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Project Eternity - Sorcerer's Place Fundraiser?

Discussion in 'Pillars of Eternity' started by Taluntain, Sep 16, 2012.

?

Would you donate to immortalize Sorcerer's Place in Project Eternity?

  1. No, sorry

    12 vote(s)
    24.0%
  2. Yes, in the range of $5-24

    16 vote(s)
    32.0%
  3. Yes, $25

    8 vote(s)
    16.0%
  4. Yes, in the range of $26-49

    5 vote(s)
    10.0%
  5. Yes, $50

    3 vote(s)
    6.0%
  6. Yes, $75

    1 vote(s)
    2.0%
  7. Yes, $100

    4 vote(s)
    8.0%
  8. Yes, $150

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. Yes, $175+

    1 vote(s)
    2.0%
  1. Ineth

    Ineth Instigator Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    It's a nice idea, but we should also be realistic.

    The current total of this poll is $828 (lower bound) - $1087 (upper bound).

    This suggests that one of the $1000 tiers should definitely be reachable, but the new $5000 tier that's specifically targeted at forum communities is probably out of reach. (PS: Especially since there are only 6 of those available, and 5 are already taken. Although I guess they may add a new tier for that price range if the existing one runs out.)

    So, focusing on the $1000 tiers, the choices are:

    1. (limited to: 200, already taken: 55)
      • Name & design an NPC
      • 6 copies of the game (1 boxed, 5 digital downloads)
      • a bunch of physical rewards
      • a bunch of digital rewards
    2. (limited to: 50, already taken: 24)
      • Name & design an epic weapon, armor, or artifact
      • 6 copies of the game (1 boxed, 5 digital downloads)
      • a bunch of physical rewards
      • a bunch of digital rewards

    Things that are noteworthy:

    1. From the sheer number of times they're giving out that tier, we can deduce that the NPC we would get to "name & design" would not be a very large or prominent part of the game, nor will they in all likelihood be allowed to have a properly fleshed out back-story.
      Speaking in BG2 terms: Probably more like that Neeber guy in Trademeet, not like Renal Bloodscalp.
    2. The expected delivery date of the rewards is May 2014. That's a pretty long wait, especially for planning purposes among forum communities that are relatively loose groups of strangers who may come and go.

    I'm not trying to detract from the idea, and I'll definitely chip in my $15 (or more) if we decide to pull this through, but those are things we'll have to keep in mind.
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2012
  2. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    And they certainly are what I'm keeping in mind. ;) Realistically, I doubt we could reach the new $5k tier so I'm not going to shoot for that initially. I think $2000 should be reachable, however, and there we can either opt for 2 NPCs, 1 NPC and 1 weapon/armor/artifact or 2 weapons/armors/artifacts (we'll decide later). If we raise those $2k very quickly, however, we'll see what to shoot for next.

    This is what the $5k tier amounts to:

    Pledge $5,000 or more

    NAME AND HELP DESIGN AN ENEMY ADVENTURING COMPANY. What beats the classic RPG challenge of squaring off against a diverse enemy party with skills, abilities, and equipment to match your own? Nothing, that's what! Now you can design a crew of knuckle-cracking skull-crushers to ambush players at the worst possible moment. Ha, HA! You are the devil himself! We will send you six PROJECT ETERNITY NPC character sheets for you to fill out for our design team. We will turn your personalized party design into a lethal wrecking crew to oppose the player in the shipped game (within reason of course). You will also receive The Complete Kickstarter Obsidian Pack ($500 reward tier) + 15 EXTRA DIGITAL DOWNLOADABLE COPIES OF PROJECT ETERNITY to gift your friends and family. You also get the top tier WATCHER FORUM BADGE.

    ---

    I'm not sure if it really beats stacking multiple $1k tiers though... what do you guys think? Plus, for 5 grand I'd expect every single person who donated to get a digital copy.
     
  3. Rotku

    Rotku I believe I can fly Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Wouldn't that money be better paying to cover hosting expenses for a year, or some such?
     
  4. Marceror

    Marceror Chaos Shall Be Sown In Their Footsteps Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Well, if you donated money to SP with the understanding that it would go to Project Eternity, then it didn't, wouldn't you be a rather unhappy about that?
     
  5. henkie

    henkie Hammertime Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Well of course that'd have to be decided beforehand. But I agree with Rotku. Either you have one or two probably pretty forgettable NPCs, or you can keep SP running for however many months again.
     
  6. Ineth

    Ineth Instigator Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    But this does not actually seem to be a real choice that presents itself.

    It is not like a pre-existing fund of money is being allocated by SP towards this specific purpose, but rather that fund will only come into existence in the first place in connection with this specific-purpose fund raising drive.

    Of course, it is conceivable that it will have the side effect of less money being donated to SP itself. However, that is all but certain, and in fact it might just as well have the opposite effect. And one thing's for sure: It wouldn't be a 1:1 mapping between what will be donated to this specific fund-raising drive, and what would have been donated otherwise donated to SP. (In my case, for example, the money I'll donate to this I would have otherwise pledged to Project Eternity directly.)

    So, the choice you present is merely of the hypothetical "what if?" variety, and not a real choice presented to SP that would call for an actual (collective) decision.

    The choice whether and how much to donate (and which donation to hinge or not hinge on which other donation) should remain with each individual.

    The option to donate towards SP's general expenses is there, and those that want to make use of it do.
    If enough of us want (additionally) the option of donating towards putting the particular idea presented in this thread into practice, then I'd say let's make it happen!
     
  7. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Well, this is purely optional, of course. If you'd rather donate to SP instead and get a site supporter account matching your donation sum, you can. I'll list that as an option on the donation page.

    I will be throwing in a "free" 3-month new SPS account or extension for everyone who will donate $25 or more for Project Eternity via SP as a small thank-you gesture, however. And yes, this is 3 months regardless of how much you donate beyond $25.

    So it'll be up to everyone to individually decide how they want to donate. Either just for PE, just for SP, or both.

    I should have the donation page up later today.
     
  8. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=778906

    I've updated the first post with a donation link and (hopefully) an exhaustive FAQ! Please let me know if I've missed anything and SHOW YOUR SUPPORT WITH A DONATION! ;)

    I will be updating the thread with donation figures at least once a day once they start coming in.

    Thanks in advance to all of you who are going to donate!
     
  9. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    BTA and joacqin were the first to donate; we are now at $130 of our $2000 goal. :thumb:
     
  10. Ineth

    Ineth Instigator Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Did you decide what will happen with the rewards?

    For each of the $1000 tiers, the following two "main rewards" can be enjoyed by the Sorcerer's Place community as a whole:

    • Name & design an epic weapon, armor, or artifact or an NPC
    • gold pledge special thanks in the credits

    However, it also includes the following physical rewards:

    • 1 collector's boxed version of the game (signed)
    • 1 cloth map of the game world
    • 1 elite cloth patch
    • 1 printed manual
    • 1 printed collector's book (hard-cover)
    • 1 T-Shirt
    I guess to avoid shipping costs and organizational overhead, it would be easiest to just let the admins/mods have those. (Btw, how many active admins/mods are there, besides Taluntain?)

    Moving on, the following digital (downloadable) rewards are also part of the $1000 tiers:

    • 5 digital copies of the game
    • 1 digital copy of the soundtrack
    • 1 digital copy of the collector's book
    • 1 digital copy of the strategy guide
    • 1 "digital fun pack" (whatever that is)
    • 1 gold badge on the obsidian.net forums
    • 1 beta tester key
    • a special in-game item (not sure whether this is bound to the game copies which are part of this tier, or can be separated)
    These could actually be distributed among all who participate in the fundraising drive. The option of having some sort of competition for them has already been mentioned in this thread. Other options would be to give them to those who donated the highest amount, or randomly allocate them among all participants.

    My personal favorite solution would be slightly more complex, but imo achieve a higher amount of "fairness" :cool::
    1. Give the physical rewards to the admins/mods and let them allocate them among themselves however they see fit.
    2. Take each of the 5 digital game copies one after the other, and give it to one of the participants who have not yet gotten one[1]. Who will be chosen each round is determined by random chance, weighted with the amount of that participant's donation[2].
    3. Distribute the rest of the digital rewards among those who have not been picked for a game copy, using the same algorithm.

    -----
    [1]i.e., everyone except the admin who already got the boxed version, and the participants who already got picked in the preceding rounds.
    [2]For those not well versed in mathematics, this means that anybody may get picked, but the mathematical probability of being picked is directly proportional to the amount of money you donated.
     
  11. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    We'd likely distribute anything that it makes sense to do so among those who have donated, either randomly or based on the amount donated or via some sort of competition.

    BTA is the only other admin, but we've also got a couple of super mods and a few other staff members. But we can't really bag everything for ourselves, nor is that the point of this fundraiser. Obviously we'll try to be as fair as possible as far as dividing stuff up goes.

    Some people who will donate here will also have donated to the PEK directly, so they won't need another digital copy.
     
  12. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Thanks to donations from Montresor, Atmer and Ineth, we've now reached $250 of $2000 required. Nice going, keep it up! :thumb:
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2012
  13. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    hannibal555 and Beren have raised our total to $365 of $2000 needed! :thumb:
     
  14. Master of Nuhn

    Master of Nuhn Wear it like a crown Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Seems promising. An IE-based CRPG, playable on the Mac (and no sign of being a multi-player only). That's something I'd like to have. Especially if some SP-material is in it.

    Money is being transferred to my PayPal-account. I'll donate as soon as it's there.

    Yeah! I thought of that too. :) But that depends on the amount of money we donate, I guess (SP might want to get some other stuff/npcs in, first) Also, I'm not sure what their families think of it...
     
  15. Marceror

    Marceror Chaos Shall Be Sown In Their Footsteps Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    As long as their real names are used (only their screen name, or some derivation of it) I don't see how this would be a problem. It would be meant as a tribute to those departed souls, and what they meant here in RPG land.
     
  16. Master of Nuhn

    Master of Nuhn Wear it like a crown Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Yeah, that's true.

    At the risk of sounding like a total newb: What does "Isometric" mean in gameland? Does it have something to do with a somewhat static top-down view?
    Part of my very little Greek knowledge tells me it has something to do with equal (iso) measurements (metrics), but I'm not sure how that relates to games.
     
  17. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    It's just a form of parallel projection with a viewing angle that is between directly top-down and side view so you get that three-dimensional effect of seeing more than just one side of an object.

    My understanding is that isometric is a bit of a misnomer in that video games didn't use a true isometric projection.
     
    Master of Nuhn likes this.
  18. Topken

    Topken Elven-dragon wizard

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    The old IE games are all isometric rpgs and so is the diablo series and its many clones.
     
  19. Master of Nuhn

    Master of Nuhn Wear it like a crown Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Ah! Nice! Never heard of it before, but apparently it's my preferred kind of view/gameplay, at least for strategy and rpg (SC2000, Caesar III etc and the games Topken mentioned.) I don't know what the old adventure games would be called (LucasArts and Sierra), but that doesn't matter now. There's a new IE game in the making and that's what counts! :)
     
  20. Ineth

    Ineth Instigator Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    They won't be using the Infinity Engine, but rather implement a custom, more modern engine+game on top of the Unity engine (which despite its name is not itself an actual full-fledged engine for a particular type of game like the IE used to be, but rather a very flexible - and increasingly popular - game development platform which can be used to create pretty much any 2D or 3D game which the developers want to create).

    Anyways, even though it won't technically be an IE game, they are aiming for it to be "in the spirit" of the IE games. Most notably:
    • User interaction will be designed for PC and PC only, i.e. in a way that gets the most out of the mouse and keyboard combo, rather than bringing it down to the lowest common denominator of PC, tablet and console input devices.
    • They will be using high-quality pre-rendered and retouched-by-hand background graphics just like all the IE games used (as opposed to live 3D rendered terrain like NWN and most modern games use).

    However, the following major differences compared to the IE games have been confirmed:
    • Combat won't use D&D rules, but a custom rule-set developed specifically for this game rather than for pen & paper (e.g. it won't be turn-based). It will "feel" similar to the D&D rule-set as implemented in the IE games though.
    • Character animations and some effects will be implemented using live 3D rendered graphics.

    All in all, I think it's a good thing they're developing their own solution rather than using the outdated IE, because this way none of the money will have to be given to Electronic Arts or Wizards of the Coast as licensing/royalty fees, and among other things it will hopefully allow the game to have[1]:
    • native support for today's (and tomorrow's[2]) screen resolutions
    • a more modern, customizable, and hopefully scalable interface
    • support for zooming (within limits)
    • better path-finding


    ----
    [1] the developers haven't officially confirmed these, but I strongly assume they'll be there
    [2] think e.g. about Apple's retina displays
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2012
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