Game News Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter Funded

[Infinitron]

1:48-2:39 - Q&A with Brian Fargo & Michael Cranford.

Updatin' OP.

 

[Kz3r0]

I for one, am happy to see a quality blobber in the future, instead of yet another isometric RPG.

If Fargo has to put millions out of his own pocket you can be sure that this will become Skara Brae's Gate.
Blobbers sell too little to justify such a huge investement.
Or maybe they will make a real blobber, with one million and half not a cent more.

 

[Infinitron]

They've already committed to adding an additional 1.25 million. Of course we can't validate that, but I'm pretty sure they'll have to even with a pure blobber because 1.5M is a really low amount

 

[Kz3r0]

Torment is easily going to make them 10 million dollars plus, so just take the funds from that game to BT4. They're a small company, so they're not going to burns through money like other companies.

How to fill for bankruptcy 101:
Invest the money you made with a specific type of product to make another product that you know from the very beginning that will sell LESS at best.

 

[Excidium II]

Their mistake is going for those high fidelity UE4 grafics. Don't think anyone really cares, it's expensive and limits what they can do with presentation because the better the gfx the less you can get away with the visual abstrakshuns that blobbers benefit from

 

[ROARRR]

I am gona buy a little airship in Torment: NumaNuma and live a little life of a peacefull spice trader
Oh and I think BT4 has a chance to be a greate game!

 

[V_K]

inb4 Stonekeep 2.0

 

[Ovplain]

Meh, people speculating how they didn't get enough cash.:D If they thought they needed 5m or whatever to make this game, then they should've asked for it or just not do it period. They asked for 1.25m, they got 1.5m. It must be enough.

 

[Grauken]

inb4 Stonekeep 2.0

don't even joke about that

 

[Suicidal]

It's no surprise for me that they didn't get that much money. Blobbers are basically a niche genre within an already niche genre (RPGs, and I mean RPGs not action games with RPG elements like Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc.). How much was MMX's budget? I recall someone mentioned figures once but can't remember where and what figures they were, but I'm pretty sure they had a smaller budget than how much BT4 is getting.

 

[Infinitron]

It's no surprise for me that they didn't get that much money. Blobbers are basically a niche genre within an already niche genre (RPGs, and I mean RPGs not action games with RPG elements like Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc.). How much was MMX's budget? I recall someone mentioned figures once but can't remember where and what figures they were, but I'm pretty sure they had a smaller budget than how much BT4 is getting.

We never knew MMX's budget (the budget of an Ubisoft game revealed publicly? come on) but I'm quite certain it was larger than $1.5M.

 

[Suicidal]

It's no surprise for me that they didn't get that much money. Blobbers are basically a niche genre within an already niche genre (RPGs, and I mean RPGs not action games with RPG elements like Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc.). How much was MMX's budget? I recall someone mentioned figures once but can't remember where and what figures they were, but I'm pretty sure they had a smaller budget than how much BT4 is getting.

We never knew MMX's budget (the budget of an Ubisoft game revealed publicly? come on) but I'm quite certain it was larger than $1.5M.

Don't forget inXile also are planning to add their own 1+ million to what they get from Kickstarter.

 

[Bonerbill]

How to fill for bankruptcy 101:
Invest the money you made with a specific type of product to make another product that you know from the very beginning that will sell LESS at best.

I'm not following you. I didn't say to invest all of their money on the game. I'm pretty sure there is no harm to using some of the funds from that game. They're already investing $1,250,000 of their own money to BT4.

 

[Kz3r0]

I'm not following you. I didn't say to invest all of their money on the game. I'm pretty sure there is no harm to using some of the funds from that game. They're already investing $1,250,000 of their own money to BT4.

Return on investement, blobbers already sell poorly, add that this Kickstarter is the least successful for Fargo and you have a lot of red flags popping up, everything beyond what they say they want to invest on the game is a potential loss.
Ultrasimplified math:
45$ per copy multiplied for 100k copies sold equals 4,5M$, subtract Steam 30% cut and taxes, voilà, Fargo has to sell as much as Legenf of Grimrock 2 to just break even.

 

[V_K]

Fargo has to sell as much as Legenf of Grimrock 1

Didn't LoG1 sell closer to 1 mil?

 

[Kz3r0]

Fargo has to sell as much as Legenf of Grimrock 1

Didn't LoG1 sell closer to 1 mil?

You are right corrected.

 

[Charles-cgr]

It's no surprise for me that they didn't get that much money. Blobbers are basically a niche genre within an already niche genre (RPGs, and I mean RPGs not action games with RPG elements like Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc.). How much was MMX's budget? I recall someone mentioned figures once but can't remember where and what figures they were, but I'm pretty sure they had a smaller budget than how much BT4 is getting.

We never knew MMX's budget (the budget of an Ubisoft game revealed publicly? come on) but I'm quite certain it was larger than $1.5M.

Wasn't MMX made in some Eastern European country? That's got to have a big impact on required resources.

 

[Infinitron]

Wasn't MMX made in some Eastern European country? That's got to have a big impact on required resources.

It was made in Germany, though some of the art was outsourced to China.

 

[Charles-cgr]

Wasn't MMX made in some Eastern European country? That's got to have a big impact on required resources.

It was made in Germany, though some of the art was outsourced to China.

Not what I remembered. I stand corrected.

 

[Morality Games]

Sooner or later I'm sure either inXile or Obsidian are going to retire their retro concepts and bank on their relatively unblemished nerd cool reputations to make console-specific spin offs, like a Kotor-style PoE series or a New Vegas-like Wasteland game. Might not be able to sell 20,000,000 copies like Bethesda, but they don't have to. Even 1-2 million copies of such a game would be a fortune to a company like inXile, and released on all platforms that's relatively obtainable. After all, Fallout 4's adjustments to the SPECIAL system are going to alienate a lot of people even among casuals who haven't played FO-FO2.

From an economic perspective, everything in the next 5-10 years is just establishing revenue streams and developing infrastructure and resources to finance those goals.

For example, adapting Unreal Engine to the needs of an RPG in BTIV can speed along the process for Wasteland: New Vegas.

 

[Gicusan]

I stayed out of this kickstarter and i have some mixed feelings about it:

For one, I have close to 0 experience with blobbers. In their high time we did not even have computers, let alone games in Romania. So I did not and still do not know what to expect .
Second, I did not fall in love with MMX - did not play enough to say for sure I dont like it but I cant also say I like it. Grimrock was nice (played about 70-80% of the game) but it did not blow me out of the water. Never played the second installment.
Third, I liked Wasteland 2. Not great but solid game. I have my suspicions on Torment now. Supported 2 of their games, waiting on the second to give me more trust in them. Certainly, I have higher hopes from InXile, now and then, than I have from Obsidian.
Fourth, I liked the atmosphere of the Bard's Tale action game from 2004-5. Also the songs (per se and as "weapons") and jokes. And that was all I liked about it. If it is funny, well written, I can forgive it being in an unfamiliar genre. And it did not hit me as very funny from the pitch so far.

Now I am waiting for Fargo to show us more of the game and I will support them later if it hits home. If I really like Torment, I will support them even if I wont actually be interested in BT4.

 

[ROARRR]

Wasn't MMX made in some Eastern European country? That's got to have a big impact on required resources.

It was made in Germany, though some of the art was outsourced to China.

Not what I remembered. I stand corrected.

Check this out:

developed by Limbic Entertainment and published by Ubisoft

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_&_Magic_X:_Legacy
and Limbic Entertainment Datasheet

ndustry Video games
Founded September 19, 2002
Founder Stephan Winter
Eike Radunz
Alexander Frey
Headquarters Germany
Products Video games
Website Official website

source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_Entertainment

I have the game

Spoiler

But I don´t like it

 

[Sensuki]

One gets the impression that unlike inXile's previous two Kickstarters, the Bard's Tale IV campaign was run by people whose time and minds were occupied by other things.

Pretty much. The post-launch effort was fairly low. Personally that suits me better since I care more about Torment than BT4.

 

[Lady_Error]

This was the first Kickstarter I backed.

Spoiler

Not counting that 10.000 pledge on the already failing Guido Henkel campaign.

 

[Darkzone]

I stayed out of this kickstarter and i have some mixed feelings about it:
For one, I have close to 0 experience with blobbers. In their high time we did not even have computers, let alone games in Romania. So I did not and still do not know what to expect .
Second, I did not fall in love with MMX - did not play enough to say for sure I dont like it but I cant also say I like it. Grimrock was nice (played about 70-80% of the game) but it did not blow me out of the water. Never played the second installment.
Third, I liked Wasteland 2. Not great but solid game. I have my suspicions on Torment now. Supported 2 of their games, waiting on the second to give me more trust in them. Certainly, I have higher hopes from InXile, now and then, than I have from Obsidian.
Fourth, I liked the atmosphere of the Bard's Tale action game from 2004-5. Also the songs (per se and as "weapons") and jokes. And that was all I liked about it. If it is funny, well written, I can forgive it being in an unfamiliar genre. And it did not hit me as very funny from the pitch so far.
Now I am waiting for Fargo to show us more of the game and I will support them later if it hits home. If I really like Torment, I will support them even if I wont actually be interested in BT4.

First: A nice game that is different from Wasteland 2 and its failed boring combat.
Second: You really should play Legend of Grimrock 2, because it is way better then Legend of Grimrock 1.
Third: Wasteland 2 is in my opinion the great disappointment, that can be only topped by a Torment disappointment. I do not count here PoE, because i knew form the beginning that it would be rather weak.
Forth: I also love BT 2004, because i know the tropes and flaws of playing RPG on computer and P&P, and i really really like the character of the Bard. For me the Bard would be an awesome book and comics character. The music was also fun with hits like "Beer, Beer, Beer" and "Nuckelavee". But BT1 and BT3 made me to an RPG fan, therefore i can also play an BT bloober.