• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Double Fine Adventure ("Broken Age") Development Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Z

zkylon

zkylewd
Brak said:
The other factor was that they announced all of the changes immediately after the Massive Chalice kickstarter ended. I didn't personally feel that there was intentional subterfuge or whatever, but I can see how that could piss people off.
Click to expand...
the thing is that it doesn't matter if they announced it before or after, the only thing they're doing is releasing half the game on early access. there's nothing good or bad about it, it's the same many other developers have done and no one said anything about it. you can buy games in alpha any day, and it's not changing any of the rules that we signed for when we backed dfa.

I think the mistake was on df's part in communicating this in an easy manner, but it really doesn't change anything, I went and backed massive chalice and didn't give a shit if they sell it on early access because they ran out of money. I didn't back for a cheap preorder, I backed because I wanted df to get their shot at making an awesome game, and if they fail for one reason or another, c'est la vie, there was no fine print and no one was deceived, no regrets.

plus tim and lee came to argentina and talked to us so I'll always love them for that
 
B

Brak

Member
zkylon said:
the thing is that it doesn't matter if they announced it before or after, the only thing they're doing is releasing half the game on early access. there's nothing good or bad about it, it's the same many other developers have done and no one said anything about it. you can buy games in alpha any day, and it's not changing any of the rules that we signed for when we backed dfa.

I think the mistake was on df's part in communicating this in an easy manner, but it really doesn't change anything, I went and backed massive chalice and didn't give a shit if they sell it on early access because they ran out of money. I didn't back for a cheap preorder, I backed because I wanted df to get their shot at making an awesome game, and if they fail for one reason or another, c'est la vie, there was no fine print and no one was deceived, no regrets.

plus tim and lee came to argentina and talked to us so I'll always love them for that
Click to expand...
That's a healthy attitude to have in regards to kickstarters and I agree. However, as a business there is a very thin line between perception and reality. Even the hint of impropriety can be damaging (especially when your business has publicly tied its fortunes to people's goodwill and trust.) I, frankly, would have been more shocked if there were no backlash.
 
R

Randdalf

Member
zkylon said:
I think the biggest problem was how df communicated the whole deal.

if they'd just said "we're releasing the game on early access" and that was it then it would've been a lot smoother. I think they kinda messed up and tried to overexplain how it was cut in half for a first part and then sell that part first and whatnot while really there's not much to it than going on early access.
Click to expand...

They didn't overexplain it I don't think. They were as honest and open about it as they should have been; the documentary even contained footage of the meeting where they decided to split the game in half. The problem was that this was then leaked to media websites where readers didn't have the context of the documentary to examine it in, and things got overblown (mainly by non-backers).
 
Z

zkylon

zkylewd
Brak said:
That's a healthy attitude to have in regards to kickstarters and I agree. However, as a business there is a very thin line between perception and reality. Even the hint of impropriety can be damaging (especially when your business has publicly tied its fortunes to people's goodwill and trust.) I, frankly, would have been more shocked if there were no backlash.
Click to expand...
yeah, I get where you're coming from. I come from a country in which we're not even offered the choice to buy the games we love, and for the longest of times it's been piracy and nothing else. buying actual games at stores is unaffordable since it's all super overpriced and you'd knew the money would never really reach devs anyways, so I've always thought that it'd be nice to have a way to be able to give them something back and be able to support them for all those years I've pirated their games (I still have my cracked grim fandango heh), so kickstarter was just a dream come true. just giving money to them, no strings attached, and if I'm lucky I'll get an awesome game out of it.

I dunno, for me kickstarter is the best thing ever, double fine and obsidian are like my two favorite studios ever and to be able to help them a tiny bit feels really good.

<3

Randdalf said:
They didn't overexplain it I don't think. They were as honest and open about it as they should have been; the documentary even contained footage of the meeting where they decided to split the game in half. The problem was that this was then leaked to media websites where readers didn't have the context of the documentary to examine it in, and things got overblown (mainly by non-backers).
Click to expand...
yeah, you might be right, but from my experience after watching the doc, I didn't feel like they were clear enough with how simple the whole thing was or they were making a bigger fuss about it than they should've.
 
A

ab.aeterno

Member
I could see the communication being murky, I suppose. It would've been simpler to explain it as "We're putting it on Early Access to help with funding; Half the game will be playable, the rest comes later." But hindsight's 20/20.

I dunno, I guess my attitude's like yours, zyklon. I'll be upset and disappointed if something I kickstart doesn't come out, but because I'd be bummed I wouldn't get to see the awesome culmination of what the people envisioned.

I've sunk, shit, probably between one and two grand into different Kickstarters. None of them are finished yet.

But it's me putting my money where my mouth is, right? Everyone always says, "Oh I'd totally buy X if they only made it!" but, as Double Fine has found out, that doesn't always materialize. I love adventure games. I missed out on the heyday of LucasArts, so here's my chance to back a developer I love, in a genre I like and is under-represented, to make something I've said I want to play, and finally get to experience the magic I missed out on. I'm super excited for it.

And it's the same for other Kickstarters. I fucking adore The Longest Journey series; it became clear Funcom would never get around to making it, so when the creative force behind it splits off to do it, how can I not try to help fund it, to support something I want and care about?

Fuck, I'm just rambling but whatever. The whole Kickstarter backlash has been bugging me for a while.

My only regret was being a poor college student when this started. I only had enough for the plebe $30 tier. :( I cannot express how sad I am to this day that I didn't have enough to get the bitchin' physical copy and shirt/poster. So much heartache. And now that I have money, I can only hope to find it on eBay. I thought about reaching out to DF some months after, when I got my first job, but they probably couldn't have done anything anyways.
 
C

Ceebs

Member
What watching these videos really shows is how much everyone on the team cares about the tiniest details. Can't wait to get this in front of me next month.
 
I

inm8num2

Member
I'm curious to go back and watch the first couple episodes of this documentary, just to really put it into perspective of how far the game has come along.

I'll perhaps wait until the game is out to rewatch the whole documentary series.
 
T

thefro

Member
Nabs said:
Guys. New episode. Go. Now. Music. Go.
Click to expand...

Guess it's okay to at least mention the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since Tim tweeted about it

https://twitter.com/TimOfLegend/status/415281154648842240

Episode 13 of the DFA features broken hearts, gunplay, and the @MelbSymphony! http://www.doublefine.com/dfa/content/episode_13_crash_landing_a_plane/ … (Man, I hope I got the right symphony.)
Click to expand...

I totally wasn't expecting that given their budget and I'm very pleasantly surprised.
 
R

r1chard

Member
I missed the MSO announcement so it was such a pleasant suprise watching the video

Internal dialog was something like "hey, that's Melbourne, that's the tram I catch, that's where the MSO is ... woah, coooool" :)
 
M

Mistle

Member
Cool to see the music recorded here in Melbourne! I swear when I saw the tram I thought I accidentally switched to local news or something haha

Sounded fantastic, also

ab.aeterno said:
My only regret was being a poor college student when this started. I only had enough for the plebe $30 tier. :( I cannot express how sad I am to this day that I didn't have enough to get the bitchin' physical copy and shirt/poster. So much heartache. And now that I have money, I can only hope to find it on eBay. I thought about reaching out to DF some months after, when I got my first job, but they probably couldn't have done anything anyways.
Click to expand...
same here :( that $100 reward would just be great
 
A

ab.aeterno

Member
Man, between the voice acting and scoring, this is continuing to go way beyond my expectations when I first backed the project. January cannot get here fast enough.
 
V

Vulcano's assistant

Banned
I feel like I'm learning so much from these documentaries. it's one of the most in depth documentations of a creative process I've seen. Certainly the most in depth related to gaming.
 
T

thefro

Member
Just wanted to give a heads up that you might want to check the backer forum for an announcement of an announcement that they posted on Friday. :)
 
I

inm8num2

Member
I have complete faith that this game is going to be fantastic. Surely some people probably already hate it because they don't like the art style or are upset about how long/costly the development has been. But for people who play it with an open mind I think they're going to be very pleased, charmed, and entertained.
 
B

Baron_Calamity

Member
Brak said:
The other factor was that they announced all of the changes immediately after the Massive Chalice kickstarter ended. I didn't personally feel that there was intentional subterfuge or whatever, but I can see how that could piss people off.
Click to expand...

What were the changes? As a backer, I don't remember and massive changes that were surprises. They seem to all stem from the initial interactions with the developers.
 
F

fallout

Member
The amount of baggage surrounding the game is going to make any critique difficult for me to read. I'd like for people to not focus on the Kickstarter, but I feel like that won't happen much.
 
I

inm8num2

Member
fallout said:
The amount of baggage surrounding the game is going to make any critique difficult for me to read. I'd like for people to not focus on the Kickstarter, but I feel like that won't happen much.
Click to expand...

Everybody's going to try and write some bigger storyline with the game to validate or invalidate the crowdfunding boom.

"Kickstarter works!"
"Kickstarter doesn't work!"
"Adventure games are back!"
"Adventure games are dead!"

Every project is different, crowdfunded or not. Different teams, different management, etc. I don't think that will stop people from extrapolating some very lofty conclusions based on Broken Age.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Former Kingdom Come Deliverance art director launches Kickstarter campaign for 2D pixelart game called Scribe RPG
6
856
March Climber replied
Double Fine PsychOdyssey · OUT NOW! · Official Trailer
Opinion Trailer Game Dev
17
2K
Krathoon replied
Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda
News 41 42 43 44 45
2K
97K
poodaddy replied
Xbox Game Studios' Double Fine developer (Psychonauts 2) working on new AAA videogame developed in Unreal Engine 5
48
3K
KXVXII9X replied
Archetype Entertainment announces partnership with Certain Affinity on Development of its new Sci-Fi RPG IP Exodus
News
0
393
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Top Bottom