This bot reports how much the project's fund has raised hourly. It gets around 3k every hour at the current rate... https://twitter.com/#!/TimJustRaised
This bot reports how much the project's fund has raised hourly. It gets around 3k every hour at the current rate... https://twitter.com/#!/TimJustRaised
As much as I love how this whole fundraiser is going, that twitter feed is kind of obnoxious...
I didn't like it. I'm coming from the SID, which was a properly designed soundchip for its time. The MT-32 provided quality but it had no soul.
I just don't believe you've heard what the MT-32 can really do. I mean, ok...I can understand you preferring something else to it, in fact I have a soft spot for Adlib as well since I grew up with it and nothing will ever really replace that. But to say it has NO soul? That's the furthest thing from the truth. A lot of games never utilized it properly, granted. But Sierra and LucasArts certainly did a remarkable job. Sierra more so as their game soundtracks (the early ones anyway) had custom programmed instrument patches in sysex data while LucasArts merely used the default bank (which is lacking in a few areas. Namely strings and piano).
I mean have you heard KQ4? Or KQ5? Or SQ4? Or PQ3? Conquests of Camelot? Longbow?
I'm actually a bit disappointed it's going to be 2d when 3d worked so well for Psychonauts and Stacking. Can you imagine Milkman Conspiracy looking and feeling as great in 2d? Would Stacking really have looked better that way? Few developers have that kind of creative 3d art design, but Double Fine surely does.
I'm fine with 2D, as i would have been with 2.5D, 3D and ABCD.
I never heard the card really doing fine in a game i was interested in, neither did i use it as a synth. Actually my first synth was an Ensoniq which i had for many years and later on replaced, with a Minimoog shortly in between, with a Nord Lead 3 which features a warm living not always this clear sound with a soul.
Bob Yannes did such a great job not only on the SID. Contrary to the successor 8580 the early 6581 were like guitars as they all sounded different and so fab dirty. Whilst the Amiga's Paula enabled so much more it also was kind of restricting and it really were soundchips for the PC many years later on which finally started to sound less limited.
And whilst the MT-32 might sounds more spectacular in the beginning, it's the AdLib which begins to sing when the pirates meet. Ah, don't try to draw me into such subjects, if i had the time to, i could go on and on...
Didn't find any of the actual devs stating something about a DRM-free version though. Instead, lots of idiots thinking they can dictate what this game looks like because they funded 0.0000088% of it. Well, at least it's going to be an interesting year.
Yes, there isn't a official statement yet but a lot of people were asking for a DRM free version also in a polite way before, including me, and it would make sense. Let's hope for the best.
*interest reawakens*
lots of idiots thinking they can dictate what this game looks like because they funded 0.0000088% of it. Well, at least it's going to be an interesting year.
Hey, I contributed 0.007% and I just want Tim to do his thing. A little input to the fans would be appreciated, but you definitely don't want these people creating your game. Things like a poll "here's two character designs, which do you prefer?" or stuff like that. Story and such, we should leave to him and his team.
If my math is correct, nearly 90% of the backers are at the $15 or $30 level, accounting for at least $916,110 of the funding, about 52%. Even without the huge buy-ins, or even the $100 level stuff, this game still has enough to have met the original goal twice over.
The current numbers are slightly higher, which probably makes your numbers correct for the moment you took the sample. I would expect the amount and percentage of lower donors over higher donors to increase as time goes on. The substantial donors made their mark on day 1. I did not do the math on day 1, but the breakdown was probably fairly interesting.
Well, my clarity peaks around 2am and it's around 3pm here. I'd say we're about even :P deleted my math. I don't like throwing numbers around regarding money. I'm sure others could make me feel as it would make others feel. I'm a believer in doing what you can, no matter what that amounts to. Tim made what he needed and I'm sure he appreciates the folks who believe in him and could only donate $15 just as much as the person who donated $10K.
The original goal has in fact been quadrupled about $100k ago.
What I meant was that just the money from people paying $15 or $30 would be more than enough to meet the original goal twice over. While that does mean there are a lot of adventure gamers out there with money to spend who contributed the other (nearly) half of the money; I'm still impressed at how many people want the game so much they're willing to pay for it sight-unseen, with no other incentive than the final product.
I'd be interested to know what Telltale's season budgets are. I would guess they are probably in the $2 million range as well, but it's hard to say since their staff all work on multiple projects and they have these rotating sub-teams and all. Would someone at Telltale be willing to pull back the curtain on the budget on any of their seasons?
The initial proposed $300,000 budget was ridiculously small, but Tim thought that was the most they could really get (and frankly, it was like more than quadruple what any video/computer game had ever gotten on Kickstarter). I really don't know how they would have made much of a game for that budget, it probably would have been pretty disappointing to those hoping for a new Day of the Tentacle.
At 2 million (which seems like a conservative guess at this point, 2.5 wouldn't surprise me), it's a more interesting proposal. For that money, you can probably put 15 people on it for the better part of a year and make something pretty competitive with other modern adventures in terms of production value. That's a much more exciting prospect.
I'm a little worried about them keeping it 2D, not because I don't love 2D or even because I wouldn't prefer it, but because I wonder how well Double Fine is really outfitted for it. Companies like Daedelic have a team of like 15 animators on their games, Double Fine doesn't really have a need for 2D animators.
One thing i was thinking about is why is there such a distance between Tim/Double Fine & Gilbert and TTG? Some years ago it would have been so obvious that Gilbert also works together with TTG. And then Tim wants to do an point&click adventure and there is a company like TTG which, well, at least they did some adventure games before.
So is it about different ideas? Is this a ego thing? Can they have some fun together with each for some hours but things heat up whilst working together? Had TTG no money to fund a sum like 300k? Do Tim and Ron prefer to be independent and feel to restricted when working with TTG? Didn't they want to do it for some other reason? Where the conditions unacceptable for TTG? …
It just seems to be such a obvious question, at least from the distance and without knowing them personally. Nevertheless, just thinking...btw. just read that the production of Monkey Island once costed 135k only.
Ron Gilbert wants to do what Ron Gilbert wants to do. He came to Telltale, because they offered him creative control and a project lead position to develop a game he'd been trying to get off the ground for 25 years. It's not an adventure game, by the way, but it might be adventure-ish.
Ron has stated he doesn't really want to work on a Monkey Island game under a LucasArts license, because he doesn't want to have to do it on anyone's terms but his. Lucas is willing to license their properties, but not sell them outright, and licenses come with strings attached.
I'm a little worried about them keeping it 2D, not because I don't love 2D or even because I wouldn't prefer it, but because I wonder how well Double Fine is really outfitted for it. Companies like Daedelic have a team of like 15 animators on their games, Double Fine doesn't really have a need for 2D animators.
I haven't played Deponia yet as I don't speak German, but to me Daedelic is pretty overrated. Whispered World was very pretty, but little else (it probably wasn't helped by the poor localization). I'd much rather DF concentrate on creating a game as charming as DotT or Grim Fandango than on having disney-quality animation.
@Ribs
Doesn't Double Fine has to pay taxes on the rest, no idea about the local rates there, because funds from kickstarter count as an income?
If the money goes to the game's development as he claimed, there are no taxes, that's business expenses. All of that's a write-off, it's only taxable once it becomes income/profit.
I haven't played Deponia yet as I don't speak German, but to me Daedelic is pretty overrated. Whispered World was very pretty, but little else (it probably wasn't helped by the poor localization). I'd much rather DF concentrate on creating a game as charming as DotT or Grim Fandango than on having disney-quality animation.
100% with you. I'm just talking production values. There is little dispute that Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert are better comedy writers than anyone working in the adventure genre right now.
I would be interested in such stats as well. Not to many years ago, i guess a typical full price german adventure might have ranged in a 500k to 1.xm € region. Hard to say as it really depends on many details: Is the technology in place already and is the team experienced? This kind of broke AVST the neck. How complex is the game and how expensive are the different types of assets, like possible but mostly superfluous render sequences, detailed gfx, quality sfx, translations (talkie) and who's in charge (developer or publisher), rts elements? And so on...
Tim is experienced, so is Double Fine. I wonder what they'll choose as their technology. Will they setup something new in a short timeframe on their own? Utalise some middleware or alter their existing engine? If the technology isn't in place already they've quite something to do within the next months. I wonder in which way old sources are an option as well like maybe an altered/enhanced version of iMuse. Such things...
@Frogacuda
I still don't understand why he didn't make his game which wasn't related to Monkey Island then.
Most german adventures aren't great. They never fully dissapoint you but they also never get you excited as well. I'm allowed to say so as i'm german. There are a number of reasons why this is the case.
They take an income off of it. They aren't going to work for 6 months for free. He said somewhere how much but I don't see it now But yes, the developers and himself get paid for their time.
They take an income off of it. They aren't going to work for 6 months for free.
Salaries are not income for the company. Yes, the individual employees will pay taxes on their annual income like they always do, and the company will have payroll taxes like always, but I really don't think that is what he was stabbing at.
They won't have to pay any more taxes on it then they were already paying employing those people. It doesn't matter if the money for that comes from Kickstarter or from EA, it's a write-off if they spend it making the game.
I would be interested in such stats as well. Not to many years ago, i guess a typical full price german adventure might have ranged in a 500k to 1m € region. Hard to say as it really depends on many details: Is the technology in place already and is the team experienced? This kind of broke AVST the neck. How complex is the game and how expensive are the different types of assets, like possible but mostly superfluous render sequences, detailed gfx, quality sfx, translations (talkie), rts elements? And so on...
This is dead on, and it's not just experience, it's location (and local competition for talent, etc). For example, The Witcher 2 was developed in Poland, and it cost about $10 million, and it has lavish production values that probably would have cost $40 million if it were developed in the US.
But Double Fine is nestled in Silicon Valley, where there's not only some of the highest living expenses in the country and the densest concentration of devs in country, so you have to pay your workers well or lose them to another company. On the one hand, you get the best talent pool in the world, but it costs you.
This is why there are basically no game devs in New York City, by the way. Wages and rent are super high, but since there was never much established talent pool, there aren't the experienced workers to make up for it, so there's just no way to make it pay off.
I still don't understand why he didn't make his game which wasn't related to Monkey Island then.
He's working on it now, at Double Fine, it just hasn't been officially announced yet.
Salaries are not income for the company. Yes, the individual employees will pay taxes on their annual income like they always do, and the company will have payroll taxes like always, but I really don't think that is what he was stabbing at.
They won't have to pay any more taxes on it then they were already paying employing those people. It doesn't matter if the money for that comes from Kickstarter or from EA, it's a write-off if they spend it making the game.
Okay, I think I got you now. The company would get the whole thing...but it would be taxed as income. It would be the same as their residuals from retail sales though, everyone's pay would stay the same. For the company, this is just getting their money back up front. Creating their budget from a virtual income. So no, it would be no different tax-wise than just working into retail from an investment. Just a lump sum up front.
@Frogacuda
I still don't understand why he didn't make his game which wasn't related to Monkey Island then.
Most german adventures aren't great. They never fully dissapoint you but they also never get you excited as well. I'm allowed to say so as i'm german. There are a number of reasons why this is the case.
I'm not totally clear on what you're talking about here, but Ron Gilbert is already working on his non-Monkey Island related game at Double Fine. It seems like he'll probably contribute to the Kickstarter project, but they are two separate things. Anyway, there's no way he'll ever get to make a proper MI sequel, as Lucasarts does not sell IP. This also precludes sequels to DotT, Full Throttle, GF, etc.
And I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been disappointed in all the adventure games that have come out of Germany recently. Though I will say that The Book of Unwritten Tales was pretty good.
Comments
And that's relevent.... How?
https://twitter.com/#!/TimJustRaised
As much as I love how this whole fundraiser is going, that twitter feed is kind of obnoxious...
I just don't believe you've heard what the MT-32 can really do. I mean, ok...I can understand you preferring something else to it, in fact I have a soft spot for Adlib as well since I grew up with it and nothing will ever really replace that. But to say it has NO soul? That's the furthest thing from the truth. A lot of games never utilized it properly, granted. But Sierra and LucasArts certainly did a remarkable job. Sierra more so as their game soundtracks (the early ones anyway) had custom programmed instrument patches in sysex data while LucasArts merely used the default bank (which is lacking in a few areas. Namely strings and piano).
I mean have you heard KQ4? Or KQ5? Or SQ4? Or PQ3? Conquests of Camelot? Longbow?
I'm flabbergasted.
Oh that's what they meant by "traditional". I knew there had to be another catch.
I'm fine with 2D, as i would have been with 2.5D, 3D and ABCD.
I never heard the card really doing fine in a game i was interested in, neither did i use it as a synth. Actually my first synth was an Ensoniq which i had for many years and later on replaced, with a Minimoog shortly in between, with a Nord Lead 3 which features a warm living not always this clear sound with a soul.
Bob Yannes did such a great job not only on the SID. Contrary to the successor 8580 the early 6581 were like guitars as they all sounded different and so fab dirty. Whilst the Amiga's Paula enabled so much more it also was kind of restricting and it really were soundchips for the PC many years later on which finally started to sound less limited.
6581 6581 6581
Paula Paula Paula
AdLib MT-32
And whilst the MT-32 might sounds more spectacular in the beginning, it's the AdLib which begins to sing when the pirates meet. Ah, don't try to draw me into such subjects, if i had the time to, i could go on and on...
Because I am a bitter old curmudgeon and hate when people try to inspire me.
Didn't find any of the actual devs stating something about a DRM-free version though. Instead, lots of idiots thinking they can dictate what this game looks like because they funded 0.0000088% of it. Well, at least it's going to be an interesting year.
Hey, I contributed 0.007% and I just want Tim to do his thing. A little input to the fans would be appreciated, but you definitely don't want these people creating your game. Things like a poll "here's two character designs, which do you prefer?" or stuff like that. Story and such, we should leave to him and his team.
A_THOUSAND_DOLLARS wow
Oh wait, I miscalculated. You were going for 10,000$ and dine with Tim and Ron!!!
Ahhh forget it, it's too late, I can't calculate anything right now.
0.007% of the current total is about $120. :P
What I meant was that just the money from people paying $15 or $30 would be more than enough to meet the original goal twice over. While that does mean there are a lot of adventure gamers out there with money to spend who contributed the other (nearly) half of the money; I'm still impressed at how many people want the game so much they're willing to pay for it sight-unseen, with no other incentive than the final product.
Well, that's a nice article about the upcoming paradigm shift that Double Fine can take credit for.
The initial proposed $300,000 budget was ridiculously small, but Tim thought that was the most they could really get (and frankly, it was like more than quadruple what any video/computer game had ever gotten on Kickstarter). I really don't know how they would have made much of a game for that budget, it probably would have been pretty disappointing to those hoping for a new Day of the Tentacle.
At 2 million (which seems like a conservative guess at this point, 2.5 wouldn't surprise me), it's a more interesting proposal. For that money, you can probably put 15 people on it for the better part of a year and make something pretty competitive with other modern adventures in terms of production value. That's a much more exciting prospect.
I'm a little worried about them keeping it 2D, not because I don't love 2D or even because I wouldn't prefer it, but because I wonder how well Double Fine is really outfitted for it. Companies like Daedelic have a team of like 15 animators on their games, Double Fine doesn't really have a need for 2D animators.
Ron has stated he doesn't really want to work on a Monkey Island game under a LucasArts license, because he doesn't want to have to do it on anyone's terms but his. Lucas is willing to license their properties, but not sell them outright, and licenses come with strings attached.
I haven't played Deponia yet as I don't speak German, but to me Daedelic is pretty overrated. Whispered World was very pretty, but little else (it probably wasn't helped by the poor localization). I'd much rather DF concentrate on creating a game as charming as DotT or Grim Fandango than on having disney-quality animation.
100% with you. I'm just talking production values. There is little dispute that Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert are better comedy writers than anyone working in the adventure genre right now.
Tim is experienced, so is Double Fine. I wonder what they'll choose as their technology. Will they setup something new in a short timeframe on their own? Utalise some middleware or alter their existing engine? If the technology isn't in place already they've quite something to do within the next months. I wonder in which way old sources are an option as well like maybe an altered/enhanced version of iMuse. Such things...
@Frogacuda
I still don't understand why he didn't make his game which wasn't related to Monkey Island then.
Most german adventures aren't great. They never fully dissapoint you but they also never get you excited as well. I'm allowed to say so as i'm german. There are a number of reasons why this is the case.
They won't have to pay any more taxes on it then they were already paying employing those people. It doesn't matter if the money for that comes from Kickstarter or from EA, it's a write-off if they spend it making the game.
But Double Fine is nestled in Silicon Valley, where there's not only some of the highest living expenses in the country and the densest concentration of devs in country, so you have to pay your workers well or lose them to another company. On the one hand, you get the best talent pool in the world, but it costs you.
This is why there are basically no game devs in New York City, by the way. Wages and rent are super high, but since there was never much established talent pool, there aren't the experienced workers to make up for it, so there's just no way to make it pay off. He's working on it now, at Double Fine, it just hasn't been officially announced yet.
Okay, I think I got you now. The company would get the whole thing...but it would be taxed as income. It would be the same as their residuals from retail sales though, everyone's pay would stay the same. For the company, this is just getting their money back up front. Creating their budget from a virtual income. So no, it would be no different tax-wise than just working into retail from an investment. Just a lump sum up front.
I'm not totally clear on what you're talking about here, but Ron Gilbert is already working on his non-Monkey Island related game at Double Fine. It seems like he'll probably contribute to the Kickstarter project, but they are two separate things. Anyway, there's no way he'll ever get to make a proper MI sequel, as Lucasarts does not sell IP. This also precludes sequels to DotT, Full Throttle, GF, etc.
And I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been disappointed in all the adventure games that have come out of Germany recently. Though I will say that The Book of Unwritten Tales was pretty good.