Obsidian Kickstarter reaches $1.1 million target in 24 hours
Project Eternity adds "stretch goals," Avellone admits he prefers working for the player to working for a publisher
Obisidian Entertainment's Project Eternity Kickstarter project has passed its $1.1 million target in a single day.
Obsidian pitched the game as an RPG fan's ideal game, bringing together the talent behind classic titles like Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale to create an original IP that the commercial industry wouldn't support.
The idea has proved popular, with just over $1.4 million pledged to date. Obsidian has now issued a list of "stretch goals" should the game receive support up to $2.2 million: new storylines, regions, races and classes, customisable in-game houses, and Mac and Linux versions of the game.
"It's not like we've had any lack of ideas, only a lack of opportunity or anyone who wanted to finance it," Obsidian co-founder Chris Avellone said in an interview with Kotaku.
"I'd much rather have the players be my boss and hear their thoughts for what would be fun than people who might be more distant from the process and the genre and frankly, any long-term attachment to the title."
Project Eternity will be limited to PC, Mac and Linux, with Avellone admitting his fatigue with, "designing content and interactions that caters to consoles and console controllers." In an interview with Game Banshee, Obsidian co-founder Feargus Urquhart suggested that the game will not compromise in terms of its story, either.
"In Project Eternity, we want to tell a story that treats players like adults," he said. "Does that mean sensationalistic topics? Potentially. It means more that if a story is going in a direction our designers don't need to shy away from how it concludes."
Edited 1 times. Last edit by gi biz on 17th September 2012 11:00am
The rest is simple maths:
win version = profit + dev + win_dev + win_testing + assets = 1.1mil
linux version = (win version - win_testing - win_dev) + linux_testing + linux_dev = 2 * win version ??
This is not even entirely true, as most gameplay bugs they would find on Linux should have already been pointed out by the Windows testers.
PS: By the way, when someone is backing you for 10,000 dollars, you could at least offer him the train/plane ticket to meet you at your "party"
What a joke...
The rest is simple maths:
win version = profit + dev + win_dev + win_testing + assets = 1.1mil
linux version = (win version - win_testing - win_dev) + linux_testing + linux_dev = 2 * win version ??
IMO it's more like:
Win version = largest customer market therefore most effort goes into this.
Mac version = smaller market but larger than linux - more effort for little reward
Linux version = miniscule market and more effort for virtually no reward
Yes, the assets and most development will overlap but they're not part of the business decisions to not support a small part of the consumer base. Why not complain when they don't offer to port a version to a BSD server for an extra $100,000?
They're adding Linux for the 2.2m stretch goal that comes AFTER their 2m stretch goal.
So they are claiming it costs 200k, NOT 1.1m like you are. Also you neglected to point out that the 2.2m stretch goal ALSO adds a new Region, Companion and Faction. So, all in all, they aren't giving much money towards the Linux build at all....far from your 100% increase in costs of 1.1m assumption.
Now you could complain that Linux is much lower on their priorities as they won't work on it until they reach around 2m and have done all the other stretch goals, but that's a different debate to what you were implying.
Frankly, lining u pall this name talent in one place just scares me as to the game's future. Lots of big egos will be fighting over this one...
Linux is 30% of the Windows user base? Do you have any stats to back that up, because that sounds preposterous to me.
As others have mentioned, it's not a cost issue, it's a priority issue. The number of people that care about gaming on Linux is a very, very small market.
This was the best Kickstarter I've seen - this is exactly the kind of game I'd love to see made, by an almost perfect team. Avellone's involvement alone would have sold me, but they've snagged some other top old-school RPG talent.
@Dave: I didn't know you followed this site! :) Well, as I said, in this context "extra" is relative. Right, that's where they'll spend most of the money maybe, but well... if they port it I'll buy it afterwards ;)
@James: I was a bit optimistic. From what I gather from various sources, Linux gamers are between 15 and 30% of Windows gamers depending on the source. It's hard to calculate anyways (note that I'm speaking about gamers, not generic users). I typed quickly there, but I think it's not too far from reality (also note that Windows and Linux gamers sum up to over 100% as many users dual boot or use Windows at work - let's just not get into this).
Have you looked at their kickstarter page? It explains it, and they've tiered the other things they are adding on(Houses,Mac,Linux and what not)
so what you're truly trying to say is: you think a linux version should be a higher priority.
fair enough, stretch goal priorities are always a matter of taste. But your math was seriously skewed and misleading, as other have pointed out (such as ignoring the 3 or 4 stretch goals in between 1.1 and 2.2)
You take $1.1 million dollars of Windows users pledges to make the sponge base.
Mix in increased ingredients through funding from the largest possible market with tiers to add further flavour.
Bake in gas mark tier 2.0 or 2.0 million dollar degrees until soft and nostalgic in center.
Decorate with tier 2.2 million linux icing and further game developments. Rinse and repeat tiers until you have the best looking cake our pledges can buy.
Simply put resources have to be prioritised based on the number of people funding it. Windows gamers are the lions share so will be allocated the lions share of resources. I would rather have them put out a quality game for pc then have to pull a Dead Space 2 tac on multiplayer in the form of linux etc and divert resources that could have been better spent on improving assets in the game.
I'm not hating on Linux its just that you need to keep in mind that in the grand scheme of things Obsidian is still a small but experienced developer with a small budget (but growing budget) for resource and asset allocation. I would imagine they would if they could lower the tier amount if it didnt adversely effect game content.