Cattletech Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2?ref=live Hot on the heels of the Doublefine kickstarter, we're now getting a crowdsourced sequel to Wasteland, from some of the old Interplay veterans. For those who don't know, the original Wasteland was the precursor and major inspiration for Fallout 1. Wasteland 2 is the direct sequel to the first ever post-apocalyptic computer RPG. The original Wasteland was the inspiration for the FALLOUT series of games, and the first RPG to allow players to split parties for tactical considerations, to face players with moral choices, and to make them deal with the consequences of their actions. It was the first to provide far more than the one-key-for-one-lock style of puzzle solving. It was groundbreaking, which is why IGN named it one of the top 25 PC games of all time, Computer Gaming World named it the Adventure Game of the year in 1988, and it was short-listed for inclusion in the Smithsonian Institution’s current “Art of the Computer Game” exhibition.Wasteland was set in a dangerous, post-apocalyptic world in the American Southwest. Over the course of adventures rangers would receive promotions, acquire new skills and equipment, then face new challenges with outcomes that changed depending on the strategy used to defeat them. The game featured a strong storyline which required painful decisions by players; and a storyline that allowed for maximum re-playability. Wasteland 2, with your participation and insights, will recapture all that and provide more. It'll finally be the game worthy to be a Wasteland sequel, as challenging and rewarding as the original, with all added capacity and dazzle of games today. It's already at $250k, a few hours after launch! The goal is $900k, and the game will obviously benefit from an even bigger budget. So if you miss that kind of game, and wish they hadn't stopped making them, now's your chance! (note: I'm not in any way involved with inXile, I'm just a humble fan of Fallout, which from my experience largely shares the same target audience as X-Com - I hope Chris doesn't mind me spreading the word here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Wow, this could be great. To my shame I have to admit I haven't even heard of Wasteland until now but I'm a big Fallout 1/2 fan. My heart is still broken over what happened to Fallout 3 (the real one) and Interplay/Black Isle, especially since F3 was like 90% complete from what I heard. If Bethesda didn't own the Fallout IP now there's a good chance F3 would've been the game being kickstarted. However this is the next best thing and probably the best chance we have of getting a true "Fallout" sequel albeit under a different name/setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) As I keep saying, after Double Fine's success I expect there will be a flood of "nostalgia" games. We have seen recently a Ravenshield/Ghost Recon remake and now this. Time to make that Xenonauts Kickstarter or get lost in the crowd! To my shame I have to admit I haven't even heard of Wasteland until now but I'm a big Fallout 1/2 fan. Okay now you are making me feel old. Wasteland was an awesome game (at the time). You should know though that the original style was completely different than Fallout 1 & 2. They were part of a whole genre of games that I loved ie SSI's gold box AD&D games, Wizardry, etc. Edited March 13, 2012 by Slippery Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) I was born in '85 so it was a bit before my time I suppose. Still should've heard of it I suppose. In any case I've tossed 30$ into the hat, let's make this happen. Edited March 13, 2012 by Jean-Luc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akavit Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Never played Wasteland either but I'd heard of it of course. Fallout 1 I did play and that is on my list of all time favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The New Romance Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 They're over half a million bucks right know, not even one day after the start. Pretty cool. I gave some money right after it came live, however now we're facing the arduous prospect of waiting about two years till it's released. I hope Xenonauts comes out in the meantime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galina Zhdanovich Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Am I naive to think that getting Xenonauts on kickstarter would be like a golden ticket? I haven't seen the appeal with kickstarter, as there haven't been any projects I'm eager to fund. But now I've recently got to playing X-COM (steam), playing it with the pimped out PS1 mp3 music (thanks to UFO Extender), It's just as great as I first remember playing it. I never did finish it, can't remember why. The more I play, the more I am interested in xenonaughts, & the more I want to help push it along. $30 isn't a lot, on kickstarter I could give a whole lot more and so would others. More people should show their support by posting here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I dont think we need to push for a kickstarter. Chris will start one when he feels he is ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Well, when you already have something to show, it's probably easier to convince people to throw cash at you to make it better and / or prettier right from release. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The New Romance Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 On the other hand, if enough people pre-order via the existing way, we might not even need the Kickstarter. You can always make the game better with more money, of course, but I believe there's kind of a bubble brewing that might explode, probably sooner than later. I wouldn't want Xenonauts to join the Kickstarter fray too late and then not make the funding - it'd be bad publicity. Then again, it wouldn't hurt to try because final release sales would perhaps not suffer too much from a failed Kickstarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 (edited) Well, when you already have something to show, it's probably easier to convince people to throw cash at you to make it better and / or prettier right from release. =) I have to agree with Gazz There are a few games on kickstarter that doesn't really have any art at all. Projects that just aren't interesting because they have nothing to show so you can't even imagine a final product. Epiccuriosity doesn't have anything except for an Idea. RS Flux, Some kind of musical first person shooter has a working game but no art for it and "doesn't want to show it untill it looks as good as it is fun to play". It definetly helps to have something to show. Not that Xenonauts doesn't, but there's nothing wrong in ironing out a few more kinks out of the product before showcaseing it on KS. Enthusiasts can probably overlook reaction fire bugg and CTDs more then the regular KS backer. Edited March 15, 2012 by Gorlom added the name of the musical FPS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Here is an example of a failed Kickstarter that should have worked if he had done it better: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/355932838/crowdsourced-hardcore-tactical-shooter?ref=category There are a lot of people who love tactical shooters (especially the Germans!) and really miss the old days. Now all we get are Call of Duty style arcade shooters. The guy has worked on some good classic games. What went wrong in my opinion? - His video is not well done. Doesn't build confidence with his potential backers. - After his initial post he has disappeared. No updates - Doesn't mention who his team members are. Is he just some guy in his basement? - He has worked on console games lately. PC gamers, who are into realism, would be scared by this. - His budget was unrealistic. $200,000 to make a 3D shooter? Doesn't sound like he knows what he is doing. - No artwork, specific design ideas, nothing. Makes it look like a pipe dream. Xenonauts would have a ton of great artwork, screenshots. Sure Chris doesn't have a long game production history behind him but he has already accomplished so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Here is an example of a failed Kickstarter that should have worked if he had done it better:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/355932838/crowdsourced-hardcore-tactical-shooter?ref=category There are a lot of people who love tactical shooters (especially the Germans!) and really miss the old days. Now all we get are Call of Duty style arcade shooters. The guy has worked on some good classic games. What went wrong in my opinion? - His video is not well done. Doesn't build confidence with his potential backers. - After his initial post he has disappeared. No updates - Doesn't mention who his team members are. Is he just some guy in his basement? - He has worked on console games lately. PC gamers, who are into realism, would be scared by this. - His budget was unrealistic. $200,000 to make a 3D shooter? Doesn't sound like he knows what he is doing. - No artwork, specific design ideas, nothing. Makes it look like a pipe dream. Xenonauts would have a ton of great artwork, screenshots. Sure Chris doesn't have a long game production history behind him but he has already accomplished so much. SlipperyJim? Are we looking at the same project? he has 9 updates as far as I can see? In the first update he even has a link to his studio/company's forum.From where I'm sitting that project is far from dead with 17 days left. Doublefine might be a bad example since it had so many invest in it really quickly, but they still managed to get over 300 000 the last 2 hours of the project. What I'm trying to say (without really getting my point across) is that funding on kickstarter isn't a steady flow, and you can get a lot at the end when people see there is a chance to reach the goal. You can't tell if it will be funded with this many days left imo. He mentions people in the group in the updates. not by names but he mentions their previous working experience. He does mention signing an actor, Matt Corboy, by name. In what way is his budget unrealistic? Do you think it's too much? Because if you are concerned that it's too little you neglect any other funds he might have access to that we dont know about. And you can't really ask for too much on kickstarter or you aren't getting the funds you did amass because you didnt reach the goal. PS. It does have one thing working against it though. It ends April first =S Edited March 15, 2012 by Gorlom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) You are correct there have been updates so I phrased this poorly (two of the updates happened after I posted earlier). Three updates were posted as soon as the Kickstarter page went live and then the creator seemed to disappear. Up until just today there wasn't another video from him. There is no message from him for about 15 days when today he finally posts a blooper reel to a video he hasn't posted yet. (side note: in this new "blooper reel" video you can clearly see he is shooting himself without any aid. This doesn't exactly instil confidence that this is anything more than a guy who lives in his mom's basement trying to get funding) 7 updates sound impressive but most of them are just junk. No meat. Saying that you "signed" an actor is a joke. The majority of actors are unemployed and it extremely easy to hire one. This isn't something to brag about. "Hey, everyone I found an out of work actor to give money to!". His website, other than a forum, consists of nothing but a link to Kickstarter page. He was too lazy to even post the meager info that he has on the Kickstarter page on his website...he just linked to Kickstarter itself. $200,000 for a first person shooter is ridiculously low. This type of game is the most expensive to make. He sounds like he doesn't know what he is doing by asking for such a low amount IMHO. With $200,000 he barely has enough money to license an engine. He certainly can't create an engine from scratch, make all the textures, make all the maps and 3D skins and animations, record dialog and sound effects for that amount. His time to fund the project is half over and he has only raised less than 25% of his goal. Not going to happen unfortunately. A shame since I love that sort of game. edit: after re-reading my post once again I notice how I suck at communication. Ultimately my point is that the Wasteland and Double Fine success is really due to not only the nostalgia factor but the names of the people behind them. They have a proven track record. For the people that don't have this proven track record then you better try your best to reassure your potential backers that you can be trusted to get the job done. I don't think the guy I linked to making the tactical shooter has done this at all. No artwork, no game name, no concrete ideas or plans at all. Edited March 15, 2012 by Slippery Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Funny how you post in the V9.1 announcement thread about questions to Chris keeps him from developing the game but you expect this Christian Allen guy to spamm vids? His updates relate to the project even if you say there is no meat in the posts he is still showing hes working on it. He still has his own webpage and forum to tend to as well as game developing. It's only been 11 days assuming march 4th was the day he launched the project. Personally I think you're expecting too much from his kickstarter page. Your comments on hireing an actor is really harsh imo. I guess you are entitled to your opinion, but did you miss or simply ignore that he acctually mentions hireing other guys, you know people doing real work on the game? Your concern in the first post was that he might just be some guy in a basement. He hasn't said what he needs the 200 000 for. He would probably have been better off if he'd done that. But I doubt he intends to get his entire funding from kickstarter. You fail as a producer/project manager if you can't get funds from other sources. Chris invested his own saveings for instance. Kickstarter is a boost, not your entire capital. Well... unless you are Tim Schafer that is. 10-11 out of 28 isn't really half way. If we are going to round off the numbers like that we can just as well round it down to one third of his kickstarter time haveing passed. For normal projects you need to generate interest, and as I mentioned in my previous post its not a steady flow. You can't just assume that the remaining time will generate as much (or little) backing as the time that has passed did. Given increasing exposure it's backing is likely to pick up with news reaching more and more people... Add to that peoples tendency to back projects that are already looking like they might get funded, and keep a tight grip on their money if it doesn't look like it will reach all the way. Have you backed it yet SLipperyJim? Edit: (side note: in this new "blooper reel" video you can clearly see he is shooting himself without any aid. This doesn't exactly instil confidence that this is anything more than a guy who lives in his mom's basement trying to get funding) I got the feeling he had someone at least standing somewhere behind the camera that he was talking to.. at 0.16-0.18 I even hear someone laughing, i thought it was at the mistake he did. Edited March 15, 2012 by Gorlom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Funny how you post in the V9.1 announcement thread about questions to Chris keeps him from developing the game but you expect this Christian Allen guy to spamm vids? You seem to be taking this personally and to be spoiling for a fight. I don't see what I posted in another thread relates to this. This guy has done nothing to develop this game other than ask for money. He has no concept artwork, no game title, no ideas other than I want to make an old-school tactical shooter. So far he has only made 1 video and has promised a second. He obviously isn't spending all his time on his website either. Just what is he doing to instil confidence in his backers? Your comments on hireing an actor is really harsh Really? I have worked in Film and Television for 17 years. The majority of actors spend most of their time unemployed. The few you see making the big bucks are the tip of the iceberg. 10-11 out of 28 isn't really half way. Huh? He started March 1 and it ends April 1. Today is the 15th. He hasn't said what he needs the 200 000 for. Nope, not exactly reassuring or professional. Either there isn't enough interest in this sort of game or perhaps people don't trust him with the money (or both). Come April 1st we will see who is correct. In most ways I hope you are right. I just don't think this is the right guy to get this game done. Edited March 15, 2012 by Slippery Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) I probably was a bit too agressive. I apologize for that. I got a pet peeve about assumptions that you triggered with the point about him asking for only 200 000. But I went completly overboard. Again I apologize. It wasn't that I didnt trust you about actors being unemployed I just didnt understand the attitude about the news of him hireing one. Where can you see that he started on March 1? I didnt spot any starting date. (which has puzzled me greatly why I can't find that naywhere) I was going by march 4th since you said the three first updates were made as soon as the kickstarterpage went live. Edited March 15, 2012 by Gorlom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 The first donation was March 2. I remember seeing the kickstarter news on Blue's News at the start of the month (I thought on March 1st) but that is probably just my bad memory. It usually takes a few days before news like that gets posted. As for you becoming "aggressive", I have a long history triggering that with people usually unintentionally. I don't know what I do but I seem to end up annoying the crap out of people with my posting style. I apologize for my part in this, lol. In my overly wordy fashion what I am saying is that I think Chris will run circles around this first person shooter guy in most respects if he makes a Kickstarter. Xenonauts already has such lovely artwork, a nice website, and is already deep into a well made alpha. Sorry for de-railing this thread slightly. The amazing news is that Wasteland 2 is fully funded!! Woot! It reached over 1 million dollars in just 2 days I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I was kinda tired when I posted that as well so I got extra riled up for no reason =P. But thats not an excuse for anything. My sleepcycle is completly messed up... Have you seen any graphics from Wasteland 2 btw? I can't seem to find anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 No, I think it is too early. The only thing I have seen is that he has hired an amazing concept artist: http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/blog/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 The amazing news is that Wasteland 2 is fully funded!! Woot! It reached over 1 million dollars in just 2 days I believe. It was 42 hours. All these years we had known that 42 was the answer. Now we know the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 In regards to that "Hardcore tactical shooter" Kickstarter, it seems suddenly there is a fury of activity on the Kickstarter page. He has posted a lot more and even included a bit of graphics on the main page. Too little too late. Why on earth did this guy not do it sooner? I see in the Kickstarter comments that many people have complained about the fact that he doesn't even have a name for the game. Looks like he is considering one now. The guy may be a good game designer but he doesn't know much about advertising, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Well, considering that he obviously doesn't have the first clue about "putting up a big show", I'm doubtful that the actual game will have decent presentation / UI, either. All the hardcore in the world isn't going to help if the presentation is a bust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 (edited) In regards to that "Hardcore tactical shooter" Kickstarter, it seems suddenly there is a fury of activity on the Kickstarter page. He has posted a lot more and even included a bit of graphics on the main page.Too little too late. Why on earth did this guy not do it sooner? I see in the Kickstarter comments that many people have complained about the fact that he doesn't even have a name for the game. Looks like he is considering one now. The guy may be a good game designer but he doesn't know much about advertising, lol. Kotaku has its own ideas as to why thre seems to be little interest in Christian Allens project: http://kotaku.com/5893778/why-kickstarter-is-best-for-old-games--dead-genres Someone posted a link to blue bottle games in Brian Fargo's twitter: http://bluebottlegames.com/main/node/21 (I haven't even made it to the first town in the demo.) Edited March 19, 2012 by Gorlom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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