Dungeon Siege 3

There isn’t a collection of updates concerning Obsidian this week, so much as there is a bit of a story to tell. It relates, as well, to the recent crowdfunding success enjoyed by Double Fine.

RPGWatch tells the first part of the tale, detailing how Obsidian’s Chris Avellone and J.E. Sawyer responded to fan inquiries regarding the possibility of Obsidian crowdfunding…say…a low-budget, old-school isometric RPG.

Avellone’s response was probably the more tantalizing…

Hmmmm. I admit, I’ve got Kickstarter fever now. I feel like a bunch of doors suddenly appeared in game development.

…but Sawyer let slip that Obsidian have, evidently, talked about the possibility of doing something along those lines in the past. Interesting.

Chris Avellone decided to double down on his earlier comments, however, and posted this tantalizing little feeler post on the Obsidian blog:

Out of curiosity, if Obsidian did Kickstart a project, what would you want to see funded? (You can respond in comments or to @ChrisAvellone on Twitter, whichever you prefer.)

GameBanshee goes on to report that, as a follow-up to all this, Avellone subsequently posted another blog update in which he stressed that Obsidian weren’t actively pursuing a Kickstarter initiative at this time, though he did say that he is discussing the possibility with Obsidian’s owners.

Oh, and he let slip the results of his impromptu survey. Not surprisingly, the Internet wants a Planescape Torment sequel:

If interested in the results, the most responses concerned in order of preference (note that there’s likely bias here considering the author of the Twitter and the blog post below):

- Planescape 2/Planescape Spiritual Successor.

- An Isometric turn-based/pause RPGs in general.

- The “other” category – this fell into game suggestions and mechanics and genres that were only suggested by 1 or 2 folks. I read all of these.

- Make whatever you want, we’ll support you.

Again, thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. And even if my Excel-burned-eyes are dry from tabulating responses, it’s good that there was such a strong amount of feedback in the first place.

Honestly, I’m not sure what commentary can be made here, at present. On one hand, the success of Double Fine in their initiative with Kickstarter proves that for at least some highly-regarded independent gaming development companies, crowdfunding can be the way to go both as a means of gauging fan interest in a project, and as a means of actually securing funds to complete that project. On the other hand, one wonders whether there wouldn’t be a saturation point, a time past which even the most ardent fans of games “as they once were” would say “you know…I’ve donated to a lot of these projects already…” and think twice before opening his digital wallet.

Ian Davis, writing for The Adrenaline Vault, has put together a “look back” at Ultima 1. It’s not terribly long, so do take a few minutes to give it a read what is ultimately a note of genuine appreciation for the game.

To wit:

There are a few precautions to take before playing Ultima today. First, make an all-Rush mix tape. Second, read the manual. Not only because you want to know what’s going on, but also because it’s fabulously written. The words are the skin draped over the black-and-white frame of the game. Richard Garriott’s descriptions put color and life in something that’s primitive as a stick-figure skeleton. It’s not hyperbole to say you’d be missing half of the experience if you skip the manual.

Nor is it hyperbole to say that modern gamers, with their pathetic little five-page game manuals detailing the game’s controls and little else, are missing out on a huge part of what the gaming experience used to be.

Davis continues:

While there’s a different action mapped to every letter key, the controls are actually easy to grasp. It helps that the combat and magic system is simplistic. Your lone hero has two options: attack or cast the single offensive spell. With no mana, all spells (aside from the random “prayer” spell) are bought from stores and cast like disposable scrolls. It’s much more playable then the early Might and Magic games, which require you to look in a manual to compare gear for each of your six party members. Ultima I’s simplicity keeps the game within the confines of its technological abilities.

As I say, read the whole thing. It’s a fine retrospective.

The Wing Commander CIC reports that George Oldziey, who composed the soundtrack for Ultima 9 (in addition to Wing Commander 3 and Wing Commander 4), celebrated his birthday this week…back on the 15th.

Oldziey, who is (surprise, surprise!) Austin, Texas-based, has also scored several feature-length films (Shorts, Sin City, Kill Bill…) and a few other video games (Red Faction: Guerrilla, Crimson Alliance…). The boys of the CIC suggest checking out this Crimson Alliance trailer to catch some of Oldziey’s orchestral stylings; see for yourself how it compares to the soundtracks of the above-listed Origin games

I have to confess – I loved this game:

It’s been a while since there has been a new RPG on GOG.com shelves, but today we offer Soulbringer on GOG.com for only $5.99.

Let’s conduct a little thought excercise here: If you were an average person living in the mystical world of Rathenna and your father was killed and your uncle Adrus turned out to know a lot about magic, ancient warriors, and demons, would you rather:

a) ignore your crazy uncle, live on a farm, raise a family, and live a long and boring life or,
b) learn magic, learn sword-wielding, awaken your powers inherited from your past lives, and slay ancient demons, preserving the world for all?

Those of you who decided that option “a” sounds a little too dull have a chance to jump into the fantasy world of Soulbringer, an action RPG in the spirit of other classic hack and slash games of the era.

Soulbringer was in many respects a fairly average game in the Diablo vein, and was among the first of the 3D action RPG titles (preceding Dungeon Siege by about two years, and coming out at about the same time as Diablo 2 and Baldur’s Gate 2). Indeed, it took quite a lot of advantage of its 3D engine; height mattered quite a lot in combat and spellcasting.

The game had a decent combat system, but its real innovation was its rather interesting magic system, in which the various elemental circles didn’t oppose along traditional lines, but instead negated each other in a circular, “rock, paper, scissors” kind of way.

Anyhow, GOG has it priced at the $5.99 point, so if you’ve never played it before, think about picking it up.

Double Fine, the independent development studio behind such titles as Psychonauts and Stacking, decided to try something a little different in an effort to fund an upcoming, old-school-style adventure game that they want to make. They started a Kickstarter page, in an effort to crowdsource their efforts to raise funding for it:

Big games cost big money. Even something as “simple” as an Xbox LIVE Arcade title can cost upwards of two or three million dollars. For disc-based games, it can be over ten times that amount. To finance the production, promotion, and distribution of these massive undertakings, companies like Double Fine have to rely on external sources like publishers, investment firms, or loans. And while they fulfill an important role in the process, their involvement also comes with significant strings attached that can pull the game in the wrong directions or even cancel its production altogether. Thankfully, viable alternatives have emerged and gained momentum in recent years.

Crowd-sourced fundraising sites like Kickstarter have been an incredible boon to the independent development community. They democratize the process by allowing consumers to support the games they want to see developed and give the developers the freedom to experiment, take risks, and design without anyone else compromising their vision. It’s the kind of creative luxury that most major, established studios simply can’t afford. At least, not until now.

They set their goal at a modest level: $400,000 raised by March 13th, 2012 (far less than the $2 million mentioned above!). They hit and exceeded that goal in just eight hours, and are currently sitting at $705,510 (as of the time this article was drafted; they may well be north of a million dollars at the time of its publication).

RPS, among other, notes that this raises some pretty interesting questions about the future of indie game development, and game development in general. After all, Tim Schafer — the head of Double Fine and an adventure game development legend — couldn’t get publishers to sign off on investing in the project; adventure gaming is (supposedly) dead. And yet, when he asked the audience, they couldn’t give him money fast enough! ($710,123 now, by the way.)

So how “in touch” with what the gaming audience wants are the major publishers, exactly?

Heh…did I just ask that question on an Ultima website? ($714,105)

Exit question: Could any of the projects I cover on Aiera perhaps be supported this way? Sanctimonia, maybe?

The First Age of Update: Double Fine has announced the platforms the game will be released on, and as you might expect, it’s the usual list of suspects: PC, Mac, iOS, and some versions of Android. Oh, and one more: Linux. Because Double Fine are cool like that.