Chaos Theory

Wow, that works!

As someone who has (currently) pledged at the level where I can design an item, I'm looking for a significant clarification within the next week or two as to what exactly I get to do and to what extent. If there is no further information or if it ends up being a significantly 'dumbed down' contribution, I'll be reducing my Kickstarter donation signficantly. I'll support the game financially, but to support at that level, I expect something pretty special.

They need to clarify/provide more details regarding the $1k+ Item/NPC "customization" before they start whipping out more of these benefit levels...

Yes and no. "Talent" often gets far more expensive in sequels. As an example, the chick who did Hunger Games got $500k for the first movie, but she's getting $10mil for the 2nd. Obviously a game like PE won't have that kind of inflation, but still, whomever ends up voicing the next Minsc or Aribeth can probably hold the company hostage for a wagon full of cash in any sequel. They're that important.

I had heard that, but thought it some gamer urban legend or something. F:NV is amazing, and it makes me sick knowing the reason for the layoffs is true. You thought what was an urban legend? The fact that they didn't get a bonus because of one metacritic point? Yeah, I didn't realize how cutthroat and greedy people were in the game production community. I figured it was all gumdrops and teddy bears. Now it's darker to me. Much, much darker.

Imagine a developer makes game A during 2012; releases it at the end of the year. By and large, the money they are paid by the publisher supports their costs during 2012. When the game comes out, those payments cease. They might get a small (and I mean small) cut of the profits or a flat sum, usually based on metacritic / sales. But generally, what they need to do is make sure they have another contract lined up, so that as soon as game A is finished, they can start making game B in 2013; and then, they'll be paid by the new publisher for that. The rest of the money from the sales goes to the publisher, the distributor, the middleman like game stores, etc. Yes, it really is like that. If you buy a $50 game, you will very rarely see the developer take $20 or $30 of it. You can find more exact breakdown of who gets how much on Gamasutra, but the basic gist of it is that counter-intuitive as it may seem, most developers really do live hand to mouth; even if your game just sold pretty well, if you don't have another contract lined up, you might need to let people go. (Recently, Obsidian had to let dozens of employees go because Fallout: New Vegas only got 84 on metacritic not 85, and they did not get their bonus from the publisher. Never mind the game sold 5 million copies.) OK, but without a publisher contract right now, how will they maintain the studio until project eternity see the light? They have South Park right now. Thought they were working on something else besides PE too. So they are still doing publisher contacts right now. Also sounds like they're not involved with any current Fallout project, which is too bad. NV was better than Bethesda's FO3.

Yeah but if they have to go to execs for more money, the execs will want the IP and they'll own it. Rather keep it with the developers instead of the publishers who would eventually turn it into an action RPG series. I meant the execs of Obsidian, not an external publisher. Even a smaller company like Obsidian has its "game" people and its "business" people. The game people have to convince the business people that their project is worthy so the business people can fund it. Sometimes the business people say no, so the game people rise up and eat the business people's first born child. It's a symbiosis that must not be interrupted.

I had heard that, but thought it some gamer urban legend or something. F:NV is amazing, and it makes me sick knowing the reason for the layoffs is true.

"Take heart fellow adventurers, for you have curried the favor of Boo, The only miniature giant space hamster in the Realm. My friend and companion ever since my h-h-head wound, he will lead us to victory! Onward to the Gnoll Stronghold to the west! Tarry not! We must go soon!"

Wow, I never knew you guys played things that close. No rainy day fund? Not that I thought you'd be rolling in loot, but... Have you tried selling interns into slavery to raise some cash?

Agreed, like or not, we're all starting in the same place even if we didn't come from the same place-- that lore you can create for yourself based on your own backstory. I won't even rule out the classic "you wake up in a cave with amnesia" scenario that, ehem, was used before by this company. But chances are, since this is the beginning of an epic new storyline, I'm expecting another quiet upbringing prior to being thrust into the maelstrom of the "supernatural event". I'm picturing farmstead, castle servant, courier... Wait they did that...

I think a stretch goal should include some kind of pre-release lore material, be it a novel, short story, etc. Just no anime or comic, please.

One thing folks I think are forgetting is that we need not fund the entire game. $2-3 million is enough to get started on a BG-esque game, but it's going to cost quite a bit more to finally get the product out the door. At that point, Obsidian I'm sure has its own financial resources to spot what it needs to finish it-- especially knowing that there will be a bit of a profit from the sale of the game upon release (at least from those of us who didn't pre-purchase via KS). My point being that the Kickstarter campaign shouldn't have to raise 4, 5, 6+ million dollars to make a game in the scope of a BG, PS:T, etc. They just needed enough to get started and convince the execs that their project had at least a moderate chance of financial success. I think that question has been answered.

In the next week or so can we please get some more information regarding the extent to which we can customize Items/NPCs for those of us kicking in at the Grover Cleveland level? Questions can be found here. Thanks!

You know, I had considered that, too. If you're arriving by ship it would be perfect, as it would fulfil the openness requirement of race, religion, etc. But Road's End is a fairly large town it looks like, which goes against the majority of Obsidian RPGs. In addition, they tend to want you to work your way toward the coast-- not start on it. But it's certainly a possibility.

Hmm... No love for Paladins. Says a lot about the world, I think. Or at least the gaming world. I almost always play them.

Ahh, but they got around that in NWN2 by saying your 'father' wasn't really your father, and that you were merely raised by him. That way you could still start in West Harbor, even if you were a tiefling!

Alright so we have the map and we... have a lot of time to discuss the map. Through brief, conclusion-jumping analysis and intelligent guessing, I believe I've determined the starting location for the PC based on previous Obsidian work along with games referenced as inspiration for Project Eternity: (Previous Obsidian RPGs) Fallout: New Vegas: Goodsprings. Small village off the beaten path and a good distance from the main city. Although the hwy appears to give you 2 avenues to get you to Vegas, anyone who has played the game knows you're depantsed by deathclaws if you try and go north right away, so the game strongly encourages you to take the long way 'round. Initial PC placement on world map is center, left. Neverwinter Nights 2: West Harbor. Small village off the beaten path and a good distance from the main city. More of a linear RPG in that you are pretty much forced to follow a certain path through the map, at least initially, exploring only upon arriving at key locations. Initial placement on world map is center, south. Alpha Protocol & SW: KOTOR 2 are future/space oriented, so I don't think they apply. (RPGs mentioned as inpiration for Project Eternity) Baldur's Gate: Candlekeep. Small keep off the beaten path and a good distance from the main city. Icewind Dale: Easthaven. Small town off the beaten path and a good distance from the main city. Planescape Torment: Sigil. Large city and one of the few exceptions to the formula above. The primary theme seems to be small town/keep off the beaten path but with enough to do in the immediate area for the epilogue/tutorial (usually quick fetch/kill quests). In addition, it's generally close to a rather defined road network quickly branching to multiple directions, thus allowing the player to choose which mission hub he/she wants to do next. Finally, we can rule out some possible candidates simply because their name doesn't flow off the tongue. Who wants to tell everyone they grew up in Loghome or Maiden Falls the whole game? Lame... Therefore, I've narrowed it down to these 3 possible starting locations (in no particular order): Hill's Edge: First of all it just sounds like an Obsidian-inspired starting location. It's also got a conveniently-placed keep in the area to make for some neat intro story. Finally, it's at the bottom of the map, with a couple branching roads to get you going in whatever direction you deem necessary. Baelreach: You've got a little bit of everything here for a starting location: small village next to a spooky swamp promoting that "extraordinary and supernatural event" we all need to kick things in gear. It's also got the road network and it's a prime location for access to the major urban areas. Twin Elms: Small town, almost exactly in the middle of the map with a picturesque little lake, and it's adjacent to a rather vast area of presumably creepy ruins which I'm sure will play a huge part in the story. It's also got the needed road network taking you in any direction you want. To me, this would be the best candidate without knowing the story. So there you have it... Any other ideas?

Top 3 games referenced that inspired my support: 1) Neverwinter Nights 2. For whatever reason there are a lot of RPG fans out there who haven't played this game and arguably the greatest expansion of any RPG I've played, Mask of the Betrayer. The game was a mess when it was released, with actual game-breaking bugs that needed to be fixed, so it got a bad rap. I'm sure, now several years later, the issues are resolved. NWN2 wasn't perfect by any means, but it had awesome companions and was pure RPG fun. 2) Baldur's Gate. Maybe Obsidian really will deliver the "spiritual successor", and that alone has me intrigued. I still quote Minsc on a regular basis and that's gotta count for something. One thing I got really spoiled by in successive RPG games was the ability to rotate the camera. I don't need to zoom or tilt or any of that, but to get a 360 degree view of my surroundings became a feature I find very important in tactical party-based combat. In fact, it was distractingly awkward going back to play the BG series after several years because I couldn't move the cam. I realize I'd better learn to like it again, but it's important enough to keep BG from being the #1 referenced draw for me with regard to this project. 3) Fallout NV. As far as modern PC games go, it's the Mass Effect series followed closely by Fallout NV for my all-time favorite. I played the crap out of that game. But I've always been a sucker for post apocalyptic survival gameplay For whatever reason I enjoyed NV more than FO3 which is odd because I really could care less about Las Vegas, mafia crap or westerns-- all of which were the primary themes of this game. It was just so well done otherwise with an adventure around every turn it seemed. I realize PE will have little to do with it, but I think the spirit of writing and story will be just as good with the same folks making it. Honorable mention: It should also be noted that, while I enjoyed Planescape Torment, this was around the time I had a Windows ME computer and the bloody game crashed more and more often as I proceeded through the story-- ultimately stopping all progress. I was so damn mad, and I never went back. Windows Millenium was by far the worst piece of software Microsoft ever created and it destroyed my gaming life for a couple of years.

You may be in the same boat as I am, trying to get answers regarding custom items... There's really only 75 of us who have (or eventually will) donate at that monetary level, so I'm not sure there will be a lot of general discussion. But it's a huge commitment and I'd like to know some specifics about what my input will be. I had considered the NPC option, but chose the item instead. I was afraid I'd get assigned an NPC sweeping the floor in the back room of some tavern and he'd mumble something about bread for the 5 players who ever went in there during their game. I'd have to name him Ruprecht the Irrelevant or something. The thought really depressed me.

Can't wait to "design" an item, but I'd like some questions addressed if possible... 1) Are we allowed to design a matching armor set (helm, cuirass, gauntlets, boots, etc), or are we literally limited to a single piece, meaning none of the armor we design will be part of a set? 2) Are we going to be forced to choose from a list of armor and weapon types in the game, or will we have the freedom to create something truly unique? For instance, will we be limited to the usual fantasy armory (longsword, axe, bow, etc) or could I design, say, a bladed whip? Obviously art and animation would be an issue if everyone designed something unique, but it's a relevant question. 3) Within reason and based on item/character level, are we setting our own stats for our custom item, or are we merely choosing what "enchantment(s)" the item will have (+2 damage vs fire damage vs turn undead, etc)? 4) Are you limiting how many of each item is customized? For instance, if there are a large number of people who all want to design a bow of some kind, are you going to force some of these folks elsewhere? 5) Do we have any say as to what level our item is (end game vs mid-game, etc) and if not, how will you determine what level each of our items are geared toward? 6) Do we have any say as to where our items are ultimately found, such as a chest in a dark cave somewhere vs boss drop vs merchant, etc? 7) Does the lore of the item have to be limited to a brief description in your inventory, or is there an option of writing a longer story to be found, say, in a book within the game? Any idea how many lines/characters of text we'll be limited to with regard to our lore description and item name? 8 ) How will our "epic" high level items compare to possible player-made high level items (assuming this will be a feature)? I have a few more questions, but that should give me a pretty good start point...

Is this project confirmation that you (Obsidian) are not involved with any Fallout 4 (or related) project?

Absolutely agree with you, this is a special case and Kickstarter is vastly appropriate. And I'm in at goldfinger level even, because I believe in what you guys are doing that strongly. I just see an interesting future when it comes to gaming-- and not just niche gaming, in relation to something like Kickstarter. At some point, someone is going to try and say, "hey, I know you love this series and we've made millions on it in the past, but we want you to front us "x" number of dollars to get started, or we aren't going to make another." If there's a way to make more money with less risk, someone, somewhere will try it. But if there would be a way for the game enthusiast to have a shot at getting those fronted funds returned (not a profit), based on the financial success of that game-- then it becomes a really neat partnership, I think. Gaming companies could then afford to take some risks instead of just milking the same formula, knowing that they have millions from KS-like funds in case of low sales. The gamers/investors will get their game, regardless, so they'd be happy as they had already invested knowing full well they may never see a return outside of the game itself. But if that game turned out to have some financial success as well, getting some or all of their initial investment would make them ecstatic, and the company would now have a new intellectual property to grow. It's a win-win.

Ewww, Karpyshynn (or however it's spelled) is a horrible non-game content writer, and the ME books were atrocious. That's sad to say because the Mass Effect games/universe is probably my absolute favorite. David Gaider's books, however, were quite good. But a novel is a major time commitment, which is why a short story would perhaps be more appropriate. Just please no friggin' comic or anime...

Why get a loan when you can go to the public, have them pay for your production, then pocket whatever profits it makes? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me if I were a gaming company. However, you have to be careful not to be too successful, either. I know it sounds funny, but it's a fine line. At some point fans will say, "hey, you're going to make a mint on this anyway, why should I contribute?" It really is only extreme niche projects like this where I believe Kickstarter can, and obviously does, excel. Now, if you had a form of Kickstarter where your kicked-in funds were actually invested-- meaning, you get a cut of the profits (or at the very least your money back if it does well), then we're talking. I see that as the next step. Why invest in a company via the usual, rigged financial system when you can invest in a specific game? Let the mega companies finance games like Call of Duty 58, while the little guy takes on neat projects like this that may or may not succeed. Because even financial failure for the investor can be a win, provided it's a good game.