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So my apologies if this has already been addressed, but I did a search and didn't see any relevant results. So my question: -Are in-game pets, to include the Kickstarter pet, going to be functional/useful, or just aesthetic? -Is the KS pet a unique item, or will there be other pets that can be gained in the course of the game?

What We're Up To http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlfO8y-Ax3s Thanks to you, we're funded. Now the work begins. At this stage of the project, we are still in pre-production, so at Wednesday morning's team meeting we started talking about the passion-stirring topic of logistics. Before we start scripting quests and writing dialogues, we need to understand the full scope of what we're setting out to do. In some ways, the basics stay the same for us as they did a decade ago. But we have new problems to solve and we need to have them all worked out before we enter production. The key elements we have been focusing on are: The size and structure of the world - This game will be... large. And it will have two big cities, exploration areas, and a 15-level mega-dungeon. Ensuring that the world is planned properly requires examination of what has worked for us in the past and what hasn't. The original Baldur's Gate had a number of wilderness areas, but low density of content in many of those areas. Baldur's Gate II had much greater content density, but fewer wilderness/pure exploration areas. We'd like to make sure we have pure exploration areas while still maintaining good content density. Dynamic environment integration - Animated objects, interactive objects, ambient visual effects, water, dynamic lights and shadows -- all of these elements can be featured even within a "2D" world. Our goal is to strike a good balance between visual fidelity, performance (including memory on disk), and the amount of time environment artists have to spend setting up their areas. We prefer dynamic solutions that are relatively easy to author, as we want our environment artists to maximize their efficiency. Lore and story - What we've developed so far has been the result of a small number of impromptu discussions and high-level efforts. Last week, we (including George -- thanks!) had our first meeting to increase development of the setting and story. We discussed major themes we'd like to explore, the order in which we'd each like to develop aspects of the lore and characters, and what elements we each were having trouble wrapping our heads around. Our immediate focus is on the central conflict of the story and the various factions that have a stake in it. As the song goes, we've only just begun, but the team is excited and determined to make a game that lives up to your, and our, expectations. You've put a huge amount of trust in us, and we want to repay you with the best RPG we can. Next week, we'll be talking about system design and how we're approaching mechanics like class design, advancement, and the role of equipment. We're also working on fulfillment of some of the Kickstarter pledges and we'll have more info on that in the next few weeks. Finally, if you missed our D&D session from last week, we have it up on the for your enjoyment! Update by Josh Sawyer

So I came upon this. While some info is a bit outdated ("Double Fine Adventure is the largest project in Kickstarter history by pretty much every metric, including dollars pledged and number of backers."), it's impossible to deny the incredible "ripple" effect DFA had on Kickstarter: (The green line marks the beginning of DFA Kickstarter campaign.) I was thinking, it would be interesting to see the same graph done for Project Eternity. It must've brought some new gamer crowd to Kickstarter, but what I'm more curious about is how Project Eternity's "ripple" would compare with DFA's. Because, let's be honest, shooting the pledges from what appears to be less than thousand per week up into tens of thousands is quite a colossal success for just a single Kickstarter campaign.

Only a couple of days in and looks like a really passionate project by two guys - check it out:

Well hello everyone! It’s the day after our Kickstarter here at Obsidian, and while a few of us are a little rough around the edges right now, we’re already busy working on Project Eternity! In this update, we’ll go through a number of frequently asked questions we’ve received in the last day or so. If you have any problems with anything, please always feel free to head over to our forums, or reach us on Facebook, Twitter, or via support@obsidian.net. So… onward! Kickstarter and PayPal Stats So as of about 1:30 PM PDT, here’s where we stand funding-wise: Kickstarter Backers: 73,986 Pledged: $3,986,929 PayPal Backers: 3,681 Pledged: $176,279 Totals Backers: 77,667 Pledged: $4,163,208 Stretch Goals So that means we hit the 4M stretch goal, right? Yes! How do PayPal backers affect the Mega Dungeon size? It counts toward the Mega Dungeon! We hit fifteen (15!!!!) levels! Will Facebook Likes still count to a larger dungeon? Yes, for now they do! Come like us quickly and maybe we can hit the 40,000 likes for one last dungeon level. But it’s for a limited time, so… like us! Please note: If you clicked Like on our Eternity home page, that doesn’t qualify – we need likes on Obsidian’s Facebook page! Kickstarter / Amazon Payments / PayPal OK, so now what happens? If you backed us on Kickstarter, Amazon will begin processing payments and will contact you. This process takes place over a period of 14 days. If you encounter any problems with this process, never fear about losing your pledge. We’ll work with you to work out any payment issues so you don’t lose out as long as you were a part of the crowdfunding phase. Once payments are taken care of, we’ll start collecting information from you guys, and we’ll do that a few times. More info on that below. If you backed us on PayPal, and everything went through OK, sit back and relax and we’ll be in touch soon! Speaking of PayPal, I noticed PayPal tiers are still up. Will I get the same rewards for the tiers if I donate now? Yes! For as long as we have the listed options available on http://eternity.obsidian.net, you’ll get the same rewards. This is for a very limited time though, so don’t delay if you’re going to get in on Project Eternity! Oh no, I don’t think I added shipping! How do I add international shipping? There’s two ways to handle international shipping. You can: Go to http://eternity.obsidian.net: Along the right side, choose the Donate button under the “Donate Your Own Amount” section. It’s at the bottom of the Tiers just before Addons. On PayPal in the Donation Amount field, enter the desired amount and click Update Total. Log in to PayPal using your email and password. On the “please review your donation” screen, click the Add special instructions for Obsidian link. Describe what your donation is for (international shipping, top up, etc.) Change any other relevant details and then click the Donate USD Now button. [*]Hang tight for now. Once we get all of the information from PayPal and Kickstarter and then get it organized, we’ll be reviewing each and every order to make sure we know how you want your funds allocated. We’ll handle that directly with you via e-mail (please make sure the e-mail you used on Kickstarter or PayPal is accessible to you! If you have any concerns about that, e-mail us at support@obsidian.net) I would actually like to upgrade to another tier – can/how do I do that? For a very limited time, you can use the process described above in “How do I add international shipping” and specify to us what you would like to do. You can do this even if you first contributed to Kickstarter. Just include the difference. (Disclaimer: This does not apply to tiers that were sold out.) Video Streams Where can I see Adam’s Icewind Dale II playthough? Unfortunately it’s not available. Where can I see the D&D game? Here it is! Where can I see the last few hours of the party stream? Swing by Twitch TV at http://www.twitch.tv...ian/b/335806140 When is Chris Avellone going to stream playing Arcanum? We’ll be in touch soon with details on that. It might be a Holiday Special stream. Rest assured he’s going to do it - you guys hit the $4M marker! What’s the next step? OK so now what? First, come sign up on our Forums if you haven’t already. That’s going to be the best place to connect with us throughout the development of the game. We’ll also be up on Facebook and Twitter too. Backer badges will start rolling out in the next few weeks. If you have any problems signing up on our forums (our anti-spam can be rather aggressive sometimes, we apologize!), e-mail us over at support@obsidian.net and we’ll get you all set up. A survey will be coming in the next few weeks to ask you how you want to allocate funds. For those of you who are getting physical goods, before we ship anything, we will notify you and reconfirm at that time to make sure we have the latest physical address on file. If you have any other questions, feel free to swing by the forums or e-mail us! Fulfillment Some of you have been wondering how we will be offering keys for the game. You will be able to select one of the choices below for each key. Steam: Steam currently supports Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. We will be offering you a SteamPlay key. This means with one key, you can play the game on any supported platform of your choice! The Steam version will also offer in-game achievements and we are going to look at adding Steam cloud support for an even better multi-platform experience. Please note that Steam uses DRM (digital rights management) however. DRM comes with this platform and is not something we can disable. If you want a DRM-free option, please see GOG.com below. GOG.com: We will be offering DRM-free options based on the platforms that GOG supports at the time of us shipping the game. Currently, this means you only have a Windows DRM-free option, but apparently some big news for Mac users is coming… tonight, and hopefully good news for Linux users too down the road. You may have noticed that there isn’t a DRM-free Linux version listed; that’s true today, but by the time we launch, we’ll have one available. Thanks again everyone, and we’ll be in touch! Update from Darren Monahan

The past month has been absolutely incredible. You have blown away our wildest expectations and we are so excited about starting the journey of creating this game for you. The Kickstarter site will be closing down here in the next few hours – 6 PM PDT to be exact. I would like to remind you that you can watch us at the studio for the final countdown beginning at 12 PM (Noon!) PDT. We will be streaming live on UStream and Twitch.tv. Final Fun and Silly Reward Tier - Obsidian Loot Bag Our final fun reward for you is what we are calling the Obsidian Loot Bag at a $350 tier with a limit of 30. The Loot Bag contains an AMD Processor donated by our incredible friends over at AMD (you rock Steve Bell!), a signed Obsidian game (not Project Eternity), and a random assortment of Obsidian loot such as pens, coasters, t-shirts, game patches, doodles, etc. The AMD Processor is an A10, does not have a heat sink attached, and will be shipped OEM style. The Loot Bag includes everything in the $250 tier level too. Since we are shipping computer parts, we can't ship outside the USA with this one. Here are links to the final complete Add-On List and Reward List: Add-On List Reward List Big Big City #2, What Now? We dreamed the impossible dream, and hit our stretch goal of the $3.5m mark with Big Big City #2. Because we have another big city in the game, and by popular demand we are adding two additional slots at the $5000 tier for two more taverns. As a recap of our stretch goals, here is what you have added to make Project Eternity bigger and better: 11 classes 6 races 8 companions A huge mega dungeon of at least 10 levels (and possibly 11 or 12 by the time this is done!) Player house A stronghold Two big cities And much more. This will definitely keep us busy over the next 18 months working to bring you Project Eternity. Early this morning, we took a poll on what you would like to see via Twitter, Facebook, and on our Kickstarter Comments page for remaining stretch goals. Our first reaction is that we want to make the game better instead of just bigger; however we are currently discussing it at the studio right now. Thank you again from everyone at Obsidian Entertainment. We will see you on the live stream for the final hours of this crazy adventure. The art team put this together to show you a behind the scenes look on how the amazing screenshot was constructed. Click here for a larger version. Update By Adam Brennecke

So all I really want is a cloth map in addition to my digital download - I find I always do nothing with all the other junk that comes with and takes up space, and I'd up my donation by up to 40 bucks to get one by itself. I don't want to pay $120 to get the map and tons of stuff I won't use. anyone else in my boat?

It's gonna happen and it's gonna happen today! Gather round to celebrate, everybody!

I look at Obsidian's facebook page and get sad. 60,000 backers and barely 20,000 Likes? And no thread about it? I just convinced two people to Like the page (one hadn't head of any Infinity Engine game), which means about 200 more people will at least have a glance of Obsidian in their walls. This is from me, somebody with very few facebook friends who, in turn, keep relatively tight contacts on FB. If 40,000 more like it, extrapolating from me, about 4,000,000 (+/- say, 2,000,000) people will hear about it. Who knows how many of them had a good time with either BG1/2, Fallouts, IWD, PS:T, Arcanum or NWN but haven't heard of the Obsidian kickstarter. A few more of them will like it, some will even contribute, numbers both in Facebook and Kickstarter will get way bigger. If PE is something you like as much I think you do, make sure you "Like" it! Then pester a few more people to Like it, too. You will be a slight annoyance to somebody, but it will actually help. Did you manage to get somebody to back the project? Then getting them to Like it will be way easier, it's free! Don't have a facebook account? Make one! It takes a few minutes, then about half an hour to find pretty much everybody you can think from your real life friends on it. Then tell them about it. Tell them how amazing this project is! People like excitement! If you like this "strange thing" that much, people will like it just for the hell of it, just to make you happy. And their friends will see, numbers will grow! In three days we won't just get 40,000 likes, we can get 400,000!

Everyone here at Obsidian is thrilled that the feedback to the first look at Project Eternity was so overwhelmingly positive. Thank you for all the encouragement - It really means a lot to our artists and the rest of the team. The outpouring of support and donations over the last day has been amazing. Thank you! Over the next five days we have a lot of fun things planned to wrap up the Kickstarter campaign. First, crowdfunding and Kickstarter has allowed us to open up our doors to you, literally. Today you can spend a few hours with me at the Obsidian Office, and you will get an inside look into a development studio. Check out what an atypical day is for me at the office (running the Kickstarter is pretty atypical for a game developer). I promise to wear pants! We plan on doing more of these live events at the office during production. Tomorrow I plan on playing Icewind Dale II by Interplay and Black Isle Studios. Icewind Dale II was the last Infinity Engine game to be released a decade ago in 2002. Before production starts on Project Eternity, I want to revisit some of the magic that Project Eternity aims to bring back. Join the stream and have some fun! Special Obsidian guest developers will join in on the fun, and you can heckle me while I try to make my way out of Targos and through the Dale to Kuldahar. How long will I play? 8 Hours? 12 Hours? 20 Hours? Longer? Watch and find out. Be sure to check out tomorrow's update with Tim Cain. He is going to answer more of your questions in a special video update. Here's the rest of the scheduled events for the next 5 days: Friday, October 12 11:00am PDT - Inside look at a not so typical day with Adam Brennecke - UStream. 3:00pm PDT - PC Gamer Live Chat with the Project Eternity Team - PC Gamer. Saturday, October 13 10:00am PDT - Adam plays Icewind Dale II all day - UStream. Monday, October 15 10:00am PDT - Reddit AMA with the Project Eternity Team - Reddit. 5:00pm PDT - Game night at Obsidian. Watch us play D&D at the studio! - UStream. Tuesday, October 16 12:00pm PDT - The final countdown starts at the Obsidian Office - UStream. 6:00pm PDT - The Project Eternity Kickstarter ends! Updates to the schedule will be sent via Twitter, Facebook, and posted to our forums. New Novella Audio Book Reward and Add-on We have a new digital add-on for everyone. For an add-on of $20 you will receive the digital Audio Book of the Project Eternity Novella by Chris Avellone narrated by a professional voice actor. If you already pledged at the $165 tier and above you will receive it for free! Two Stretch Goals Hit and The Endless Paths is Larger We've hit the $2.7M stretch goal, which means Paladins and Chanters are added to the game, and I'm happy to say we just hit the $2.8M stretch goal in record time! George Ziets will be joining the team! The team is very excited to have the opportunity to work with George again. One more level has been added to The Endless Paths because of your help. The depths grow deeper by the day, and we are getting very close to 20,000 likes and 60,000 backers. 2 more levels incoming! Our next Facebook goal is to hit 40,000 likes - if we can reach that milestone it means we will add one more level to the dungeon! How low can we go? And last but not least, I leave you with a new concept art piece of Forton the monk. Thanks, and see you on the live stream! Update by Adam Brennecke Like Obsidian On Facebook - Help grow the Mega Dungeon!

When we hit the 2.8 Million mark, George Ziets should do a youtube video talking about what he's looking forward to / some of the ideas he might bring to the table for Project Eternity, would be cool to hear from him

I didn't see the following question covered in any other thread, so I'll ask here ... Does the Collector's Edition box contain the cloth map, or are they two separate items? I'm considering a pledge increase for the cloth map, but don't want to open the Collector's Edition box. I'd like to keep it sealed, and just play the digital download version that comes with the tier. This is especially important to me if I went with the Signed Collector's Edition box. Does anyone know if the map is inside the box or separate?

I'd like to add-on the $20 expansion cost, but I see no option for it when I go to manage my pledge. How is it done?

Hi everyone, I was pondering on a way to help the kickstarter campaign a little bit and wanted to ask for opinions on a couple of ideas for add-ons. (1) Dwelling add-on: The first one is organising a draw the buy-in for which is $13 (multiple entries allowed) and is separate from any of the tiers, the reward – getting the chance to win something (very) unique. The reasoning for it being $13 – since luck plays big part of it 13 seems like a very good fit (also, it’s not high enough not to pay it but is much better than 10). As for the reward: this could be the chance for those of us who cannot afford to pay for designing items / npcs to get lucky. I was thinking of the winner being given the choice to help design a small location of a family home or lodging place with up to 6 npcs and a small quest tied to them. It should be something not too involved in the game and with not too many resources spent on it, as not to overshadow the rewards of $1,000 tiers and up. The main reason for offering a dwelling place and several people as a reward is that this would let anybody put a fantasy take of their real family or group of friends in the game… and would give them a really good reason (and chances for success) to ask for support friends and family members who otherwise do not care much about rpgs. What a present that would be! A rich family that keeps to themselves in merchant’s quarter, shack with a family of beggars, house of loonies, gallery house of artists, house of awkward and misunderstood geniuses, whatever that one lucky person feels like portraying his closest people as (that fits in the game, of course). This should get a lot of support and would help get some otherwise inaccessible funds. (2) Initials add-on: There is another flavour of this idea which could be implemented together with the first one: a draw with the same entry fee or a bit less (again multiple entries welcome) with the reward being inclusion of the winners initials in the box cover art in a hidden way (shape of buildings in the distance, cloud formation, dents on a shield, etc). I’m sure obsidian’s artists can find a way to do that in any image. This is more personal, it is unobtrusive in any way but would mean a lot to us, supporters. Could even make it very well hidden (but more prominent) and announce the result to the public much later? Another idea is about an (3) in-game artifact. I’ve always been fascinated with the popular representation of eternity as an amount of time that would allow, without a shade of a doubt, for some monkeys pressing random keys on typewriters to come up with the complete works of Shakespeare. I’ve always imagined it with just a few monkeys, taking maybe several billion years to come with one of Shakespeare's plays but with a mistake or two in it. Then, taking a maybe several billion times the previous stretch of time to get that one play without mistakes. Then taking (meaningless number here) times the previous amount of time to come up with all his works with just a few mistakes. And finally taking (another meaningless number here) times the previous amount of time to come up with his complete works with no mistakes. You get the idea of eternity when you realise that, if you have eternity this WILL undoubtedly happen. Um, sorry, got a bit sidetracked here . So, about the artifact: It would give an-game random message when used. And these messages are what Project Eternity can get funding from. For a support token of $2 or $3 each, a kickstarter supporter could send messages to be included in a database that the artifact would use (after being checked and ok’d by devs/moderators). There could be a specific chance for it to spit out a supporter message, much smaller chance to include messages from the devs or useful secret lore (about treasure and whatnot). As a side note, this could give raise to a whole community (what message you got, what does it mean, etc.) As for the messages, they should probably be short (say up to 128 characters) and include a phrase plus the initials of the supporter (as some phrases may repeat). So where does all the monkey business come in? It just gives one possible description of the artifact. “This stone, after being slightly brushed, slightly warms up and then faintly glows with an inscription that seems to change every time. It is said that it gives an extra-planar connection to the wisdom of the gods. It is also said that it gives an extra-planar connection to hordes of monkeys that bang their fingers in strange clicking apparatus. Which of the two is correct seems very difficult to judge.” What do you guys think? Do you like these? Do they seem technically feasible?

How do you handle doing addons? Do you just send them an email saying you did an addon, or is there something I'm just missing?

Copied from previous thread: Hello everybody, among the fine folks in the kickstarter comments we discussed a possibility to help Obsidian increase the funding of the game a little bit. We actually talked about an idea that showed up earlier on Kickstarter during the funding of the adventure game Leisure Suite Larry and became a tradition for adventure kickstarters (Want the whole story? Check this). We think this a great idea and we know, Obsidian fans are some of the most passionate gamers in the world. So we decided to start THE OBSIDIAN ORDER OF ETERNITY. How do I become a member? Actually, it's quite simple: Upgrade your pledge by 8 $ and you're in. Yes, it's really that simple. You don't have to pass a test, you don't have to choose a specific tier. The Obsidian Order is open to everyone as long as s/he adds this small fee of 8 $. If you've done so simply expand your Kickstarter-Username with "- Obsidian Order" and start commenting on Kickstarter. Proudly demonstrate your membership to this very special order of the most devoted Obsidian fans and help spreading the word about our movement among all backers of Project Eternity! Why exactly 8 $? Because 8 stands for Eternity. What do you get in return? The feeling of being a special fan amongst some already extraordinary people. Yes, it's a matter of fandom, passion and love. There is no physical or digital reward in it. Don't feel impelled to do so, this is just our way to demonstrate our love for that kind of CRPGs. Some additional words Backers of the 10.000 $ tier who are technically inable to increase their pledge are honorary members from the beginning, because they've already beaten the system. You guys really got it. So, no reason to feel sad, Notch. So now, who stands with us? Farudan, Caretaker of the Obsidian Order http://northharbour....der-of-eternity

Q: What is this production beard you speak of? What will the beard produce? A: Basically the involved devs do some funky things with their facial hair during game production. See here. Q: Why would they do that? A: Because they are cool guys who aren't afraid of anything. Q: What is the purpose of this anyway? A: It challenges the devs into accepting it. Which in its turn challenges the backers into reaching a funding of 4 millions. IMO a really amazing feat that will help in bringing the best game possible. Q: What does it all mean!? How does it work? A: Obsidian will have to announce that they'll go full Production Beard mode if they reach 4 millions of KS funding (includes KS and paypal). In its turn it's up for the backers to make the project reach a 4 millions funding. Q: Isn't 4 millions too low? A: Maybe. But I had to pick a number. Q: Isn't 4 millions too high? A: Maybe. But I had to pick a number. NB: challenge does not apply to female devs/artists. I hope nobody gets offended with this gender inequality issue, but I suspect that most will agree that bearded women are not cool. PS: if you vote, please bump the thread if it falls behind page 3 (at least until it gets some amount of votes)

I am just curious about the business model and what assumptions are being made about the total cost of development and earnings estimate. I have jumped in on all the new wRPG kickstarters but I know very little about how much real game development costs. I just think it's a neat idea to be able to help games you like get developed. The mainstream industry and the mainstream gaming publications always talk about how AAA games cost 100+ M to develop, how they are a dying breed, etc. Kingdom of Amalur probably sold over 1M copies but was a huge failure. The creative content in that game did not strike me as any different from what I am expecting out of PE. By this I mean dialog, artwork, story, etc. Sure the game is an action 3D game and the combat engine must have taken a lot of work, but that alone can't be the full cost because even Skyrim was said to cost over 100M and that is just FO:NV with Swords. Are marketing costs that high? For PE, full on development of the game seems to be estimated at 17 months. If kickstarter is the only source of funding and it hits 2.55M then that gives around 150k per month. So unless there are less than 15 people working on this it won't fund labor and overhead. Also, assuming an average pledge of $25 that amounts to 102,000 copies sold. So how much funding is coming from sources other than Kickstarter? Is Obsidian matching Kickstarter funding to some level and then banking on a certain number of sales to break even, and eventually make a profit? What is that number? I am sure a similar model is being used by the other kickstarters. So I just want to understand it a little more.

Hey everyone- I had the great pleasure to talk to Feargus Urquhart about Project Eternity, Obsidian in general and the gaming industry. An amazing experience, not one you'd want to miss! Here's a tease You’ve had great success in the past, now you’re jumping into Kickstarter with your new game, “Project Eternity” What exactly is Project Eternity? Feargus: A lot of us before we worked for Obsidian, we worked for another company called Internet Interplay, which had an RPG division “Black Isle Studios” which I was the founder back then we worked with a developer called Bioware on games like Baldur’s gate and the sequel and internally, Icewind Dale 2. A lot of people called these games the resurgence of sort of PC role playing games. They were fun games that people loved to play, but they sort of stopped being made and we were having a real challenge getting publishers funding and people interested so when Kickstarter came out we realized this was the perfect way to recreate the games people remember fondly again. You mentioned Bioware, with the recent news that the Docs in charge are retiring- What’s your opinion on that? Feargus: Well Ray and Greg are great guys and still very much my friends, I talk to them frequently and I wish them all the best. They put an immense amount of time trying to build the RPG brand at EA up and I think that sometimes you need to take a break…If you work so many years so intensely you tend to burn out and sometimes you just need to take a brake. But you’re not at the “Taking a Break Stage” just yet? Feargus: No maybe I’m just more of masochistic then they are (Laughs) I still love making role playing games. It’s kind of hard for an independent developer- for those who don’t know what that means. We kind of work for people who are going to pay us, which is a challenge but also means we have more options. If we don’t want to make a certain style game- we don’t have to pitch that. Which puts us in a very different position. Of course the challenge is then getting that funding- which is why Project Eternity was a hard sell.

I just wanted to verify that the article is correct: link I really hope it isn't, as this seems like this publisher is the biggest douche I've heard of in a long time. PS. Thanks for Project Eternity, as I'm really looking forward to it.

Hello everybody, among the fine folks in the kickstarter comments we discussed a possibility to help Obsidian increase the funding of the game a little bit. We actually talked about an idea that showed up earlier on Kickstarter during the funding of the adventure game Leisure Suite Larry and became a tradition for adventure kickstarters (Want the whole story? Check this). We think this a great idea and we know, Obsidan fans are some of the most passionate gamers in the world. So we decided to start THE OBSIDIAN ORDER OF ETERNITY. How do I become a member? Actually, it's quite simple: Upgrade your pledge by 8 $ and you're in. Yes, it's really that simple. You don't have to pass a test, you don't have to choose a specific tier. The Obsidian Order is open to everyone as long as s/he adds this small fee of 8 $. If you've done so simply expand your Kickstarter-Username with "- Obsidan Order" and start commenting on Kickstarter. Proudly demonstrate your membership to this very special order of the most devoted Obsidian fans and help spreading the word about our movement among all backers of Project Eternity! Why exactly 8 $? Because 8 stands for Eternity. What do you get in return? The feeling of being a special fan amongst some already extraordinary people. Yes, it's a matter of fandom, passion and love. There is no physical or digital reward in it. Don't feel impelled to do so, this is just our way to demonstrate our love for that kind of CRPGs. Some additional words Backers of the 10.000 $ tier who are technically inable to increase their pledge are honorary members from the beginning, because they've already beaten the system. You guys really got it. So, no reason to feel sad, Notch. So now, who stands with us? Farudan, Caretaker of the Obsidian Order http://northharbour.wix.com/obsidian-order-of-eternity

Hey, so.. I really, really liked the portraits in BG2, but only very important characters had them. Then I started installing mods for the game (some of you might've read my outdated guide), and I was blown away by the atmospheric difference triggered by a Portrait mod. And those portraits weren't even good - they rarely matched the characters because they weren't custom-made, but grabbed from random portrait sites and resized to fit the game. But if it were done professionally, with input from the writers and designers - the original creators - and with a uniform style, I think a brilliant thing could be achieved and immersion would profit greatly. How 'bout it?

I think that's what their called. When items be it an extra copy of the game or whatever is paid for by adding x amount on top of the selected tier. You can see it here http://www.kickstart...re/posts/308493 There's good and bad, as I see it, but basically folks might be willing to pay an extra $50 for one item that they want rather than an extra $100 for the thing they want and a bunch of stuff they don't want. The risk is that folks willing to pay for the next tier drop their pledge. There's also the extra hassle of sorting it all out I don't know of any finished projects that have used the idea so I don't know if it all ends in a nightmarish mess. Anyway was wondering if people think its worth it or if they know of other projects experiences doing something similar. Or put another way is this something Obsidian should look at doing or kill it with lasers?

I just want to say that even though I'm completely 100% behind the Kickstarter, and I've already pledged, I don't like the fact that you're giving away an exclusive in-game item (regardless of whether it affects balance). I don't like it when developers make parts of their game inaccessible a whole section of the community. I understand that you are trying to incentivize pledging, but I've always felt that sales incentives should neither touch the game itself nor be unobtainable after a certain time. I also understand that you can't exactly go back on what you've said you'd give people, so I would be happy if you at least promised not to offer any other exclusive in-game items for any other promotion. Again, I love the project and the spirit behind it, I just hope that you can stay as far away from modern gimmicks like that as possible.

So, yeah, was looking for a generic Kickstarter thread, but only found a new thread was made per project. Hence me making also a seperate thread, hope it's okay. It's not even my game, but it does pique my interest. Game in question; So why does it interest me (and would probably do many obsidianites)? * RPG. Always good * Tactical combat. I personally prefer that over a button mashing of a Witcher II. Resembles Jagged Alliance or a hex-based turn-based Baldur's Gate. Several movies are on that site to show off how the combat works to see for yourself if it's something you like. * Stories, choice, consequence. Always good to have in a RPG. * Randomness makes each playthrough slightly different. More replayability in my RPG? Sign me up. * Several of the people of Off Topic Production (The Nameless Mod) work on it. Fortunately, this wont take 7 years. But it assures me that I most likely get quality. After all TNM was the one of 2 games I actually found good enough to make a fixmod for (the other being TSLRCM obviously). So yeah, I would suggest everyone to check it out and see if it's "their thing". It seems the goal hasn't been reached yet in the slightest, so every little bit helps. Hence this thread. In the hope to get a decent RPG again after being dissapointed so many times by the AAA developers these times.