New stretch goals for companions and wilderness areas?

[Graham]

I would love more wilderness areas. These are the reason why I still hold BG1 in high regard.

[Andron]

I would probably say I want more wilderness areas, if more money came in.  Though, if they are stretch goals, then I would say do one first for wilderness areas and then do second goal for companions.  Seems reasonable to me.

[benwa69]

Stretch goals would be great - especially now that the backer portal is up and accepting money - but PLEASE don't let the stretch goals extend the deliver date..... 2 other kickstarter games got great funding and stretch goals and then had to extend ... still waiting.... the deliver date because the added material took longer to build/incorporate into the game.  - could it be something like DLC? or could you steal some people from torment since wasteland 2 should be delivered by then... and have the additional people do the additional work so it wouldn't be an additional delay?....puleeeese?. (if there is a delay - could you all at least release a short beta/demo to those of us who pledged?...(If not, stretch goals are still good -  I just want to play the game as soon as possible - Looks like several other people have voiced the same concerns. )

Will you all be soliciting stretch goals?

until then - make mine marvel (well and darkhorse)

[danjal]

I'd move to see more content, be it in the form or stretch goals or otherwise.
But mainly I'd love to see it done in such a way that doesn't compromise the current game.

Plan for it, lay the foundations for future additions (this often is required, you can't just add things in as an afterthought...)
Make some of these stretch goals into expansions, sequel idea's or content DLC. Or have a progressive release (similar to the episodic release of TWD or the way minecraft was done) and do it in such a way that doesn't compromise the main game.

As many people here point out, focus on creating what is already promised - but keep your options open for expanding through stretch goals from any additional income coming in now with added pledges and sales. (Basicly, if people add a lot of pledges and purchases now, use that money to further benefit the game.)

[Sad Panda]

Tend to agree that more information would be welcome. Would new staff be hired to realise the features? Not only people most immediately relevant to the stretch goal in question, but also those who are needed in all areas of the game, such as play-testers? If not, I can't really see the new features as not being away from the primary development, as the workload would increase across the board. In such a case I'd be against any further additions; Better save those for expansions/DLC.

[Hassat Hunter]

I would love new stretch goals.

I would love to see more of your kitty.

 

Having said that, there's no proof yet the 4 million cats stretch goal even made it into the game. Obviously that needs the funds and manpower first before all the far lesser important henchmen can be added.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Want more stretch goals.

[Leferd]

Additional content and funding would be nice.

[Larkaloke]

I suppose they would work as the other stretch goals did, and would only come into effect if enough money is received and have some end date with regards to possibly reaching them. Given that, I find that I'm mostly neutral on the subject, albeit slightly more on the side of "sure, throw open the possibility of more stretch goals". I would surely be happy to have more wilderness areas to explore, but on the other hand, I am not personally particularly interested in more companions -- and I wonder how much of an overall delay adding either would be likely to cause, or if it could have any negative repercussions.

 

Cautiously in favour appears to sum up my attitude, really.

[Luridis]

Before I vote, I have a couple of questions.

 

First, are you guys getting tight on developement cash? Because, if you are, please say that. Most of us here do realize:

 

• We funded a project, not purchased a finished product.
• Crowdfunding isn't an exact science and it's possible you pitched a little too many features.
• Obamacare inflated employee costs by no small amount, for everyone, everywhere.

 

That said, it's pretty obvious by the videos and picutres that you guys have been developing a game and not just riding out funding. (Not that you would.) If money has gotten a little tight I don't think many of us would complain about buying a t-shirt to see it finished, given what we've seen so far. I mean, people have tossed in excess of 30M at Star Citizen so far...

 

Now, if everything is on target. I wouldn't mind throwing in a little more for wilderness areas provided that we're not talking about 4 months of additional development. How much time will these extra additons take? Most of us aren't game developers and can't accurately guess at that.

 

Now, with everything looking as good as it does... Any idea if y'all will be starting another crowdfund? That is, assuming some of the profits from Eternity sales will fund expansions.

[Halsy]

No, absolutely no more stretch goals. Let's just get the bloody main game out the door ASAP, polished and bug free. After that you do another drive for a proper expansion and/or DLC. But for now I don't want to see this game delayed one second further than it has to be. Next thing this will be Star Citizen with endless feature creep and a 2 year project becomes a 5 year project. Thanks, but no thanks. Just let me get my grubby little mitts on it NOW! Thanks.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Halsy

[LadyCrimson]

I'm undecided, but I probably feel close to what Sensuki and Lephys said early on. More content/stuff is always awesome, but I also don't want the game to be delayed extensively for something like another companion or two. So it would depend how much time delay is involved, if any at all, vs. the actual content gained.

 

If the vote/decision comes down to having more stretch goals, however, I'd probably pick "more (scripted) companions" over wilderness, since imo more companions = better potential replay value than another area that on replays I'll have already explored, if you know what I mean. Not that I wouldn't want both...but if I had to pick just one of those options.

[Jotra]

One thing to remember is that 2 years from now you won't care if this came out couple months earlier or later. Only thing you will care about at that point is how good and re-playable the game is.

[smudboy]

The only practical stretch goal I can think of is a longer dev and QA cycle. Thus, polish.

 

The existing stretch goals are more than enough.

 

Patching will come out naturally later anyway.

 

So instead of adding more content, simply refine what is already promised.

 

Translation: no new stretch goals.

[Holistico]

Off course I want more content. And I´m not really worried if that means that the game suffers some delay. 

[Eddain]

I'd rather see more fleshed out companions than more new companions to be honest.  Like, every companion already set for the game receives more character-specific sidequests or dialogue/interactions.  Rather have a strong core of party members than a huge selection of forgettables.

[mwinding]

One thing to remember is that 2 years from now you won't care if this came out couple months earlier or later. Only thing you will care about at that point is how good and re-playable the game is.

I completely agree. I think people will be very disappointed if the game is shorter than say bg1. Adding new areas and companions will definitely stop something like that from happening.

 

Also, didn't they say they outsource many wilderness areas? So it shouldn't delay the game, it should just cost money

[Wolfenbarg]

I voted no. I'm not opposed to seeing more stretch goals, but stretch goals like the ones described don't sound appealing to me. Planescape: Torment and Mask of the Betrayer had a pretty sparse cast, but I felt like I knew all of them when all was said and done. Shadows of Amn on the other hand has tons of companions and most of them never go for the ride because they aren't fleshed out past their one unique quest. Focus on making the ones you have as responsive and fleshed out as possible. If not all classes are represented... well, it kind of makes those classes sort of unique, right? There were no sorcerers, monks, swashbucklers, or kensais in Shadows of Amn, and it made playing those classes feel pretty cool.

 

The kinds of things I would like to fund are mostly related to polish. Adding more tracks to the score, additional arts passes or revisions if you can afford to do something to match any changes in vision, more ambient sounds, better spell effects and animations, additional voice over work, something like Baldur's Gate 2's intro and ending cinematics for exposition, etc. Now I know this sort of thing is kind of tricky because things like that might be kind of hard to get people excited about, while telling people they'll be getting more stuff is like guaranteed  money. But if you do add more stuff through stretch goals and have extra funds, putting it toward making existing content feel as satisfying as possible would be ideal, in my opinion.

 

And it might be hypocritical to say this after I've gone on about not wanting the "more stuff!" type of stretch goals, but when people mention class quests I kind of melt a little bit. That kind of in game responsiveness is really cool.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Wolfenbarg

[PrimeJunta]

I voted no. The project is big as it is, and expanding the scope can't help. Put all that stuff in the expansion instead; I'll happily pay for it there.

[Sharpmonkey]

Additional stretch goals are good, but probably not at the cost of (greatly) increased development time

[LadyCrimson]

One thing to remember is that 2 years from now you won't care if this came out couple months earlier or later. Only thing you will care about at that point is how good and re-playable the game is.

I think it's less about a potential month or three of delay as it is about for what, exactly would the delay be for. Or, as others have mentioned, if it turned into something like a year or more of delay. Basically, some of us like having more information before committing an opinion.

 

I'd rather see more fleshed out companions than more new companions to be honest.  Like, every companion already set for the game receives more character-specific sidequests or dialogue/interactions.  Rather have a strong core of party members than a huge selection of forgettables.

I like this idea/thought, too.

[SinoSamba]

No scope creep, please. Just focus on what was promised on KS and deliver a polished, tight game.

[curryinahurry]

I will join others in asking for more information about parameters and the effect on the development timeline.  If Obsidian chooses this content to go in as DLC or part of the expansion, then I'm all for it, but I would rather not have the game delayed any significant amount of time to add additional content.  NPCs will take a good deal of work to integrate into the storyline (as others have pointed out); and new areas are super, but may become moot if it leads us to bump into the level cap earlier in the game.

Edited December 11, 2013 by curryinahurry

[Aser]

Would definitely spend some more for a nice signed poster.

[Anaeme]

I want divine level gameplay...

 

George Zeits is good at making such levels.

 

Give me divine level gameplay and I will pledge more