Project Eternity - the Obsidian Kickstarter

[Bludd]

I just pledged 25 bux for this game.

We have already reached the first stretch goal of 1.4 million (!) and more stretch goals are likely because there are 29 (!!) days left.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity

Obsidian Entertainment and our legendary game designers Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, and Josh Sawyer are excited to bring you a new role-playing game for the PC. Project Eternity (working title) pays homage to the great Infinity Engine games of years past: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment.


Project Eternity aims to recapture the magic, imagination, depth, and nostalgia of classic RPGs that we enjoyed making - and playing. At Obsidian, we have the people responsible for many of those classic games and we want to bring those games back… and that’s why we’re here - we need your help to make it a reality!

Project Eternity will take the central hero, memorable companions and the epic exploration of Baldur’s Gate, add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale, and tie it all together with the emotional writing and mature thematic exploration of Planescape: Torment.

Combat uses a tactical real-time with pause system - positioning your party and coordinating attacks and abilities is one of the keys to success. The world map is dotted with unique locations and wilderness ripe for exploration and questing. You’ll create your own character and collect companions along the way – taking him or her not just through this story, but, with your continued support, through future adventures. You will engage in dialogues that are deep, and offer many choices to determine the fate of you and your party. …and you'll experience a story that explores mature themes and presents you with complex, difficult choices to shape how your story plays out.

We are excited at this chance to create something new, yet reminiscent of those great games and we want you to be a part of it as well.

 

[MfA]

I wish Kickstarter had been around when Troika was still alive It's nice that they have Tim Cain, but the Troika dialogue team was all stars (the programming was rough, but I'm not sure anyone could have done better on the timescales they pushed games out).

PS. I wish they would have said something about game code (open source python ala Troika would be nice) and moddabibility too.

 

[Bludd]

I wish Kickstarter had been around when Troika was still alive It's nice that they have Tim Cain, but the Troika dialogue team was all stars (the programming was rough, but I'm not sure anyone could have done better on the timescales they pushed games out).

Yeah, you are right. For example Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines is a fantastic game. The story is great, the atmosphere is fantastic and some of the levels have not been equalled since (hotel level especially). It was the purest diamond in the rough.

The hope is that this Project Eternity will be the Baldur's Gate 3 that never was, mixed liberally with the best of Planescape: Torment.

 

[John Reynolds]

Insofar as computer RPGs go, this is the equivalent of a Beatles reunion. I haven't bought in yet, can't decide between the $65 (regular boxed copy) or $140 for the CE boxed copy.

 

[Pressure]

I'm just happy to see more development for Mac OS X but I wonder why they don't target tablets. They would be wonderful for this type of game.

Looking forward to replaying Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition on my tablet, as it seems to be a great fit.

Also, I think the studios should really explore their back-catalog more and port them to tablets, especially the good ol' point and click adventure games.

 

[Alexko]

Yeah, you are right. For example Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines is a fantastic game. The story is great, the atmosphere is fantastic and some of the levels have not been equalled since (hotel level especially). It was the purest diamond in the rough.

I couldn't agree more. It's a great example of a game with exceptional qualities mixed with pretty damning flaws. Well, originally, anyway. I hear the game was really badly bugged when it was first released. Now with all the (un)official patches, it's fine, but the combat/infiltration part is still pretty awful.

It's still a very good game, but with a bit more time to iron out the bugs and improve combat/infiltration, it could have been an absolute masterpiece.

 

[Bludd]

I couldn't agree more. It's a great example of a game with exceptional qualities mixed with pretty damning flaws. Well, originally, anyway. I hear the game was really badly bugged when it was first released. Now with all the (un)official patches, it's fine, but the combat/infiltration part is still pretty awful.

It's still a very good game, but with a bit more time to iron out the bugs and improve combat/infiltration, it could have been an absolute masterpiece.

Last on Bloodlines: release version had a show stopper bug where the loading of a new map (you entered a rowing boat in a cave or something) crashed the game spectacularly.

They fixed that in the first (only?) official patch and after that there have been years of fan-made patches, tweaking the game and restoring unfinished content.

 

[MfA]

I'm just happy to see more development for Mac OS X but I wonder why they don't target tablets.

So instead of restricting designs to accommodate consoles now tablets have to be accommodated? Yeah that's a great idea when most of the people participating in the kickstarter will be PC gamers ...

 

[Bludd]

They could port it to tablets, but if they pull a switcheroo and refocus it towards tablets at the expense of PC mouse and keyboard, they will probably experience many people pulling their pledges.

 

[John Reynolds]

Man, the pace has really slowed on new pledges. A week ago I thought it was on track for a 6-7m Kickstart, but now it's looking like maybe 3m.

 

[Zaphod]

Neglecting the big initial rush, the number of pledges seem pretty consistent.

When it comes to getting the most money, I don't think doing an "early bird special" on the most basic pledge level is a great idea for games. Early pledges probably have a higher willingness to pay regardless, and it doesn't exactly incite those on the fence to have missed a "deal". It probably also lessens the likelihood of people upping their pledge since you then loose the rebate. I believe it might have been better in the long run to have a rebate on a higher (physical) tier.

And speaking of physical tiers and people upping pledges, the trends from some of the board game/miniature projects might indicate that it's a good idea to gear some stretch goals towards adding extra stuff at these levels. If you're only in for a digital download, making the game itself bigger and better isn't going to make you spring for the boxed version if you didn't do so in the first place, while adding value to a higher tier might increase the willingness to pay.

 

[Pressure]

So instead of restricting designs to accommodate consoles now tablets have to be accommodated? Yeah that's a great idea when most of the people participating in the kickstarter will be PC gamers ...

It's really not the problem you seem to make out of it.

RPGs just fit tablets darn well.

Touch controls versus physical controls doesn't really change much of the design, at least, it doesn't need to.

Also, you should try out Bastion on the iPad for example or many of the old school RPGs that are available (Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is coming in November). I just think tablets are an ideal companion to these kind of games (RPGs and Point-and-Click Adventure games).

Besides that, the market for tablets are already bigger than consoles.

But hey, I am just happy they finally are targeting Mac OS X.

Of course most people who pledged are gaming on a PC, as that is the way the project was set up, I'm simply saying that if they got enough pledges, they could make a tablet version as well.

 

[MfA]

It's really not the problem you seem to make out of it.

Even if it wouldn't impact the design parameters for the game (which it would, engines are never perfectly scalable ... content would be scaled back for the lowest common denominator) it would still take up developer time, which is always limited AND funded by PC gamer backers ... who thus might question why the fuck they are being screwed by that time/money being used for a platform they don't give two shits about.

We have no stake in the profits, we only have a stake in the delivered product ... if they want to make a tablet version they can do it with their own money and their own time after they finished the game they were backed for, which is a PC game. The OSX version at least has enough overlap AND brings in enough additional backers that it has good odds of making the game better as a whole, the tablet version can only make it worse.

 

[Yemeth]

Could be interesting, but somehow I cannot loose the feeling that many of the things that irk me in the Obsidian games are really not because of some bad producers/publishers who prevent a gem (or at least close to it) like Planescape or Arcanum... E.g. the latest Fallout: New Vegas is the same old, same old story, design and everything wise.

Will probably pledge at a low lever, just to show my appreciation for certain designers...

I found the PR/marketing "update" about Unity especially disgusting, now we have to endure such crap even on Kickstarter .

BTW, what do you look mostly forward in this game? Would be interesting to hear.

 

[Ethatron]

Planescape is from Black Isle, but I don't know how much that mattered. There was some movement from Black Isle to Troika if I interprete the history right.

 

[green.pixel]

According to Tim Cain, all Troika's games were profitable. I find that hard to believe for Bloodlines, to be honest.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8416

Q: As Leonard Boyarsky put it in a past interview, "being original is risky." Do you believe originality, and the fact it did not sell, was one of the reasons Troika was not able to survive? If you had to list the most serious problems that haunted Troika and eventually led to its demise, what would they be?

A: In saying “being original is risky”, I think Leonard was referring to the fact that publishers looked for proven hits, either in big mainstream titles or in sequels to popular products. I don't think Troika closed because we were trying to be too original. We closed because we were not getting contract offers for products we wanted to make, so we voluntarily shut down while we were still in the black, financially. We could lay off employees with severance packages and extend their insurance for a few months, rather than just shut down with no notice and kick everyone out.

So then the question is, why didn't we get any offers we liked? Especially since all of our games turned a profit? From the publishers point of view, our previous games had sold to a niche audience, so they were unwilling to fund us to make either a new IP or a large mainstream game based on a licensed IP because their numbers showed that the profit was too small. In other words, they could spend that money at other developers where their rate of return was much higher. It makes total sense from a business point of view, but it's still sad for Troika and its employees.

 

[Ethatron]

Translated: "We shut down because Kickstarter didn't exist". LOL

 

[MfA]

They hammered out games in two years with tiny teams and all their games have extremely long tailed sell through ... I'd be surprised if they didn't make a profit.

 

[John Reynolds]

The stretch goals are getting silly. The most annoying one is "hit this # and we'll bring on another recognizable Obsidian employee". Next up, hit 2.8m and get adjustable FOV controls.

 

[Davros]

I'd like to see "hit 3m and we'll stfu and finish the game"