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[Muskieratboi]

IDGI have finally gotten to work on CONSORTIUM 2! (Yes, It's Spelled in all Caps, go fig)

Whats weird, is that they're seeming to want confirmation from 2000 people that they will pledge on Day 1..?

We wanted to wait until we had something substantial to share before beginning to send updates via this list. We are about to announce this to the world, but we wanted you to get a sneak-peek at it before anyone else:

http://thetowerprophecy.com

Please, feel free to start sharing and distributing this through all your social networks.

We are at the beginning of a new journey. A journey that, if carefully planned and executed, will ultimately lead to Game Two of the iDGi-1 Trilogy being produced with the same level of creative freedom that we had with the first game. "CONSORTIUM: The Tower Prophecy" will take the experience to the Churchill Tower, a massive skyscraper built directly on top of the River Thames in London. It will be a stand-alone experience that will not require the first game to fully enjoy. However, if you DID play the first game, all of your universe statistics, decisions and inventory will carry over and heavily influence how Game Two plays out.

We would like to invite you onto this journey. Starting a new franchise from scratch without any real marketing support to speak of (yet) is a daunting task. CONSORTIUM continues to sell and make new fans, and due to its heavy reliance on story and characters, it is a game that could continue to sell for years, BUT it has yet to break out. We know there are hundreds of thousands of sci-fi story loving gamers that would love CONSORTIUM, but reaching them is turning out to be extremely difficult.

We want to speed this process up as much as possible. Our intention is to launch a large crowdfunding campaign in 2015 to raise the needed production capital for The Tower Prophecy, but we won't be launching it until *a minimum* 2000 people have committed to showing up on Day One of the campaign to give us a powerful start. As of writing this, there are almost 600 of you on this list, which is a nice start, but that number needs to grow to be much larger.

Interested in joining us on this journey to make Game Two happen? There are many ways you can make a huge difference:
Have you had a great time with CONSORTIUM but have not written about it? Please, consider writing a review online...the easiest and most effective way to do this is through the Steam user review system. We are quite confident that the review percentage (currently at 81%) will rise as more people discover the game!
Like us, and join in on discussions on Facebook. We regularly post interesting articles that relate to CONSORTIUM, science fiction and fact: https://www.facebook.com/CONSORTIUM.GAME
Follow us on twitter and help to spread news through re-tweeting: @iDGi_1
Simply helping us to spread the word of CONSORTIUM's existence in any and all form would help us immensely.
We are considering opening up a public discussion forum as part of this effort, and would like your feedback: is this a good idea, and would you contribute to it?
Please simply reply to this email with any thoughts or comments you may have on anything here. We are here, we are listening!

Also, please feel free to pass this email along to any of your friends and/or family that may be interested.

We here at iDGi would like to wish you and your loved ones a safe and fun holiday season....

Happy Holidays and here's to an awesome 2015!!

Sincerely,

The CONSORTIUM and iDGi team

I mean, I friggin loved the first game, it was basically Deus Ex in a plane, But they're essentially asking for Preorders for Crowdfund Pledges, here..

 

[Labadal]

I think they want to see if there is actual interest in the game. First one did not sell in great quantities, I believe.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

How do you pledge as one of the 2000?

I loved the first game but it wasn't big so it needs all the help it can get imo.

 

[Lt-47]

First one had a lot of good idea and nice voice acting/writing. I enjoyed it but they need to improve both the gunfight (even if it not the main focus of the game) and the art style. It seems the bland flat shaded look of the game put off a lot of people, and i can understand why.

 

[Vlodril]

weird way to start a ks. i liked the first game although it was far too sort for my taste. hope they ll find success with their second effort (and hopefully make a bigger game this time).

 

[Katori]

I would definitely crowdfund this (something I don't think I've done since Broken Age). First one was quirky, fun and fully voice acted--would love to see what they can do with the lessons learned from that.

 

[epmode]

Consortium is one of the best games that GAF doesn't know exists. Anyone interested in Obsidian-style choice and consequence should pay attention. They even had Jeremy Soule on board for the soundtrack.

 

[Nishastra]

I've been on that list since the day they first announced it in August, was wondering if they were ever going to actually do anything with it

Finally got the email about this last night. I'm looking forward to finally landing on that damned tower.

 

[Gvaz]

Saw these dudes in person at PAX Prime, finally ended up caving and bought it from them for $10. Best 10 bux ever spent.

 

[ArjanN]

Consortium is one of the best games that GAF doesn't know exists. Anyone interested in Obsidian-style choice and consequence should pay attention. They even had Jeremy Soule on board for the soundtrack.

I remember the game, but didn't even realize it had come out, didn't see much talk about it on GAF at all.

 

[Gvaz]

I remember the game, but didn't even realize it had come out, didn't see much talk about it on GAF at all.

Because Gaf.

 

[GreatBird]

Hey Gaffers,

Gregory MacMartin here, CONSORTIUM lead designer/producer. I'm here and listening if you want to ask me anything!

We certainly appreciate the kind comments posted here about our first game. "The Tower Prophecy" is going to be far better in every category, though. ;-)

 

[Gvaz]

Hey Gaffers,

Gregory MacMartin here, CONSORTIUM lead designer/producer. I'm here and listening if you want to ask me anything!

We certainly appreciate the kind comments posted here about our first game. "The Tower Prophecy" is going to be far better in every category, though. ;-)

The only real question I have right now is for the sequel. The controls in the first game felt a little bit clunky. Is that going to be addressed in the second game?

Also the shadows in the first game are gross and low res looking. Can that be fixed for the sequel?

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Hey Gaffers,

Gregory MacMartin here, CONSORTIUM lead designer/producer. I'm here and listening if you want to ask me anything!

We certainly appreciate the kind comments posted here about our first game. "The Tower Prophecy" is going to be far better in every category, though. ;-)

Hi Gregory!

Are you planning on sticking with the Source engine for The Tower Prophecy? Thanks for Consortium.

 

[Muskieratboi]

Hey Gaffers,

Gregory MacMartin here, CONSORTIUM lead designer/producer. I'm here and listening if you want to ask me anything!

We certainly appreciate the kind comments posted here about our first game. "The Tower Prophecy" is going to be far better in every category, though. ;-)

Hey Greg, Big Fan (hence I posted the OP lol).

I know CONSORTIUM 2's the big project now, but any chance the old ARG site might get a couple of extra bones?

 

[~Kinggi~]

A bit of a weird way to handle this. I'd probably pledge if i had a link to pledge to.

 

[GreatBird]

Answers to questions thus far:

''The only real question I have right now is for the sequel. The controls in the first game felt a little bit clunky. Is that going to be addressed in the second game?'

-Oh yes, they will be receiving a full overhaul.

''Also the shadows in the first game are gross and low res looking. Can that be fixed for the sequel?"

-Yes, we will be using an entirely new engine - lighting and shadows will look better in the next game.

"Are you planning on sticking with the Source engine for The Tower Prophecy? Thanks for Consortium."

You are welcome! And nope, we are moving onto another engine. We are in the process of evaluating engines now to determine which is best for our needs.

''I know CONSORTIUM 2's the big project now, but any chance the old ARG site might get a couple of extra bones? ''

First off, we don't call it "CONSORTIUM 2" and we're hoping folks don't call it that. It is a sequel but it is ALSO a stand-alone game. It's important that we try and get that message out there. To answer your question: YES, the flash based ARG is due for continuation for sure, though it probably won't resume in any major way until after a successful crowdfunding campaign for The Tower Prophecy. That said, we do have a side project that relates to the ARG and the back-story that is in the works. We'll make a big announcement when that is confirmed...

''A bit of a weird way to handle this. I'd probably pledge if i had a link to pledge to''.

Awesome!! The bottom line is that we are not playing around with this upcoming campaign. We aren't taking any chances with it and are being very cautious. One step at a time. Making pitch videos is very challenging work in itself! Also, CONSORTIUM was marketed very poorly (we're wholly independent and basically had no budget or people for marketing), which means there are a TON of gamers out there who would love the game if they only knew it existed. We want to make sure more folks discover the first game before we start a campaign to amass backers for the second.

If you're potentially interested in pledging to make our game happen, simply subscribe to our email list!

 

[Crzy1]

I enjoyed Consortium. Not sure I'd be willing to put down any money for a sequel, though. I've had good luck picking winners thus far when it comes to crowdfunding, don't want to ruin my perfect streak.

Edit: Didn't realize there was a developer in the thread, that statement might have come across as a bit mean-spirited. I had a very good time with Consortium, and I have faith that you can deliver another great game with the proper support, my concern is just that you may not get all the support you need to create another game. Crowdfunding is risky business for everyone, especially backers, I've only backed two projects and one of them already released (at least partly) and another is due to release early next year. While I do hope that you guys can get the support you need, I'm overall wary of the entire crowdfunding landscape.

 

[GreatBird]

I'm curious why you would say that? Don't judge us before you've even seen what we have to offer. ;-) There's nothing to lose with throwing your email into the pile.

In case you didn't realize, we've already had a successful crowdsourcing campaign to help us finish CONSORTIUM.

We've learned a TON shipping the first game, and we are applying all our lessons to the second.

 

[GreatBird]

Crzy1: I agree, it's insanely risky business, and all potential crowdfunders should do their homework on whomever they are considering backing.

Should we not get some serious points for already having a successful campaign under our belts and successfully shipping a game afterwards?

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Escapist interview with two of the developers.

"Exploring will play a much larger role in this game, as players will have the chance to explore the Churchill Tower in a non-linear fashion."

Speaking of Game One, The Tower Prophecy will allow players to import their Consortium save files when starting the game. This allows The Tower Prophecy to carry over in-game decisions and any relationships Bishop Six nurtured into the sequel.

Sounds great. The developers are still considering a crowd-funding campaign later this year.

 

[DeathGlobe]

I have yet to play the first one but if it goes on sale soon I will gladly buy it

 

[epmode]

Escapist interview with two of the developers.



Sounds great. The developers are still considering a crowd-funding campaign later this year.

If they go for it, I'm in for significantly more than I backed the first one. These guys have something special here. I can't think of another game that handles player immersion the same way as the first game:

Think of it as an episode of Quantum Leap. The idea is that you're placed into the body of a highly qualified soldier in 2042 and no one but you knows it happened. There are no intro videos to set the scene. You have to figure it out as you go. Take care to not ask too many stupid questions of the NPCs!

 

[vocab]

I was an early adopter of the first one. It was an interesting game. Lacked a bit of polish, but it had some good ideas. Not sure if I have my save anymore, so that sucks for me. I look forward to the sequel if it ever comes out.

 

[HK-47]

My interest is here.

 

[GreatBird]

vocab: Just a quick note.

If you played on Steam, then your EndGame saved games should still be sitting in the Steam Cloud, as the game takes advantage of that.

We will work to make sure that importing Universes from Game One will be trivial, especially if you're playing on Steam.

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Gameplay teaser!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCugYkAJ2-Q

 

[GreatBird]

Hey folks,

There's a very candid interview with me that just went up on The Tower Prophecy, if interested.

Cheers!
GreatBird

 

[Zolo]

Great interview! I'm really looking forward to the second game after enjoying the first one a lot!

 

[GreatBird]

We've changed the name of the game, and released a new teaser trailer...

https://youtu.be/PWTWJYXZvq8

We're coming back to Kickstarter on January 18th!

 

[Mister_Bubbles]

Totally on board when the time comes. CONSORTIUM was amazing, and I'm really interested to see where the plot goes.

The world building and sense of immersion in the first game was insane, loved it. Searching through the in-game lore database with keywords etc was very Her Story-esque, as the deeper you got the more interesting keywords, names etc you could look up to piece together what was going on.

 

[More_Badass]