Dead State Thread

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Thanks for clarifications. But are you aware that kickstarter momentarily suffers from customers fatigue?

Ed123: Sorry to hear you're not as confident as to the status of Dead State, but I really, really appreciate you pledging to it - that'll help us get it made all the quicker. Also hey, this avatar is made by me! And entirely accurate. It's a fair bet that when I post on the Codex, I've been drinking. (and also I wanted my old NWN2 avatar, but couldn't be arsed to find it, so there you go)

Mangoose: Totally! But man that thread is full of people so well-informed, I dunno what I could answer! There's a beta weekend coming up, people playing that will be like OH HAI HERE UR DATA probably faster than I could get you an official answer on anything. But PM me and I'll answer what I can about stuff!

Jack Burton: 'preciate the gesture, good sir, but Roguey and I have fistbumped and are cool about past stuffs. Also man, AP is a topic that'll never die, will it? As long as the Internet smells controversy, it will persist!

JarlFrank: I would totally consent to a Codex interview. I can very likely get others in the Dead State team in on that too, Brian included. Hell, he's much more interesting to talk to on that subject being that he is the PROJECT LEAD, but I'd be down with being included if people wanna read my crazed yawping on the subject.

CarnivalBizarre: We're looking at 30 days - 60 seemed a bit long.

toro: I know a lot of people are suffering from Kickstarter burnout, and that's a huge shame, but it's hard to just roll the dice and wait and hope things get better at some nebulous time. We believe in the project, and there's been a great response to the idea of us Kickstarting Dead State, so we're striking now. Which is to say, SUPER DUPER SOON. We've got basically the approval process at KS to finish with and we're live.

Davaris: Oh, I love you too, Fourth Doctor! Really! I'm just a huge sucker for David Tennant's portrayal. Dude also looks so slick in a suit and sneakers that it's almost criminal.

Jaesun: Bless you, kind sir! You want thems gameplay vids? Await the Kickstarter and I promise you, YOU SHALL HAVE THEM!

Could you please elaborate on why people who have apparently worked in the industry for a decent amount of time such as you and Brian Mitsoda were unable to gather even the tiniest professional or semi-professional team to work on their project, but have instead been reduced to, well, this? It seems as a huge step down. Have you burned a lot of bridges for some reason? Anything the Codex should know about but doesn't?

"Reduced to"? That's a terribly negative outlook, zeit, and I'm curious as to why you think its a "step down." Going indie was our choice, and honestly, it helps us make the games we really want to make instead of simply what a publisher would pay us to do. Most often, studios don't shop projects out to publishers - publishers tell them what to make, and dev studios do it, and they don't get to own the Intellectual Property involved. I'm still hanging around in the larger game industry myself (not just because of the salary/security of it, but because I really like ArenaNet and I want more experience in the larger game industry first), and while I know you won't get the same games out of the indie scene... isn't that really the point?

Gathering a professional team takes a lot of money, and a lot of industry vets are used to a certain salary that a start-up indie company just can't offer. Couple that with the fact that health care in the US is fucking retarded, and we wouldn't be able to afford medical coverage for any staff. We have more than one professional game developer friend who has straight-up told us that they would LOVE to work for DoubleBear, but they can't for those precise reasons. And the reason we're Kickstarting the project is so we can actually PAY people a living wage to work full or part time on Dead State instead of just whenever they've got free hours in the day.

And seriously, I wouldn't ever trade Oscar, or Nick, or Ivan, or Kim, or anyone who works on Dead State for some random game developer who's had industry experience just because that other person has professional game developer experience. The whole Dead State team is fucking ace, and I've got full faith in them to create something incredible - hell, they've ALREADY made amazing stuff for the game! Indie projects come with their own challenges - setting your own hours but still communicating effectively with the rest of the staff, for one - and everybody's really done their best to step up. I love my pro game dev friends and dammed if it wouldn't be sweet as hell to have them on the project, but as additions, not replacements, and we can't offer them certain things - like healthcare coverage - that they need. This makes it all the more important to Brian and I to give our team the resources and the funding they need to help us get Dead State done, and help them actually earn enough to get by.

Nobody gets into game development to get rich unless they're ALREADY rich. And even that shit can turn on you! Just ask Curt Schilling.

The fall of 38 Studios was indeed, schilling news

The flaw in your question, is your use of the word professional.

Professionals do it for money.

So you are asking why professionals won't work on a game for free.

If Brian Fargo couldn't get publisher money to make a highbrow game, what makes you think anyone less known and without an established studio could?

Now that's devotion! It's underdog-charming, if this were a movie, Kim would end up being vital to their success.

I'm also very curious to see what you guys have to show. Let us hope it's enough to overcome the kick fatigue.
Will you only be showcasing videos or will a demo be out too? Maybe a combat demo à lá AoD?

And speaking on videos, even though you guys said you have everything prepared, it wouldn't hurt to hand out a build to felipepepe so he can make a video worthy of both the codex's and Romero's seal of approval.
And when I mean video I mean one similar to this one not his other hard-fast-rock one.

I think someone already said that felipepepepe is doing their trailer?

Yep, seems so: http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,2711.msg88493.html#msg88493

Not that... thing. Another one. At least I think I've seen that said somewhere.

What Kickstarter fatigue?
Spaceventure is suffering from blunders and a high set goal, here some 'fatigue':
Carmageddon is already half a million.
Xenonauts is over 100.000, and it's a fan project.
Tex murphy will be funded, and that's another 450.000
A tech demo for a Pathfinder MMO is already over 100.00 too.

Actually demos seem to be more harmful than beneficial, from what I saw a demo doesn't really increase the pledges, but sometimes can lower them.
The most important thing is media coverage and having built a community around your project before you start,
Rock Paper & Shotgun and Reddit can decide the destiny of a project, so can some INTERNET celebrity like Total Biscuit and Notch.

Yeah, and it's done already.

felipepepe

sweet.


You doublebears can expect my contribution.
And even though you make AoD get to thursday much later then it could, it will be all better for it.
I certainly hope the cooperation will continue for a long time.

If it's already in the approval process, it should be out somewhere this week. I remember Wasteland2 going in on a friday, and being on kickstarter the next monday.

Brian/Annie/VD should hit up Fargo and ask for a shout out once their Kickstarter goes live, give them a fighting chance at the very least. I'll give you guys $20 but if I hate your game I'm going to give you my two cents... one thousand times.

I like the general notion mr. newfag/alt, yet it feels as if your proposal is lacking a core component... one could say it wasn't... tasteful enough. Remedy this flaw and we'll execute it post-haste.

I'm guessing it isn't the honey you're talking about then.

It'd probably benefit Jack Burton to ignore me with his Knotanalt/Drocon/Doc Savage/AAAProgrammer/Defective Individual/etc accounts, just doing it with one is totes ineffective.