The Encased Kickstarter is now live and seeking 86K with 32 days to go.
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Thanks to Silver Coin and Couchpotato!
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Encased - Kickstarter Live
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Copper Coin
Outspoken D&D critic
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All of your lovely dreams will come true…
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Pledged. Sounds very ambitious for the requested funds and I'm pretty sure it will take years to finish...but how could I not back this one?
Ripper
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Well, I have consulted with Punxsutawney Phil, and I'm pleased to say that on this occasion, he does not see a shadow.
By which I mean, this project seems fair enough, and I'm not detecting the fishy whiff of amateurism and dissembling that occasionally sets off my barking.
The only thing that seems a little odd is the very close delivery date, when they are quite honest about the pre-alpha state, and that there isn't much content yet. We seem to be seeing this quite often. I wonder if the common wisdom in crowdfunding is that you're more likely to get funded if you promise something that will be ready soon. Better to apologise than to ask permission, so to speak
By which I mean, this project seems fair enough, and I'm not detecting the fishy whiff of amateurism and dissembling that occasionally sets off my barking.
The only thing that seems a little odd is the very close delivery date, when they are quite honest about the pre-alpha state, and that there isn't much content yet. We seem to be seeing this quite often. I wonder if the common wisdom in crowdfunding is that you're more likely to get funded if you promise something that will be ready soon. Better to apologise than to ask permission, so to speak
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Carnifex
SasqWatch
I gave. Honestly it is way too far in advance to even had an idea of what we'll see in this product, but the words seem sincere and the rest I'm taking on faith, at least for now. Good luck and I hope you smash that goal!
Backed.
Agreed. Unfortunately, this is a plague of every studio. Has anyone in the past ten years released a game by the original release date?
It is. Are people more likely to back a game they'll see in 12 months or 36 months?
Developers talking to the camera is always my rock bottom least favorite part of any KS video. Inexperienced indie devs are not engaging speakers. Wish they would just stick to text. From the Kickstarter and following their Twitter, I'd say art direction is far and away their strength at this point. Anyone reading Roadside Picnic will get a better handle on their inspiration, by the way (and it's just worth reading in any case).
Ripper
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Yeah, that's clearly true. It just seems that some recent projects are giving extremely short timeframes, rather than the somewhat more realistic figure of a year or two, which used to seem the norm. I wonder if that's partly because there's almost no hope of getting a full game budget on KS these days, and their best bet is to do just enough to get onto Early Access, and try to survive from there.
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You know that would make a good topic of debate. You just have to compare most of the larger funded kickstarters from Obsidian, Larian and Inxile to the smaller unknowns.
Chris Avallone in the past said you should always ask for what you really need, but data shows if your an unknown studio it's hard to get even $50,000 from backers.
I wont go into the failure rate of funded projects either as most already know by now. So Bottom line getting on Early Access fast is a good plan for small studios.
It brings in money and early feedback for your game, but also has a few downsides.
Ripper
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Yes, if that's the strategy, fair enough - as long as they're honest about it. These guys don't strike me as bullshitters, so I wish them luck.
I think it's pretty likely, though, that these cases will have to do a lot of the actual content development while trying to bring in enough cash during Early Access. That's a path that's scattered with corpses, so, as a backer, it does make me think the risk is that much higher. But, as I say, I don't necessarily mind risk, as long they are playing straight.
I think it's pretty likely, though, that these cases will have to do a lot of the actual content development while trying to bring in enough cash during Early Access. That's a path that's scattered with corpses, so, as a backer, it does make me think the risk is that much higher. But, as I say, I don't necessarily mind risk, as long they are playing straight.
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Copper Coin
Outspoken D&D critic
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Regarding the early access, I think it's necessary if they plan on getting over the $100,000 goal. They already have an uphill battle, and less people would back if they said they wouldn't receive the game for 2-3 years.
On the other hand, early access can often cause additional problems for developers. Many early access games get stuck with bad reviews from the development stage, and usually never recover even if they've improved a lot since release. They should be very careful about bringing unfinished content into early access.
On the other hand, early access can often cause additional problems for developers. Many early access games get stuck with bad reviews from the development stage, and usually never recover even if they've improved a lot since release. They should be very careful about bringing unfinished content into early access.
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Two points: I feel it's dishonest to run a Kickstarter with the objective of getting a publisher later, and failing if you don't secure a publisher.
b) KS games suffer budget-wise from two major issues:
1. Devs underestimating how much money they need
2. Devs getting 4x (or more) money than they ask for
That second point comes into play when a nice, tightly designed game suddenly has to bolt on a bunch of extra crap because their budget ballooned. And of course the game is going to be 2 years later than the 1 year late it would have been.
b) KS games suffer budget-wise from two major issues:
1. Devs underestimating how much money they need
2. Devs getting 4x (or more) money than they ask for
That second point comes into play when a nice, tightly designed game suddenly has to bolt on a bunch of extra crap because their budget ballooned. And of course the game is going to be 2 years later than the 1 year late it would have been.
SSIGuy
An Islander Returned
Hope it works out and there's a good game to play at some point in the future but I never back video games. Kudos to those who do but for me, it's just not worth the dollars... it seems so many fail (though I do back board games fairly often, but then I also design board games, know the industry and am biased towards them in a big way - and successful campaigns in that world almost always deliver a game because it's more of a way to just cover production costs for a game that's already been finished).
Ripper
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With regard to the first point, I strongly suspect that many recent Kickstarters are only asking for what they hope they can get, knowing perfectly well that it will not cover the completion of the project. I think that's been going on for a while.
If most of those projects were totally honest, I think the Risks section of the campaign page would say that the sum requested should allow them to create enough to put something on EA, but that things could go badly if more funding is not forthcoming after that stage.
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Copper Coin
Outspoken D&D critic
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The developers responded to how much they have done in the comments
It's hard to measure in % but! - we have finished all system things, needed to make such a complex game as modern CRPG is - there are so many tools, little things that are required before you actually can start MAKING a gameSo this is all done.
Now - we are actually in the phase of finishing up the first round of gameplay things - we have quest and dialog system, scripted interactive events (Vignettes alike to the Pillars games), random encounters, global map traveling, first combat pass, object scanning, inventory system, weapon modifications prototype and more.
We have prologue questline (part of it) for all five Wings, about 30 locations for random encounters and small events, 40 NPCs with dialogs, about 2000 lines of dialogs and lore stories.
So this all is a pre-alpha stage - where certain things are missing, but you already can really PLAY the game. In-house alpha is coming in winter, and then there will be closed alpha, beta, and early access.
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