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The Banner Saga Kickstarter project by Stoic [Ended, 723K funded]

bengraven

bengraven

Member
Have I mentioned that I totally funded this?

I totally funded this.

This was my second Kickstarter after the Double Fine one. I'm still considering Wasteland, but I had a kneejerk moment with this game. SRPG with vikings...come on...

Zefah said:
The Longships is an amazing book.
Click to expand...

You're killing me. Why the fuck can't it be in sooner?
 
I

Ignis Fatuus

Banned
At this rate I think it'll hit 500k in the end. Hopefully that'll be enough to give them a big boost. The things they're adding all sound great; animated cutscenes, better soundtrack, professional audio.
 
1

19Kilo

Member
zoner said:
Between this, FTL, and and Double Fine, Kickstarter is giving me lots of PC games this year.
Click to expand...

Same for me. Along with FTL and DFA, I also couldn't resist Wasteland 2, Aura Tactics, and Gunship: First Strike.

The Banner Saga is the one I'm most excited about though.
 
N

NichM

Banned
I did! As far as I'm concerned, I owe him at least half my donation for the enjoyment those two things provided.
 
I

Ignis Fatuus

Banned
They're up to 350,000 and posted a new update that sounds great:

Update #5: The Banner Saga progress report for week 2
Posted 2 minutes ago

Hello supporters and backers! It's hard to believe it's only been two weeks since we launched the project and beside the weekly progress reports we've just cracked an unbelievable milestone at 350%! We'll be sending these updates out regularly to make sure you know what we're up to.

Without any further ado, here's the progress report for 2.12.12:

Our top priority is to build on the work we've completed for the prototype. Basically this means hooking up everything that requires extra functionality; the combat interface, progression through each part of the game including character upgrades, building a party, hiring new units, the multiplayer narrative, the combat board itself and so on. It's a lot of foundation work you never really thinking about when you're playing a game.

We've started working on our final designs for characters in combat and their variations, color schemes and upgrades. This work includes sketches and designs that will all end up in the art book! We'll probably pop up an image or two next week to let you see what we've been up to.

We've spent a good portion of our time this week upping the resolution of our existing art to work on the Apple Retina displays for the new iPad, which is a much better step to take sooner than later. I suppose this is a pretty strong indication that we intend to port the game to iOS as soon as we can fit it into a schedule! That said, we won't let this take priority over finishing the game we set out to make on PC and Mac.

We're currently up to our necks in offers to help with the music and have some great leads! We're making a concentrated effort to sort through all the amazing submissions this week and find our best fit for the project. Just like sound, we would have had to scale back the scope of what we could do with our limited manpower. We now have to option to get a dedicated music house to do more than we could have achieved alone at the highest possible quality.

We've begun an honest-to-goodness production schedule with an animation studio who will help us complete all the frame-by-frame animations for combat and a handful of cutscenes that had previously been left on the cutting room floor.

We've also gotten some good leads on great professional help for quality assurance. Boring, you say? It's the most exciting thing we can think of!

That wraps things up for the work in progress this week. We are, once again, floored by the donations that continue to roll in, and will be getting back to the grindstone to make it all happen.

Thanks!
Alex, Arnie and John
Click to expand...
They're doing everything right here as far as I'm concerned. I hope they reach at least 500k by the end.
 
M

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Of course this looks good, but I'm skeptical about the gameplay. I really feel like I'd have to wait and hear how that's shaping up before I can support. Even if it a middling game with groundbreaking art though, at least it's got that going for it...
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
mattiewheels said:
Of course this looks good, but I'm skeptical about the gameplay. I really feel like I'd have to wait and hear how that's shaping up before I can support. Even if it a middling game with groundbreaking art though, at least it's got that going for it...
Click to expand...

That's what I'm most unsure about as well... the depth of the system underneath the great artwork. I'm not aware of any previews which give more insight on it either, unfortunately. It may be smarter to just leave it a little vague until it's funded, in case what they have in mind isn't what the backers are hoping for. A few more details that could be interpreted in a way to make everyone happy wouldn't hurt though, beyond "strong emphasis on tactics over brute force and endless grinding," and "Your choices in dialogue and throughout the game truly affect the story and the people around you."
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
epmode said:
Yeah, SRPGs are so easy to fuck up. But I backed it anyway just because it's so lovely.
Click to expand...
Actually I think that as far as you have some clear idea of where you want to lead the project, they are way harder to fuck up than action games.

A Strategic/Tactical RPG just needs some pretty art and a solid, well thought combat system.
A good action RPG/platform/combat game requires all the things listed above plus a decent collision system, tight controls, quick and responsive animations and so on...
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
subversus said:
it may be really hard to balance it.
Click to expand...
Well, but that's true for any game, it's not like a *good* game in any other genre doesn't need balance.
And in the somehow "tamed" environment of a static turn based battle is theoretically way simpler to manage and balance all the variables.

Anyway, we can agree about the fact that a bad balance can ruin a strategic/tactical game more deeply than... let's say a platform.
 
H

Hauk

Neo Member
Hnnnngh I don't really love tactical gameplay, but hell yea do I love Vikings and the look of this beautiful game of a bitch. Just don't know if I should really buy/back this, because the gameplay leaves me so unsure...
 
V

Victrix

*beard*
epmode said:
Yeah, SRPGs are so easy to fuck up. But I backed it anyway just because it's so lovely.
Click to expand...

I didn't, I'll be buying it on release if the core gameplay is good - I'm too love/hate with srpgs to back it, even though I like these guys, the concept, and the setting.
 
kyubajin

kyubajin

Member
I contacted Stoic about a possible localisation opportunity and they said they'll send out a call for assistance in translating in the coming months :)
 
C

cybercircuit1

Member
Awesome new update:

We've just announced a veritable avalanche of new collaborators. Austin Wintory (composer of Journey) for music, Kpow Audio (sound team on LA Noire), Powerhouse Animation (Epic Mickey, DC Universe, and others) for animation. MADNESS. Check out Update #6!
Click to expand...

Also coming to iPad and Linux!
 
I

Ignis Fatuus

Banned
That's such a huge update that I'm tempted to say it deserves a new thread or at least a title change. I mean the title right now doesn't even mention it's a Kickstarter project.
 
bloodydrake

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
almost missed the boat on this one and it looks amazing!
Thrilled to support this..LOVE the art style So much!
 
Alexios

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Ignis Fatuus said:
That's such a huge update that I'm tempted to say it deserves a new thread or at least a title change. I mean the title right now doesn't even mention it's a Kickstarter project.
Click to expand...
Because it wasn't, when I posted it, and when it became so, someone didn't follow "new thread for new news" :p
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Alextended said:
Because it wasn't, when I posted it, and when it became so, someone didn't follow "new thread for new news" :p
Click to expand...

There are of course exceptions... the original thread (this one), didn't even hit 10 posts it looks like, before it died and was bumped, and it didn't hit 30 posts in the span of creation to the kickstarter launching. We don't need to (but of course still can) make new threads for every bit of news that comes out for less popular games, that tends to be counter-productive. :)
 
E

EXGN

Member
Wow, Austin Wintory? Might just have to make this my first kickstarter project. Torn between $25 and $50.
 
S

SparkTR

Member
Just saw that new video update and upped my pledge to $25. I'm more confident in this than Wasteland 2 or Shadownrun Returns, hopefully it gets some massive final week support.
 
E

ElectricThunder

Member
I find it interesting/curious that for the last spurts of this Kickstarter, for a game, they were super-centric to musical aspects. Not that it is a bad thing mind, just a rather different direction than most of the gaming Kickstarters that have blown up nicely on funding---nice to see that this can also work as a wild post-target tangent beyond just "more levels/weapons/etc"
 
I

Ignis Fatuus

Banned
The new news hasn't quite blown up as big as I hoped it would, but according to my math they have about $12,000 now towards the orchestrated soundtrack, all from the two lower tiers. I think they've erred by not setting a concrete numerical goal for that, I wish we knew how much it would cost.
 
P

Pachterballs

Banned
didn't need another thread: re: austin wintory but I read that on twitter from austin and my immediate reaction was that I thought it was very cool. backed.

:)
 
R

RaySpencer

Member
It makes me sad that this thread has 1/3rd the activity that the Republique one has. More people need to see this game! It looks amazing. I put in my 50 bucks to get all 3 chapters of the game already, but I will probably end up rebuying it on my iPad and more than likely playing it there instead, but no way would I have spent $50 on an iPad game.


The upside for this game is that it is well beyond funded, and Republique doesnt look like it will make it there.
 
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