Seven Dragon Saga - Good First Day

Tactical Simulations Interactive posted the first kickstarter update for Seven Dragon Saga with news about the first day. The game has managed to earn $20,319.

Launch day is becoming launch night and we could not be more thankful for this tremendous show of support. What you all have demonstrated is a clear demand for quality, fun experiences and with your help that's exactly what we'll deliver for Seven Dragon Saga!

We've received some excellent questions over the last few hours and here are our answers to some of the most common questions thus far-

• Yes: we plan to add support for other languages, the exact mix is still under discussion, so we’ll be monitoring the backers to see where demand is greatest.
• Yes: We plan to release the game for PC/Mac/Linux (Steam and DRM free)
• Pricing. A few people inquired about our decision to price the game for $25, which is tied to the larger number of hours of gameplay we plan to deliver! Much like the Gold Box games of yore.

Though we accomplished a great deal today, the Kickstarter marathon has just begun. So we ask that you continue to share this project with your friends and colleagues, send us questions and post your feedback. With all of that and your support, we're sure to create a role-playing adventure you will love to play.

Over the next weeks we will be providing a steady stream of design explanations. We allude to many design choices on our page, but the limited space prevents us from fleshing out the details. Keep letting us know what features excite you the most, or that you’d like more information on.

More information.

Good first day? A disaster, I'd say.

No way they're going to get to half a million after such a start…

Yes, very slow beginning. Far from a good first day.
I think they won't make it.

Underworld Ascendant had over 165.000 $ (27 %) after the first day, and attained their 600.000 $ goal only after 3 weeks…
With about 5 % after the first day, chances are not really on their favor.

It has not been 24h yet, about 12h only.

The pitch is slightly boring and "nerdy" - hard to see similar level of passion and enthusiasm as it was with Obsidian's campaign. Later on in the presentation the video game shows that it could be quite good actually. I reckon it's very hard nowadays to attract the crowds to your project like it was in 2012/2013. I wish them luck, but I will hold my support for now. Also some of the rewards are very, very expansive…. I wish they planned this whole campaign a bit better - when you can see high level of professionalism in the campaign, your wallet opens itself (there was one campaign for esky/portable ice box for picnics - every second and minute in their video was very well thought of - potential customer could see all benefits and advantages of the product). With the video games when the dev is "new" (not many recent great games under their belt) they have to show professionalism, determination, passion and why their game will be unique and great.
I hope TSI will make a new improved video.

I do suspect they will struggle to reach their goal. It's a shame, because the gameplay, though still a bit rough, showed the sort RPG I'd like to play. The authentic beardy enthusiasts were not very good at presentation, but I quite like that lack of slickness in a world of PR babble. They are probably exactly the right sort of guys to be making hardcore RPGs.

They did say at one point that they did have some alternate means of funding other than relying on just Kickstarter.

Cuz I really don't think they're going to make their goal. Which is a shame, because the games looks like it could be really good.

I've backed lots of games and can't remember one that got funded with less than 10% on day one. I went and backed and regardless, but I doubt this will fund.

Some interesting crystal ball gazing going on here - don't underestimate the wallet power of the nostalgic Goldbox or tactical party based-fan.

I was concerned that Underworld wouldn't fund at 600,000 - yet the final week completely put rest to those worries.

If their marketing, RPG fan forums and social media can spread the word, who knows where it'll end up?

A surprisingly poor opening Kickstarter vid especially since it is full of industry veterans. But perhaps that was the problem with the vid. And that Dragon fight looked ridiculous in comparison to what is out there now in gaming. And yes, 25K is a poor start not a good day.

And if "I" am just noticing the game on their Kickstarter opening, that also speak to poor promotion. Because I'm sure there were prior links here to the game but for some reason I never clicked them.

They are going to have a Kickstarter battle on their hands to make their goal.

Anyone knows if this will be PC-only or also available on Mac? Looks good and sounds interesting!

Whats this 3D bullshit? Doesn't look like a gold box game to me.

They got next to no coverage yesterday, if they update aggressively and get Rock Paper Shotgun and the like to cover them at least as much as Underworld did---there's hope yet.

Thinking more on it, I think they might've been better served spending video time emphasizing the likes of character creation, spells/feats showcasing, etc as opposed to a rough draft placeholder combat. Has to be more straightforward to rig up some nice scrolling lists and finer details and showing off their 2D side of things than rigging up prayers that folks will "understand" the low quality 3D models getting thrown about a scripted pre-alpha combat.

This KS needs more Pixels on Parade, really---even the logo seems to lack in the key nostalgia they are trading on.

I had the feeling going in that they had leaned a little too heavily on the Gold Box name, whereas the world background is completely different from what came before. I mean the setting itself sounds promising (as does the proposed game), but since they are relying on nostalgia, it's going to take a little more selling.

Originally Posted by Cantello
Anyone knows if this will be PC-only or also available on Mac? Looks good and sounds interesting!

Windows, Mac, and Linux versions will be available.

I do think it looks good for early alpha gameplay footage; they did put a disclaimer that the gameplay shown was very early and not representative of the final quality. Of course, a lot of people will ignore that and judge it as if it is the final product… There's always the risk of showing early footage. Ironically showing only concept art might have made people more confident in the final product.

Originally Posted by daveyd
I do think it looks good for early alpha gameplay footage; they did put a disclaimer that the gameplay shown was very early and not representative of the final quality. Of course, a lot of people will ignore that and judge it as if it is the final product… There's always the risk of showing early footage. Ironically showing only concept art might have made people more confident in the final product.

Actually I was happy to see the early prototype footage as it shows that some development work has been under way. To me, that makes it seem like a more serious effort and not just a fishing expedition. But it might have helped to mark the image with a watermark or other indicator, such as 'Early Prototype'.

On the negative side: I'm sorry but that opening video is just not good, or the campaign in general. The "gameplay" section is tiny and way too far down the page. This should have been an insta-pledge from me and that video and campaign made even me hesitate. I did end up pledging but I thought about it for longer than I would have guessed.

On the positive side: I think the game does have potential. The gameplay they do show and talk about looks good. Hope they can make it.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
Some interesting crystal ball gazing going on here - don't underestimate the wallet power of the nostalgic Goldbox or tactical party based-fan.

I was concerned that Underworld wouldn't fund at 600,000 - yet the final week completely put rest to those worries.

If their marketing, RPG fan forums and social media can spread the word, who knows where it'll end up?

Dude, Underworld made $165K on the first day or "halfway through the first day" according to their second update.
These Seven Dragon Saga guys are not even at $30K yet as of this post. There isn't much crystal ball gazing required to notice that this is an extremely weak start and does not bode well for reaching their target.

I thought it was obvious that the Underworld Kickstarter would succeed as long as it followed the usual bathtub funding curve. At the halfway point I was predicting it would finish with at least $750k, and it did.

If Seven Dragon Saga is also following the standard curve it's substantially underperforming relative to its goal. They needed to pull in around 20% of their goal in the first day or two, instead they got less than 7%. Spin how you want, that's not a good first day.

The kickstarter asking for $60,000 looks much further along (development-wise) than the one asking for $450,000. I'm not backing on the Gold Box name alone and I really didn't see much. Show me.