[Updated] Summary of the Q&A in the Kickstarter Comments page

[Cantousent]

This is a great idea, Ink Blot. You are truly the man! ...Unless you are a woman, in which case, you're truly the woman!

[DocDoomII]

Amazing job as always Ink.

[Monte Carlo]

Yes, the OP is a Prince amongst Men. I thank you.

[agewisdom]

Ink-Blot, didn't want to clutter your post, but just wanted to say that I really appreciate this.

 

However, is it possible for the moderators to reserve the first 10 posts for you, so that you can have a series of continuos posts on the Q&A instead of being broken by comments from other posters. Granted, I'm guilty for being one of them.

[Chaos Theory]

Thanks for doing this. (I think it should be stickied)

[Monte Carlo]

I concur with the chaotic one.

[Ink Blot]

This is a great idea, Ink Blot. You are truly the man! ...Unless you are a woman, in which case, you're truly the woman!

 

Thanks. I'm a man, actually (old one, to be honest). I cruise through the comments section on the Kickstarter page periodically to see what's what and I figured everyone else would enjoy seeing what Feargus is saying without having to wade through the clutter. So I'm glad to do this for all us Obsidian fans and Project Eternity fanatics.

 

Anyway, here's the latest:

 

 

Hoping to have a better visible way of tracking the PayPal stuff by Monday. And, we are at $27.5K over there, but I still don't know the number of backers there - sorry, we will figure that out.

 

Question: we will have a digital-only tier with the future expansion too?

Feargus: Working on coming up with that one.

 

Question: Any chance there will be random encounters much to the likeness of Fallout 2?

Those were awesome!

Feargus: You know we haven't talked about that, but we probably will because of the random encounters that were in BG/BG2/NWN2 - it's a fun system. Although I don't think you'll see a crashed Star Trek lander in PE.

 

Question: calvin wanted to know if alchemy is included in the crafting stretch goal?

Feargus: Crafting potions is included with Crafting.

 

Question: Any further info on in game itemization? In particular to loot drops especially if we do have random encounters? Items off loot table, or random generator like in Borderlands

Feargus: I don't think we are going to go with a purely random system. So, I am pretty sure that most items are going to be more designer created than algorithmic.

 

Question: are whips being considered as being an available weapon/tool type? I'm at the EPIC tier and have been thinking designing a whip would be good

In general terms, will there be (or has there been) general guidance on the weapons system yet?

Feargus: I talked with Josh about the suggestion, so it's on his list. We will have to figure out in the end if they make the list or not.

 

Question: The unique pet at the $50 tier. How is that going to be delivered? It seems like extra work to restrict something like that to only a specific subset of players. I figured there isn't a final answer yet, I just wondered if thought was put into that yet. I figure it could be a different copy of the game, or online authentication, or maybe even a serial number that is used. Any ideas yet?

Feargus: We will talk about the suggestion and figure out how it is all going to work. We have to create different packages of things already with the different tiers, so it will get included that way (I'm guessing)

 

Question: Ever thought of tiers thst only contain 1, one, license copy of the game but cones with the extras including planned expansion?

Feargus: We will work on that idea. Not sure how to word it just yet without having it included at every tier above whatever we would introduce it at. Could cause a lot of confusion.

 

Question: isnt there anyone you dont know in the bizz?

Feargus: Well after 21 years, you end up knowing a lot of people. It helped that when I got started the industry was probably 5% or 10% of the size it is now. I also got lucky in that in Orange County, CA a lot of companies started up and then exploded - so that helped me knowing people all over the world in games. So, it was a lot of luck - as an example my first job as a tester was to test a game by Silicon and Synapse when they were a very small company of maybe 10 or 15 people. Now they have between 4,000 and 5,000 employees.

 

Question: we will have some "subverted" monsters in PE like the cranium rats in Planescape Toment?

Feargus: I don't know on that one. The guys are going by the goal of having each element have the familiar with a slight twist, some things that are very new but fit well into the world and then a small amount of the "wacky". So, we shall see.

 

Question: Which 5 classes were the original 5 in PE, and which 2 were added by the 1.4m and 1.8m stretch goals?

Feargus: Not Paladins. I need to go look and then we'll call them out in an update.

 

Question: What do you think about having some live recorded music for the score of Project Eternity? Not an expensive orchestra, but maybe just some things by soloists or small ensembles? Judging from his comments on the forum, Justin Bell thinks that could be a good idea.

Feargus: I have been talking with Josh about that - particularly since Project Annihilation had that as a stretch goal - he is wondering if our soundtrack will be about big bombastic stuff, so that's why we haven't done that. As for using a smaller set of players, Justin has been looking at that.

 

Question: I believe Feargus said a few pages back (sometime yesterday) that a new level will be added to the mega dungeon for every 20k and not just for the first 20k. I will ask him when he is online.

Feargus: Haven't decided what to do on the 20K per level of the dungeon yet. Might want to make each dungeon of Facebook likes a bit more of a stretch.

 

Question: So when are we going to get the full sized concept art of Aloth?

Feargus: With my update tomorrow. Which I guess I am now spoiling.

 

Question: I know you can't give too much away but are we going to see the extreme stretch goals in this next update? All stretch goals that we've seen to date have been relatively shoo-ins for the final build especially if kicktraqer is to be believed. I want to see the goals that will cause people to buckle down and raise more support because we're unsure we'll be able to reach it.

Feargus: Very soon....

 

Question: How does it feel to be the saviors of WRPG gaming?

Feargus: I don't know about saviors. It's just good to be able to go back and make one of these great games. They were really fun to make back at Black Isle.

 

Question: Do you have any more information regarding the "Design a X" pledge level rewards? There was a mention of a forum set up for it at some point, but how prominent will these creations be compared to Obsidian's own? I.e. from BG2, I'd be unable to remember more than 5-10 awesome items, while 50 are available for backers in this project. Basically, how epic and high level can/will these things be?

Feargus: I'm sorry I still don't. We really focused this weekend on getting a lot of stuff setup for next week. Adam and I know it's going to be a ton of fun, but it's going to be a marathon.

 

Question: Are meetings specifically regarding the Kickstarter and those more focusing on the game seperate from one another usually? Odd question I suppose.

Feargus: Yep, we separate them quite a bit. The design meetings that occur right now are mostly between Tim, Chris and Josh. Adam and I jump in, but we are handling most of the KS stuff, so that those guys can focus more on the game. As for agendas - he KS ones have agendas to a point. The design meetings have a topic, but not a list of things to discuss about the topic necessarily. After KS and when there is another designer or two, the meetings will get a bit more agenda driven. However, early on we try to be careful about being too structured meeting heavy.

 

Question: I watched the Youtube about the creation of Fallout, what was your role at that point?

Feargus: I took over the RPG division in 1996 and Fallout was absorbed into it, so that I could help Tim to make sure that he was able to focus purely on the game. The team needed to ramp up at that time, so I worked to get people moved over from other projects. On the game itself, I helped to design SPECIAL - I needed to completely re-design the Hub (so a lot of the Hub stuff is design that I fixed and made work). I then needed to do that with the Boneyard and Adytum as well. One cool quest I did was the one where you get the Blade Runner gun. One quest I did wrong, was to give players the Turbo Plasma rife, which was sort of game breaking. On Fallout 2, I was the Lead Designer, so I did a lot of different things on that game - but an area I did a lot of work on was Vault City.

 

Question: Is there any chance you might do an RPG in a more contemporary setting in the future?

Feargus: That's a hard one. We would like to explore other settings, but we have to be careful. There are ones that people seem to gravitate towards and ones that they don't. Back at Black Isle, us and Bioware really wanted to make a Kung-Fu RPG called "Five Fingers of Death" but there just wasn't a lot of support for doing it - and I don't think Brian and others were necessarily wrong about being concerned about the reach of it.

 

Question: A kung-fu RPG ... like Jade Empire?

Feargus: Kind of. The pitch that they had put together used the Infinity Engine but zoomed in more and then the cutscenes were re-dubbed old Kung-Fu movies. We thought it was hilarious and fun.

 

Question: I've been playing RPGs since i'm 7 and seeing the fall of bioware is a really sad moment for me and all RPG players.. That's why i'm looking forward this game A LOT. PS:T is still my favorite WRPG for a very good reason. How much leeway does Chris have for the storyline?

Feargus: Chris is going to have as much leeway as he wants. That's how he and I work together.

 

Question: Similar to Theo's question, I was curious how far on the story side of things are. I'd imagine it's still very early with it mainly revolving around the concepts and themes that you guys want to tackle.

Feargus: Exactly, first we are building up the world and then the story will get crafted within that.

 

Question: Are any of the updates next week themed around factions in the game?

Feargus: I don't believe they are - however I don't know what Josh's update or updates are going to be about yet. He was thinking over the weekend about what stuff he would like to talk about next.

 

Question: If the custom party creation idea is on the cards, you might really REALLY think about adding it early if the stretch goal isn't met. Extreme replayability (and therefore desirability to purchase) right there. Not to mention the hordes of internetizens who are DETERMINED to ONLY do things THEIR WAY.

Feargus: I think the Adventurer's Guild does that - doesn't it?

 

Question: well yes, but I thought that was a stretch goal?

Feargus: Gotcha, but I think we have a pretty good chance to get to $2.6M. Since with PayPal, we are $157K away from it. I don't want to count the chickens yet though.

 

Question: Will there be any cannons in the PE world? Not carryable or course.

Feargus: I don't think so, but it's something Josh might add based upon it fitting into the story / scenario of an are.

[DocDoomII]

Ink Blot, I think you lost one of my questions:

 

Question: Are you planning to give the ability to craft even spells with the crafting system?

Feargus: We talked about that, but decided that we were not going to include spell crafting. We want the spells in the game to be more unique and make sure the balance worked.

[Ink Blot]

Ink Blot, I think you lost one of my questions:

 

Question: Are you planning to give the ability to craft even spells with the crafting system?

Feargus: We talked about that, but decided that we were not going to include spell crafting. We want the spells in the game to be more unique and make sure the balance worked.

 

Thanks. It's easy to miss some when you're wading through several pages of questions and responses (sometimes the question is far back from Feargus' response, so it's a challenge to find the question that goes with the answer). I'll add it into the last update post.

 

*edit* Ack! Too late to edit. I'll try to remember to add it in the next update.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Ink Blot

[Ink Blot]

Short Q&A this evening. DocDoom, I added yours into this one.

 

 

Question: Are you planning to give the ability to craft spells with the crafting system?

Feargus: We talked about that, but decided that we were not going to include spell crafting. We want the spells in the game to be more unique and make sure the balance worked.

 

Question: Feargus, you mentioned yesterday or the day before about possibly adding the (possible) expansion as a reward bonus for the $250 and higher pledge tiers. Is that definite or still being bandied about?

Feargus: We'll have an update soon on changes and additions to the tiers.

 

Question: Is Obsidian planning to run a similar live stream event during then last hours of the Kickstarter as Brian Fargo did with Wasteland 2?

Feargus: That's the plan. Quick announcement of that in our next update tomorrow morning.

 

Question: Any hint as to how far the stretch goals will go? We're getting awfully close to the end, and the last three days are the most exciting in a kickstarter campaign, fretting about the last stretch goal. I for one am saving upping my pledge for those last days to add to the excitement.

Feargus: We have talked about at least four or five more, maybe six. Plus a couple of ideas for farther stretches.

 

Question: would it not be cathartic to encounter a despicably evil publishing house in game, and be tasked with... taking care of it. =P

Feargus: I can't confirm nor deny that - the press goes through these comments.

 

Question: One aspect the old IE games were famous for, was the almost epic length of gameplay (80h+) in comparison to more recent games (20-40h). Where is Project Eternity aiming at?

Feargus: Our goal is to hang in there with the old games.

 

Question: As to the basic spells that a wizard can cast without limit, does the current vision for that system have a fixed, predefined selection of spells that any wizard can cast without limit, or will that selection expand with the level progression of the character to the point where an extremely powerful wizard might have "mastered" the equivalent of 5th or 6th level D&D spells and can cast them without limit?

Feargus: I am pretty sure, and I can check with Josh and Tim, that mages will get strong spells as they progress.

[Ink Blot]

A little more Q&A:

 

 

Question: Hey Feargus, any chance we could see the expansion as a stand alone add on pledge? I've already backed Wasteland so I cant really justify shelling out $165 just to get the expansion.

Feargus: We'll talk about it today and have an update for everyone on it tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

 

Question: he one thing I'm not sure about is the expansion at $165, it just seems a bit high to me. I'm at $80 just now and have been considering going to $110 in the last few days but I backed Wasteland and more than doubling my pledge for an expansion just doesn't scan for me I'm afraid. Maybe the $110 but with no Wasteland 2 would have been better? I'd have liked to have seen it broken up a little that way personally, I imagine a lot of PE backers backed W2 as well and I think the expansion at a slightly lower tier might make more of them up pledges. Or maybe offer the expansion as an add-on? Maybe around $20-$30? I'd jump on that in a heartbeat. I realise everyone is in a different situation with how much they have/can pledge but I don't think I can bring myself to stretch to that $165 tier. $110 maybe but not that far Other than that, first class again Obsidian. Aloth looks amazing. Best concept art yet IMO. "

Feargus: Totally get it and we will talk about having the expansion as an add-on.

 

Question: was this update a hint about Brian Fargo taking part in project eternity other than wasteland 2?

Feargus: Brian has been incredibly generous to help us out with offering Wasteland 2. I'm sure we will talk about doing our projects together a lot, but he's not working directly on Project Eternity. We just want to make sure that we continue to support each other.

 

Question: So, the new tier..is 165$ correct but i won't have the box etc..? Only digital download but how many digital download allowed ?

Feargus: You get two downloads of Project Eternity at the $165 tier - is that what you were asking?

 

Question: Will the expansion have a box with the $250 pledge?

Feargus: Right now we are looking at it being a download. When we actually start working on the expansion (after PE is done) we will then see if we can get a box version as well. So, it's a maybe at this point - to be up front about it.

 

Question: Any chance of a screenshot or tech demo video soon? It would greatly boost the kickstarter campaign!

Feargus: I might have just been looking at a screenshot. Maybe it was from Project Eternity or maybe it wasn't. Hmmm.......

 

Question: At 165$, I am already at 140$ as a pledge but with the shipping it's actually 160$, so it's a bit the same for me lol. But i'd rather have 2 digital download allowed like in the 110$ tier for PE (you never know if one screw up..)

Feargus: It is the $165 Tier that has 2 Downloads, Wasteland 2 and the Expansion.

 

Question: And a question not about the update: lycanthropes exist in the world of PE (if this world is based in souls, lycanthropes can be someone which soul was fused with an animal's soul)?

Feargus: Sorry, not something we have talked about yet. I'll get the question over to Josh, so he has it on his big list of everything.

 

Question: Just a heads up and i'm sure you anticipated this anyway but I think a few people are concerned that an Expansion pack = DLC. With the day 1 Mass Effect 3 dlc controversy and the amount of on disk DLC around these days I can appreciate their concerns. Might be wise to make sure that people know that the length and content of Project Eternity isnt going to get chopped off for an expansion. I know it wont be but people are jaded on DLC.

Feargus: We were worried that people would feel it was DLC - I tried to write the update in a way that explained that it would come up six months after and it is not DLC but really an expansion. We don't plan on working on it until Project Eternity is done or almost done. So, it won't be something we will be able to just switch on - it'll be another big download.

 

Question: You might have missed the question I asked yesterday, its about the $1000.00 pledge. I am curious about how much role the NPC will play. How minor is minor? Just an NPC you meet? A vendor, a non interactive trainer? How major if at all? Would they have their own side quest? Would they even play a role in the main quest itself? What about history? If I supplied a long and detailed history, personality and charter of the NPC, how much would be used / adapted into PE?

Feargus: We want the NPC to be important. In other words, it won't be a drunken peasent - unless that's what you want. We are going to work with each person at that level, to figure out what they would like and then build that into the game - within reason.

 

Question: Expansion is expected to be about the length of throne of bhaal?

Feargus: I don't think if it will be Throne of Bhaal level - partly because Throne of Bhaal was originally going to be be BG3. It will be significant though - more than something like Old World Blues.

 

Question: Now that we have crafting, will you please consider having materials in a separate inventory tab? I've played way too many rpgs where just remembering what stuff you had/organising your inventory was a chore

Feargus: Absolutely, we will not flood your normal inventory with crafting materials.

 

Question: something occurred to me earlier, and doing this would fix my single biggest complaint about playing the old IE games. make movement speed changeable, i.e. when you're going through an area make it so you can choose to move really slowly, normal walking pace or run. that drives/drove me nuts with some of those.

Feargus: Got the comment. Not sure if we will do that in this game - speed of characters can effect how the combats work quite a bit.

 

Question: i think you should add in for 20 bucks the expansion and the pet you threw into the 50 tier, i think that would get a lot of people adding on 20 bucks, i would do it for sure

Feargus: Got it. Also something on the big, big, list of everything. Making inventory matter, but not annoying.

 

Question: Any posibility for a tier between the new 165 and the 250 with a physical copy of the game + the expansion + Wasteland 2? I'd be nice to have a tier like that without the t-shirt and other stuff I am not interested in. That or have add-ons for those things.

Feargus: We will look at that.

 

Question: how about promoting P: E on other social media? Like G+?

Feargus: I'll look at that. I have to be honest and say that I played around with G+ a bit and then sort of gave up on it. Probably unfair - or I'm just lazy.

 

Question: Can we get big versions of the Edair and Cadegund art also?

Feargus: I'll get those on the list to get out there.

 

Question: Just FYI Obsidian have already comment on the update comments as follows:

 

"All the funding that we receive from Kickstarter and PayPal will be used to make the base game - No money raised will be used for funding the expansion in any way."

Feargus: Yes, we are going to fund it ourselves and from the sales we get from Project Eternity when it comes available - not from Kickstarter funds. I don't think we will do a Kickstarter just for it, I'd rather see about funding the sequel that way - if you guys will still have us.

 

Question: Is PayPal's numbers shown in the amount on the kictarter main page? If not, what is it up to and how can we find out that info on our own? (I'm obsessed with checking the total.)

Feargus: Not yet. We need to get the update for tomorrow put together and then we are going to talk about how to pull those numbers more often and more quickly. Thanks for the patience!

 

Question: Just a quick question about the new $165 tier. Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I'm a bit confused about the wording: This says it's a digital only tier and at the end of the description goes on to say "If you don't need the physical good, then this is a great reward tier for you". I'm current;y at the $140 tier. Does this mean if I up my pledge to the new $165 tier that I'll no longer get the physical goods included in the $140 tier? Again, sorry if this is a dumb question.

Feargus: That is correct, you don't get any Physical Goods with the $165 Tier.

[SqueakyCat]

Thanks for the update, Ink Blot.

[Ink Blot]

Okay, and a bit more:

 

we have updated the last update and are letting everyone know that we are not using the Kickstarter money to fund the expansion. That money will come from us. All the money that we get from Kickstarter will go into the core Project Eternity game.

 

Question: do we will possibly see any behind the scenes stuff during now and april 2014? Like map/character/weapon sketch models, men at work videos and etc. stuff? So that we can feel that we are boss who breathes down his (or her) employees necks :D

Feargus: We are going to be setting up a site that is going to let us how and talk about the game in a lot of depth. We want to get feedback from everyone throughout the development of the game.

 

Question: What about stolen items? Will the merchant say "I don't buy fenced item" even though I just stolen it from someone and there's no way for the vendor to know?

Feargus: We haven't decided how thieving from stores is going to work yet. Sorry about that.

 

Question: I'm playing Temple of Elemental Evil right now and the first 1-2 levels of the game was anoying when it came to battle because you allways miss during your attacks. I took me 30 min to finnish a fight because all my characters always missed. And I hade really good stats on them. And it's far from the first cRPG that have that problem. So what I am wondering, how will that work in Project Eternity? Will you miss most of you attacks the first levels or will it based more on how much damage you do then if you hit or not?

Feargus: I believe that it will work more like the IE games, where you hit more often than you miss - depending on who you are attacking of course. A 1st level wizard attacking a 20th level Monster with a rusty dagger, might miss a lot.

 

Question: Aren't there normally 3 copies of PE in total at 250 and 500 ?

I just see two right now : the box plus a digital copy. So is the extension taking the place of one previous copy ?

I can't help but feel that the 500 tiers is seriously lacking -__-

Feargus: We will take a look at those and make sure they are correct.

 

Question: Lots of these type of games that I have played in the past allow you to walk in peoples houses uninvited, with for the most part barely an afterthought. In PE will the householders act appropriatley, and tell u to get the hell out? Will there be mounts?

Feargus: We are not doing mounts this time out. They take a lot of art, programming and general work to have them feel right - we want to focus our efforts on the game as a whole awesome. As for walking into people's houses uninvited, when you are in that situation and it is appropriate for them to respond to you being there - they will respond.

 

Question: I wonder if it had been discussed before but, will the magic will be influence by school, by the souls, by the gods pr anything else?

Feargus: I'm going to talk to Josh about updating on Magic either this week or soon after the KS is over.

 

Question: Feargus, what are your feeling on mechanics like magic resistance and save or dies? I.e. mechanics that if you build your character around (monk or Viconia with MR gear, getting over 100% fire resist and casting fireballs into the middle of the party, stacking -saves with things like doom then win the battle spells). These are all mechanics I do find fun in a single player game, even if they allow you to utterly abuse the crap out of the game. But they also do lead to enemies at higher levels being designed with absolutely ridiculous stats to compensate (THACO of ToB enemies being through the roof for example). The main thing I'm afraid of is going the route of a lot of games these days with rather homogenized gameplay mechanics where every mez lasts 2-4 seconds and all weapons and skills are balanced by spreadsheets to be within milimeters of each other.

Feargus: The great thing (and I've been saying this for years), is that in a single player game we can have the game be "unbalanced" at certain points. And, that is for fun reasons. For instance, when a fighter gets that first extra attack in D&D, you could say he is pretty unbalanced at that level all of a sudden. That's fun, makes the fighter feel powerful, but the game system catches up as he goes up levels.

 

Question: Will there be a way to increase faction reputation easily... like throwing money at temples in BG?

I felt that it was just too easy to maintain a good reputation that way.

Feargus: I don't think so.... I have not heard Josh, Tim and Chris talking about that.

 

Question: Weight limit. How will it work? And will there be a way around it (Like a bag of holdings)?

Feargus: I don't know if there will be a way around it right now. Maybe a temporary consumable - I'll put that on the big, big list of everything to talk about.

 

@Patric I think you were asking about the larger versions of the concept art? They should be getting the art up on the eternity.obsidian.net page sometime soon-ish. Not sure exactly when.

 

Question: many people have asked about animal companions etc any update on that?

Feargus: Sorry no update on the animal companions yet.

 

Question: How about having a single inventory screen for the party, with a weight allowance equal to the party's combined strength/weight allowance, with different tabs for consumables/equipment/materials. Managing six inventories in the infinity engines is not exactly one of my fondest memories of those games, and you swapped around consumables anyway.

Feargus: We definitely know the challenges of the inventory system in the IE games and are going to work on coming up with a better solution. Won't say it will be perfect, but it will be better.

[Ink Blot]

Latest Q&A. Feargus had to run, so this one's a bit shorter:

 

 

Question: I don't know if this has been asked previously but is international shipping available for the $500 + rewards? Thanks.

Feargus: It is included.

 

Question: 1. how will the physical version of the game be patched? will there be an auto-patcher, or updater like with NWN2? or will it be something that we'll have to check for at times?

2. what happened to the second digital copy of the game at the 250 and 500 tier levels? did it get changed into the expansion?

Feargus: (1) That is a good question. If you are not using Steam, it will most likely need to be a download. We have been talking about updating the front page of the game with news, but we know some people don't want their game connected to the internets at all.

(2) I need to look into that, tbh - I'm not sure which was the mistake right now. Adding them or removing them. Sorry.

 

Question: What is the schedule for updates this week, by they way? Every other day?

Feargus: We will be updating every day until the end of the Kickstarter campaign at this point.

 

Question: Who are you partnering with for the t-shirts? In case you haven't decided yet, Double Fine used fangamer.net -- I was very happy with the quality of the t-shirt.

Feargus: Got it. Looking at their site right now.

 

Question: The $250 tier graphic still says that the book is softcover. The description doesn't say either way.

Feargus: Will get all that stuff fixed up tomorrow. Rob needed to work on some other artwork for the dungeon and other stretch goals.

 

Question: Something I was noticing Feargus, there was a period we had one extra companion over all the classes, but now we have one more class than we have companions (or we will in about 10 minutes). Can you confirm or deny the possibility of more companion stretch goals? Personally I was hoping for some overlap in some areas (wizardry mainly, multiclasses in general if they exist), so I can build stacking parties, but at least one for every class would be nice. I realize adventurer hall is about to exist too, but those don't have the indepth writing that the 'real' companions do (I would assume anyways).

Feargus: Companions are a lot of work and we want to spend the resources to make sure each one is very indepth. What that means is that we are going to see what we feel we can do.

 

Question: A nerd question, was Fallout actually a Black Isle game? I know you came up with the name after FO1, but I thought you once said it was only because you could notagree to a name for along time.

Feargus: I consider Fallout a Black Isle game, since I was in charge of the division it was in for 18 months and the team either double or tripled during that time. We also designed SPECIAL during that time.

 

Question: I'd prefer any patches for the games to be similar to the previous IE games. Just download them yourself. I know I would prefer not having an active internet connection for the game to be checking for updates.

Feargus: We had thought people would prefer that. So, we are going to have the option of turning off any connectivity. We like the idea of being able to deliver info and updates to the game - but we know that a lot of people feel that is intrusive.

 

Question: You know from what you're saying, it sounds like these companions are gonna be quite a bit more fleshed out than what we're used to. Is that the case, or am I underestimating how much work went into Baldur's Gate companions and the such?

Feargus: More work than what went into a BG companion. The ones on MotB and FNV could take two or more months of a designers time just to get the initial writing done.

 

Question: Have some of the devs started on character dialogue, already mapped out the world, NPCs, programming, etc? Or is it still in the initial development stages.

Feargus: Still in early development, but the tools guys have our dialog tool hooked into Unity now - reading and writing data.

 

Question: What is Aloth holding in his hand (the paper)?

Feargus: That I don't know sorry - the concept artist, Paulina would know.

 

Question: Will we see another tid bit about the lore of the game in the upcomming updates like we got when the mega-dungeon was introduced?

Feargus: Absolutely, Josh is already working on some stuff for his next couple of updates.

[Madzookeeper]

awesome job with this inkblot, that's a lot of work man.

[Ink Blot]

awesome job with this inkblot, that's a lot of work man.

 

Thanks. I figure not everyone has the time to follow the Kickstarter comments pages and since I'm currently off work with various issues, I decided it would be cool to get this info out to everyone.

[Ink Blot]

Today's first Q&A:

 

Question: did anyone notice that in that video it looks like OE has even sold all the furniture to pay for PE? All except the shirt off the guys back!

Feargus: Adam just moved into that office, so he hasn't personalized it yet. He had to move into his own office, because his officemates were about to kill him with all the Kickstarter talk that was going on all day long.

 

Question: Any update on PayPal numbers?

Feargus: It's at $35K. Having trouble downloading the history (it started the download and then stopped twice for some reason), so that I can get the number of backers. Will update on that later.

 

Question: 1) have you guys thought about adding an expansion to the physical set of tiers at around 200? a TON of people have been suggesting that, but it seems like it would be a smart thing to do as it would be about the same kind of jump as with the digital tier. and it would give those people that just can't do 250 that inbetween option that they've been wanting.

 

2) about the game, are we just getting a single version of it (i.e. windows, mac or linux, not all three)?

 

3)also, will we be getting codes for both the GOG and steam versions, like the humble bundle do with giving desura codes and steam codes, and having a direct download link on a page literally right there? or will it just be the one?

 

4) someone on here mentioned that they thought all of the NPCs at the 1k tier, and the ones above, were going to be getting a quest associated with them, is there any truth to that?

 

5) someone on the forums just asked about post kickstarter paypal additions to pledges, so i figured i'd relay that as well.

 

Hi,

 

I would like to ask, is Obsidian considering a system which will allow its backer to add funds to his/her pledge to upgrade it to a higher tier later on once the Kickstarter campaign is over?

This would be something similar to Wasteland 2's project as an example, where backers will able to upgrade our pledge right till shortly before inexile starts shipping the items out.

 

The reason why I'm asking this is because current I could only afford a lower tier without the strategy guide and beta access. Once I have enough money in the future, I do plan to upgrade to a higher tier that will get me all of those stuff too.

 

However, if Obsidian have no plan for such system, then I do hope that we could confirm it before the KS ends and I could just add the extra add-on for a strategy guide so as not to miss out on that.

 

Thank you very much for your time.

 

6) someone on the forums wanted to know if the people who get the expansion as part of a tier will be getting early access to it? just wanted clarity on that, they're assuming not.

 

not a question but...

 

7)also something you guys definitely need to see: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61182-making-the-game-support-1-handed-cursor-only-play-disabilities/

Feargus: (1) We will update about the expansion as an add-on in the next day or twol.

 

(2) Not totally sure on that one. I'll say a single version for right now.

 

(3) It sounded like people wanted either Steam or a DRM free version, so I think we will have distinct versions. I"m pretty sure you can still add any version to Steam if you want.

 

(4) They will all probably be involved with a quest - but they won'tbe the main quest NPC.

 

(5) I'll put that on Darren's list ot think about, just so I don't have to.

 

(6) I don't think we will be doing early access to the expansion. For that we might just do a Beta sign up program like we did for the FNV DLC (expanion is not DLC - just saying so that using the word DLC doesn't bring that up).

 

(7) I will send that along.

 

Phew!

 

Question: Are you guys going to have to get through Steam's Greenlight? If so, you know we'll support you.

Feargus: We don't have to go through Steam's greenlight with this project.

 

Responding to a comment on the boards about budgets and the size of the dev team:

Feargus: he team will hover around 15 people, sometimes it will be larger depending on what we need done at the time. We do plan to cover all the costs with Kickstarer contributions unless we feel something that we something we are working on contributes to every project at the company - this would mostly apply to tools programming. Then that cost would probably be shared.

 

Question: The $250 tier picture still says Softcover instead of Hardcover for the collector's book. And the tiers beyond $250 don't mention any international shipping fee - so I assumed the $30 is carried on for mine.

Feargus: We need to get the tiers changed, so that there is no shipping on $500 and above is obvious. I'll talk to Rob (again) about the hardcover. He's slacking.... Just kidding, Rob has been working his ass off!

 

Question: Don't forget to update the reward tier overview to resemble updates: 250$ hardcover or pets for example. Also take a look at "broken swords" way of organizing reward-pics: http://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/169/904/6edd3c2573d005977a825417136ba38a_large.png…

They had a simmilar way of displaying the tiers before they switched to this mode near the end of the campaign.

Feargus: That looks cool, what we are thinking of doing in the short term is to include, as one of the things, in the update tomorrow ia text list of what you get for each reward tier. We can then edit that update as things change and link to it.

 

Question: Just a fun fact, the great and horrible beast the codex, opened a single eye for only the second time in history, and it seems it was mostly pleased with the 2.8M stretch goal.

Feargus: "Mostly Pleased" is like an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 for the codex. ....Ok, sorry, I didn't provide the right range. That's like a 12 on a scale of 1 to 6.

 

Question: How aware is everyone at Obsidian about the reputation for producing buggy games and how concerned/happy are they about the chance to show that you can produce games that are not only really good but also fully functional?

Feargus: We are as aware as anyone - independent developers can live and die based upon their Metacritic. What we have done internally over the last two years is to work on our bug reporting process and our tools. Our tools now allow bugs to be reported from in-game and immediately filed into a bug database. The status of the database is then sent out to the whole team and the owners/founders of the company multiple times a week. We take it very seriously and have worked to take on as much of the responsibility as we can. I would point to Dungeon Siege 3, which had some criticisms (although I am very proud of the game), but there were no criticisms about it being buggy.

 

Question: Sorry if this has been asked but for the Expansion pack, will we be getting one key for the expansion for every copy of the game that our associated Tier and any add-ons entitle us to or is it just one key for the expansion per pledge?

Feargus: I don't think that was our original intention, but let me talk with the guys about it.

 

Question: this has been quite a ride. I've been loving every update, every interview, video, tweet, etc. My concern now is what happens after the KS ends. Will we be getting some updates every now and then? I guess the fans will be a bit spoiled with all this goodness. Intricate design discussions FTW.

Feargus: We are going to be setting up a site for the game and will be updating it regularly with what we are doing. I'm not sure how often, but it will absolutely be regularly.

 

Question: So, is the screenshot actually already ready, or is the team scrambling furiously to get it done in time?

Feargus: ...

 

Question: Does George Ziets realize the amount of books and boxes he'll have to sign if he joins the team? Or did you hide that fact from him? : )

Feargus: Shh..... We didn't tell him, so no one let him know!

[Ink Blot]

Okay, folks. Some more from this evening (possibly another round later on - Feargus said he'd be back again this evening):

 

 

Question: A question on the shirts. The Obsidian shirt and the Project Eternity shirt are different in design correct? I didn't notice it but are there design photos of the shirt/s?

Feargus: Rob is working on the art right now. We will have that up by tomorrow at the latest.

 

Question: anyone know where I can get information about the 2.3 million stretch goal, its not in any of their kickstarter update.

Feargus: All of the stretch goals should now be linked to the update where they were talked about. For the most part. Some of the early ones were talked about in multiple updates, so I might need to refine them a bit.

 

Question: Will characters be able to use a (reasonably sized) spear both as a two-handed weapon and as a one-handed weapon (together with a shield)? And without resorting to something as stupid as a Monkey-Grip Feat people used to dual-wield Greatswords. (*sigh+facepalm*)

Feargus: We have not decided on how we are supporting spears just yet. Right now our first priority would be to support them as purely two-handed weapons. Then based upon where we are with funding and scope, we would then consider the one-handed with shield option.

 

Question: Feargus when we will see more about the geography of the PE world? Our only reference at the moment is basically the map. And whats his name? How many suns/moons?

Feargus: Josh is working a lot on cultures and the people that live within the world right now. After that, and with George's help (if we get to $2., we will start fleshing out all those things very soon.

 

Question: I'm really keen to hear more about souls and how they impact the PE world. Are you planning to release any further information about them before the kickstarter ends? No is okay I'm just curious about them. : )

Feargus: Josh is going to be doing a Lore update on Thursday. I'm not sure what his topic is yet, so it might be that. I expect that he will be turning to that (along with the structure of the world) very soon. But, probably not, during the last week of the KS campaign.

 

Question: If you will give us the opportunity to become a deity in PE, I will up my pledge right away. An adventure in the divine realms where deities intrigue and compete for status and worshippers for instance This is something fresh that has never really been done before. Players have NEVER had the chance to see things with the eyes of a diety (you can become a god at the end of Baldur's Gate ToB but never get to act in the world from their perspective) I think Obsidian has the talent and depth to make such gameplay interesting. What do you say?

Feargus: Gotcha. I think for this first foray into the world of Project Eternity that we will be keeping the characters closer to Level 1 like characters.

 

Question: Have you seen any creature designs yet?

Feargus: The guys and gals are really working a lot on the races and classes right now. Once Josh turns towards the world more we will start concepting more of that out. The animators are working on developing all the rigs (skeletons) right now to make sure that we can support a fairly wide range of types.

 

Question: your favorite subject. paladins. will they have any magic at all?

Feargus: From Josh's update: And though they are not always pledged to the service of a god or gods, paladins are so singularly focused on their chosen cause that their souls are continually creating a wellspring of spiritual energy from which they can blast groups of foes in their immediate vicinity.

 

Question: And what the possibility of a lost-valley type area with pre-historic animals like Chult in Storm of Zehir?

Feargus: I think that would be great for an expansion type area, but we will definitely have fun areas that are different when you are off the beaten path.

 

Question: do you know whether possession will exist in PE?

Feargus: Sorry, don't know on that one.

 

Question: Perhaps another way around the whole expansion pack thing. Obsidian put up the expansion pack on their website and people can buy the main game via Kickstarter and the Expansion pack separately. Maybe something they could do after Kickstarter. :|

Feargus: Not a bad idea. Adam and I are talking later or tomorrow morning about how we want to handle it.

 

Question: Honesty time. Are we doing better than you expected, about the same, or worse?

Feargus: We are doing better than I expected. Well that's not totally true. I had really high hopes, but doing something like this feels like jumping out of an airplane hoping that the parachute is going to open.

 

Question: If PE will have ships, that implies some mastery of wind. Will there be some level of mastery of flight as well? Thinking hot air balloons/gliders, not engine based? Could add another dynamic dealing with enemies "on wing"?

Feargus: This time out, I think we are going to be sticking fairly close to the ground.

 

Question: would be great to buy games straight from Obsidian period. I don't suppose that would be the case with stick of truth.

Feargus: Funny you should say that. Darren has made a pledge to get our own store up that will sell everything we make (as long as we can get agreements in place with our publishers). I know it sounds a bit odd that we need to get an agreement in place to sell a game that we have made. But, it's not actually weird or an evil publisher doing anything. We just need to have an agreement like anyone would who sells the game - like a publisher would have with Amazon.

 

Question: So, how long were you actually planning on adding paladins? I noticed that you had a real blast trolling about them, even though you knew that they would be added as a stretch goal.

Feargus: I was finally over-ruled this morning. j/k We have been talking about it for a while, however Josh and Tim really wanted to get their heads around them truly fitting into the world. If that hadn't happened, we probably wouldn't have put them out their as stretch.

 

Question: Feargus the idea about selling the expansion direct by Obsidian and not as an KS add-on is interesting, but they will be available soon as a option to get more funding (and counting for the strech goals) or only a lot of time after? I guess many people will glady up ther pledges because of this expansion

Feargus: Gotcha - like I said we are still winding our way through what would make the most sense for us and all of you.

 

Question: Is there any chance of a cheaper tier with Wastelands 2 and the expansion? I would love to get in on those and through a little more support to you guys, but I can't really afford the $165 tier and I don't need the other stuff it comes with.

Feargus: We are talking about the expansion as an add-on, but aren't sure if we will offer it yet. As for Wasteland 2 - inXile put up a new store just yesterday and you can get it how you want it here: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/

 

Question: If I remember correctly this is a time of expansion and exploration in the world (seafaring boats trying to brave the sea monsters to find new lands). Are these expeditions being funded by the ruling classes of the world, and what are they hoping to find? (this is more of stuff to put down for world building. I know it is too early to answer these type questions.)

Feargus: That would be a great question for Josh. We should be doing an AMA this week - I'd throw it out to him then.

 

NOTE: I was unable to find the question associated with the following comment by Feargus - Ink Blot

Feargus: The money raised for the stretch goals doesn't all go to the development of that stretch goal. Any additional funds that we raise will be used to have additional people work on the project, such as area designers, programmers, and artists. All of these fine people will make the game's story larger and improves the quality of the game.

[Ink Blot]

More Feargus Q&A:

 

 

Question: Michael Ryan just had a question about the cloth map. Will that be offered as an add-on, and if not, will it come outside the Collector's Box so he doesn't have to open it/break the seal to get to the map?

Feargus: We don't know if we are going to offer it as an add-on. For the one that comes with the CE, we were assuming we were going to put it in the box.

 

Question: received my special edition X-com today, and found a wonderful art book in it...and a 3 page manual. Which I find a bit disturbing, because I'd really rather know more about how the game works. So will PE have a real manual? I miss the days when I could actually use the manual as a reference instead of google.

Feargus: Our plan is to have a real manual. I don't know if it will be 350 pages and spiral bound, but it won't be no 3 pages!

 

Question: Is PE going to have humor injected into it like BG (volo and elminster in the manual) and Fallout, or is it going to be serious business?

Feargus: I would expect humor, but more our style humor than Bioware's.

 

Question: I'm sure I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway - I was able to convince the Fiancee to let me get a high tier reward as she'd get a copy of the digital download, but now with all the extras, she's decided she wants those too (Project Wasteland, Expansion etc.) - Will these be offered as an extra, or do I need a new reward?

Feargus: We are talking about offering he expansion as an add-on. Should have an answer on that in the next day. As for Wasteland, I would suggest looking over at the new store at inXile and picking what level she/you would like for it: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/

 

Question: Will there be drinking in game along with the associated status augmentations due to drunkenness?

Feargus: I'm guessing that there will Ale and it will probably have both positive and negative effects. We have always like putting things like that in games - all the way back to Fallout. Although, I'm pretty amazed we didn't get in trouble for the amount of drugs and drug references in Fallout. I did think that Fallout actually made you not want to use drugs because of the addictiveness system though.

 

Question: Still no comment about Blackstream's romance quote?

Feargus: I'm going to go with whatever Chris said in the interview. And, I'm sticking to that stance. In other words, if Chris said it - then that is what we will be doing.

 

Question: I'm currently in at the $500 level, but really want the Obsidian t-shirt (wanted one since TSL). Unfortunately, I can't afford to go to $525 at this time. Will Obsidian shirts be available via an Obsidian store at some point? Could an Obsidian tee magically find it's way into the $500+ tiers?

Feargus: Darren has promised to get an Obsidian store up soon, so that we can sell games and other merchandise as well. We are not totally sure when, but the hope is within the next 30 to 45 days (giving ourselves some trial, error and testing time).

 

Question: Will druids have the ability to summon or charm animals?

Feargus: I want to say yes - since that is a very druid thing. However, I'm going to leave that for Josh to answer in the AMA we will be doing this week.

 

Question: What about clocks in PE, day/night switch (twilight maybe)? Maybe some quests related to day/night like in BG2?

Feargus: We are going to work on a day/night cycle like the IE games. We think we can simulate it without having to do the full map switch over though - but we will see. As for day/night quests - it really depends if the designers want to do them when they are making their areas. In other words, it's not a design pillar, however it's not a restriction either. We try to give the area designers a huge amount of freedom to do what they want in their areas, as long as they support the main story, the companions, the factions, and the main themes of the game

 

Question: Since you have selected the Unitity engine, will Obsidian also publish some of the content and maybe even tools in their asset store?

Feargus: We have been talking about it. Not sure what we will do, but the Unity store is pretty cool and we have purchased and tried out things from their ourselves already.

 

Question: With regards to Chanters, when you say "they create chants from different verses they collect" does that mean something like gathering bits of lore and putting them together to create different kinds of custom effects or something? Like how in Magicka you build custom spells out of different elements and it's a really flexible, deep system, only Chanters would be less about murderbeams, more about shamanistic rap battles. Or is it something a bit more.like dragon shouts in Skyrim where each verse upgrades a chant and each chant has a specific function?

Feargus: I'm going to defer to Josh on that one. Great question to ask in the AMA that will be either tomorrow or Thursday.

 

Question: BTW, we know what's coming on thursday, but what do you have planned update wise for tomorrow (technically today in certain parts of America)

Feargus: To be honest, the update for tomorrow is going to be something of a "maintenance update". We are going to list out all the tiers in text, so everyone has a reference. We can then update that update, to keep it current. We will have a couple more things to update in there as well - but it won't be a momentous update. Thursday will be BIG!

 

Question: Earlier you mentioned that you want to fund PE purely from KS funds. So, what happens if the money runs out?

Feargus: Then we start spending our own money. We are also going to be looking at seeing if we can get distribution deals that could also help fund. A distribution deal is where we have a publisher build and ship the product - we still control everything else.

 

Question: Do you really anticipiate needing that funding with how far we've shot over the goal at this point though? Hopefully any distribution deals won't take too much out of your profits.

Feargus: I don't think I explained that very well. The only reason for us to look at distribution is to get Project Eternity into retail stores. The only publisher for the game digitially will be us. I worked for a publisher for 12 years, working directly with the retailers is not something that is worth our time.

 

Question: Will you guys continue running Paypal preorders post-Kickstarter? Any thoughts on that?

Feargus: Yes, like Wasteland 2, we will keep on taking pledges / donations after the Kickstarter is over on PayPal.

 

Question: Day and night cycle sounds cool, but what kind of effects have you planned for it to have? (since day/night quests are not a design pillar) Will we see spells that work differently under the sun/moon, effects on accuracy, etc? Do we dare hope for NPC schedules a la Ultima 7?

Feargus: Our plan is to start with getting it to feel like day and night and then grow it from there. As the system works, we will pile more functionality on it. That would mean different day/night schedules and things like that. However, that stuff is secondary to making sure the core of the game is fun and solid. Torment was awesome and it used only very core CRPG systems.

 

Question: I hope you guys would consider maybe including a physical soundtrack cd at least at the 250+ tiers, possibly even at 140+. All the proper collector's editions I have ever gotten included a full soundtrack CD . Just a humble request.

Feargus: Gotcha. I'll get that on the list. I thought it was at some point. Maybe something that slipped through the cracks.

 

Question: Regarding the Kickstarter, is it generally accepted to keep sweetening the higher tiers as the final date approaches to entice people to pick up the last available slots, or should the most customization occur in the mid-range to low slots?

Feargus: Ya know, we are really learning it as we go. What we are trying to do is to add things in that we would want to get ourselves and then after that make sure all the other tiers feel good. People comment about the $140 tier needing some love (added the mouse pad today) and the $500 tier not being that much more compelling than the $250 - so we talk about it and try to see what might help them.

 

Question: What's the percentage of retails sales for PC games anyway? I know the Gamestops around here don't even stock PC games any more and they're on the backshelves at the Best Buys.

Feargus: Retail PC sales are pretty low now, but larger in Europe.

 

Question: another thought for the 500 tier, maybe add in the obsidian shirt as well? if you add in the concept art (which i don't think would be too many, but might be a problem. don't know) that would give two decent incentives. if the art was signed, that would definitely do it considering that signatures are a pretty large part of that tier anyway.

Feargus: Thanks for the ideas. We are going to talk more about it tomorrow.

 

Question: Asking this for a friend who just loved KOTOR II but was very disappointed by the ending - were you rushed by producers to provide the current ending or was it your decision to end it the way you did? Just interested to hear some behind the scenes decisions because it's a great example about those.

Feargus: That's something that is tough to talk about. We have talked publicly about it a bit, but I try not to go into too much detail. I don't mean to pull that out here, however after the press has copied what I have said from the comments here, I try to be careful when talking about other projects, people and publishers.

 

Question: will it be possible to upgrade your tier in the same way if you used paypal in the first place?

you might want to ask brian about what they did with that, because it seems to be a pretty effecient way of doing it as far as i can tell.

Feargus: I don't know if that will work - but we can talk about it. We would have to compare PayPal vs. Kickstarter accounts when they might use different names and things like that. Hmmm.....

 

Question: that's why i'd say talk to brian fargo about it. he basically made a site where you could sign in and associate the e-mail address used for the kickstarter/paypal under one account, thereby making it easier to see who had done what and make it so they could be adjusted as needed/desired. it works well, i've already adjusted my pledge over there once using paypal and i was a kickstarter backer originally. they used the creditcard option of paypal, and have the option of using a paypal account there if you have one. hope that helps a little bit.

Feargus: Thanks! I'll forward that over to Darren, so he can read your explanation.

[Ink Blot]

Putting this in here, although it doesn't have anything to do with PE. It was a little side conversation that Feargus was having on the KS forum. Someone had posted this link http://www.telltalegames.com/fables in response to a side discussion. Feargus came back with:

 

Feargus: We have a game pitch that Avellone wrote about three or four years ago called Hidden that is exactly that.

 

"Myths and Folk Tales exist, see, they fill the seams in our world.

 

You know them already, but you forget fast. The faint trilling of a flute beneath a sewer grate, a click-spinning bike wheel with a length of blonde hair twined in its spokes, the click-click of glass-spiked heels on a sidewalk echoing, echoing, then... wait, it's gone. The faint smell of brimstone from the local pub with the ash-blackened windows and the men who walk out more hunched than they went in, a nest of filthy blankets arranged in a square pen that seems too small for a human to sleep on."

 

The world we walk in is one we see through untraumatized eyes... the one you see without accident, the see something else... more than you bargained for.

 

Once seen, these things can never be unseen. You become a part of the hidden world, its rules, its inhabitants - and their bargains.

 

It'll creep up on you. You might smell spoiled beef from an empty alley, a fingernail scratching a tune on a record in a sealed attic… or catch a sewer manhole sliding noiselessly closed. A grinning smile within the door of a doghouse. A sudden feeling of déjà vu and a faint, distant jazz saxophone when you enter a hotel lobby. Smoke and ash lingering in the air where no fire has burned, and the faint smell of the charnel house may come from a children's playground. Your grandmother in a brief moment of lucidity, recite a poem from the 16th century and tells you the third line will determine your fate, and all the while, the candles in her windows flicker even when there's no breeze to brush by them. Every alley merits a second glance, then a third... but when you turn away, your surroundings have changed. There is splashing in empty fountains, a giggle behind an abandoned storefront, the ting of a glass shard falling... you may even hear the dust motes whispering amongst themselves. Then - it gets worse.

 

When something cuts you deep, physically or emotionally, sometimes you catch a glimpse of the world as it unfolds… walls peel away, tiles fall from floors into the Abyss, and reality becomes a hallucination you happen to have shared with everyone you knew. Distance has no meanings, streets stretch on forever, and things at your peripheral vision suddenly become very, very real. Nothing can be measured, and you see a glimpse of the infinite.

 

Demons lurk in bars, waiting and getting drunk on human misery, as they sip emptiness from glasses of pessimism... and wait for humanity to come in to pick and choose which of those empty vessels they wish to sample and fill with their energy. Mothers forget their children, their houses filled with empty cribs whose contents have been misplaced. Some say there's a dark overlord behind it all, pulling the strings - Lucifer himself, the puppeteer, the one-we-all-answer-to, the fallen angel... but thing is, no one's seen him for some time. It's like he's vanished, gone, into the air... like a folk tale.

 

Where has he gone, you say? Well, that's the part of the story where you walk in - or wake up, might be better. You and this fellow Lucifer, turns out you have a history. A brief one, a cloudy one, but very, very troubling.

 

But that's how all tales begin... the tales worth telling, that is."

 

 

 

That is all Avellone. It is not Fables, but a very similar sounding pitch we did about three or four years ago. Not to DC, to some other publishers. It was a semi open world console/PC RPG.

 

Question: Oooh that's good! How come there wasn't a move to make it?

 

Feargus: The challenge of being an Independent Developer, trying to sell projects. Original stuff is very hard to sell, particularly when you can't point to another product and say it is like that but much better.

 

 

 

***Just thought people might find this interesting - Ink Blot***

[Ywerion]

If I will be able dual wield two morningstar flails (hugely unimplemented weapon in Fantasy games) It will be one more dream fullfilled!

[Ieo]

Thanks, Ink Blot.

 

Question: Still no comment about Blackstream's romance quote?

Feargus: I'm going to go with whatever Chris said in the interview. And, I'm sticking to that stance. In other words, if Chris said it - then that is what we will be doing.

 

What was that? I miss everything...

[Ink Blot]

Just a quick Q&A this morning. Feargus said he's going to be in and out all day, so there will likely be more as the day progresses:

 

Question: Please make sure, that we've got additional companions on 2,9M+ stretch goals...

Feargus: I don't know if we are going to talk about any more companions at this point. To reinforce what Crosmando said, the ones we are doing will be very indpeth - so they take a lot of time. However, during development we will be constantly evaluating if we can add more to the game - like another companion or two.

 

Question: Bringing George Ziets on the project would be great. I'm a big fan of MotB. I take it that George really liked your concept of the game so far?

Feargus: He does and he really enjoys writing for our kind of RPGs - so it's a good fit.

 

Question: Could you elaborate a little more on the Monk class in Eternity? what twists on the class will make it different from the D&D monks?

Feargus: I'm leaving a lot of the class questions for Josh when we do our AMA - was hoping for that today, but it might be tomorrow now. We'll announce that today.

 

Question: Hi Feargus, I was wondering if there will be pets in the game at all? Either as a companion or for your personal home?

Feargus: Yes there will be pets in the game. We haven't talked about more controllable pets yet - what we are calling animal companions. That might be something that Josh talks about soon, but I am not totally sure.

 

Note: could not find the question/comment that prompted this response - Ink Blot

Feargus: Yes... We have something that we want to add to one of the digital tiers and up. Still talking about which one. Also, we are going to talk about the documentary today as well.

 

Question: Will the AMA just be Sawyer or is Avellone and Cain doing it too

Feargus: And Adam and I as well - although I am pretty much always doing an AMA.

 

Question: How's it going with the translations of the eternity page?

Feargus: Spanish is done. Polish should be done today. I'm waiting on the translations for French and German. We haven't been able to find someone to translate into Russian yet. Spanish example: http://eternity.obsidian.net/es/

 

Question: You said that we will be able to continue to contribute via paypal after KS is over. That begs the question: How unique are the rewards during the Kickstarter? Are paypal people going to be able to get all the same things at any time in the future?

Feargus: We will probably keep the same things over with PayPal for a while, but then we will cut that off at some point. Not sure when, but we want to make sure people who contribute through KS are taken care of.

 

Question: I'm pretty sure there is one or more graveyards in your game. Why don't you offer a reward to print the name (possibly changed to fit into the scenario) and possibly a cool or funny last word on a tombstone. This would be as much a service to the one getting the reward as well as to the players who could read the ephitaphs

Feargus: I think that is the plan with the $500 tier.

 

Question: The stretch goals graphics won't be translated? They're still in English on the Spanish version of the website.

Feargus: Yeah, we didn't translate those. We will if we can.

 

 

Note: One thing I didn't copy into last night's update was a lot of talk about a 'behind the scenes' documentary. Feargus said they thought it would be too expensive and they didn't really consider it. But some lengthy discussion has prompted him to take the idea to the rest of the Obsidian guys. So there may be some word on that upcoming, possibly as a stretch goal. Or not. Be aware though this is only speculative at this point! - Ink Blot

[Ink Blot]

Thanks, Ink Blot.

 

Question: Still no comment about Blackstream's romance quote?

Feargus: I'm going to go with whatever Chris said in the interview. And, I'm sticking to that stance. In other words, if Chris said it - then that is what we will be doing.

 

What was that? I miss everything...

 

Crap. I'll see if I can find it. There was a big long post about it. Give me a few minutes though, I think I can track it down.

 

Okay, Obsoletegamer did an interview with Chris Avellone and there was a question in there about possible love/romances. Here's what was being referred to:

 

ObsG: Would we be able to have our character fall in love with other characters in the game? Do we get to choose this or what if the game chose for us? Would it be possible to start a family, such as in the Fable games or Europa 1400 The Guild?

 

Chris: There’ll be a variety of mature relationships in the game, and you can choose to interact with them as little or as much as you want.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Ink Blot

[Ieo]

Crap. I'll see if I can find it. There was a big long post about it. Give me a few minutes though, I think I can track it down.

 

Okay, Obsoletegamer did an interview with Chris Avellone and there was a question in there about possible love/romances. Here's what was being referred to:

 

ObsG: Would we be able to have our character fall in love with other characters in the game? Do we get to choose this or what if the game chose for us? Would it be possible to start a family, such as in the Fable games or Europa 1400 The Guild?

 

Chris: There’ll be a variety of mature relationships in the game, and you can choose to interact with them as little or as much as you want.

 

Thanks.

 

Ahaha, if that isn't open to interpretation, I don't know what is.