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Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter by InXile [Complete; $4.3 million funded]

S

superdeluxe

Member
Blackheim said:
Didn't see anyone mention it. When they announced the totals for KS + Paypal on the stream, it was said that the 200k Fargo & other dude are adding puts them over the 4.5mil threshold so the stretch goal is considered reached (unless they change their minds when they sober up >_>)
Click to expand...

Oh? Maybe they changed their mind
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
Blackheim said:
Didn't see anyone mention it. When they announced the totals for KS + Paypal on the stream, it was said that the 200k Fargo & other dude are adding puts them over the 4.5mil threshold so the stretch goal is considered reached (unless they change their minds when they sober up >_>)
Click to expand...

That's awesome news if that's the case.
 
A

adixon

Member
AstroZombie said:
Avellone's twitter picture is amazing:

b72f9faad5e16ce5a598c5c4c24e3bb9.jpeg
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That is amazing. Just met Avellone in person at GDC. Forgot to mention my name when introducing myself, probably the most starstruck I've ever felt in my life. He was very friendly though. And he seemed drunk, so that's good.
 
T

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
I am really ignorant of what this game would cost to make, but after the Skullgirls DLC cost thread + this software engineering class I am in where our prof talks about his job: This stuff sounds suuuuuper expensive. Maybe I am overestimating things, but I can't help but wonder, can they really make the whole game with all those promises with only $4.3 million dollars?
 
F

FateBreaker

Member
Tomat said:
I am really ignorant of what this game would cost to make, but after the Skullgirls DLC cost thread + this software engineering class I am in where our prof talks about his job: This stuff sounds suuuuuper expensive. Maybe I am overestimating things, but I can't help but wonder, can they really make the whole game with all those promises with only $4.3 million dollars?
Click to expand...

For what they want to achieve, 4.3-4.5 million seems doable.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
Tomat said:
I am really ignorant of what this game would cost to make, but after the Skullgirls DLC cost thread + this software engineering class I am in where our prof talks about his job: This stuff sounds suuuuuper expensive. Maybe I am overestimating things, but I can't help but wonder, can they really make the whole game with all those promises with only $4.3 million dollars?
Click to expand...

Well, I guess they won't have much room for screwing around, that's for sure; still, according to some old interviews this is pretty much comparable to the average budget they had for those old Infinity Engine games.
So yeah, it's doable.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
oh my god, what is up with Mark Morgan's mic? Or is that Brian's?

Also they're gonna interview the yellowshirtguy.
 
E

Eusis

Member
TucoBenedictoPacifico said:
Well, I guess they won't have much room for screwing around, that's for sure; still, according to some old interviews this is pretty much comparable to the average budget they had for those old Infinity Engine games.
So yeah, it's doable.
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Helps that they probably won't make some CG movies for openings/endings.
 
J

JDSN

Banned
Tomat said:
I am really ignorant of what this game would cost to make, but after the Skullgirls DLC cost thread + this software engineering class I am in where our prof talks about his job: This stuff sounds suuuuuper expensive. Maybe I am overestimating things, but I can't help but wonder, can they really make the whole game with all those promises with only $4.3 million dollars?
Click to expand...

There is an expanded post about their dev process somewhere, but I cant find the link right now. I found this in their KS page.:

We've discovered that the best way to create a deep and rich RPG is to begin the pre-production process long before the production team have finished their current project. If we waited to begin the design work for a large scale RPG until after the programming team has completed their work, our budget would increase by 50% or more. This would result in the hiring and firing process that happens all too often in our industry. We want to break that model and keep our great team together. This is why it makes sense for us to begin work on Torment now rather than later. The process has served us well in the past and allows us to bring you the best RPGs. If you have any concerns about our ability to deliver a great one, we encourage you to review our first look video of Wasteland 2 that was released just a few weeks ago.
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I essentially it goes:
1. Freelancing design crew work on Wl2
3. Tech crew begins work on WL2 while Design crew begins pre-production of Torment instead of being let go like it aparently happens in other teams.
4. Tech crew works on Torment.

Couple that with buying stuff on Unity and sharing resources with Obsidian and its aparently a pretty effective method of development. I think his initial video pitch has some info about it.
 
T

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
EviLore said:
lol, Skullgirls
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AstroZombie said:
My thoughts exactly.
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What does this mean? I was only referring to how they broke down the cost of each part that went into designing and implementing a character. Unless the stuff they were saying was BS, it was pretty enlightening for me. Unless you're just referring to your opinion of Skullgirls in general, in which case, lol.
 
P

Pinko Marx

Banned
So I fucked up my pledge. I changed my tier to a lower one, but still donated the amount for the upper tier. Is there anything I can do about this?
 
E

Eusis

Member
Pinko Marx said:
So I fucked up my pledge. I changed my tier to a lower one, but still donated the amount for the upper tier. Is there anything I can do about this?
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I think you can contact them to sort it out? Wouldn't that be how the add ons worked? Actually yeah, check how Add-ons work.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
Pinko Marx said:
So I fucked up my pledge. I changed my tier to a lower one, but still donated the amount for the upper tier. Is there anything I can do about this?
Click to expand...

If the upper tier is not a limited one, they should be able to accommodate you.

Edit: er misread, you want the lower one. In that case, I think you may be out of luck. You can however contact them to get the rewards from that higher tier.
 
I

Instro

Member
Tomat said:
I am really ignorant of what this game would cost to make, but after the Skullgirls DLC cost thread + this software engineering class I am in where our prof talks about his job: This stuff sounds suuuuuper expensive. Maybe I am overestimating things, but I can't help but wonder, can they really make the whole game with all those promises with only $4.3 million dollars?
Click to expand...

Different costs in different places, essentially all that is being paid for is salaries and time spent in both cases. The time it takes to design, animate and balance a character for a fighting game is pretty substantial, and to add a single character it takes the entire team in the office rather than just a few people. There's quite a bit more logistics and money involved in the release of skullgirls dlc compared to this pc only game as well. Keep in mind games like this don't really have extremely deep mechanics with regards to combat, platforming, puzzles or what have you that require tons of tinkering. Its largely dependent on the writing and world design/art so its probably a lot easier to quickly develop, particularly with Unity and the nature of the fixed camera system, if most of the writing is already done by the time major development starts.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Well, I wouldn't underestimate the mechanics, but I would imagine in the case of an RPG it's mostly raw math, play testing is still essential but I imagine it's way more important for a fighting game where you need to see if your ideas really gel and balance well.
 
E

Eusis

Member
I hope they bundle all the digital non-Kickstarter stuff so I can just get it all at a modest discount. Would love to get all the novellas and comics basically.
 
S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
Durante said:
Just saw the result, everything went better than expected.

I always love reading impressions like this, since it (hopefully) shows that fans of this type of game are not a closed group that will only decline from now on, but that it's still possible for people to discover and enjoy them.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is what I hope for.

Also the genre hasn't really developed in the past ten years, innovation is needed.
 
B

BigWeather

Member
Now that Torment is funded (can't wait, in for the physical goods!), please consider Divinity: Original Sin. They put up their stretch goals today and, if they do make it to $1M (they are at $300k and change now, funded is $400k, about 20 days left) I think we'll have the closest we've had in a long time to a worthy successor to Ultima VII.
 
N

nbthedude

Member
Tomat said:
What does this mean? I was only referring to how they broke down the cost of each part that went into designing and implementing a character. Unless the stuff they were saying was BS, it was pretty enlightening for me. Unless you're just referring to your opinion of Skullgirls in general, in which case, lol.
Click to expand...

I don't know what it means, but I know a lot of developers, developers who actually have experience making fighting games, came out and confirmed the numbers they were talking. I kind of trust them more than message board people's analysis of development cost.

“I think a lot of things in game production tend to be a lot more expensive than many people realize,” said former Capcom special advisor Seth Killian, now lead game designer at Sony Santa Monica. “The Skullgirls team has done a great job breaking out some of their costs, and I can certainly attest that a good fighting game character costs a lot more to develop and implement than developing virtually any other similar asset in games. [...] The characters are the game in fighters, and adding more involves a huge amount of intricate assets and one of the most difficult ‘but how does it fit into the rest of the game’ challenges anywhere in development.”

Iron Galaxy Studios has worked closely with Capcom, and is responsible for the upcoming Darkstalkers Resurrection, Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, and others. It knows fighting games. Additionally, the company is building a proper version of the cult hit, Divekick. When I tossed the $150,000 number at Iron Galaxy CEO Dave Lang, here's what he told me:

“I don’t have any particular insights as to how the Skullgirls team works, but I can tell you if we were doing a similar game there would be two major time sinks: new frames of animation and time required to balance the game... The frames of animation are very expensive for a couple reasons, but at the end of the day it gets down to volume. Say you need 500 frames of animation per character (arbitrary number, I don’t know what Skullgirls frame count per character is), you actually should budget for 1,000 frames of animation in time and materials because for a 2D fighter the animation is the gameplay, and you will need to rework a lot of the sprites to have the game play the way you want. If you were to outsource that many frames of animation you’d pay $20-$30/hour for that, and at that resolution/complexity each person working on them would get around 4 frames of animation done per day (these are highly involved sprites). That puts the cost of just getting the sprites done anywhere from 40k-60k USD. Keep in mind this will take time, and while you’re waiting for the art to get back from the outsourcer you’re still paying salaries, rent, internet, insurance, etc., so sunk cost for just the art itself is probably gonna net out to 90k USD.
Click to expand...

At any rate, I think 3D modeling and animation is just a completely different process with completely different cost analysis.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
OK, so I'm rewatching the part of the stream where they announced the combined totals, and they didn't mention the $4.5 million goal (around the 2:46:20 mark).

Is it elsewhere?
 
J

jd78

Neo Member
Zeliard said:
Just realized I forgot to add money for the Avellone comic.

Damn.
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I believe you can still donate via Paypal and when they send the survey/form for add ons they will combine both Kickstarter and Paypal (assuming you linked addresses associated with both).
 
X

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
En Ex said:
OK, so I'm rewatching the part of the stream where they announced the combined totals, and they didn't mention the $4.5 million goal (around the 2:46:20 mark).

Is it elsewhere?
Click to expand...

It was not met. A tad over $4.3m with Paypal, and the extra $200k of matching contributions from Brian Fargo and @Dracogen do not count for the purpose of stretch goals.
 
T

Taruranto

Member
For some reason Torment and Stronghold don't sit well with me.

I dunno, i'm trying to image if the Nameless One had a house to come back every time he wanted... it feels kinda off.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
_Keiichi_ said:
For some reason Torment and Stronghold don't sit well with me.

I dunno, i'm trying to image if the Nameless One had a house to come back every time he wanted... it feels kinda off.
Click to expand...

You can make a ton of interesting things with it though.
Like for example, having a safe house that isn't actually that safe (air-pirates attacking your airship, dimensional horrors entering your dimensional safehouse, your past coming back to haunt you in your mental fortress).
 
R

Rootbeer

Banned
I wish I'd upped from the $20 tier to $28... the manual/guide/novella would have been worth the extra money. Still proud to be involved!
 
M

mclem

Member
Zulithe said:
I wish I'd upped from the $20 tier to $28... the manual/guide/novella would have been worth the extra money. Still proud to be involved!
Click to expand...
Some Kickstarters - it's by no means guaranteed - will allow you to upgrade your tier with a paypal payment. Might be worth keeping eyes open for that.
 
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