Wasteland 2 kickstarter

Yeah was tracking it all day at work. I dropped $100 on it, my roommate who is a fanatic has donated $1000. I hope it leads to some more classic RPGs (Bard's Tale please!) getting sequels and that it does well enough for the big companies to notice that there is a market for this stuff..
 
Donated! It's over half-way funded already, good sign I hope to actually go over. The project video was pretty funny, too. I lol'd alot.
 
I played the original Wasteland when I picked up this Interplay's 10 Year Anthology Classic Collection for the PC back when I was in middle school.
31w5-YTFMbL.jpg

I always died really early on in it, but I liked the atmosphere. Maybe I should replay it with a FAQ in hand to actually beat it?
 
At $800,000 now. Almost reached the funding goal of $900,000.

Brian Fargo has tweeted that if they reach $1.5 million, they'll release it both Mac and Linux now:
http://twitter.com/#!/BrianFargo/status/180081678109245441
#Linux users. We've heard your requests, and will include a Linux version (in addition to more content) at $1.5 million in pledges.
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Also, Elizabeth Dansford is now on board:
http://twitter.com/#!/BrianFargo/status/179972651404636160
In other great news we have brought another original #wasteland designer aboard. Liz Danforth. The Highpool map was one of hers.
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Interview with Brian Fargo about this Kickstarter:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/12/post-post-nuclear-roleplaying-brian-fargo-on-wasteland-2/
 
Wow, that's two Kickstarter games that got fully funded well in advance of their deadline.

I predict that this will soon be exploited by companies... bring back some beloved classic, tell people you need a $1 million to make it, get $2 million from seriousness donors, make a shitty game for $200K, pocket $1.8 million. The best part? You can't return your game for a refund unless you paid for a physical copy, and even then, I doubt you could return that.
 
The kickstarter has reached $1.25 million, which means they will be "making the world bigger, adding more maps, more divergent stories and even more music".

Only $250,000 more to reach the target for Mac and Linux versions.
 
http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/107335-wasteland-2-interview.html

New interview with Brian Fargo. I don't think it's possible for me to be any more psyched for this game-it seems he REALLY wants to please the fans and not let us down!

Brian: My tendency with this game is going to be closer to the experiences we all loved during the golden age of RPGs. Part of the reason we have the excitement we do is there is this general feeling that the games have been dumbed down for the masses. Politically correct situations, linear events, being careful no one gets lost etc...it can be kind of lame.
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How do you convince a newer or younger RPG fan who has grown accustomed to the action-focused titles to give Wasteland 2 a shot?

Brian: Well here is the beauty of fan funding... we don't have to convince some younger RPG player of anything. I am making this game for the wonderful fans who put their money behind us and not some nebulous group of new people. Let's make the game they all expect and let the chips fall where they may. There is just no way I'm going to consider anything that could let down the core.
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Upped my pledge to $250. I'm getting a good tax return this year and a signed copy would be cool. I really hope this is a good classic experience and that they do Bard's Tale 4 next ;)
 
Kickstarter Update #4 has been posted. Read the paragraph at the end for Fargo's proposed "Kick it Forward" initiative to fund future Kickstarters from the profits of Wasteland 2.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2/posts/193810
Update #4: We didn't start the fire.
Posted 20 minutes ago
I continue to be overwhelmed by the positive feedback and enthusiasm from the support I have gotten from Kickstarter. The groundswell of people cheering us on and the evangelism - people spreading the word - is unlike anything I have experienced. In fact, I would say the last week was the high water mark of my career.

We are closing in on the funding for 1.5 million which will allow us to add both a Mac and Linux version of Wasteland 2 to the release. One of the (more common) questions I am asked is whether we'll support console and I believe it to be unlikely. It is imperative that we deliver the core PC experience that the fans are expecting here and I want to avoid any elements that could distract us. The console interface is quite different when you consider the input device and proximity to the screen whereas the Mac and Linux are pretty much identical to that of the "PC". We will consider a tablet version due to the similarity of the screen and interface but even on that we need to do a bit more research.

There have been some nice human moments along the way that I thought I would share.

We started off strong in the first 24 hours raising nearly 50% of our minimum need but still I was nervous. All the signs of success were there but we all wanted it to happen so badly that it seemed to good to be true. Around 6:00 that first night we received an email from a wealthy software industry individual who is a passionate fan of Wasteland and offered to help fund the game if Kickstarter came short! Talk about feeling good. Of course I thanked him and said I hoped we would not need his assistance but he made my whole day/week/month/year.

On the next day I get a short tweet from an individual that confesses he pirated Wasteland as a kid and was donating to help make up for it. I of course forgave not knowing he had donated $10,000 dollars. An incredible gesture... now if we could get every pirate of Wasteland 1 to donate we could really beat the Kickstarter all time record.

Mason Douglass who plays the kid publisher in the Kickstarter video has gotten rave reviews for his performance. His delivery was great and I have had people wanting to contact his manager for parts in TV/film. I jokingly told him when we shot the bit that he might become famous from this. Perhaps he will.

And just today I got an email along with a donation from a kid who lived down the street from me when he was a teenager. His note was as follows:

"This message is intended for Brian Fargo. Brian, I was your next door neighbor when you used to live in Laguna. I was a pesky 15 or 16 year old kid that would come around and ask you about games. You would sit down and take time to talk to me about games, and the industry, and I just wanted you to know how cool it was that you didn't blow me off. It meant a lot to me. Recently, I found out about your Kickstarter movement for Wasteland 2, and I contributed to it because I believe in you and your ability to resurrect the glory of the franchise. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors, and thank you again for creating some memorable memories for me during my teenage years. Take care!"

It shows that being nice creates goodwill 20 years later.

And speaking of goodwill it occurs to me that we can harness the power of Kickstarter in a more meaningful way. Fan funding is bigger than me or Wasteland 2 as I have remarked before. The development community has come together to support us in ways that I didn't think possible and our power as developers will ultimately come from us sticking together. Both gamers and developers have so much more strength than they realize. But in order to help facilitate the power of crowd funding I am going to suggest that all of us that do utilize this form of financing agree to kickback 5% of our profits made from such projects to other Kickstarter developers. I am not suggesting taking a backers money and moving it to another project.. I mean once a game has shipped and created profit that we funnel that back into the community of developers to fund their dreams. I am tentatively calling this "Kick It Forward" and I will be the first to agree to it. In fact, I will have our artists create a badge that goes on all Kickstarter projects that agree to support this initiative. Imagine the potential if another Minecraft comes along via Kickstarter and produces millions of dollars of investment into other developers. This economic payback will continue to grow the movement way beyond the current system. I hope others will join me with this idea and make this a true shakeup.

Let's get the power shifted around a bit!

Brian Fargo
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inXile has added an option to pledge via Paypal on their site:
http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/pledge.php

PayPal Terms & Conditions

  • Unlike Kickstarter, PayPal will debit your account immediately. Please ensure you have all funds available. Since the Kickstarter project is 100% funded, development of Wasteland 2 is assured. Had we not been 100% funded through Kickstarter, these donate buttons would not have been possible.
  • International orders must choose from the option for shipment to International destinations if you will be receiving any physical rewards. A $15 US additional charge has been added for shipping and handling.
  • Unlike Kickstarter, we are not able to compound multiple donations to achieve a reward at a higher tier. The donation you are making now can not be increased at a later date. Please ensure the reward tier you are donating to is your definite choice of support.
  • We are unable to provide donation rewards beyond the $500 tier through PayPal. For rewards beyond $500, you will need to place your donation through Kickstarter.
  • If you have any questions, please contact inXile entertainment through our online support form.
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Brian Fargo ‏ @BrianFargo
$1.5 million is achieved! Thank you !! We will now make some Mac and Linux owners happy. Stay tuned for what happens at 2 mil....
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It's only going to get better...
 
The give 5% "kick it forward" project that fargo has started seems like a great idea..
However, I would probably rather 5% be given to child's play instead of put back into random kickstarter projects that fargo decides are worthy enough.

Its still a great idea.
But why not give back 10% ?40% ?100%?
If backers are unable to share in the profits And the dev is getting paid a salary/wage to create the game then if their are any future profits to be had why just give just 5%?

Can you imagine if Udraw was a kickstarter and went on to its huge success and yet the backers get 0.

Even if the profits have to be given to backers in the form of gift certificates for retail stores to avoid whatever legal hurdles there are.
I think backers should be getting profit money as well.
 
It's not projects that Fargo thinks are worthy, each project's owners kick 5% of their own profit to whatever project they want. And owners are always free to give more, I think the 5% is just a minimum, and it's all done on an honor system basis anyway.
 
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