Information Dead State Kickstarter: 50% Reached, First Stretch Goal Announced

[Roguey]

Man, no love for stretch goals? I've heard MAN YOU SHOULD NO DO SO EARLY and also alternatively STOP FUCKING AROUND AND JUST POST ALL YOUR STRETCH GOALS ALREADY. Oh internet, you fickle creature, you!

(btw brofist to Crooked Bee for posting this! Woo!)

You should listen to the former and not the latter because Fargo's stretch goal plan was a success (with the one misstep of the social media crap, quickly replaced with Avellone) and Xenonauts's didn't succeed as well as it could have and led to a lot of angst about how they're missing out on those features they're not getting. You can't miss what you don't know about.

I would also be really surprised if there are a lot of people out there who were thinking "Man I was on the fence about this... until they announced those weapons!" Maybe if it were a game primarily concerned about killing things in hardcore tactical battles.

 

[RK47]

Yeah, Xenonaut's stretch goal was kinda cool. There's still time though - 36 hours or so.

 

[kaizoku]

30k for designing 12 weapons: I want to be a RPG weapon designer!

My main grudge with stretch goals is this type of thing.
Now I know you're not spending the rest of the money on booze and blow (or will you? *tan tan tan* :dramatic chipmunk: ), but if I didn't knew ITS/DB better I would assume you're just doing the old gold digger assault.

It was this type of thing that stopped me from pledging to Xenonauts (they also had things covered, so...).

And that "and if you're among the first 10 customers to call, you'll get this free pillow hat, but if you don't, well... that's too bad for you... sucker!" schemes, just sound plain bad.



I would have preferred to see the stretch goal presented like this instead:

blah blah blah... and if we reach $180k that money will help us bring another artist on full-time. The new artist will be working on adding new environments, buildings, characters, items, animations, and making sure those art assets stay polished *wax on wax off*. While the rest of the team will be making sure they are put to good use (scripting, level design, balance, etc).
Some of the things we had in mind were these weapons:
...
But expect this and some more.

Will still be donating, but I would prefer you guys to be as transparent as you can.

 

[zeitgeist]

All these Kickstarter bandwagon developers should start asking themselves "would I be presenting a design document like this (or lack thereof) to a publisher" or "would I be presenting this business plan (or lack thereof) to the bank if I wanted to get a loan" and similar questions if they want to be taken even remotely seriously.

The general public being easier to convince to give them money might be good for the developers' pockets, and they are likely very pleased with such a turn of events, but it sure as hell won't lead to a decent game.

 

[Elhoim]

30k for designing 12 weapons: I want to be a RPG weapon designer!

The money is not for doing the 13 weapons per se, but to hire full time the guy who is doing the 70 of them (plus he will be able to help with other art tasks). The weapons are just an added bonus.

 

[mbpopolano24]

How much to add the 'AWESOME' option in DS so that the zombies won't require 29 shot to the head to die? Another 30K?

 

[EG]

30k for designing 12 weapons: I want to be a RPG weapon designer!

The money is not for doing the 13 weapons per se, but to hire full time the guy who is doing the 70 of them (plus he will be able to help with other art tasks). The weapons are just an added bonus.

30K to hire him . . . harder?

 

[Mangoose]

All these Kickstarter bandwagon developers should start asking themselves "would I be presenting a design document like this (or lack thereof) to a publisher" or "would I be presenting this business plan (or lack thereof) to the bank if I wanted to get a loan" and similar questions if they want to be taken even remotely seriously.

The general public being easier to convince to give them money might be good for the developers' pockets, and they are likely very pleased with such a turn of events, but it sure as hell won't lead to a decent game.

Hm... Gets me thinkin', they could just provide a link to their internal design document. Shouldn't be anything needed to hide, right?

 

[zeitgeist]

30k for designing 12 weapons: I want to be a RPG weapon designer!

The money is not for doing the 13 weapons per se, but to hire full time the guy who is doing the 70 of them (plus he will be able to help with other art tasks). The weapons are just an added bonus.

Why is this person being hired anyway? I mean, the weapons shown so far quite literally look like like stock models, as does most of the game (except the portraits/2D "art" which I shall not comment on). So why is someone actually being paid to remake generic weapons for the nth time? You can get a bunch of models (including character animations and all) that wouldn't diminish the look of your game at all, for peanuts.

 

[Marsal]

Hm... Gets me thinkin', they could just provide a link to their internal design document. Shouldn't be anything needed to hide, right?

Yeah, that's going to happen. I bet they're already uploading it.

Why is this person being hired anyway? I mean, the weapons shown so far quite literally look like like stock models, as does most of the game (except the portraits/2D "art" which I shall not comment on). So why is someone actually being paid to remake generic weapons for the nth time? You can get a bunch of models (including character animations and all) that wouldn't diminish the look of your game at all, for peanuts.

Do they still have only 1 programmer, that works on AoD at the same time?

 

[Elhoim]

30k for designing 12 weapons: I want to be a RPG weapon designer!

The money is not for doing the 13 weapons per se, but to hire full time the guy who is doing the 70 of them (plus he will be able to help with other art tasks). The weapons are just an added bonus.

Why is this person being hired anyway? I mean, the weapons shown so far quite literally look like like stock models, as does most of the game (except the portraits/2D "art" which I shall not comment on). So why is someone actually being paid to remake generic weapons for the nth time? You can get a bunch of models (including character animations and all) that wouldn't diminish the look of your game at all, for peanuts.

As I said... "plus he will be able to help with other art tasks". That means creating props, levels, etc. Of course we aren't just going to hire someone for just doing weapons.

Also, we did search for stock weapons, and most of it is high poly crap, or low poly blurry shit. We have a huge variety of weapons, and Joao did an awesome job of keeping the poly count extremely low, the quality high and gave them a consistent look.

Yeah,that is a more pressing question. Will another programmer be hired?

Yes, it's one of the goals.

 

[Roguey]

I'm still very angry about Age of Decadence not living up to my expectations

While this is cute, from interviews and forums posts I've read it's clear Brian's design philosophy is very different. He's an "err on the side of the player" person as opposed to "good fucking riddance."

 

[RK47]

I'm still very angry about Age of Decadence not living up to my expectations

While this is cute, from interviews and forums posts I've read it's clear Brian's design philosophy is very different. He's an "err on the side of the player" person as opposed to "good fucking riddance."

Hm. Then there's hope. Probably.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

But, uh, considering this has been in development for quite some time, don't you think it is a bit late to come up with "ups I need a 150 000 $$" at this point?

 

[Roguey]

herostratus I've explained this to you before.
And it's not so sudden, remember the "we need someone to make our tools for us for free" thing from last year? Well, no takers on that. So now they'll pay someone to make their tools, among other things.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

O sorry I was drunk at the time I wrote that other post, couldn't remember having made it

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The stretch goal sounds more than reasonable. I do hope that those weapons are to be designed to introduce variety and tactics to the combat. There are quite a few people who thought that Age of Decadence's combat, although tactical, was redundant and barren of options in that respect.

I don't believe in Kickstarter fatigue anymore. There really isn't that huge a flow of developers with a decent track record which are still left to introduce their projects. Also, they mostly all have a devoted fanbase with a lot of disposable income, which is prone to making impulsive purchases. Look at how many young males buy countless Steam games just because they're on sale. I just started a topic in General gaming asking which projects people have backed, and it's clear that not only most people have backed many ones, but also that they're eager for more.

Sure the market will be flooded with an increasingly higher amount of projects, but the more dubious ones will get naturally weeded out.

 

[lmbarns]

I've watched 2 indie documentary movies funded by kickstarter, that got funding more than 1 year ago, long before I ever heard of kickstarter. One of the movies, "Indie game the movie" was really fucking good. http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/

So despite every high schooler and their friend's having a kickstarter campaign I think there are some real gems that get traction from it.

 

[shihonage]

I've watched 2 indie documentary movies funded by kickstarter, that got funding more than 1 year ago, long before I ever heard of kickstarter. One of the movies, "Indie game the movie" was really fucking good. http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/

So despite every high schooler and their friend's having a kickstarter campaign I think there are some real gems that get traction from it.

Where did you get Indie Game The Movie? I'm still waiting for my DVD pre-order

 

[lmbarns]

I've watched 2 indie documentary movies funded by kickstarter, that got funding more than 1 year ago, long before I ever heard of kickstarter. One of the movies, "Indie game the movie" was really fucking good. http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/

So despite every high schooler and their friend's having a kickstarter campaign I think there are some real gems that get traction from it.

Where did you get Indie Game The Movie? I'm still waiting for my DVD pre-order

I went to a screening here in Seattle that was packed with indie devs and had the 2 producers who gave an interview Q&A afterwards. It's shown here a few times since in local theaters.

The producers said they had to cut it from 3 hours to 1.5, and hope to include the cut scenes in the DVD. They had another story/segment that didn't make it into the movie where they interviewed a lead dev at xbox live who never dreamt of programming until he was 30 years old when he discovered a tool he understood that let him make games...years later he's now a lead developer at xbox live.

 

[mbpopolano24]

I'm still very angry about Age of Decadence not living up to my expectations

While this is cute, from interviews and forums posts I've read it's clear Brian's design philosophy is very different. He's an "err on the side of the player" person as opposed to "good fucking riddance."

While it is 'cute' to change the words and meaning expressed by somebody else, shouldn't it be morally incorrect? I mean, even by the 'Codex Standards'. I never said that I am angry with DoubleBear Production. I actually wish them well and hope for a great future and financial success. I can even tell you more, IF the game will ever see the light of day AND it will be half-decent, I will buy it full-price. My only problem is that after 8 and plus years of reading about what they can and will do, I don't trust a single word of what they are promising. And those 2-3 seconds (I am exaggerating) of gameplay shown here and there are NOT very promising at all.

 

[EG]

I'm still very angry about Age of Decadence not living up to my expectations

While this is cute, from interviews and forums posts I've read it's clear Brian's design philosophy is very different. He's an "err on the side of the player" person as opposed to "good fucking riddance."

While it is 'cute' to change the words and meaning expressed by somebody else, shouldn't it be morally incorrect? I mean, even by the 'Codex Standards'. I never said that I am angry with DoubleBear Production. I actually wish them well and hope for a great future and financial success. I can even tell you more, IF the game will ever see the light of day AND it will be half-decent, I will buy it full-price. My only problem is that after 8 and plus years of reading about what they can and will do, I don't trust a single word of what they are promising. And those 2-3 seconds (I am exaggerating) of gameplay shown here and there are NOT very promising at all.

Not morally incorrect in the least -- particularly if it delevers the jist of what you intented; else it gives you a snapshot of what someone else interpreted it as.

Whats unpromising about the snippet of footage shown, though? Beyond the small amount of it, I mean.

 

[RK47]

I don't know what to get hyped about. Some cities abandoned. Zombies rising. People scared.. And stuff.
I want some gameplay. Trailers only work when the focus is on narration. But this is a simple 'Survival vs Zombie' stuff that we've seen plenty from shooters.
Only this time it's turn based RPG - it's only fair I want to see how this works before I'm even convinced.

 

[Roguey]

While it is 'cute' to change the words and meaning expressed by somebody else, shouldn't it be morally incorrect? I mean, even by the 'Codex Standards'. I never said that I am angry with DoubleBear Production.

I didn't say you were angry with DoubleBear, I said you were angry with AoD and I assumed so because you claimed it would take "29 shots to the head" to kill a single zombie. I haven't seen any evidence of that in Dead State, but I have in the other one considering the way it handles your damage output versus their damage threshold.

My only problem is that after 8 and plus years of reading about what they can and will do, I don't trust a single word of what they are promising. And those 2-3 seconds (I am exaggerating) of gameplay shown here and there are NOT very promising at all.

Once again talking about AoD. ZRPG was announced in '09, they've "only" been talking about what they can and will do for three years.

 

[mbpopolano24]

While it is 'cute' to change the words and meaning expressed by somebody else, shouldn't it be morally incorrect? I mean, even by the 'Codex Standards'. I never said that I am angry with DoubleBear Production.

I didn't say you were angry with DoubleBear, I said you were angry with AoD and I assumed so because you claimed it would take "29 shots to the head" to kill a single zombie. I haven't seen any evidence of that in Dead State, but I have in the other one considering the way it handles your damage output versus their damage threshold.

My only problem is that after 8 and plus years of reading about what they can and will do, I don't trust a single word of what they are promising. And those 2-3 seconds (I am exaggerating) of gameplay shown here and there are NOT very promising at all.

Once again talking about AoD. ZRPG was announced in '09, they've "only" been talking about what they can and will do for three years.

I get it, still not angry with anybody or any game. I am living a very happy life and playing games (when I can) to have fun. If it will take 29 shots to the head to kill a zombie, I'll laugh and go playing something else. Still I maintain that you should not 'quote' somebody using your own words. Just quote and give your interpretation, and start a discussion. Not that it really matters, not on the Codex at least. In 2-3 year (hopefully) we can have fun with Dead State and discuss the morality of killing zombies.