<strong>[ Update ]</strong>
<p>Remember that wonky E3 trailer for medieval fantasy RTS <strong>Kings and Castles</strong> (KaC) <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=45335">earlier this week</a>? Turns out that pretty much everything in that movie was "placeholder" stuff, according to Gas Powered Games guru Chris Taylor in his <a href="http://gaspowered.com/kingsandcastles/video-blog-19/" title="Grumpy voice Chris adressing some trailer concerns">latest video blog</a> on the KaC website. Not exactly a big shock when you know that the game has only been <strong>in production for four months and a half</strong>. Any art, animation and voice overs you see and hear are likely going to be revamped.</p><p>Also of note in the video is the fact that GPG uses blondes for the motion capturing of giant War Boars and that the castles don't look like a single massive building anymore. They have walls, gates and exterior buildings as well now.</p><p>Still, why release footage of a game in such an unfinished state? GPG's community manager Servo answers that question in <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=46668&p=812477#p812477" title="Why show anything this soon, really?">a thorough post</a> on the GPGnet forums. In short: <strong>without a publisher they can use all the publicity they can get.</strong> </p><blockquote><p>In the absence of a paranoid publisher, we have been freely discussing and displaying everything about the early development of KnC via the Vblogs. If you have been watching them, you hopefully realize that pre-alpha games are ugly, broken, and rely heavily on the vision of a driving force who can see and speak beyond the facade.
Not providing gameplay for Chris to discuss future visions with publishers and distributors behind closed doors at E3 would be counterproductive. Assuming that these visions can be arranged in a distributable trailer, not showing them to a wider public to increase awareness of KnC would be a wasted opportunity in the absence of paid advertising.
The main message of this Trailer is not intended to be "Hey look at our pre-alpha textures", it is "Hey look, GPG is making a Fantasy RTS", for a much wider audience than is represented in these forums.
The only benefit that we as developers commonly see from E3 Trailers is a hint of clarvoyance on what the game can become when the bugs are cleared away. If that gives your monitor cancer, then you are simply ignoring that it can be used as a crystal ball as well as a window to a rosy-colored past. I would encourage you to remember your thoughts today when you compare and contrast this trailer with the trailer, demo, or beta that will take its place at E3 2011.
As an aside, if you are also following the Vblog, not portraying the "E3 Hustle/Hassle" would be a gross misrepresentation of a significant factor in electronic game development in general, and would fly against our KnC Glasnost.</p></blockquote><p>Seems like there is no way back for Gas Powered Games as they sold their most successful franchises, Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander, to Square-Enix. When reading some of <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=46578" title="Apparently CT does answer quite a lot of mails.">Taylor's e-mail answers to fans</a> some other tidbits get out as well: there could be four resources in the game, a mix of SupCom 1 and SupCom 2 economy systems could be used and the <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=46459" title="I guess SupCom 2 on Xbox360 didn't do that well...">console versions for KaC aren't a given anymore</a>. You probably do need a crazy publisher for a console RTS now. </p><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/">GPGnet Forums</a></p>
<p>Remember that wonky E3 trailer for medieval fantasy RTS <strong>Kings and Castles</strong> (KaC) <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=45335">earlier this week</a>? Turns out that pretty much everything in that movie was "placeholder" stuff, according to Gas Powered Games guru Chris Taylor in his <a href="http://gaspowered.com/kingsandcastles/video-blog-19/" title="Grumpy voice Chris adressing some trailer concerns">latest video blog</a> on the KaC website. Not exactly a big shock when you know that the game has only been <strong>in production for four months and a half</strong>. Any art, animation and voice overs you see and hear are likely going to be revamped.</p><p>Also of note in the video is the fact that GPG uses blondes for the motion capturing of giant War Boars and that the castles don't look like a single massive building anymore. They have walls, gates and exterior buildings as well now.</p><p>Still, why release footage of a game in such an unfinished state? GPG's community manager Servo answers that question in <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=46668&p=812477#p812477" title="Why show anything this soon, really?">a thorough post</a> on the GPGnet forums. In short: <strong>without a publisher they can use all the publicity they can get.</strong> </p><blockquote><p>In the absence of a paranoid publisher, we have been freely discussing and displaying everything about the early development of KnC via the Vblogs. If you have been watching them, you hopefully realize that pre-alpha games are ugly, broken, and rely heavily on the vision of a driving force who can see and speak beyond the facade.
Not providing gameplay for Chris to discuss future visions with publishers and distributors behind closed doors at E3 would be counterproductive. Assuming that these visions can be arranged in a distributable trailer, not showing them to a wider public to increase awareness of KnC would be a wasted opportunity in the absence of paid advertising.
The main message of this Trailer is not intended to be "Hey look at our pre-alpha textures", it is "Hey look, GPG is making a Fantasy RTS", for a much wider audience than is represented in these forums.
The only benefit that we as developers commonly see from E3 Trailers is a hint of clarvoyance on what the game can become when the bugs are cleared away. If that gives your monitor cancer, then you are simply ignoring that it can be used as a crystal ball as well as a window to a rosy-colored past. I would encourage you to remember your thoughts today when you compare and contrast this trailer with the trailer, demo, or beta that will take its place at E3 2011.
As an aside, if you are also following the Vblog, not portraying the "E3 Hustle/Hassle" would be a gross misrepresentation of a significant factor in electronic game development in general, and would fly against our KnC Glasnost.</p></blockquote><p>Seems like there is no way back for Gas Powered Games as they sold their most successful franchises, Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander, to Square-Enix. When reading some of <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=46578" title="Apparently CT does answer quite a lot of mails.">Taylor's e-mail answers to fans</a> some other tidbits get out as well: there could be four resources in the game, a mix of SupCom 1 and SupCom 2 economy systems could be used and the <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=46459" title="I guess SupCom 2 on Xbox360 didn't do that well...">console versions for KaC aren't a given anymore</a>. You probably do need a crazy publisher for a console RTS now. </p><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://forums.gaspowered.com/">GPGnet Forums</a></p>
