Reply With QuoteI donated $50! I'm an Explorer! \/
There is a great, in-depth interview on RPGCodex, asking all the right kind of questions and getting good, insightful answers. Highly recommended.
Also, we only have 8 days left to kick this project as high as we can. Go go go!
I donated $50! I'm an Explorer! \
...a very angry Explorer!...\
Edit: 10,000+ backers!...
Last edited by Vae; 25th Feb 2015 at 22:37.
That's not anger. That's grim, excited determination.
I've put in $300. I will probably lower it to $150 unless it's super close to a stretch goal at the very end.
I presume your theory is that if lots of people pledge more money than they're actually willing to spend on the base game, it's more likely that the stretch goals will be hit; whereas if everyone holds back their stretch-goal money until that stretch goal is reached, they won't ever reach it?
I can see why that might seem like a good approach, but I can't say I agree with it. Pledging money and then taking it away just seems wrong to me. (Not that I'm trying to coerce you into spending $300; I just think you should have pledged at a lower level to begin with.)
Great read! Thank you for posting that interview, MelanOriginally Posted by Melan
Chris on world designPaul: Not literally in that way. I mean I don’t think we’re going to call them “levels” but it will have a physical construct with a real sense of going deeper.
I think of the Mines of Moria and that sense of the Seven Deeps.
Tim on the Improvisation EngineChris: The way I’ve always looked at it and sadly I’ve been saying the same thing since 2000. It’s the difference between building Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and building Disney World.
Paul on character progressionTim: ...Alright, I’ll start. So when we talk about the Improvisation Engine it’s really a suite of technologies that are interconnected similar to the approach that we took in the original Underworlds, System Shock and Thief but also extended in some ways that we’re interested in for Underworld Ascendant. So the big picture is we have a number of simulations systems running that give the player tools for addressing problems and they interact with each other. And because of that architecture we’re able to get surprising outcomes because the system as a whole is fairly complicated. The individual parts of the system remain manageable to implement and test. So you have interactions between physics and AI and the ecological model and diplomatic model of the factions for example. This gets into our overall approach to the player’s whole call to action and the relationship to the story in the game. A lot of modern games tend to try to fairly closely script moment to moment events. They try to have these finely crafted experiences, which has its own value and there is definitely an audience that really appreciates that, we feel like there’s kind of an underserved possibility there for a more systems based approach. Where we setup a scenario and a dynamic system for that situation to take place in and a set of player tools that can be used to address your problem and we let the player go. We try to give up some of the authorship for ourselves and put it in the player’s hands in terms of what even their priorities are, how they address the problems. We’ve obliviously talked about the back story of the game and how it relates to the original game, and there is a story, but it’s not a moment to moment story. It has more to do with major plot pivots that are possible.
Tim on choicesPaul: It is challenging. We understand it is challenging. He general sense is that player’s just like to get very powerful. What you can tend to do and say is, “Well if I level up enough I’ll be powerful across the board. But to achieve this kind of balance and trade-off you just can’t do that. You have to say, “Sorry, you’ve focused in this area so we’re going o essentially cap you in these other areas.” We will never allow you to become uber-powerful…
They seemed a bit vague on actual RPG progression (numbers) but that is understandable given where they're at in the project. Also, outside of voice actors they have been mum on sound/audio. I am very curious in that regard (god I hope Eric joins the team)! At any rate, thanks again, that interview is definitely worth a read.Tim: There’s another broad issue there in terms of some views that that I’ve seen in parts of the game publishing world. A notion that if you put something in the game that a player… if any particular player doesn’t see that thing it’s somehow wasted. We have to make sure that everything in the game is available to every player in every play through. I think it’s fair to say that we reject that utterly… (nods of agreement around the table)… the presence of a choice that I know is there that I didn’t take is still valuable by virtue of the fact that I could have taken it, someone else took it instead and that’s how I know that I had freedom of choice and that my choices had meaning. That’s a value of its own.
34k to go, 7 days left. We are almost there!
Last edited by Shinrazero; 26th Feb 2015 at 11:31.
Only about 20 grand left to go - I'm starting to get optimistic and thinking that the first stretch goal is actually attainable.
It will cross the 750k threshold, and has a shot of making it to 900k...Yet, regardless of the final Kickstarter outcome, we'll be getting that editor.
How do we know that? I'd love to get a source, because this is exciting news if true.
The source is I...Given their strategic position, they'd be fools not to release an editor for the fan base.
Mark my words, they will do this.
Except that you''re not really a source - just a hopeful fan.
$17500 to go...
You are incorrect..."hope" has nothing to do with it...this will occur.
...and although I am a fan, I am also a source of industry insight...
I wouldn't say it's an inevitability. Releasing a working editor to the public requires a lot of forethought, and development time, the latter of which costs a ton of money. I'm sure it's something that OtherSide would love to do, but their priority is, first and foremost, making a good game, and getting it into our hands. Everything else is a secondary concern.
Now if they make a lot of money through post-Kickstarter donations, we might see one shortly after release. Or if they make beaucoup bucks on the game itself, we might see one a little farther down the road. But unless they hit that million plus mark in the next 7 odd days, there's absolutely no guarantee for it.
Oops! Im sorry, I fell asleep. What was the question? Ye!@
Just upgraded my pledge to the Digital Protagonist tier. I wouldn't be surprised if this new tier attracts a lot of others who like me who have long since abandoned boxed versions of games.
From their Kickstarter site:
For those of you who have expressed a desire to back Underworld Ascendant, but are not seeking physical goods, we have a special announcement. Today we are opening up the DIGITAL PROTAGONIST pledge tier, a digital only backer level for $125.
The DIGITAL PROTAGONIST tier will give the backer all digital rewards included in all tiers up to the AVATAR level. This means, backers at the DIGITAL PROTAGONIST level will receive all digital items (music, map, strategy guide, just to name a few) found in all tiers up to AVATAR, as well as all the Kickstarter Exclusive digital items in those same tiers. This includes the AMETHYST ANKH AMULET from the LEGENDARY HERO tier and the COPPER-TRIMMED AVATAR ROBE from the AVATAR tier. The new Lyrical Lute we introduced yesterday will also be included!
I'm going for the highest tier that doesn't include cheater DLC. So the lowest one, then.
Usage of the items are purely optional as far as I can tell. To be honest, I'm not all that interested in most of the stuff that they are offering. It's more a case of me wanting to contribute as much as I want to spend for my favourite game without having to waste $15 on postage for a package that I have no interest in.
FWIW, they've really emphasised in the Kickstarter comments that <em>none</em> of the special items for backers are remotely powerful. They're intended to be fun additions for backers, but more or less functionally equivalent to items that everyone will have access to. They've said that the differences are primarily aesthetic. It's been made pretty clear that they're not "cheater DLC" in any way.
(Of course if you really felt the urge, you could increase the amount you were pledging while still remaining with the $25 rewards :)
Hooray, with only $3k to go UW3 will finally be a reality now. Beyond the base level of funding, I wonder how far they will reach with their stretch targets. My prediction based on the current run rate alone is that they will be struggling to get to second base, let alone any of the higher tiers unfortunately.
In my opinion they could do with a reordering of some of the goals. For example, I'd much rather see them move the novel and companion options further up the list and move enhanced sounds and the editor to the second tier.
Projected: http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/oth...rld-ascendant/
BTW $1416 left. It should make its goal today!
I figured in 6 months or so they'll run another Kickstarter to fund the stretch goals.
600K! On to the stretch goals!
Excellent, congrats to OtherSide! Now I have about a year and half to play through the original Underworlds.
Great stuff, at last a game out of what was LGS
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