Fund your own adventure game!

[deject]

I don't know if I've missed something among all the ambient distractions of my home, but there doesn't seem to be any indication of what the game is over the genre. Of course Tim Schaefer's pedigree is enough of an indication it should be good, but surely a little overview of the idea above "it's a point-and-click adventure" is warranted?

You're right, there isn't any info beyond Double Fine, Tim Schafer, point & click adventure game, will be released on Steam.

[Dog Pants]

I don't know if I've missed something among all the ambient distractions of my home, but there doesn't seem to be any indication of what the game is over the genre. Of course Tim Schaefer's pedigree is enough of an indication it should be good, but surely a little overview of the idea above "it's a point-and-click adventure" is warranted?

You're right, there isn't any info beyond Double Fine, Tim Schafer, point & click adventure game, will be released on Steam.

It's funny how far reputation can go, and kind of heartening. If you added the words EA, Activision or Ubisoft to that you'd be on a much higher total I suspect (although as publishers they wouldn't need to, but you see my point).

[friznit]

I disagree. If you added those names people would say 'fuck off, pay for it yourself you rich cunts' Though I do get your point about rep.

[Dog Pants]

I disagree. If you added those names people would say 'fuck off, pay for it yourself you rich cunts' Though I do get your point about rep.

I totally meant to write lower total. Fuck my brain.

I've predicted (somewhere, and if not I am here) that 2012 is the year of the rise of the Indie, and this is a great start to vindicating that statement.

[FatherJack]

I like that this has happened. I love the design of all the games he's been involved in, so look forward to seeing what they produce. I find the actual games frustrating, though.

[buzzmong]

Jeez, in the two hours since I last checked, it's gone up ~3000 pledges and from $700,000-something to $850,000.

Crazy. It'll be well over a million soon.

[friznit]

Just out of interest, does anyone actually know the dev costs of one of these games? Given that a Halflife Episode costed around $12mill, they have a ways to go.

[buzzmong]

Can't be too much, but it all depends on what type of game you're making I think and the size of the project/team size.

Generally, the bulk of modern game developement costs seem to come from 3D Art Assets from what I've read, namely models and maps, mostly because they're 3D assets which require 2D assets as well. Code and 2D assets are fairly cheap though, obviously cost goes up with the amount of assets, hence why Minecraft was cheap to build, not many assets and most of the big content (ie, the maps) is all procedurally generated.

It's also why companies like Introversion and Paradox can do so much, they rely (well, Introversion do) on procedurally generating content or build games that are more focused around 2D.

[deject]

Just out of interest, does anyone actually know the dev costs of one of these games? Given that a Halflife Episode costed around $12mill, they have a ways to go.

The point of this experiment is to have a small team create the game they want to make in six to eight months. This costs significantly less than developing a AAA, cinematic videogames.

[Dog Pants]

Small team? Have you seen the team photo in San Francisco? There's more of them than Earth Wind and Fire!

[deject]

Small team? Have you seen the team photo in San Francisco? There's more of them than Earth Wind and Fire!

Over a six-to-eight month period, a small team under Tim Schafer's supervision will develop Double Fine's next game, a classic point-and-click adventure.

Double Fine is broken up into groups that work on different projects concurrently. Happy Action Theater had a different team from the Iron Brigade people.

[Dog Pants]

Whatever, you can prove anything with facts.

Anyway, fuck it, this is a bandwagon I'll jump on for two reasons:

1) Tweet from Schaefer: "$840,616... We could possibly hit a million dollars in the first 24 hours! If that happens... a lot of people are going to take notice. "
2) Watching the video and seeing Day of the Tentacle, and Grim Fandango, and Full Throttle, and... etcetera.

[friznit]

That's so cool I think I might even donate just for the internet bro points.

[buzzmong]

$950,000

[buzzmong]

I just watched the video on the kickstarter page. Sold.

[FatherJack]

Just out of interest, does anyone actually know the dev costs of one of these games? Given that a Halflife Episode costed around $12mill, they have a ways to go.

Big games cost big money. Even something as "simple" as an Xbox LIVE Arcade title can cost upwards of two or three million dollars. For disc-based games, it can be over ten times that amount.

Considering the initial goal of $300-400k they weren't aiming anywhere that big, or (perhaps) long. They mention that any extra (of which there is already a sizeable sum) will possibly go into making the game available on more platforms (other than just Steam, PC). That's where prohibitive costs come in, though - to release on other other platforms or in shops really eats the cash.

It's gratifying to see that their main focus was to deliver a game quickly (by modern standards) targeted at fans who want a game like that. While I don't imagine that everyone in their company would be working on that particular game solid for six months, that target would only fund a pretty modest salary for the people who are working on it, which given the cleverness evident in the company demonstrates they care enough about working there, not to be earning more somewhere else.

It's also worth noting that these are pledges, not necessarily cash in the bank they can use to pay a distributor, so while they can certainly deliver on the original promise, they (as you note) would need a hell of a lot more money for something like a boxed, retail, cross-platform release on the scale of HL:Ep2.

[buzzmong]

And there's $1,000,000 in pledges.

[Dog Pants]

Something else to consider; the £20 I spent on this is still less than the money I would have spent on SWTOR, and half what they would have liked me to pay. I'd pay the money just to make a point to the big publishers and write it (and another similar one) off as money saved not buying SWTOR.

[deject]

It's also worth noting that these are pledges, not necessarily cash in the bank they can use to pay a distributor, so while they can certainly deliver on the original promise, they (as you note) would need a hell of a lot more money for something like a boxed, retail, cross-platform release on the scale of HL:Ep2.

Well, on March 13th, it will be cash in the bank, but as of right now it's still all theoretical. People can pull out until then, but I doubt many will do that, just like I don't know that it will keep going up that much.

[deject]

And as if right on cue: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02 ... ter-fever/