General News - Petition for a Krondor Remake

Myrthos

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Charles writes in to inform us of a petition for kickstarting the creation of the spiritual successor to Betrayal at Krondor. You can sign up for the petition implying that you would either pledge $200 or think you can convince your friends to pledge $200 in total.
Over the past year, I've received several e-mails about whether I might Kickstart a sequel or a remake to the award-winning hit role-playing game, "Betrayal at Krondor." Over the years, it's still the game I am the most contacted about, and the title which seems to have been the most beloved by fans.

Following the release of Betrayal at Krondor, John and I had designed an unreleaesd sequel to BAK called "Thief of Dreams". Due to some unfortunate politics between the upper management of Dynamix and our parent company Sierra Online, it never was placed into production, a mistake they later regretted bitterly. "Betrayal at Krondor" became one of the highest grossing games ever produced by Dynamix, and won numerous best RPG of the year awards.

Earlier this year I chatted both with John Cutter, the original producer and my co-designer, and of course Raymond E. Feist who owns the universe in which Krondor was set. Unfortunately Midkemia is tied up for the foreseeable future, but there's really nothing that prevents us from creating another Krondor-like game with the same great gameplay, the same great storytelling, and with the same creative team behind the original. Imagine BAK now with better graphics, a fully orchestrated score, a next-generation puzzle system, and lots of cool enhancements to the original combat system. Would that be a game you'd like to see? Are you willing to go in to help us make it happen?

Today we're asking all of you to throw down and show your love for BAK. Help us gather at least 5,000 signatures of fans who will pledge to either give $200 apiece, or raise $200 from among their friends, to go towards the production costs of a "spiritual" sequel to Krondor. There is no money obligation right now. All we want is proof that there are enough die-hard fans out there who really want this game. If you can meet that goal, we will initiate a Kickstarter drive to make it happen. Right now, it's all up to you.
More information.
 
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Hmm I dunno about this - if they're too tentative to put in the effort of an actual kickstarter, then I question their commitment to the whole idea.

Isnt kickstarter the gauge of whether it's viable? Isnt that kinda the point of it?
 
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Charles writes in to inform us of a petition for kickstarting the creation of the spiritual successor to Betrayal at Krondor. You can sign up for the petition implying that you would either pledge $200 or think you can convince your friends to pledge $200 in total.
More information.

For one thing, they will get my money. All of it.
 
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Hmm I dunno about this - if they're too tentative to put in the effort of an actual kickstarter, then I question their commitment to the whole idea.

Isnt kickstarter the gauge of whether it's viable? Isnt that kinda the point of it?

I agree. If they need $100K or $1 million or $10 million to commit, just put it as the goal in Kickstarter, then they will have my money.
 
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Unfortunately Midkemia is tied up for the foreseeable future

I wonder what this means? Another game, book or what? I loved the game too but would rather see it in it's own universe.
 
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Would a "spiritual successor" fly? Could it end up being challenged in the courts? I mean it's a cool idea, but I'm not sure this would be the best approach for a kickstarter project.
 
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The guy claims to have been contacted by hundreds of fans who want more BaK, but doesn't want to put in the effort for Kickstarter without more confirmation (affirmation?). Not to build the game with his own funds, mind you, but just to start a Kickstarter. If you can't be bothered, maybe you shouldn't try at all.
 
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I wonder what this means? Another game, book or what? I loved the game too but would rather see it in it's own universe.

I wondered, too.

I assume that the rights still belong to ... who published the last Midkemia games ?

If so, then no-one else is allowed to do an "official" sequel.
 
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I don't see the point in this. Just go ahead and do the kickstarter! If it succeeds then that's all the proof you can possibly need.
 
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I'm a bit less bothered by the petition stage. I expect that if this project moves forward to Kickstarter it would be requesting a substantial sum of money -- CRPG KickStarters of equivalent-scale games seem to be targeted at a million plus dollars. Just running a KickStarter campaign with a goal that size is a significant undertaking -- witness the many complaints about how Obsidian was running theirs. You can't just bang off updates with promises in them, because your backers will hold you to them. That means you need to think the entire project plan through up front, and that takes time and effort. If you aren't confident that the people who keep asking you for a sequel are willing to put their money where their mouths are, particularly given that you won't be using the Midkemia setting, it's quite reasonable to try to collect more data before taking the plunge.
 
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I guess he just doesn't want to build false expectations ? A false start would be counter-productive (German : Rohrkrepierer).
 
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If you aren't confident that the people who keep asking you for a sequel are willing to put their money where their mouths are, particularly given that you won't be using the Midkemia setting, it's quite reasonable to try to collect more data before taking the plunge.
Yes, and doing a kickstarter would provide the best possible such data.

It could cost them a little but if they're not interested enough to be willing to put at least some work up front I don't see why I should be -if they don't show some commitment to their own work why should I?


Developers are going to start asking us to fund their crowdfunding campaigns next! Too meta for my taste.
 
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A petition? What for? Didn't they learn anything from Broken Sword V and Eternity examples?

Hell just kickstart it already. If "the remake" was available right now I'd definetly buy it.
 
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I'm not sure everyone realizes the work involved in a well-built kickstarter. But that's just one thing.

He said somewhere that discussions with Feist had taken place over this. Maybe he needs extra arguments to get him on board (for the kickstarter). Without Feist the crowdfunding fails, but Feist won't play along without some sort of assurance he won't be shown in a kickstarter video that leads to an image damaging failure.

Maybe he doesn't need this petition to convince himself, but convince Feist and possibly others to associate themselves to the project so that he can have them at the fundraising stage, instead of saying "hey, they'll probably join in if we meet the goal".

This is just speculation, but based on the fact Neal said that discussions had taken place with Feist, not that Feist was on board already.
 
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