Game News Consortium: The Tower, a Deus Ex-like first person immersive sim, now on Kickstarter

[Melan]

Well, the campaign has completely stalled at $130k, so at this point it is all academic. A pity they won't make it, at least not in this form.

 

[GuiltyofBeingTrite]

They just released the original for FREE on GOG for the next few days, and GOG is marketing the Kickstarter, good idea for a last ditch effort.

 

[Spectacle]

Things are looking pretty bleak for Kickstarter if something like this can't get funded. Seems like it will be big celebrity fueled productions and gimmicky indie games only from here on, nothing big enough to be interesting that doesn't have big names behind it is likely to make it far.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Things are looking pretty bleak for Kickstarter if something like this can't get funded. Seems like it will be big celebrity fueled productions and gimmicky indie games only from here on, nothing big enough to be interesting that doesn't have big names behind it is likely to make it far.

That's how it was from day one. They asked for 200k back in 2012 and failed. Then they asked for 50k and got 70k. Ignoring the lessons of the first KS, they asked for 450k as if releasing a game makes a huge difference (hint: it doesn't).

KS was never about getting funded, but about getting what you can. A first time developer can ask for 50-70k. A 'proven' indie developer can ask for 150-200k, etc. A media darling can do much better, of course, but that's a different story.

 

[grimace]

They just released the original for FREE on GOG for the next few days, and GOG is marketing the Kickstarter, good idea for a last ditch effort.

Steam version has Steam cloud. I find this a necessary security measure for longer games. Can't stand losing my saves.

How long is CONSORTIUM: MASTER EDITION, THE ?

 

[Trash]

Shame. They really did do something quite interesting with the original Consortium. I was keen to see how much further they could go with that in a sequel.

 

[Invictus]

Yeah a shame really

 

[Desur]

They just released the original for FREE on GOG for the next few days, and GOG is marketing the Kickstarter, good idea for a last ditch effort.

Steam version has Steam cloud. I find this a necessary security measure for longer games. Can't stand losing my saves.

How long is CONSORTIUM: MASTER EDITION, THE ?

It seems to be less than 10 hours per playthrough, so you should be good to go. I'm going to try the GOG version myself, hopefully it's more stable than what I got on Steam.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Only problem with the Steam version so far, is that I seem to be encountering a bug preventing me to progress (chip locker stays closed) but perhaps I'm doing it wrong (tm)

 

[Karwelas]

I heard that dev confirmed that they will make game anyway, even if Kickstarter fails. Probably will try to make second one, with less money to gather. So far, they are probably working on it as this one will sure fail.

Also, played first game in one session, last day. Yeah, combat is mech, but for fuck sake... I love the lore and connection between everything.

And yes, GOG version is very stable. I never get any crash and only bug I encountered was floating body. Nothing gamebreaking.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Hello everyone,

Other than comments on the main thread, I know we have been mysteriously silent. This IS NOT because we've given up hope and are resigned to the fairly obvious state that this particular campaign is headed for....

We have been working furiously on a rather radical plan. The key to this plan, though, is that you backers hold onto your pledges. The only way you will be charged any money here is if the campaign suddenly has a couple hundred thousand CDN dollars pumped into it, which, while technically not impossible, is rather unlikely.

So, all we can say is TRUST US - resist the urge to cancel your pledge, we have found a way to continue full steam ahead and you will learn of this plan approximately 12 hours before the end of this campaign (or earlier)....

Believers that hold onto their pledges will have the most to gain from this new strategy. Keep the faith everyone!!!

Sincerely,

-iDGi and The Tower team

 

[Infinitron]

Jedi Master Radek Hah. Looks like they've gotten external funding and want to give the game for free to anybody who pledges to the Kickstarter?

 

[Desur]

Jedi Master Radek Hah. Looks like they've gotten external funding and want to give the game for free to anybody who pledges to the Kickstarter?

I think they are obliged to deliver whatever they promised the backers if the campaign is successful so I guess no money back as it would basically mean using their own money for the rewards rather than the development. It's probable some publisher will back them with either the difference between what they need and what they got (less likely imo) or with 450,000 CAD (bringing the total to around 600,000, possibly more) in which case the surplus will be more than enough to cover the rewards. There might also be a special reward for those who backed them before this announcement (the whole 'Believers that hold onto their pledges will have the most to gain from this new strategy.' thing).

 

[Infinitron]

I think they are obliged to deliver whatever they promised the backers if the campaign is successful so I guess no money back

But their statement implies that the campaign won't be successful:

The only way you will be charged any money here is if the campaign suddenly has a couple hundred thousand CDN dollars pumped into it, which, while technically not impossible, is rather unlikely.

 

[ArchAngel]

Maybe they will move everyone over to Fig :D

 

[Karwelas]

Well, maybe they will keep info about people that actually paid and will send them rewards for that they send their money on campaign. Who knows, anyway, I'm happy that they will probably get maney for it. I fucking like Consortium and Tower can be even better.

 

[Desur]

But their statement implies that the campaign won't be successful:

You're right of course. I suppose it's because whoever is willing to finance the project can't back them on KS with the required amount (it was rather naive of me to think it would work). Anyways, I'm glad they found a way to make it work, we need games like that.

 

[Spectacle]

If you want to invest 300K dollars in a game then passing that money through kickstarter and having 10% vanish doesn't seem like a very good idea.

 

[Vault Dweller]

If you want to invest 300K dollars in a game then passing that money through kickstarter and having 10% vanish doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Not if paying 10% on 300k unlocks additional 145k. That's just good business.

 

[Spectacle]

If you want to invest 300K dollars in a game then passing that money through kickstarter and having 10% vanish doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Not if paying 10% on 300k unlocks additional 145k. That's just good business.

Unless you have some clever plan to get your hands on those 145k in another way.

 

[Vault Dweller]

But there is no other way. Unless their campaign is funded, the money will be lost as it's not up to the backers to decide if they still want to back a failed campaign. Asking them to back directly or using a different platform wouldn't get them more than 30% of that 145k.

 

[grimace]

Is Jeremy Soule composing all the music? Themes and compositions by Jeremy Soule... the complete soundtrack is a pledge reward.

So, all we can say is TRUST US - resist the urge to cancel your pledge, we have found a way to continue full steam ahead and you will learn of this plan approximately 12 hours before the end of this campaign (or earlier)....

Believers that hold onto their pledges will have the most to gain from this new strategy. Keep the faith everyone!!!

46 hours to go ... keeping the (blind) faith.

 

[Bashar]

First off, I do not expect Jeremy Soule to be composing the music for The Tower. The developers stated that the soundtrack will include "themes" by Soule, but the ambiguity here implies to me that they will be hiring a different composer to score in the main.

As for the message from IDGI, what I suspect is happening is that they're is talking to angel investors who are willing to fund part of the budget provided that the remainder is successfully crowdfunded. I expect to see a new campaign in a couple of months with a smaller budget, most likely under $200k CAD. Remember that the first Consortium only succeeded after its second try. The "most to gain" statement is probably a reference to some kind of exclusive reward to backers of both the current and the potentially upcoming campaign.

addendum:

Not if paying 10% on 300k unlocks additional 145k. That's just good business.

The actual cut that Kickstarter takes is 5%. The remainder is money transfer fees from Amazon, which usually comes about to 5% but varies depending on the value of each individual pledge. If IDGI were to run an in-house crowd funding effort, they would still have to pay those fees to whatever service processes the payments.

 

[Xzylvador]

Still curious as to what their grand plan will be.
Bought & played the first game because the KS seemed cool and price was low enough to find out: I really liked Consortium.
But then didn't back The Tower because it seemed kind of pointless since it was obvious they weren't going to make it.
Pledged for it now, if for nothing else than waiting to get a message/email about how they can still get the money to make the game.

 

[Antigoon]

Even waited for the first game to come out of sale before buying it. But asking 450k for the second is just delusional. I guess they have some publisher who would fund that in case they can prove a certain interest, hence asking people not to cancel their pledge. Cant think of anything else at least.