Project Eternity - Too good to be true?

They've said many times that the stretch goal amounts aren't intended to be a budget, per say. Just because a particular stretch goal requires earning 100k, that doesn't mean that feature costs $100k to develop. The money also goes to bringing in more staff, and will allow for other unannounced perks to take place. Feargus once said that the game world also becomes larger with each stretch goal met. I'm betting that if they make it to $3.4 million vs $3.5 million, they will give us a somewhat reduced reward from that of the large city. Unlike with publishers, they are spending the money on stuff that's important to the fans -- not bringing in Neil Diamond, Kris Kristofferson and other famous folk to perform voiceovers on every single line of dialogue (a la Fallout New Vegas).

Obsidian is talking about doing an expansion (it's already included with $165+ donations or can be donated for directly, and a sequel. Presumably they'll be using Kickstarter for those projects, so keeping the good will high with the community will be paramount. They wouldn't simply give us nothing extra for $400k in additional donations. Hell, they might still just give us the huge city, probably with just a few cut backs here and there.

I am very much liking Obsidian these days.

 

Looks very good

I agree. Very good screenshot. I've got a good feeling about this game, saw some of the video blogs, it seems like the Obsidian guys are really genuine about this project

 

I believe it will. There is a formula for RPGs that works well, and results in classics. That formula has been all but abandoned for the last decade.

Now that formula is being put back into play by some of the people who best understand it on planet Earth (because it's a formula they had a large hand in developing), except that this time we have a decade of learnings and technological advancements to support and improve that formula.

Really, even the skeptics, cynics and pessimists among us will have to work hard to raise serious doubts about the phenomenon that is Project Eternity. Yes, I said phenomenon and no, I won't take it back! This WILL be a great game!

 

I just hope they're organized enough to manage the project to deliver within a reasonable time and within their budget. One point for the ideas and vision, but nine points for execution and delivery.

 

With all the content they're adding due to stretch goals I'd be surprised if they didn't push back the expected release date a bit. But I believe their track record for managing their projects and budgets is about as solid as you could hope for. Time will tell of course, but I'm not overly worried this time.

 

Beren, here's a better answer to your question from the CEO of Obsidian itself, Feargus Urquhart. This is from an interview on Overclockers.com.

So it sounds like regardless of how much they make, and what stretch goals are hit, their plan is to put the money back into the game in an effort to make it better.

 

The 3m stretch goal was hit a little while ago. It hasn't been officially announced, but Adam Brennecke mentioned it on his webcast this afternoon (which he heard from Feargus) -- the total includes the $60 - 70k collected on PayPal.

So the stronghold is in! Now to see if we can hit $3.5m and gets a second large city within the final 3+ days that remain. Based on current donation levels and the expected frenzy that often happens at the very end of a campaign, it's definitely within reach.

 

Found this on the Net, and almost died of awesomeness!

 

Nice Darion!

 

@Darion: Nice, although I guess that the characters should be even smaller. Look at the boat and fireplace/camp. The temple door and statues, just happen to be huge.

Another interesting fact about that screenshot (and the Project Eternity graphics in general): According to Obsidian developers, things like flowing water & waterfalls, wind blowing through the trees, fireplace smoke, insects swarms, etc. will be animated to some extent.

They're still experimenting with how to best implement that in the actual game, but it will likely end up as a mix of flipbook animations and 3D effects placed on top of the background graphic.

I'm guessing the animations won't quite reach movie quality in terms of realistic movement, but should definitely help make the world "come alive" a little.

 

We are less than $10k away from the final announced stretch goal of a 2nd big, big city in the game (considering Kickstarter and PayPal). Tomorrow ought to be a donation frenzy in the final day of the campaign. Obsidian is working on it's final stretch goal(s) and will annouce soonish I believe. Project Eternity is currently the top game in Kickstarter history, in terms of donations.

 

Not quite top. Reaper Miniature Bones has currently got top stop - although I expect in the next half a day or so PE will shoot past them. Also if you count OUYA, which was listed in the Games catagory (should have been technology) they don't stand a chance, as that clocked in over $8m.

Still, definitely expect us to click over $3.5m before the drive is up. Will be interesting to see just how far they get. A good stretch goal, aligned with some different pledging levels will push it up furthre.

 

Rotku, I was including PayPal donations in the total, which meant that PE was at $3.49m when I posted that, which is more than Reaper Miniature Bones. That said, PE is now over 3.5m on Kickstarter alone, so that's no longer a point of contention. The OUYA isn't a game, so I don't count that as a "competing game".

 

Definitely. Sort of bugged me that it was in the Games category there.

Looks like we're at 3.6. I'd say we'll push as high as 3.7 in the next six hours.

The thing I find real exciting/interesting about the top handful of games in Kickstarter is that all three of them so far as RPG or Adventure games - games that the current big-publisher market aren't really pushing. Will be interesting to see if we end up with some FPS or other such 'popular' games appearing in the near future.

 

Well it will be interesting to see how Kickstarter changes the video game industry in general. I wouldn't be too surprised to see some FPS games show up there, but on the the other hand, FPS games are what publishers love to fund. Perhaps some more "niche" based FPS games might find their way to Kickstarter.

Or who knows - maybe the fans will run publishers out of business altogether!

 

Kickstart might not be an entirely positive influence on the industry.

Tending towards the wishes of the users could limit inspiration and artistic value.
Videogames should first of all be art, not a product.

Additionally, we should remember that the above is exactly what publishers do: follow the trends.
When it sometimes is said that videogames are not as they used to be due to publishers... well, it's a consequence of 21st century communication and users
Kickstarter just makes it possible to jump one step.

The positive side is that, now, everyone has a voice, while until now only the mainstream did.

In any case: Project Eternity is the game for which I feel the most hype in the last 10 years

 

True. I guess that's why I don't really like any modern AAA games, but I do love many Indie games like Aquaria, Bastion, Frozen Synapse, Braid, World of Goo, etc.

Those Indie games don't feel like some "factory product" resulting from lots of cash being carelessly poured into implementing the "standard formula for game of genre X".

Instead, they tend to originate from a small team (in some cases just 1 developer + 1 artist) taking a few months (in some cases without any financial security) to make the game they personally want to make.
And it shows: Those games provide a more personal experience - each one is a unique specimen, it may surprise you, challenge your expectations, defy genre traditions, and it unapologetically exhibits the author's "fingerprint" throughout the explored themes and storyline, kind of like a book.

Of course, that does not mean that all Indie games are great (certainly not), or that big, financially secure game companies could not also make good games.

Project Eternity is, I think, somewhere in the middle. It does originate and is driven by lots of personal "creative vision", it's the game that Josh Sawyer & co. always wanted to make.
Of course, to some extend there's a danger that the creative freedom is dampened by...

• the fact that Obsidian is a moderately big established game company, and thus has a certain amount of bureaucracy, rigid structure and inflexibility.
• the sheer size of the game, which for one thing means having to coordinate and make compromises among a large team (danger of "design by committee"), and also in itself comes with certain customer expectations.
• the fact that in order to get it funded on Kickstarter, they had to make a pitch that would actually get a large audience to open up their wallets.

I did get the feeling though that they're handling those risks pretty well, and as far as the Kickstarter campaign goes, what they pitched first and foremost was nostalgia. Even with all the info given (which, as I understand it, is not even set in stone), they're still free to creatively take the game in many different directions because the pitch was so vague.