Update #45: FATE: Fulfillment, Arcanum, Torment, Egads!

[The Guildmaster]

Update by Darren Monahan, Operations Guy

 

Fulfillment

 

 

In this week’s update, we go over a lot of different little things going on here at Obsidian. Here’s a quick teaser: I’ll be covering a brief update on fulfillment; we have another three videos of Mr. Avellone’s Let’s Play series in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, we’ve got some really great news for fans of Planescape: Torment (along with some sexy fan artwork to share!) and lastly, a project we backed recently that we think is pretty cool that you might too.

OK, so on to fulfillment! Let’s do this FAQ style.

Q: So, what’s happening with the backer portal?
A: I’m personally busy putting together a whole new Project Eternity website, which includes our backer portal, RSS feeds (popular request!), as well as including information and artwork about the universe of Eternity. What we know about classes, races, the gods, and more, and this site will continue to evolve as more and more is designed and released.

It is a big job though for just little ol’ me, so it’s still going to be a few weeks as I work everything out, but we’ll keep you in the know. Oh, and backer badges come with this system as well.

The backer portal will also be a great resource for those of you in the upper tiers who are submitting item, character, or location designs. Speaking of which...!

Q: When will I be able to start submitting my item, character, or location designs?
A: The guys have been talking quite a bit about this recently and have already started designing out the forms. Our current plan is to have those of you with those tiers be able to input them directly in our backer portal, and you can revise them at any time up to a certain point down the road (which we’ll let you all know – this point is when we would send out your text for translation, and it becomes expensive from this point to make edits.) But until then, start thinking about the concept for the thing you’d like to add! Adam will have an update on that in the coming weeks with more detail. We’d like to make sure there’s enough backstory and content available for you to draw connections from, and our new website will be the place for that.

 

Let's Play Arcanum: Season 0

, Chris’s playthrough of Arcanum continues, taking your comments to heart with higher resolution, less chair creaking, profanity, Virgil sass, and wolves, wolves, wolves!

Part I

Part II

Part III

InXile Announces Torment: Tides of Numenera!
If you missed Monday’s announcement by the good folks at InXile, Brian Fargo and crew announced their new Kickstarter project opening tomorrow called Torment: Tides of Numenera. That name may sound oddly familiar, yes! They are making a spiritual successor to the beloved Planescape: Torment. We seriously couldn’t control ourselves here guys, and had to make sure all of you knew about it too as fans of the genre!

 

We encourage you to check out their website and check in tomorrow to see their new video.

...and that’s not all in Torment news. Incredible artist John Crowcroft sent us some beautiful fanart canvases that we had to share with all of you.

 

       

Egads!
OK, so I’m not entirely sure how "egads" fits into this update exactly other than to fill the "E" slot in this update title’s FATE acronym, but I digress. One last quick item we wanted to tell you about was a project we "Kicked it Forward" on that we think looks fun and interesting for those of you who like table top dice games. It’s called Dungeon Roll – A Dicey Dungeon Delve. Check it out!

 

Until next week,

-Darren, seeker of Kerfluffleupogus.

[Lephys]

Well, I'll have the shakes for the next week, since I didn't get my mechanic details fix, BUT...

 

Thanks for the update! . It's good to know you guys (or... you guy?) are working so hard on the backer site, and I'm TOTALLY about to back the smack out of Numenera... 8D!

 

Keep up the good work! Oh, crap... no morality. I meant, keep up the work that the faction of Me highly applauds, whilst other factions and/or deities may or may not like it very much! ^_^

[maggotheart]

Yay Torment! Lets keep the gravy train of Kickstarter CRPG awesome steaming along and fund the crap out of it!

[SunBroSolaire]

Thanks for sharing the Torment info, that's pretty damn cool. Good to see you guys supporting the Kickstarter community, intelligent RPGs, and good people and artists. Keep it up! Kickstarter is bigger than Project: Eternity, and it's great to see the leaders of this new business model helping each other out. I honestly believe you guys are doing something more important than just making an awesome video game. The Kickstarter model could fundamentally change the way we look at games, entertainment, and fan support. Keep making us backers proud

[JWestfall]

Fulfillment - the word sounds so... fulfilling.  Can't wait to see the website!

 

Also, heard about Torment earlier, was wondering if you guys would comment.  But you didn't link MCA's video about it?

 

 

Edit: didn't mean to embed video, just link to it, but I can't seem to un-embed it...

Edited March 6, 2013 by JWestfall

[Zed]

looking forward to seeing the website. hopefully some new stuff on it, like wallpapers, perhaps?

 

remember: no flash. no bg music.

[BetrayTheWorld]

I also think it's cool that people behind the making of the games are getting more exposure due to the kickstarter model. It paves the way for the pocket protector rock star of the future. lol

[uaciaut]

Can someone tell Chris to read the Arcanum manual so he doesn't spend half his time figuring out what things do? D:

[Ieo]

(Yeah, well.  )

 

 

Anyway, back to Project Eternity. Looking forward to the fulfillment site; I think it's good to take a bit longer to ensure there aren't technical hiccups, considering the sheer number of people it will have to support. Once it's announced, I'll wait for a few days after the rush myself to avoid server crush. 

 

Looking forward to more art/technical/mechanics updates!

[Dormin]

Oh yes! a great news

Looking forward to the fulfillment site and the portal...I'm very curious

[Frisk]

Wow wow wow...yes yes YES!

 

I have really been looking forward to hearing more about the fulfillment site, as one of the main reason I was willing to put a fairly large chunk of money into this was because of  the ability to put something of my own into the game - in my case a NPC, based on a character I created for a pen-n-paper RPG many, many years ago.

 

Of course, I don't know how much of that character I will be able/allowed  to put into the game - the name and class obviously - the personality as well, and maybe to some degree the backstory and motivation....but I'll just wait and see.

 

One question, though - I think I remember some discussion about establishing a special closed forum, just for the $1000+ tiers - is that still being planned?

 

And yes, thanks for the info on Torment: Tides of Numenera - I had indeed missed that.

[WotanAnubis]

Thirty minutes of failing to get past some wolves. I know Troika games may not have been the most balanced, but this is starting to get a bit silly.

[Theobeau]

Very interesting update and as one of many huge fans of PST, glad to see the cross promotion of the next cRPG spiritual successor.

 

Am very interested to check out the details of the Torment: Tides of Numenera KS.

 

BTW:  I know MCA isn't listed as being involved in the TToN team but given his deep links to Torment, I won't be surprised to see him turning up as a stretch goal in the vein of PE's Mr. Ziets.

[Salmanasar]

about eternity site - will be there some backer store, like for wasteland 2? You know, I've got some extra money to spend.. (numenera also has my sword, axe and wallet)

Edited March 6, 2013 by Salmanasar

[Wombat]

BTW:  I know MCA isn't listed as being involved in the TToN team but given his deep links to Torment, I won't be surprised to see him turning up as a stretch goal in the vein of PE's Mr. Ziets.

The dirty trick was originally done by inXile:  Avellone was a stretch goal for Wasteland 2, too.  In fact, reading this update makes me think how wasting it is to make Avellone play Arcanum instead of writing even a few lines for Tides of Numenera.  Judging from what I read at Formspring(Colin McComb, Kevin D Saunders), the project itself sounds quite promising as long as I can forget about Torment name.  Rather, I'm happy that it is not even intended to be a sequel since the story of the original is complete.  I'll be most likely to pledge amount appropriate for my moderate expectation.  After all, there are not so many RPGs being made for those who like reading.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Wombat

[Shadenuat]

Chris’s playthrough of Arcanum continues

 

"YES THE DEATH SCREEN I KNOW HOW IT LOOKS LIKE, I LOVE THE DEATH SCREEN!!"

[Sacred_Path]

Ok, will use spoiler tags from now on.

 

 

ailing wolves aren't that tough

 

[Suen]

Can someone tell Chris to read the Arcanum manual so he doesn't spend half his time figuring out what things do? D:

Nooo, is so much fun seeing Arcanum murdering him again and again xD. 

 

Eh, maybe someone should do a "Let's Read the F*ing Arcanum Manual" video for Chris. 

[Endrosz]

First post, long-time lurker...

 

I was eagerly awaiting the Arcanum playthrough. Tim Cain delivered on the promise that games don't need to be about heroes saving the world, so it should be fun to watch MCA discover all that's inside.

 

However, after this second Let's Play update, I must voice my concern about his "natural playthrough" shown in real-time, with no cuts. It's been 2 updates and 1 and 1/2 hours and Chris still hasn't reached Shrouded Hills, which is just the very first stop on the long road to solving the mysteries of Arcanum. At this tempo, it' going to take him 200 hours to get to the end, and probably more... Cut to the chase, only put up 10-minutes edited videos of him doing something that actually matters, please! The poll that was put up here on the forum ended with "10 minute YouTube chunks" winning - I voted for that option, too. However, that option doesn't simply mean that we prefer 10 minute chunks of a longer video (that's just a technical difference, not a content difference), we want the gameplay edited down to that size, with only the juicy stuff shown! The first update was decent because it included the character creation and other general commentary, and that was nice to hear. But this second one was an almost complete waste of time. I would be completely accepting that instead of live commentary, the commentary would be dubbed later on, to allow for more insight on the events playing out.

 

I want Chris to be in the  thick of Arcanum's excellent story and location-packed world, not fumbling around with the UI and getting his party killed. The clueless berk (see what I did there?) doesn't even know anything about the byzantine character advancement system, with mastery levels and attribute requirements and all that jazz. I would advise him to consult the excellent manual, spoiler-free and written in period speech, really fun to read.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Endrosz

[Lysen]

I don't think that Chris is planning to finish his playthrough. Probably, he will stop when he reach Tarant.

[Endrosz]

But that's my entire point. Reaching Tarant doesn't constitute a "playthrough" - at least, for me... There are so many late-game twists and turns, I really, really want to see him react to that. Like the ones involving Nasrudin, the Panar'ri religion, St. Mannox... That's what would be worth watching.

[Shadenuat]

New stretch goal: Chris Avellone will read the Arcanum manual.

[Galamere]

 

BTW:  I know MCA isn't listed as being involved in the TToN team but given his deep links to Torment, I won't be surprised to see him turning up as a stretch goal in the vein of PE's Mr. Ziets.

The dirty trick was originally done by inXile:  Avellone was a stretch goal for Wasteland 2, too.  In fact, reading this update makes me think how wasting it is to make Avellone play Arcanum instead of writing even a few lines for Tides of Numenera.  Judging from what I read at Formspring(Colin McComb, Kevin D Saunders), the project itself sounds quite promising as long as I can forget about Torment name.  Rather, I'm happy that it is not even intended to be a sequel since the story of the original is complete.  I'll be most likely to pledge amount appropriate for my moderate expectation.  After all, there are not so many RPGs being made for those who like reading.

Even the best writers take breaks from time to time.  In this instance it was a joke bit they did and he's sticking with it.  It's not like those 'lets play' marathon bits of League I've seen that aren't actually lets plays, but just some kid/champion playing it all day to hone his/her skill.

[DeathQuaker]

I don't mind if Chris Avellone puts up the full play video (although editing out repeat fights might be worth it), but I would humbly request that he a) reads the game manual (the game was NOT designed for people to just boot up and go) and b) figures out how to use the world map (the one time he tried, he just clicked a little too low). I mean, if he wants to play the way he's going, that's his thing, but he seems frustrated in the videos himself, so...  I think once he figures out certain basic mechanics the LPs are going to be a lot more eventful and there'll be fewer reasons to edit.

 

As for Project Eternity, looking forward to the backer stuff getting up and running.

[Sacred_Path]

I don't mind if Chris Avellone puts up the full play video (although editing out repeat fights might be worth it), but I would humbly request that he a) reads the game manual (the game was NOT designed for people to just boot up and go)

But what if he feels spoiled by reading the manual?