A new update for Proven Lands talks about the games high goal, the games voxel engine, and a good publisher deal. So Read on as they say it's interesting.
More information.Our Campaign Progress
We’re doing great so far. We made £19k ($31k) in 1 week which is more than the average campaign - especially for a non-US campaign. At this very moment we are #2 on the “Video Games” Hot List on KickTraq. We are the #4 “Video Game” on Kickstarter Discover. And while KickTraq projects a 24% goal trend, KickSpy expects a 110% funding in 3 weeks!? Overall the campaign feels a bit strange – when compared to other campaigns. There’s no big drop of backers per day as if it takes a bit more time for the public to recognize our game. I’m a backer myself and remember campaigns such as The Mandate but really can’t predict how this will end. “Kotaku”, “Joystiq”, "Polygon", “Rock, Paper, Shotgun”, “PC Gamer” and others all wrote about us. While all of this is happening I’ve been talking to the Humble Store to launch our own store. Great guys over there, very indie. Before we launch a Humble store, I’d like to do a backer survey about how you guys feel about this soon.
A New Voxel Terrain Engine
Yesterday I finished a bigger step in our engine development. Proven Lands now has a voxel terrain engine! Woo hoo! See below for a very first footage without terraforming - but with strange caves instead. I wish I had more time. What it means for the game: Digging, terraforming, caves, flying isles and strange landscape formations.
Does it mean I could build a house out of dirt if I wanted to? No. We aren’t Minecraft, Starforge or Blockscape. I love Minecraft. Yep, I do. But: I don’t like “more realistic” voxel houses out of rocks. For me such a game concept works in Minecraft and Stonehearth due to “cubes” (or even in Terraria and Starbound). But in my eyes it won’t in games like Starforge or Blockscape (great guy, btw). I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t build houses and cars out of dirt and rocks. That’s why we’ll limit the possibilities (for game design reasons). It’s a game design decision only, actually. But what do we need it for then? For mining, digging, for awesome looking landscapes, for terrain animations (dune worms!), for rivers, for sand storms, for flying isles and for asteroids (in the orbit) – well, actually for many awesome things.
A High Goal, A Publisher Offer, and What If We Fail?
Obviously our goal is a bit too high. I am enough of a backer myself to know how it feels to some people to back a rather strangly progressing campaign. So, let’s do this:
If we don’t reach 25% of our goal until the 31st March, 2014 (exactly in 2 weeks), then we’ll cancel our Kickstarter campaign to probably launch a Humble Store instead.
I’d really like to hear your guys opinion about this as well. I’ll make a survey soon regarding all the mentioned stuff, OK? I think we need to be honest. Please, share and tell your friends about us.
Another thing I’d like to mention is that a big publisher made an offer and we’re in talks with them again. You may be wondering what this means exactly? To be honest: Nothing so far. I think it’s just great news I’d like to share with you guys. It feels good. Tough days, tbh.
So, what If we fail? I like Proven Lands, I really do. I think I’m not the only one missing such a game for years already. Its features, the mood, the atmosphere. It’s not just Don’t Starve in space. And I know that a certain big publisher thinks the same. I’m only guessing but even you guys might feel the same about it.I like the guys behind the Humble Store a lot. So, if we fail we would cut some of the features to make it more reasonable, and do the Humble perhaps. Our Kickstarter goal is for an optimal team of 8-10 guys - for 12 months. Without funding I’d would work on it for free, Jeffrey would work part time on it. Extra preorder revenue would go directly to additional artists and coders, same as before. So no matter what, we’ll do Proven Lands one way or another. The only difference: A bit slower than planned.