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Double Fine Adventures - Tim Schafers neues Projekt


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Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango und co) und Ron Gilbert (Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island) wollen ein neues Old-School Point and Click adventure machen. Da sie aber Probleme haben einen Publisher zu finden wollen sie "Spenden" von den Spielern selbst (ab 15$ gibt es das Spiel bei release dann automatisch via Steam). Ihr Ziel war es innert 34 Tagen 400'000$ zu sammeln um das Projekt durchzuführen. Damit verbunden ist auch eine Filmdokumentation des ganzen Prozesses. Um das Geld zu sammeln wird die Webseite Kickstarter verwendet.

 

Hier das "promo video" für die ganze Aktion:

[video=youtube;-pSteVDn78s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pSteVDn78s

 

Nach gerademal 8 Stunden waren die 400k gesammelt. Keine 24 Stunden für eine Million, im Moment sind es 1'209'848$. Je mehr Geld man zur Verfügung stellt desto mehr Goodies bekommt man (z.b. für 100$ gibt es das Game, Beta Zugriff, die Entwicklungsdoku in HD, den Soundtrack, eine Nennung in den Credits und ein Poster, für 10'000 all das, vieles mehr und ein Abendessen mit Tim Schafer).

 

Mehr infos findet man auf der Kickstarter Webseite zu dem Projekt, dort kann man auch sein Geld zur Verfügung stellen

 

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interessantes Interview. Ich frage mich echt was das am Ende wird mit dem mehr als 4-fachen Budget

 

Für meinen Teil habe ich 100$ investiert, das ist es mir Wert bei dem Projekt in den Credits genannt zu werden :ugly:

Werden recht lange Credits, wenn da schon 3730 Namen genannt werden müssen. :coolface:

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

 

• The Collector's Edition will be packaged in a cardboard box reminiscent of the old school games we all know and love. It will be awesome.

• Mr. Schafer himself will be signing all of the Double Fine Adventure books. He'll also gently caress all of their bindings. I mean, if you're into it.

• We've added a fancy new shirt to the $100 tier so you may show the world how amazing you are.

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Ich wundere mich, ob sie den Entwicklungszyklus nun verlängern. Mehr Geld heisst ja bekanntlich auch mehr Zeit und das hat noch keinem Spiel geschadet. Jedenfalls hoffe ich, dass das Projekt dann letztendlich auch bei den Fans gut ankommt, denke das wird sicherlich von der ganzen Industrie mit viel Interesse mitangeschaut.

 

 

Jedenfalls finde ich das einfach absolut grossartig, ein Budget von 3 Millionen Dollar ausschliesslich von Fans zusammengetragen. Muss ein wirklich tolles Gefühl sein für die Leute bei Double Fine, dass man so ein Vertrauen in das Studio steckt.

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Ich wundere mich, ob sie den Entwicklungszyklus nun verlängern. Mehr Geld heisst ja bekanntlich auch mehr Zeit und das hat noch keinem Spiel geschadet. Jedenfalls hoffe ich, dass das Projekt dann letztendlich auch bei den Fans gut ankommt, denke das wird sicherlich von der ganzen Industrie mit viel Interesse mitangeschaut.

 

 

Jedenfalls finde ich das einfach absolut grossartig, ein Budget von 3 Millionen Dollar ausschliesslich von Fans zusammengetragen. Muss ein wirklich tolles Gefühl sein für die Leute bei Double Fine, dass man so ein Vertrauen in das Studio steckt.

 

Sollte ja im Herbst bereits rauskommen, wurde aber schon verschoben.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 8 months later...

Verfolgt eigentlich sonst noch jemand die Doku?

 

Habe gerade Episode 8 gesehen und finde es schon mächtig spannend. Toll wie es ein wirklich persönlicher Einblick in die Entwicklung geworden ist. Ausserdem interessant sind die Probleme die der Titel geldmässig durchmacht. Double Fine ist ja nicht gerade unerfahren mit so kleineren Budgets und zu sehen wie ihnen das Kickstarter Geld einfach nicht reicht und sie jetzt nach anderen Lösungen suchen müssen, lässt einen schon aufhorchen. Wie steht es wohl um all die Projekte die nach ihnen durch Kickstarter gestartet wurden? Glaube kaum, dass sie die einzigen sind, die gegen so eine Wand laufen.

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  • 1 month later...

Ganz vergessen, dass es ja einen eigenen Thread dafür gibt. :rex:

 

Neustes zum Kick Starter Projekt von Double Fine Adventures (wo ich Backer bin).

 

Offizieller Titel ist nun Broken Age und hier noch ein kleiner Teaser dazu:

 

Gefällt mir, bin gespannt, wenn es denn rauskommt. ^^

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  • 2 months later...
Double Fine’s Broken Age Being Split in Half

 

Broken Age is well into development, but Double Fine Productions has hit a snag. The game’s scope is bigger than its budget allows for. In a letter to backers that’s leaked out, studio founder and designer Tim Schafer is proposing the game be split in half.

 

“I think I just have an idea in my head about how big an adventure game should be, so it’s hard for me to design one that’s much smaller than Grim Fandango or Full Throttle,” said Scahfer. “There’s just a certain amount of scope needed to create a complex puzzle space and to develop a real story. At least with my brain, there is.”

 

Double Fine is responsible for putting crowdfunding service Kickstarter on the map for video games, raising over $3 million for a new adventure game. It’s easy to forget the studio only asked for $400,000 originally, but the response was enormous, and it raised well over that amount during its funding run.

 

When the studio looked at the likely schedule for the game it wanted to build, the first half of the game wouldn’t be done until July 2014--more than a year from now. The second half wouldn’t be finished until well into 2015. The Kickstarter money wouldn’t last that long, and so unless the game’s gutted from top to bottom, Schafer’s team needs more money. The question is how. Another Kickstarter wouldn't work, nor a publisher.

 

Right now, Schafer is proposing some “modest” cuts are made to the first half of the game, and it’s released in January, instead of July. While backers would receive a first look, that half of the game would go on sale through Steam Early Access, so other people could have a look at it--and pay for it.

 

“That means we could actually sell this early access version of the game to the public at large, and use that money to fund the remaining game development,” said Schafer. “The second part of the game would come in a free update a few months down the road, closer to April-May.”

 

“I want to point out that Broken Age’s schedule changes have nothing to do with the team working slowly,” he continued. “They have been kicking ass and the game looks, plays, and sounds amazing. It’s just taking a while because I designed too much game, as I pretty much always do. But we’re pulling it in, and the good news is that the game’s design is now 100% done, so most of the unknowns are now gone and it’s not going to get any bigger.”

 

It should be noted that development hiccups, delays, and added funding are a regular part of the development process--it’s just never made public until way after the fact, if ever. I’m curious how people respond to this, given that it exposes the ugly, changing, messy, and unexpected ways games are made today.

 

Here's the full note:

A Note from Tim

 

Hello, Backers of Adventure!

 

Those of you who have been following along in the documentary know about the design vs. money tension we’ve had on this project since the early days. Even though we received much more money from our Kickstarter than we, or anybody anticipated, that didn’t stop me from getting excited and designing a game so big that it would need even more money.

 

I think I just have an idea in my head about how big an adventure game should be, so it’s hard for me to design one that’s much smaller than Grim Fandango or Full Throttle. There’s just a certain amount of scope needed to create a complex puzzle space and to develop a real story. At least with my brain, there is.

 

So we have been looking for ways to improve our project’s efficiency while reducing scope where we could along the way. All while looking for additional funds from bundle revenue, ports, etc. But when we finished the final in-depth schedule recently it was clear that these opportunistic methods weren’t going to be enough.

 

We looked into what it would take to finish just first half of our game—Act 1. And the numbers showed it coming in July of next year. Not this July, but July 2014. For just the first half. The full game was looking like 2015! My jaw hit the floor.

 

This was a huge wake-up call for all of us. If this were true, we weren’t going to have to cut the game in half, we were going to have to cut it down by 75%! What would be left? How would we even cut it down that far? Just polish up the rooms we had and ship those? Reboot the art style with a dramatically simpler look? Remove the Boy or Girl from the story? Yikes! Sad faces all around.

 

Would we, instead, try to find more money? You guys have been been very generous in the tip jar (thanks!) but this is a larger sum of money we were talking about. Asking a publisher for the money was out of the question because it would violate the spirit of the Kickstarter, and also, publishers. Going back to Kickstarter for it seemed wrong. Clearly, any overages were going to have to be paid by Double Fine, with our own money from the sales of our other games. That actually makes a lot of sense and we feel good about it. We have been making more money since we began self-publishing our games, but unfortunately it still would not be enough.

 

Then we had a strange idea. What if we made some modest cuts in order to finish the first half of the game by January instead of July, and then released that finished, polished half of the game on Steam Early Access? Backers would still have the option of not looking at it, of course, but those who were sick of waiting wouldn’t have to wait any more. They could play the first half of the game in January!

 

We were always planning to release the beta on Steam, but in addition to that we now have Steam Early Access, which is a new opportunity that actually lets you charge money for pre-release content. That means we could actually sell this early access version of the game to the public at large, and use that money to fund the remaining game development. The second part of the game would come in a free update a few months down the road, closer to April-May.

 

So, everybody gets to play the game sooner, and we don’t have to cut the game down drastically. Backers still get the whole game this way—nobody has to pay again for the second half.

 

And whatever date we start selling the early release, backers still have exclusive beta access before that, as promised in the Kickstarter.

 

I want to point out that Broken Age’s schedule changes have nothing to do with the team working slowly. They have been kicking ass and the game looks, plays, and sounds amazing. It’s just taking a while because I designed too much game, as I pretty much always do. But we’re pulling it in, and the good news is that the game’s design is now 100% done, so most of the unknowns are now gone and it’s not going to get any bigger.

 

With this shipping solution I think we’re balancing the size of the game and the realities of funding it pretty well. We are still working out the details and exact dates, but we’d love to hear your thoughts. This project has always been something we go through together and the ultimate solution needs to be something we all feel good about.

 

In the meantime, I’m hoping you are enjoying the documentary and like the progress you’re seeing on Broken Age. I’m really exciting about how it’s coming together, I can’t wait for you to see more of it, and I feel good about finally having a solid plan on how to ship it!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Tim

 

giantbomb

 

Whoops :badpokerface:

 

War wohl wirklich schwierig die Grösse des Games auf den Kickstarter Erfolg anzupassen. Aber naja, ich bin zufrieden mit der Tatsache, dass er das bestmögliche Game machen will und keine halben Sachen macht. Denke die Narben von Brütal Legend sind offensichtlich noch da, das Beispiel für ein Spiel dessen Konzept wesentlich grösser war als Zeit/Geld für die Entwicklung. Als Backer kann ich jetzt nicht wirklich wütend darüber sein, ich bekomme immerhin noch eine fantastische Doku und die war bisher jeden Rappen wert.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Heute ist Akt 2 für Backer raus :circle:

 

Werde wohl zuerst den ersten Akt noch einmal spielen, um es komplett zu erleben. Bin etwas enttäuscht, dass die Puzzles gemäss Reviews wieder etwas mehr Point & Click Bullshit-Logik erhalten haben. Aber ja, das kommt wohl mit dem Genre :/. Mal kucken, sonst wird halt recht schnell ein Walkthrough zur Hilfe genommen :ugly:

 

 

Und btw. die Dokumentar-Serie über die Entstehung des Spiels ist jetzt auf Youtube und extrem sehenswert :cookie: :

 

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