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Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment (Kickstarter) [Up: Teaser]

It's pretty insane. I can't imagine the weird rush of emotions these devs must feel upon realizing that all the passion projects chalked up as unfeasible in today's market are actually completely doable with this model of funding.

This model is only really applicable to niche stuff that can be done on incredibly small budgets, it doesn't make all those passion projects feasible.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
A successful kickstarter of an original IP can give a dev like Obsidian, currently beholden to living paycheck to paycheck for contracted work from publishers, a road toward financial independence and creative control.
 

Xater

Member
Is there a link to this? Cos I really wanna give Obsidian my money :/

I posted a response they gave me and now it is also on their Kickstarter page.

We are also now over 800k people! I have a feeling this will be funded within the first 24 hours.
 

NIN90

Member
Anyone else having problems processing pledges through amazon? Just hangs when I click "Continue to Amazon".
 

Famassu

Member
I'd rather them do a kickstarter to hire better programmers and/or testers but oh well I'm in. They do have great writing team so I feel the cash is worth it; I just hate that their games are almost completely amazing except that they are such buggy pieces of shit for the most part.
The problems with their games mostly have to do with the ambitious, complex nature of their games (similar games like Fallout and such were just as buggy), rushed schedules, shitty technology that isn't theirs (Gamebryo is the single worst game engine ever created, not much Obsidian can do about it when even its makers are struggling with it) and otherwise bad management from the publishers part. When they were given enough time as well as possibility to use their own Onyx engine, the end product was pretty much bug-free.

Besides, QA is ALWAYS the job of the publisher, not much Obsidian can do about it if Bethesda & co are incompetent.
 

Fjordson

Member
Yeah it's been a while. I usually turn subtitles on in games but I don't have to worry too much about taking time to read them since the voice work kind of fills it in for me. I only turn them on in case I don't understand someone that well.
I know that feel. Only 28 and it seems like I have the eyes of a 70 year old.
 

wazoo

Member
816k

EDIT : 2K more just during time for typing this message.

should be funded later today.

Quite amazing.

I do not think you need more than one hand to count the "game changing" events in this industry, but kickstarter and crow funding may be one of them. The end of the monopoly for the big publishers.
 

O.DOGG

Member
At this rate it looks like they'll make the asking amount in less than 24 hours. I wonder how high it can get at the end of the Kickstarter month.
 
Z

ZombieFred

Unconfirmed Member
I wonder with this success if we could possible see a Alpha Protocol 2 (or some kind of spiritual successor)? I wish for another one still from them and seeing this great input from us alike just gives me some hope on the possibility.
 
I wonder with this success if we could possible see a Alpha Protocol 2 (or some kind of spiritual successor)? I wish for another one still from them and seeing this great input from us alike just gives me some hope on the possibility.

Does Obsidian even own the IP? It wouldn't work with a Kickstarter anyway, you aren't going to raise the 10s of millions of dollars you'd need.
 
Really wish they'd shown more than brief snippets and mentions of what their game actually IS, and had more than an incredibly vague description and world map.

The whole pitch is pretty ordinary IMO and anyone who isn't already a fan of Obsidian's isn't likely to change.

But hey, it's Obsidian so I pledged anyway.
 

Ceebs

Member
I'm sure AP2 wouldn't get so much funding. At least I wouldn't help. AP was a missed shot for me.

I would love to see them try am Alpha Protocol followup as a isometric game. A mix of Infinity Engine + Frozen Synapse, with even more RPG to it.
 

Perkel

Banned
I hope to God they don't.

Josh Sawyer ‏@jesawyer
*double-checks stretch goals worksheet* *notes current funding* *comically gulps while pulling at shirt collar w/ one finger*
.

I wouldn't mind if they woud use 2D backdrops and 3D characters. But those 3D characters should be really really detailed so you would think they are 2D. Something like TOEE.

Now when i thought about it can they use TOEE engine ? It was amazing engine for that type of games.
 

Corto

Member
Really wish they'd shown more than brief snippets and mentions of what their game actually IS, and had more than an incredibly vague description and world map.

The whole pitch is pretty ordinary IMO and anyone who isn't already a fan of Obsidian's isn't likely to change.

But hey, it's Obsidian so I pledged anyway.

I am not a betting man, but I almost could bet that they will drip drop snippets of information during the course of the KS campaign to keep an high interest/media projection on it. I remember Avellone in an interview stating that they were fortunate to see the inXile KS and learn from it so they could deliver a well thought out campaign. Tim Schafer and Brian Fargo at some point of their KS were completely overwhelmed by the fans reception, they didn't have nothing prepared for the kind of money they were given. Obsidian has to have something up their sleeves...
 

wazoo

Member
I wonder with this success if we could possible see a Alpha Protocol 2 (or some kind of spiritual successor)? I wish for another one still from them and seeing this great input from us alike just gives me some hope on the possibility.

Even it is not called AP2. The same pitch would be refused by any big publisher but still could be kickstarted.
 

Ceebs

Member
Their stretch goals better consist of nothing but "____ Region added" once they get past the obvious Mac & Linux versions goal. I will also accept full orchestral soundtrack.
 

Ceebs

Member
Once you start adding shit that wasn't in the original plan, you run the risk of screwing up the entire operation because everything has to be readjusted.

But Avellone was very adamant about knowing your overhead fees at SDCC, so I'd we willing to cautiously let it slide.

It could be a case of "here is the overall game" from the start, the following sections can be cut to get in at the minimal budget. Extra money allows us to not cut so much and expand the scope.

I would think the minimum goal here, would be a pretty stripped down experience without much fluff around the edges.
 

DocSeuss

Member
Once you start adding shit that wasn't in the original plan, you run the risk of screwing up the entire operation because everything has to be readjusted.

But Avellone was very adamant about knowing your overhead fees at SDCC, so I'd we willing to cautiously let it slide.

Presumably they're not so stupid as to have only planned for the game itself. It's not like they're just going to start throwing out things that could damage the game as they've planned it.

I read either a tweet or a blog post that said that they had stretch goals already planned out, so I'm guessing they've basically got a budget for the game as they're asking for it, then increased budgets for theoretical versions of the game based on the amount of money they receive. The stretch goals will basically be those versions of the game.

So basically, their stretch goals are very likely already in the original plan. It most likely takes into account the possibility of them making more money than they're asking for, which will let them expand the scope of the game.
 
I remember Avellone in an interview stating that they were fortunate to see the inXile KS and learn from it so they could deliver a well thought out campaign.
I suppose they don't even need a flashy pitch given they'll easily make the goal anyway. It just seems to me that more and more Kickstarters are being started without anything more planned than "give us money to come up with an idea and make a thing you will like!" and riding on a pre built fanbase.

Not necessarily a bad thing, since the brief discussion of magic being related to souls (or something?) gives a little direction as does the year olde fantasy theme, but a little more might be nice so they could stand out from the crowd (not that they need to, they're Obsidian!). Maybe it's just me.
 

Zeliard

Member
Because he fears he will pledge more then !

Damn 2013/2014 second golden era of RPG !

Witcher 3
Cyberpunk
Wasteland 2
Eternity
Devine Devinity (soul something)
South Park: Stick to the truth

and i know i'm missing something

Shadowrun Returns
 
Even it is not called AP2. The same pitch would be refused by any big publisher but still could be kickstarted.

A third person stealth action game is too costly to be funded via Kickstarter. You can make a low budget isometric RPG with a small team, not so much an Alpha Protocol style game.
 

Ceebs

Member
I am sure there will be a few under the radar Euro-CRPGs that fly under the radar over the next two years as well.
 
the brief discussion of magic being related to souls (or something?) gives a little direction as does the year olde fantasy theme, but a little more might be nice so they could stand out from the crowd (not that they need to, they're Obsidian!). Maybe it's just me.

It's kind of weird that we didn't get any more plot details of what they are thinking of making.
 

Perkel

Banned
All in 2013/2014

Witcher 3
Cyberpunk
Wasteland 2
Eternity
Devine Devinity (soul something)
South Park: Stick to the truth
Shadowrun Returns
Dead State

That is heaven for RPG gamers.
 

Perkel

Banned
It's kind of weird that we didn't get any more plot details of what they are thinking of making.

It's not weird, Avellone asked people on Obsidian forum few months back if they would do kickstarter what you people want us to do. And most of people said "create a game what you want we trust you" , second one was planescape sequel.
 

wazoo

Member
A third person stealth action game is too costly to be funded via Kickstarter. You can make a low budget isometric RPG with a small team, not so much an Alpha Protocol style game.

How much do you think Witcher 2 costed ? There was a post recently on how much bloated the budgets for AAA games in the US are. A highly focused team could pull it under a few millions if they do ont reach for the stars (like full instrumental score and so on).
 
Alright, I'm in for my first kickstarter ever even though I still feel a little iffy on the whole premise. The business guy in me doesn't love the idea of getting people to put up equity without any potential profit, but hey it's only $20.

Plus, the game sounds awesome and I wanna support Mr. Avellone, a fellow TJHSST alum.
 

DocSeuss

Member
How much do you think Witcher 2 costed ? There was a post recently on how much bloated the budgets for AAA games in the US are. A highly focused team could pull it under a few millions if they do ont reach for the stars (like full instrumental score and so on).

I had heard $10m USD.

The blog post you're talking about is, I believe, from War Horse (who are also making a CRPG of some sort).
 
people said "create a game what you want we trust you" , second one was planescape sequel.
Which is cool, but 1) not every backer is going to hang around on their forums all day and 2) they could've at least pitched a little bit about what they're intending.

The business guy in me doesn't love the idea of getting people to put up equity without any potential profit, but hey it's only $20.
It's not an investment. You're basically being a patron (or philanthropist if you prefer) with the bonus of a cool game if everything works out.
 

Perkel

Banned
How much do you think Witcher 2 costed ? There was a post recently on how much bloated the budgets for AAA games in the US are. A highly focused team could pull it under a few millions if they do ont reach for the stars (like full instrumental score and so on).

Witcher 2 is bad example. Devs at Poland earn way more less than in US. But what you said about bloat is truth. Fargo was one who said that. Publisher requests can increase budged 30% on things like VA, but also developers need to create various demos to publishers and thet is time consuming. Publishers also sometimes try to add things which developers don't want to (like real time combat in Arcanum)
 
How much do you think Witcher 2 costed ? There was a post recently on how much bloated the budgets for AAA games in the US are. A highly focused team could pull it under a few millions if they do ont reach for the stars (like full instrumental score and so on).

Is Obsidian going to lay off their staff and relocate to central/eastern Europe?
 
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