Development Info Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Update #26: Placating the Angry Mob

[Jaesun]

I backed Wasteland 2 and only saw the video a few months ago. heh

 

[Anthony Davis]

I would dearly love to back Torment 2, however I just spent 1000$ on my house and 2500$ on my car, all within two weeks. I will never go into debt again if I can help it.

Still, I have a month to how my finances shake out.

 

[Tzaero]

Time to make a kickstarter so Anthony can pledge to Torment 2 on kickstarter.

 

[Jaesun]

To bad we can't gift a pledge.

 

[Anthony Davis]

I will give SOMETHING before the month is up, I just need to see. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[Zed]

I would dearly love to back Torment 2, however I just spent 1000$ on my house and 2500$ on my car, all within two weeks. I will never go into debt again if I can help it.

Still, I have a month to how my finances shake out.

chicken salad, man.

 

[DwarvenFood]

It really shouldn't be too surprising if Torment 2 is beating Wasteland 2 in terms of funding. Wasteland 2 was an 80s game that many of the backers (including myself) never even played. While Torment is a legend and one from the new millenium instead of the 80s. I won't say it was the only cRPG with a good story, but it was certainly the first and still the only one with a truly great story.

The real question is, how will it compare to Project Eternity - the comparison would then be more like BG vs. PS:T in that regard. And here we do not even know the combat mechanics yet, although phase-based is suggested.

Backed without even watching the pitch video.

Same here.

I will give SOMETHING before the month is up, I just need to see. Thanks for the thoughts.

Maybe you can donate a couple of bucks to the Codex fundraiser that will be up eventually (despite DU's trolling) and we can make sure you get a copy of the game out of it.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Ideally, your game company's development flow goes something like this:

PROJECT A, PHASE 1 - Creating the game pitch.
Very small team, maybe even just one person, though it could be a handful.

PROJECT A, PHASE 2 - Pre-Production, figuring out HOW you are going to make the game.
At this point, the game has been funded. A small number of Artists, Programmers, Designers and Producers begin working on creating the pipeline for the creation of the game. This is also where tricky development areas are tested and potential hazards are identified. This could even involve creating a proof of concept or a demo, sometimes known as a vertical slice. This phase is also where a lot of your tools are created or explored.

PROJECT A, PHASE 3 - Full Production.
The team should be full at this point. Everyone you need it on board and working towards a clear and final goal. The few individuals from PHASE 1 are usually done at this point and can be rolled off to the next project.

PROJECT B, PHASE 1 - Creating the game pitch.
Occurring concurrently with PHASE 3 of PROJECT A.

PROJECT A, PHASE 4 - Polish.
The people from PHASE 2 should now also be rolling off onto the next project. The people remaining at the point are usually some content developers and mostly programmers. Fixing bugs and polishing areas are the priority.

PROJECT B, PHASE 2 - Pre-Production, figuring out HOW you are going to make the game.
Occurring concurrently with PHASE 4 of PROJECT A.

PROJECT A is now complete, the remaining team members roll off and should be ready to join PHASE 3 of PROJECT B.

And that's fine until:

PROJECT B isn't quite ready when the team finishes with PROJECT A, meaning you have a full production team sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the guys to figure out their design. Otherwise they start in only to have things change and you run into all those problems Fargo mentioned where "the full team is trying to create the design and development plan as they go, months, if not years, are wasted".

And people will need to be pulled off of PROJECT B to bug-fix, patch and test PROJECT A after it's release.

- or -

PROJECT B is ready well-before PROJECT A has finished, meaning... PROJECT C anyone? Although what that usually leads to is said company hiring more people. And then you end up with Obsidian.

To be honest, my personal preference is sure, by all means, have your artists and programmers on multi-year contracts so they have some job security and you know you've got good people. But if you don't have the cash for that, relying on "the next project" is the same-old risky stuff that usually gets these guys into trouble in the first place. "Shit, we've got some [concept artists / designers / writers / programmers / Q&A people] sitting here with nothing to do... time for another project!"

Projects in the computer game industry are too variable and different from each other. Sometimes your next project will just need less people because there won't be as much engine programming to do, as much writing and quests to make, or it won't require as much artwork. I don't really advocate creating projects "just to keep people busy".

 

[Anthony Davis]

Ideally, your game company's development flow goes something like this:

PROJECT A, PHASE 1 - Creating the game pitch.
Very small team, maybe even just one person, though it could be a handful.

PROJECT A, PHASE 2 - Pre-Production, figuring out HOW you are going to make the game.
At this point, the game has been funded. A small number of Artists, Programmers, Designers and Producers begin working on creating the pipeline for the creation of the game. This is also where tricky development areas are tested and potential hazards are identified. This could even involve creating a proof of concept or a demo, sometimes known as a vertical slice. This phase is also where a lot of your tools are created or explored.

PROJECT A, PHASE 3 - Full Production.
The team should be full at this point. Everyone you need it on board and working towards a clear and final goal. The few individuals from PHASE 1 are usually done at this point and can be rolled off to the next project.

PROJECT B, PHASE 1 - Creating the game pitch.
Occurring concurrently with PHASE 3 of PROJECT A.

PROJECT A, PHASE 4 - Polish.
The people from PHASE 2 should now also be rolling off onto the next project. The people remaining at the point are usually some content developers and mostly programmers. Fixing bugs and polishing areas are the priority.

PROJECT B, PHASE 2 - Pre-Production, figuring out HOW you are going to make the game.
Occurring concurrently with PHASE 4 of PROJECT A.

PROJECT A is now complete, the remaining team members roll off and should be ready to join PHASE 3 of PROJECT B.

And that's fine until:

PROJECT B isn't quite ready when the team finishes with PROJECT A, meaning you have a full production team sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the guys to figure out their design. Otherwise they start in only to have things change and you run into all those problems Fargo mentioned where "the full team is trying to create the design and development plan as they go, months, if not years, are wasted".

And people will need to be pulled off of PROJECT B to bug-fix, patch and test PROJECT A after it's release.

- or -

PROJECT B is ready well-before PROJECT A has finished, meaning... PROJECT C anyone? Although what that usually leads to is said company hiring more people. And then you end up with Obsidian.

To be honest, my personal preference is sure, by all means, have your artists and programmers on multi-year contracts so they have some job security and you know you've got good people. But if you don't have the cash for that, relying on "the next project" is the same-old risky stuff that usually gets these guys into trouble in the first place. "Shit, we've got some [concept artists / designers / writers / programmers / Q&A people] sitting here with nothing to do... time for another project!"

Projects in the computer game industry are too variable and different from each other. Sometimes your next project will just need less people because there won't be as much engine programming to do, as much writing and quests to make, or it won't require as much artwork. I don't really advocate creating projects "just to keep people busy".

You're points are valid and I even touched on them myself when I mentioned in the original post how problems and delays in phases can adversely affect phases in other projects. There are tools and management techniques to mitigate these risks, but that's a post for another day.

I also don't think this is about creating busy work, or at least I hope it isn't. This seems like a real project to me. Also, we are in new territory here - ideally inXile will be able to keep a sizeable portion of the profits instead of the publisher. This in turn can be used to fund future projects and improvements for the team...kind of like a real life video game.

 

[Kosmonaut]

inXile! Give me my Ranger account now!

Edit: Thanks!