Broken Age (Double Fine making fan-funded adventure game)

gizmo

Seperate to the Notch/Doule Fine Psychonauts 2 funding issue, it seems DF are also embarking on a Kickstarter fund in order to develop a new adventure game. Given the amount pledged already, I'd say it's looking good.

As for the game and other bits of info about the project, to summarise my feelings...



Link to story

RedXIV

I was literally just coming here to post that!!

incredible work though, they hit their target in less than half a day!

super_furry

Hoping that Notch pledged $10,000 and uses the lunch with Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert to convince them to make Psychonauts 2.

Think it's an interest model though and one that will gain more traction in the future. I know that I'd pay $15 for a new Double Fine game before they even start on it.

johnny_ultimate

Probably the best way for double fine to go given their small but enthusiastic fanbase.

I think crowdfunding is going to lose its novelty soon (already arguably overused in film and music) but for a relatively well regarded game developer it's an inevitable but welcome development. Glad Schafer got there before a less deserving person

spankmaster2000

Do the "investors" get any creative control of the game as it's being made?

I sincerely hope not.

Just let Schafer and Gilbert do their thing.


Also; the news itself is fantastic!! Yay!!

RedXIV

spankmaster2000 wrote: »

Do the "investors" get any creative control of the game as it's being made?

I sincerely hope not.

Just let Schafer and Gilbert do their thing.

No its generally, if you donate above certain levels you get "rewards" with a nice one off one being if you donated $10,000 you got lunch with Schafer and Gilbert!

spankmaster2000

Donate $15,000 or more and you'll score dinner with Tim and key members of the development team. $20,000 or more gets you dinner and bowling with them. $50,000 or more and you become a character in the game.

Their goal doesn't seem like much money actually??

I mean; they'd have to pump a bit into advertising the game once it's complete as well; otherwise the only potential buyers are those who are already double-fine fans. (and as such, probably have already stumped up some money?)
i.e. is this just a case of profits first; game second? (rather than the other way around?)

RedXIV

spankmaster2000 wrote: »

Their goal doesn't seem like much money actually??

I mean; they'd have to pump a bit into advertising the game once it's complete as well; otherwise the only potential buyers are those who are already double-fine fans. (and as such, probably have already stumped up some money?)
i.e. is this just a case of profits first; game second? (rather than the other way around?)

half a million in less than a day? I'd say they'll be fine for cash

SirLemonhead

spankmaster2000 wrote: »

Their goal doesn't seem like much money actually??

I mean; they'd have to pump a bit into advertising the game once it's complete as well; otherwise the only potential buyers are those who are already double-fine fans. (and as such, probably have already stumped up some money?)
i.e. is this just a case of profits first; game second? (rather than the other way around?)

Moreso fans of Tim and Ron and the games they created back in the day.

Sabre0001

spankmaster2000 wrote: »

Their goal doesn't seem like much money actually??

Can I have $400,000 please?


It's a good idea and rewards developers who have a good track record and please fans. Probably going to be a lot more of it now (similar to the Humble Bundle ideas).

Interesting to see that the creative process is going to be documented. I wonder if they will look at feedback - and I wonder how people (i.e. knee jerk keyboard warriors) will react to first drafts of things. I pledged a little bit. The min is essentially a pre-order of the game and early access!

People are already tweeting CliffyB to make a new Jazz Jackrabbit game, which I wholeheartedly support!

spankmaster2000

Ok, I do indeed realise that we're not comparing like with like here; but, in comparison with Modern Warfare 2 for example, 400k is small-fry...

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2s-launch-budget--200-million/

Assuming there's a team of 10 guys; and they're paid 30k per year wages by Double-Fine... that's 75% of the budget used up right there...
(And again, I realise I'm using some extremely rough estimates there on artist's work / sound engineer's work / programmer's work / project manager's work / writer's work...)

chin_grin

More on it here too. Have to admit the vid is hilarious.

http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2012/02/09/double-fine-kickstarter-breaks-400k-fundraising-goal-in-8-hours/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pSteVDn78s

Kiith

Bloody hell, their at $650k now. Fair play to everyone who donated. It would be pretty amazing if this worked, and we actually got a quality game out of it.

cherryghost

Grim Fandango 2 would be awesome.

jk86

cherryghost wrote: »

Grim Fandango 2 would be awesome.

But it will never happen. George Lucas owns the rights to all those games and he never sells IPs

Confident that Schafer can come up with a new game that'll be just as good though!

$835,000 now!! $30 of which is from me :pac:

Krusader

chin_grin wrote: »

More on it here too. Have to admit the vid is hilarious.

http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2012/02/09/double-fine-kickstarter-breaks-400k-fundraising-goal-in-8-hours/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pSteVDn78s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8FdBRJFuAM

Potential-Monke

$991,000 now! I wonder how badly EA or Activision would do if they put up a kickstarter... Surely this will mean Publishers will be banging down Tim's door wanting in on Psychonauts 2!

Antar Bolaeisk

Potential-Monke wrote: »

$991,000 now! I wonder how badly EA or Activision would do if they put up a kickstarter... Surely this will mean Publishers will be banging down Tim's door wanting in on Psychonauts 2!

The problem is that once the publishers get their cut there's not really a lot of money left. This way all the money (bar the 5% for Kickstarter and the 5% for Amazon) goes to Doublefine and directly into the game.

Also, 25,000 sales is nothing to a large publisher although if this current rate of donation continues it'll be a hell of a lot more before the end.

Ciaran500

$1.26 million now :S

Also this tweet...

richymcdermott

I wish sega would do similar thing to make a fan funded streets of rage or shemue 3 game :pac:

Fair play to these guys ..

Andy!!

richymcdermott wrote: »

I wish sega would do similar thing to make a fan funded streets of rage or shemue 3 game :pac:

Fair play to these guys ..

OMFG! Why did you have to say that, now I'm tortured, Sega would never do anything that awesome...

chin_grin

:eek:

http://www.destructoid.com/-double-fine-adventure-going-drm-free-for-pc-mac-linux-221879.phtml

Double Fine has issued a video update to all backers of the studio's Kickstarter project that gives us a little more in the way of details. For those unable to hear the latest from Tim Schafer himself, consider this a quick rundown of what was covered.

Currently, the platforms for "Double Fine Adventure" are Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. The English-language version will have voice acting; in-game text will be available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

Finally, this whole thing wouldn't be complete without some form of a beta. Backers can expect to play the full release of "Double Fine Adventure" free of DRM on PC and Mac, though the beta itself will be handled through Steam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFKwplDBmgg

richymcdermott

Andy!! wrote: »

OMFG! Why did you have to say that, now I'm tortured, Sega would never do anything that awesome...

Sorry

johnny_ultimate

So several years after this thread started, and more than a year after the release of Act One, I decided to finally boot up Broken Age last night given part two is due imminently.

Holy **** was I impressed. I actually don't have a whole lot of affection or nostalgia for Lucasarts games or point and clicks in general - I like many of them, but was too young to play many at the time and their obtuse logic often frustrated me when I did get around to them. I am a Tim Schafer fan, though a slightly less enthused one after the only decent Brutal Legend.

However from the very start I was seriously struck by the quality of Broken Age. The art and character style are unique and beautiful, full of character and also humour. A gorgeous soundtrack and exemplary voice work enhance the quality significantly. The gameplay / puzzling is pared back compared to some classic adventure games (at least in the early stages), but benefits from being much pacier and less infuriating as a result. Mostly it's the script that stands out, though: where most games, especially heavily dialogue driven ones, suffer from overwriting and endless exposition, Broken Age flows much better with impressive efficiency while still articulately communicating what it wants to say about its themes, world and characters.

And thematically it's genuinely surprising. Even only an hour or two in it has come across as a response to and critique of many trends in contemporary video game writing and design. Shay's story, in which he is stuck in a repetitive loop of mollycoddlying and meaningless, barely gratifying 'amusement' comes across to me as a clever way of highlighting the way many games treat their players. Vella's narrative, meanwhile, feels like a very strong response to many bland videogame protagonists - here she actively rebels against what society has planned for her (effectively to become a sacrificial damsel in distress), and becomes possibly over determined to achieve her goal of independence. Neither protagonist is a traditional hero, and also have several unlikable traits ensuring they're not one-dimensional. Even at this stage there's a whole lot of potential there, and act two has plenty to build on.

johnny_ultimate

My enthusiasm for Act One, as mentioned in the post above, remains - it was one of the most surprising, vibrant and intelligent games I'd played in a long time. Act Two, on the other hand...

It's hard to know what exactly went wrong. While Act One benefited from a leanness of design that put character and story first to good effect, Act Two instead favours busywork disguised as puzzles. There's a handful of satisfying solutions, but also a whole lot of fidgety, time consuming bits (a frankly insane amount of obscenely specific robot rewiring). It harks back to the bad old days of obtuse puzzles that are more irritating than clever. And the eventual attempts to have puzzles that cross over between the two characters has a fatal flaw: it makes no sense. Unless we're meant to take this as some sort of exploration of a 'split psyche' (a well disguised subtext if it is the intention, and one that violently conflicts with the game's fiction), or as the player we're some sort of omnipotent being (something that isn't hinted at anywhere else) the shared knowledge between the two characters is contrived and immersion-shattering.

All this would be generally acceptable if the narrative was still up to scratch, which sadly it isn't. The presentation, acting and dialogue are still sharp, but the themes and characterisation of the first act are not built on in any meaningful way. Some of them disappear entirely, while others are referenced so fleetingly the only response I felt was a yearning for those headier early hours of the game, so rich with ideas and potential.

The art design is one of the few things that remains impressive throughout the game, full of charm and character. But even that suffers from a distinct lack of new stuff in the second installment, with a worrying amount of recycling and backtracking.

A real disappointment then, because when it's good Broken Age is a borderline masterpiece, a fresh and ambitious game worthy of our attention and engagement. But when it's less successful - effectively the entirety of the game's second half - then I was kind of wishing the credits (lengthy though they are with backers' names) would appear already.

pablomakaveli

I've just finished it as well and agree the second act is disappointing. Still an enjoyable game though but just falls short of brilliant because of the second act.