Obsidian's Project Eternity

[Lexx]

Obsidian didn't worked on saturday and sunday to post updates. Heresy.

 

[maximaz]

More content, more QA, more development time in general. These 'goals' should be seen as rewards, not as 'if we get more money, that's all we're going to do'. Get to $1.4 million, and the reward is an extra race - and a bigger world, more money for voice acting, more money for music, more money for QA, more money for development, more money to not have to scrap a lot of stuff at the last minute etc.

I'll take your word on that. They should really add detail to that, especially since some of those stretch goal rewards essentially say "more content".

For a new IP, or an independent game, they're being rather vague. I can't imagine funding this if I didn't know the names behind it.

 

[Sander]

How so? What was so bad in your eyes? Just curious.

They had no plan for the current situation, that is: reaching funding quickly and having to provide stretch goals. They didn't have write-ups ready on key updates and information they wanted to provide. They're fairly slow on communicating with their audience.

The fact that they didn't even have stretch goals strikes me as completely retarded, as does their idea of having a 50/50 shot of getting funding. Lots of these Kickstarter projects have blown up in the first day and blown past their mark. They should have been ready to react.

For a new IP, or an independent game, they're being rather vague. I can't imagine funding this if I didn't know the names behind it.

Yup. As I said, typical Obsidian.

 

[valcik]

They should really add detail to that, especially since some of those stretch goal rewards essentially say "more content".

It's a public press release, some of the most important goals cannot be revealed. Nonetheless, there are some hints floating around in some of the older interview:

Q: What was it like being part of the Fallout team?

MCA: It was great! Wow! It was the best! Man, the times we had! The hookers! The blow! It was a non-stop orgy!

 

[Verd1234]

I don't understand how the combat system will be like....will it be more like KOTOR or will it instead be like Dragon Age?

 

[White Knight]

I don't understand how the combat system will be like....will it be more like KOTOR or will it instead be like Dragon Age?

From the kickstarter page:

Combat uses a tactical real-time with pause system - positioning your party and coordinating attacks and abilities is one of the keys to success.

 

[gothdeus]

Crap! How did i fail to take notice of this?
Just kicked in $25.

Consider my kickstarter fatigue vanquished!

 

[Kyuu]

I don't understand how the combat system will be like....will it be more like KOTOR or will it instead be like Dragon Age?

I'm thinking something similar to Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale.

 

[Makagulfazel]

I'm thinking something similar to Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale.

Yeah, but that interview FearMonkey posted from Eurogamer has Tim Cain saying he's thinking Obsidian can improve on it. Basically, those games* were written using rules made for a turn-based game - creating a new ruleset that assumes real time will theoretically be better.
I'm not getting my hopes real high, though. I think DnD rules have been refined pretty damn well over the years, if not a little complicated at times. It's hard to beat a tried-and-true system, and I have a feeling that turns will simply be translated into time intervals without any major change in the wooden and sometimes awkward animations for stat-driven RPG combat.
I dunno... I guess it might turn out well. The DnD rules particularly do not translate well for attacks per turn. Melee animation cycles range from a sloth fistfight in the early levels to a lulzy swinging-your-arms-like-a-windmill deathfest. If they lower the attack speed your characters can gain, it'll make all the difference in my opinion.

*KoToR included.

 

[Stanislao Moulinsky]

So Feargus has been on the kickstarter comments section for hours and he wrote this gem:

We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter. I said to them "So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits" They said, "Yes".

 

[Ausdoerrt]

The DnD rules particularly do not translate well for attacks per turn. Melee animation cycles range from a sloth fistfight in the early levels to a lulzy swinging-your-arms-like-a-windmill deathfest. If they lower the attack speed your characters can gain, it'll make all the difference in my opinion.

They already did that in NWN2. Except that they just limited the speed of animations, and the game would still register the multiple hits. Worked OK, I thought.

EDIT: The above post is brilliant

 

[Lexx]

So Feargus has been on the kickstarter comments section for hours and he wrote this gem:

We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter. I said to them "So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits" They said, "Yes".

Wow, that's... unbelievable lol.

 

[.Pixote.]

I wonder if it was Bethesda who approached them....

 

[Makagulfazel]

Obsidian's been a bit more informative the past few days. Here's their comment page:
http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/obsidian/comments

My preference is to always have a moving world - but one without time limits like the one in Fallout 1. Oh the 150 day limit ( think that was what it was). Someone's great idea that wasn't exactly communicated to everyone.

Not to create an ME2 vs. ME3 debate, but I have to admit that it took me a while to get into ME3. Once I did get into it, I enjoyed it a lot. I liked that there was a return to a bit more in the way of RPG numbers and equipment choice. -Feargus

I haven't played ME3, but yeah.. Who wants to play a <strike>interactive movie</strike> RPG with such limited choices in character progression and equipment? Not this fool.

Our goal would be more sublime with evil. I don't know if I've every actually used sublime and meant it before. Josh and Avellone are great writers and believe in portraying evil in an interesting way rather than the knocking grandma down and taking her money rather than helping across the street way. However, there can be a place for that here and there as well.

I don't want to speak out of turn on what we are doing with portraits just yet. As for the camera, it is going to be static. We are looking at zoom and a zoom that isn't just a blurring of the pixels.

We are thinking more like BG2, with the caveat that exploration is important so we are making sure the areas have plenty of open-ness about them.

 

[maximaz]

nor am I fond of JE Sawyer's work

Why? What work?

It's a public press release, some of the most important goals cannot be revealed.

Say what? It's a public press release where they are asking the public for money. The perfect time, I'd say.

 

[Makagulfazel]

Not using Onyx now. Unity must be pretty nice to work with.

EDIT:
POST SOMETHING SO I CAN POST SOMETHING

 

[FearMonkey]

Update 7: Non-combat skills with Tim Cain

Update 8: New Digital Tier, Novella by Chris Avellone, and Translations at $2.2M

Update 9: The power of MODES and Godlike Races: Our $2.3M Stretch Goal.

 

[Kilus]

Also it's past 2 million.

 

[Crni Vuk]

and still 19 days to go. I would not be surprised if they reach 2,5 or even 3 million ...

I am really happy about all those kickstarter projects which did not only reached their goals but also with 200 or even 300% of what the target was. Granted, the money the have set as limite probaby was only the "minimum" they needed for their project to work. But still. Now neither Obsidian nor the people working on Wasteland can really say that publishers etc. limited their creativity. I am excited to see the end products.

 

[valcik]

Unity must be pretty nice to work with.

Let's hope we don't get a bunch of generic looking games, filled with Unity Store (tm) models. That's one of the reasons why Bethesda's games aren't appealing to me anymore, they looks like some freaking clone of each other. Personally, I prefer originality over quantity.