aratuk

I'd like to support this game by buying it DRM-free somewhere other than Steam or presumably the Microsoft store. GOG would be great. I kind of think DRM-free might be anathema to the Xbox overlords, but here's hoping. (Is there still a Microsoft store? I still have a Windows VM, but it doesn't seem to have a "Microsoft Store" application.)

Even if iPhone screens are potentially too small, what about Apple TV? (Even still, there are soooooo many more iPhones than iPads!)

The administrative cost of preparing and mailing out physical copies would far outweigh the inconvenience to the minuscule number of backers who are hypothetically without internet access. It would be cheaper to buy that one guy in Phnom Penh a gift card to his local internet café. The argument doesn't hold water. As for "we like it" – again I'd counter that it costs too much to be worthwhile. Obsidian should spend its time/money making games, not turning out bric-a-brac.

Exactly what would be the point, aside from consuming potential development resources for something that is "not necessary," and maintaining the fantasy that it's 1998? Also, can you burn me the latest patch to CD-RW and slide it through the grate on my locker?

Sooo… Steam downloaded a 566 mb patch tonight (for Mac, at least). Any word on what that's about?

It needs latvian, too!

We are go. Key generated, beta downloading.

I ran into a small but bedeviling issue running the Stick of Truth on a MacBook with Parallels running WIndows 7. It works fine until the point where Cartman teaches the player to fart, which requires clicking the right mouse button while holding down the left mouse button. This isn't possible with the usual ways of emulating a right button press with an Apple trackpad (i.e., two-finger clicking or Ctrl+click). Because the keybindings can't currently be remapped in the game, your options are to use an external mouse, or if you don't have one, remap some unused key on the OS level to serve as the right mouse button (RMB). The go-to method for doing this on Windows is a application called AutoHotKey, which works fine with Parallels but not with the Stick of Truth. The Stick of Truth apparently accepts keyboard input at a lower level than that at which AutoHotKey operates. Hmm. Both Windows and OSX have built-in accessibility options for the disabled allowing you to emulate the mouse with the number pad, but because the number pad in turn has to be emulated on a laptop keyboard, I wasn't able to find a good way to get this to work within the game. The remapping application I found that works is an open source one called KeyRemap4MacBook. It's very straightforward. To remap the right option key as right click, just start the application, scroll down the list to the submenu "Change Option_R Key", expand it, and check the box for the very last option in it, "Option_R to RightClick". It will work immediately, and for as long as you leave the KeyRemap4MacBook application running. Whenever the game asks you to hit the right mouse button, just tap the right option key. Your normal RMB emulation will still work, too (unless you're holding down LMB ;-|). I would have liked to find a Windows-based solution so that OSX wouldn't necessarily have to be running, but this solution presented itself first. Haven't tested with VMware, but it definitely works with Parallels.

Right, guys? Huh?

I would be curious to know in a ballpark sort of way how much additional revenue has come in from people completing their orders on the website. I would imagine a lot of people had additional money they were willing to part with by then. I know I did. What percentage of backers still have to complete their orders, anyway? Do most people add money when they do so, or not? Does it look like it's going to affect the project's resources substantially? Too soon to tell?

I love this kind of update. Insight into the process itself is much more interesting to me than the results of any specific design decisions, which would be spoilers anyway. Try not to tell us too much that we will find out anyway when we play the game. Tell us things we would otherwise never know. The how and why of the content, not the what. I'd been curious to know more about how projects such as this are managed, especially since I've witnessed the results of some other Kickstarted games attempting to stick to a schedule. It somewhat amazes me to see other, experienced developers so grossly miscalculate the amount of time it will take them to finish a project. Maybe in a future update it would be interesting to illustrate how things can end up deviating from your expectations. Thanks for the update!

So, either this is the most culturally sensitive, mature collection of people on an internet message board in all time, or mods have been assiduously deleting jokes about pimps. Maybe a little of both.

I'm curious if it's still possible to buy add-ons — particularly digital add-ons — on top of your pledge tier, as indicated here: http://project-eternity.tumblr.com/post/33543990284/project-eternity-add-on-list . There is still a "donate your own amount" Paypal link at eternity.obsidian.net. So, if I wanted to add the expansion pack ($20) and a beta access key ($25), could I just donate $45 from the same email address I used for the Kickstarter, and expect to receive a survey asking what I want to put the additional money toward?

But that's kind of what people have been asking for. Something more restrained and believable. That's been done to death a hundred times over. I think they are being somewhat conservative in developing an original IP with a method of funding that is new to them. I would also like to see a lot more coloring outside the lines of the usual "high fantasy" tropes, but I think it's very much possible to innovate within constraints, too.

Haven't you seen Sawyer's previous work in Fallout: New Vegas? He doesn't do dark nights. There are fan mods specifically to make the nights darker.

I partly agree. I think it would be a great idea to open a backer store, as I would like to increase my pledge, too. I was thinking I didn't want to play beta versions of a single-player RPG, but I've since changed my mind and would like to add beta test access. However, I think it's likely that at least *some* of the physical goods were ordered in quantities based on how many were needed to fulfill Kickstarter pledge rewards. Some of the digital rewards, too, as far as things that go into the game, are probably on a ship that has now sailed. But beta access, t-shirts, and other things might be nice to purchase. Particularly things that happen or are going out before the game is released.

Good for you guys, few more projects like P:E and you will be disgustingly rich. Also love your UO avatar. Actually that's the exact opposite, in order to get filthy rich they need to sell to a big time publisher. Kickstarter simply covers base salaries and operating costs, it's not really a windfall. Nope. By self-publishing they get to keep *all* of the profits from sales. Publishers can just pay developers a flat rate to make the game, but no royalties. For instance, Bethesda paid Obsidian a flat rate to make New Vegas, and although Obsidian would have received a bonus if the game scored at least an 85 on Metacritic, it missed by one point.

Thanks for the response! It says something I very much like about a company when one of its owners pops up on a message board to answer my random, impertinent question. Also bodes well to hear that you guys are holding your own purse strings. I hadn't expected that.

They don't seem to be described as owners, but founders. Not necessarily the same. "Founders" would have an ownership stake, but it can actually be a small minority stake depending on the sources of capital for starting the company, etc. From your phrasing, I can't tell if you're saying you know particularly about Obsidian, or if you're just saying founders are owners. Owners and Founders. Trust me on that. They are refered as such all over including in discussions with (ex)employees. Also their Linkedin-profiles says. I know particulary about Obsidian, do a lot of research. Ofc, research can be wrong too if sources aren't correct. Thanks, that's what I was curious to know… assuming you are a reliable source.

They don't seem to be described as owners, but founders. Not necessarily the same. "Founders" would have an ownership stake, but it can actually be a small minority stake depending on the sources of capital for starting the company, etc. From your phrasing, I can't tell if you're saying you know particularly about Obsidian, or if you're just saying founders are owners.

Just curious if Obsidian is owned (in whole or in part) by the five people listed as founding it -- Feargus Urquhart, three Chrises, Darren Monahan. I'm guessing there would be additional investors, and maybe a bunch of other employee shareholders. No parent company, right? (Excuse me if this is widely known or in some obvious place. I looked around the website, searched the forum, read Wikipedia page.)

I'm a bit curious about how some of the developer roles actually play out in terms of typical daily involvement and interaction with one another. (I guess I mean the ones that aren't self-explanatory from job title, like maybe animator.) And where is Tim Cain in all of this? I read something about him recently and I had no idea (or had forgotten) he was working on this.

If the updates continue to be this thorough and interesting, I'll feel like I'm getting my money's worth just from hearing about the process. It feel like it will be quite an experience to play a game after learning so much about the work and decisions that went into making it. Hard to believe I was worried I was being impulsive when I donated to the Kickstarter. Increasingly glad I did. And congratulations on having a baby.

PLEASE just leave Linux as the only platform without a DRM-free option!!! I promise you that watching the penguins' heads explode will be worth it.

It's not moot if a prospective contributor cares about the stretch goals. Plus, there's a greater degree of accountability when the total amount of money contributed can be seen. I don't think we have to worry about shoddy or shady accounting practices from Obsidian, but frankly I'm surprised that Kickstarter's terms allow links to outside payment services, especially since Kickstarter itself collects 5%. What I'm asking is how this is kept track of.