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Pathologic Remake Kickstarter [$250,000 - Win/Mac/Lin/PS4/Xbone]

Lafazar

Member
Update #1

So, er, we kind of knew there are some people interested in our endeavours and possibly frustrated with some aspects of original Pathologic, but we're floored. We never thought we'd manage to collect more than $60,000 in our first few hours—more than 1/4th of the required sum! (Things are moving so fast that we actually had to correct the number while writing this update. More than once.)

Thank you so much! Each and every one of you. We don't want to say something posh and cliche here, like "it's an honor" or "we'll do our best to be worthy of the faith you've put in us". Just bear in mind that there's a bunch of folks somewhere in Russia who keep refreshing the Backers page, reading every name and smiling giddily.

Thank you. There'll be updates with more substance very soon.

(We're also very grateful to The Chinese Room, Tale of Tales, and Brian Fargo for their support. We love their games, and it's nice to know the feeling is mutual.)

Oh, and here's another nice thing: a feature by Adam Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun on what exactly and why exactly we're remaking (or rather reimagining). Hopefully you'll find it insightful!

up to $75,000 :)

From the RPS article and comments:
“Like Russia, in Pathologic, everybody dies in the end?”
Isn’t that true everywhere in the world?

“Yes, but in Russia – faster.”

Then someone in the comments linked this, proving that this is actually statistically and sadly true:
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/sep/02/dying-russians/
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Pathologic has to be the most non-ironic obscure game I know of. This is pretty damn cool.
 

Capra

Member
Been looking forward to this for a while. The original game is something I've been meaning to play for years but never got around to. This looks amazing.
 

Lain

Member
I only backed it to get in that early bird tier because the emails that lead up to this were interesting. I actually have no clue about this game. hopefully I won't regret my pledge, though i have enough time to get myself up to date with information and ultimately decide if it's something worth backing.
 

NewGame

Banned
Backing $45 immediately. Will shove some more money in. Not eating this week, game more important. Gonna sell some of my old games and consoles to fund it.

This needs to happen.
 

NewGame

Banned
Why is there no Wii U option?

Developers stated that a WiiU version will be considered assuming they are able to reach core funding. Stretch goals have yet to be implimented but the biggest ask from hardcore fans is the two additional playable characters, namely The Inquisitor and The Army General.
 
I only backed it to get in that early bird tier because the emails that lead up to this were interesting. I actually have no clue about this game. hopefully I won't regret my pledge, though i have enough time to get myself up to date with information and ultimately decide if it's something worth backing.
This article does a good job of explaining the game, the mechanics, what makes it unique
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/10/butchering-pathologic-part-1-the-body/
 

zkylon

zkylewd
I only backed it to get in that early bird tier because the emails that lead up to this were interesting. I actually have no clue about this game. hopefully I won't regret my pledge, though i have enough time to get myself up to date with information and ultimately decide if it's something worth backing.
if you enjoyed the hype emails, you'll be happy you've backed this as they tend to do their kickstarter updates in a similar crazy ass stream-of-consciousness poetsy fashion

be prepared for maybe being totally on the dark about real game development stuff (although they've said they're trying to be a bit more transparent), but this is a proven developer, these people don't disappoint
 
Learned about the original game in a thread here a few days ago, which led me to the great RPS 3-part feature that convinced me to give the game a closer look. The concept of the game and its super bleak atmosphere are so unique and intriguing that even though I couldn't see myself playing the original (too clunky, cumbersome & broken, even more so by today's standards) I'm in the middle of watching a playthrough of the game, which I absolutely never do. I just really want to experience the creative construct Pathologic is, and it hasn't been disappointing so far.
It's the closest a game has ever come to a Franz Kafka novel for me, and that's quite something.
For the sake of the medium (if nothing else) I'm glad this exists.
This is the first kickstarter I'll back.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
if anyone wants to brush up their ice pick lodge but doesn't want to go through the original pathologic (translation/clunkyness/spoilers/game not being on steam) here's their other games:

header_292x136.jpg


The Void: probably the most similar of their games to pathologic, it's kind of a survival horror game in which you're trapped in some sort of purgatory filled with naked ladies and scary monster dudes roaming around doing scary stuff. you survive by the use of "color", which you can pick up from plants or harvest and you can use it to buff yourself, attack enemies or gain favor with the ladies. pretty interesting and moody game, my favorite of theirs by far

(easy and medium difficulty patches here, very recommended if you're having trouble with the game)

header_292x136.jpg


Cargo! The Quest for Gravity: apparently someone challenged ipl to do a non-depressing game and ipl did in fact that. it's still a pretty weird game (with like naked singing dwarves and penguins and other shit) with like a mix of nuts and bolts mechanics and generally weird stuff. pretty entertaining for the sheer insanity of it all, but prolly the less interesting

header_292x136.jpg


Knock-Knock: their other kickstarter game (much lower goal tho) you play this insomniac kid stuck in his haunted house with all the monsters of his brain. lots of hidden mechanics and weird stuff, and a really cool look. i haven't bothered too much with this one yet because it was pretty brutal at launch but it's since been patched to be a bit more accessible

---

all games are pretty interesting games in their own right, lots of stuff you won't really find anywhere else in gaming, so worth your time and money if you're in the mood for ipl's trademark kind of crazy shit. these games go on sale pretty often, specially the void i think has been for $2.50 before so next time there's a steam sale u know what to buy

edit: last but not least you can grab the original pathologic at gamersgate. dunno if it's available somewhere else, i got it from there for like 5 bucks. playing like 5 minutes of it will tell you why this game needs a remake badly
 

zkylon

zkylewd
Why? Both DRM free.

well gog comes with the soundtrack, a guide and some other stuff. can't remember if the gamersgate version had all that

i just said gamersgate cos back when i bought pathologic gog wasn't selling new games anyways
 

Lafazar

Member
Why? Both DRM free.

A few reasons:
  • Lots of bonuses (in this case most notably Soundtrack and Walkthrough)
  • Actually backing up the DRM free installer from Gamersgate is annoying. You can't just download it because the files are encrypted after download. You need to start the installer program, copy the decrypted installer files (after finding them manually first) and then cancelling the installer.
  • For Europeans GOG is cheaper (€7.49 vs. €9.95)
So better service and cheaper price, it's really no contest.
 

Clevinger

Member
The Void: probably the most similar of their games to pathologic, it's kind of a survival horror game in which you're trapped in some sort of purgatory filled with naked ladies and scary monster dudes roaming around doing scary stuff. you survive by the use of "color", which you can pick up from plants or harvest and you can use it to buff yourself, attack enemies or gain favor with the ladies. pretty interesting and moody game, my favorite of theirs by far

(easy and medium difficulty patches here, very recommended if you're having trouble with the game)

Same. Can't recommend The Void enough. It feels like playing a beautiful, scary dream.

And it just occurred to me how perfect The Void would be for VR.
 
I remember reading about this game on Rock Paper Shotgun awhile ago. I tried the original because of that writeup. Very weird game. I'll back this one. Wish it was getting oculus support though
 
Definitely backed. I played a fair amount of the first one and loved the atmosphere, but died of the disease on day 3 (if I remember correctly, it's been a while).

Can't wait for a properly translated experience, as that really did drag the original down.
 
I asked about Oculus support. Their response:

We will certainly try to do something with Oculus, since we really like the technology, but we are not yet sure how will it will work with the game, we are trying to make. So... maybe? =)
 
One in game day is two real life hours? So the game has a 24 hour playtime, was the original that long? Seems ambitious to make a modern game with 24 hours of content using a 250k budget.

Copy pasted from the Kickstarter page:

We do have investments that would allow us to make Pathologic regardless of whether our Kickstarter campaign is successful, and we do have a roadmap. We are planning to make this game no matter what, and we already have the funds to do it. That would be a simpler, humbler version of the game though, and we really want it to be more detailed.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
that's how it works tho

like 80% of the money is made on the first and last days only

hopefully they'll make a little more that they're asking but i appreciate the lack of stretch goals and all that crap
 
that's how it works tho

like 80% of the money is made on the first and last days only

hopefully they'll make a little more that they're asking but i appreciate the lack of stretch goals and all that crap

It's very likely that they will add stretch goals if things go well. There's been talk in the comments about the possibility of adding full voice acting as a strech goal.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
yeah i don't mind a few things like that but the whole torment thing of 175% MORE CONTENT!!!! thing was kinda awful lol

btw new update:

We're halfway there. In a day and a half. Who could have thought. We actually had a neat and tidy update plan (an update every two days or so), but, well, seems like we'll have to change it and replace it with a huge text file that takes twenty pages and simply says "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU" in all caps.

But there's something we can show you apart from our gratitude. Let's talk about children.

gorod_play_l_en.jpg


There is a very special place in the setting of Pathologic reserved for children. Their world lives, breathes, and evolves in parallel with the adult one, and sometimes it's hard to say which one is real and which one is make-believe. Nuts and colored glasses seem to hold greater value to the children of the Town than food and medicine, but there must be a reason why they carry real bullets in their pockets. Plotting and scheming of the adults, on the other hand, does feel like childish bickering sometimes.

It's as if the the children of the Town knew something about the world they live in that the adults have forgotten.

Also, children have dolls. They love their dolls; one of the girls, Mishka, makes them for everyone.

And now you can have one too. We've added three $2500 pledges—each of them would yield you a rag-doll resembling one of the three main characters of Pathologic as a reward. You don't have to play with them (what are you, a child?). Dolls aren't necessarily made to be played with.

Don't worry: the five pledgers who have bought EVERYTHING (once again in caps) will receive the dolls too. All three of them. Thank you for putting so much faith in us.

P. S. And many thanks to Chris Avellone for backing us. We love his work so much. (It's probably obvious that we do, huh.)

quoting it here cos i can never proper link kickstarter updates without giving all my personal information away lol

interesting stuff on the role of kids in the game, and also dam i want one of those 2.5k dolls. out of my reach unfortunately heh
 

zkylon

zkylewd
they probably will

it's really not a great idea imo to do these two things together but ipl is weird like that

specially cos you gotta go for the $300 tier which really, for a board game, is a bit much :/
 

NewGame

Banned
There's a new update: #4

[...]This is the perspective from which I view these ancient drawings today. And I see something there that is impossible to model, map or texture. I see this highly problematic power that children may possess, the fleeting promise of devastating disturbance to follow. What of the distinctively matriarchal trio that brings their needlework to somewhere dark and secluded? A little boy approaches the girl, commands attention. Is he a sibling, then? Why not a son? The conflict further escalates, comes to fruition. A schoolboy lies prostrate with someone saddling him. The victim strives to see what's going on behind him. To no avail, as his wrongdoer holds his head, requesting scissors.

Is this all, really, about a haircut? It may well be the case, but how can we be sure in a situation so rich in opportunity? What happens when the scissors are in his hand is anyone's guess. The spectacles are off. The eyes bulge in anticipation...[...]

f874efb1c28bffe8372821f25ae71218_large.jpg

182/250 with 26 days remaining.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
I'd still prefer they made a new game building on the mechanics and ideas of the original. Can't stand remakes.

i dunno this is not really a case of revamping the graphics, it's literally a reconstruction with a new english script, refined mechanics, etc.

like for most non-russian speakers it's as if the original never existed
 
i dunno this is not really a case of revamping the graphics, it's literally a reconstruction with a new english script, refined mechanics, etc.

like for most non-russian speakers it's as if the original never existed

The reason this is so amazing is because of the new script/translation honestly. Any major criticism about the game that I've read is the horrendous translation. Which is a shame because the game is so bizarre.

I couldn't be more happier that they are just rebuilding the game to make it the best it could be. It will be their masterpiece of they nail it.
 

NewGame

Banned
They're over $200,000! Another 50k to go!

There's a new update about the middleware and how the beta/alpha will help with bug squashing and how much better they can approach the game now.

We’ve been told that our games suffer from bugs more than once, and for a good reason. Here are the reasons, actually:

We used to be inexperienced (especially when we produced the original Pathologic!), but always tried to aim high, envisioning huge projects.
Our budgets have always been low; the only game we’ve managed to test properly was The Void (thanks to Wolfgang Walk!).
Each of our games is unlike all others, so usually the development process goes like this: we develop half the game; then we realize there are critical flaws in our line of thinking; then we make it once again from the ground up or at least remake huge chunks of what’s been done. Remember that our budgets have always been tight; these factors combined lead to an absolute lack of testing.
We were wrong to commission Russian agencies to localize Pathologic. Turned out the translation didn’t always make sense.
How do we avoid the remake of Pathologic suffering from all these issues?

We have more experience now.
Pathologic has already been released, it’s the road already taken. We are free to walk it again. We know the amount of assets (i.e. characters, buildings, interiors and interior objects) needed—and we can go from there. We won’t have to stop hallway realizing we’ve been doing it wrong.
We’ve abandoned the idea of making our own engine. That will allow for more stability and less expenses.
We’ll allow for alpha and beta access, which will help us finish the project faster and get rid of remaining bugs.
A huge chunk of our budget goes to testing. We’ve never even had such a huge testing budget before.
We don’t trust commissioned agencies anymore and will localize the game internally with the help of trusted outsourcers. Hopefully the quality of texts during this campaign proves that we’ve learned from our mistakes.

3ffab49b0d59cfe6948c7886566a3f88_large.png
 
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