Double Fine Reveals Spacebase DF-9

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Double Fine Reveals Spacebase DF-9

Spacebase DF-9 is a space station simulation from the studio behind Psychonauts and Brutal Legend.

Have you heard of Spacebase DF-9? It's news to me, even though blog posts on the website go back quite some time, and apparently to a lot of other people as well; so if you've heard of it, congratulations for being ahead of the curve, and if you haven't, you might want to pay attention.

Spacebase DF-9 is (or will be) a highly-detailed simulation that challenges players to build and manage a space station populated by humans and aliens. It actually came into existence as part of the 2012 Amnesia Fortnight (remember that [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120714-Tim-Schafer-Unveils-the-Amnesia-Fortnight-Humble-Bundle]?) and was initially envisioned by project lead JP LeBreton as a "sci-fi Dwarf Fortress game." After some refinement, the final pitch eventually became one of the top five chosen by fans, and is now being built into a full and proper game.

[gallery=1824]

The game is only in early alpha but it's available now by way of an "early access" offering on the Humble Bundle Store in tiers ranging from $25 to $250, or through Steam Early Access [http://store.steampowered.com/app/246090/] for $24.99. Double Fine has also posted a rather lengthy "dev plan," in which it talks about things that may or may not make it into the game at some point in the future. It's all kind of nebulous right now, but ambitious too, and as the studio wrote, "Because space contains everything, there's an almost infinite number of things we could add to the game!"

Intrigued? You can find out more about Spacebase DF-9 and Double Fine's big plans for intergalactic peace and harmony at spacebasedf9.com [http://www.spacebasedf9.com/].


Permalink
 

Hazzard

New member
Jan 25, 2012
316
0
0
This is the third game they're working on after running out of money on two kickstarters isn't it?
 

Abomination

New member
Dec 17, 2012
2,939
0
0
Er, Double Fine... don't you have two kickstarters already running?

How about you at least finish one of those before starting ANOTHER project? I understand game development involves multiple branches and professions and there is going to be some down time but certainly some of them can be transferred back into an incomplete project to at least refine certain aspects during development?

Because this is just looking stupid.
 

vun

Burrowed Lurker
Apr 10, 2008
302
0
0
I played the prototype of this and thought it'd be nice to have a more polished version, so I'm interested in this for sure.

But yeah, don't know why they're doing this, I thought they had their hands full already.
 

Idlemessiah

Zombie Steve Irwin
Feb 22, 2009
1,050
0
0
This looks pretty cool. Like if FTL was a space station and isometric. I doubt I'll bother with the alpha but I think it'll be a solid piece worth buying when its finished.
 

CriticalMiss

New member
Jan 18, 2013
2,024
0
0
How many more new Double Fine games will be announced before they actually finish one of them? I can't help but think they took some of the Double Fine Adventure kickstarter money and put it in to this project, which is why they somehow ran out of money despite getting eight times what they asked for.

Plus I'd rather have Psychonauts 2 or Costume Quest 2!
 

Angelous Wang

Lord of I Don't Care
Oct 18, 2011
575
0
0
I am interested, but the animations look bad, I hope since this is still alpha they get better.

Evil Genius (2004) looks better than this, as does War for the Overworld which is also in development (beta).
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
0
0
Abomination said:
Er, Double Fine... don't you have two kickstarters already running?

How about you at least finish one of those before starting ANOTHER project? I understand game development involves multiple branches and professions and there is going to be some down time but certainly some of them can be transferred back into an incomplete project to at least refine certain aspects during development?

Because this is just looking stupid.
This isn't a kickstarter, and it's being made by another group within double fine, because they have several groups...

Hazzard said:
This is the third game they're working on after running out of money on two kickstarters isn't it?
They didn't run out of money on their Broken Age kickstarter, they budgeted that they would run out by January if they kept the scope of the game intact, so they're using t heir own saved up money and profits from old games and humble bundles to fund the rest, and releasing the first half as an early access to get a bit more revenue from it. The alternative would be to scrap approximately half of what they planned for the game which they didn't want to do, and they also didnt want to charge extra to release it as a sequel. I don't get why people who clearly haven't backed this project get so pissy about it supposedly running out of money when it hasn't, and acting like Double Fine is begging for more money from their backers or other people, when they aren't...

And their Massive Chalice game is still on pace last I heard (which I haven't heard much about really even though I backed it for a small amount)
 

BrotherRool

New member
Oct 31, 2008
3,834
0
0
Hazzard said:
This is the third game they're working on after running out of money on two kickstarters isn't it?
Rather than making one big game, Double Fine are split into 4ish teams who each make a smaller game financed separately. Its actually a really neat business model because profits from the completed games can help keep the new ones in development, and they can always channel resources into an ongoing project instead of having a bunch of people waiting round until they can hash out a deal with a publisher. Finally, if one game flops the whole company doesn't go bankrupt.

I think they've been doing it since Costume Quest which is how they've managed to 8 games with pretty high production values in a quarter of the time it took them to make Brütal Legend which wasn't so polished.


So the kickstarter projects are being made by different teams than the one that's making this game right now. And as someone pointed out, it's only one of those two kickstarters which had to find extra money
 

Abomination

New member
Dec 17, 2012
2,939
0
0
Sight Unseen said:
Abomination said:
Er, Double Fine... don't you have two kickstarters already running?

How about you at least finish one of those before starting ANOTHER project? I understand game development involves multiple branches and professions and there is going to be some down time but certainly some of them can be transferred back into an incomplete project to at least refine certain aspects during development?

Because this is just looking stupid.
This isn't a kickstarter, and it's being made by another group within double fine, because they have several groups...
Being a kickstarter or not or being one of several groups or not means nothing when those people could be working on the kickstarted projects.

It might seem strange but a kickstarter is really not much different from any other obligation. Just you have more shareholders who actually want you to make a good game not a profitable one.

Spreading the talent over different projects while you are still beholden to CONSUMERS does not sit well with customers.
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
0
0
Abomination said:
Sight Unseen said:
Abomination said:
Er, Double Fine... don't you have two kickstarters already running?

How about you at least finish one of those before starting ANOTHER project? I understand game development involves multiple branches and professions and there is going to be some down time but certainly some of them can be transferred back into an incomplete project to at least refine certain aspects during development?

Because this is just looking stupid.
This isn't a kickstarter, and it's being made by another group within double fine, because they have several groups...
Being a kickstarter or not or being one of several groups or not means nothing when those people could be working on the kickstarted projects.

It might seem strange but a kickstarter is really not much different from any other obligation. Just you have more shareholders who actually want you to make a good game not a profitable one.

Spreading the talent over different projects while you are still beholden to CONSUMERS does not sit well with customers.
Putting more developers on a project with a relatively small budget will make the budget run out much faster and may not improve the quality or the speed at which the game is made. Double fine is a fairly large studio and if they put all of their employees on their kickstarter project, the budget would be blown way before any playable game was made. Keep in mind that the original kickstarted game was slated to be a 4-6 month project for 4-6 employees only. The time frame for the game has grown by a factor of about 4, and the number of employees that they have working on the project has nearly tripled. They are therefore spending about 12 times more than their original plan on this kickstarter project(assuming all employees are paid the same amount). The budget has grown only by a factor of 8, ignoring all funds lost to kickstarter, Amazon payments, backer rewards, and the increase in budget for the documentary (which approximately doubled if I remember right?)

What you are suggesting simply does not make any financial sense. So what do the other devs do to fill their time? they make other games to bring in other sources of revenue. Which is good because if Broken Age fails catastrophically for some reason they won't have all their eggs in one basket. This is smart management IMO.
 

Abomination

New member
Dec 17, 2012
2,939
0
0
Sight Unseen said:
Putting more developers on a project with a relatively small budget will make the budget run out much faster and may not improve the quality or the speed at which the game is made. Double fine is a fairly large studio and if they put all of their employees on their kickstarter project, the budget would be blown way before any playable game was made. Keep in mind that the original kickstarted game was slated to be a 4-6 month project for 4-6 employees only. The time frame for the game has grown by a factor of about 4, and the number of employees that they have working on the project has nearly tripled. They are therefore spending about 12 times more than their original plan on this kickstarter project(assuming all employees are paid the same amount). The budget has grown only by a factor of 8, ignoring all funds lost to kickstarter, Amazon payments, backer rewards, and the increase in budget for the documentary (which approximately doubled if I remember right?)

What you are suggesting simply does not make any financial sense. So what do the other devs do to fill their time? they make other games to bring in other sources of revenue. Which is good because if Broken Age fails catastrophically for some reason they won't have all their eggs in one basket. This is smart management IMO.
It's not my job to manage their budget, it's theirs. If they have taken money from consumers, told them it will be used to produce game X and then put that money into the company account and then use that money on OTHER games there's cause for consumers to take issue with that.

Now, if they can prove they are keeping the funding for these different ventures entirely separate I would have no problem. If they are not keeping them separate then people are paying for something they didn't want.

How games are developed means dick all to people who were told the money they were putting towards game X would be used on game X and then see that money going towards the development of game Y.
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
1,064
0
0
Abomination said:
Sight Unseen said:
Putting more developers on a project with a relatively small budget will make the budget run out much faster and may not improve the quality or the speed at which the game is made. Double fine is a fairly large studio and if they put all of their employees on their kickstarter project, the budget would be blown way before any playable game was made. Keep in mind that the original kickstarted game was slated to be a 4-6 month project for 4-6 employees only. The time frame for the game has grown by a factor of about 4, and the number of employees that they have working on the project has nearly tripled. They are therefore spending about 12 times more than their original plan on this kickstarter project(assuming all employees are paid the same amount). The budget has grown only by a factor of 8, ignoring all funds lost to kickstarter, Amazon payments, backer rewards, and the increase in budget for the documentary (which approximately doubled if I remember right?)

What you are suggesting simply does not make any financial sense. So what do the other devs do to fill their time? they make other games to bring in other sources of revenue. Which is good because if Broken Age fails catastrophically for some reason they won't have all their eggs in one basket. This is smart management IMO.
It's not my job to manage their budget, it's theirs. If they have taken money from consumers, told them it will be used to produce game X and then put that money into the company account and then use that money on OTHER games there's cause for consumers to take issue with that.

Now, if they can prove they are keeping the funding for these different ventures entirely separate I would have no problem. If they are not keeping them separate then people are paying for something they didn't want.

How games are developed means dick all to people who were told the money they were putting towards game X would be used on game X and then see that money going towards the development of game Y.
The kickstarted money is NOT going towards these other projects. It is being spent only on the project for which they earned it. Other projects are being supported by publishers (ie. Their Kinect games) or from their saved up money from other games.

EDIT: In fact, they are actually investing a LOT of their own hard earned money from other titles like Brutal Legend PC and their humble bundle profits into the development budget of Broken Age. So instead of a 3.3 million dollar game; in which only 2.2 million was actually theirs to keep once they account for rewards, documentary, kickstarter fees, amazon fees and lost payments; we'll actually be getting a game which Tim Schafer says will cost about the same as Grim Fandango accounting for inflation, which is around 6-8 million. Those extra 4-6 million dollars are coming from a) Double Fine's own pocket, and b) from any extra revenue they generate by putting the first half up for early access this coming January. And before you complain about that, all backers get access to both halves for free, and if you buy the early access, the second half will be given as a free update so you only have to pay once. Not a single cent of the MASSIVE CHALICE kickstarter is being sifted into this game, nor is any money raised from this game being sifted anywhere else. Double Fine has been extremely transparent to its backers about what's going on behind the scenes.

This is a win-win situation for backers. Not only are we getting a game which is massively better, more expansive, and more polished than the original 400k pitch would have been, we're also going to get a game which is worth well more than us backers backed it for AND we get access to half of it several months early instead of having to wait until the whole game is finished. Double Fine's reputation is at stake with this game, you'd better believe that they aim to WOW us with it when it comes out, and it will come out, because like I said, their reputation is at stake here.
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

Warning! Contains bananas!
Jun 21, 2009
4,789
1
0
Spacebase DF-9?

Had they just wrapped up a Deep Space Nine marathon when they named this game or is it really just coincidence?
 

octafish

New member
Apr 23, 2010
5,137
0
0
Chimpzy said:
Spacebase DF-9?

Had they just wrapped up a Deep Space Nine marathon when they named this game or is it really just coincidence?
No coincidence, but what I want to know is does the DF stand for Double Fine or Dwarf Fortress, or both?
Basically they had me at Dwarf Fortress in space. My only concern is if this is DF in space does that mean it will never be finished?
 

Tyranicus

New member
Feb 8, 2008
313
0
0
This is most def on my get list. Imma probably gonna watch for 2-3 weeks and see how many updates come thru. Doesn't matter if the updates are big or small. I judge the games if devs are updated regularly, which means they really want this project to work.
 

AzrealMaximillion

New member
Jan 20, 2010
3,216
0
0
Sight Unseen said:
Abomination said:
Sight Unseen said:
Abomination said:
Er, Double Fine... don't you have two kickstarters already running?

How about you at least finish one of those before starting ANOTHER project? I understand game development involves multiple branches and professions and there is going to be some down time but certainly some of them can be transferred back into an incomplete project to at least refine certain aspects during development?

Because this is just looking stupid.
This isn't a kickstarter, and it's being made by another group within double fine, because they have several groups...
Being a kickstarter or not or being one of several groups or not means nothing when those people could be working on the kickstarted projects.

It might seem strange but a kickstarter is really not much different from any other obligation. Just you have more shareholders who actually want you to make a good game not a profitable one.

Spreading the talent over different projects while you are still beholden to CONSUMERS does not sit well with customers.
Putting more developers on a project with a relatively small budget will make the budget run out much faster and may not improve the quality or the speed at which the game is made. Double fine is a fairly large studio and if they put all of their employees on their kickstarter project, the budget would be blown way before any playable game was made. Keep in mind that the original kickstarted game was slated to be a 4-6 month project for 4-6 employees only. The time frame for the game has grown by a factor of about 4, and the number of employees that they have working on the project has nearly tripled. They are therefore spending about 12 times more than their original plan on this kickstarter project(assuming all employees are paid the same amount). The budget has grown only by a factor of 8, ignoring all funds lost to kickstarter, Amazon payments, backer rewards, and the increase in budget for the documentary (which approximately doubled if I remember right?)

What you are suggesting simply does not make any financial sense. So what do the other devs do to fill their time? they make other games to bring in other sources of revenue. Which is good because if Broken Age fails catastrophically for some reason they won't have all their eggs in one basket. This is smart management IMO.
I get your point, but they could have used the money they put into this game on the games they kickstarted.

Here's the problem with Double Fine, they make good games with a great sense of humour, but money management has been a major issue for them since before the Kickstarters. You could argue that they started the current trend of seeing games get crowdsourced. You could also argue that they are the worst at doing so effectively. Broken Age ran out of the 3.3 million Kickstarter money back in July. I think that people are correct in insisting that Double Fine should finish either one of the games they Kickstarted before releasing any others.

And the problem with them not utilizing their staff to the fullest extent is another issues that has people worrying about the organization skills at Double Fine. Splitting the staff into four different dev groups seems detrimental to the company. You say that if the full team were on the game the budget would run out faster. I disagree. I think they could have done without trying to make versions of the game for iOS, Android and such. They added those platforms afterwards, along with the Documentary, trips to meet the Double Fine and any other out of game "rewards" that cost Double Fine money to hand out. They started off only wanting $400,000 with a release date of October 2013 and wound up getting, and apparently spending $3.3 million with a wishy washy 302015 release time.

I don't even think they should have started on Massive Chalice's Kickstarter until Broken Age was at least in a buyable beta state. Spending over $3.3 million in just over a year and not having the funds to shoulder continuing developement of the game is a problem. It seems like they overspent as Tim Schafer said they'd need to drop 75% of the game so far to make the game profitable.

The Documentary show's they they are genuinely working hard on the game, but there comes a point when the management of funds and staff has to be looked upon as sub-par and that seems to be the case here.