Information Tom Hall and Brenda Brathwaite Kickstart Turn-based Oldschool CRPG

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Brenda Brathwaite; Kickstarter; Tom Hall

Okay so Tom Hall (Anachronox, Doom) and Brenda Brathwaite (Wizardry, also John Romero's wife) have turned to Kickstarter to fund an "oldschool CRPG" for the PC and Mac -- or, if they reach $1.9 million, two CRPGs, one designed by Brenda and one by Tom. (Spiritual successor to Anachronox anyone?)

There's a lot of video game celebrities endorsing this Kickstarter already, from MCA to Notch. I haven't been able to ascertain from the Kickstarter page just what kind of CRPG this is going to be (first person or isometric for starters), but I'm gonna quote the list of game's features for you:

• Characters: Create a group of up to 4 characters, choosing from multiple races and professions.
• Skills: Balance your characters' strengths, weaknesses and skills, knowing each of them affects play.
• Progression: Gain experience and gain levels to hone your characters to your exact liking.
• Recruitable Characters: Hire NPCs to work with you, if you trust them, or allow them to hire you to be their guide.
• Character Extensions (Stretch Goal): Wrestle with the old-school favorites from back in the paper days - alignment, age, rank and randomly-rolled temperament.
• Exploration: Explore a richly detailed world, home to unique, dangerous and sometimes crafty creatures who may be friend or foe.
• Treasure: Loot castles, caverns and dungeons and defeat hordes of creatures in a world where your skill and cunning are key.
• NPCs: At least five known NPC races call this world home. Forge alliances with them and do their bidding - or be their undoing.
• Quests: Solve hundreds of quests on your way to discovering and uncovering the secrets of the world.
• Multiple Endings: The smallest of intentions sometimes matters far more than you know. It is a world alive with memories.
• Multiple Beginnings (Stretch Goal): The endings in one game affect the beginnings in another. Import your characters from one world to another.
• Combat: Turn-based combat harkens back to the days when spells and swords hit hard and last-second healing spells saved the day.
• NPC Enemies (Stretch Goal): What once was a relatively peaceful world becomes much more dangerous not only for you, but for those who live there. New NPCs come complete with an expanded game area and quests.
• Super Hardcore Mode (Stretch Goal) : Challenge yourself with Permadeath mode, no-save option and some optional but barely beatable bosses with the loot to prove their worth.
• Pen & Paper RPG ($60 Reward Tier): Gather around a table and enjoy playing Old School RPG the seriously, really old school way.
• Two Games, One Kickstarter ($1.9M Stretch Goal): Brenda and Tom make different, separate RPGs with unique worlds, quests and characters.

As Ian Bogost says in his endorsement, "Only you can prevent Brenda and Tom from making another Facebook game." So be sure to study the Kickstarter page carefully. $15 gets you a digital copy of the game for PC or Mac.

 

[Infinitron]

Wizardry spiritual successor Kickstarter?

In before Cleveland Mark Blakemore!

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

"Only you can prevent Brenda and Tom from making another Facebook game."

Nobody shall suffer such cruelty, therefor...

 

[HobGoblin42]

I am not sure if I missed it, but are there already any kind of concept artworks, screen mock ups or prototypes yet? It seems that more and more veteran designers are trying to jump on the Eternity Bandwagon with nothing than their names and some bullet points.

 

[J_C]

They will fail. 2 cRPGs for 1,9 million? Good luck with that. Not to mention they shamelessly copy pasted Eternity's KS page design.

 

[Haba]

Hall's RPGs have never been my cup of tea and Brathwaite showed complete lack of proper judgement by marrying Romero. NEXT!

 

[catfood]

Two Games, One Kickstarter ($1.9M Stretch Goal): Brenda and Tom make different, separate RPGs with unique worlds, quests and characters.

This is the most retarded kickstarted pitch I've ever heard. Why would anyone be anxious to pay for two half-assed games instead of just one full-assed bigger game?

This is like gypos in the bazaar selling 3 pair of socks for 1 RON.

 

[Infinitron]

Hey, if they raise the money, they can just give Cleve a percentage and release Grimoire.

 

[FeelTheRads]

At the highest tier, Brenda Brathwaite, Tom Hall and John Romero will personally deliver the game on a red velvet pillow to you at your location

Whoever gets that should give Daikatana to Romero in return.

Myeah, this came out of nowhere. I don't know. That Brenda is sure a hot MILF, though.

 

[John_Blazze]

WE REALLY WANT TO MAKE THIS GAME

So they really want to make THIS game, which on the way, if the stretch goal is met, may turn into TWO GAMES they want? Shit, make another stretch goal for dividing this into 4 different games! Give one to John Romero. Why limit yourself? Shit....

 

[mondblut]

Make sure they won't reach 1.9m and focus on an "oldschool CRPG" rather than "spiritual sequel" to some insufferable jrpg crap.

 

[Trash]

Very little information about, well, everything. Not too happy about that, still because of past merits I'll pledge 15.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

They will fail. 2 cRPGs for 1,9 million? Good luck with that. Not to mention they shamelessly copy pasted Eternity's KS page design.

Many at Obsidian and especially Avellone are Bros with those people. So, they probably helped them.

 

[Jarpie]

Not yet convinced, didn't even say what kind of old-school rpg so need more info but I will still probably throw 15 buckaroos at them and might even up my pledge if/when they give more info.

 

[Infinitron]

Quite an impressive list of endorsements they've got there. George Broussard lol

Why not note that Sheri Graner Ray was a writer for Ultima 7?

 

[Fryjar]

Funnily enough Romero is in the pitch video. You can see him at 2:47.

Edit: Didn't finish the video before, he's also in the game delivery spoof.

 

[eric__s]

Is that John Romero at 2:47? Look at his posture. That's now how you sit in a computer chair, John

This is cool, I guess, but there's basically no real information about the game. They spent a lot of time distinguishing between their game and newer RPGs but the things they list on their Kickstarter page (skills, progression, recruitable characters, quests, NPCs) are things that pretty much every RPG does. I trust their intentions but you need to sell a game on more than hyperbole.

There was this one comment Tom Hall made in the video about publishers releasing safe games with the implication that this is not one. I think that's kind of disingenuous - the CRPG format is very safe. There are thousands of them and most are very similar. I'd like to know what makes this different and how this adds to the genre.

Second game as an afterthought is a terrible idea.

But we all liked Jagged Alliance and Wizardry and Realms of Arkania (what was Brenda's involvement other than working for the publisher BTW?), these are creative and talented people and I am largely optimistic. This was pitched badly but I think they can do something good.

 

[Falkner]

One of their favourite RPGs is Zelda: A Link To The Past.

 

[villain of the story]

FILLER COMBAT GRINDFEST ALERT!

Look at all those fucking references. Now this could have been something worth backing unlike the Project Eternal Crap. Sadly, they come across as clueless morons out of touch with a lot of things. It will probably turn out to be a shitty grindfest. Also, I'm not touching anything even with a ten foot stick if John Romero is involved, even if he has apologised for it.

I am not sure if I missed it, but are there already any kind of concept artworks, screen mock ups or prototypes yet? It seems that more and more veteran designers are trying to jump on the Eternity Bandwagon with nothing than their names and some bullet points.

Enough with this "Kickstarter bandwagon" bullshit, really. Perhaps they should have waited until after PE but looking at it with a bandwagon mentality is ridiculous. There are people who need the money to do stuff. There are people who might be willing to pay for it. And there is Kickstarter (and others). It's the natural course of action.

 

[eric__s]

One of their favourite RPGs is Zelda: A Link To The Past.

They clearly included it to connect with an audience that might not be familiar with Wizardry 8 or Realms of Arkania. There are a million more important things to criticise.

 

[Rhuantavan]

I am on hold until they let us know the details.

 

[Crooked Bee]

In case you might be wondering about the extent of Brenda's contribution to Wizardry (after all she isn't Woodhead or Greenberg or Adams or Bradley or Currie, i.e., she wasn't in charge of any Wizardry game), here are some interviews with her:

http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/bg.htm

(Yeah, she was Brenda Garneau back then.)

 

[HobGoblin42]

Look at all those fucking references. Now this is something worth backing unlike the Project Eternal Crap.

Enough with this "Kickstarter bandwagon" bullshit, really. Perhaps they should have waited until after PE but looking at it with a bandwagon mentality is ridiculous. There are people who need the money to do stuff. There are people who might be willing to pay for it. And there is Kickstarter (and others). It's the natural course of action.

Until now LootDrop developed social and mobile games. And Brenda/Romero were very enthusiatic about that fact, see http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/03/28/interview-brenda-brathwaite-loot-drop/

Just in this moment, after some very successful ($$$) kickstarter old-school projects, the same guys retrieved their love for 'old' games. They don't have the team, their studio is developing in flash, html and java technology, they were targeting a total different gamer audience yet but now they are going to Kickstarter with nothing than a small list of features.

If they really wanted to create an old-school CRPG, they would have more material (concept artworks, etc.) right now. Much more.

 

[HobGoblin42]

Regarding 'Realms of Arkania': this game was developed in Germany by the studio Attic under the license of the Black Eye (Schwarze Auge). The original language of RoA was German and the main developers were Guido Henkel and others. Brenda wrote the english manual for the localized english version which was published by Sir-tech.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Tom hall and romero are the tits, the talent of the team is undeniable. but this is dodgy as fuck, they made their money (again) from facebook games, that's what paid for their studio. There's zero chance they'll make 2 games in 12 months, so obviously they're deep in production already.

 

[Twinkle]

TOM HALL'S ABOUT TO MAKE YOU HIS BITCH

Only for $15

SUCK IT DOWN