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Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter by Larian Studios [Complete, ~$1 million funded]

A

AstroZombie

Banned
DOS_TWITCH_newCover.jpg


Oh god.

TotalBiscuit said:
Leaving Divinity commentary until tomorrow because it'll be sub-par if I half-arse it now
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Edit: 650k!
 
F

foobarry81

Member
They made it to the $650,000 stretch goal. At this pace, the $800,000 one seems very feasible. $1 million is going to be very tough though.
 
F

foobarry81

Member
animlboogy said:
1,000,000 is definitely the most important to me. Companions would be amazing, don't get me wrong. We do have two main characters already, though. I want an RPG that I can play again and again and keep discovering new details. Especially with co-op as a core component. I will definitely do playthroughs with different people. Getting more out of the game by knowing about NPC habits would add a lot of replay value.
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I think it's also something that Swen (of Larian) would really love to get in there. But then again they need to set priorities and the NPC schedules are probably the hardest to implement.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Labadal said:
The 1 million stretch goal isn't very important to me. The 800k one is the more interesting one.
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Yea NPC scheduling is meaningless to me, in fact I often find it more annoying then anything.

"Yay I finally made it to town, time to sell off this loot. Oh the stores are all closed, guess I'll go waste a bunch of time then before I get back to actually playing the game."
 
F

foobarry81

Member
Sinatar said:
Yea NPC scheduling is meaningless to me, in fact I often find it more annoying then anything.

"Yay I finally made it to town, time to sell off this loot. Oh the stores are all closed, guess I'll go waste a bunch of time then before I get back to actually playing the game."
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The shops could be open still, but with another shopkeeper doing the night shift. :)
 
Z

ZoddGutts

Member
Someone on RPG Codex compiled the info that was said on Reddit:

-No minigames

- Game going for PEGI 16, gore still to be implemented

- Guards may adapt and learn from exploiting teleport pyramid to break free of jail

- The editor let you change story, scripting, art, levels. Mechanics only to some extent. Spells can't be modified (yet?)

- No multiplayer via Steamworks if you buy the GOG version, but you can still MP via direct IP

- Character customization will include: Visuals, gender, icon, personality, voice, start skills, start stats

- Iron man mode will be implemented, they don't know the details yet

- The game support in-game text and voice chat for communication between players

- Exploration is rewarded (in most cases)

- No Biowarian romance or sexual relations (update incoming tomorrow for details about the affinity/affection system). Quick explanation for now:
Affinity determines how well you work together as a team, as professionals: you're both noble most of the time for instance; or you both enjoy extortion. There are tons of different options here.
Affection determines how well you relate to one another on a personal level. Often times cooperative dialogs will be discussions about the morality of decisions and situations. Do you relate? Do feel the same about important questions in life?
These two combined will in turn determine what way the two protagonists are going to evolve in relationship-wise. Will they end up hating one another (yet respecting each other professionally for instance); will they end up as friends; as lovers; as soul mates - or anything in between?
The outcomes will be varied and many!

- Mods will be on Steam Workshop, or can be installed manually

- The editor is not "user friendly like Microsoft Word", but fun to play around with once you pass the steep learning curve

- About game engine: built in DX9. OpenGL4 and DX11 still to be implemented (but they will eventually). Mac/Linux is going to be work, but not something they cannot handle.

- Quick recap of the storyline:
The two players are Source Hunters, but their home base - Blackrock Castle- has been raided by mystery assailants. They were left for dead and if Zandalor hadn't shown up they'd have certainly perished. To repay this debt they go out in search of the source of, well, the Source. Its magic is forbidden, which is why the players were Hunters in the first place, but Zandalor is convinced that without it, grave and unforeseen tragedies will befall the world.
The Council of Seven has been frozen in place and time; evil creatures roam the land; orcs are on the warpath. If nothing is done, Rivellon will fall into darkness and decay.
That is pretty much how the game begins and, yes, I know, that's all still rather vague and cryptic, but I won't spoil anything.
What I will say is that the background story that unfolds as you play the game is very diverse, captivating and certainly not what you'll initially expect. Prepare to be surprised as you learn about the origins of the mythical Source, so very important for the world of Rivellon and the Divinity universe in its entirety!

- If they don't make the 1M stretchgoal, modders are free to put in day-night cycles and schedules. They can with the editor. And then they can, of course, make that mod public for everyone

- There will be trophies like in DD

- You can add custom map markers

- You can kill anybody and still finish the game

- They considered also a console version at start, but abandoned "when we figured out the cost and the uphill fight it would be"
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E

Eusis

Member
I wonder if a console version could work afterall with the policies Nintendo and Sony seem to be implementing? Though that should absolutely be secondary: get the PC version out and polished, and with the revenue from that get on consoles if it ends up looking worthwhile and practical enough. If Wii U were WAY more powerful I imagine you could even get multiplayer with one person on the Wii U Game Pad and the other on the TV.
 
G

ghostmind

Member
If this doesn't hit 1 mil, it will be close. We're going to hit 700k today, as we are only 25k away with the paypal money factored in.
 
E

Eusis

Member
AstroZombie said:
I'd prefer if they used the revenue generated by D:OS to make another PC exclusive RPG :)
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If they can see enough profit from the console version we could probably get both!

Though I imagine that also depends on easy porting. Maybe the PS4 will be painless and stupidly easy to get on? That'd probably make at least a DD PS4 version worthwhile.
ghostmind said:
If this doesn't hit 1 mil, it will be close. We're going to hit 700k today, as we are only 25k away with the paypal money factored in.
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I really want them to hit 1 million, but 800k's the bigger prize to me anyway!
 
A

AstroZombie

Banned
Eusis said:
If they can see enough profit from the console version we could probably get both!

Though I imagine that also depends on easy porting. Maybe the PS4 will be painless and stupidly easy to get on? That'd probably make at least a DD PS4 version worthwhile.
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I have a feeling that a game like this would flop on consoles.
 
E

Eusis

Member
AstroZombie said:
I have a feeling that a game like this would flop on consoles.
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As a physical release? Yeah probably.

As DD only? Who knows, there may be enough of a market. Wouldn't count on it though unless it were easy to do and if the JRPG base could somehow be brought in (turn based combat inherently being more appealing?)
 
D

Durante

Member
While it's not really important information about the game (all that is summarized above), I feel the need to quote this from the AMA:

Q: How did the Kickstarter campaign live up to your expectations?

A: It went over them. The nightmare scenario was that people wouldn't understand why we were on Kickstarter and there exists many notebooks that contain draft after draft after draft of how to pitch it. Luckily it went well. I also never expected so much community feedback, I thought the gaming world had become a more cynical place but then I figured out that was because of all my dealings with the industry side. I decided for myself I'm not going to walk in that trap again. There's too many people in the games industry that don't belong there because they don't care about a) games, b) the people playing games.
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Coming from many people in the industry this would have seemed like a somewhat cringeworthy attempt at playing to the kickstarter crowd, but having watched/read a lot of stuff by and with Swen Vincke over the past few weeks I really feel it's genuine. And that's what makes me happy kickstarter -- or at least crowdfunding in general -- exists.
 
E

Eusis

Member
I think it also helps that there's PLENTY of game to show. Hell, it's probably the kind of thing needed to WORK with the cynicism: Brian Fargo and Obsidian are both well known enough (and Brian Fargo's using familiar names, both properties and staff), but Larian isn't on the same grounding, yet they have a product much further along from a glance than even something like Wasteland 2. That does raise into question how much they can implement without delaying admittedly, but as the game's observable we don't have to depend on promises and hopes and skip straight to "does this game look like it will be awesome?"
 
A

AstroZombie

Banned
They're already delaying it, actually. Without kickstarter it was going to come out on summer because that's when(according do David Walgrave) they'd run out of money.
 
E

Eusis

Member
AstroZombie said:
They're already delaying it, actually. Without kickstarter it was going to come out on summer because that's when(according do David Walgrave) they'd run out of money.
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Yeah, guess that shouldn't be surprising.

Though it also shows another reason to be more optimistic here: as they're well underway for development they knew what they were going to be accomplishing with a certain amount of cash and this is just a boost to get more done, something like Broken Age apparently already burned through all the Kickstarter money and it looks like it's a bit away from being released still, then there's the game Ubisoft is going to end up publishing.
 
T

TommyT

Member
Finally having a chance to go over some of the videos and media for the game. Wanted to give the $150 backing, but saw they sold out... Hoping everything sells me enough to up it to $175. That alpha access!
 
A

AstroZombie

Banned
From Something Awful:

There were worries about the 50+ Henchmen that would apparently all get a unique quest and choice storyline? We read that wrong. There are Henchmen, and then there are Companions. Henchmen are just slightly more interesting Diablo 2 Hirelings, but the $800,000 goal is to add a handful of Companions. Companions will basically be full party members, but the large number of Henchmen won't be.


There will indeed be a limited number of henchmen with actual stories. The henchmen created by the Kickstarter community will also get stories, but in a more systemic way.


If we make that stretch goal, expect to see a number of very fleshed out characters with their own backgrounds, story and branching arcs - hell, even locations. Quality definitely trumps quantity here. We'd most certainly opt for a limited number of these companions so we can make their stories really worth your while. There would still be others too, but those would then be your regular henchman.


If we don't make the henchmen stretchgoal, for instance, we're already thinking about how we could make them matter more, how we can make sure the players actually "care" about them, and for them.
That solution, without the stretchgoal, would be different from what we would do WITH the stretchgoal, and less nifty... But still


Whether there will be romantic relationships with companions will depend on the $800.000 stretch goal. Nothing is set in stone though - all of this companion/henchman stuff is very much work in progress - like so many other things!


The editor is very flexible. They mad Pacman with it, and a tower defense game is certainly possible.


Q: How did the Kickstarter campaign live up to your expectations?
A: It went over them. The nightmare scenario was that people wouldn't understand why we were on Kickstarter and there exists many notebooks that contain draft after draft after draft of how to pitch it. Luckily it went well. I also never expected so much community feedback, I thought the gaming world had become a more cynical place but then I figured out that was because of all my dealings with the industry side. I decided for myself I'm not going to walk in that trap again. There's too many people in the games industry that don't belong there because they don't care about a) games, b) the people playing games.


Q: What is the hardest part of Game Design?
A: Explaining to people that you need to try stuff out in order to know what your next step is going to be. It's still an iterative process but everybody expects you can do it all in your head.


If a Backer already gets Beta access with their tier, but wants Alpha access, then can just add on an additional $30.


Alpha and beta are "expensive" because they introduce extra work for us. The overhead does validate the price. And on KS, you also have to price your add-ons correctly so that higher tier pledgers don't feel ripped off. Also, KS is about believing and investing in a game, and we need to reward people accordingly. I can understand you don't value alpha or beta access as high as we do, but there is actually a reason for it.


What follows is my guess. Alpha: this summer. Beta and preorder: September/October.


Character customization will include: Visuals, gender, icon, personality, voice, start skills, start stats.


Cosmetic customisation is limited to face, hair, icon, skin color, primary and secondary color, gender, portrait & voice. You always play a human character.


Q: Will we get some kind of backstory for our characters (for example, born in aleroth, son of a merchant)?
A: That's not in, unfortunately. I'd very much have liked to do that, but it'll be for another time.


We have two important parameters going in the background in this regard: affinity and affection.
Affinity determines how well you work together as a team, as professionals: you're both noble most of the time for instance; or you both enjoy extortion. There are tons of different options here.

Affection determines how well you relate to one another on a personal level. Often times cooperative dialogs will be discussions about the morality of decisions and situations. Do you relate? Do feel the same about important questions in life?

These two combined will in turn determine what way the two protagonists are going to evolve in relationship-wise. Will they end up hating one another (yet respecting each other professionally for instance); will they end up as friends; as lovers; as soul mates - or anything in between?

The outcomes will be varied and many!


To calculate your level of affinity between the two protagonists, we basically count the number of times you either agree or disagree with one another in situations that have nothing to do with personal feelings or convictions: these pertain to affection.

In the beginning of the game for instance, you can find a shell on the beach, which asks you to throw it back into the sea. You can kindly do so or be a bit more pragmatic and take the shell to sell it to a vendor. Whether you agree or not, a matter such as this influences your affinity toward one another. Call the choice generous versus greedy, say, but bottom line affinity points will be awarded (or not).

If you've discovered one of the village wives is having an affair though, and the players debate whether what she has done is a heinous deed yes or no, this influences the affection toward one another, because of course if they are in a relationship it's better to know they'll both be loyal to one another or both keep their options open. If not, tension will be reflected in the subtraction of affection points for both players.

We realise though, there's often a grey zone here and it may well turn out we'll award or subtract both affinity and affection points in specific cases.


Funny comments about dexterity or strength in the game, like this, Trophies/kill stats/monster manual stuff, and (custom text) map markers are all in.


Q: Even if the $1M goal isn't reached on your KS drive, is there any chance you'll still include the needed programming in the engine for the weather, lunar, etc. stuff; so that player-made content can make use of it?
A: You actually have all the mechanics in there already (it rains, you can modify the lighting etc...), our goal is more about scripting it (which is a lot of work if you want to do it proper).


Actually, we remade Aleroth as a try-out, the opening part of DD. I should do an update on that - at some point we even toyed with the idea of doing Divinity HD.
You know what, we'll tease a bit with it tomorrow. We've good stuff about that, including some concepts that show how old was turned into new. Thx for reminding us [IMG]


The early schedule for the fan day will be August 9th, in Ghent, Belgium.


We'll create a couple of personalities you can choose from. Like Kein said, these can follow you slavishly in every decision or disagree with everything. But we'll also create a few more nuanced ones to simulate that you're playing with an individual rather than an AI partner. Just how this will work has yet to be determined though. Traits and talents will also influence you AI partner of choice. There might be an option for a randomly-selected personality, so you don't know what the game will throw at you, you'll have to figure it out.


Attacks of opportunity will not use AP, there will be some TBD mechanism for making use of unspent AP at the end of a turn, and there will be benefits for entering combat in stealth or flanking an enemy.


Q: Since our characters are source hunters. Can we befriend magical elemental if we show affinity enough in a certain element like fire and make enemies also.
A: No, but I really like that idea. Stored in the little notebook.


We get that question a lot, but no, we don't have any plans for DLC's. Maybe an add-on, though I think we'll be focussing on our next game once we recover from development.


There's no one big city. Rather, there's several villages, each with their own flavour & specific set of problems.


Q: Just gonna throw the Dragon Age 1 'combat tactics' system out there, which sounds like what you're planning to allow in the editor. It allowed sufficiently deep customisation of AI (in my opinion), all within the game interface. You could 'pre-program' AI characters to cast spell x if character y is attacked by creature type z, for instance. Definitely something I encourage you to look at, whether you implement it or not [IMG]
A:That's in there, so you could use that if you want.
[/QUOTE]
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Z

Zukuu

Banned
They got mentioned in the latest Torment update, although I think "competitive multiplayer" is a bit misleading:
Another Kickstarter you might be interested in is Larian Studios’ Divinity: Original Sin. It’s an RPG with turn-based combat that supports both cooperative and competitive multiplayer (as well as solo gameplay). The game is well on its way to completion and is targeting a release date later this year, so you can already see some gameplay footage of it. They’ve funded already, but have almost 3 days left to reach additional stretch goals.
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Z

ZoddGutts

Member
This will make it's 800k goal without much problem, more interested in seeing how much further I'll go after hitting that goal. Hopefully it does a bit more than 800k that they'll still do the 1mil goal even if it's in a more limited scope.
 
E

Eusis

Member
ZoddGutts said:
This will make it's 800k goal without much problem, more interested in seeing how much further I'll go after hitting that goal. Hopefully it does a bit more than 800k that they'll still do the 1mil goal even if it's in a more limited scope.
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That'd be nice, even if it's just a day/night cycle implemented without a tight NPC schedule.
 
G

ghostmind

Member
TommyT said:
Finally having a chance to go over some of the videos and media for the game. Wanted to give the $150 backing, but saw they sold out... Hoping everything sells me enough to up it to $175. That alpha access!
Click to expand...


They've created a $160 tier now to deal with it.
 
A

AstroZombie

Banned
Edit: Nevermind :p

TommyT said:
Hmmm so on their site they have the $150 tier... guess that means it's just a Kickstarter thing to have to add another tier at a different price with a limit.
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Check if the Paypal tier also includes Dragon Commander, if I recall correctly the $65 tier doesn't.
 
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