There are a few, mostly mobile games, but there isn't much built-in 2D stuff in the engine. There are howerver plenty of 2D toolkits in the webshop and Obsidian can always program whatever 2D functions they need for the game.
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Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment (Kickstarter) [Up: Teaser]
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They could try for another contract with THQ, but at that point it would most likely need to be a digital F2P game, which I'm not sure meshes with their style.
My experience:
On signing the development contract, both sides agree to milestones representing levels of progression of the game development. Completing a milestone to the publisher's satisfaction releases the money tied to that milestone.
On completion of a project, that's it. There *may* be a final milestone lined up for post-release support, and there may be a bonus sum based on performance, but as far as the developer is concerned, at that point their income stops and they need to get another deal signed ASAP (generally the pitches for the next project will be taking place towards the end of the previous one to expedite this)
One thing that was 'fun' for us was convincing the publisher that a given milestone had been met. It was sometimes the case that our interpretation of the milestone differed from theirs (particularly awkward if their interpretation included a feature that was much further down our planned roadmap). Publishers are wily beasts; they have the developer completely under their control at that point; the dev *needs* to fulfil their demands to their satisfaction before the next batch of money is released.
yeah, I heard a lot about this situation.
here is the thread about this but it's only one drop in the sea
Yeah I've heard it can be a real nightmare.
I've also heard that if publishers decide they don't like and/or want your project anymore, they can try to make the milestone pretty much unreachable so they can cut the developer out of their last payment while canceling the contract.
Nice I wake up and see all these interviews and new update confirming Unity.
This is pretty much exactly what i believe is their plan and this is what i was hoping they would do when the next their next gen project was cancelled. Sadly I am betting that a lot of people at Obsidian jobs will be lost in the near future. Probably a little bit after the South Park game ships. Reason why I gave $65 myself I want to help Obsidian(my favorite developer) weather this storm and keep them making games.
So I am happy that they appear to be changing strategies hopefully before it is too late.
This is pretty much exactly what i believe is their plan and this is what i was hoping they would do when the next their next gen project was cancelled. Sadly I am betting that a lot of people at Obsidian jobs will be lost in the near future. Probably a little bit after the South Park game ships. Reason why I gave $65 myself I want to help Obsidian(my favorite developer) weather this storm and keep them making games.
So I am happy that they appear to be changing strategies hopefully before it is too late.
They not just distributor they are publishers. They do something like Polish VA and translation in house paying for it. As of strictly publisher side witcher and Witcher 2 second one was published by them on central europe east and Russia Which is 70% of where Witcher sold.
They aren't namco or any big publisher but still they are very profitable. And recently they are very very interesting to look at.
Witcher1 and 2 from their gaming division and they lunched own worldwide DD service which is beloved at GAF and will be used for distributing Project Eternity meaning GOG.com
Lately they started Cyberpunk RPG and slowly they are rising to be mayor player in few years.
And Obsidian do need some publishers later which will distribute their game on retail shelf especially in central europe and russia which is big market for old RPGs and again CD Project is main man for those parts..
Funny how tied Obsidian is with CDProject when they started to worki on PE...
and if a developer try to sue them during the development they are as good as dead because no money flowing for the developer but pubs are supported well by their business.
CrichtonKicks
Member
I would think the most obvious way that a South Park success would help Obsidian is the possibility that THQ moves quickly to sign them to get a sequel out.
This was my original projection as well, but charlequin pointed out to me that Matt and Trey don't usually follow up on things that aren't the show.
Maybe they'll change their mind here, but if they were thinking of making a sequel, I have to wonder if Obsidian would still be making so many pitches.
They should have teased out the surprise 2.2 as a goal only if it reached it by Monday or Wednesday, thus hopefully getting a big push over the weekend. They could always have re-purposed it for a later stretch if it didn't reach it then.
Then again, maybe I'm thinking about this too much like a craven business lord and less like a developer doing their dream project.
Then again, maybe I'm thinking about this too much like a craven business lord and less like a developer doing their dream project.
yeah and by the way they should definitely go retail with this in Poland and Germany. DD is like 5% from overall sales of gaming software in Poland (these are numbers from the man who oversees retail deals at Larian) and the market is huge on this type of thing. They can move a decent number of copies in Russia too by going both digital and retail AND DOING GOOD LOCALISATION.
That would be one of the few ways to envision Obsidian continuing on as-is. More likely is that they'll begin to veer away from AAA-budget development and reduce the size of the studio.
Pretty sure they'd make money releasing it on consoles digitally if it's easy to release. They wouldn't have to use the kickstarter pool of money.
They already confirmed that they want to establish IP and release few more games from that IP.
CrichtonKicks
Member
Nirolak said:
I would think that was more driven by the cancellation of Jefferson. Since that was next-gen it presumably had a pretty large development team that suddenly found itself without a project. Even with some of them are now on the Eternity team, I'm guessing they are still overstaffed at the moment if South Park is their only other project.
It's also probably a question of what the contracted release schedule on South Park is. If they had originally planned for a late 2012 release then they may be short of expected income with the current Spring 2013 release date. However if they had always budgeted for Spring 2013 then the South Park team may be reasonably safe until they get the final milestone payment when the game ships.
Modkit or multiplayer, I'd say. Not sure the latter is smart, but the first one is great - and the *combination* of both would be intriguing.
Imp the Dimp
Member
No, kidding I'm still not over it. How can the majority of the gaming press possibly find it inferior to F3? I mean, I know how opinions work and I can see what you would criticize in NV but being unversally significantly less acclaimed than its predecessor despite absolutely trashing it in so many departments makes me sad. Oh well.
mods support is big thing.
Welcome to gaming press where most of gaming press went out of buisness or on leash of publishers.
Here is my story:
I was working with friends on small gaming site. We pitched for review coppies to publishers. We stopped pitching as EA sent us a email that sure ofcurse we can provide games for reviewing purpose but here is list what you have to do:
- don't score it less than 7/10 or 70%
- don't use negative therms about game in review (like bitching about bugs, controlls, problems)
- don't advertise games that are similar to out game in review of our game
There were more points but you get the idea. That is the reason why i don't believe very very small sites about scores. And what is more funny those small sites are included in metacritic score. That is the most disturbing thing about it.
All above is true story. For bigger sites this is probably not as hard but still you can't run site if don't have review coppies or you are not invited to press events.
This main reason why i don't care at all about scores. There are some sites like RPS which is light in dark night but this is minority.
Sentenza
Member
That's exactly the "catch" that keep developers depending on publishers, in the end.
It doesn't really matter that much how successful their products are; even if they perform well, the best case scenario is earning enough money to keep their studios floating and *maybe* be able to negotiate a bigger budget for their next product, but (almost) never enough money to buy their complete independence from publishers.
A single self-funded (or in this case crowd-funded) project, on the other hand, if successful enough could actually give them more money and overall freedom than a bunch of triple A solid seller.
No, no I broke this news.
Mystic Theurge
Member
Wow. I might actually contribute now.
Also I think the whole "RPGs forcing you to make a choice before you know the consequences" in terms of character building is a very flawed viewpoint as a well designed RPG gives you all the information you need before making that choice. I know people were citing Dark Souls earlier as an example of doing it right through free leveling but Ultima Underworld did that 20 years ago (and better) through it's mantras and absolutely fantastic manual and player's guide that outlined exactly what each class was good (and not good at). System Shock 2 did something similar as well.
Revenge of the software renderer
Revenge of the software renderer
I think Endless Space and Dead Trigger look great. Not everything has to reach mac graphics levels as long as it looks and runs great.
Right, but I mean, that's one of the main things keeping it from being something like Unreal Engine or CryEngine (along with handling a ton of users).
I was just trying to explain why you don't see this engine much outside of the smaller space.
I have to assume THQ gave them more money when the game was delayed. It probably helped them keep some extra people by adding them to the project as well, since THQ wants the game to sell notably more than 2 million units.
It's a very healthy move for Obsidian. I'm just hoping it's early enough to help them keep people beyond the scope of the project if something goes wrong.
O.DOGG
Member
Two to go. For now.
Not surprised they took down the linux strech goal and confirmed to include it with the announcement of unity, good on them. I wonder what they'll have to replace it with.
Though sentiment on the forums is that they should make hiring Justin Sweet a stretch goal to draw the portraits (I kind of agree w/ them). His IWD art was amazing.
Though sentiment on the forums is that they should make hiring Justin Sweet a stretch goal to draw the portraits (I kind of agree w/ them). His IWD art was amazing.
they already said "MOAR CONTENT"
Sentenza
Member
Yeah, I rad that thread just one hour ago. Not a bad idea at all.
There was also this call to arms against cheesy armor design that I joined without any esitation.
Fuck that noise, bring in Ziets and the Mitsodas!
nicholsonnodding.gif
freenudemacusers
Member
Wasn't really following this as there was initially not much going on with mac support. but I see they added it, so I gave them some money ($40)
this is my first kickstarter, btw.
this is my first kickstarter, btw.
Sentenza
Member
I still expect this Kickstarter to end *at least* somewhere above 3 millions.
They're probably too busy with dead state. Besides as good a designer as mitsoda is I doubt his name has as much nerd rep as avellone, sawyer or Tim.
Though I agree Ziets should be in this project.
I wouldn't complain about full 3D
I'm personally hoping they go the route they intended with Jefferson; full 3d with art style in the vein of the infinity engine games.
Did they confirm it was gonna be 2D backgrounds with 3D models for characters or is it that speculation? I wouldn't complain about full 3D
IT's hard to say now with Unity announcement. But Avellone in other review posted Icewind dale background. I think it will be 2D backgrounds with 3D character vide TOEE.
There's zero chance that 2.2M won't be reached. In fact, I would guess that it will hit that mark in the next 10 days. Maybe the next week if Monday's announcement slows down the decrease in daily pledges.
Based on every other Kickstarter before this, I think there is little chance that Project Eternity will fail to hit $3M. It's about on par with Doublefine's Kickstarter after 8 days, and that reached $3.3M.
And Wii U is probably going to be the best choice for retaining what they intended, especially if they're going to get this onto Android/iPad too. Just use the touch screen primarily with a special high resolution view on the TV and maybe the buttons/sticks for optional shortcut functions. You MIGHT be able to do similar with the Move on the PS3 (on that note the Wii Remote would be great for the HDTV in lieu of the Pad), while the 360 would probably just be too much of a mess trying to do similar with the Kinect.
And yeah, I need to see those comments but I think the real problem is always designing with (the perceived?) console audience and console limitations in mind, not doing the inverse (make it fully for PC, then just try to make it work on consoles as best as possible) like, say, the first Deus Ex did relatively well.