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Game News Monty Markland Kickstarting an Apocalypse Now RPG(!), Josh Sawyer onboard

Infinitron

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Tags: Apocalypse Now; Erebus; J.E. Sawyer; Montgomery Markland

In a week full of Kickstarters both weird and wonderful, this one may be the weirdest yet. Montgomery Markland, on-and-off RPG producer and RPG Codex jokester, has emerged as the director of a new "survival horror RPG" based on the classic Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now. Joining him are Fallout: New Vegas executive producer Lawrence Liberty, writer Rob Auten, and none other than Josh Sawyer in an advisory role. How Avellone-esque of him. The game is on Kickstarter now, with no prior buildup of course, looking to raise $900,000. Here's the pitch video and overview:



Apocalypse Now depicts the horror and spectacle of the Vietnam War through the character of Captain Benjamin Willard, an American tasked with the assassination of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz.

The game is an interactive recreation of Willard’s journey, as seen through a survival horror lens in which players with limited resources face unspeakable terrors.

By choosing how to react to these situations, each player molds a unique version of Willard within the loose confines of the film story. You are Willard and your actions will determine his fate.

Your mission begins in Saigon, where Willard is holed up in a dingy hotel. Audio and visual distortion evoke Willard’s emotions and past experiences. The game provides you subjective access to a character who is already nearly insane.

Unlike a traditional RPG, the emphasis is not choosing dialogue, but rather actions and postures. Combat draws from survival horror to emphasize combat avoidance and stealth. This is not Call of Duty in Vietnam.

You will quickly learn that the gun-blazing solo war machine of other shooters would not have lasted long in the real Vietnam. Instead you will find rewards for proceeding cautiously and managing limited resources with care. Willard is your responsibility; make him an adept soldier and you will command respect in the jungle.

Brutalism and hubris will bring about severe repercussions affecting your relationship with those around you, especially the crew of the PBR Streetgang (aka the Erebus). Your actions can endanger or empower them and will affect how they view you and their willingness to aid you.

There is also a war of resources. Food, water, first aid supplies, anti-malaria medicine, drugs, ammo, weapons, mission information, and gasoline are all vital to your and Willard’s success. While in U.S.-controlled territory, you can find resources through exploration, interactions with allied forces, completing side missions, scavenging from hostiles, and supply drops.

Once the Erebus crosses under the Do Lung Bridge, the reigns of control are sheared away. American influence is replaced by something more primal, all ending in Kurtz.

The world of Apocalypse Now is full of compelling, disturbing, and potentially useful characters. You will recognize many of them from the film, but we’ll be adding new ones in collaboration with our partners at American Zoetrope. Our goal is to immerse you in a tale of drama, magic, and horror.

This isn't a very Codexian sort of game, and the campaign isn't doing too well right now, so I guess everybody else finds it as bizarre an idea as we do. Still, it gets points for audacity, and Monty is a pretty cool guy. If you want join him on the journey up the Nung river, it'll cost you $25, with an estimated release date of October 2020.
 

felipepepe

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Sounds really cool, but I wish they gave us a bit more info... for all we know this could be anything from a F:NV-like to a 2D visual novel with choices. :?
 
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Monty Markland Kickstarting an Apocalypse Now RPG(!), Josh Sawyer onboard

8yXo0.gif
 

Severian Silk

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Is it April 1 already? Also, why do I need a boat to drop acid? I can drop acid anywhere...
 

80Maxwell08

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I just realized for all the people they have from studios with successful kickstarters, none of them thought of the consequences of just dropping this on everyone with no news or build up.
 

Septaryeth

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Tags: Apocalypse Now; Erebus; J.E. Sawyer; Montgomery Markland
In a week full of Kickstarters both weird and wonderful, this one may be the weirdest yet. Montgomery Markland, on-and-off RPG producer and RPG Codex jokester, has emerged as the director of a new "survival horror RPG" based on the classic Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now. Joining him are Fallout: New Vegas executive producer Lawrence Liberty, writer Rob Auten, and none other than Josh Sawyer in an advisory role. How Avellone-esque of him. The game is on Kickstarter now, with no prior buildup of course, looking to raise $900,000. Here's the pitch video and overview

Huh...BS3 and now Apocalypse Now.
What else is on kickstarter?
 

Urthor

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Doesn't look like it'll crest 900k so whether you pledge of not seems pretty academic.

But yeah, doing a full 3D RPG on 900k is ludicrous, on whatever engine. That's like Bard's Tale 4 level of optimism, the development resources required to produce a good 2D are almost out of the reach of any but the biggest kickstarters, Pillars of Eternity and Torment were under budget as is.

They have a nice pre-rendered vertical slice, but there's no way they can realise that slice into a full sized game on 900k, and this game isn't even getting to 900k at the rate of pledging. Look at the budget for Spec:Ops the line, and tell me you can do that on 900k-1 million.

Honestly don't mind the edginess and an RPG not based in SciFi or Fantasy like Alpha Protocol is the kinda nutso out there thing I can endorse, but the practical requirements for this to not be middle of the range schlock instead of an outstanding advancement of the genre means this game is out for the count.
 
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aratuk

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Wow, the level of ambition for this is hard to believe. But would it really end up being as unusual as they indicate, or would the final product be watered down to a kind of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. clone?

Stretch goals already going up to $3 million. I was gonna suggest, for stretch goals, they might as well promise the involvement of Dennis Hopper, Marlon Brando, and Joseph Conrad, for all the good it will do.

Don't get me wrong — I'd like to see this have the chance to succeed to the point that I've backed it — but I don't see how it gets the broad support they must be imagining.
 

Mozg

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Tags: Apocalypse Now; Erebus; J.E. Sawyer; Montgomery Markland

In a week full of Kickstarters both weird and wonderful, this one may be the weirdest yet. Montgomery Markland, on-and-off RPG producer and RPG Codex jokester, has emerged as the director of a new "survival horror RPG" based on the classic Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now. Joining him are Fallout: New Vegas executive producer Lawrence Liberty, writer Rob Auten, and none other than Josh Sawyer in an advisory role. How Avellone-esque of him. The game is on Kickstarter now, with no prior buildup of course, looking to raise $900,000. Here's the pitch video and overview:

Is there an Apocalypse Now license they have to buy? Or hopefully not that they already bought.
 
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Are you telling me Francis Ford Coppola doesn't have 900k$ to fund a video game? Because that sounds very much like a campaign claiming Francis Ford Coppola doesn't have 900k$ to fund a video game.
 

Wizfall

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They want obviously to do more of an adventure cRPG (interactive recreation among other thing) than a tactic cRPG.
They don't even talk about the combat system, it's cringe-worthy.
And isometric/first perspective, 2D/full 3D ?

I could be wrong given the absolute lack of informations but i don't think it's my cup my tea.
 

aratuk

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Are you telling me Francis Ford Coppola doesn't have 900k$ to fund a video game? Because that sounds very much like a campaign claiming Francis Ford Coppola doesn't have 900k$ to fund a video game.

It's like when Richard Garriott had a Kickstarter. He ended up claiming that the crowdfunding campaign was to drum up huge profit margins on elaborate pieces of cardboard "community engagement" moreso than it was about needing money to fund development. Likewise, either Coppola is willing to allow this to take place but not to put up the money for it, or they will roll him out of his vineyard at the end anyway to write a check for the shortfall.
 

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