InXile Kickstarter Project officially named Wasteland 2

[Eternal]

I never played the original. And I think even nostalgia for that bygone era might not be enough for me to dig up a copy of the book + game and play it.

That said. Wasteland 2 kickstarter has 50$ of mine day 1. I dunno how strong this kickstarter will be without a name like Tim Schafer attached to it Brian Fargo is simply not as well known, or as popular. Plus he hasn't really maintained a presence in the game industry like he used to have. Since forming inXile he only has released 9 games in 10 years and only 3 of those games were larger than a simple iPhone title and all of them have done poorly both critically and commercially. Hunted, Bards Tale, and Choplifter HD are all pretty mediocre.

I'm gonna give Fargo the money on the hope that something this close to his heart and something he is trying to do outside of the publishers hands will be good. But if it flops then we can pretty much assume Fargo lost his touch.

 

[K.C. Cool]

For me, I should be giving $50 for each year after years of disappointment of being a Fallout fan. Often times I found myself thinking "I would pay $xxx right now on a Fallout title tied closely to the originals." but I had no outlet. But this? Now's my chance...

 

[Walpknut]

I am using Wirecard, btw. It's a virtual credit card

Damn, I was gonna use it, but is not supported here, like a lot of stuff... Colombia sucks.

 

[.Pixote.]

I'm gonna give Fargo the money on the hope that something this close to his heart and something he is trying to do outside of the publishers hands will be good. But if it flops then we can pretty much assume Fargo lost his touch.

It's hard to say - when we are 20+ years old, and full of ideas, with the passion to commit (Fargo was 25 when Wasteland was made), people seem to make wonderful stuff, but as we age our approach changes - (Basically we go down the toilet).

This might not be the best comparison - but the Beatles were in their mid 20s when they made their greatest work, and its 'arguably' the best work they ever achieved as musicians - Revolver 1966 - Sgt. Pepper's 1967 - Magical Mystery Tour 1967 - White Album 1968 - Abbey Road 1969. A 3 or 4 year period that created a handful of masterpieces. In the games industry a single game can take 3 or 4 years to develop.

So does Fargo and his people have the same creative juice they had 25 years ago? Do they just use the original formula that was so loved in 1988? Fargo 2012 can never be Fargo 1988, hopefully like a fine wine the people have improved with time...at least it wont be like that woeful remake of The Bard's Tale, that was a lesson in how not to remake a much loved game.

 

[Surf Solar]

Honestly, I would even be ok with them just changing the old Wasteland formula here and there and then bringing it to the actual important parts: a party based isometric RPG. I can forgive Fargo & Co. if they don't deliver the best story for centuries to come, or have no Voice acting whatsoever and such. I want a decent RPG system which actually responds to where I pump points into and a fun, turn based combat system.

TO ME - these are the key elements they "should" invest to - but I have been craving for similar RPGs for so long that I will pledge a sum which is way too much for me (but I have it already in "cash" laying here) than I can stomach - just because we have been waiting so long for such a game to be made. Everyone who always whined "RPGs are dead" and doesnt pledge to this one is a huge moron, IMO.

 

[Ares]

I am using Wirecard, btw. It's a virtual credit card

@ the NMA team:

A small proposal: how about putting this piece of info up on the news comments (for example). Because I have a feeling that a lot of people who read the news part on NMA don't actually read the forums. Even if they do the topics change so fast that this could easily get lost.

 

[zioburosky13]

InXile CEO Brian Fargo confirmed to No Mutants Allowed that the game (if funded, naturally) will be named Wasteland 2.

 

[Brother None]

I am using Wirecard, btw. It's a virtual credit card

A small proposal: how about putting this piece of info up on the news comments (for example). Because I have a feeling that a lot of people who read the news part on NMA don't actually read the forums. Even if they do the topics change so fast that this could easily get lost.

Like I said, I'll put it up when we post on the Kickstarter page.

 

[Sobboth]

I wonder how much it will be asked for wasteland 2 to be funded.
Let say he got 1 million from kickstart, how few is that ?
To have a comparison, how much have cost fallout 1 and how much it would today (much less wirth the current technology or not) ?
Sure, wasteland 2 will cost much less (top down view), it is just to have a rough idea.
Same thing with doublefine kickstart, he got over 2 millions but in comparison of a big adventure title like runaway, it is ten time less or only 2/3 time less ?

 

[Brother None]

To answer your questions: he is going to ask one million. Fallout cost 3-5 million. But that is including PR, voice-over and talking heads. Making a "Fallout-like" game with the current level of technology and good planning can be done for 1 million.

And an RPG, by definition, is more expensive to make than a point-and-click adventure game. 2D point-and-click adventure games are about the cheapest genre you can produce.

 

[Generic Dude 2.0]

I use MasterCard Prepaid for like few years now. I never actually had a "real" credit card in my life. Prepaid card works just fine for all my needs (Amazon, Steam, GoG etc.). I donated money to some IndieGoGo project with it, so I think it should work for Kickstater too.
If you live in Russia (and quite a few here do I believe), you can easily buy it via Yandex Money. Price of the card is equal to the amount of money you want to put on it. You can't replenish the balance though, but you can buy as many cards as you wish.
I already have one of these and I'm ready to support mister Fargo and his team.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

It's hard to say - when we are 20+ years old, and full of ideas, with the passion to commit (Fargo was 25 when Wasteland was made), people seem to make wonderful stuff, but as we age our approach changes - (Basically we go down the toilet).

I'll save all the nasty things I could say about your obliviousness and just say: Bullocks.

I'm currently making the best music of my life. Henry Miller put out his best work at the end of his career. As did Coltrane. Górecki put out Symphony 3 when he was 43. Want me to go on with stupid meta-examples or should we just decide that your statement is naive and ridiculous and leave it at that?

P.S. I hope you run completely out of creativity by age 30. Karma coma.

 

[Makagulfazel]

I'm assuming that a company can blossom their project - if successful - into other distribution alternatives such as GoG or Steam. Or am I completely wrong in some crappy, small-text kinda way? It just doesn't seem logical that they wouldn't be allowed to distribute their product as they see fit.
Also, as BN touched on, what was the budget allocated to the actual development of Fallout? After reading Mr. Campbell's spiel about ~$100,000 budgets for game development, it makes you wonder.

 

[Brother None]

I'm assuming that a company can blossom their project - if successful - into other distribution alternatives such as GoG or Steam.

I'm not sure what you're asking. Your Kickstarter digital preorder can be used for a non-DRM download or (or maybe and) activation on Steam. It'll be a Steam release.

Also, as BN touched on, what was the budget allocated to the actual development of Fallout?

What, minus PR? Dunno. Don't think its PR was much, though. Fallout's cost mostly came, other than VO/high-falutin graphics in cutscenes/talking heads, was that it took so long to make.

 

[Eon]

We've seen it referred to as the Wasteland Reboot, or Wasteland Project, or Wasteland 2, as people were left guessing at what InXile's Kickstarter Wasteland Project would be named. InXile CEO Brian Fargo confirmed to No Mutants Allowed that the game (if funded, naturally) will be named Wasteland 2.

A direct sequel 20 years later that is actually in the style of the original? Crazy.

Incredible news. I hope this pans out.

 

[Sobboth]

Thanks for the reply Brother None.
Too bad talking heads are so expensive to make, they were awesome and added a lot to fallout 1. I was a bit disapointed to find so few of them in fallout 2.
Cutscenes were good too but no so important IMO.

 

[Makagulfazel]

Your Kickstarter digital preorder can be used for a non-DRM download or (or maybe and) activation on Steam. It'll be a Steam release.

Mmmkay, thank you. That was half of what I was trying to get at, since I didn't know what platform they were going to use to release the game. The second part of the question would have been better asked as, "Does the project leader have the ability to distribute the finished project as he sees fit to those that didn't invest into the project?" For example, if he/they decided to sell the game at retail stores, will Kickstarter have any legal issues with that? Will they expect any royalties from additional sales of the software? I'm assuming not, but I don't know what small-print Kickstarter might have.

 

[Brother None]

Nope, Kickstarter's got nothing to do with sales of the finished product.

 

[34thcell]

Also, as BN touched on, what was the budget allocated to the actual development of Fallout?

What, minus PR? Dunno. Don't think its PR was much, though. Fallout's cost mostly came, other than VO/high-falutin graphics in cutscenes/talking heads, was that it took so long to make.

Wasn't there only one year full scale development?

 

[Brother None]

Yeah, but you can't just write off the several years of pre-production. It was only a handful of people, but iterating and re-iterating still takes money.