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The Dark Triad: Dragon's Breath - Extra Reward

In the first update for The Dark Triad: Dragon's Breath Kickstarter (currently at 4K GBP from an asked 80K) the news is that the 20 pound tier now has an extra reward.

Quote:

Yes! We've include a new reward on tier £20 and above! The Adventurer's Guide to the Isolated Lands is an ancient book assembled from buried scrolls found in the deep caves at the shores of the Sea of Litanies. The Adventurer's Guide is an illustrated account written and drawn by unknown scholars about the different kingdoms of the Isolated Lands, their history and races, their remarkable locations and also includes shredded maps that point out to secret places known only to a handful who dared to tread their dangerous paths and came alive to give an account of its many hidden wonders, traps and treasures! It's a good piece of knowledge for both explorers and warriors alike!
(if you are interested on this item, remember that you can update your pledge manually anytime.)
Regarding the game itself, we’ve been following your comments both here and on the forums. You want to know more about the combat: how it will be played, how the AI will work and if it will be complex enough to have you engaged throughout the whole game. Miguel, Carlos and Jose Manuel will work hard during the next days to post a meaningful update regarding this area, and hopefully we'll be able to show you new combat mechanics on a gameplay video in a couple of weeks.

More information.

I think this may be a good game in the making, but they haven't managed to demonstrate a compelling unique selling point, to make their game stand out as anything other than a generic fantasy setting. Further, the viewpoint they use to demonstrate the game is distancing and makes the characters have the appearance and personalities of ants. This is a particular problem with isometric/overhead games, which can look bland without a lot of attention to detail.

I also think that games need to put a lot of effort up front into making a compelling unique world that players can believe in, and much of that comes down to working on the story, plot, artstyle etc together up front, rather than just assuming some sort of Tolkien/Camelot look and feel. That is a point that Brian Fargo makes well in the intro video for Tides of Numenera.

Kickstarters should take a leaf out of Chris Roberts's book and spend much more time working on the material they are going to show in their presentations, even if there's not much underneath the art and the mechanics need to be simulated. You've got to sell your game to random passers by in 10-20s with that intro video and first page.

As it is this game really needs to be raking in about £3K a day, but it's well under that at the start when games need to make a lot more to cover the lean middle periods and establish their credibility. Seems a pity, but I think this one will be very hard to get funded, unless they can really get some publicity rolling. Hate to see promising RPGs go down the plughole, but maybe, if they don't make it this time, they can learn something from the experience, although it's hard to see how you can make a game of this complexity without any money.