Wasteland 2 Team Hits Funding Milestone, Outlines Plans If They Get More Cash

[DoctorFinger]

More Kickstarter game news! I know you're excited. Brian Fargo of InXile Entertainment updated the Wasteland 2 development blog yesterday with some promising news. The company has announced that - between Kickstarter and PayPal - they've reached the $2.1M goal which will allow Obsidian's Chris Avellone come aboard the project. But they don't want to stop there. The more money that is pledged to the project, the bigger they'll make it. So Fargo has sketched out tentative plans for the game if they hit fundraising goals of $2.5M and $3M

So at 2.5 million dollars we would bring in another couple of designers help create more areas. This will not only increase the overall size and depth of the world, but it translates to more storylines and more player options as well. At this funding level we would also bring more level scripters in to allow us to get levels in faster. When we get levels in faster it allows more iteration time to really hone things in. I believe that iteration time is the single most important factor towards shipping a polished and deep game.

In addition, we will add more NPC portraits and equipment artwork as per what the fans have requested in the forums. We would also increase the music budget to allow Mark Morgan to layer in even more atmosphere. The bottom line is that this kind of budget ensures that Wasteland 2 is BIGGER than Wasteland 1. And for the people that remember little Bobby from WL1… well he was left for dead and he is pissed.

At $3M the would be able to work on a suite of mod tools alongside the main development. InXile won't yet pledge in stone that there would be a mod kit, but if they get that goal it sounds like a strong probability, albeit a kit which would launch after the game shipped. $3M would also let them add even more art and content to the game.

While I still harbor some doubts about these sort of Kickstarter funded projects, I like that Fargo and the team are providing regular updates.

Sources - Wasteland Chronicles; Shacknews

[Reverant]

I think this wave of crowd-funded games is pretty cool, but the whole thing does raise questions. How do we know that money we put in goes directly to the project? Where's the extra go? What if they raise that amount and then fail to create a product with it, like the studio goes defunct or just through fraud like 3D Realms?

[DoctorFinger]

InXile, like a lot of other companies doing Kickstarters, have pledged to donate 5% of the profits from the finished product back into KS projects. But beyond that, anything they get, they can keep. If the studio goes down before the project is done, then the money is essentially lost. It's not an investment in the classic sense, it's a donation that may entitle you to something if certain conditions are met.

And sooner or later, one of these game companies will go under before their KS project is finished. It's happened multiple times in other fields, and it will happen here too. That more than anything will be when the KS money starts drying up. Which is why everyone and their grandmother is trying to get in on the system before that happens.

[jpublic]

It's also why a lot of people (like me) have been pretty reluctant to give money to these things. I gave a bit to this one because I think Fargo has enough integrity that he won't screw you, and a bit to the Shadowrun one because of the irony factor (and didn't HBS own it in the first place?), but others? I'm disinclined.

[MagGnome]

I'm not so sure that the Kickstarter money will "dry up". It might not continue in the amounts that we are seeing right now, but the model has already proven itself many times, and I for one hope to see it flourish into the distant future. Getting away from the big publisher model is a great thing to see.

I've given money to projects headed by people I know and trust (a friend's movie, Tim Schafer, etc.), and I am glad I had the opportunity to do so.

[TheKeck]

One thing I wonder about is how these games are going to be with the budgets involved. I just watched the video from the double fine adventure today, and they talked about how Full Throttle had a budget around $20 million. I was surprised by that.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by DoctorFinger

And sooner or later, one of these game companies will go under before their KS project is finished. It's happened multiple times in other fields, and it will happen here too. That more than anything will be when the KS money starts drying up. Which is why everyone and their grandmother is trying to get in on the system before that happens.

To me that is like saying that sooner or later a big publisher will make a shit game and rip people off therefore nobody will buy games from big publishers anymore.

Yes, inevitably there will be turkeys. I see this as not all together different from the $60 gamble when we buy a mainstream game. It just has a few different parameters:

-requires a far in advance "pre-order" counter balanced by a much lower price

-involves projects you are already interested in being made rather than ones somebody else is spending millions of dollars trying to convince you to be interested in.

-hassle free/ DRM free distribution

-Swag if you want it, not if you don't.

Frankly, I see a lot more downsides in the traditional model these days where most of what I get is watered down bullshit predesigned with hooks in it to milk an extra $10 a $30 from me before the game is ever released (Fuck you, Bioware).

I'm sure one or two of the six games I'm funding so far won't pan out. I'll still be paying something like $20 a game on average even if that happens for games I genuinely want to play rather than $70+ for a single game I'm being hornswaggled into purchasing.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by TheKeck

One thing I wonder about is how these games are going to be with the budgets involved. I just watched the video from the double fine adventure today, and they talked about how Full Throttle had a budget around $20 million. I was surprised by that.

Err, are you sure you didn't mishear something? Schafer himself said that Grim Fandango (which came out three years after Full Throttle and had higher production values) had a budget of 3 million, which the Kickstarter project has now surpassed.

According to Wikipedia, Full Throttle had a budget of approximately 1.5 million. There's no way that game cost 20 million to make in 1995.

[EternalGamer]

Yeah, The Keck is wrong. I believe Tim said Grim Fandango would be a little over 3 million today WITH inflation included.

[MagGnome]

Yeah, I'm watching the video now. He said that Brutal Legend cost $20 million to make, not Full Throttle.

Edit - According to Wikipedia, Grim Fandango's budget was $3 million in 1998. I'm not sure what that would be with inflation.

[TheKeck]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

Yeah, I'm watching the video now. He said that Brutal Legend cost $20 million to make, not Full Throttle.

Edit - According to Wikipedia, Grim Fandango's budget was $3 million in 1998. I'm not sure what that would be with inflation.

Brutal Legend! My bad.

Fears averted.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

Yeah, I'm watching the video now. He said that Brutal Legend cost $20 million to make, not Full Throttle.

Edit - According to Wikipedia, Grim Fandango's budget was $3 million in 1998. I'm not sure what that would be with inflation.

At lot of the budget for Brutal Legend, I imagine, was also for the engine they built, which they have used in most if not all of their subsequent XBLA games (Costume Quest, Trenched, etc.), I believe.

[Pale Ale]

20 million big ones and all we got was Brutal Legend? That's the most depressing thing I've heard all day!

[DoctorFinger]

$20M is on the low end of what an original retail game costs nowadays.

[DoctorFinger]

Touch Arcade has a look at what happens to a studio when their Kickstarter doesn't meet its goal.

http://toucharcade.com/2012/04/06/wh...re-determined/

[roboninja]

Vision document was released today. Gets me tingly.

[DoctorFinger]

First screenshot from the game.

[Narradisall]

Liking the look so far. I think Wasteland 2 is one of those games that will come out, more depth is good and all.