Outcast Reboot HD Kickstarter

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I don't know if any of you have played the original Action/Adventure game Outcast from 1999, but the game is now on kickstarter for a new HD edition.

I was sent a new press release by the developer Fresh3D Inc. So here is the information for anyone interested in the game.
Outcast Reboot HD Kickstarter

Namur, Belgium – April 7, 2014 - Fresh3D Inc. today announced that it has launched a KickStarter campaign to bring a reboot HD of the award winning open world game ‘Outcast’ to PC/Mac and potentially nextgen consoles. ’Outcast’, is an action-adventure game developed in 1999 for the PC. It was one of the first 3d game to offer non-linear gameplay, free-roaming environments, combats against clever reactive AI, excellent voice acting, symphonic music, and 20+ hours of highly engrossing adventure. It was rated 90% by PC Gamer and received the Editors’ choice award.

The Kickstarter campaign begins today and run for thirty days. Reward tiers include digital and physicals releases of the game, art book, early access to forum and beta version, exclusive backer tee-shirts, statuettes among many other exclusive Kickstarter backer-only content. To pledge or watch the campaign video, visit the KickStarter page https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/outcast-reboot-hd/outcast-reboot-hd

About Fresh3D Inc.,

Fresh3D Inc. is a subsidiary of Fresh3D sarl (http://www.fresh3d.com), an independent game developer, publisher and technology provider since 2004. With the help of their proprietary FreshEngine™ technology for PSP™, PlayStation®3, XboxOne, Playstation®4, VITA and PC, they develop quality products within decent timeframes and budgets. The company manages all the IP rights of the 'Outcast' franchise, recently purchased by their creators from ATARI Europe.
 
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Nice idea. Outcast was a really fun and atmospheric adventure that is still on my hard drive. Fabulous soundtrack too. I think I would rather fund a kick starter to do outcast 2. I was very disappointed when they cancelled it.

Oops! Reading the page made things a lot clearer. They do want to transition this into outcast 2.
 
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Now I can't wait to see this kickstarter getting funded. -> Instapledge :)
 
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$62,000 on the first day. I think they'll easily reach their goal.

I'm definitely interested in this. I though Outcast was pretty cool even though I never got around to finishing it. The only thing that makes me a little nervous is the term "reboot". I'd prefer if this was just a straight remake with bug fixes and the new graphics engine. I hope they stick as close to the original game as possible.
 
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I'm in, since this is one of my all-time favorites. I hope to see more Watch members as backers of this game. :)

$62,000 on the first day. I think they'll easily reach their goal.
I'm definitely interested in this. I though Outcast was pretty cool even though I never got around to finishing it. The only thing that makes me a little nervous is the term "reboot". I'd prefer if this was just a straight remake with bug fixes and the new graphics engine. I hope they stick as close to the original game as possible.
Actually, it is an overhaul of the game. I think "Reboot" in this case is just a marketing term. They used much of the basic tech for this remake, for example the whole terrain is identical to the original, so they don't have to re-programm several algorithms and routines. Only the objects have been resculptured to bring it to the new techlevel. Polygon did a good interview on this.

Here is some HD video footage of the new look, with some explanations from Franck Sauer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir5Jmd0CRKc
 
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Thanks Avantenor. It's looking pretty good for being this early in development. I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on this, and I'll likely be pledging soon.
 
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They released a new gameplay video a few days ago.
First gameplay video of Outcast HD

Pornichet, France – April 23, 2014 – Fresh3D sarl today announced that an early gameplay video of Outcast HD is available on its Kickstarter page as part of the 7th update. This video is a work in progress of “Outcast Reboot HD” showing actual gameplay from the original game and running with a new HD environment in place of the original voxel background.

The video can be found on the Kickstarter page at http://kck.st/1horcDB or from youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DgXpmIY5BM

The Kickstarter campaign has started on April 7 and aims to raise $600,000 for financing the development of the reboot. At time of writing, the company has raised 37% of pledges and there’s still 14 days to go. Reward tiers include digital and physicals releases of the game, art book, early access to forum and beta version, exclusive backer tee-shirts, statuettes among many other exclusive Kickstarter backer-only content. To pledge or watch the campaign’s video, visit the KickStarter page: http://kck.st/1horcDB
 
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Pledging has kind of stalled, it seems. 13 days left, and not even 50% funded.
I am starting to fear for this project...

And y'know, they haven't really shown much yet. I feel like the KS campaign itself is... poor.
 
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Yep its not going great…

The begining was really great. They got almost 200k during the first week. Then it slowed down a lot.

Imo reasons for this:

-Donations have come mostly from active outcast fans. The campaign hasn't been able to convince people who aren't familiar with outcast.

-Intro video wasn't really inspiring.

-Campaign got a lot media exposure in the begining, but after first days, there were no interviews, videos or anything remarkable. I know its difficult nowdays to get press' attention and many journalists seem to be tired of kickstarters. Heck few media outlets are even against kickstarters… Still kickstarter campaign needs press attention to become succesfull atleast if you'r asking 600k.

-Updates didn't happen fast enough. Its amaizing that devs just keep making the same freaking mistakes all over again. Analyze the successfull kickstarters and you should notice few trends. Updating kickstarter constantly is a key thing.

-Imo releasing stretch goals so soon was a mistake. Then again some people say its better to lay all your cards on the table in the begining.
 
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I've backed this campaign, but even I've forgotten about this whole thing. That's how little PR they've been getting. They need to get far more attention.
 
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I'm also a backer, instapledged in fact, but won't cry if the project fails.
There is another crowdsourcing option. And more precisely, it's being run by an evil company who rebooted a certain franchise successfuly.

Square Enix - Tomb Raider
and their cs platform…
http://collective.square-enix.com/

Yes, most stuff currently there are phonegames, but hey, that baloon will explode pretty soon.

What? This doesn't mean I don't hate them any more. One swallow doesn't mean it's spring.
 
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I hope they launch a second Kickstarter campaign if this one doesn't make it. I really want to see this get done. There isn't anything that's very similar, and we could use an open-world sci-fi game.
 
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The kickstarter failed here is the official announcement in a new press release.

The first round of the reboot of Outcast is ending in few hours

Pornichet, France – May 7th, 2014 – Few hours before the end of their Kickstarter campaign for their project ‘Outcast Reboot HD’, Fresh3D sarl today released their last update to thank their backers and the press for their amazing support despite that the $600.000 goal will not be reached this time.

“We have received pledges from over 5,100 backers for about $253.000, which is an amazing average pledge level. We are profoundly grateful and deeply touched by this amazing generosity. Unfortunately, despite a rather good start, the pitch and the content we presented were not strong enough to convince more backers (especially those who didn't play the original game).”

“We are also profoundly grateful to the game press, the bloggers and the radios who covered this Kickstarter with a lot of attention.”

“This was our first KS campaign and we did a number of mistakes but this campaign was very exciting and rewarding and more importantly, it gives the amazing opportunity of gathering the Outcast community.”

“We truly believe, more than ever, that this project deserves to be done and we are more than eager to make it happen. Would it be through another Kickstarter or another crowdfunding platform, paypal, private investment, some bank loans, public support, distributor deals or a mix of all that, we will see.”

Fresh3D will continue to post updates on the Kickstarter page, thus, every registered backer before the end of the day will be directly notified of their next move.

You can visit the Kickstarter page and last update there: http://kck.st/1lXs6Gq
You may also keep in touch with the project by following them on Twitter: @OutcastGame, on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/outcastgame, or on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=253011564
 
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Its a shame that they were unsuccessfull, but despite good begining this campaign was a mess and needed more work. Devs atleast seem to be aware of this. So this ain't the end of outcast :)

Thanks to your commitment and the overall feedback we received, we truly believe, more than ever, that this project deserves to be done and we are more than eager to make it happen. Will it be through another Kickstarter or another crowdfunding platform, paypal, private investment, some bank loans, public support, distributor deals or a mix of all that, we will see.

Now, time is for analysis and thinking of the different options we have to finance this project given the economic reality. It may require some time and we'll do our best to share with you any significant information we might have regarding the next step.

In the meantime, we may bother you a little by sending surveys in the coming weeks to get your feedback on various topics. Please take time to answer, your feedback is very valuable to us.
 
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A shame, but definetly there wasn't enough of media coverage, I can't say I've noticed it anywhere except here.
I'll pledge again when it's back.
 
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They nearly reached 50% of their goal, so likely worth another shot. But they should dump those grainy, dithered, animated gifs; they don't leave a good impression.
 
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A shame, but definetly there wasn't enough of media coverage, I can't say I've noticed it anywhere except here.
I'll pledge again when it's back.

It's back. A sort of.
The Steam page is already up so you can check it out right here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/336610

Not buying. Why not? All those who have it on GOG will get HD version update - seems for free! :D
http://steamcommunity.com/app/336610/discussions/0/626329820726376762/
Can't wait to replay it.

EDIT:
Forgot, from failed kickstarted project comments:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/outcast-reboot-hd/outcast-reboot-hd/comments
Outcast v1.1 is the same game that launched back in 1999 but with a lot of tweeks, improvements and a few new additions in gameplay. This version has also been altered to work on modern day computers with ease. Let it be clear that Outcast v1.1 is not the reboot Fresh3D has hoped to produce because of the failed Kickstarter BUT…they will continue to release future updates through the various gaming platforms mentioned above when you purchase the game.

Outcast v1.1 is the definitive name for now as far as I can tell because again, it is not the reboot they wanted to make for us gamers. But Fresh3D has made something really clear to me: Outcast v1.1 is the first step in reviving the Outcast franchise! They really want to create more than this improved version of the original Outcast and there are some more ideas for future projects but it all depends how Outcast v1.1 will go in the future.
I can confirm that there are many more resolution options in Outcast v1.1 .

Also the graphics are update but unfortunately not as much as the Reboot HD would have provided us. Just to give you a little hint: Start up the old original Outcast and (the new) Outcast v1.1 …and look in the distant background ;)

Again, Fresh3D wil continue working on Outcast v1.1 after it's release so who knows what updates will come in the future. Perhaps even the visuals that were shown in the Reboot HD version…or perhaps the skip ahead and start working on Outcast 2…
 
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