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Double Fine: Broken Age (KS) released in two parts via Steam Early Access Jan/May '14

Haunted

Member
Reading comprehension is important. Too many kneejerk reactions that don't fully understand the situation.

That said, announcing another delay always sucks.

What the fuck would have happened if they barely broke 400k?
They would've made a much smaller game. Shorter, with less characters, less puzzles, fewer environments, less dialogue, probably not voiced, not available on as many platforms.

Though they probably would've run out of money on that one, too. >_>


They should make the budget transparent.
They have done that with the initial kickstarter budget and where that money went.

edit: on the backer forums
 
Nah. I still have faith in KS. Wasteland 2 looks like it's on track. I bailed on that Shadowrun game but it looks like it's largely on track. Project Eternity has lots of updates giving me confidence.

I just didn't trust Schafer and glad I didn't.

I've backed 63 KS projects (I've backed Shadowrun, W2, and PE). I have no lack of faith in KS projects at large, I was referring specifically to Double Fine and its ability to budget effectively.
 
I backed both this and Republique; Broken Age seemed like a no-brainer, whereas Republique was, for me, a very shaky commitment--I half-expected that game to fall apart under its own hubris. I mean, halfway through the campaign, they throw in the towel on their iOS-only commitment and decide to create a PC/Mac version that would somehow be unique to those platforms? Crazy talk, I thought.

I haven't been following the development of Broken Age as closely as Republique, mainly because the latter still posts dev updates to Kickstarter (and thus lands in my inbox regularly). But I'll say this: if Republique, which went feature-complete before the last update, turns out to be a better-managed project than Broken Age, I will laugh so goddamned hard.
 

jett

D-Member
I'm amazed at how people are fine with this. The kickstarter crowd is only getting half a game for the money they pledged. To make matters worse, Double Fine gets to charge money for the unfinished game to people who didn't pledge, and hoping to get enough money to finish the game.

Between this, Braff, and the Pebble watch issue I hope people start to realize that Kickstarter is a terrible service.

I'm amazed at your inept reading skills.
 

Krilekk

Banned
Not really, I don't see how this is shady? You're still getting the full game but just in 2 parts. Earlier than you would've done otherwise.

Earlier must be a euphemism, right? I think the Kickstarter promised it for October 2012. Now we're talking about 2014, maybe even 2015 for the full game. That is ridiculous.
 
Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded launched already, an aside from some complaints on some lack of animation, people are quite happy with it.

I liked it; there's some charm missing for sure, but it's a great remake.

For this, I just hate thinking about stuff getting cut out of an adventure game. I'm sure Tim can manage to make it mesh properly, but I still worry about it.
 

chiablo

Member
This makes me glad I held off on funding Massive Chalice. I know it's being done by a completely different group, but this brings up big questions about how things are managed there.
 
Earlier must be a euphemism, right? I think the Kickstarter promised it for October 2012. Now we're talking about 2014, maybe even 2015 for the full game. That is ridiculous.

You quoted me right there "Earlier than you would've done otherwise."

Otherwise.

You either get it like this, or even later.
 

thefro

Member
Also, people saying Tim doesn't know how to or care to keep a budget are way overreacting. Double Fine wasn't expecting the project to turn into a full blown game and as the vision of what the game will be evolved, so did the financial requirements. It's hard to make a game, and near impossible to predict how development will go.

This one's completely on Schafer for the art style he picked that caused most of the scoping problems with the game. Of course, it doesn't help that the guy who created that art style and is setting the parameters for the art in the game is working remotely from the other side of the country.

If it was something easier to draw that was less ambious they would be much closer to being on track, and some of the people who are messing around with lighting systems & extra graphical effects (who also happen to be great game designers, judging from their work in a couple weeks during Amnesia Fortnight) could help Schafer finish designing the puzzles and the whole scope of the project instead of Tim having to hire an external designer for a couple weeks.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
The fuck is going on with these guys?

They asked for 750k.

Did absolutely no stretch goals. The game was the game.

Got 1.2 million, over 500k more than they needed.

They are running out of money.

For fuck sakes.
 
Because of budgeting issues? That's rather petty, don't you think?

They received a lot less money for Massive Chalice than Broken Age, in part because they didn't want to promise features as stretch goals. You would have to admit this seriously calls into question their ability to budget effectively with this game.

I say this as someone who donated far more money to Massive Chalice than Broken Age, although I'm more at ease with Massive Chalice becoming early access because it's less story-based.
 

Pomegranate

Neo Member
I don't see a problem with this at all. It turned into an episodic game, and us backers still get both episodes. Where's the problem in that?
 

pa22word

Member
I didn't back this project solely because DF always seemed like they had trouble reconciling creative direction with budgetary limitations, and I'm glad I didn't now. Funny thing is I very nearly backed their second KS game because I thought DF had proven me wrong by making it this far into development without screwing the pooch, but just never got around to it. Glad I didn't back that one now, either.
 
To be fair they fucked up budgeting wise, went too ambitious. It's all on them.

The way they're doing it now, is preferable to cutting large chunks out or watering it down. Late and better rather than earlier and crap. Not to say this game couldn't be still crap.
 

NIN90

Member
The fuck is going on with these guys?

They asked for 750k.

Did absolutely no stretch goals. The game was the game.

Got 1.2 million, over 500k more than they needed.

They are running out of money.

For fuck sakes.

No, they went something like 3 million over their initial goal.
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Me too. Especially as I can't imagine the number of people willing to plonk down cash up-front for the first part of this game, yet didn't already back the Kickstarter, is particularly high.
They should've come fully clean and say how much sales they'd need. The (full) project is still left in uncertainty now
 

NotLiquid

Member
On one hand I'm disappointed that despite all that money, this is something they have to deal with. Strikes of poor management.

On the other hand this makes it sound like the game is going to be a lot more bigger and ambitious than it was originally set out to be, and I can't argue with that.
 

El Sloth

Banned
I take it the majority of you who pledged haven't been keeping up with the updates or watching the development videos.
 

DCDW

Member
I don't see a problem with this at all. It turned into an episodic game, and us backers still get both episodes. Where's the problem in that?

Because if there's only a small amount of interest in the first episode outside of us backers, then there will be little to no money to fund the second episode and in turn no one will get the second episode.
 

SparkTR

Member
I liked it; there's some charm missing for sure, but it's a great remake.

For this, I just hate thinking about stuff getting cut out of an adventure game. I'm sure Tim can manage to make it mesh properly, but I still worry about it.

Stuff is cut out of every game, apparently Microsoft were close to cancelling Iron Brigade unless unless DF reduced the scope of the project. The reason they're doing this is so they don't have to cut much.

The fuck is going on with these guys?

They asked for 750k.

Did absolutely no stretch goals. The game was the game.

Got 1.2 million, over 500k more than they needed.

They are running out of money.

For fuck sakes.

That was for a different game with a different team. Seriously, this is not black and white.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
The fuck is going on with these guys?

They asked for 750k.

Did absolutely no stretch goals. The game was the game.

Got 1.2 million, over 500k more than they needed.

They are running out of money.

For fuck sakes.

You're thinking of Massive Chalice. This is even more ridiculous actually.
 
I don't get who funds double fine, they have literally never made a game with decent gameplay.

Even psychonauts which is now a hipster's favorite bombed for good reason, the platforming was just terrible.
Iron brigade was CRAP, costume quest was rock paper scissors the game , the cave was awful.

Stacking was probably the only remotely decent game they made but the gimmick got dull fast.
 

aeolist

Banned
i backed and i don't think there's anything to be mad about, just extremely worried

if anything goes wrong for them during this process it would be disastrous for the company since they're having to pour the profits from their other games into it too

it would be weird as hell if broken age was the game that tanked double fine financially but it looks possible if unlikely at this point
 

MrDaravon

Member
I haven't been following the game very closely, but I thought earlier this year they said it would be out like late summer/fall, now we're looking at January 2014 for the first half? o_O

I don't get who funds double fine, they have literally never made a game with decent gameplay.

Even psychonauts which is now a hipster's favorite bombed for good reason, the platforming was just terrible.

Iron brigade was CRAP, costume quest was rock paper scissors the game , the cave was awful.

Uh, okay?
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
As long as it's good, no one will care.

In the end, this is true, but they are shit out of luck on funding a 3rd kickstarter project. Although somehow i think people would still fall for it.

They will have to deliver on this for them to enable a new round of highly successful Kickstarters.
 

Haunted

Member
They should've come fully clean and say how much sales they'd need. The (full) project is still left in uncertainty now
Latest episode mentions something along the lines of a 6 million dollar budget (that's before the modest cuts announced here).
 

adixon

Member
longer documentary, i'm ok with this. I'm probably never going to beat the game.

This lol, as a backer I would be happy if the game stretched on into the next decade with documentary episodes the whole while, though I imagine people at double fine would be pretty sad, so it would be a trade off :)
 
Stuff is cut out of every game, apparently Microsoft were close to cancelling Iron Brigade unless unless DF reduced the scope of the project. The reason they're doing this is so they don't have to cut much.



That was for a different game with a different team. Seriously, this is not black and white.

Of course, and Tim is obviously top-notch at making it work. But Adventure games are all about story, I just hope the cuts are smart.
 

ElNarez

Banned
Any time we have a discussion on game development costs, there's a good chunk of GAF that comes to show they have absolutely no clue how any of this works.

Well good news, because Double Fine don't know either.
 

Petrae

Member
I don't get who funds double fine, they have literally never made a game with decent gameplay.

Even psychonauts which is now a hipster's favorite bombed for good reason, the platforming was just terrible.
Iron brigade was CRAP, costume quest was rock paper scissors the game , the cave was awful.

Stacking was probably the only remotely decent game they made but the gimmick got dull fast.

To each their own, I would guess.

Personally, you'd have to pay ME to play any of Double Fine's games... but Schafer is revered by many and his works are celebrated. I don't get it, so I just smile and nod. If others like it and want to throw money at it, all power to them.
 

pa22word

Member
To be fair they fucked up budgeting wise, went too ambitious. It's all on them.

The way they're doing it now, is preferable to cutting large chunks out or watering it down. Late and better rather than earlier and crap. Not to say this game couldn't be still crap.

Yep, and this is exactly why I felt very safe throwing money at Brain Fargo (who's been successfully producing games for over 20 years) for both WL2 and Torment 2 vs DF. Maybe I'm wrong, but with Fargo it's always felt like he's had a very structured and deliberate plan to getting these games out, whereas with both DF games (especially the first one) felt like they got lost in the success and didn't know what to do with it.
 

El Sloth

Banned
I backed this, and while it's certainly disappointing to see the delay, I don't see how you can call this a scam.

As a backer, I traded money for a couple of promises:
  • The documentary
  • Beta access to the game
  • The game

I'm still getting all of these things. The fact that they're selling it on early access doesn't affect me at all.

I think a lot of people are reading this as the backers only get half a game. That's not true. Backers get the whole game.
Exactly. I don't understand the outrage in this thread. Double Fine definitely deserves to be chastised for getting ahead of themselves and going over budget, but as a backer I'm still getting everything I pledged for (so far). None of this bothers me in the slightest, really.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
Wrong project. This is DFA

No, they went something like 3 million over their initial goal.

Wrong project?

Stuff is cut out of every game, apparently Microsoft were close to cancelling Iron Brigade unless unless DF reduced the scope of the project. The reason they're doing this is so they don't have to cut much.



That was for a different game with a different team. Seriously, this is not black and white.

You're thinking of Massive Chalice. This is even more ridiculous actually.

Ohhh, right. I keep mixing up these 2 games, haha. My bad.

Hopefully MC doesn't suffer the same fate.
 

Corto

Member
Can't help to feel disappointed. Double Fine grossly slipping every budget and schedule predictions/plans for this game is worrisome and disheartening. And unfortunately puts Massive Chalice on a tough spot as people will scrutinize it expecting the same problems.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
These are the risks you run when you start giving tours of the sausage factory.

Not a good look for the first high-profile crowd-funded game to be having such budgetary issues, but I resolved when I first started to contribute to crowd-funded games that I was pretty much going to judge their merits on the end product alone. Don't see any reason to deviate from that.
 

Haunted

Member
Exactly. I don't understand the outrage in this thread. Double Fine definitely deserves to be chastised for getting ahead of themselves and going over budget, but as a backer I'm still getting everything I pledged for (so far). None of this bothers me in the slightest, really.
I'm fairly certain most of the people in here shitting on DF and KS aren't backers. :p

Maybe that's why they're so unhappy! Backers certainly get the best deal here.
 

Randdalf

Member
In the end, this is true, but they are shit out of luck on funding a 3rd kickstarter project. Although somehow i think people would still fall for it.

They will have to deliver on this for them to enable a new round of highly successful Kickstarters.

You say that as though Kickstarters are taking people for a ride.
 
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