Tortured Hearts - Kickstarter

[SubBassman]

Hi

 

I'm Zoltan Gonda, the author of the NWN1 module series, Tortured Hearts (I & II).

 

Me and my friend DrHoo have been working hard on a stand-alone RPG which is loosely

based on these mods and now we need some material help to get the graphic and sound

content done. This is why we chose Kickstarter.

 

The title is: Tortured Hearts: Or, How I Saved the Universe. Again.

 

Storywise, the game is DONE.

 

Here are the features:

-TH satirizes RPG cliches

-Light-hearted story of a jaded, thrill-seeking adventurer

-No need to play the prequels beforehand, but ofc there are refs for those who have played them

-6 playable races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-orc

-Classic 6 person party (you can open their inventories for instance)

-Non-linear gameplay, open-ended world with 3 choke points

-Over 200 areas

-Over 500 NPCs

-Over 100 quests

-About 100-150 hours of gameplay (just like the "prequels")

-A long and complicated plot

-A crafting system if you like to spend your play time working

-Almost 500,000 words of dialog (including henchman conversations) already written, plus a journal to keep track of quests.

-A variety of henchmen who contribute in an interactive way with the PC

-A henchman relationship system which can lead to romance

-A character development system, first used in Newcomer

[Guest Slinky]

Free tip: Put this up at the bioware forums, and remember to write the part of henchman romances with HUGE letters. Then lean pack and watch the money roll in.

 

Good luck with your kickstarter

[C2B]

No offense, but that goal is a little too high. Try to get as much internet attention as possible.

[Humodour]

No offense, but that goal is a little too high. Try to get as much internet attention as possible.

 

Who are you to know anything about this?

[Oner]

No offense, but that goal is a little too high. Try to get as much internet attention as possible.

 

Who are you to know anything about this?

Never heard of sarcasm?

 

Also, office in Arizona?

[SubBassman]

No offense, but that goal is a little too high.

 

Yeah, it may seem so, but this is supposed to be a classic, full-fledged RPG and those have quite a lot of content.

Said content must be created by someone in a reasonable timeframe.

These specially skilled people don't work for free.

 

Every advice is appreciated though.

Edited March 23, 2012 by SubBassman

[SubBassman]

Please check out Update 6...

 

More to come probably tomorrow

[SubBassman]

Hi guys

 

Please check out update 7

 

(plot and convo examples)

 

Zoltan

[SubBassman]

Greetings

 

There's a new project video and some additional info. (World, backstory) GUI mockup soon.

Hard is the way of the game maker...

[Cutlock]

Hey suggestion, keep it low for now and do what InXile Entertainment is doing, steadily increase it as things go. Also, did you check if Tortured Hearts is copyrighted, it sounds like it could be.

 

My suggestion would be to you go DOTA. Not everybody is doing it and it is a good idea for you to consider for the gameplay, honestly Turn-Based, to get it right at least, is going to cost you a lot of money. Real-Time people are going to think your cheap. Real-time based DOTA genre, your going to hit the jackpot there, plus, if this game comes out before Dota 2, you'll be in luck, people will have something to enjoy before the treasure comes.

[SubBassman]

Cutlock

 

The name is copyrighted indeed. By us.

 

Turn-based is closer to the old games and I have no problem with that.

The ratio of combat in the game is about 30-35 percent.

 

This is a new facebook page we created to build up some fan base.

http://www.facebook.com/TorturedHeartsRPG

[Delfosse]

Well, just a quick feedback. When there's a visual message presented by someone in this manner, there's always content (what she says) and there's always an emotional judgment (how she says it). To me, she sounded like someone's mom reading a text off the screen. That's the worst way to do it. She doesn't seem competent, she doesn't ignite interest, the video doesn't show any parts of what is ACTUALLY done, which it should. It frankly seems like she's lying about certain things, like "everything is done".

 

If you could remake the video with someone energetic, DO IT. SHOW that team of designers, scripters etc (ACTUAL PEOPLE), say on what games exactly they've worked (it doesn't matter if nobody knows them, just gives us SOMETHING), then show parts of things that you've already DONE.

 

It may be a very good game, but you presented it as poorly as you possibly could.

 

And it doesn't matter if you did some of what I'm saying in the updates. I honestly don't know if you did. I couldn't bring myself to check it out, cause the video almost put me into a coma, never mind ignite any interest whatsoever. And I'm absolutely the target audience you create this kind of game for.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Delfosse

[Mamoulian War]

Hmm turnbased or real-time that is really the question... I prefer turn based games, but lot combat in these games starts to get very boring when you have a lot of enemies, fighting single encounter 10+ enemies can get at some point a big deal. Real Time Combat is fun, but it can be affected badly by small mistakes in pathfinding, scripts of some abilities. My favourite Turn Based Combat in RPG is Temple of Elemental Evil, my favourite Real Time Combat in RPG is in Baldur's Gate 2. And there is a mix of these two seen in many JRPGs. What I would recommend you is to sit with your guys and ask yourselves what game you played had combat system you liked most And then try to make it in your game even better

 

Whatever will be your final decision, I wish you luck and as much sales as possible, and please, when you release the game, put it at some point at GoG as well. We, no DRM folks, will be very grateful, and we can really appreciate the love you show to us

[SubBassman]

Delfosse

 

We are not actors, we are not comedians, we have no professional equipment to make

professional videos.

 

All we can do is being honest. Everything she said about the current state of

the game is true. If you follow some links from the updates, you can check

out a few facts. (areas, convos)

 

Soon, I'll link an interview with more information.

[Aedelric]

Considering you do not have a string of successful games behind you or a truly famous brand proposal I think 300k is a little optimistic. I know you want to make the ultimate game that conforms to your vision, but perhaps you should have started small. Without a name to draw in a crowd, you need content and eye candy, which is not present. It looks promising, but I thought I would explain why I am not parting with my money rather than ignoring.

[SubBassman]

Aedelric

 

I understand your points.

 

Anyhow, this is the lowest possible budget you can start with.

 

Here's a link that demonstrates costs:

http://www.rpgwatch....ead.php?t=15991

 

No matter who makes the models, it takes time and money.

Edited April 11, 2012 by SubBassman

[Delfosse]

Delfosse

 

We are not actors, we are not comedians, we have no professional equipment to make

professional videos.

 

All we can do is being honest. Everything she said about the current state of

the game is true. If you follow some links from the updates, you can check

out a few facts. (areas, convos)

 

Soon, I'll link an interview with more information.

 

Let me remind you that others aren't actors either, so you're not competing with Colin Farrell. Yet they made pretty cool videos and you refuse to even try. It takes creativity to make a good game. if you can't make a decent video, people will have doubts.

 

Well, your loss, especially since you've already made so much and it's a shame to stumble and fall now. Well just know this, you're not doing your best.

Take critique as something that can elevate you, don't dismiss it like you just did there. Talk about it with your colleagues, sleep on it, see how others filmed it, think about what could be improved and who could present the game better. This is what's limping most in your presentation at this point.

[SubBassman]

Delfosse

 

I think the main problem is not video, but the fact that we are not well-known game creators.

 

If a game-industry celebrity stands there saying we're going to make this and that, people

will buy it, no matter what. Even if we make a spiffy video, no one will bother. So... we'll make

a playable demo. But it costs money too...

[Delfosse]

Aedelric

 

I understand your points.

 

Anyhow, this is the lowest possible budget you can start with.

 

Here's a link that demonstrates costs:

http://www.rpgwatch....ead.php?t=15991

 

No matter who makes the models, it takes time and money.

 

What makes me doubt this as a good source of information at all is that he says localizations cost 400k euros. Unless you're gonna hire some big company and tell them "whatever it costs, just get it done", those numbers are surrealistic at best. There are always freelancers who deliver quality results for 20 euros/hour. If it takes them a month to translate it, it's gonna cost you 10 grand for 5 languages. Voice actors aren't expensive either. And you can get decent equipment for a few thousand euros.

Of course you can spend 400k, just as easily as you can spend 2 million on localizations, the sky is the limit when you let others manage it for you and don't supervise the spendings. But had it been supervised, it would've cost 40k euros, not 400k.

 

Likewise with graphics. Is this your only source of info that this is how much it's gonna cost you? 300k? What about outsourcing from other countries, be it Europe, India or Russia? There are professionals in all those countries, yet salaries are much lower in those countries than in USA. Have you considered hiring independent professionals and not big companies?

 

I have serious doubts about those 300k.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Delfosse

[Delfosse]

Delfosse

 

I think the main problem is not video, but the fact that we are not well-known game creators.

 

If a game-industry celebrity stands there saying we're going to make this and that, people

will buy it, no matter what. Even if we make a spiffy video, no one will bother. So... we'll make

a playable demo. But it costs money too...

 

I don't agree. I've got sort of an issue with kickstarter about this. Unknown people come and claim they're gonna make a super game, and everyone gives them money. We'll see how they're gonna handle it, but I think most of them are gonna deliver mediocre results at best.

 

Everyone gets money if the presentation is good, which sort of worries me, but that's beyond the point right now. The fact is, it's all about presentation.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Delfosse

[SubBassman]

Delfosse

 

Those guys made a game that cost 6.5 million euros... (outsourcing a lot of things)

[SubBassman]

Delfosse

 

This is from the KS page:

We could have asked for less, hoping we'd be overpledged. But what if we weren't? We couldn't promise a finished game of the best quality.

 

That's about it.

[SubBassman]

[SubBassman]

RPGWatch interview:

 

http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=191

[Oerwinde]

I pledged my 10 bucks based on the summary and the graphical concept video. Really like the style. Kinda hoping the characters/portraits aren't that cartoony though. Maybe something in the middle of that and Broken Sword style designs.