Torment Breaks Kickstarter Record

[spartandude]

Wizards of the Coast are probably eating hats now. a lot of hats..

here take my + 1 helmet of regretting to not invest

 

[dakkster]

I backed this, so now my Kickstarter list is the following:

Double Fine Adventure (announced as Broken Age)
Wasteland 2
Shadowrun Returns
Project Eternity
Torment: Tides of Numenera

As well as a documentary about the #Occupy movement and the table top game Story War...

We get progress updates about the games and I have never felt more involved in a game's development. Not involved as in I'm contributed but as in I'm keeping tabs on the project. I'm incredibly excited about all of these games, more so than I am about AAA titles like The Witcher 3 or Bioshock Infinite. It's like these genres are coming to life again and I didn't even realize how much I missed them. I love it!

 

[Major_Tom]

A great "fuck you" to all publishers who would turn this down because "people only want dumb shooters, herp derp".

 

[IanDavis]

Oops, I also forgot about the new Ultima game as well. Everything old is new again.

 

[mattaui]

Kudos to them. I thought about chipping in, but I'll just pick it up on release. I'm also not the biggest fan of some of the people involved (mostly the writers), but writers don't make or break a game. Otherwise Syndicate would've been a tour de force because Richard K. Morgan was involved.

That's the great thing about KS - you actually don't have to back a project! I see folks complaining about KS like somehow money was siphoned from their pockets without their consent.

If you're mad that a person or a company got more money than 'they deserve' from a KS, or some such nonsense, let me introduce you to the rest of the commercial world where people buy and sell products you don't have any interest in, and may even actively hate, all the time.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Why is writing by Monte Cook a good thing? I count that as a negative, not a positive.

 

[Formica Archonis]

As a frequent Kickstarter contributor and browser, I am shocked and amazed that I hadn't seen this until now. Massive fail on my part, I would have contributed to this in a heart beat.

They might still be accepting donations through Paypal [https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/store]. Seems like it, has all the tiers and whatnot.

 

[xorinite]

You know. I don't remember who it was, but someone on this forum stated that if they added Chris Avellone to the team it would break four million easily. That person was clearly bang on with their prediction. Well done if it was you.

Additionally I found the way that they set stretch goals specifically regarding the hiring of new individuals to be very clever.

I am finding watching kickstarter projects to be more exciting that watching the latest release dates from the traditionally funded developers.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Great. Record set. Now go give Divinity: Original Sin some love at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin/ because "NPC Schedules, Day/Night Cycles, Weather Systems" would be awesome if it hits the $1M stretch goal.

Already done. I am a little sad how little backing it is getting.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

As a frequent Kickstarter contributor and browser, I am shocked and amazed that I hadn't seen this until now. Massive fail on my part, I would have contributed to this in a heart beat.

They might still be accepting donations through Paypal [https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/store]. Seems like it, has all the tiers and whatnot.

They are. They are going to count all the donations through paypal until the end of April towards their unmet stretch goal of 4.5 million. So anyone who hasn't contributed and wants to, should go nuts.

 

[Goofguy]

As a frequent Kickstarter contributor and browser, I am shocked and amazed that I hadn't seen this until now. Massive fail on my part, I would have contributed to this in a heart beat.

They might still be accepting donations through Paypal [https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/store]. Seems like it, has all the tiers and whatnot.

Thank you very much for this. I probably should have checked their site before giving up entirely. I will be pledging in the next few minutes, cheers.

 

[IanDavis]

Glad these guys did well..
But it still pisses me off that they are just making more of the same.. sure maybe CRPGS have been dead for a while, but still it's technically only a *genre reanimation*

Does it always piss you off when people make games in genres that alreeady exist?

Well isn't that a silly question?
Of course not, after all, nothing is really original, we all know that. But also there is a lot of complaining for the lack of variety in mainstream games... are we going to start having lack ov variety in indie titles as well?
The thing is that you have to agree that there is little being "kickstarted" or indie in inXile's efforts. The whole concept of kickstarter is to fund ideas that wouldn't succeed in any other way, not "celebrities". You could probably pitch Torment to a middle range publisher that wouldn't be as ridiculously ignorant as they portray it and the game could do fine.

So many people have only signed up to kickstarter to back this "Fame / Nostalgia" projects that it seems to defy the purpose (like dakkster up there)... and I get it.. I'm not saying this projects should not be funded.. but I think it is changing the focus of the platform itself.. and that's a shame.

I repeat, I'm -Not saying that they should not be funded-, but maybe there should be a different space for them, since many other excellent projects with fantastic ideas but not as much "fame" get eclipsed, ignored, go under the radar and die. I've seen it happen way too much.. and so the smaller fish that was supposed to be the whole point of kickstarter, the ones that really NEED the investment, get screwed.

 

[AxelxGabriel]

Not saying that they should not be funded, but it's a shame that other excellent projects with fantastic ideas but not as much "fame" go under the radar and die. I've seen it happen way too much.. and so the smaller fish that was supposed to be the whole point of kickstarter, the ones that really NEED the investment, get screwed.

This whole team are getting together to make the game THEY want to make. Not come corperate write up that they have to do. Notto mention they're willing to take the time to flesh it out and make the best possible product they could give us.

When you get right down to it. Torment Tides of Numenera IS a fantastic idea and deserves every cent it got in the campaign.

 

[IanDavis]

Not saying that they should not be funded, but it's a shame that other excellent projects with fantastic ideas but not as much "fame" go under the radar and die. I've seen it happen way too much.. and so the smaller fish that was supposed to be the whole point of kickstarter, the ones that really NEED the investment, get screwed.

This whole team are getting together to make the game THEY want to make. Not come corperate write up that they have to do. Notto mention they're willing to take the time to flesh it out and make the best possible product they could give us.

When you get right down to it. Torment Tides of Numenera IS a fantastic idea and deserves every cent it got in the campaign.

Again.. I never said it shouldn't be funded but it becomes evident that they are not using the space as a kickstarter platform. They are not a small, starting developer with a great idea that no publishers will risk supporting, that needs a kick-start.
For example, if some studio pitched Baldur's Gate 3 (I know, no way to do it, story ended), lets face it.. just the idea of it would make 4million... is it a risky awesome idea? is it an indie endeavour? NO!
Sure Bethesda, obsidian, and developers everywhere would fight like cats and dogs over the rights... but thats the exact point... it is sure business, lets not delude ourselves into thinking that they'd NEED the kickstarter spotlight to make it happen.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

You could probably pitch Torment to a middle range publisher that wouldn't be as ridiculously ignorant as they portray it and the game could do fine.

Strange assumptions going on here; both that that is possible, and that they didn't already try it. Hell, Fargo talks about spending five years trying to get funding for Wasteland. Shame he never had a helpful forum poster to say something like, "Hey, I'm sure a different publisher will be better!"

Not saying that they should not be funded, but it's a shame that other excellent projects with fantastic ideas but not as much "fame" go under the radar and die. I've seen it happen way too much.. and so the smaller fish that was supposed to be the whole point of kickstarter, the ones that really NEED the investment, get screwed.

Overshadowing can happen, especially for similar projects, but what you're talking about is generally the opposite of what happens. Small projects often see bumps in funding when big-name Kickstarter projects are in the news.

Oh, no! People like it when their investments go to reputable people instead of someone with "an idea"! That's what it comes down to, really. It's not about "fame" or "celebrity", it's about trust.

 

[AxelxGabriel]

Not saying that they should not be funded, but it's a shame that other excellent projects with fantastic ideas but not as much "fame" go under the radar and die. I've seen it happen way too much.. and so the smaller fish that was supposed to be the whole point of kickstarter, the ones that really NEED the investment, get screwed.

This whole team are getting together to make the game THEY want to make. Not come corperate write up that they have to do. Notto mention they're willing to take the time to flesh it out and make the best possible product they could give us.

When you get right down to it. Torment Tides of Numenera IS a fantastic idea and deserves every cent it got in the campaign.

Again.. I never said it shouldn't be funded but it becomes evident that they are not using the space as a kickstarter platform. They are not a small, starting developer with a great idea that no publishers will risk supporting, that needs a kick-start.
For example, if some studio pitched Baldur's Gate 3 (I know, no way to do it, story ended), lets face it.. just the idea of it would make 4million... is it a risky awesome idea? is it an indie endeavour? NO!
Sure Bethesda, obsidian, and developers everywhere would fight like cats and dogs over the rights... but thats the exact point... it is sure business, lets not delude ourselves into thinking that they'd NEED the kickstarter spotlight to make it happen.

Just because someone has an idea, doesn't mean it'll automatically be good. The thing is, most kickstarter ideas are put forth by people we know NOTHING about, so it relies on blind faith on weather or not it'd be any good. It doesn't matter how good an idea is, there's always the big chance it'll crash and burn if it sucks. And whos fault will that be?

Whereas these guys have YEARS of experience and they know what they are doing when it comes to the product idea. Because we've SEEN what they can do with it. But they can't take it to a publisher because it's something purely niche and not many people might likeit. They said it themselves, they are NOT making this game with trying to attract the market at large. They're specifically targeting people who enjoy this kind of game.

it's not their fault that a LOT of people like this kind of game.

 

[weirdee]

First off, I'd like to see the list of projects that didn't make it that seemed worthy at the time. I mean, even the throwing trucks with your mind project succeeded, and its buy-in was pretty high.

 

[IanDavis]

You could probably pitch Torment to a middle range publisher that wouldn't be as ridiculously ignorant as they portray it and the game could do fine.

Strange assumptions going on here; both that that is possible, and that they didn't already try it. Hell, Fargo talks about spending five years trying to get funding for Wasteland. Shame he never had a helpful forum poster to say something like, "Hey, I'm sure a different publisher will be better!"

Not saying that they should not be funded, but it's a shame that other excellent projects with fantastic ideas but not as much "fame" go under the radar and die. I've seen it happen way too much.. and so the smaller fish that was supposed to be the whole point of kickstarter, the ones that really NEED the investment, get screwed.

Overshadowing can happen, especially for similar projects, but what you're talking about is generally the opposite of what happens. Small projects often see bumps in funding when big-name Kickstarter projects are in the news.

Oh, no! People like it when their investments go to reputable people instead of someone with "an idea"! That's what it comes down to, really. It's not about "fame" or "celebrity", it's about trust.

Exactly.. but the point of kickstarter is funding projects that the audience doesn't know and -can't- have any reason to trust other than the presentation of the project. If they are reliable and have a perfect track record, then they can probably get funded anyway. Just the media output and connections these companies have makes it a superbly uneven playing field... enter famestarter.
We all trust that say... blizzard can make a great game, but I'd find it a bit rich of them to make a kickstarter project for their new RTS, because noone wants to fund RTSs nowadays...

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I would *love* to be in the next WotC board meeting where some heads are bound to be rolling. They seriously botched this and missed out on the bigest Kickstarter title to date. All the publicity they missed (not to mention the bad publicity for their refusal), the attention and potential customers for their products, the license fees...LOL. Fu****g morons.

I wonder if any big publishers are paying any attention to this stuff. Any idiot can see there's clearly still a market for deep, PC RPGs, but they insist only on bland shooters.

 

[neppakyo]

A.. planescape game? First i have heard, and I can't wait.

We need more CRPG's.