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All of Double Fine

Thanks for all the responses, folks - it may take me a while to sort the ones here, Twitter, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun among others, but I want to be thorough. Any more feedback or ideas, keep 'em coming! It's encouraging to see such a strong response.

Pretty much this. Go wild MCA!

As many before have said: The most important thing is that YOU do something you are happy with and spread your creative wings. I have mentioned it before, but I will chip in $1000 for a Kickstarter the first day, no matter what the game is about and how it is played. As long as Chris is head writer and you have your long time PC fans in focus. That said, I wouldn't be sad if this hypothetical game has lots of dialogue and the choice & consequences you do so well. Deep and difficult strategy if combat is present is nice. Isometric + turn based is usually best for this, but the classic Freedom Force shows that turn-based isn't a must and I really think too few games like it has been made on the PC. If you want to maximize pledge income, I think you should do what Order of the Stick is doing - adding new milestone goals so that pledging becomes a game in itself. Though with the "entitled gamer" culture being what it is, I suspect great adoration could turn to great anger when some people realize they won't get exactly the game they have imagined. I think managing public relations will be a challenge.... Adding a variety of small games in completely wild settings as subgoal rewards would be cool. Something like the small creative games Double Fine did to get their creative juices flowing again after almost being killed by Brutal Legend flopping. Ok, the realistic stuff over and done with, time to fantisize: Some dream settings I have always wanted to see turned into games (but if licence costs would mean less game - screw it, make your own IP): Anything China Mieville (though it is rumored he only has contempt for games). The Gentlemen Bastard world by Scott Lynch, rising in the ranks of a thieves guild from being abandoned there as an orphan. An occult detective story with secret magic warfare and people making disturbing pacts with dark forces set in Victorian London or the court of Louis XIV of France. A vivid bustling Constantinople of the Ottoman Empire with scheming eunuchs, Janissiaries and princesses of the Purple chamber... You cooperating with White Wolf to do a single player Werewolf: The awakening game (Werewolf is the only setting that improved in the second generation I think). A game where you kill the loathesome bad guy, only it turns out he has vital knowledge, so you have to defy the gods and spring his soul from hell. A game where instead of someone telling you to attack a place, a full-frontal assault will be suicide and instead you have to carefully infiltrate the location! Spying on the change of the guard, seducing intimidating or bluffing guardmen or servants to get a map of the grounds, not knowing in advance what the magical defences are, etc etc.

Yeah, going to have to agree with everybody else on one thing: New Intellectual Property, something unique, or at least not painfully and utterly generic. No elves and dragons, please. Preferably with bucketloads of worldbuilding and characters. More specifically, there's something I've always wanted from my Western RPGs, and that's a viable Diplomatic character build. A character who just sails through the game entirely on the merits of his or her charisma and intelligence alone. Or, if that's not entirely possible, at least would passively provide buffs for companion characters.

Honestly, I'd just like to see a game that exemplifies what you and the rest of Obsidian do best. You have some fantastic writers, a great sense of how to make an RPG that actually offers a true role-playing experience, and you've created some complex, enjoyable, and immersive settings that are fun to get lost in. Something like that. To me, it doesn't matter if its isometric or 3D, I'd buy it. Here's a list of things I'd personally like to see in it: -Character Creation -Muted Player Character -Lots of dialogue/responses -Exploration -Make it possible to get to the end of the game without killing anyone Pretty much what you guys have already done with Planescape, KotOR 2, NWN2, and Fallout: New Vegas. I'd just like to see you guys carry on that tradition in some way. Good luck! If it happens, I'd support it!

It must be a decade since I last played Planescape: Torment, and I've been waiting since then for another game like it. I don't mean some sort of prescriptive nostalgia-fest with isometric what-have-yous and all that, but I would love to see something that picked up where it left off in terms in of being driven by character and themes rather than dungeons and combat and power fantasies. I remember the combat being so easy as to be basically trivial by the time you started wandering out into the Planes to do really bizarre things --- and that felt absolutely great; by that time you were hooked by the story and didn't care. Planescape was a seriously lean game, the opposite of a Dragon Age or a Baldur's Gate. There must have been a little filler, but not much. Fighting happened when the plot needed it, and quests told interesting stories that expanded on the games' themes. Items, stats, and lore appeared when you needed them and kept out of the way most of the time. And most important, the story never, ever stopped moving. I don't really remember anything about the gameplay mechanics --- I can't remember a single spell (and I'm pretty sure my Nameless One was a mage), nor one fight, nor a single item --- except for the sacred disc that the religious exile carried and which you gradually unlocked to discover his past and its intersection with the Nameless One. But I sure remember the bizarre mystery of the Nameless One's past and the terrible realization that all the evil you got a chance to fix in the game had started with him. I remember the chaste succubus and the renegade robot and the tower of skulls that you had once pulled Morty out of --- and the remarkable revelation that he was the game's most faithful character. And the Lewis Carrol-weird portals to other worlds. I remember how uncomfortable it made you with who you were, and how you gradually realized that every one of the characters was somehow fighting their own nature. And oh, man, I remember the themes. They were over-the-top and a little ridiculous and really fantastic. I don't remember any moment in gaming better than when you realized why the game was called Torment and how much it was really about what can change the nature of a man. For me anyway, that's what made it unique. I don't think there's ever been anything else like it, and it would make me enormously happy if there were.

Everyone posting about this hypothetical game and suggesting that it use a D&D setting needs to understand that doing that would require Obsidian to get a license from Wizards of the Coast, which could be expensive. It would also make it difficult for Obsidian to follow up with sequels, since it wouldn't own the IP (and thus wouldn't have control over whether it got a license to keep making games set there). Personally, I'd love to see something original that happens to be in the spirit of Planescape: Torment, by which I mean: it features interesting characters, a strange universe, and an overwhelming sense of mystery and consequence. It could fantasy, it could be sci fi--just as long as it's mature and interesting, I'll gladly pony up for it. As far as the mechanics, I strongly favor a mix of real-time exploration and tactical turn-based combat, a la Fallout 1-2 (though preferably with full party control). I can tolerate combat that is real-time-with-pause, but in truth, it gets tiresome having to start and stop constantly to figure out what's going on all over the battlefield. Turn-based is simply more clear-cut and easier to manage, IMHO. I'd prefer to see Obsidian spending more resources on the interesting stuff (narrative and game mechanics) than the graphics, so whatever is most cost-effective here is fine by me. An isometric fixed camera would probably be a good idea as far as keeping costs down on the art. I don't care if the graphics are 2D or 3D; however, if characters have a lot of shared animations and the camera is fixed, 3D could actually be more cost-effective than 2D, in which case it gets my vote. That's it for me. If you post a Kickstarter project at all along these lines, there is an excellent chance that I will contribute to it.

Greetings Mr. Avellone. Before daring to make a petition from you, I'd like to thank you for all the wonderful experiences you're partly responsible in sharing with me. Like all others in these posts I am a fan. So much that I made an account just to write this. I also confess that I've played Planescape: Torment around... sixteen or seventeen times and dug around the infinity engine files. With that being said... **** the fans. (gently) We are not game developers. If we knew what makes a good game and how to make it, we'd be making it ourselves, instead of asking it from you. I am not sure what's your thought process (immaculate and glorious as it must be) behind asking what sort of things the audience wants to see funded. The consensus seems obvious, a high concept WRPG that evokes to the novel, immersive experience from Black Isle times. Well, that may seem appealing, but part of that quality is well, the novelty. Planescape 2 would not alienate and awe us as we once were. Hell, whatever we ask for would not do such a thing since it'd be present as an idea-seed in our brains. So I believe the best way to give fans what they want is to ignore them and do your own thing. I trust you, Mr. Avellone. I consider your plume a sure sign of divine spark in games and writing. You do not need to ask what we want, what we want is for you to work in a censor-free, wild environment that allows you to produce something new and refreshing. Even if that isn't a high concept WRPG. Out of curiosity, could you risk a budget estimate for a low-end WRPG? Do you think an isometric view is still viable?

On top of what I'd said before - I'd love to see you do an RPG sans combat. Where combat just isn't an element at all - where the concentration is more upon exploration, puzzles, and learning about a unique environment. That would be interesting, too. I just think that there's a lot of focus on combat in RPGs of late and there doesn't need to be. This "EVERYTHING CAN BE SOLVED BY MURDAR!!!11" attitude adopted by so many RPGs (I'm looking at you, Skyrim) makes me feel like an omnicidal maniac, and I don't want to feel like an omnicidal maniac! So at the very least, even if you include combat, I'm hoping that there'll be ways to completely avoid it entirely. I know some people get their rocks off at gutting virtual people, but... Iono, I'm just not a violent person. In general, it's not something that appeals to me. And the more 'serious' it is, the more 'in Universe' it is, the more it bothers me. This is why the omnicidal maniacs of Skyrim bothered me, but Bulletstorm didn't so much. If you have to include mandatory combat, silliness is a good aspect to have there. But yes, let's prove that we're not a bunch of hormonal idiots unable to conceive a game where we weren't satisfying deep, bizarre needs via poking things with manswords. Let's do away with that stereotype altogether. Like I said before - with something like this you have the chance to take a risk, to do something really unique. And whilst I realise that a completely sans combat game from you guys is unlikely (no matter how much I'd wish for it), I do hope that you'll not put a heavy focus on combat. There are other ways of doing things - you could even try to have a really fleshed out diplomacy system, for example. You know, that's the one thing I really liked about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. That's what kept me in that game for almost five months. I despised it graphically, I felt that aesthetically it was terrible, and the world was boring. So why did I stay? I stayed on because diplomacy was a card game that you got to play, and you could actually use that to 'level up,' you could explore the world as a diplomat, never engaging in combat at any point. So you'd seek out other diplomats and people represnting cultures, clans, peoples, nations, or what have you, and you'd engage in diplomacy with them. It was great. It was silly, but it was great. Why not more of that? I don't know, but it makes me feel like some bloodlusting savage when I think of just how violence-focused games are, we could do better. And when I think of Obsidian games, it's never the COR VIOLENCE I'm thinking of, but the brilliant moments of story and choice. Vault 34, for example... Vault 34 was one of your greatest moments. It was truly a triumph of storytelling, of atmosphere, and it was so, so clever. Why do we need such a focus on combat? When we think of a wildly original fantasy world, is the only thing that the average person can think of is how many new and different species they'll be able to stick their mansword into? Because that's more than a big repugnant, really. I want gaming to be about more than "That thing where stupid manchildren hit virtual boogaboos with virtual sticks." So I'm hoping that in this game, combat won't have a huge focus.

There are a few things about PS:T that have yet to be surpassed, and none of them have to do with expensive stuff like graphics and voice acting or minute mechanical details like camera perspective, party size or D&D 2e combat. What made PS:T good was that the vast majority of sidequests are of direct relevance to the principle characters both narratively and mechanically. Rather than rolling us through a giant cast of one-off RPG stereotype characters (plus one 'companion quest' per ally as per the Bioware model), each serves to deepen the characters we actually care about. We learn more of their past; we learn about their attributes and tendencies; we gain abilities for them that tie thematically to who they are. Only in PS:T do you get to recover one of your former eyes, stick it back inside your body, and in so doing gain both memories and abilities pertinent to those memories (and pertinent to you! Not to god damn Grimsby the Uninteresting who runs the inn and lost his paperwork in the wolf cave). I've always been surprised that nobody else has done these things since. The stories we see in RPGs today are scattershot, unfocused, thematically oblivious, often lacking in good drama and tension. PS:T was directed, focused, thematically aware and for this reason it was filled to the brim with interesting things. I played through it again last summer; practically everyone you meet and everything you do is concerned with the parable of Nameless One, his past and of course his nature. Storytelling that looks inward rather than outward. This, IMO, is what Obsidian games do best, you seem to be among the only ones in the entire game industry who can do it, and you should continue to do that because that's what makes your games special (regardless of how they fare on Metacritic).

Hello, I'm a long time lurker here but I've followed the Interplay/BIS/Obsidian community basically since the first Torment forums appeared on the Interplay website. I just want to say that I don't actually care what kind of game you make. You guys have done enough to prove that any game that interests you will also interest me. My only desire is for you to make whatever kind of game you want to make. If you do that I will donate happily.

I would like to see an original IP isometric game. I'm not particular about turn based or real-time with pause. I'd like to see it have some choice. Consequences aren't a must have, because I understand the complication that brings. But I'd like to express character ideas beyond the combat. I want to see mature choices. As in exploring choices I can relate to, not action hero or mustache twirler. Play a guy who's over his head in whatever is going on and just doing what he must to make it through instead of the natural leader that always has the perfect plan and everyone obeys. I don't know how reasonable that is at the end of the day. I'm really open on just about everything else. A personal story or not. Save the world or save yourself. Futuristic, medieval fantasy, urban, superhero, paleolithicpunk, low magic or high. I'm kind of worn out on post-apocalypse and zombies. Heck, go absurd enough and I'll forget all about wanting relateable choices.

I'd love to see an old school isometric RPG with zero voiced dialogue. An emphasis on creativity is a must in terms of art direction, story if there needs to be one, and all around just creatively challenging.

I'm going to against the general trend here, and suggest something original, rather than just list some silly wish-fulfillment fantasy spruiked by the fan fiction writers with no concept of licencing or copyright themes. One of the greatest injustices in gaming is that Obsidian has barely been able to make their own IP. I'm not really a fan of old-school RPG turn-based combat systems (it's kinda insulting to turn hundreds of dollars worth of silicon into a pencil, paper and a 20-sided dice), but I'll live with it as long as we get the sweet non-linear, multithreaded narratives and unique characters Obsidian's famous for. Also, the entire Holy Trinity (Avellone, Sawyer, and Urquhart) must be fully involved! Personally, I wouldn't mind a cyberpunk game, but that's my personal preference and I really don't like giving orders on creativity. At any rate, I'm sure you'll do well, and no matter what you decide, you'll have my money - if only to support artists who are breaking away from the publishers and doing what they love.

I think another Planescape or Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale won't be possible but I would expect something new, but in the spirit of those games, old school isometric story-driven RPG! Please make this happen, I'm willing to donate an obscene amount of money

I love the Idea of a Diplomat class, in fact non-combat class in an RPG sounds great. How about having a Healer class that isn't designed to be mainly used in combat. Or an engineer class, who's job is to make stuff most of which is unrelated to combat unless you spec them that way. Or how about a entire dual class system, with each character having a normal class and a combat class.

First let me say that what is happening in the few days is almost making me cry of joy, after so long listening to publishers spewing their nonsense about pc gaming being dead and old-school games having no place on today's market, the kickstarter fever is making me look at the future of the industry with hope for the first time in many years. Now about the game I would like to see, i will echo the sentiment that seens the rule on the coments, do an old school CRPG about what you guys are passionate about. Obsidian has the best writing team on the industry today, I realy looking foward to see what you guys can do with no pressure from publisher and no arbitrary deadlines. I have full confidence that will guys can deliver something memorable.

Hey Chris & Obsidian, Made an account here just to comment on this, because I am very interested. Here's what I'd love to see, short and sweet: Certainly a turn-based combat system, but one that isn't plodding. Take a look at the Grandia series, for instance. A setting that isn't strictly high/dark fantasy or generic science fiction. Something weird, self-aware and mature -- but not in a blood and guts sort of way. Maybe it looks like this, on a really high level: A weird art style. A self-aware story. Mature characters -- ones that span all ages, sexes, world-views, etc. Thanks and good luck!

I would cash everything I have in the bank and give it to Obsidian if they did this: Onyx Nights 1. An open-source 3D engine similar to NWN2 (so the ****ty camera can always be programmed correctly). 2. A scripting system that is easy/robust as NWN2. 3. A rules set that is fully customizable (as in it could support any rule system). 4. A ****ton of art assets including medieveal/modern/space. 5. Tile and 3D environments, just like NWN2. 6. Very good modding support for 3D models (3DS Max and that open-source one). 7. Combat can be turn-based or RTwP. 8. FACEGEN (so you can create as many new/different looking NPC's) and Speedtree 9. An easy to use yet powerful editor that is also open-source. Basically take all the bad from NWN2 like it only uing the D&D ruleset, and open-sourced and very very modder friendly. If Obsidian truly cared about the cRPG genre, they would spearhead a game developed like this. That said, they are however a business and need to make something that would be profitable for the company. They probably could re-tool the onyx engine already to do all of the above. There you go Obsidian. This is something you could give to the entire cRPG community and it would only continue to grow and thrive.

It could bring some interesting results if the setting and themes were about something like Game of Thrones meets Philip K. ****. edit - Oh, jesus... I can't write a persons name without it being cencored?

Okay here's the game I fantasise over; A sci-fi version of Sid Meier's Pirates as an RPG, in which you and your crew sails and colonises the clouds of Venus, make the game short, but with lots of re-playability, I liked how you could alter the world you started in for difficulty. The semi-2D environment of sailing on an ocean of clouds, is very conducive to stealth and ambushing, as well as semi-random(stealthed) encounters. Make it 2D isometric turn-based Strategic tactical RPG with squad/party combat as well as heavy emphasis on non-combat, such as making each character have two class a combat class and non-combat class, although there could be some overlap. You will have RPG progression, your Airship will have RPG progression, and each of your crew members have RPG progression. You, your Airship and your crew members, will be fully customisable. Each member of your crew will be distinct have there own stories as well as interconnected ones. Everyone of your crew member (including you) can have emotions, relationships and even Non-game over deaths. The main game [story] is time limited, making the game technical short and fast paced, but the game can carry on outside of the main story. This allows both a quick game for those who want it, and an in depth hidden world full of exploration and side stories for those whom have the time. The world is composed of vast oceans of clouds, filled with floating structures allied to various factions and of different types, Sky Farms[Harvesting the much brighter rays of the sun to feed the plants], Sky shafts[Vast towers that plunge into the clouds, hoping to gather resources from the surface without being destroyed by the inferno on the surface], Sky Hooks[ Port cities, with space elevators connecting it satellites above], Sky Fortresses [Large floating commercial cities, that trade and hoard Gold, weapons and other] resources], Sky Mines[small wondering mining cities that seek out naturally occurring floating islands composed of alien coral], Coral Shanties[scrap together home built on the underside of floating islands, often filled with pirates, and folk willing to viciously defend their home]. The Floating Alien Coral Islands are islands composed of hexagonal tiles made of nitrogen-filled porous rock/living matter, the islands are often filled with minerals gathered from the air by micro-organisms as well as other important resources, it often carries native alien life forms as well, but be careful the oxygen you breath is a deadly toxin to them. These islands can be like mini block game side mission, where you can gather resources for trading or upgrading, as well as for practising combat. All floating structures can be sacked, conquered or traded with so long as they don't destroy with their cannons when you approach, crew/party combat should be tactical and turn-based, kind of like RPG chess.

Ok so here's mine: An RPG that has as its base a living, believable world that reacts to your actions and exists DESPITE you, not FOR you. A focus on realism. Like Darklands, but 20 years more advanced. Create good AI and game mechanics instead of scripted events. Non-linearity and a world you explore because its inviting, not because it's the only direction you can walk in. A grey world without clear good/evil choices or people, where everyone has a plausible motive for their actions. Use that as the backdrop for intense, personal relationships and challenges with consequences. Adult themes and problems, not teen fantasy. Quests about solving believable problems, not finding the lost gem of supahpowah. Relationships more like Torment with some lessons from the better japanese so-called dating sims. Real consequences, in the game world. Not just in a cut-scene or in a karma meter, but really, like if I don't save the village's water supply, they die or move out, and that village is gone for the rest of the game. I want to be crippled by difficult choices and even have not making a choice be a choice, instead of just 'pausing' that quest until I come back 2 game years later to finish it. That feeling of being involved in the world like Star Control 2, or A Mind Forever Voyaging. And not this hand-holding easiness so popular these days. Let me lose, let me make choices that suck. Let there be enemies I simply CANNOT defeat without massive preparation and planning. I would love to be able to really affect the game world, not just in scripted ways. If I rob all the trade caravans, let the town's money run low, affecting the population, shops closing, famine, all leading to crime, possible invasion, etc. If I ignore the growing monster threat, let them start terrorizing local towns, instead of just waiting for me to come deal with them. Let me hear news about such events through realistic channels with realistic delays (word-of-mouth via traveling salesmen) instead of on an omniscient world events screen. No magic universal karma: if no one sees me kill farmer joe, then let me go and get hired by his son to find the murderer, and frame someone else. And no gamey crap like artifically blocked-off areas or scaling enemies. I'm not against 3D, but 2D is so much easier to make pretty, leaves more to the imagination, and doesn't take such a huge chunk of the budget. I always wonder how awesome something like Skyrim might've been if the resources spent on graphics and audio were invested in creating the living AI world that Derek Smart always talked about but never delivered. Combat has to be turn-based, but WEGO. Realtime with pause and giving orders while paused is basically fine. I like fantasy, but it's really overdone. I'd like to see a rather fresh setting, maybe a rarely used area of sci-fi (cyberpunk perhaps, or colonization of new worlds, think mines of titan, gateway, the aldebaran series). Or zombie apocalypse. OOooooorr, a remake of IT CAME FROM THE DESERT.... Actually, not kidding. It doesn't need a massive budget, very story-centric, offers lots of opportunities for great writing, non-linear gameplay (if done right), and is peppered with lots of (hopefully) fun short mini-games and tactical elements that are part of the story and make sense instead of being totally absurd QTE's.

Not a sequel. Naturally, there are many single player RPGs we'd love to see continued but, even without the concern of licensing fees, there's more value in showing that not only are deep, single-player rpgs worth publishing but you don't have to rely on an established brand (even a lesser known brand like Fallout was to the xbox generation). A couple of things we've been told also come to mind. One, that Obsidian's Onyx Engine has been designed for role-playing games specifically, and two, that Dungeon Siege III didn't include an editor as the earlier Sieges did, because that would have been as consuming as the game itself. The important thing was assuring the quality of the core product. So with that, I would suggest that Obsidian uses Onyx for whatever you're already planning for it, but allow us to use Kickstarter to motivate you to put together a package of tools, tutorials, and advice for us. A big part of the Double-Fine success seems to be the language they used. Essentially, "Here's you're all-access pass, welcome to the team." This would be similar. We would help you give us the means to develop alongside you, in the spirit of less-than-modernly-marketable RPGs. I can picture that Kickstarter spawning numerous other Kickstarters to realize all of those Fallout/Planescape/Arcanum fantasies that modders are already trying to force into editors that are far from ideal for those properties, or putting together in games that are already showing their age.

Of all the videogames I've played in my life - hundreds and hundreds of them - the very best one remains Torment. I love it so much, if I ever get around to getting a tattoo, the first one will be a Torment tattoo. And it was a game that came out of nowhere. I didn't know what to expect, it caught me off guard and blew me away. I would love to see you make a game with a similar impact. Make the game you want to make with no publisher-imposed limitations and compromises - the game you would like to play, and be proud to call your own with no apologies. That's the game I'd like to see Obisidan make. And please leave Torment alone. It doesn't need a sequel.

Rosy eyed nostalgia for yesteryear from what I can see. If the technologies of today were available back when PS:T was conceived I doubt it would of been either isometric or turn based but more akin to something likle FO:NV or ME/DA. The mechanics aren't what made it a great experience, the narrative experience was.

- Planescape 2 - NWN 3 (but not like Storm of Zehir, more Story-driven like the Main Game and Mask of the Betrayer) - Alpha Protocoll 2 - a new version (if possible) of Albion ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_%28video_game%29 , scifi Rpg) - Neuromancer or Shadowrun Rpg That is what i would like to see.

a spiritual successor to Planescape. would put down $100 off the bat. don't care about actual setting, definately don't care about any form of continuity. simply a similar level of gameplay element balance for an rpg. and the feeling of thick, greasy, satisfying offbeatness instead of hollow and baseless 'weirdness' *hope my english is ok*

Please please please please make a janitor RPG. It would be a dream come true. Think about it. You could start off with just a standard mop, and as you defeat rats/villains, you'd level up and get access to newer fancier mops. This is just brainstorming, but here are a few quick examples: a two-headed mop, which grants the player the ability to mop twice as much in the same timespan; or an automatic mop, which would drain less stamina per mopping area; a laser-guided mop, which would increase your to-hit ratio; or water and soap, which would allow the mop to remove dirt from the floors, etc. There are so many possibilities, this thing could basically write itself. The setting would allow for a vast number of possible locales; schools, fast food chains, Iraq, etc. You could also have underwater sequences where the player needs to mop areas under the sea. You'd be trying to mop the sea floor, while fighting off sharks and crabs and stuff and also having to swim back up for air (maybe a diving suit as DLC) - it'd create a great sense of urgency. Maybe in the final level, you could be on a spaceship and some of the other astronauts find some dirt on some of the controls and can't navigate properly, so you have to quickly dust it off before the shuttles crashes into the sun. Meanwhile, you'd have alien space pirates boarding and trying to keep you from doing your job. It'd be party-based, of course. You'd recruit characters throughout your journey. A student in detention, a disgrunted fast-food employee, a talking dolphin, etc. You'd have different classes; mark 1 janitor, mark 2 janitor, mark 3 janitor, dolphin, astrophysicist. So, they'd all have different abilities like mop, critical hit: mop, make cute dolphin noises to distract enemies. So in the space shuttle defense, you could have the janitor mopping off the dirt off the controls, while the dolphin was distracting the pirates and the astrophysicist was backstabbing them with large physics books, and the marine would be blasting them with shotguns. The game would have destructible environments, so s/he'd be shooting off parts of the shuttle too. The janitor would then have to mop all the broken pieces back together so that the spaceship doesn't fall apart. This is the perfect setting. RPG players love to grind. This is the perfect opportunity for them to grind. What's more tedious than mopping floors? NOTHING. This is the perfect grind. Oh, also add in motion controls for the mopping.

No (spiritual) sequel, Original IP. (spiritual) sequel has a limited appeal, Original IP can have much greater appeal. Plus kickstarter is supposed to about innovation, about get rid of publisher based limit (some of which can be left over in prior IP).

This. Go wild ! Noone will tell you that this games is for 12-21 audience. Breake bariers in gaming. So Obsidian where is my kickstart link to donate money ? Oh **** Obsidian making AO game not respecting any norms and standards in gaming industry. I mean why the **** books can describe things like prostitution slavery rapes etc and films and games should be all goody goody ? Is there someone who thought all above in :To Your Scattered Bodies Go book by Philip Jos

That's a must, yup. I can't feel like the hero is my own character if he starts talking with his own voice. It's not even about role-playing, it's about immersion.

If you make a TB, isometric, party based game with a controllable party and good tactical combat like ToEE, I will give you at least $500. If you make it RTwP I will give you nothing!

Turn Based, Isometric RPG - Original IP

An rpg which encourages "roleplaying" through dialogue. What made the classic RPGs great was their ability to enable the player to reflect his character's ideas about the gameworld, to actually form opinions and voice them, and to see the consequences of your choices. Such practice requires a well written dialogue that is no longer suitable in todays console market. Ruleset, campaign setting and all other factors such as graphics and voice acting are of secondary importance. Though I would like to see another Planescape game, another WoD game, or another Arcanum game, I would settle for any real rpg that doesn't suffer from a fat rich publisher's streamlining requests.

What can change the nature of a man? Give us something with a story that makes us laugh, cry and think.

I would love a true sci-fi RPG isometric game: * Dont want science-fantasy, but hard scifi! (Or kinda hard, I accept that too). Just no psychics, no mystical forces and powers, no silly mumbo-jumbo pseudoscience... I don't really care if its space "opera", cyberpunk, a what-if set 50 years from now, life in a colony out in some solar system, a post-cyberpunk detective story... whatever Obsidian thinks can be good, for then it will. * It should be 3D isometric (really isometric, not 3rd person shooter with option to "zoom out"). * Turn based (remember those?). * No sandbox world. It's okay if you can travel freely back and forth the different areas, tough. In fact its preferable, for it can mean the game is non-linear. * Real party (ie. you go around with ALL your party members, unless of course you decide to leave some or the story demands you leave them out at points). * More recuitrable NPCs than your party limit, with personal quests and some form of the "influence" system Obsidian does so good. * World interaction and reactivity. Nothing breaks immersion more than NPCs not reacting properly (or at all!) to things you have done or are doing in front of them. And nothing brings you in as much as interactive object worlds (ie. not just decoration). * Any and all NPCs can be slaughtered if you so desire. It would be cool if accomplishing large slaughters (cities) is borderline impossible though. * I still love the SPECIAL system. Specially (see what I did there?) the way your attributes affected options and gameplay, intelligence affects your ability to process information and come with new dialogoptions (gasp!), perception can change what the game shows us via its descriptions (Unbelievable!), etc. * Different approaches for solving quests. * Dialog trees! Skill checks! * Main character should be silent protagonist. Don't care for fully voiced NPCs (too restrictive for the gameplay/options). It could go the Planescape way of just an audio snippet off important characters so you get their voice in your head or could go the Fallout way of "talking heads" for these important characters. * Several factions with true agendas, no real "baddies", some of them emerge as you progress. Ability to join different sides if it makes sense for the story. * Preferably something more down to Earth, where you - sure!- ultimately make decisions that affect people (even millions of people) but you are not the intergalactic hero out to conquer the baddies. You can be just a guy who is good at something ("something" you decide during character creation) and as s/he travels around doing jobs/missions/quests/minding his own business, s/he gets better until his actions shape some aspects of the world in a mostly subtle direct or indirect manner and/or he eventually gets noticed and receives resources. Or, you can indeed make Planescape: [insert Subtitle Here]; which of course, as everybody else wants, should be a game that shares the spirit (and mechanics as most as it's possible) of the original, takes place in the same universe but isn't a direct sequel. Instant classic. But after that, please consider a new sci-fi IP! Aaaah, how nice and cheap it is to dream!

Just tell me where to send my money.

I think that the biggest advantage of this model, is that the game doesn't have to cater to the mainstream audience, but you can make game that are aimed at the dedicated few. What this means to me, is that you won't have to spend money on things like voicing every line in the game, porting it to consoles, making it accessible to a wider audience, using top of the art graphics etc. I guess my point is, I'd be more than happy with the production values of the early 2000s games.You can instead focus on what us, the dedicated few can appreciate - Excellent story, deep and words-heavy dialogues and texts, isometric tactical combat, getting down and dirty with stats... What made old school PC RPGs great! I would happily pledge 100$ or possibly more (which is saying a lot, as I'm a rather poor animation student!) for a game like that. All I want is for the classics such as the Baldur's Gate series, Planesace: Torment etc. to be the inspiration, the game to largely based on the Infinity Engine gameple-wise and for the game to be PC-centric (Sorry, console-folks, but I believe this kind of game should be PC centric, beside, consoles RPGs don't really need any Kickstarting!) The setting should be unique and interesting and the story should to be something a little more interesting than "save the world", the characters shouls to be more than "elf wizard". Basically this game should have Romancing, reading, imagining and most of all - Role playing! My dream project would be a having the game set in the Dark Sun campaign setting. How amazing would that be? I understand if that could never happen due to licensing costs though.

Following from other comments, without wanting t obe too prescriptive, I'd suggest an innovative setting. Possibly something ostensibly shiny-shiny. But with a flawed protagonist. A screwup with obvious weaknesses, sometimes en-nobled by better intensions or scruples. Surrounded by hordes of staggeringly well-crafted characters. Criminal investigation would be cool. But it's a tricky one to do well. i.e. make it so you can draw the wrong conclusions and follow dead ends and get the wrong fellah sent to the dragon chair. The dragon chair is like an electric chair except it's more flamey, and it's got wheels.

looong comment I would probably donate to a project started by Obsdian -- provided you give us more than what DoubleFine did (it's why I have not donated to them yet). I want a game concept, more than a genre and a promise that it will either be great or horrible. What is the setting, what elements do you want to try? The game can fail, in a sense, but we need to know more about what you want to create. We know we're taking a risk, but we need to be a little more informed about this risk. When a lot of the big picture is laid out, then I will support you. What would I like to see? First of all, Obsidian does great work, but you guys also have made some big flops. You've not always had the best gameplay ideas, though your narrative and the general flow of the game tends to be incredible. I would like to see a unique, unused setting. Perhaps something pre-historic and/or anachronistic. Maybe something political? The Indus valley civilization. The ancient Olmec, the forgotten people of Teotihuacan, the people of Ankor Wat. Something quietly sinister. Something unknown. Something mystical and ancient combined with modern elements (Perhaps the cities surrounding these great ruins are really anachronistic, with some modern inventions like guns or steel or machinery or very advanced mathematics or philosophy). I would absolutely love to see "Kreia" return. As far as I'm concerned, she's the best character to have been featured in your games. A "neutral", unreliable yet wise character with a complex motive. If you can promise someone like Kreia, I will shell out sixty American dollars. You don't need a large cast of party members. Three to four will suffice, if they're all of sufficient depth and design. The scope of the game does not need to be "epic"; though it should obviously be of some decent length (longer than the newest Final Fantasy we were just graced with, which clocks in at under 25 hours). As for gameplay, you can do "traditional" Baldur's Gate-like combat with its isometric perspective. Or you could do something real-time like Skyrim (though please, please don't copy Skyrim's abominable combat system). I would only ask that spells and abilities be unique or at least interesting. Skyrim is exactly the antithesis of this, in terms of spells and abilities. If you were to use the mesoamerican setting, you could easily do an interesting ability system using blood sacrifice (or some kind of sacrifice to the gods) or something different like that. Actually, green /obsidian/ was of immense importance to the central american cultures... it symbolizes rebirth. That could easily be your currency too... A 'Planescape 2' is a bad direction to go in. But to call it that to get more donations? Go right ahead. Grim Fandango is an excellent example of how a creative 'morbid' setting can go. Planescape's right up there with it. Why I love Planescape so much is because of its setting... so getting the setting right is important. I want female characters that matter. That just aren't pieces of ass like Tali or Miranda from Mass Effect. I like Visas, but I think you can create a strong female role which is more complex than hers. Of course, 'keep it simple stupid' is also not a bad strategy to undertake. For this kind of project, you're getting all the money up front (though I suppose you want to consider selling this on Steam or something afterwards too), so I expect there to be a little level-headedness. You can't go overboard with your freedom, as that, in my experience, tends to create a lesser product. Some self-constraint is good. Romance? Well, a little bit is fine, but female characters exist to capture that other 'essence' of humanity and sex hardly has to do with that. Graphics don't matter. Voice acting does not matter. I don't want loads of money poured into either of these. In fact, you can have "average" graphics and that will more than suffice. Voice acting? It can be completely unvoiced. The only RPG which has ever had voice contribute to its atmosphere and value was Vampire Bloodlines: The Masquerade (though I guess some of Obsidian's Voice Acting has been good in the past). I doubt you will be able to achieve quality voice actors on a budget, so just skip this. A good soundtrack is great though. But just look at how bad voice acting detracts from the The Elder Scrolls games - don't do it! I don't think I need to tell you how to write. You do a great job at it. You can write the game like it's meant to be followed up by a sequel or not. But please, please, please make choices matter. Mass Effect is such a disappointment. Don't be afraid to go all out with this. Plan from the very beginning to make choices matter thoughout the game. If I **** up and the world ends, great! What you decide in the first five minutes of the game should directly effect what happens halfway through it, if you can manage that! The game being easily mod-able and open-world are big pluses but not required. I hope you're not teasing us by asking this question. I think a lot of us are serious. We would pay you $60 or more if gauranteed us another jewel like KOTOR2 or Planescape.

I love the Idea of a Diplomat class, in fact non-combat class in an RPG sounds great.How about having a Healer class that isn't designed to be mainly used in combat.Or an engineer class, who's job is to make stuff most of which is unrelated to combat unless you spec them that way.Or how about a entire dual class system, with each character having a normal class and a combat class. A game where we could have a unique setting, double class so we don't gimp ourselves to enjoy dialogue, and companions that are worth caring about... seriously. Not sure if I could continue to exist should this occur. Serious though, Planescape sequel or something equally strange and smart. I know people think Asian history is played out, but something Mongolian Horde style would be great, Cultural Revolution stuff would be heretofore untouched. End of the day, I'd give you some money for about any damn worthy RPG!

Well I would love a spiritual sequel to Alpha Protocol, but I imagine that is out of the question. As long as this project has tons of choices, especially of the morally gray variety, and a reputation system with npcs like Alpha Protocol it should be all good.

Give me the tools to make my own game that my friends and I could play. A "game" that takes what Second Life and Minecraft both have; the ability for us to create our own story and share it with friends with an easy to use interface to create in. A game (editor) that gives us the ability to modify the landscape, texture objects, make objects, animate basic movements, put events in, even record our own own dialogue and have it linked to characters/NPCs in the game. Something where when we're done making it, we can post it somewhere, have other people download it and either play it or connect to our hosted server to play it with other players. Sell a client and creator versions (client can only download and play what's made, editor has the ability to act like a client and in addtion allows you to make the game world). This is the one thing that those games that surprised everyone did that nobody seems to understand yet. They gave you the ability to create what was in your imagination and then share it with others to enjoy. If I could create a world as detailed as the Skyrim world with the easy-to-use interface like Second Life has, have my friends log on and play it with me like we can in Minecraft, and be able to record voices and create stories like the dialogues in SWTOR, I would buy the game in a heartbeat. Additionally (and this is pushing it I know), if I could take the worlds I make, and have the opportunity to sell (or allow download for free) them in some kind of developer moderated marketplace, even if a developer takes a cut of my profits, I would pay any price for that, because the game would always be changing, people would get to tell their stories, show their worlds, and it would be always changing. This is obviously a basic idea that needs a lot of development, but I've been waiting for SOMEONE to do it. You have hundreds of thousands of people who play D&D in groups, making their own adventures and games. As we grow up, we move, we change, but we all remember those wonderful adventures. Give us a way to play more online with one another. A new way to create and play an RPG game. p.s. don't impliment voicechat, no need to recreate the wheel when there's so many clients already out there that do that.

In no particular order: If going for a D&D license, Dark Sun would be pretty cool. Still on the licensed product side, I'd love to see a game in White Wolf's Exalted setting, but realize it's pretty unlikely. Probably more attainable: something based in the Arcanum world would be good, if that license is available. Darklands is another unique videogame setting, and could be pretty interesting. In any event, I'd prefer a game with a more open-ended structure: more Fallout than Torment. I feel games are particularly well-suited to world-building over storytelling, though naturally it's not one or the other. Most importantly, I'd like to see huge scale. Something along the lines of Baldur's Gate 2, where you start off powerful and end fighting dragons and godlike wizards. To get that I'd be willing to make concessions on graphics and voice-acting -- voice-acting in particular is nice, but hardly a requirement.

First: I'm in for $100 on any sort of an old school RPG. What makes an old-school RPG for me are mechanics and systems throughout the game that make you stop and think. Make me agonize over every single decision. Make every decision have consequences (Some small, some huge, some subtle...but consequences). This is what PS:Torment has done better than any other game: Choices in the -role- playing aspect had a huge impact on the way your character unfolded in the -roll- playing parts of the game, and visa-versa. For my money the best system to do this is an isometric tactical gameplay system. Pre-rendered high quality art is timeless particularly at modern resolutions and should ease the burden of asset creation. Scalable difficulty with a wide variety of detailed character customization while avoiding stereotypical cliches as the basis for that customization. Companion characters should have unique abilities/classes/types to give them all distinctive combat personalities to define them along with their dialogue. An emphasis on text based dialogue with little voice (Mostly small voice bits to define each major character and add vibrancy but allow for more meaty conversations). Setting is something that should develop from a natural creative process but my personal preference would be something highly surrealist with an emphasis on pushing the bounds of a specific genre like fantasy/sci-fi. No pigeonholes, please. An awesome thought would be something in the vein of Deadlands which did a great job of mixing several genres and showed how you can define an entire world with art alone; this is coming from someone that absolutely despises Western themes. Hope to see something come from this.

First, let me say that I think it's awesome that Obsidian is considering following Double Fine's lead into crowdsourced funding for a niche project. I think there are only a handful of developers with the fan esteem that could pull something like this off on a large scale, and Obsidian is one of them, so fingers crossed this becomes a reality. It holds a lot of potential for allowing vibrantly creative devs to help niche genres thrive by going around the obstructionist min/maxing philosophy of the large publishing houses. As to what I'd like to see: 1.) Party-based (as in, having direct control of the main character and members of a party); this is essential. There are lots of RPGs getting made these days, but more and more they're either going the route of solo gameplay or real-time/action combat control of the main character with purely AI support. These aren't bad ways to do RPGs at all (and Obsidian's done great with Alpha Protocol and New Vegas), but I love old style party-based control and outside of the first Dragon Age, that's just not being done a lot (or done well) anymore, and I'd want a project like this to focus on giving us something we're not currently getting. 2.) It doesn't have to be a D&D game (in fact, I'd really prefer it not be, as that'd be funneling a lot of money into licensing rather than focusing on making the game everything it can be), but I do want lots of meaty complexity. I want a good class system, I want to pick skills and feats/perks when I level up, I want lots of customization options and plenty of equipment and spells. 3.) I don't want a sequel to Planescape: Torment. What I DO want is a game that follows in the path of PS:T or Mask of the Betrayer by giving us tons and tons of well written, thought provoking, philosophical dialogue. I want complex and interesting characters like Dak'kon or Kaelyn the Dove, Gann of Dreams or Kreia where I can literally sit and have a conversation with this character for a good half hour, exploring their personal philosophy, their history, having plenty of options in my dialogue. 4.) Isometric would be grand. The Onyx engine can do that, right? Because Dungeon Siege 3 looked great. 5.) Can I mention a quality class system again? I feel like this is something completely forgotten these days. I'm so tired of the few RPGs with class systems only letting me pick between fighter, rogue, and mage. 6.) Give us a fairly unique setting. Again, I don't necessarily think this needs to be a D&D thing, but the best games from you guys are the ones that tend to stand apart in their settings. Planescape is obviously unique, but so was a shamanistic/spirit-focused barbarian culture, a modern day espionage setting, or a remade Las Vegas. Whether it's fantasy or space or cyberpunk or steampunk or contemporary or post-apocalyptic, whatever -- just be creative and totally outside the box in the details. That's it. I'm not that picky.

I'd like to see Obsidian develop its own style, which I assume has always been the plan but has been difficult to do. That would probably, but not necessarily, involve an original IP. More specifically, I'd love Alpha Protocol 2, but that's not suitable as a Kickstarter project. So a turn-based squad-combat RPG of some sort would be nice and probably fit the scope best. Maybe if ideas like the Defiance pitch aren't getting traction with publishers it could work here.

Personally, I am sick and tired of (rpg) fantasy settings. They're dime a dozen, no matter how well done. What I'd like to see is either a feudal space sci-fi setting like Dune and Fading Suns, or some kind of cyberpunk setting a la blade runner. No magic or steampunk!

Make the RPG YOU and your co-workers want I also accept Your Highschool RPG Dr. Who RPG Planescape 2 (Not a sequel. Just a game set in the Planescape Setting) Original IP Darklands 2 Arcanum 2 Just has to be turn-based, wordy, full of C&C. Ya know the drill.