[Jackal]

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

I'm not sure this is the case. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if the plan for the game arose out of interest in doing a film. They'd need a project that can be filmed in 6 months or so, not the usual 2+ years of a full game, and they'd need one that won't be encumbered by publisher involvement if they hope to keep the film honest.

I think that's highly unlikely, but that's beside the point, since it has nothing to do with what I said. Doesn't matter who proposed the film or in what order. It's only going to be available for those who pledged, making it redundant as an ongoing publicity tool for the game (which was the original complaint I was responding to). From this point on, it really is just a nice bonus for those of us who already pleged/preordered the game.

Originally Posted by TopCat

You can believe what you want mate... But the fact for the matter is, that there's demand for AG... TT's episodic games make a lot of money and most of them are AG... Tim and Ron are AG "superstars" so that's why ppl trusted them with their money...

You're contradicting yourself. There's a demand for adventure games by the genre's best and brightest designers and/or biggest name franchises, certainly. But we've really seen no proof at all that the interest extends much beyond that. At least, not to nearly this extent.

Originally Posted by diego

Yes, but hey - it might not be the sign of the genre's "popularity", but it looks just as another small step in something that is going on for years - whether it could be called a rerise, return of the "golden age", "resurrection", "mood" change... It might not be even that significant, but something is clearly happening that has to do with the genre. Something WAS happening even when Rockstar said: "Hey, and how about a little of those puzzles now?!", but this is clearly going to hit the headlines of more than just adventure game sites, and people, willingly or not, will finally learn about that obscure word "point-and-click".

Oh, I agree. Every little bit helps. I'm just trying to temper expectations. This response is great, but remove Schafer from the equation and there's the usual crickets and tumbleweeds. But like I said, publishers have a tendency to overlook the obvious, so we may indeed see one or two back a new adventure, trying to capitalize on the moment.

[kuze]

There's also talk about kickstarting an oldschool-style RPG set in the Planescape universe prompted by the overwhelming response to Double Fine's kickstarter project.

This is getting more exciting by the hour.

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Pyke

When looking at a business model, spending $1 to make $1 isn't a good plan. The idea is to spend 50c to make $1. With the 'fund the entire project and give away your product' approach, you run the risk of not actually making any money.

That depends on the business. Considering that the wages is part of that spending, and I think it'd be fair to include other expenses such as rent, electricity and stuff too, then I think it is a good plan. Getting paid to do what you want to do? Good plan.

Of course, it would be a not so good plan for a business run by shareholders that's in it for a return on their investment.

And if it turns out to be a great game, the sales should have a long tail, where there's no publisher to take the money. Except for Valve's cut for Steam distribution, or other distributors, the money from future sales will go to Double Fine.

[TopCat]

Originally Posted by Jackal

You're contradicting yourself. There's a demand for adventure games by the genre's best and brightest designers and/or biggest name franchises, certainly. But we've really seen no proof at all that the interest extends much beyond that. At least, not to nearly this extent.

Maybe just a little, but how many of the AG that were released last year got to have this kind of exposure.... Not many ( or maybe none ). TT games sell because they're a proven developer, not only because of the name of the franchises that they make games with. Sure, the IP name helps but if the games were bad ppl wouldn't be buying them ( I ain't saying that they're perfect, but still).

Games like TBOUT or the Black Mirror games would have benefited greatly from this kind of exposure and their sales numbers would've been higher ( I ain't saying that they sold poorly, because they probably made their budgets back from the Germany sales numbers alone )...

[jaap]

For those who're interested: a graph of the accumulated funding per hour:
https://sites.google.com/site/jansenjfa/DFAG.jpg

[DomStLeger]

Originally Posted by Pyke

Sorry dude-its been one of those days. But you caught my drift. That's why its dangerous to rely on crowd sourced presales for your entire budget (Im assuming its the full budget, for the large amount and small timeframe).

Sure getting donations for something like music, voice overs, etc. isn't a bad thing. But covering your entire budget with presales is a very VERY risky move.

But at least they know they are going to be eating for 8 months-something not many indies can say!

And if their budget continues to grow, they may be tempted to spend on unessential things - things that aren't going to increase sales, because the financing is there,and they are almost 'obliged' to use it.

I'm not sure I see how its risky? Of all the ways to raise funds this is very low risk; if they don't deliver, the people who have pledged really have no recourse. And actually they can deliver ANYTHING really to fulfil the pledge as the details are so vague. Plus any game they sell is pure profit (minus marketing and distribution costs; though even that could come from the main fund)

Its such a great way for fans to contribute to a trusted developer. I've pledged; I don't even care if they don't deliver something I'll enjoy, I just want to support this project. I think the idea that developers can get micro-investments in this way and not be beholden to big publishers is a great thing for creative industries and could be revolutionary for both niche parts of the market and just plain old creativity driven development. Its never going to be the way to make so-called-AAA titles, but I think its great for smaller scale development, and is not too disimilar to the MineCraft et al approach. Very exciting!

[ADan]

Well,

Congratulations!

I'll throw my hat into the ring and offer a translation into German for a mere 1% of the money raised.

(I'm not even kidding... The German market is somewhat important... (As implied by the man himself)).

(And yes, I'm qualified, I think).

[Fien]

Originally Posted by ADan

Well,

Congratulations!

I'll throw my hat into the ring and offer a translation into German for a mere 1% of the money raised.

(I'm not even kidding... The German market is somewhat important... (As implied by the man himself)).

(And yes, I'm qualified, I think).

I think the job's already been taken. The German translator of the old LucasArts classics (Zak, Fate of Atlantis, etc) has offered his services for free.

[ADan]

Damn!

I had hoped for Deadalic to get the localization gig which would have put me into the frame...

Well, that's all right. (It would have been more in the 0.2% range anyway)

[Jubilee]

Just backed $15 myself. That HD quality documentary was tempting, but I'm sure you could get the non-HD version for that price.

[orient]

I pledged $30 yesterday. I did so mostly for the game itself, but partly because I just love the idea of fans coming together to help support something that otherwise wouldn't be made. The fact that it's an adventure game just tops it off.

[Hudini]

i will pledge 30 dollars 2 weeks from now...they will only receive the money in march anyway

[Hudini]

oh by the way here is a hourly update twitter !

https://twitter.com/#!/TimJustRaised

[Idrisguitar]

im gonna donate $30 soon enough.

love the idea of the documentary on top of a tim schafer point and click, cant really go wrong.

i hope this isn't a flash in the pan. really hope this does wonders for the industry and we start seeing these brilliant minds making the games they want.

with all of the financial difficulties, the industry will have to cut back on these 50-100 million dollar AAA shooters if they are going to keep going, so im hoping it leaves the door wide open for smaller scale more creative games in the void.

[Hudini]

Yes exactly, we only have good things to gain with this development, similar type of business should be widely popular for other areas of the economy as well.

[TimovieMan]

Christ, this thread moves like an unstoppable freight train...

Originally Posted by Ozzie

Well, I hope the credits will be sped up a notch when it comes to the "Thanks to" part!

Pun intended?

Originally Posted by Ozzie

LA Noire was rather expensive, I would say...

...and while I didn't contribute, I would feel shafted if they didn't spend all the money on this game, even if they would spend the rest on Psychonauts 2.

But maybe the contributors could make a vote about it? We'll see...

L.A. Noire had backing by a company whose very name alone would make it sell millions. You can't go comparing the small-budgeted adventure games (which are 99% of all adventure games nowadays) to the big guns like L.A. Noire and Heavy Rain...

And I agree with TopCat that they won't be able to spend this much money on one game anyway. They've already done the groundwork for the game, so we can assume that the 400K$ was a relatively accurate goal.

While some would feel cheated if the extra funds DIDN'T go into the game, I'd reckon a lot of people would feel equally cheated if the extra funds were squandered on unimportant aspects (like an original soundtrack for the documentary) and not used to make SEVERAL quality games...

This is why I hope that they spend the money on some big name backing for the game. If they get some well-known actors for the voice-over parts, they could use that as a publicity tool and maybe get the game known outside of the adventure scene.

Plus localizations and multi-platform releases would help as well...

Basically: put the money in all the aspects that could heighten the sales number when it gets released. That way, they can use the profits this generates to make more games.

It's a great thing that they can cut out the middle meddling men. Now all they have to do is deliver a great game...

[Frogacuda]

Originally Posted by TimovieMan

They've already done the groundwork for the game, so we can assume that the 400K$ was a relatively accurate goal.

I don't know why you think they've done any groundwork. They're claiming they don't even know what the game is about yet (although guys like Tim and Rom surely have notebooks full of unused adventure game ideas they could never get made). $400,000 would have been a very small game with almost no voiceover. I'm glad the concept has expanded well beyond that, and that they've left the door open to develop a concept that suits the budget.

They're probably feeling a lot of pressure now to make a really good game out of what they probably considered a small side project.

[Hudini]

By the end of march 13 the game will have anything between 2 and 5 millions .(Maybe more if some miracle happens)

That is enough money to do a much bigger game in scope.

[Fien]

Originally Posted by TimovieMan

You can't go comparing the small-budgeted adventure games (which are 99% of all adventure games nowadays) to the big guns like L.A. Noire and Heavy Rain...

And I agree with TopCat that they won't be able to spend this much money on one game anyway. They've already done the groundwork for the game, so we can assume that the 400K$ was a relatively accurate goal.

HUH???

First of all, let me repeat that it's not 400. Minus $100k for the documentary, 9 or 10 percent for Kickstarter and Amazon Payments, which leaves 270K. Peanuts when you consider the production costs of their previous LucasArts adventures.

Monkey Island 1 ('90) - $135K. No voices!
DOTT ('93) - $300K. Plus voices added later.
Full Throttle ('95) - 1.5M
Grim Fandango ('98) - 3M

And those were dollars from a different era. Inflation and all that. Makes me wonder what they had in mind when they set the goal at 270K.

[Hudini]

They were being conservative because they had no idea if this would work, if enough people were willing to give cash before the game was made.

They will make an announcement this week i am sure.