Here. Give them all your money, they already got mine.

Is there a cryo freezing kickstarter I can support so that I can freeze myself and wake up in the future when all these promising games are already finished?

Every time I refresh that page the number goes up by about $10,000.

Isn't Chris Avellone already working on Wasteland 2? Can a writer work at two story-heavy games at the same time, probably being the lead writer in one or two of them?

This seems to be on its way to smash Double Fine's records already. Nice.

I'm not very thrilled about the setting being described as "fantasy", to be honest. I'm really, REALLY fed up with elves and dwarves and dragons and whatnot. Even to play The Witcher 2 -which is seven kinds of awesome and I absolutely love it- I need to do quite a bit of meditation to be able to put up with all that garbage.

And I know these guys will surely give it some sort of oh-so-awesome spin or what have you, I don't care. That Tim Cain is involved and it's not something along the lines of Bloodlines is already a disappointing first step.

I did back it, anyway.

You could play all apocalyptic future games you can find until it is released, I'm sure you would appreciate the fantasy genre again by then.

There aren't enough nuclear bombs in the world to cause enough apocalypses to have enough games based on for that to happen.

I read that "medication" -- would work too I guess

Works for me :D Have a hard time being interested in anything that ISN'T fantasy (applies to books too)... And if it's neither fantasy nor distant future non-PA sci-fi nor, if (passably) realistic, placed in the middle ages or before, then the interest is basically zero (this largely applies to movies / series too).

So yeah, the announcement so far makes it awesome. Now let's see what will happen with it.

You had me thinking this was about a new Obsidian.

It just reached one million.

Guess I am not the only one that is convinced that Obisidian is the absolute best non-defunct game developer out there.

Maybe for the first time ever in company history, they could produce a game without the publisher pressure meaning the most bug-free Obsidian game ever?

Dungeon Siege III, made with their own engine, was very stable and bug-free.

http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/83-dungeon-siege-iii-technical-support-spoiler-warning/

Ten pages in one year doesn't look too bad, more like the standard amount of issues we have to live with since about 1994. I am probably biased because I can't think of a single RPG I love (remember Fallout 2?) which was less broken than Dungeon Siege III. (Note: Dungeon Siege III: does not belong to the group "RPGs I love")

Interview

So I'm still quite wary (I love that word, it's my word of the year for 2012 --"Be wary of trap" "Praise the sun!" :D) about the nature of this project, what with the whole fantasy thing and whatnot, but as of today I have twice as much respect as I already had for these guys. Destructoid picks an interesting comment by Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, where he says they turned down an incredibly weasely proposal from an unnamed publisher:

"We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter," he revealed on his team's own KS page. "I said to them 'So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits.'

"They said, 'Yes'."

I had already pledged for this, even though I was wary of dragons (and fatty) (praise the sun!), but I might even raise my pledge now, just to support this kind of integrity move. You know what? Bring on the elves, or the ewoks, or whatever cliche you want, Obsidian; me and my monies will follow you anyway.

So, what did Obsidian answer to the offer?

They instead decided to self-publish the game as far as I'm aware.

I assumed so, but I find it amusing that they never really say what their answer was

DRM free on gog.com. Oh, yeah!

This was fun yesterday.

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As I understand it, it's DRM free for Kickstarter backers, as opposed to simply being DRM free. There's a small, but quite significant difference between the two.

That doesn't seem to make much sense. All games on gog.com are DRM free. If they are going to distribute the game through gog.com, why not allow non-kickstarters to buy it there? That wouldn't be in the best interest of gog.com so it seems very unlikely.

I don't know what to make of it. The article states "You asked and we are delivering. In conjunction with GOG, we are going to offer a DRM-free version of the game for our Kickstarter Backers. When the campaign ends, you will be able to choose whether you would like a key from GOG or Steam."

I hope it's just awkward wording.

Steam is DRM, but many (infuriatingly) prefer it due to achievements, stats, etc., so if you're in the low tiers, where you get just one copy, you have to choose whether you want one or the other. Nothing unusual there.

What I'm confused about is the difference between the $25 (or $20 for those first 25k) and $35 tiers, since those are things that'd normally be included as extra goodies in the GOG version. What do they do? Give a code for a "basic" version to the low-end backers and one to what'll actually be on sale to the $35+ ones?

I was talking about whether they'll be selling the game DRM-free to everyone or not. This isn't clear, but the wording they chose implies that the DRM-free option will be available to kickstarter backers only. There's nothing on that page to indicate they actually intend to sell the game DRM-free on GOG to everyone.

Also, I'd add that selling something on Steam doesn't necessarily mean that you have to put DRM on your product. There are many games on Steam that once downloaded can be played without the Steam app running or even present on the computer. There's quite a list of such games here. These games are for all intents and purposes DRM-free: you can move them around, back them up and play them anywhere.

Considering that it's a Kickstarter project, DRM shouldn't even have been considered in the first place.

Considering how passionately GOG.com defend their "one world, one product range, one price" policy, I doubt that they'd have agreed to any distribution deal other than just adding it to their regular line-up. They would have to put in all the work for a regular release, then gift it to a couple of thousand backers and otherwise let it rot. That doesn't seem sensible. I'm almost sure that it's going to be available to everyone on GOG.com, because the site never offered anything that wasn't available to everyone.

That is still DRM, because you need Steam to INSTALL the game. Of course, a flash game like Binding of Isaac has virtually no installation to speak of, but others do.

Yes and you need Windows to play a Windows game. Shocking!

Hardly see the connection.

I'm sure there are different viewpoints here, but I don't consider a technical measure DRM if it only takes place during acquisition (i.e. downloading of the game). There is no installation to speak of, Steam is just used to download the game files from the server the first time. The downloaded folder can then be archived.

In that view, GOG.com would probably have to be considered as using DRM as well, since you have to log in to your account to download the file. It's a web app instead of a stand-alone one, but the end result is the same, an authenticated download.

Is it possible to use the downloaded folder to reinstall the game offline?

Depends if the game uses Steamworks or not.

No, unless you consider moving installation files around installing. (see the link in my other reply)

It's definitely not as simple as that in most cases. Here a list of the ones in which it can actually be made.

GOG downloads are the installer itself, not the installed files, that's why GOG is DRM-free without a doubt.

That's quite a list, actually more than I would have thought there were. But I knew I had a few, and particularly it's valid for DOSBox games.

Apart from maybe some AAA titles I think Steam games are usually not installed. You can ask it to create a desktop shortcut, but that's about it. For most indie and classic titles it is just a download and unzip, same as for GOG.com, except you don't need an additional client. So the installation question is moot because moving the folder is the installation. And since you only need the client for the first download, I consider Steam games without any third-party DRM "just as DRM-free" as GOG.com games. According to my definition: once I have it, I have it, and no one can take it away again or prevent me from playing it. GOG.com installers are nicer to archive though.

Read carefully that thread, I still think you view installations as a more simple thing that what they actually are. Other than the simplest flash games, Steam games ARE installed, Steam just handles it so that you don't notice it. Some people in that list speak of all kind of ways in which moving installation files may not work, and, up until a few days at least, the test method consisted only on moving files around in the same computer or even just checking if the executable would run without calling Steam.

I believe you that many Steam games perform more tasks during installation. But not being able to move the directory and still play the game does not imply that anything else is done. The DRM issue here is that the executables are modified so that they need to be connected to the Steam service and account to start. This can still be the case even when "installation" consists of just downloading files. I would bet many of the bigger games on Steam do this. Apart from the installation of frameworks, I wouldn't even know what else they would need to do. Steam makes most of what traditional game installations do superfluous.

But for the ones in that list the thread says can be moved anywhere and will still play. Just in that list I count 163 titles. Out of Steam's current tally of 1739 PC games that's close to 10% of the entire catalogue. While I knew some Steam games were completely DRM-free, I would have thought there were fewer.

Here ya go:

"How do you plan to sell the game once it is finished and live? Retail? Steam? Impulse? GOG?

GOG (DRM-free) and Steam are our digital distribution outlets. We are also going to see if we can work on distributing the boxed version at retail as well, but we have not specific plans on that yet."

Yay!

Speaking of Kickstarters, god damn. Behold the power of teenagers in large numbers. I imagine a not-insignificant number of those backers just wanted the plushies and other goodies, but still. It's a WEBCOMIC!

Did you see how well miniatures are doing? 3644%, 3907%, 4547%, 4618%, 4756%... and most notably 11430%!

O_O

Unrelated to this, but fun spoof. :)) They should try to make those numbers actually add up though, since they seem to have put quite enough effort in the rest of it :p

Latest updates (for anyone interested but too lazy to keep up there :p), stretch goals for crafting and enchanting ($2.4M) and barbarian and cipher classes ($2.5M) hit, and The Endless Paths of Od Nua getting to 5 underground levels. Next stretch goals for Adventurer's Hall ($2.6M - being able to hire mercenaries to be able to fully customize your party instead of being restricted to the set companions that you may find), paladin and chanter classes ($2.7M) and what I call a rather weird stretch goal at $2.8M, namely adding George Ziets to the team.
Also, the first expansion for P:E (which they say will be released some 6 months after the game, won't be funded by this Kickstarter and "it’s not DLC, but a real honest to God RPG expansion pack") and also Wasteland 2 added for those giving $165+.

And Thursday there will be a lore update... and the first screenshot. Let's see the ratio of yeys to oh craps after that.

They just surpassed Wasteland 2. Just Double Fine Adventure ahead. Funding ends Wednesday at 1 AM GMT if I got my time zones right.

I'll call the 3.0M stretch goal already hit too, since the "we hit 2.6M, adding Kickstarter and PayPal" update was already up at 2.54, so stronghold too. The last stretch goal, 3.5M for a second big city (the game originally being designed with just one) seems far fetched though. It'd take one hell of a spike at the end.
Also, 8 levels in the Endless Paths.

Oh, and if anyone's that bored (and didn't check to know it), Adam is livestreaming an all-day Icewind Dale II play session.

Further back, there was that lore update. They also announced the final race in the PCGamer chat yesterday (you also have that now-famous (sole) screenshot there). So we have human, elf, dwarf, orlan, aumaua and Godlike; as for classes, fighter, priest, rogue, wizard, ranger, monk, druid, paladin, cipher (think psionic, sort of), barbarian and chanter (I'll say think shaman as a core concept, but that's me and going culturally, not necessarily gameplay-wise, don't think they said it).

*snap* Just glanced in the chat when I checked the link for the livestream now. Adam saying they're at 3.05M total, so called it right.

And over Double Fine Adventure now. That was darn fast, so take earlier estimate back, looks like they'll breeze past 3.5M.

Leave gaming for a while... and good things happen. I'm happy for Obsidian. I'm currently watching the live - that's certainly a very happy environment to be now. Good for them.

Good to be an Obsidian fan too now.

How good it'll be in about a year and a half or so, that remains to be seen.

$3,986,929 (though on their livestream it's listed 3986423). Juuust shy of their final stretch (game improvements, live instruments used for score, dev commentary... and Chris Avellone plays Arcanum, since he somehow hasn't so far) of 4M on Kickstarter alone, but over 4.1M by adding PayPal as well.

Now we wait a year and a half...

They should still do the things they promised for the final strech goal, shouldn't they? At least I hope they will, considering they made 4.1 million overall and even on Kickstarter they were 486.000 dollars over the previous stretch goal (and less than 3% off their target).

Yeah, they said they're at 4 mil when it was some 3.86-3.87 on Kickstarter.

Like this. Game making for dummies :p The previous update was neat too (and they said mail, not chainmail!).

I believe we should be saying hi there Obsidian? :) Unless somebody used a fake name at least...