rjshae

Perhaps so. It reminds me somewhat of the Renaissance patronage system, which did have a success or two.

It's a horribly tragic situation that may not end even once Assad is out of power. The nature of this fight reminds me of the Spanish civil war, 1936-1939, although certainly the motivations are different. I can't see a democracy flowering in the aftermath--more likely it'll be yet another "oriental despotism". Sad.

I kind of wish they'd have an annotatable panel listing in-game people that you've met and where you met them. That might actually be useful.

The flattening out of contributions is normal for a KS like this; the biggest growth is at the beginning and the end of the drive. PE followed the same sort of contribution curve, so I'm expecting a similar thing here. The last three days is when the fun starts.

The ripest fruit falls by itself.

There's plenty of games where you don't need to kill somebody. I don't see a particular need for them to design a purely pacifist path through this game.

Caravans generally appeared when the distance to be traveled was long and significant stretches were unsafe. Otherwise, the use of caravans is actually less efficient--you have to stockpile goods and personnel until the entire mass is ready to proceed. If the cities are ports, then trade may be easier by sea; you don't have to care for transport animals and carry extra feed.

OP: are you trying to make a generalization about gamers? I'm a gamer and I don't have ADHD. But I do match several of those qualities merely because I'm introverted by nature.

^^^^ It's wickedly cool that KS projects are willing to show us early alpha demos like this.

The Inside Out Plane As with the Shadow Plane, this realm lives in parallel with our own, albeit in an entirely inverted manner. The realm of the Inside Out is the space traveled by spirits of the elemental earth; it is open where ours is filled by stone and is obstructed where we find air and ocean. The surface of this realm lies just beneath our feet, and it stretches downward like a crystalline ocean in a perpetual twilight of rosy heat. The dwellers in this world gain sustenance from the heat of the inner earth, and thrive in those locales wherein the ground is most active. Hence, volcanoes and geothermal are hotbeds of Inside Out activity, whilst rich old loam and virgin forests form their barren deserts. The inside Out is a place of constant strife where tribes of earth spirits battle over rich resources and mysterious stakes. Their struggles sometimes spill over to create the earthquakes that can split the earth and flatten cities. Travel to the Inside Out plane is not a simple task, as it requires a type of transmogrification understood only by the masters of elemental magic and certain powerful spirit guardians. But once it is achieved, the rewards can be breathtaking. The richest of the earth are at your disposal, requiring only that you find a means to extract it.

Yup, some people like team sports and some like individual sports; it's the same with CRPGs. Besides, I think you're more likely to get a better story with a single-player game.

Here's a clue: those two KS projects started before PE.

I kind of enjoyed exploring the shadow plane in MotB.

Well, you could always try that info@obsidian.net e-mail addy and see if they are open to making an exception.

I don't think it's crazy; just a logical business decision. Some of the pledge levels have a direct impact on what goes into the game, so they would need to wrap that up before starting the next step in the design process. They also need to plan out their budget.

I think you're out of luck unless they release a boxed version commercially. See http://eternity.obsidian.net/.

My understanding is that the number of preset companions is going to be limited so that the game developers can focus more attention on their interactions. The amount of voice-over work is also going to be limited due to budget constraints. But there will be a lot of writing. Lots and lots of writing.

I suppose they could both use the same loopy inter-dimensional kickstart autoconveyor gadget to travel somewhere and leave it a mystery as to where it came from.

3D printer technology entry level cost is now down to c. $2,000. It would be cool if, at some point in the future, some downloadable models of PE figures became available for use with a home 3D printer. Just a thought... for the future.

^^^^ Different death screens based upon the path you've taken through the game might be interesting.

Are we there yet? ... umm, nope.

To me he's another in a long line of Venezuelan despots. I know he was a champion of the poor, but power, even with the best of intentions, needs to be carefully restrained. As usual, his implementation of dogmatic socialism has screwed up another economy.

Only in North Korea.