Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter

[Keyrock]

Holy smokes, the Weresheep shirt is amazng!

[Humanoid]

Huh, didn't know there was a second t-shirt, don't see any mention of it in the update. I see it's on the main project page now, but no image loading.

 

I upped from $65 to $95+25 about a week ago for the fuzzy feeling - it wasn't fantastic value previously - but now it seems a real sweet spot with Dragon Commander included (I know nothing about that game though). Guess I'll be nice and get the second shirt on top. The poster, eh, I'll have a think about it depending on how close we get to the 800k goal.

[Oner]

Okay..so at 10 bucks I get a potion that I can use ingame. But I only get the game at $25?

[IndiraLightfoot]

Gfted1, this one is just for you (I just felt like one of them radio guys in Fallout: New Vegas):

 

[Gfted1]

 

That dude looks like Tommy Lee Jones in a wig. That almost made me donate right there!

 

So you haven't donated yet?

Heh, the game looks interesting but I feel a bit burned from the last two kickstarts Ive donated to so Ill probably wait until release, read the reviews, and then pick up the $25 digital version.

 

@IndiraLightfoot: I don't get it, can you please clarify?

[Keyrock]

Okay..so at 10 bucks I get a potion that I can use ingame. But I only get the game at $25?

I guess it's for the folks that can't afford to back at $25 tier right now, but plan to get the game when it's released.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Keyrock

[IndiraLightfoot]

Gfted1: Heh, you did like the guy so much that you almost was about to donate more, so I reckoned that showing you more of him would make you do so.

[Arkeus]

The first of the LP youtube pre-alpha:

 

[Gfted1]

Huh, I didn't know they offered a co-op mode for an additional $15. Color me intrigued.

[Arkeus]

Huh, I didn't know they offered a co-op mode for an additional $15. Color me intrigued.

It's not really "a co-op mode for an additional 15$", it's a second copy of the game. The co-op mode is always there. In fact, as there is no DRM you can even do co-op with a single copy installed on many computers, it's just that they would consider it honest if you actually buy the game for each person playing it.

[Gfted1]

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

[LordCrash]

Huh, didn't know there was a second t-shirt, don't see any mention of it in the update. I see it's on the main project page now, but no image loading.

 

I upped from $65 to $95+25 about a week ago for the fuzzy feeling - it wasn't fantastic value previously - but now it seems a real sweet spot with Dragon Commander included (I know nothing about that game though). Guess I'll be nice and get the second shirt on top. The poster, eh, I'll have a think about it depending on how close we get to the 800k goal.

 

 

 

 

That dude looks like Tommy Lee Jones in a wig. That almost made me donate right there!

 

So you haven't donated yet?

Heh, the game looks interesting but I feel a bit burned from the last two kickstarts Ive donated to so Ill probably wait until release, read the reviews, and then pick up the $25 digital version.

 

The game will probably be available for about $40 on release (David from Larian stated that in two videos, for example the gameplay video on Gamers Dissent). The $25 is a special price for kickstarter backers. So you would make a good deal to pledge for it now.

Edited April 19, 2013 by LordCrash

[LordCrash]

Update 18 : Community Input, Kirill Live Tonight, 3K Likes

 

Apr 18, 2013

 

Community Input

 

It's sometimes held against us, but we think very highly of our fans and our community. We end up calling NPCs after them (hi Arhu), we create encounters with them (hello Shrimpo). We also don't just take their feedback for granted: we often find valuable ideas in their posts, ideas that we implement, changes that we do make...

 

Divinity: Original Sin will not be treated differently. We are for instance taking another look at the RPG system, taking your feedback into account. We are reading your forum posts, your comments on Kickstarter, your private messages and emails, and even if we don't always find the time to answer, we do pick out the things that we think are important or fun. Here are two examples.

 

Burning zombies

 

The following message was sent to Swen, and unfortunately, it will not be implemented as a surprise, it will just be implemented.

 

"Sorry for two PM's in one day, this idea I want hidden and made as a surprise if you like it enough to implement.

(...) fire can burn the skin off a zombie and they become a skeleton. When they became a skeleton, their traits and attack methods changed to that of a skeleton. Their HP remained where it was from the initial attack of the fire or previous attacks. The fire would simply burn off their skin over a few attack rounds (...)

Since so much detail has gone into this, that would be interesting to have implemented."

 

Thanks to this successful Kickstarter, we can give monsters more interesting behaviours, more specific attacks and powers (and weaknesses), so why not create this effect for the zombies? As it turns out, an unknown scribe had already reported on this in his "Source User's Guide To Adventuring". What a coincidence!

 

 

Excerpt from "A Source User's Guide To Adventuring"

 

"One of the more nasty encounters you can have with the undead, is to be attacked by zombies. Many make the mistake of underestimating these dim-witted corpses and very often they are regretting their hubris as their innards are being drawn from their shredded bellies.

 

Zombies are slow, yes, but they are highly resilient to most weapons you can carry, and -neither fearing nor feeling pain- they'll pursue their prey relentlessly. My advice would therefore be to play a little trick on them that makes these putrefying pests a lot easier to deal with.

 

The trick? Fire! If you are versed in the basics of Source wizardry, conjuring a searing fireball is easy as pie, so cast a barrage of flame and admire your handiwork as the flesh burns right off your assailant's bones. It won't be defeated just yet, but it will be a zombie no longer! You'll now be fighting a skeletal warrior, and you can imagine how much more effective your trusty war hammer, mace or mallet will have suddenly become!"

 

Visuals: Ambient, Bloom, Fog, Contrast

 

Last month, someone posted an animated image on the Larian.com forum, comparing our lighting and color settings to what he thought they could be, or should be.

Our art director, Koen Van Mierlo, dived in, and had the following to say:

 

"While working on the lighting and colors of the environments, I had to take into account the speed of the characters and the pace of combat. I had to make sure the visuals were not interfering with game play: I had to strike a good balance between clarity and nice looking visuals. We noticed that high contrast imagery was hard to read and was affecting game play too much; so we decided to go for less contrasted environments.

Combat and movement speed have since changed a lot, and this meant that certain decisions regarding game play and visual clarity were not necessarily valid anymore. So after reading the forum post of Xodetaetl, Swen asked me to reiterate on the lighting to see if it would be possible to increase the contrast. So that's what I did. Now that we have more time to iterate over the game, thanks to this Kickstarter, I tried out different settings. I ended up toning down the ambient settings, decreasing the bloom, tweaking the fog distance settings and tampering with the contrast values."

 

Here are the results of his tamperings.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Here are URLs to the full HD screenshots of the above:

• http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_A_Before.jpg
• http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_A_After.jpg
• http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Church_Before.jpg
• http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Church_After.jpg
• http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_B_Before.jpg
• http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_B_After.jpg

 

Kirill on Twitch TV

 

Don't forget! In exactly two hours, Kirill will perform a live concert especially for you. You don't need a ticket, you don't need to go anywhere, it's streaming live over this wonderful thing we call the internet.

 

 

You can follow the live stream on the following URL: http://www.twitch.tv/larianstudios

 

Or if you can't make it, we will post the video on our Youtube channel later: http://www.youtube.com/larianstudios

 

Bellegar En-Counter

 

Yesterday, we hit 3000 likes on our Larian Studios Facebook page. That means: 3 encounters with Bellegar in Divinity: Original Sin. Can we make that 4000?

 

And in closing

 

Not all fan input will make it to the game. Because sometimes... you really are... Sick Things... (But that's okay. So are we.)

Edited April 20, 2013 by LordCrash

[LordCrash]

Update 19 : Looking Back Already, And Looking Forward

 

Apr 19, 2013

 

Reflections

 

What an exciting couple of weeks we've been having. We've been telling a couple of journalists, that didn't believe us, that we had no idea if this campaign would even reach its goal. "Oh come on," they said. "You're just in it for the stretchgoals. Everyone takes half of what they actually want as a funding goal!"

 

Well we didn't. We were really amazed to reach our goal so fast, and happy to reach our first stretchgoal.

 

The success of this Kickstarter does give us a morale boost. It tells us that we're making something that people are looking forward to, and are supportive of.

 

In his blog, Swen looks back on the past couple of weeks of running a Kickstarter campaign, and what we have learned from this.

 

Read it here: http://www.lar.net/2013/04/19/one-week-to-go/

 

A Kickstarter's Anthology

 

Thomas also made a digest of all the things we've done in the last 3 weeks. An amazing trip in video format that made all of us smile.

So here is a compilation. A collection if you will. Our greatest hits. Our best of. Our gold records. I'm taking this analogy too far so here's the video.

 

 

 

GamersDissent

 

Etalyx from GamersDissent has posted his longest video yet. That's what happens when you get to preview an RPG!

We have been playing together with a couple of people this week, and it is already lots of fun to play this with someone that hasn't seen the game yet.

If you haven't seen it yet and you have an hour to spare, give this playthrough a look, or a listen, that works too. You'll hear that we were genuinely having fun.

 

 

 

Live Stream On PCGames.de

 

We're going into overdrive next week. Well actually, it already starts tonight. We're doing online coop playthroughs with Youtube channels, independent journalists, and magazines, such as Games.on.net, Kotaku, RedPandaGamer, Jesse Cox, Quill18, DenOfGeek, TotalBiscuit, Gamer.no, Jeuxvideo.com, Angry Joe, Gamespot, GMBox, Kanobu...

 

We will announce when they're online and here's the first announcement:

 

We will be playing live with PCGames.de this coming Monday at 17:30 (GMT+1 with daylight saving) so that's:

• 19:30 in Moscow
• 17:30 in Berlin
• 16:30 in London
• 11:30 in New York
• 8:30 in Los Angeles

 

Kirill's Concert On Youtube

 

We know some of you are waiting for the recording of Kirill's concert on Youtube. It's coming. We will post the full edit with high quality video material next week. We want to thank everyone that watched the live stream on our twitch.tv channel. If you missed it, and you cannot wait for the Youtube version, it's still available here.

 

 

In Closing

 

An update about reflections. But also of what is to come. We'll probably have to stay up all night... Stay tuned

Edited April 20, 2013 by LordCrash

[Keyrock]

It saddens me that this massively awesome project hasn't garnered more funding.  I mean, it's a successful Kickstarter, for sure, but, dang it, it should be much more successful.  Many people, myself included, are spreading the word on various forums, and that helps, but what this really needs is some coverage from a mega giant site like IGN.  I'll send them an email with a link to the hour long gameplay in hopes of coaxing them to do an article.

[HoonDing]

They should've kept the chainmail bikini.

[Keyrock]

They should've kept the chainmail bikini.

It was a Princess Leia style plate bikini  :

Edited April 20, 2013 by Keyrock

[LordCrash]

They should've kept the chainmail bikini.

 

Hm, I think that's a VERY MINOR point.....

Edited April 20, 2013 by LordCrash

[Humanoid]

And the male character lacks the stubble part of "all video game protagonists should be white males with brown hair and stubble". That, or a chainmail mankini.

[LordCrash]

And the male character lacks the stubble part of "all video game protagonists should be white males with brown hair and stubble". That, or a chainmail mankini.

It's just a concept art.......

[Keyrock]

 

And the male character lacks the stubble part of "all video game protagonists should be white males with brown hair and stubble". That, or a chainmail mankini.

It's just a concept art.......

Silence!  Not generic white male protagonist enough!

 

[alanschu]

Well, that certainly explains the low funding!

 

>.>

<.<

[TSBasilisk]

He's clean-shaven and his hair is starting to turn gray at the temples; what kind of RPG has a responsible, middle-aged man as a protagonist?

 

It is too bad that the timing was off with the launch. The $800,000 stretch would be nice, but they may be able to focus better if they don't need to develop the side characters too much.

[marelooke]

They should've kept the chainmail bikini.

Naah, they should've done away with it entirely ;-)

 

Kidding aside, I'm flabbergasted that they haven't got more support... I've been bugging every channel I know RPG players hang out to little success so far it would seem

 

 

It saddens me that this massively awesome project hasn't garnered more funding. I mean, it's a successful Kickstarter, for sure, but, dang it, it should be much more successful. Many people, myself included, are spreading the word on various forums, and that helps, but what this really needs is some coverage from a mega giant site like IGN. I'll send them an email with a link to the hour long gameplay in hopes of coaxing them to do an article.

That would really improve my (rather low) opinion on IGN for sure!

Edited April 20, 2013 by marelooke

[HoonDing]

Divinity series is simply too obscure and never left that big a mark to attract the same amount of cash as Wasteland and Torment.