Broken Age - Double Fine's Kickstarter Adventure Game

[FeelTheRads]

Paying your executives more than slave wages = truly incompetent.

It is if the quality of the work isn't worth the money they are payed.
Oh, right, guess they should be payed just because they're... employed.

 

[uaciaut]

when he spent so much of his resources of animation

don't think he did. most of the animation is just parts stitched together and then moved, rather than handrawn animation cells for the whole element as used by most oldschool games. i'm willing to bet nearly all the money went into voice acting and that's it, unless act2 proves to be much bigger and better in terms of content than whatever the fuck act1 is supposed to be.

animation is pretty lame for the most part, even more so when you compare it so something like vanillaware games.

I think that most of the money went into the engine development, and the initial art direction. The problem with spending (that much) money there is that you don't really 'see' the direct outcome, because preproduction is supposed to be completely invisible.

I think the custom engine was created with the idea of planning many more Adventure Games - but I honestly think that if they had gone with something like UNITY they would have gotten the same results in a 10th of the time (and budget).

That said, the amount of animation in Broken Age is insane. You can see just how much work went into each and every cut scene - but I think that there are just too many of them! There is clearly a ton of reliance on the cut scenes to tell the story.
Animation is VERY expensive, and seeing how reliant they are on it to tell the story I can see how their budget exploded as much as it did. I think that they could have easily told the same story with less animation and more 'game'.

Its still a beautiful game, and the artists at DF should be proud of what they have done. If you took out the walking around parts, you could easily turn this into a film...and when you look at it like that, $5000 000 (or whatever the current spend is..I stopped following the nitty gritty a while ago!) to make what is essentially an animated Lord Of The Rings Trilogy is NOTHING.

Games have that advantage over films...every time you have a piece of dialogue it doesn't have to be a carefully animated, synced, and choreographed sequence. There is an expectation in a game that you DON'T do that - that you stay IN the game world. Its almost like Broken Age forgot about this, and they were worried about people not having a 'cinematic' experience.

Taking Pyke's word for granted here as he is the one that's actually designing a game atm and if his game will be as good as his posting it's gonna be a pleasure to play

 

[tuluse]

If Costume Quest cost more than $1 million they are truly incompetent.

10 people working on a game for year, or 5 people working on a game for 2 years = 1 million dollars in San Fran (probably a little more actually).

 

[Dexter]

when he spent so much of his resources of animation

don't think he did. most of the animation is just parts stitched together and then moved, rather than handrawn animation cells for the whole element as used by most oldschool games. i'm willing to bet nearly all the money went into voice acting and that's it, unless act2 proves to be much bigger and better in terms of content than whatever the fuck act1 is supposed to be.

animation is pretty lame for the most part, even more so when you compare it so something like vanillaware games.

Afaik the Animation and painted art is likely what cost them the most (including all those cut-scenes). As far as I remember the documentary stated that they had to do so much of it that they even outsourced some of the work to an outside animation studio.
I don't think voice acting cost them much at all, people like Jack Black or Frodo likely worked for a pittance and a lot of them didn't really have all that much to say (one workday with a few hours of voice acting at the most). I can't really quantify it, but I think they probably spent more than that on the music, since they actually had an Australian orchestra play it. It kind of shows in the finished product, but back in the day I was fine with beepity-boops and Stan flailing his arms and jaw around wildly and a lot happier with the increased focus this actually allowed for things like gameplay and puzzles that actually matter a lot more:

I might be a bit of a "graphics whore" when it comes to FPS and some RPGs, but this never was much of a case with Adventures. And as I've said before at the disbelief of suejak, I actually enjoy the Daedalic art more.

It might not be dynamic or have many dynamic elements, be placed on a 3D plane with Parallax or employ things like real-time shadows and reflections. (Tech talk starts about ~27 minutes in)


But I still think it looks better overall:

 

[DeepOcean]

Considering the large number of backers I'm surprised at how low the highest number of concurrent players is. I guess they just liked the idea of funding something like this more than playing it?

Well, the game started between the 10 most sold games on steam then fallen off the list, by the moment, it is generating less revenue than Duke Nukem Megaton edition.I think they going to make enough money to cover the extra costs they had but when on launch day you don't even manage to keep your position on the most sold games list for some time for a well known studio like Double Fine? Well, definitely, people liked more the idea of pledging than playing this game.

 

[WaffleStomper]

and half the game's over in four hours.

supposedly (according to the DF team) the 2nd part is supposed to be much longer than the 2nd, so I'd say that it's not accurate to call part 1 "half the game".

 

[SuicideBunny]

As far as I remember the documentary stated that they had to do so much of it that they even outsourced some of the work to an outside animation studio.

unless act 2 suddenly doubles or triples in scope, i call bullshit on that. i do know they said they need moar money because omg more and more ideas and bigger scope, but there is absolutely zero indication of that in the first part.

 

[Dexter]

As far as I remember the documentary stated that they had to do so much of it that they even outsourced some of the work to an outside animation studio.

unless act 2 suddenly doubles or triples in scope, i call bullshit on that. i do know they said they need moar money because omg more and more ideas and bigger scope, but there is absolutely zero indication of that in the first part.

You "call bullshit" on what exactly?
The documentary states exactly that, I actually took a look and they are called "Super Genius" and even posted about Broken Age before: http://supergenius-studio.com/2013/12/broken-age-vgx-premiere/

Spoiler

How can you "call bullshit" on facts?

 

[SuicideBunny]

i'm conditionally calling bullshit on the "so much" part if act 2 turns out to be similar in scope to 1.

 

[Aeschylus]

Considering the large number of backers I'm surprised at how low the highest number of concurrent players is. I guess they just liked the idea of funding something like this more than playing it?

Well, the game started between the 10 most sold games on steam then fallen off the list, by the moment, it is generating less revenue than Duke Nukem Megaton edition.I think they going to make enough money to cover the extra costs they had but when on launch day you don't even manage to keep your position on the most sold games list for some time for a well known studio like Double Fine? Well, definitely, people liked more the idea of pledging than playing this game.

But it's still making more than M&MX and Blackguards.

 

[suejak]

But I still think it looks better overall:

Nah, Daedalic games are often beautiful.

I gotta good juicy one for ya here. I said Daedalic, but honestly, I meant TellTale. I guess they're different.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[J_C]

Considering the large number of backers I'm surprised at how low the highest number of concurrent players is. I guess they just liked the idea of funding something like this more than playing it?

Well, the game started between the 10 most sold games on steam then fallen off the list, by the moment, it is generating less revenue than Duke Nukem Megaton edition.I think they going to make enough money to cover the extra costs they had but when on launch day you don't even manage to keep your position on the most sold games list for some time for a well known studio like Double Fine? Well, definitely, people liked more the idea of pledging than playing this game.

At this moment, it is the 9th best seller on steam.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Considering the large number of backers I'm surprised at how low the highest number of concurrent players is. I guess they just liked the idea of funding something like this more than playing it?

Well, the game started between the 10 most sold games on steam then fallen off the list, by the moment, it is generating less revenue than Duke Nukem Megaton edition.I think they going to make enough money to cover the extra costs they had but when on launch day you don't even manage to keep your position on the most sold games list for some time for a well known studio like Double Fine? Well, definitely, people liked more the idea of pledging than playing this game.

But it's still making more than M&MX and Blackguards.

One spot above Blackguards, a relatively niche game released a week ago, with a much higher price tag. I would imagine the budgets for both Blackguards and MMX were also significantly lower.

Not looking good at the moment bro. Maybe it'll pick up in a few hours when Kwans get back from work.

 

[Aeschylus]

One spot above Blackguards, a relatively niche game released a week ago, with a much higher price tag. I would imagine the budgets for both Blackguards and MMX were also significantly lower.

Not looking good at the moment bro. Maybe it'll pick up in a few hours when Kwans get back from work.

I think you're confusing me for someone who cares how well Broken Age does.

 

[suejak]

Oooooooh, ice cold.

A point-and-click adventure game that already sold to its core audience is selling less than a fantasy RPG??? Am I on the right planet?! Is this still Earth? Is Michael J Fox still among your most respected elders??

 

[Athelas]

Broken Age got about a 100x more hype and press attention than Blackguards or MMX though, both of which are relatively obscure niche-type RPG's.

Interestingly enough, a lot of the mainstream reviews have criticized Broken Age for having too easy puzzles and shallow gameplay (scroll down for the lower scores):
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/broken-age-act-1/critic-reviews

 

[Cowboy Moment]

You'll have to try harder than that, suejak.

One spot above Blackguards, a relatively niche game released a week ago, with a much higher price tag. I would imagine the budgets for both Blackguards and MMX were also significantly lower.

Not looking good at the moment bro. Maybe it'll pick up in a few hours when Kwans get back from work.

I think you're confusing me for someone who cares how well Broken Age does.

I'm not, I was just making a general observation using your post as a springboard.

In general, I'm kinda surprised that Blackguards is still hovering around the Steam top10 sellers, given the niche nature of the game, nonexistent marketing, Daedalic's lack of pedigree in this genre and lukewarm reviews from the AAA PR brigade. I'm not sure how to explain it.

 

[J_C]

Not looking good at the moment bro. Maybe it'll pick up in a few hours when Kwans get back from work.

Seriously, are you out of your mind? A point and click adventure game, the most niche genre in gaming is the 10th best seller on steam, among all the AAA blockbuster games. And it doesn't look good? What planet are you living on?

People just making up stupid things just to prove that everyone hates the game, and everybody is disappointed in it. Sorry to break it to you, but it is doing well.

Interestingly enough, a lot of the mainstream reviews have criticized Broken Age for having too easy puzzles and shallow gameplay (scroll down for the lower scores):
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/broken-age-act-1/critic-reviews

Yeah, you have to scroll down a lot to reach the average reviews, because it got great reviews for a niche game.

 

[DeepOcean]

I'm not sure how to explain it.

Man, when I heard TotalBiscuit said he knew people that spent 200 hours in Blackguard, it could be a ray of hope on the horizon and not only the codex likes TB games?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Not looking good at the moment bro. Maybe it'll pick up in a few hours when Kwans get back from work.

A point and click adventure game, the most niche genre in gaming is the 10th best seller on steam, among all the AAA blockbuster games.

What planet are you living on?

Obviously one with a different Steam top sellers list.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Interestingly, Blackguards now shows up as #8 and Broken Age as #10 for me. And you can't really say a p'n'c adventure game by Tim Schafer is more niche than a turn-based tactical RPG with mediocre reviews by a semi-obscure European dev based on a semi-obscure RPG ruleset.

Blackguards being so high on the list has been a surprise for me, too. The only reason I can think of is that there's a real shortage of TRPGs on Steam, but that reason alone still isn't good enough to explain how it's been managing to stay in or close to top 10 for a week now.

 

[J_C]

Not looking good at the moment bro. Maybe it'll pick up in a few hours when Kwans get back from work.

A point and click adventure game, the most niche genre in gaming is the 10th best seller on steam, among all the AAA blockbuster games.

What planet are you living on?

Obviously one with a different Steam top sellers list.

Civ5, Metal Gear R, Resident Evil4 are in the 20s, CoD3, Bioshock Infnite are in the 30s. And Broken Age is the 10th. You are truly live on another planet.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

J_C you need to calm down and compose yourself. There is not a single AAA blockbuster game in the current top10. You have to go to the end of the top20 to get CoD Ghosts and AC4, both of which are currently being outsold by MMX. I understand that you are upset by Broken Age not doing as well as you would've liked, but it's not the end of the world, its fortunes may yet take a turn for the better.

Interestingly, Blackguards now shows up as #8 and Broken Age as #10 for me. And you can't really say a p'n'c adventure game by Tim Schafer is more niche than a turn-based tactical RPG with mediocre reviews by a semi-obscure European dev based on a semi-obscure RPG ruleset.

Blackguards being so high on the list has been a surprise for me, too. The only reason I can think of is that there's a real shortage of TRPGs on Steam, but that reason alone still isn't good enough to explain how it's been managing to stay in or close to top 10 for a week now.

I want to believe that it's because the game is actually good, and more people enjoy well-designed TB combat than we were led to believe. I want to, but I dread having my hopes crushed yet again.

In any event, it does appear to be the most successful Daedalic game on Steam, I wonder how happy they are with it. Maybe use our newly acquired magazine prestige to inquire?

 

[J_C]

J_C you need to calm down and compose yourself. There is not a single AAA blockbuster game in the current top10. You have to go to the end of the top20 to get CoD Ghosts and AC4, both of which are currently being outsold by MMX. I understand that you are upset by Broken Age not doing as well as you would've liked, but it's not the end of the world, its fortunes may yet take a turn for the better.

You make my head explode! Do you understand what I'm saying? No, there are no blockbusters in the top 10, but that's the fucking point! There are all these high profile games, which cannot get into the top 10, yet Broken Age is in there. And I'm not upset that BA does badly, because being in the top 10 is the biggest proof that it does well enough. Who the fuck cares if Blackguards is ahead of BA by a few position. And Blackguards is a good game, better than BA. No shit it is ahead of BA. But Blackguards being better doesn't mean that BA is bad.

No, I'm not upset. But by insisting that being only in the top 10 is a bad thing, you admit that you are upset because it is not lower.

 

[Infinitron]

Yahtzee: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/8744-Broken-Age