe we can make some comparisons to Next Car Game? The game seemed to perform around the same level with a similar price point as Broken Age and that game made $1m in its first week (not specified if with or without Valves cut).
If it did around the same - it's a small success for the team and should be enough to get Act 2 rolling without much cross financing (reuse of some/most (?) assets, engine and voice talent already paid (?) should bring the cost down considerably from act 1).
Dog Problems
Banned
Got the level five badge and now to wait for the foil cards to lower in price.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
I played a speedrun of Shay's story last night. Its crazy, it literally just looks like an animated TV show. I had a bottle of wine and was purposefully trying to smash through it as quickly as possible. It was great.
A LOOOOT more of the story beats and hints made sense going through a second time. The more I think on this game the more in love with every aspect of it I am.
For a game with so much voice content and talent a LOT of the story is told wordlessly.
A LOOOOT more of the story beats and hints made sense going through a second time. The more I think on this game the more in love with every aspect of it I am.
For a game with so much voice content and talent a LOT of the story is told wordlessly.
ambientmystic
Member
Just got the game. Went in completely blind (didn't read any of the GAF threads about it, only heard that it had a Kickstarter etc.) so as to not spoil myself about anything whatsoever.
Wow. I'm in love. That a game like this would be released in 2014 on the PC is unthinkable in the age of endless AAA FPS shootbangs and gritty murder simulators that are catered to the lowest common denominator.
It's just criminal that the game is not doing any better than it currently is on the Steam Top Seller Charts. I really hope they get the funding to continue on with the 2nd part, I really like what I'm playing of it so far. (around an hour into Shay's story)
Wow. I'm in love. That a game like this would be released in 2014 on the PC is unthinkable in the age of endless AAA FPS shootbangs and gritty murder simulators that are catered to the lowest common denominator.
It's just criminal that the game is not doing any better than it currently is on the Steam Top Seller Charts. I really hope they get the funding to continue on with the 2nd part, I really like what I'm playing of it so far. (around an hour into Shay's story)
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Is funding for part2 actually up in the air? It can't actually be at risk of not happening, right?
I mean, it'd be nice to see this moving 2 million units in a month but I never got the sense it was actually in danger of not being completed.
I always thought the split release had more to do with the fact they promised to ship something at a certain time and didn't want to go back on their word. The energy hook guy did the same thing, i was promised beta access in november but the game just wasn't far along enough so he gave us access to what the alpha tier backers already for ~6 months.
*I wasn't a backer on this game so I haven't seen the documentary.
I mean, it'd be nice to see this moving 2 million units in a month but I never got the sense it was actually in danger of not being completed.
I always thought the split release had more to do with the fact they promised to ship something at a certain time and didn't want to go back on their word. The energy hook guy did the same thing, i was promised beta access in november but the game just wasn't far along enough so he gave us access to what the alpha tier backers already for ~6 months.
*I wasn't a backer on this game so I haven't seen the documentary.
chrominance
Member
Dumb question: did anyone ever try to switch back to a character after the "end" of their Act 1 story? I forgot to do that and now I'm wondering if there was a neat easter egg-type thing for each one. That would be pretty cool.
Finished the whole game. Some points:
-Amazing graphics and characters.
-The voice actors are phenomenal, even Elijah Wood
-Way too short and the puzzles are obvious for the most part
-Don't think it's worth what I paid so far, hope the second part is longer and more interesting
-Amazing graphics and characters.
-The voice actors are phenomenal, even Elijah Wood
-Way too short and the puzzles are obvious for the most part
-Don't think it's worth what I paid so far, hope the second part is longer and more interesting
As I understand it, releasing it in two parts is mainly risk minimisation, there's no way they won't release part 2.
Yeah, not releasing it would lead to a catastrophic loss of goodwill and I don't think they ever considered it. It was either doing two parts or doing a single short game. It's confirmed, we just don't know yet how hard or how long it will be.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
As someone almost completely illiterate in P&C games I liked the easier difficult. I think the second part will definitely have puzzles with more moving pieces. The beginning of both stories felt like tutorializations, but towards the end I felt they were robust enough.
SPOILER
SPOILER
I'm curious about Vella's position in the spaceship. Its tilted like 90* on its side, right? I wonder if the interior will be significantly different.
The split release has everything to do with money, rather than delivering something at a certain time. Backers are mostly more than happy to wait, but they needed to actually ship something so they had something to sell to make more money to keep funding the studio in general. I don't think there's much danger of them not actually finishing Act 2, since they're probably not in danger of closing tomorrow, but how much the game sells in this period probably has actual actual impact on the scope of Act 2 and what they feel comfortable with doing.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Wow, it must be super weird to work at Double Fine.
charlequin
Banned
I don't think there's a ton of risk of that, no, though I am extraordinarily curious to see what the final real budget of Broken Age winds up being.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Its certainly the nicest looking game I've ever played, so I'm gonna guess quite a bit.
I switched back to Vella after finishing her story.
You just get a scene of her unconscious on the beach. There's nothing interactible, the only option is to go back to Shay's story
It wouldn't surprise me if Shay-first has something similar.
I suspect not, simply for reasons of production; If the interior has changed, it'd need different environments, which would inflate the development costs.
From a storyline standpoint, the spaceship appears to be able to do something with internal gravity anyway, given you can do a 'spacewalk'.
From a storyline standpoint, the spaceship appears to be able to do something with internal gravity anyway, given you can do a 'spacewalk'.
absolutely loved this game. We really need more Double Fine adventure games, hope there's another kickstarter coming up soon
the only part I'm kinda dreading is
I find this very concerning
the only part I'm kinda dreading is
Vella being trapped in the Mog Chothra. I'd rather explore more of the outside world
I find this very concerning
IIRC, the only thing you get is the game (and the soundtrack if you pay for that bundle). The documentary is likely to be sold independently, but probably not until it's complete.
Having not backed or payed to play the game (finished it via Family Sharing), i'm not too keen on over-criticizing the game. I'll just say that barring a very good Act 2, Broken Age will be my first nomination for 2014's biggest disappointment. That's not really what i had in mind when the project was announced. I know i would have been letdown if i did back it. The notion that DoubleFine\Tim are back to show current p&c devs 'how it's done' isn't really there. Mechanics, puzzle design, challenge, interactivity weren't to my satisfaction.
If not in Act 2, i hope they do better in some future game.
If not in Act 2, i hope they do better in some future game.
Super charming. Played through Act 1 last night and was really pleased with what I saw. The only thing I found to be annoying was the obtusiness of one specific puzzle (
), but beyond that, nothing was too frustrating, all the puzzles made sense, getting around didn't take forever, it was an extremely solid experience that, when I got to the end, really made me want more.
I know their intention wasn't to go episodic, but in going episodic, they've made me way more excited about Act 2.
Also, getting a famous voice cast was a waste of money. I can barely tell that those characters are voiced by famous people and a lot of the cast, especially Vella, would have been better off being voiced by people from the LA or Vancouver voice actor pool.
Did you like the new Sam and Max? Because I think whether you did or not is going to tie in directly to whether or not you like Broken Age.
the peach
I know their intention wasn't to go episodic, but in going episodic, they've made me way more excited about Act 2.
Also, getting a famous voice cast was a waste of money. I can barely tell that those characters are voiced by famous people and a lot of the cast, especially Vella, would have been better off being voiced by people from the LA or Vancouver voice actor pool.
Did you like the new Sam and Max? Because I think whether you did or not is going to tie in directly to whether or not you like Broken Age.
I liked it, but Vella's half was far better. Without having good puzzles, the game's strongest attribute is its kooky characters and dialogue, and only Vella's portion of the game delivers on that.
The whole thing is charming, but the spaceship half was just kinda meh to me. I did like the twist at the end, though.
The whole thing is charming, but the spaceship half was just kinda meh to me. I did like the twist at the end, though.
I thought Jack Black, Jennifer Hale, Elijah Wood and Will Wheaton were all really great.
On which note: I've seen some people mention puzzles they only solved by trying to use everything on everything else. For anyone for whom that was the case, which puzzle (in spoilers!) was it? I don't think I found any that I'd say required a brute-force approach to solving.
Vella *was*, wasn't she?
I don't think they paid anything extra to get the famous people. The fact that you can't tell that those characters are voiced by famous people seems like a positive to me.
I was 90% of the way through all of Harm'ny's dialogue before I realized it was Jack Black, it was just unnecessary. Interestingly enough, as far as male voices go, the greatest contribution to the project was Pen Ward and Alex Riggopolous.
But Masasa Mooyo is by far the weakest of the team. So many instance where Vella should be freaking out or excited or stressed but her emotions always stay in a constant state of being non-plused about everything, never nervous that
she's about to be fed to a giant monster or panicked that her family might be dead,
The transporter doors have more life in them than Vella does.
I certainly hope not. For a project as small as Broken Age is, wasting money on a star studded cast just seems foolhardy. Using friends of the company is a great thing and if said friends happen to be, you know, movie stars with years of voice acting experience, fantastic. But the project certainly didn't need Jack Black's name or Elijah Wood's name hanging off it's neck as if it were some sort of draw. I would hope the game would stand on it's own two legs without that stuff, for the record I think it does. But I also backed this far before any celebrity support was mentioned.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this. I don't hate her voice, but it's flatter than it should be.
chrominance
Member
If we're very lucky, this might mean a greater emphasis on puzzles and gameplay versus exposition. That would make a certain amount of sense, anyways. The biggest reason why I might be wrong, though, is I think Act 2 is expected to drop in the summer? That's not that much time, even if some work has already been completed on Act 2. I guess we'll see.
Might just be a taste thing, I guess. I loved Masasa Mooyo's voicework. Felt very true to the way I would react in a lot of those cases (well, okay, I've never
been eaten by a giant monster before
so you guys are in a cult that celebrates lightness and that's why you make cloud shoes and clean bird nests, oooookay
Messofanego
Banned
The ending WHAT THE FUCK?! Mindblowing twist, was fooled by the red herring. Took a while for Shay's story to get going, but when it does, they're both great sides.
If we're comparing funny inventory item remarks or general amount of funny lines, I'd say Broken Sword 5 still takes it. Both very witty games. Wonderful and unique worlds painted by the Double Fine team with some uber charming details especially on Shay's spaceship.
Took me 6 hours, savoured everything.
Cast:
Also, the cute hexagon things dawwww
If we're comparing funny inventory item remarks or general amount of funny lines, I'd say Broken Sword 5 still takes it. Both very witty games. Wonderful and unique worlds painted by the Double Fine team with some uber charming details especially on Shay's spaceship.
Took me 6 hours, savoured everything.
Cast:
FUCK I knew Dead Eye God looked familiar, he's the dude from Harmonix!
Also, the cute hexagon things dawwww
Messofanego
Banned
Have you played Broken Sword 5? I think that might be more to your wants in adventure games. Some kooky brainteasers and brilliant writing.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
I guess I never really noticed this, but its just further proof Vella is the ultimate badass. IMO.
I read it as intentional.
Dog Problems
Banned
Also, the cute hexagon things dawwww
Yeah, I love them. Feels like something out of Adventure Time.
CecilRousso
Member
It seems to have pretty steady sales. Despite being 90k people already having payed for it, and two weeks of preorders, it doesn't seem to let go of the top 20-30 places on Steam. Back on 17th place right now.
What's so surprising? There's tons of point and click adventure games being released every year. Some are far better than Broken Age.
More people need to play 'Book of Unwritten Tales' and 'Time Gentlemen, Please!'.
So finally played Act 1. I really like the Artstyle and overall atmosphere. Surprisingly I liked Vella's part more then Shay's, probably because of the wonky characters that just aren't there on the spaceship.
From a Puzzle standpoint the game is pretty easy and does nothing special. Defenetly not a revelation in terms of P&C Adventures.
From a Puzzle standpoint the game is pretty easy and does nothing special. Defenetly not a revelation in terms of P&C Adventures.
eXistor
Member
I'm so afraid Act 2 is gonna be the same few screens of Act 1 but from a different perspective. I've never even thought this possible, but this may end up being the most disappointing game of the year, whereas beforehand I thought it was a shoe-in as goty contender. The game is clearly grade A quality in most areas (art, dialogue, music, story), but I feel they've let down the audience who made the project possible in the first place, by forgetting to actually make an oldskool PnC as promised.
So it's grade A in art, dialogue, music and story, but yet not a valid oldskool PnC? Is this *all* about puzzle difficulty, and nothing else?
So I just finished the game. Or, well, Act 1. Wow.
I actually started with Vella, then played until she arrived in Meriloft, then switched to Shay, finished his story, and then finished the rest of Vella's story. With the way things played out, I'm quite happy with my approach.
The game looks AMAZING. Holy shit. I'm a backer but I didn't watch any footage or read anything about the game. Complete media blackout. So it was a nice surprise to see how the game turned out. The art, music, writing, voice acting, everything was great.
I think I enjoyed Vella's part more because it's just full of crazy things, whereas Shay's part is more... confined or straight forward. I liked the spoon and knife, but the rest of the characters felt blend compared to the whacky people/creatures Vella ran into.
Ending spoilers:
Ughh.. Act 2 please!
I actually started with Vella, then played until she arrived in Meriloft, then switched to Shay, finished his story, and then finished the rest of Vella's story. With the way things played out, I'm quite happy with my approach.
The game looks AMAZING. Holy shit. I'm a backer but I didn't watch any footage or read anything about the game. Complete media blackout. So it was a nice surprise to see how the game turned out. The art, music, writing, voice acting, everything was great.
I think I enjoyed Vella's part more because it's just full of crazy things, whereas Shay's part is more... confined or straight forward. I liked the spoon and knife, but the rest of the characters felt blend compared to the whacky people/creatures Vella ran into.
Ending spoilers:
That plottwist, man. I really didn't see it coming, even though now I realize the signs were there all this time. The creatures, the beam arms, everything. God I feel stupid. Some really good writing there.
Also, didn't Shay's mother tell a story that sounded awfully familiar to what Vella went through? I swear she also mentioned the same planet where Alex came from (Loruna or something?). And Alex is basically Shay, but grown up... This stuff is hurting my head...
Vigilant Walrus
Member
WOW.
Okay, first thing first. I have been a PC and console gamer since the early 90s. But I never played the adventure games. Noops! Not even Myst, none of the Lucasarts games. Ironically I had a hiatus from PC gaming during the years N64 and Rare were kicking ass. I got back into PC gaming in 2001-2002. So Grim Fandango had come and gone, and I never got around to playing those.
But jolly gosh goddamit. Having never played, tried or understood Monkey Island, full throttle, sam and max, day of the tentacle and all the others I have to say, that this was a nostalgic and amazing experience. I don't remember the last time I laughed so much at a game, and had so much fun solving the puzzles. They were not that hard but they were fun and pretty cute and funny.
This game is amazing. Love it so much! But I second the fear that act 2 will be act 1 all over again from a different perspective. It's not that it can't be good. It's just that It would serious impressive story, writing, characters - even better than act 1 to hold up if we are going to see all the same locations again.
Highlights for me:
Vella's story:
What a weekend. had so much fun playing this and Banner Saga. Both games are amazing. AMAZING GAMES.
Okay, first thing first. I have been a PC and console gamer since the early 90s. But I never played the adventure games. Noops! Not even Myst, none of the Lucasarts games. Ironically I had a hiatus from PC gaming during the years N64 and Rare were kicking ass. I got back into PC gaming in 2001-2002. So Grim Fandango had come and gone, and I never got around to playing those.
But jolly gosh goddamit. Having never played, tried or understood Monkey Island, full throttle, sam and max, day of the tentacle and all the others I have to say, that this was a nostalgic and amazing experience. I don't remember the last time I laughed so much at a game, and had so much fun solving the puzzles. They were not that hard but they were fun and pretty cute and funny.
This game is amazing. Love it so much! But I second the fear that act 2 will be act 1 all over again from a different perspective. It's not that it can't be good. It's just that It would serious impressive story, writing, characters - even better than act 1 to hold up if we are going to see all the same locations again.
Highlights for me:
Vella's story:
I completely lost it with the lumberjack. Amazing character he is. Hipster, non-conformirist, joe-rogan conspiracy listening mubo jumbo democratic wannabe elitist, he reminded me as one big pop culture reference. "I feel like making a stool right now, so much".
"Keep it, I leave samples all over the place". I burst my shit.
The subplot with the living tree was also amazing. Goddam. it was good
"Keep it, I leave samples all over the place". I burst my shit.
The subplot with the living tree was also amazing. Goddam. it was good
What a weekend. had so much fun playing this and Banner Saga. Both games are amazing. AMAZING GAMES.
Getting the fruit is not a puzzle, you just have to click on the low hanging branch on the left side. I was confused for a while because I thought I had to do something clever to get it.
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