Game News Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Now Live!

[Kz3r0]

Enough with looking at the forum or spouting nonsense like bidrones are the majority, Fargo has only to look to the Kickstarter page, the money flow practically stopped after certain suggextions.

 

[Brayko]

http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/blog/

Blog update.

"Sorry, I'll be more careful with my wording, I'm new to this" - The Gist of it

 

[mindx2]

This was his best part of the update:

Brian Fargo:

I clearly made a mistake in throwing out an idea before I communicated a cohesive vision document on the overall game. At two million in funding we will be doing the top things everyone wants anyway: a larger world and more content, more character dialog, more graphics across the board, and more audio.

Keep it to that and we'll be fine!!

What I totally disagree with him is this part:

I would be curious to see my friend’s stats when playing: how many kills he had, ammo used, his level and other various non-spoiling information.

Yuck! This would totally yank me out of the game world and sounds terrible to me. Let me get lost playing in your Wasteland game Brian not remind me every 5 minutes that , yes I am playing a game .

 

[FUDU]

I have no want, or need, for any type of social interaction in this game. If I wanted crap like that, I'd play a different kind of game, than one called Wasteland 2.

 

[zeitgeist]

We're all practicing wishful thinking hoping this will turn out well.
And I can understand people being worried their money is being used to fund something they didn't want...
Except... that's going to be huge. Thousands and thousands of people would like to see features others wouldn't. There's going to be a lot of trouble with Kickstarter some time because of this, unless you make it clear than fan input is minimal, or restricted to majority vote.

I'm honestly pretty surprised that people (especially on Codex!) haven't scrutinized the deal in far greater detail right at the start. I mean, if I were to fund something, at the very least I'd expect a basic design doc and some game concepts demonstrated in form of sketches, videos, or a mock let's play. I'd expect this from anyone who wants my money, be it kids from gamedev.net or industry veterans. In fact, I'd be even more wary of industry veterans not offering something like that. But this has been based completely on blind trust in the person behind the project, and no proof whatsoever of what they're actually planning on doing.

If this is all about the money, then they will obviously make a game with expectations of decent sales figures, and you know what kind of a game that will be, while doing the usual PR spin to silence dissenters and convince the majority that this is what they've been waiting for since 1988 but couldn't be achieved because of technological constraints. If it is not, if it's really about making the game and little else, then I don't see why some semblance of a design doc (and there must be something, they're planning to do this in a year and a half) hasn't been available for the general public to see before deciding whether to invest in it or not.

Also, fan input or in this case design-by-polls is such an incredibly ridiculous concept that I don't get how anyone can take it seriously anymore. It's clearly just a silly PR thing - just look at MMO forums and polls and how the community relations work for an example of this taken to the extreme. Unless they're completely upfront about this, they should not be trusted in general.

 

[shihonage]

We're all practicing wishful thinking hoping this will turn out well.
And I can understand people being worried their money is being used to fund something they didn't want...
Except... that's going to be huge. Thousands and thousands of people would like to see features others wouldn't. There's going to be a lot of trouble with Kickstarter some time because of this, unless you make it clear than fan input is minimal, or restricted to majority vote.

I'm honestly pretty surprised that people (especially on Codex!) haven't scrutinized the deal in far greater detail right at the start. I mean, if I were to fund something, at the very least I'd expect a basic design doc and some game concepts demonstrated in form of sketches, videos, or a mock let's play. I'd expect this from anyone who wants my money, be it kids from gamedev.net or industry veterans. In fact, I'd be even more wary of industry veterans not offering something like that. But this has been based completely on blind trust in the person behind the project, and no proof whatsoever of what they're actually planning on doing.

If this is all about the money, then they will obviously make a game with expectations of decent sales figures, and you know what kind of a game that will be, while doing the usual PR spin to silence dissenters and convince the majority that this is what they've been waiting for since 1988 but couldn't be achieved because of technological constraints. If it is not, if it's really about making the game and little else, then I don't see why some semblance of a design doc (and there must be something, they're planning to do this in a year and a half) hasn't been available for the general public to see before deciding whether to invest in it or not.

Also, fan input or in this case design-by-polls is such an incredibly ridiculous concept that I don't get how anyone can take it seriously anymore. It's clearly just a silly PR thing - just look at MMO forums and polls and how the community relations work for an example of this taken to the extreme. Unless they're completely upfront about this, they should not be trusted in general.

You're pretty much echoing my previous comments on the matter. As I said before, the Codex and such will always be in the minority of contributors, and if Fargo allows the majority to dictate the game, eventually it will be "streamlined" into what he will spin as "balance of old and new", more about atmosphere than depth, more about combat than dialogue, minus the turn-based part of course.

 

[General Maxson]

Yeah guys, I can't understand it either. In the first video he announced the return of old school, and a week later paf, stupid ideas that have no connection to old school fan wishes. Wish that didn't happen. I mean, there are literally hundreds of better ideas for old school rpg game he seems to want to bring back to eager audience than: "I WANT TO SHOW MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS HOW I LEVEL UP AND WHAT GUN I USE LOLLOLOLO" shit. The main problem is he wants to spend money he got mostly from people who gave it to him in the first place because they are starved for a good turn based rpg on such a retarded idea to bring "modernization" or to make some "irrelevant" changes to the game to bring it closer to "new audience" that also donated (retards that suggest stupid shit on the forums). He clearly stated in the first video what kind of game he is going to make so if morons gave money to it expecting bioware romances it's their own fault. The sad thing is he mocked all that stupid shit in the first video and now he brings stupid shit to the game. And also the second video is lame and stupid, he fuckin taks more about the "kickstarter phenomenon" and how it could "change the industry" and that "kicking it forward" shit than about actual game he got the money to make in the first place. I'm okay with all that, but couldn't we first see what the fuck are we giving our money for? When he completes Wasteland 2 he can talk all he wants for that kicking it forward 5% shit, it could be a good idea. Seems like he's more interested/excited about all that "financing" stuff than making Wasteland 2 great oldschool rpg. If he's just a CEO, or whatever the fuck he is, why didn't he make a second video with some of the staff he recruited like Jason Anderson and Alan Pavlish and others, where they can speak their mind what their vision for the game is. It would certainly be better than that second video, which doesn't serve much purpose, because he clearly stated his disdain for publishers and their stupid shit, so why repeat it, and it wasn't even funny much... But still I wouldn't forgive myself to give it a chance at least, because who knows what will happen with kickstarter game financing after some time, and this could be my last chance to play something in the vein of good old rpg's I like... Hopefully codex will be able to "outvote" stupid shit on their forums and bring the good shit in.

 

[Szioul]

I want to believe in MCA, too! Better not be Alpha Protocol 2.

I doubt it, since SEGA owns the rights to Alpha Protocol.

 

[Infinitron]

Yeah guys, I can't understand it either. In the first video he announced the return of old school, and a week later paf, stupid ideas that have no connection to old school fan wishes. Wish that didn't happen. I mean, there are literally hundreds of better ideas for old school rpg game he seems to want to bring back to eager audience than: "I WANT TO SHOW MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS HOW I LEVEL UP AND WHAT GUN I USE LOLLOLOLO" shit. The main problem is he wants to spend money he got mostly from people who gave it to him in the first place because they are starved for a good turn based rpg on such a retarded idea to bring "modernization" or to make some "irrelevant" changes to the game to bring it closer to "new audience" that also donated (retards that suggest stupid shit on the forums). He clearly stated in the first video what kind of game he is going to make so if morons gave money to it expecting bioware romances it's their own fault. The sad thing is he mocked all that stupid shit in the first video and now he brings stupid shit to the game. And also the second video is lame and stupid, he fuckin taks more about the "kickstarter phenomenon" and how it could "change the industry" and that "kicking it forward" shit than about actual game he got the money to make in the first place. I'm okay with all that, but couldn't we first see what the fuck are we giving our money for? When he completes Wasteland 2 he can talk all he wants for that kicking it forward 5% shit, it could be a good idea. Seems like he's more interested/excited about all that "financing" stuff than making Wasteland 2 great oldschool rpg. If he's just a CEO, or whatever the fuck he is, why didn't he make a second video with some of the staff he recruited like Jason Anderson and Alan Pavlish and others, where they can speak their mind what their vision for the game is. It would certainly be better than that second video, which doesn't serve much purpose, because he clearly stated his disdain for publishers and their stupid shit, so why repeat it, and it wasn't even funny much... But still I wouldn't forgive myself to give it a chance at least, because who knows what will happen with kickstarter game financing after some time, and this could be my last chance to play something in the vein of good old rpg's I like... Hopefully codex will be able to "outvote" stupid shit on their forums and bring the good shit in.

To be fair, Tim Schafer never actually said anything about the contents of his game, either. Fargo is just following his (incredibly successful) example.

 

[General Maxson]

To be fair, Tim Schafer never actually said anything about the contents of his game, either. Fargo is just following his (incredibly successful) example.

Well OK, since I didn't watch many Double Fine vids, and the one video I watched from DF IS funny unlike the second from Fargo. He should have done something else and maybe more original. Perhaps Fargo is just not as charismatic or a good actor like Tim Schafer.

 

[Infinitron]

To be fair, Tim Schafer never actually said anything about the contents of his game, either. Fargo is just following his (incredibly successful) example.

Well OK, since I didn't watch many Double Fine vids, and the one video I watched from DF IS funny unlike the second from Fargo. He should have done something else and maybe more original. Perhaps Fargo is just not as charismatic or a good actor like Tim Schafer.

Haha, no he isn't. Although as far as comedy goes, I think Fargo plays a pretty good deadpan "straight man" character ("I'm definitely seeing red!")

 

[General Maxson]

To be fair, Tim Schafer never actually said anything about the contents of his game, either. Fargo is just following his (incredibly successful) example.

Well OK, since I didn't watch many Double Fine vids, and the one video I watched from DF IS funny unlike the second from Fargo. He should have done something else and maybe more original. Perhaps Fargo is just not as charismatic or a good actor like Tim Schafer.

Haha, no he isn't. Although as far as comedy goes, I think Fargo plays a pretty good deadpan "straight man" character ("I'm definitely seeing red!")

And FFS, stop with the "people fear the buzzwords" bullshit (not you, but morons on the forums and twitter). We don't fear the buzzwords, we are not retarded. We fear spending our pledge money on stupid ideas we do not want, when in reality, it could be spent so much better, especially when you claim that your target audience are fans of Wasteland and Fallout 1 and 2 (and good old rpgs in general)!

 

[Volrath]

You're pretty much echoing my previous comments on the matter. As I said before, the Codex and such will always be in the minority of contributors, and if Fargo allows the majority to dictate the game, eventually it will be "streamlined" into what he will spin as "balance of old and new", more about atmosphere than depth, more about combat than dialogue, minus the turn-based part of course.

So why didn't he just turn to a publisher to make Wasteland 2 into a popamole FPS then?

 

[Alex]

zeitgeist

The fact he rounded up the designers of the previous games was enough to tide me over. If you require more, that is fine too, but I am willing to bet on them just because of that.

And the polls they have up to now have all been created by forum goers, not by the devs. I expect they will create more interesting, aimed questions once they have the time.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Someone already mentioned it, but implementing it a bit like Nethack would not be all that bad , especially if you can turn it off ? I don't know guys, first it was incline of RPGs and not it's rage over difficult combat in AoD and possible "social" features in W2 - let's just see how things go, we cannot rage for the 16 months of production time this will take. Let's just discuss?! stuff on their forum if needed, participate in some polls, and send a dead horse's head (no offence, Andyman Messiah) along with the 10$K so there will be no misunderstandings

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I finally donated $15.

I felt this weird and not unpleasant feeling in my body for a few seconds, and it wasn't an orgasm.

Could this feeling be... pride?

 

[Gregz]

Yeah guys, I can't understand it either. In the first video he announced the return of old school, and a week later paf, stupid ideas that have no connection to old school fan wishes. Wish that didn't happen. I mean, there are literally hundreds of better ideas for old school rpg game he seems to want to bring back to eager audience than: "I WANT TO SHOW MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS HOW I LEVEL UP AND WHAT GUN I USE LOLLOLOLO" shit. The main problem is he wants to spend money he got mostly from people who gave it to him in the first place because they are starved for a good turn based rpg on such a retarded idea to bring "modernization" or to make some "irrelevant" changes to the game to bring it closer to "new audience" that also donated (retards that suggest stupid shit on the forums). He clearly stated in the first video what kind of game he is going to make so if morons gave money to it expecting bioware romances it's their own fault. The sad thing is he mocked all that stupid shit in the first video and now he brings stupid shit to the game. And also the second video is lame and stupid, he fuckin taks more about the "kickstarter phenomenon" and how it could "change the industry" and that "kicking it forward" shit than about actual game he got the money to make in the first place. I'm okay with all that, but couldn't we first see what the fuck are we giving our money for? When he completes Wasteland 2 he can talk all he wants for that kicking it forward 5% shit, it could be a good idea. Seems like he's more interested/excited about all that "financing" stuff than making Wasteland 2 great oldschool rpg. If he's just a CEO, or whatever the fuck he is, why didn't he make a second video with some of the staff he recruited like Jason Anderson and Alan Pavlish and others, where they can speak their mind what their vision for the game is. It would certainly be better than that second video, which doesn't serve much purpose, because he clearly stated his disdain for publishers and their stupid shit, so why repeat it, and it wasn't even funny much... But still I wouldn't forgive myself to give it a chance at least, because who knows what will happen with kickstarter game financing after some time, and this could be my last chance to play something in the vein of good old rpg's I like... Hopefully codex will be able to "outvote" stupid shit on their forums and bring the good shit in.

Don't worry man, if he fucks up WL2 he's done...and he knows it. The AAAs won't want him back, and neither will we.

This is a make or break situation for him...there's a lot of pressure on him to deliver...probably even more pressure than with a traditional publishing house.

 

[Stabwound]

Enough with looking at the forum or spouting nonsense like bidrones are the majority, Fargo has only to look to the Kickstarter page, the money flow practically stopped after certain suggextions.

That is very true, this can't be a coincidence:

He updated the kickstarter and talked about the social shit late on the 23rd.

Now look at this graph: http://ruinedkingdoms.com/wasteland2/

On the 24th it plumetted 50% from the previous days and has not recovered. Then again, the 24th was a weekend so we'll see.

Update: Well it looks like the kickstarter campaign is at a snail's pace now. It looks like it's barely going to clear $10,000 today. That's obviously a lot of money, but in comparison to previous days the campaign is almost dead in the water. It was doing $30,000 a day and more up until his latest video and the talk about the social shit.

 

[General Maxson]

Enough with looking at the forum or spouting nonsense like bidrones are the majority, Fargo has only to look to the Kickstarter page, the money flow practically stopped after certain suggextions.

That is very true, this can't be a coincidence:

He updated the kickstarter and talked about the social shit late on the 23rd.

Now look at this graph: http://ruinedkingdoms.com/wasteland2/

On the 24th it plumetted 50% from the previous days and has not recovered. Then again, the 24th was a weekend so we'll see.

Update: Well it looks like the kickstarter campaign is at a snail's pace now. It looks like it's barely going to clear $10,000 today. That's obviously a lot of money, but in comparison to previous days the campaign is almost dead in the water. It was doing $30,000 a day and more up until his latest video and the talk about the social shit.

Hopefully he will understand who funds him, and change his erroneous ways before it is too late...

 

[Davaris]

Hopefully he will understand who funds him, and change his erroneous ways before it is too late...

And he thought publishers were tough bosses. He hasn't seen anything yet.

 

[Stabwound]

Monday was the worst day yet.

Looks like he might want to retract that statement soon, it's costing him a lot of money.

 

[Aeschylus]

Monday was the worst day yet.

Looks like he might want to retract that statement soon, it's costing him a lot of money.

I don't think the statement itself is really costing him much of anything, unless people freaked out and pulled their donations. This is how Kickstarter campaigns always seem to go. Double Fine was down to a couple hundred an hour at some points during their campaign. Wasteland 2 is actually keeping up a pretty decent pace.

 

[Havoc]

The pledges are slooooowing down. I think Brian needs to show something. Maybe some concept art or the vision document or some music by Mr. Morgan.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Looks like he might want to retract that statement soon, it's costing him a lot of money.

Doubtful. Not to mention the Ripten interview which cleared that all up and is now posted on the Kickstarter page. I think he's fine. I think we're fine. I think the game will be fine.

 

[Oesophagus]

The pledges are slooooowing down. I think Brian needs to show something. Maybe some concept art or the vision document or some music by Mr. Morgan.

I don't think there's a chance for a sudden influx of money, no matter what Fargo does. If people aren't interested in what they've seen so far, then I'm not really sure what could change that. And besides, I wouldn't want Fargo to start pandering to the lower denominator. I guess it'll get to around 2m, not counting the usual ending surge. If that's the amount of cash cRPG fans are willing to throw at W2, then so be it. It's still much more than I expected.