Torment: Tides of Numenera?

[AGX-17]

I just backed it at the $45 level since I didn't back Wasteland 2 and it adds a free copy of Wasteland 2. How shameless.

[BruceVC]

I just backed it at the $45 level since I didn't back Wasteland 2 and it adds a free copy of Wasteland 2. How shameless.

 

 

Just the fact you are backing it on any level is a good thing. Nice one  

 

I didn't realize I would get a free copy of W2. Good to know.

[BruceVC]

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/torment-tides-of-numenera-what-does-one-life-matter/

 

An interesting interview and good early insights into the game.

[Keyrock]

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/torment-tides-of-numenera-what-does-one-life-matter/

 

An interesting interview and good early insights into the game.

Good read.  I'm getting more and more interested in the tides system.  At first, I thought it was just a drop in replacement for alignments, but it's sounding like a whole lot more than that.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Yea, the tides looks very interesting indeed.

 

BruceVC and others: Regardless of how who got your hands on a copy of WL2, the game already seems to be very promising indeed, and unilke PE and Torment, it may very well be something we can dig into before Christmas this year!  

[BruceVC]

Yea, the tides looks very interesting indeed.

 

BruceVC and others: Regardless of how who got your hands on a copy of WL2, the game already seems to be very promising indeed, and unilke PE and Torment, it may very well be something we can dig into before Christmas this year!

 

I agree 100%, this year is shaping up fantastically

[Keyrock]

Yea, the tides looks very interesting indeed.

 

BruceVC and others: Regardless of how who got your hands on a copy of WL2, the game already seems to be very promising indeed, and unilke PE and Torment, it may very well be something we can dig into before Christmas this year!

Also, I'll be playing Shadowrun Returns likely before that.

[Lord of Lost Socks]

Shadowrun and Wasteland this year. Eternity and Torment next year. Lookin' good.

[bussinrounds]

"Whether this combat system relies on phase-based turns, a ‘pause’ system or a third mechanic, the decision will rest with the gamers"

 

 Please let it either be turn or phase based  

 

Also don't forget about Chaos Chronicles coming out this year too !

[lordgizka]

I am still uncomfortable with the marketing for this project, or the fact that the story is way too similar to PS:T, but I still backed it. Just because the only "proper" western RPG in a while was Witcher 2. Oh, and development cycles for all the major RPG Kickstarter projects are too short. Which is inevitably going to lead to amusing fan outrages down the line.

[maggotheart]

I am still uncomfortable with the marketing for this project, or the fact that the story is way too similar to PS:T, but I still backed it. Just because the only "proper" western RPG in a while was Witcher 2. Oh, and development cycles for all the major RPG Kickstarter projects are too short. Which is inevitably going to lead to amusing fan outrages down the line.

 

They have addressed the development cycle point in many of the updates.

[lordgizka]

 

I am still uncomfortable with the marketing for this project, or the fact that the story is way too similar to PS:T, but I still backed it. Just because the only "proper" western RPG in a while was Witcher 2. Oh, and development cycles for all the major RPG Kickstarter projects are too short. Which is inevitably going to lead to amusing fan outrages down the line.

 

They have addressed the development cycle point in many of the updates.

 

Yeah, but what do you suppose happens when any popular Kickstarter-funded  game is heavily delayed ,or too short, or too buggy, or just bad, or some combination of these?

 

Internet hysteria won't necessarily destroy the developers' reputation, but it'll certainly destroy the "donate us a bunch of money, we're good for it" business model. And then we'll be getting more games like Dragon Age 2 or something.

[AwesomeOcelot]

Yeah, but what do you suppose happens when any popular Kickstarter-funded  game is heavily delayed ,or too short, or too buggy, or just bad, or some combination of these?

 

Internet hysteria won't necessarily destroy the developers' reputation, but it'll certainly destroy the "donate us a bunch of money, we're good for it" business model. And then we'll be getting more games like Dragon Age 2 or something.

Double Fine Adventure has been delayed. Whether a game is too short is pretty subjective. If a game is too buggy that'll be a problem, although considering publisher released games are also extremely buggy maybe not so much, and things like Xenonauts and Minecraft. A bad game? Well the backer made that judgement, it's their fault if they don't like the game, sure they might not want to back another game, although they've probably backed several games so one bad game probably won't discourage them backing more. People who have donated to KickStarter, even the most popular ones, have still been mostly fans, this is only to give kickstarter projects sympathy, maybe more than they deserve sometimes.

 

The nay sayers and other idiots talking about KickStarter "fatigue" and a bad game destroying confidence aren't fans of projects, a lot of them are probably not backers. They don't understand that backers aren't children, they won't turn into cry babies like the people who discount crowd funding, they've been told by the projects about the risks and challenges, they understand the process. One failed project won't matter when there's tens of successful ones, FTL, Chivalry, and Gianna are already KickStarter successes.

[DeathQuaker]

 

And while we're here, it was also a little less overt with the "spiritual successor to X!" claims

 

Maybe a little, but the differences aren't so great that you couldn't make the exact same whine arguments about P:E. If you backed one, there isn't really any good reason not to back the other.

Except that I did back both. The very first thing I said in my first post here was that I backed Numenera Torment. To repeat myself once again, it looks like a good game with a good design team. So does Project Eternity, so I backed them. I disliked some of the marketing surrounding them, especially around Numenera Torment, and I stand by my statement that P:E's had a different focus than TONT, but they still look like good games regardless of any discomfort I may feel about that marketing, enough that I put money toward both. I can support something while having misgivings, it's okay to have complicated feelings sometimes. Especially when the misgivings are ultimately minor in the long term. I still felt what I said was worth saying, and again, stand by it.

Edited March 12, 2013 by DeathQuaker

[Bester]

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/torment-tides-of-numenera-what-does-one-life-matter/

 

An interesting interview and good early insights into the game.

No new info whatsoever.

[BruceVC]

 

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/torment-tides-of-numenera-what-does-one-life-matter/

 

An interesting interview and good early insights into the game.

No new info whatsoever.

 

 

Gee Bester try not to be too enthusiastic, I would prefer if you were negative as I find your excitement  and constructive opinion false

[Bester]

 

 

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/torment-tides-of-numenera-what-does-one-life-matter/

 

An interesting interview and good early insights into the game.

No new info whatsoever.

 

 

Gee Bester try not to be too enthusiastic, I would prefer if you were negative as I find your excitement  and constructive opinion false

 

Oh no, I'm very excited. I don't even understand half things people are posting here. Torment KS is great, I donated all I could, basta.

 

All this whining about "bwian fawgo, why didja use towment naaame?", "why didja stawt new ks befowe weleasing anythiiiing", "why you make towment it's DEAD bwiaaaan" - it's incomprehensible to me. I think I'm the most positive guy in here.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Bester

[BruceVC]

 

 

 

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/torment-tides-of-numenera-what-does-one-life-matter/

 

An interesting interview and good early insights into the game.

No new info whatsoever.

 

 

Gee Bester try not to be too enthusiastic, I would prefer if you were negative as I find your excitement  and constructive opinion false

 

Oh no, I'm very excited. I don't even understand half things people are posting here. Torment KS is great, I donated all I could, basta.

 

All this whining about "bwian fawgo, why didja use towment naaame?", "why didja stawt new ks befowe weleasing anythiiiing", "why you make towment it's DEAD bwiaaaan" - it's incomprehensible to me. I think I'm the most positive guy in here.

 

Okay I apologize, you do seem to be one of excited people

[Luridis]

 

It's not the early bird mechanic I'm seeing... it's sell out of x pledge and it's price goes of 5, 10, 15 or 25, depending on where it started. When that tier sells out it goes up again by the same amount. By the end of this thing I suspect what started out as $95 will be around $150 and what started at $250 will be around $350.

 

The $95 CE tier has already capped out, at $135, where it is unlimited. We either go unlimited at some point if it makes sense to us or stop expanding the tiers. It works pretty much like any early bird and limited sales system,

 

I'm here to answer questions/listen to feedback or receive abuse if anyone needs to vent. I was too busy to check in with you guys for a while. How you enjoyin' the campaign?

 

You missed my point, or dodged it completely. Some of the pledge rewards sold out in hours creating a huge gap in the tiers. A gap that is almost double the previous tier, and one that I suspect will cause a lot of people to balk and hold close to the $100ISH range. This is precisely what I did and I sent the difference to other projects.

 

I guess it could be described with a parable...

 

A man once walked into a Fry's Electronics store, looking for a Blu-ray player to interface with his new flat-screen television. He paced to and fro upon the isle looking at the various models. Some of the players were very cheap, but he knew better. Some were hugely expensive and offered little more over the models priced well below them. The man decided that one worthwhile feature was a slot-loading design. But, lo! There was a large gap between the price of the most expensive tray-loading and least expensive slot-loading models due to the store being sold out of the first few slot-loading models. A salesman came by to assist the man and the man asked a curious question, "Why, pray tell, would you waste inventory space on the most expensive tray models no one wants and allow yourself to sell out of the first few slot-loading designs?"

 

The salesman replied, "Well, in truth, when those sell out most people just opt for an expensive tray model. So, would you like me to get you our finest tray-loading Blu-ray then?"

 

"No," replied the man.

 

"Oh, wonderful! I guess you'll be going with our best slot-loading model with all the features then?" queried the salesman.

 

The man grinned slyly and said, "Actually... you just did a fine job! A fine job indeed... of reminding me exactly why I Newegg!"

 

And the man turned and left the store comforted by his new found wisdom.

 

Cheeky, cheesy and fun.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Luridis

[Keyrock]

Update 5: Monte Cook talks Numenera and more.  --->  Clicky

 

 

Hi Forgotten Ones,

I hope you had an excellent weekend.

TL;DR: More about Numenera’s setting and game rules, with video by Monte. Further explanation of Stretch Goals and funding, and what your support is making possible. Our basic plans for dialogue and companions. Unbranded wallpapers.

Numenera and the Ninth World

In this video, Monte talks about Numenera and its emphasis on mystery and discovery. He describes the Ninth World and in particular the Beyond (the region in which much of Torment will take place). Monte also talks about the basics of character creation for the tabletop game, including descriptors, foci, and the three primary character types (classes). (We’ll discuss this more in a later update, but for now know that all three character types (Glaives, Jacks, and Nanos) will be options for your PC in Torment, and that you will have (or acquire) a descriptor and focus as well.)

We are embracing the wonder and mystery of the Ninth World and it perfectly fits our goals for Torment. In some ways, Numenera iterates upon design philosophies behind Planescape™, which both Colin and Monte played key roles in creating. Monte notes: “One of the things I loved about Planescape™ was the wild imagination and the pushing the envelope – we could really do anything we wanted to, go anywhere our imaginations took us. And I wanted to achieve the same thing with Numenera.”

A key philosophy behind Monte’s new game is to allow game masters (GMs) a great degree of flexibility. Numenera provides a versatile framework within which we can play. This flexibility extends beyond the creative vision and the setting and into the game rules systems. Numenera’s rules are designed to support the narrative and creative elements of role-playing, being streamlined both to provide great variety in character customization and to keep a desirable pace for the gameplay and story. With a computer role-playing game, we can emphasize story-telling while having a more complex system underneath the hood than would be desired for a tabletop game. Computer games are capable of intricate calculations that could be tedious for tabletop play, so we're able to implement these new systems for Torment without impeding the flow of the game. Our close collaboration with Monte, means we quickly receive his feedback on our new systems. (How much of the complexity you peer into while playing will depend on your preferences – we will leverage the highly customizable user interface and extensive options system that we’ve developed for Wasteland 2 for this purpose).

One example of our extending upon the Numenera rules for Torment is our Legacy System, which along with the Tides, is not part of the core Numenera game. They are elements that inXile has designed specifically for this computer game to achieve our vision for Torment. We’ve discussed the Tides with Monte to ensure they fit well within the Ninth World, and he’s given us ideas about how to even better embrace the concept within the story and setting. As another example, we intend for Torment’s combat system to include more complexity than the core Numenera rules. One of the reasons we chose the Ninth World setting, and the Numenera rules, is because it provides an excellent foundation for Torment, with the freedom to adapt them for the best Torment computer role-playing experience we can devise.

About Stretch Goals and Funding

We’ve noted some explicit Stretch Goals, but we’ve also explained that every dollar we receive from your contributions during this campaign (including the 10% matching from $2M to $3M by @Dracogen!) will be going into the game development budget (along with reward fulfillment). I wanted to explain briefly what we mean. As more funding is available, we can make many improvements that aren’t easily described as a Stretch Goal. For example, at this upcoming milestone, George Ziets will be joining the writing team. This doesn’t just involve George. His writing contributions will allow us to increase depth and complexity, resulting in an even more branching and reactive storyline. More written content requires new art, more scripting support, and more quality assurance and iteration to polish the content. As the game increases in depth and complexity, new interface elements and features will be needed to properly communicate to you everything you need to know. George (and each writer) who contributes to the game creates more work (in a good way) for many who are behind the scenes.

Another important point to mention is the modular nature in which we’ve crafted Torment’s story. What we mean by this is that our story’s design makes it relatively easy for us to add content, especially optional content, but also critical path content in some cases. Our target funding was what we believed was required to make a worthy game that fulfills the vision we’ve presented to you. Additional resources allow us to make it richer, deeper, more polished. Though to some extent, more funds allow us to make a longer game, that is not our focus. Our focus in this regard is defined by our fourth pillar: “Reactivity, Choice, and Real Consequences.” When we talk about adding content, this is where our emphasis is: to make an even more engaging experience, to truly push the envelope in terms of role-playing game reactivity. This is one reason we’re excited about the expanding upon the Legacy System and the Tides – we see possibilities that to us were distant dreams last week when we launched this Kickstarter, when we didn’t realize how much you would support us and the vision for the game we are creating for you (and for ourselves, to be honest – this is a game we are very passionate about.)

We promise to you that all of the funds will be leveraged to best realize the vision we have presented. (Several in our community have expressed opinions along these lines, includingGrinningReaper659 and aratuk.) We won’t be using funds from this Kickstarter to add in features that deviate from this vision. We treat the trust you have placed in us seriously, and will maintain our precise focus on creating the game we have told you about. (For example, there is no total this Kickstarter could reach that would lead us to implement multiplayer.) We won’t be trying to broaden our audience – our goal is to provide you with the best embodiment of the game we have presented. Any features we add, any content we add, will be to better deliver on our vision. Especially for a game like Torment, excellence is achieved through focus.

Dialogue and Companions

Compelling dialogue and intriguing companions are at the core of the Torment experience. We’ll use dialogue trees in which you choose the line you speak or the action you take from a list of options, defining your character by what you say and do. We’ll iterate on tried-and-true systems (such as that of Planescape™: Torment) to make conversations even more interesting, but we’ll target the same type of experience. We'll design a new slang unique to the world (just enough to give the world depth, mind you; we won't pound you on the head with how cool our cant is).

You’ll have optional companions who might accompany you on your journey. You will be able to talk with them, delving into their personalities and histories, even shaping them (or driving them away) with your responses. They, too, might have their own things to say about a given situation and will interject whenever they feel like it. That said, you’ll have full control over your party. Some companions might choose to leave you over an extreme situation, but as long as they’re in your party, they’ll go where you direct them and do what you tell them.

We’ve been asked some questions about what types of relationships the PC might have with their companions. Our position is this: adhering to our four pillars, we are going to craft nontraditional, complex, and believable characters. We are going to develop the companions with enough depth that we understand their motivations and personality. And then we will write them to respond appropriately to the situations they encounter. Love, which comes in many forms, is certainly relevant when exploring themes of legacy, abandonment, and mystery – and we expect to explore this emotion in ways that fits the story and characters. Meaningful friendships, even feelings of affection, will be possible, but relationships of the flesh would be inconsistent with our narrative. (Though we must admit we were amused by the Romance with Ball of Goo suggestion by billyboy. =) )

Coming Attractions

We’re closing in on our next Stretch Goal, which will mean George Ziets, a novella by Monte Cook, a new companion, and the Castoff’s Labyrinth! (Oh, and a special video from Colin...). Thanks for spreading the word and for your continued support!

This week, expect more details of our vision for Torment (including more Tales of Torment episodes), information on more frequent Stretch Goals, and more.

Miscellaneous

You may recall that we hit the character limit on our KS page. To make room for new material and updates, we’ve begun moving text from the KS page over to our tumblr site and linking to it from the KS page. So far, most of the information about the story, the gameplay, and the team has been transferred. For those who would like to learn more, there’s actually quite a wealth of information on our tumblr (including more detailed information on rewards and Stretch Goals as well as links for PS:T materials, community sites, Colin and my Formspring accounts, and more).

Per your requests, new wallpapers for the Sojourner of Worlds and Sagus Cliffs at Dawn, without the Torment logo, have been added to our website’s Media page.

Thank you for your time and have a great day,

Kevin

I can see myself as a cunning Nano who blends in with shadows.  

[rjshae]

Needed for that last post...

[Undecaf]

Edited March 12, 2013 by Undecaf

[Keyrock]

While, I'm not letting Colin off the hook, even after the "apology", I'm going to put more of the blame on J.R.R. Tolkien for bringing them to the forefront semi-pseudo-recent-ish-esque.  I'd like to also blame whatever Germanic tribe thought them up in the first place, but I'm not sure exactly where to point the finger.

 

On a more positive note, this also means Ziets.  ZIIIIETS!

Edited March 12, 2013 by Keyrock

[BruceVC]

!

 

While, I'm not letting Colin off the hook, even after the "apology", I'm going to put more of the blame on J.R.R. Tolkien for bringing them to the forefront semi-pseudo-recent-ish-esque.  I'd like to also blame whatever Germanic tribe thought them up in the first place, but I'm not sure exactly where to point the finger.

 

On a more positive note, this also means Ziets.  ZIIIIETS!

 

Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiets  

[Bester]

HUSH HUSH!!!!!!!!

(the update isn't actually out yet, Colin apparently forgot to "lock" the video)

Edited March 13, 2013 by Bester