KickStarter Thimbleweed Park: A New Ron Gilbert Classic Point & Click Adventure

[Karellen]

While I'm all for some Time Warping, I kind of wish they'd elected to go back to a time when characters didn't look like Pez dispensers. I have no issue with pixels, but the pixelly LucasArts classics I remember look like this or this or this. Ah well. I can see how there'd be some merit in backing this as a kind of protest if you didn't like Broken Age turning out as more of an art design student's orgasm than an oldschool adventure game, though.

 

[Blackthorne]

If it's missing, you can buy Quest For Infamy. Ha. Ha.


Also, yeah, taxes are a bitch. I'm still paying out the ass, to be honest. And QFI hasn't even come CLOSE at all to making what this KS is asking for a base, so it's not all bread and roses when you release, either. We are also not famous and have zero name recognition, I realize this. I put a lot of my own money into our project, and yeah - I'm definitely in debt at the moment. So, if I could have had a $375k budget to start with, I would have been dancing, and I'm sure the rest of the folks who worked on QFI would be too, heh. We still made a pretty cool game.


Bt

 

[Pyke]

I think that its important to a Kickstarter campaign to include TAX as a thought when doing your budget.

You have to pay TAX on the Kickstarter money as you get it...so if you planned your games budget at $100 000, and after TAX you end up with $70 000 - and you haven't actually worked that into your budgeting you're gonna have a bad time! That TAX deduction isn't referring to the income Tax paying other peoples salaries and such.

As for the budget itself - its one of the more reasonable KS goals I've seen.

Most of Stasis' direct costs have been to outsourced materials. Music, Sound libraries, Animation libraries, other external services: copy editing and translation have been a HUGE expense, voice acting, Dropbox accounts & external storage (I'm a backup whore), sound mastering... The list goes on and on. I wouldn't be surprised if 60% of that production budget is salaries - and the rest is all other production costs.

I'm sure there are other things that they are doing that I don't need to. Setup costs for a work space (office space, internet connections, etc). They can get those costs down by using an office share, or working remotely...it just really depends on how they feel they could best get out the project.

And I'm using all of my own licenses for software that I already own.
Things like 'salaries' are actually pretty easy to plan for (although I'm still drawing on my own savings for that stuff), its all of those unforeseen costs that pop up that really smash these budgets into tiny little pieces.

 

[Pyke]

In SA the government wants EVERYTHING.
And then they want to tax you on the tax that they took.

And then they will blame you for not having enough money. :D

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...new-classic-point-and-click-adv/posts/1060890

Stretch Goals!

Experts will tell you that announcing stretch goals on a Saturday isn't "PR Savvy".

Let's show them they are wrong!

Announcing Stretch Goal Saturday
Gary and I have pored through the comments and read all the private messages and emails and these are the stretch goals you're asking for the most. And aim to deliver.

By most popular demand, we'll translate Thimbleweed Park into German, Spanish, French and Italian. We'll also translate the game into one additional language the backers get to pick. If you pick Klingon, you better be fluent in it and willing to help.

This one is personally exciting for me. Boris Schneider-Johne, who did the German translation of Monkey Island has agreed to do the German translation for Thimbleweed Park. His only condition was that we have a Monkey Wrench puzzle because he misses a good challenge.

Who wants iOS and Android? We do! We do! We do! The world's most retro and authentic jab & smoosh adventure game will be on iOS and Android.

Considered witchcraft in 1987, the English version of Thimbleweed Park will have full voice. Sit back, relax and let professionally trained actors save you the headache and embarrassment of actually having to read text. Reading is so 1987.

Please back our stretch goals and help us make Thimbleweed Park the best damn point & click adventure game you've played since that last point & click adventure game you played and liked.

I like how he's seemingly doing everything amateurishly on purpose.

 

[ghostdog]

this is probably the most humorous KS project up to now. It gives hope for the writing in the game.

 

[Jaesun]

A game translated into Klingon would be fucking GLORIOUS!

Yeah I know that's not gonna happen.

 

[Outlander]

I just love that he keeps that stuff under lock and key

 

[mindx2]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...new-classic-point-and-click-adv/posts/1060890

Stretch Goals!

Experts will tell you that announcing stretch goals on a Saturday isn't "PR Savvy".

Let's show them they are wrong!

Announcing Stretch Goal Saturday
Gary and I have pored through the comments and read all the private messages and emails and these are the stretch goals you're asking for the most. And aim to deliver.

By most popular demand, we'll translate Thimbleweed Park into German, Spanish, French and Italian. We'll also translate the game into one additional language the backers get to pick. If you pick Klingon, you better be fluent in it and willing to help.

This one is personally exciting for me. Boris Schneider-Johne, who did the German translation of Monkey Island has agreed to do the German translation for Thimbleweed Park. His only condition was that we have a Monkey Wrench puzzle because he misses a good challenge.

Who wants iOS and Android? We do! We do! We do! The world's most retro and authentic jab & smoosh adventure game will be on iOS and Android.

Considered witchcraft in 1987, the English version of Thimbleweed Park will have full voice. Sit back, relax and let professionally trained actors save you the headache and embarrassment of actually having to read text. Reading is so 1987.

Please back our stretch goals and help us make Thimbleweed Park the best damn point & click adventure game you've played since that last point & click adventure game you played and liked.

I like how he's seemingly doing everything amateurishly on purpose.

Those are actually pretty sensible stretch goals. No piling on more story, characters, locations, etc. just straight up translations and voices. Not bad... they seem well grounded in their scope and vision, let's hope it continues.


edit: ... and they certainly are going to make their initial goal!

 

[Kz3r0]

Funded!

 

[DalekFlay]

Oh hey there. Wonder if this is the adventure game to finally get me back into adventure games. Looks great!

 

[toro]

Oh hey there. Wonder if this is the adventure game to finally get me back into adventure games. Looks great!

Keep on dreaming.

 

[tuluse]

Oh hey there. Wonder if this is the adventure game to finally get me back into adventure games. Looks great!

If one of the game in the past 2-4 years wasn't, I don't see why this would be. You have Donna, Primordia, Quest for Infamy, Heroine's Quest, plus gobs of hipster no puzzle games.

Strength lies in knowing oneself.

 

[Blackthorne]

Dammit, man. "Hipster No Puzzle Game" is the EXACT title of our upcoming award winning next game.

Bt

 

[toro]

Oh hey there. Wonder if this is the adventure game to finally get me back into adventure games. Looks great!

If one of the game in the past 2-4 years wasn't, I don't see why this would be. You have Donna, Primordia, Quest for Infamy, Heroine's Quest, plus gobs of hipster no puzzle games.

Strength lies in knowing oneself.

This Donna?

 

[DalekFlay]

Oh hey there. Wonder if this is the adventure game to finally get me back into adventure games. Looks great!

If one of the game in the past 2-4 years wasn't, I don't see why this would be. You have Donna, Primordia, Quest for Infamy, Heroine's Quest, plus gobs of hipster no puzzle games.

Strength lies in knowing oneself.

Primordia is on my to-play list. The others are thoughts in the back of my mind. I've tried a good number of adventure games the last five years though and the only one I finished and would say I really enjoyed was Gemini Rue.

 

[tuluse]

This Donna?

Yeah, it's excellent.

 

[Kz3r0]

Some considerations, despite not racking money as Broken Age did this is the second best faring adventure game, not surprising considering the name and the brand involved, a pity wasn't this the first to hit Kickstarter.
On a side note this means that Kickstarter fatigue is still a myth.

Edit:
I must correct myself, I have forgot Homestuck and dreamfall, oh weell.

 

[Skunkpew]

I think like most people I don't have Kickstarter fatigue. I have shitty completed project fatigue. A lot of these 'journalists' talk of kickstarter as being a fad but never seem to question the quality of the return. If the return was strong, Kickstarter would be even stronger.

Gotta take the plunge with this one though, have to get that absolution of guilt.

 

[tuluse]

Some considerations, despite not racking money as Broken Age did this is the second best faring adventure game, not surprising considering the name and the brand involved, a pity wasn't this the first to hit Kickstarter.
On a side note this means that Kickstarter fatigue is still a myth.

Edit:
I must correct myself, I have forgot Homestuck and dreamfall, oh weell.

Obduction also went over a mil.

 

[Blackthorne]

I think it may be more difficult on Kickstarter for less-well known and upstart developer-indie type folks. I mean, you could examine the psychology and the data of it all - and many often do - but like most things in the universe, there's always going to be that crazy fucking exception that becomes the rule. I like that Ron and Gary pitched an exact idea of what they were going to do - I mean, this is pretty not amorphous. It wasn't like "Give us the money and we'll make it old-school!" it was "Here's our game. It's very much like the titles we made in the late 80s. Here is an example of the graphics we are using. Here are the characters we are using. Here is the kind of humor you can expect." That's awesome. People know what they're getting, and a lot of people love this stuff; couple that with a name like Ron Gilbert, who is basically an Adventure Game legend, and you've got a good Kickstarter. Now, I hope they deliver on it all - I mean, that's where the rub can occur. I thought the Tex Murphy game delivered what it promised and I liked it, but man - I heard so many neckbeards screaming "THIS IS NOTHING LIKE YOU PROMISED!"

I have to say, I'd be wary of using Kickstarter again - and if I ever crowdfunded again, it would never be to solely fund a project, only to augment it. I don't have the kind of clout to raise a full budget where I don't have to put up my own money, and - honestly - that's pretty much the way indie guys work. I would love to someday sit in a large, leatherbound executive chair, fanning myself with $100 bills and burning a box full of DeutschmarksI bought for fun, but until then - I gotta get my budget where I can, and press forward with what I believe. I think there is some Kickstarter Fatigue, but only for certain types of projects.

Also, I finished my Kickstarter Game, so I'm happy to be in that elite club of "did not crash and burn".


Bt

 

[taxalot]

If I ever move my ass enough to finish one of the projects I have started, the only reason I see myself going kickstarter is : "Here is a game. Here's what it's about. It's finished. Here's a proof. The graphics suck. The music sucks. If you liked the rest of it, give me money to hire these artists whom I've already contacted and who already sent me their prices. Thanks."

I believe it's the only completely honest way to do a kickstarter and I realize it does not apply to everyone though.

 

[Tramboi]

I think you won't get much money with programmer art on Kickstarter.

 

[Blackthorne]

You really won't, because people judge the shit out of your game solely on graphics. They really do. And while good graphics are nice to look at, man, some games are pretty to look at but play like absolute shit as a game.

Bt

 

[groke]

OH BBY~~~!!!