How is the documentary going to be done?

[Hugo Rune]

So, Obsidian is going to film and document the whole development process, which I think is a great idea. They don't do it as a stretch goal so they don't owe us anything, really, and maybe they haven't decided yet but I'd still like to know, if possible, how they're going to do it. Is this going to be a documentary as in "we're filming all our work, then, towards the end, we'll cut all the material to make a roughly 90 min feature and release it to our backers" or are you going to do it like Double Fine and release parts of the documentary as episodes whenever there's a new stage in the development process and/or to show different aspects of the production (or soemthing different alltogether?).

 

To those who haven backed Double Fine Adventure and therefore can't see it, Double Fine are constantly releasing episodes of their documentary (there are 5 so far), each showcasing different aspects of development and what has happened so far. So far they have done episodes on the writing process, introduced the programmers and how they work, showcased the artists and so on. In between they are releasing a ton of other updates from just-for-fun stuff like watching Tim Schafer play his old games to in-depth articles about art, production, programming and so on. They are very careful not to spoil anything but it gives a great sense of being part of the production and a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how such a game is being made. It's also very entertaining.

 

So, basically, what I'm saying is: I want this. Of course Obsidian hasn't planned to do this from the start like DF, so I'm not expecting quite the same wealth of information but it would be great if you modeled your approach to this documentary business after Double Fine.

 

Of course this is mainly directed at the Developers but I hope others here will chime in. So, what's your opinion on this? Agree/disagree/don't want them distracted from making the game/don't care/whatever?

Edited October 20, 2012 by Hugo Rune

[Sensuki]

I'm not really an Adventure Game person but I've seen Episode 1 of the DFA Documentary and the highlights reel and I am hoping that they follow suit. Adam mentioned in the recent Sorcerer's Place interview that they were looking at the way Double Fine Adventure are handling their post-kickstarter updates.

[Solivagant]

We definitely need a constant stream of juicy updates, not sure if they can do the documentary episodical and work on the game as well. It would be very interesting to have an episode some time in the future focusing on Q&A!

[Hugo Rune]

I'm not really an Adventure Game person but I've seen Episode 1 of the DFA Documentary and the highlights reel and I am hoping that they follow suit. Adam mentioned in the recent Sorcerer's Place interview that they were looking at the way Double Fine Adventure are handling their post-kickstarter updates.

 

That's great to hear! Seems I have missed that particular interview. Double Fine is doing a great job of really keeping their backers in the loop and the sense of progress you get from the updates helps a lot to maintain the excitement for the project even long after the kickstarter has ended.

Edited October 20, 2012 by Hugo Rune