The Banner Saga - Kickstarter Campaign

Dhruin

SasqWatch
Joined
August 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
Stoic Studio has joined the Kickstarter brigade for The Banner Saga, which you'll recall from a week or two back. Stoic are asking for a modest $100k, and with $10k under the belt in a few hours, that looks safe. The rewards start from $5, with only $10 getting you a digital copy of the game, due in November.
Some features, to refresh your memory:
Our first priority has always been to make a role-playing game that feels and looks fresh, and plays like the classic tactical strategy games of our childhood. It's not about defeating the villain and saving the day. It's not about grinding to get past the next fight. The Banner Saga throws you into the end of the world and asks "how do you deal with this"?
  • Not another generic fantasy: Drawing heavily from Norse culture while creating its own identity and mythology, The Banner Saga takes a low-fantasy approach to viking themes. Giants: yes. Horned helmets: no.
  • Strategic combat: Recruit a large roster of unique characters throughout the story, each with different abilities that interact in combat in a deeply tactical way and personalities of their own. The Banner Saga harkens back to classic turn-based gameplay with a strong emphasis on tactics over brute force and endless grinding.
  • Travel across gorgeous landscapes: The choices you make as events arise have a huge affect on how the story plays out- who survives, who dies, and what's worth saving. Add people to your caravan as you travel, or lose them when tough decisions arise. You're not just fighting to save nameless strangers, you're fighting for your neighbors, your family and your way of life. We want you to care what happens to them.
  • An emphasis on story: Your choices in dialogue and throughout the game truly affect the story and the people around you. A mature story for adults means forming relationships and making tough decisions; not sex, violence and swearing.
  • Play online: Though the single-player campaign is our focus, The Banner Saga provides a deep multiplayer game; build a unique party of characters and battle friends and enemies in multiplayer combat. Upgrade your party over time and devise new strategies.
  • Risk in gameplay: A lot of modern games play it safe- you know you'll defeat the evil and save the day. In The Banner Saga you can't take anything for granted. We want it to feel like a good tv mini-series; the world doesn't revolve around you, it's about how you deal with change.
More information.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
i just backed it. after i contacted them and got confirmation that it will be DRM free.

cheers
 
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Messages
6
If this kind of thing ever takes off and works as one would hope, it's going to be where I spend almost my entire gaming budget.

I'm all over this, in theory.

Only, the problem with the publisher model as it is - currently - isn't so much the actual model, but how human nature mixes with it. As great as this kickstarter thing sounds, our nature remains the same.

So, I'll have to see the system work - with all the kinks removed, before I start supporting it.

Unless, of course, some ex-Looking Glass dude wants to kickstart System Shock 3.
 
I don't understand what you are saying.

I'm saying that the publisher model would work very differently, if human nature wasn't what it is.

It's like capitalism. The system in itself could work very well, if it wasn't human nature to seek the shortest path to the greatest return.

We're like water, in that way. We want the path of least resistance.

There are exceptions, certainly, but those exceptions have a way of circumventing the weaknesses in any system. This is why we're seeing "art" even with the publisher model, or in the very similar Hollywood system - for instance.

This "kickstarter" system would seem to be better than the publisher model, but it's not like it can replace true passion and it's not like human nature will change.

Then again, I rarely buy the whole line of "it's all the fault of the publisher". It goes both ways - and some people just don't have the talent - regardless of the restrictions imposed upon them.
 
This "kickstarter" system would seem to be better than the publisher model, but it's not like it can replace true passion and it's not like human nature will change.

I still don't get your point, sorry. Obviously it doesn't replace "true passion" - does anything? - but neither does any finance system. I can't actually see a direct connection between any finance system and "passion".
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,842
Location
Sydney, Australia
I still don't get your point, sorry. Obviously it doesn't replace "true passion" - does anything? - but neither does any finance system. I can't actually see a direct connection between any finance system and "passion".

That's ok. It's not a big deal anyway.

But you kinda got my point. There's no connection between passion and a finance system (unless, of course, finances or finance systems are your passion), which is why the only "system" I would actually advocate - is one where finances don't enter the picture.

I'm not sure I can articulate my point much better, though…
 
Personally, I'm still not convinced this will help us a lot in the long run. It only takes a few kickstarter projects down the drain before the concept is abandoned. If there's one thing developers are good at, especially when there's no publisher involved to enforce the dates, it's letting things go on and on until the whole thing is a complete failure.

Bottom line: I fear we'll get more Duke Nukem Forever than Planescape: Torment out of this.

Still, if the right project comes along, I'll invest. It's worth a risk.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
7,583
Location
Bergen
Looks good. I am not big fun of Kickstarter incentives of we'll take your banner, we'll write a god based on you or we'll make a statue of you, but can live with that. In fact, better this than dumbed down, generic gameplay that in the eyes of marketing will make the whole world play a game. And definitely looks like it's worth 10$.
 
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
149
Probably the only project that I would fund kickstarter-wise would be Might and Magic 10 or a clone, if the name is still owned by that French company.

I'm too much of a skeptic. It's very easy to start a project, but to stay the course and not lose focus? Much harder. What happens to your donation if the project gets halted 9 months from now and your donation has went to pay some schmucks salary?
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
8,821
I'll pledge $25 so i can get the CE. Since i don't spend money on AAA titles like i used to, i will instead throw my money at games like this and Wasteland 2.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
713
Probably the only project that I would fund kickstarter-wise would be Might and Magic 10 or a clone, if the name is still owned by that French company.

I'm too much of a skeptic. It's very easy to start a project, but to stay the course and not lose focus? Much harder. What happens to your donation if the project gets halted 9 months from now and your donation has went to pay some schmucks salary?

You'd have lost your $10.

Of course one should have a close look at the project and the people behind it before pledging. With people like Fargo or the Banner devs, that have both experience and a lot of credit to loose on a botched project, I feel the risk is probably limited. But of course, there is always a risk with any "money upfront" deal. And eventually we WILL see failed projects, and there will be much gnashing of teeth.
Still, Kickstarter is about funding something out of enthusiasm that would not likely get funding through other means. Not possible without taking risks.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
3,508
I agree. I just wasn't a big enough fan of Wasteland to kickstart. Might and Magic? I might very well be one of the $10,000 donators on that one. I loves my Might and Magic series :D Of course, it'd have to be led by a reinvigorated JVC or all bets are off.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
8,821
+1
Don't see the big fuss about 10$
wow, I might lose 10 bucks, compare paying kickstater 10 bucks, fueling a flame that can create something special, that influences a lot of people, with giving 10$ to buy sodas for a month, or cigarettes, or whatever you guys waste money on.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
1,168
Location
Ro
So er what sort of RPG/Strategy game will this be? I'd like more details before I commit.

In the screens they showed the combat reminded me a little of the new King's Bounty expansion. (King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North)

Daniel.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
732
Location
England
Boom. Backed it. Now if Obsidian can just get a kickstarter started I'll be happy to spend some more of my hard earned money. Take my money please and give me good games.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
999
Location
The Great White North
Back
Top Bottom