fan

I think the question insulting, even if it isn't meant that way. We just gave the obsidian team a ****load of money to make a great game. In a lot of ways, the money means trust. And now a proposal to hire outside talent for the realization of their own idea, their own game they haven't even really begun working on? It just doesn't make sense for us, the uninvolved (in a production sense), to propose that.

I can't talk about the editor, but as far as I know the graphics resources available to modders (through the game library and other modders) are huge. A few of the most popular mods are texture and mesh overhauls, improving the look of the game. Recently ENB mods have been cropping up which implement a lot of changes (color scheme, film grain, depth of field...). I reinstalled FO3 using "midhrastic ENB for FO3" and some texture mods just a couple of days ago and it practically looks like a recent release. I agree that the fully voiced dialogues are a big hurdle.

Here's something new: Ephemera / Transients Since we already have the soul theme, I propose a disembodied soul race. Transients have the ability to: - create characteristic avatar(s), whose appearances and abilities are determined by the skill/might/experience of the soul. Imagine variants ranging from rudimentary golems to a guise indistinguishable from sentient races. - invade dead creatures and take over their bodies. - invade living bodies through a) permission or b) domination and "sneaking up". - shapeshift their avatars into weaponized forms (special attacks, damage type) - reverting into disembodied, fragile form. (relevant after avatar is destroyed in battle). May seek shelter in willing companions (option through romance?). The transients are visible and vulnerable in their disembodied form. Creating an avatar is an investment of energy and materials: earth, stone and metals for the golems, flesh and blood and rare minerals for the more advanced builds. Losing an advanced form is more than a nuisance, and pretty much forces a return to a summoning circle. Lore: Transients are rare, and quite a mystery. The two dominant theories identify them either as a separate race with unknown procreation methods, or ghosts from dead individuals. There is no transient society as such, each is a world onto its own and may have friends in any race. They suffer not from aging, although their life can easily be ended by disturbing the delicate flow of energy of their disembodied form (disruption either by a conductive material or any form of energy will do). Religious zealots hold strong opinions about what should be done with them. Transients "wear their souls on their sleeves", and all but the most skilled are notoriously bad liars. The lies aren't obvious in their words or motives, but from their avatar's expressions. Beware of transients that hide their faces. Distrust/Animosity from individuals who fear their bodies being invaded is strong. Some suspect hidden transients in society. For obvious reasons, transients have to adhere to strict rules enforced by their own kind and the other races. Each transient's standard humanoid/sentient race avatar always looks the same, and is explained either by personality giving form (race theory), or as an echo of their appearance in a former existence (ghost theory). Even so, as the character evolves, details of their form reflect those changes. The only real issue I see with this race is how to solve inventory continuity. The commands "companions pick up my junk and hold it for a while", and "give it all back" might do the trick.

Instead of using taunts, I'm in favor of making attacks of opportunity or attacks from the back deadly. Ignoring the fighter should be suicide. Likewise, I'd like to see "normal" combat mechanics only apply when fighting 1 on 1. xx on 1 should incur serious penalties for the defender.

I imagine it was more like: Feartgus Urquhart: Wow, look at the money some developers raised from kickstarter! We could make a great old school game without a publisher breathing down our necks if we independently raised money there. Chris, are you interested? Chris Avallone: Sure, me and the team will throw something together. If it plays out, we'll start working on it seriously. So... I guess they are at the drawing board right now thinking about these questions. Which is ok, I don't understand why some people demand facts right now. It's exciting to see the project developing, and empirically faith in Obsidian is not misplaced. What I'm much more interested in is how much 1.1mil actually is, in terms of development time. More specifically, how does it compare to the development costs of PST.

The stretch goals have been announced, but the toolkit some users have been wishing for is absent. I do not know about the legal ramifications of releasing a toolkit, nor the amount of work required, nor the dev team's attitude towards it - I'd greatly appreciate if a dev could give some general insight.

We've got a crowdfunded project with many many rpg veterans chipping in. I'm ready for some innovation and experiments. Here are some features of my imaginary, perfect 'Project Eternity', add your own below! Resting Spells/abilities regenerate instead of becoming unavailable after use until the party rests. The party acts at 100% efficiency when well rested, but gradually becomes more vulnerable and loses effectiveness in all skills when tired. Spells not only cost mana, but tire casters independently. The same holds true for physical skills without consuming mana. The party can rest anywhere to regain up to e.g. 50% efficiency, but can only recuperate to 100% in designated resting areas. Familiar: As a tactical asset, it can spy, explore, steal, poison, play tricks etc. either on enemies/neutrals or companions. It's got character (I always thought Morte was a good familiar, if overpowered as a fighter.) It's not an ugly beetle. Dialogue Regular people share parts of a huge knowledge pool. Besides the traditional dialogue window, a kind of "google autocomplete searchbox" displays possible questions relating to the key words typed in. E.g. "Mr. X" would permit the questions: "What do you know about Mr. X?", "Where does Mr. X live?", etc. Choices Some painful, some impossible, and some to be proud of Example: "You paid dearly for doing the right thing. As a child slave, you decide to help a friend avoid punishment. You get caught and your hand is chopped off in retribution. Later on, you can't use bows and 2h-weapons. Furthermore, the wound is a stigma of a caught and convicted petty thief." In the later game, those friends' actions have special significance to the player, and create immersion. If later on a magic liquid metal hand that restores lost abilities, can shapeshift and execute killmoves happens to be found, it'll be enjoyed all the more. On the other hand, any injury can be avoided by not helping the friend in the first place. Not paying attention makes it easy to inadvertently go down the wrong path. You want to be a good guy? Be prepared to swallow rage and forsake the satisfaction of vengeance. Vigilante killings are recognized as such by society. It's not easy to be just, and almost impossible to entirely avoid being manipulated. Prudent choices such as "bringing someone in" instead of killing them outright are available. It's impossible to succeed every time, and players are confronted with moments of intense frustration. No guiding hand An immersion breaker in modern games is the relentless pace. Not in Project Eternity. Here it is important to pay attention to the dialogue. Little is gained by following quest markers or checking objectives. Facts are recorded, but the player jots down his/her own conclusions in the journal next to them, and chooses his/her plan of action. The minimap is not a substitute for looking at where you are going, players need to familiarize themselves with the game world. Help is readily available by talking to people, but the right questions need to be asked. Superior solutions to quests apparent only with understanding and immersion are available next to regular endings. Mystery The player is placed in a wondrous place, and is not all that powerful nor important. He/She isn't able to battle everything, and might need to run from a conflict without ever having a chance of besting an opponent. In PST the lady of pain set a great mood. Beating everything into submission does not solve anything, nor does it even seem a worthy endeavor. Themes Philosophy is fun and fascinating. Kierkegaard and Hobbes inspire fascinating dark characters whose dispositions and actions give a special flair to this RPG. There is no arch enemy, per se, the player develops a philosophy he/she needs to see through. Combat The trade-off for tactical mastery in turn based combat is the static feel. Especially during unchallenging encounters, parties approach each other, find the right distance, stop, and lose health until one dies. Not in Project Eternity. To start with, enemies have hit boxes which can be individually targeted. Moreover, terrain, obstacles, distance, position and stance are integrated as tactical elements. Attacks and spells can knock targets around. More action oriented players such as myself appreciate timed active actions (block, parry, riposte/counter, chain...), although these are optional in the game menu. Both classic rpg lovers and action oriented gamers appreciate differentiated combat stages, where party characters dynamically adjust their standard attack according to distance. Long range, mid range, and melee. A melee character needs to consider how to approach through a debuff focused mid range without penalty (by fog, evasion, cover, long range stun/knockdown...), thus making the "approach and hack" tactic less feasible. Different armors equal different strengths and weaknesses. Weapon changes during combat are quick and necessary. Semi-scripted melee and spell combos bring joy to all (thief hamstrings an opponent from behind, fighter bashes his head in) Romance During the last years games have opened up a lot in this respect. We saw more LBGT friendly interaction, and a lot more skin. Since all bases are covered in Project Eternity, a large cast of characters is needed. Most characters are regular boring heterosexuals, not that much interested in sex in any case, because immersion doesn't permit otherwise. A true romance (and with good reason not everyone wants to go there) seeps out of the confines of dialogue. Combat changes, as do expectations from partner and party. Interaction is more frequent and natural. A darker side of romance is the power to influence/manipulate/control one's partner, and some evil bastards take advantage of that. Leveling A Fallout approach is chosen in lieu of fixed classes. It's possible to pick up formerly unknown skills during the story which are not included in a skill tree/pool, and different types of equipment have unique actions. Toolset Whatever wishes stay unfulfilled, a toolset brings them to life. Modders not only add or change content, they change gameplay, fix bugs and update graphics. A toolset for a game is the gift that keeps on giving. (Check out the oblivion/skyrim/fallout3/falloutnv nexus if you haven't already, it is insane what these people deliver)

Very much this. This! The community would take care of lots of other stretch goal wishes and more besides.

Looking at the success you have with Project Eternity, and all praise for past work, I think the chances of success for kickstarter projects to remake the old classics in an improved and moddable form are high. Planescape: Torment (buy it back!!!) is highest on my list, then come Fallout 1 & 2. Personally I prefer the gameplay of F:NV to isometric turn based combat, maybe some compromises can be found here. (I think of elements of Dungeon Keeper, Okami, Mount&Blade) The stories of those games are top notch, and I for one am so nostalgic about them that I'd buy remakes on principle. Just polish them up, flesh them out a little more, give them a little more love. I'd play them in any form they come.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this before, but I sincerely hope this game will be easily moddable. Some content added to F:NV is simply amazing. Almost endless replayability, and with the new ENB suites, it even has the look of a recently released game. Talk about aging gracefully. Community content for this upcoming classic would only serve to make it so much better in the long run.

To the whole Obsidian development team, Thank you. Thank you for countless hours of fond memories, for strange and memorable places, for dreams come true. As a non-native speaker living in Europe, I played Planescape: Torment with a dictionary. I revisited the game years later and found my memories so much more engaging than the actual game, that I stopped playing after a while and just let the old feelings roll over me. Later I realized that I was even disappointed by how fast the loading screens disappeared. All the old experiences have a place in my heart. It doesn't stop there. Fallout 2, F:NV, Star Wars KOTORII... You left deep prints on me, and I am deeply grateful for your work. I read a lot, and I think that there are "perfect books" for every individual at different stages in life. I consider Planescape: Torment to have been THE perfect book for me when it came out. Nothing since has come close, has captured my imagination in a way the Nameless One, Annah, Morte and Dak'kon have. You have created for me a peerless classic, even if your tools are more varied than those of the old masters. I don't have $10.000, but I'll be damned if I can't express my appreciation and gratitude in other ways. I want to shake your hands. I'd even hug you if I could. If one of you ever comes to Austria, I'll buy you a beer. I'm a couchsurfer, so you can even crash at my place. You've got my email, so get in touch. The fundraiser for Project Eternity (prominently displayed on reddit) brought me to this forum, so even though my post is mainly off-topic, I have two favors to ask for the game: Make it deep, and make it moddable. Thanks again, you guys are great!