Broken Age - Double Fine's Kickstarter Adventure Game

[m_s0]

everybody will forget about the money mismanagement and giggle.

Everybody except the Massive Chalice backers

Well, if Broken Age will sell a decent ammount of copy, Massive Chalice can be funded with that. The backers will not notice anything.

Indeed. The backers'* money is clearly safe with the trustworthy entrepreneurs at Double Fine.

I still hope there's a good game at the end of all of this mess, but come on.

*At this point I'm really glad I didn't pledge.

 

[ghostdog]

You do realize that aside from the delay double fine is doing the same thing as ineXile ? Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products. All the butthurt I can understand (and feel myself) is for the delay and the 2 parts release of Broken Age (and the art. I'm still not very fond if it, though not as butthurt as before). Everything else is moronic.

 

[nil]

everybody will forget about the money mismanagement and giggle.

Everybody except the Massive Chalice backers

Well, if Broken Age will sell a decent ammount of copy, Massive Chalice can be funded with that. The backers will not notice anything.

And if not? Do another kickstarter? Kidnap someone for ransom? Maybe ask some of their 90,000 closest friends for their liver?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

You do realize that aside from the delay double fine is doing the same thing as ineXile ? Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products. All the butthurt I can understand (and feel myself) is for the delay and the 2 parts release of Broken Age (and the art. I'm still not very fond if it, though not as butthurt as before). Everything else is moronic.

That's not what the butthurt is about. InXile stated in no uncertain terms that they would not use Torment money to fund Wasteland 2 development. They can, of course, use Wasteland 2 profits to increase the effective budget of Torment, but that's up to them and not a part of the agreement they have with their backers.

Double Fine, on the other hand, launched a new kickstarter, got over a million dollars, and only a few days later (it's this timing that makes the whole ordeal suspicious) revealed that they ran out of money for Broken Age. Some of us suspect (hell, even J_C agrees that this is probably the case) that they will spend the MASSIVE CHALICE budget on Broken Age, and try to recoup it with sales of the latter. While this behaviour isn't, strictly speaking, fraudulent, it's shady as hell, and straight up lying to their backers.

There are also other reasons why DF gets more flak for their delay than InXile, but these were regurgitated enough throughout this thread already.

 

[m_s0]

Pretty much what he said^

Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products.

Yup. Why would anyone have a problem with that?

 

[J_C]

everybody will forget about the money mismanagement and giggle.

Everybody except the Massive Chalice backers

Well, if Broken Age will sell a decent ammount of copy, Massive Chalice can be funded with that. The backers will not notice anything.

And if not? Do another kickstarter?

It will. The ammount of hype this game is getting (which it deserves because it looks good) will lead to decent sales at least.

 

[ghostdog]

That's not what the butthurt is about. InXile stated in no uncertain terms that they would not use Torment money to fund Wasteland 2 development. They can, of course, use Wasteland 2 profits to increase the effective budget of Torment, but that's up to them and not a part of the agreement they have with their backers.

Double Fine, on the other hand, launched a new kickstarter, got over a million dollars, and only a few days later (it's this timing that makes the whole ordeal suspicious) revealed that they ran out of money for Broken Age. Some of us suspect (hell, even J_C agrees that this is probably the case) that they will spend the MASSIVE CHALICE budget on Broken Age, and try to recoup it with sales of the latter. While this behaviour isn't, strictly speaking, fraudulent, it's shady as hell, and straight up lying to their backers.

There are also other reasons why DF gets more flak for their delay than InXile, but these were regurgitated enough throughout this thread already.

If that's the case (money from MC kickstarter going to BA kickstarter) then I agree with you, but this is all speculation, since I believe that DF has also stated that they will not use any of the MC funds for BA. Frankly I think most of the outrage is because DF handled this situation badly when it comes to PR and also because of the documentary since it's always nice to have some drama in there.

 

[Dexter]

You do realize that aside from the delay double fine is doing the same thing as ineXile ? Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products. All the butthurt I can understand (and feel myself) is for the delay and the 2 parts release of Broken Age (and the art. I'm still not very fond if it, though not as butthurt as before). Everything else is moronic.

That's not what the butthurt is about. InXile stated in no uncertain terms that they would not use Torment money to fund Wasteland 2 development. They can, of course, use Wasteland 2 profits to increase the effective budget of Torment, but that's up to them and not a part of the agreement they have with their backers.

Double Fine, on the other hand, launched a new kickstarter, got over a million dollars, and only a few days later (it's this timing that makes the whole ordeal suspicious) revealed that they ran out of money for Broken Age. Some of us suspect (hell, even J_C agrees that this is probably the case) that they will spend the MASSIVE CHALICE budget on Broken Age, and try to recoup it with sales of the latter. While this behaviour isn't, strictly speaking, fraudulent, it's shady as hell, and straight up lying to their backers.

There are also other reasons why DF gets more flak for their delay than InXile, but these were regurgitated enough throughout this thread already.

You do know that they have various different ways to fund their games and various teams working on different shit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Fine_Productions#Development_history

For instance Dracogen funded most of their PC re-releases (Costume Quest, Stacking, Brütal Legend) and a few Mobile games like Middle Manager of Justice and Dropchord.
Indie Fund funded Spacebase DF-9 and recouped the investment in two weeks: http://indie-fund.com/2013/11/spacebase-df-9-recoups-investment-in-two-weeks/
They also have publisher contracts like with Microsoft for Iron Brigade/Double Fine Happy Action Theater, SEGA for The Cave.
They recently regained the rights to Stacking and Costume Quest from Nordic Games: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/11/26/double-fine-regains-costume-quest-stacking-rights-from-nordic-g/

All of this "they used KickStarter money from one game on another" is nothing but supposition.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

That's not what the butthurt is about. InXile stated in no uncertain terms that they would not use Torment money to fund Wasteland 2 development. They can, of course, use Wasteland 2 profits to increase the effective budget of Torment, but that's up to them and not a part of the agreement they have with their backers.

If Inxile spent a 100k on a feature for W2 which could easily reused for Torment, wouldn't it be all right for Torment to "buy" that feature from Wasteland 2 for 50k? Torment saves 50k, and Wasteland gets an extra 50k in its budget.

Would this be considered shady?

 

[m_s0]

You do realize that aside from the delay double fine is doing the same thing as ineXile ? Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products. All the butthurt I can understand (and feel myself) is for the delay and the 2 parts release of Broken Age (and the art. I'm still not very fond if it, though not as butthurt as before). Everything else is moronic.

That's not what the butthurt is about. InXile stated in no uncertain terms that they would not use Torment money to fund Wasteland 2 development. They can, of course, use Wasteland 2 profits to increase the effective budget of Torment, but that's up to them and not a part of the agreement they have with their backers.

Double Fine, on the other hand, launched a new kickstarter, got over a million dollars, and only a few days later (it's this timing that makes the whole ordeal suspicious) revealed that they ran out of money for Broken Age. Some of us suspect (hell, even J_C agrees that this is probably the case) that they will spend the MASSIVE CHALICE budget on Broken Age, and try to recoup it with sales of the latter. While this behaviour isn't, strictly speaking, fraudulent, it's shady as hell, and straight up lying to their backers.

There are also other reasons why DF gets more flak for their delay than InXile, but these were regurgitated enough throughout this thread already.

You do know that they have various different ways to fund their games and various teams working on different shit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Fine_Productions#Development_history

For instance Dracogen funded most of their PC re-releases (Costume Quest, Stacking, Brütal Legend) and a few Mobile games like Middle Manager of Justice and Dropchord.
Indie Fund funded Spacebase DF-9 and recouped the investment in two weeks: http://indie-fund.com/2013/11/spacebase-df-9-recoups-investment-in-two-weeks/
They also have publisher contracts like with Microsoft for Iron Brigade/Double Fine Happy Action Theater, SEGA for The Cave.
They recently regained the rights to Stacking and Costume Quest from Nordic Games: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/11/26/double-fine-regains-costume-quest-stacking-rights-from-nordic-g/

All of this "they used KickStarter money from one game on another" is nothing but supposition.

I've been wondering about this. If they have other sources of income why bother releasing the info that they've run out of Kickstarter money? Either it's not enough and they're just desperate or they've felt the need to be honest and really fucked up on the PR front.

 

[Dexter]

I've been wondering about this. If they have other sources of income why bother releasing the info that they've run out of Kickstarter money? Either it's not enough and they're just desperate or they've felt the need to be honest and really fucked up on the PR front.

As far as I can tell, because in comparison to other companies like InXile etc. they took the whole "Openness" thing seriously and thought people would understand and act like grown-ups about it, afaik they are funding the rest of the game from money they've made off of Steam Sales, Humble Bundles and that stuff and the second part from Steam Early Access. They had posted about it on the Double Fine forums to the Backers and kind of explained it all in the documentary, but the press (well Kotaku, Escapist and those rags) did a big "DOUBLE FINE RAN OUT OF MONEEEH!" thing out of it.

If this was a publisher game or a developer that kept a tighter lock on PR-y stuff (as Double Fine themselves did with Psychonauts and Brütal Legend at least) you would have never heard about it, only a short "game postponed for 6/12 months" News possibly.

 

[m_s0]

The thing is, they shouldn't have left anything for interpretation, and through a combination of poorly handled PR, obviously terrible budgeting, bad timing with the MCh Kickstarter etc. they've done just that.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

You do realize that aside from the delay double fine is doing the same thing as ineXile ? Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products. All the butthurt I can understand (and feel myself) is for the delay and the 2 parts release of Broken Age (and the art. I'm still not very fond if it, though not as butthurt as before). Everything else is moronic.

That's not what the butthurt is about. InXile stated in no uncertain terms that they would not use Torment money to fund Wasteland 2 development. They can, of course, use Wasteland 2 profits to increase the effective budget of Torment, but that's up to them and not a part of the agreement they have with their backers.

Double Fine, on the other hand, launched a new kickstarter, got over a million dollars, and only a few days later (it's this timing that makes the whole ordeal suspicious) revealed that they ran out of money for Broken Age. Some of us suspect (hell, even J_C agrees that this is probably the case) that they will spend the MASSIVE CHALICE budget on Broken Age, and try to recoup it with sales of the latter. While this behaviour isn't, strictly speaking, fraudulent, it's shady as hell, and straight up lying to their backers.

There are also other reasons why DF gets more flak for their delay than InXile, but these were regurgitated enough throughout this thread already.

You do know that they have various different ways to fund their games and various teams working on different shit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Fine_Productions#Development_history

For instance Dracogen funded most of their PC re-releases (Costume Quest, Stacking, Brütal Legend) and a few Mobile games like Middle Manager of Justice and Dropchord.
Indie Fund funded Spacebase DF-9 and recouped the investment in two weeks: http://indie-fund.com/2013/11/spacebase-df-9-recoups-investment-in-two-weeks/
They also have publisher contracts like with Microsoft for Iron Brigade/Double Fine Happy Action Theater, SEGA for The Cave.
They recently regained the rights to Stacking and Costume Quest from Nordic Games: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/11/26/double-fine-regains-costume-quest-stacking-rights-from-nordic-g/

All of this "they used KickStarter money from one game on another" is nothing but supposition.

It is nothing but supposition. Fact is, though, they've launched a very poor kickstarter which only got off the ground because of their popularity, and only announced their financial problems literally days after that concluded. Could just be good PR sense to do that, but the MASSIVE CHALICE campaign was just very bad, barely any effort went into it, the team clearly had little to no idea what they were going to make, and spent most of their updates announcing themselves streaming other games, looking for "inspiration". No idea how that project's currently shaping up, but the kickstarter screamed "minimum effort cashgrab". Combine that with them running out of money for Broken Age, and it's not exactly difficult to come to the conclusion that these may be related.

 

[tuluse]

You do realize that aside from the delay double fine is doing the same thing as ineXile ? Double fine released Brutal Legend to the PC to help fund Broken Age and will use money from Broken Age's profit to fund Massive Chalice. Inexile released Bard's Tale mobile version to make money for Wasteland 2 and will use W2's profit to fund Torment TON. And so on. That's how companies work you know, they always count profits of their product as a factor and invest them in future products. All the butthurt I can understand (and feel myself) is for the delay and the 2 parts release of Broken Age (and the art. I'm still not very fond if it, though not as butthurt as before). Everything else is moronic.

Sorry this thread is about being as edgy as possible and assuming Double Fine has screwed up in the largest way possible at every turn.

 

[Crooked Bee]

It all basically depends on whether it works out for Double Fine in the end, doesn't it? The winner takes it all, etc.

 

[Outlander]

No idea how that project's currently shaping up

Nobody knows, they haven't updated their kickstarter page since August

 

[mindx2]

It all basically depends on whether it works out for Double Fine in the end, doesn't it? The winner takes it all, etc.

As long as I get a descent adventure game in the end I could care less for all the "Interwebz Drama" surrounding DF. If the game is good we are all winners*. Besides, the documentary itself almost justifies my pledge amount... almost.

Spoiler

*Man, I sound just like some liberal school teacher handing out awards to every kindergartener... sorry about that .
liberals

 

[toro]

We are all winners ... We are all winerals ... We are all liberals...

 

[Metro]

How many more millions do they need to finish their eight hour, water-color artstyle adventure game? Five? Six?

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/double-fine-adventure/posts/684595

 

[HanoverF]

For people who can't see it, Everyone's favorite hipster lumberjack is going to be voiced by no one's favorite Wesley, Wil Wheaton. Also there's another surprise voice actor being announced during some video game awards that will probably be Felica Day or something

 

[Athelas]

I am so sick of the hiring of celebrity voice actors. Apart from some notable exceptions (i.e. Ron Perlman), they tend to be terrible.

 

[Dexter]

For people who can't see it, Everyone's favorite hipster lumberjack is going to be voiced by no one's favorite Wesley, Wil Wheaton. Also there's another surprise voice actor being announced during some video game awards that will probably be Felica Day or something

Dear god...

Having Wesley Crusher is bad enough, he was only good for people telling him to shut up because he was so fucking annoying.

 

[suejak]

I came to this forum specifically to complain about this. They are stroking themselves into far too much ecstasy over voice actors. Who the fuck cares, seriously? Why are we supposed to get so excited by the idea of famous people / professional nerds elbowing their way into voice jobs on an adventure game?

Fuck, I hate adventure game voice acting anyway. Ever since I played GK1 without realizing there was a voice setting, then turned it on to hear the awful narrator and Tim Curry's obnoxious drawl, I have been of the deeply held opinion that voice acting is a waste of time. You can usually read 10x faster than these people mew the lines out anyway.

 

[suejak]

...the wolf/fox guy is awesome, though.