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[The Kid]

Given Fargo's and Avellone's recent tweets about today and 2013 being amazing, I'm going to assume crazy things about this project!

 

[injurai]

Brother None, is there going to be an AMA for the final push? If not I'd strongly recommend it.

Maybe get some interviews lined up with TheVerge, RPS and PC Gamer. Share some new enticing news and concept art. I think you guys will be golden.

 

[Brother None]

A new Torment music track from Mark Morgan

Brother None, is there going to be an AMA for the final push? If not I'd strongly recommend it.

Yip. AMA tomorrow, noon Eastern time. On /IAmA.

As for press sites, we have the same PR guy Obsidian had working on it.

 

[dude]

I must say that I've been looking for any excuse to increase my pledge so that it matched my PE pledge, but so far this Kickstarter has been pretty slow for me. I need more lore, more character art and more music! C'mon InXile, you have a lot more of my sweet sweet money to take.

EDIT: Okay, that was fast.

 

[injurai]

ahh doing it early.

Well awesome, sounds like you guys have your bases covered. It's been more than funded, but we are all pulling for you guys.

 

[Brother None]

I must say that I've been looking for any excuse to increase my pledge so that it matched my PE pledge, but so far this Kickstarter has been pretty slow for me. I need more lore, more character art and more music! C'mon InXile, you have a lot more of my sweet sweet money to take.

EDIT: Okay, that was fast.

We live to serve.

ahh doing it early.

Yeah. This is a quiet period including for us, so it's a good time to slot in more interviews and things like AMA, so we can give it our full attention. If we do it in the final week it would have to be rushed or with only one or two people available, instead it'll be a full-blown three hour thing with Colin, Brian, Kevin and Monte all there.

 

[FACE]

A new Torment music track from Mark Morgan

Yip. AMA tomorrow, noon Eastern time. On /IAmA.

As for press sites, we have the same PR guy Obsidian had working on it.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

50,700Backers
$2,762,492 + $42,733 (Paypal) = $2,805,355
16 days to go

Just need 300 more backers for the next fathom, and another 200k for the 3 million tier.

 

[Brother None]

Reddit AMA is on, for those of you with burning questions.

 

[FACE]

Reddit AMA is on, for those of you with burning questions.

I still haven't figured Reddit out.

 

[DTKT]

Might be worth it to post the Reddit AMA as a Kickstarter update.

 

[FACE]

Might be worth it to post the Reddit AMA as a Kickstarter update.

Yup.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Reddit AMA is on, for those of you with burning questions.

Much appreciated, questions have been asked.

 

[Brother None]

Might be worth it to post the Reddit AMA as a Kickstarter update.

That's exactly the kind of update we don't do, haha. It feels different to "us", as invested backers (or, in my case, employee) because we follow the project so close and can't get enough news, but if you start just throwing AMA links out there as updates people are going to start ignoring your updates. Less is more, in many ways, and we prefer less frequent, meatier posts.

 

[trab pu kcip]

aww so much stuff to read now
also thanks for the music update brother none, I always get excited about those!

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Got a couple of interesting tidbits from the IAMA:

We haven't discussed this in detail, but Wasteland 2 has an overland map and I really like that approach. Plus we'll have it implemented already, so it will be a matter of adapting it to Torment and its art style.

We will focus on the characters and narrative. We want rich, deep characters and they will be involved in situations that arise through the story. What relationships develop will arise organically through the writers developing the characters in believable ways. Given this emphasis on the narrative, and what we're envisioning thus far for our characters, it seems unlikely that sexual encounters will find an appropriate place in the story.

That said, love is very relevant to the theme of ones legacy. How many of us are motivated by love, do things for love? And look at all of the kinds of love there are. So love is certainly a concept that we will explore -- though how much of it you encounter during your play through will depend upon the choices you make. (Because for some, love plays only a peripheral role.) The theme of abandonment (and mystery, for that matter) is also very relevant to love. So we will explore relationships, but only so far as they naturally develop given our themes and characters.

To be a bit more explicit: we don't expect there to be any sexual encounters in Torment, though we do foresee affection and love (independent of gender) to be explored.

Will the game use pre rendered cut scenes to introduce new characters, locations, or major events, Kind of like how the firs Torment did?

This is open for discussion still, but in general we want to be careful about investing resources on cut scenes, which can be cost-ineffective.

The "big three" of kickstarter RPGs (WL2, TToN, PE) can all be seen as a continuation of the RPG traditions of the late 90s. Fallout, Infinity Engine, deep character systems, intricate narratives and stats-affecting-outcomes, and so on.

But there was a time in between the late 90s and now. We had (what I consider quasi-)RPGs in the form of Mass Effect and Witcher, but also attempts to harken back to the classic, in the form of Dragon Age.

I personally think they have too many superficial choices and consequences, and too much focus on romantic power fantasies, among other glaring flaws.

So what are your opinions on the AAA CRPGs of the 00s-10s? Did you enjoy them? What did they do well, and what could have been done better? What would you say are the primary reasons why we need WL2, TToN and PE?

I think that the RPG experience was affected when you had expensive cinematics and voice work for every scene in the game. Now I should be clear that there is a place for all different kinds of RPGs and some of these other types are quite enjoyable. But you have a natural effect of being unable to iterate to the last moments of a game when things get locked down like that. Some of the very best moments we ever implemented in an RPG happened in the last months of production when you understood the character of the game. This allows for a great and meaningful reactivity formula.

How are you approaching the ending of T:ToN?

While a lot of gamers have been complaining about the red/blue/green endings of modern RPGs, a great number of alternative endings does not nessecerily make for a good RPG. Planescape: Torment, the spiritual predecessor of this game, for an example only have a couple of "ending screens", but the events leading up to them are extremely rewarding.

We are having serious discussions in house, but our goal is the same: we want the endings to be logically satisfying conclusions for the game you just played, as the culmination of your choices throughout the game.

No constant connection required!

One of the things I loved about PS:T was its use of text to convey complex philosophical ideas, sensory descriptions and character motivations in a way that was not feasible with other methods at the time. Will new Torment maintain the use of text as a primary delivery method for content?

Absolutely, especially in cases where it wouldn't make sense to do a one-time animation. For example, in PST: tearing off your arm, gouging out your own eye, and the like. Words remain a powerful way to convey information, and we plan to use that tool intensively.

Which is to say: We like to write.

The PnP rules for Numenera discourage monster grinding for XP. Instead, they focus on finding solutions for problems, for completing particular tasks, and for inventive, elegant answers. We plan to continue that. In short: 1. We want to promote thoughtful, careful play, though we'll certainly allow for crazy, slapstick play. 2. Successful non-combat resolutions with antagonists. Finding secrets. Unlocking discoveries. Well, and resolutions with antagonists, if that helps to unlock narrative. 3. We're still discussing that. 4. Numenera's character development relies on three stat pools, and you build your character with a sentence: I am an adjective noun who verbs (or descriptor, type, and focus). For instance: I am a charming glaive who speaks with the dead. Each descriptor, type, and focus modifies the pools. And since I don't know how much is still under NDA, I'm going to stop talking now.

The concept of the Tides evolved over many weeks of discussion between myself, Colin, and Adam Heine (who is in Thailand, and asleep right now, so he's not with us here today). With one's legacy being our core theme, we knew we wanted a morality system that would support that -- we see Torment as being driven by its creative side -- it's narrative, its story, its characters. And so those elements (and thus the legacy theme) drives gameplay systems as well. That's the core answer to your question -- they are where the creative vision took us, particularly in our quest to fulfill our 4th pillar of over-the-top reactivity and choices and consequences.

We asked ourselves what types of things people are remembered for, and what types of things people want to be remembered for. We also decided that we didn't want the elements of our legacy system to be in direct opposition to each other, like D&D's alignments, or to be aligned with each other like Ultima's Virtues. We wanted something more subtle and nuanced. We don't want to provide players with any moral "answers" -- as these are very personal questions. We want to provide a sandbox for you to explore these sorts of questions and concepts for yourself.

There's also the question of what the Tides really are within the Ninth World. Are they just concepts? Are they forces in the world like gravity is? Can people manipulate them or do they influence people? The Tides are not a universal truth that all believe and understand. Some believe in them, but many haven't even heard of them.

 

[FACE]

That's exactly the kind of update we don't do, haha. It feels different to "us", as invested backers (or, in my case, employee) because we follow the project so close and can't get enough news, but if you start just throwing AMA links out there as updates people are going to start ignoring your updates. Less is more, in many ways, and we prefer less frequent, meatier posts.

I know the guys are doing the AMA, but do you have any idea of when we'll get another update? My journal needs updating.

The PnP rules for Numenera discourage monster grinding for XP. Instead, they focus on finding solutions for problems, for completing particular tasks, and for inventive, elegant answers. We plan to continue that. In short: 1. We want to promote thoughtful, careful play, though we'll certainly allow for crazy, slapstick play. 2. Successful non-combat resolutions with antagonists. Finding secrets. Unlocking discoveries. Well, and resolutions with antagonists, if that helps to unlock narrative. 3. We're still discussing that. 4. Numenera's character development relies on three stat pools, and you build your character with a sentence: I am an adjective noun who verbs (or descriptor, type, and focus). For instance: I am a charming glaive who speaks with the dead. Each descriptor, type, and focus modifies the pools. And since I don't know how much is still under NDA, I'm going to stop talking now.

YES! Hype levels are exceeding reasonable levels.

 

[trab pu kcip]

Got a couple of interesting tidbits from the IAMA:

thanks for putting that together!

I think that the RPG experience was affected when you had expensive cinematics and voice work for every scene in the game. Now I should be clear that there is a place for all different kinds of RPGs and some of these other types are quite enjoyable. But you have a natural effect of being unable to iterate to the last moments of a game when things get locked down like that. Some of the very best moments we ever implemented in an RPG happened in the last months of production when you understood the character of the game. This allows for a great and meaningful reactivity formula.

I really liked what he said here.


complete silliness but I accidentally read Tideland instead of Thailand at first haha.

 

[Brother None]

I know the guys are doing the AMA, but do you have any idea of when we'll get another update? My journal needs updating.

I'm not supposed to comment on updating coz it sucks to promise an update and then hit an unexpected delay (and that does happen), but we're hoping to update today, after the AMA.

 

[injurai]

I'm not supposed to comment on updating coz it sucks to promise an update and then hit an unexpected delay (and that does happen), but we're hoping to update today, after the AMA.

here's me hoping this evening doesn't suck

 

[FACE]

I'm not supposed to comment on updating coz it sucks to promise an update and then hit an unexpected delay (and that does happen), but we're hoping to update today, after the AMA.

 

[Brother None]

here's me hoping this evening doesn't suck

Brian Fargo
We are working on a #torment Kickstarter update which should go live tomorrow. We want to make sure the updates have substance.

See? That's why :/

 

[trab pu kcip]

Brian Fargo
We are working on a #torment Kickstarter update which should go live tomorrow. We want to make sure the updates have substance.

See? That's why :/

that's a good thing, I mean compared to other campaigns like dead state we get a lot of updates+ other stuff. I wouldn't complain.

 

[FACE]

Brian Fargo
We are working on a #torment Kickstarter update which should go live tomorrow. We want to make sure the updates have substance.

See? That's why :/

Tomorrow? I can wait

Edit: Chris Roberts is a cool guy: http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/torment-tides-of-numenera/

 

[Brother None]

Edit: Chris Roberts is a cool guy: http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/torment-tides-of-numenera/

I do not have enough brofists to give.

 

[Durante]

I'm way LTTP here, but I just read the PA report article on Torment, and found this part almost inspirational:

They joked about microtransactions for a moment, laughing at the idea of their inclusion in the game.

I would like to take a moment, dear reader, and meditate on the fact that Kickstarter has allowed the funding of a new Torment game, and allows the men behind it to literally laugh at the idea of microtransactions being needed to fund the game. It’s truly a wonderful thing.

 

[injurai]

I'm way LTTP here, but I just read the PA report article on Torment, and found this part almost inspirational:

brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye

 

[SquiddyCracker]

I'm way LTTP here, but I just read the PA report article on Torment, and found this part almost inspirational:

Hopefully this is the future of RPG games :')
Let the causals have their Bioware R/G/B lamefests, we get the second Renaissance of old-school gaming!

 

[~Kinggi~]

Looking forward to more info on the game. Seems like no kickstarter is immune to the dead periods.

 

[Zukuu]

Hopefully this is the future of RPG games :')
Let the causals have their Bioware R/G/B lamefests, we get the second Renaissance of old-school gaming!

I play both lol.

Mass Effect 1+2 were really good story wise as well.

 

[Zukuu]

51k backers, another level will be added!

 

[SquiddyCracker]

51k backers, another level will be added!

Yay!
Wondering if we can get a final third level.

 

[Madouu]

Yay!
Wondering if we can get a final third level.

What is this level business?

 

[Zukuu]

What is this level business?

e will also implement the Castoff’s Labyrinth. Death in Torment will not be the same as “game over,” and there’s more to it this time than waking up in a mortuary. Your body is mostly immortal. Your consciousness, on the other hand, is a twisted place. When you die, your consciousness travels somewhere else, to a labyrinth of the mind.

The Castoff’s Labyrinth is a strange realm, a dreamlike maze of jungles, stairways, tunnels, and ruined cities. It’s your mind, but you wouldn’t know it from all that’s in here (I mean, what the hell is that dead, tentacled thing the size of a mountain range?). When you die in the game, you could always just reload, or maybe find the easy way out of the maze and back to your body. But you’d be missing out – it’s our goal to make gameplay after death compelling enough that you won’t even think about reloading.

The Castoff’s Labyrinth is a bizarre and interesting gameplay area, one of haunting exploration and discovery. As it grows, its secrets become deeper and more complex. Its depths are called Fathoms, and each brings new secrets and -- for the determined -- new rewards. What types of secrets and rewards? One will be lost cyphers: Each time you die, a new cypher (a single-use numenera) appears in the Labyrinth that you can take back with you. As the Labyrinth gets bigger, more of these random cyphers will become available the deeper you go. More types of secrets are attached to upcoming Stretch Goals, some of which are described below.

For every 3000 Backers beyond 45,000 (roughly when the $2.5m Stretch Goal was reached), we will extend the Castoff’s Labyrinth by one Fathom. So at 48,000 Backers, we’ll be at Fathom 2, at 51,000 Fathom 3, etc. (As of this writing, we are well on the way to Fathom 2!) Each Fathom adds deeper playable content and reactivity, and more of the features reached through the Stretch Goals (e.g., like increased quantity and complexity of the Reflections discussed below).

We’ll soon have a graphical representation up to better show the Castoff's Labyrinth's twisted progression to deeper Fathoms. (Backers through both Kickstarter and PayPal will count toward determining the labyrinth's Fathoms.)

1st level

1st+2nd

 

[J-Man]

This was my first kickstarter. I didn't really like the idea of crowd funding games but after seeing the footage of Wasteland 2, I went in for the bundle pack. Now that I'm onboard with kickstarter/crowd funding, I was considering slacker backing Project Eternity as well.

 

[Madouu]

Castoff's Labyrinth

Thanks! That's pretty neat. It does feel like the Project Eternity dungeon but adapted to the Planescape Torment "spirit" if I may say so. Seems like we'll get quite a few levels too but I wonder how this will work exactly. I totally see myself killing my character over and over just to explore it if it's interesting enough.

 

[Zukuu]

Thanks! That's pretty neat. It does feel like the Project Eternity dungeon but adapted to the Planescape Torment "spirit" if I may say so. Seems like we'll get quite a few levels too but I wonder how this will work exactly. I totally see myself killing my character over and over just to explore it if it's interesting enough.

I think there are other ways to enter it.

This would also perfectly fit with our "housing" idea:

https://torment.uservoice.com/forum...4732-a-fortress-that-exist-in-your-mind-alone

 

[Eusis]

Man, I want to see what's below the level that looks like an aircraft carrier.

 

[Madouu]

I think there are other ways to enter it.

This would also perfectly fit with our "housing" idea:

https://torment.uservoice.com/forum...4732-a-fortress-that-exist-in-your-mind-alone

That's actually really really good and like you said it fits in perfectly.

 

[Zukuu]

I'm nearing leaving Sigil on my PS:T replay and so far I stayed at "true neutral". Even to my surprise tho. Thought I'd go up to neutral good or chaotic good, since I'm not doing anything "evil" per se.

 

[Lime]

Just finished my replay of Planescape: Torment. It made me think that I wouldn't mind if combat got subdued even more (or done in a minimalistic way) in this new game. At least I don't like when combat is made the primary mode of engagement/solving conflicts, especially in enemy-heavy areas (e.g. Baator)

 

[DaBuddaDa]

New stretch goal Patrick Rothfuss on the writing team hollllly shiiiiiiit!

 

[injurai]

Looking good

 

[FACE]

New stretch goal Patrick Rothfuss on the writing team hollllly shiiiiiiit!

Who's Patrick Rothfuss?

The castoff's labyrinth looks great.

 

[injurai]

posting again because new page

 

[Toma]

That update could have probably been divided into 2, still sizeable updates, to keep the attention to this kickstarter bit higher. Half of that update would still have been "meaty".

 

[mclem]

Who's Patrick Rothfuss?

I've just looked him up on Google and I'm reasonably confident that he'll be joining the project as a Beard Consultant.

 

[Zeliard]

Rothfuss, eh? I had an e-mail exchange with him a few years ago on the topic of Planescape: Torment. He was a fan. His work tends to lean more traditional fantasy, though, so I'm wondering how great a fit he'll be.

 

[mclem]

That update could have probably been divided into 2, still sizeable updates, to keep the attention to this kickstarter bit higher. Half of that update would still have been "meaty".

Well, I'd suggest that this:

It’s been a while. I’ve missed you. We’ve been busy and will soon have more to share. We won’t be away as long this next time.

perhaps means that there's quite a bit more still to come anyway.

 

[Toma]

Well, I'd suggest that this:



perhaps means that there's quite a bit more still to come anyway.

Yeah, but the wait before that update was too long. The devs apparently thought it was good to hold it off a bit to have a "meatier" update, but considering the amount of content in that update, they could have easily divide it in 2 and released 1 a few days ago, no?