Hey backers!
Finally, it's here. Hopefully the delay was worth it, because this extra-meaty episode (gross) contains some of the most significant developments about Broken Age to date. In fact, we're going to let Tim explain the latest news right now. Here he is:
A Note from Tim
Hello, Backers of Adventure!
Those of you who have been following along in the documentary know about the design vs. money tension we’ve had on this project since the early days. Even though we received much more money from our Kickstarter than we, or anybody anticipated, that didn’t stop me from getting excited and designing a game so big that it would need even more money.
I think I just have an idea in my head about how big an adventure game should be, so it’s hard for me to design one that’s much smaller than Grim Fandango or Full Throttle. There’s just a certain amount of scope needed to create a complex puzzle space and to develop a real story. At least with my brain, there is.
So we have been looking for ways to improve our project’s efficiency while reducing scope where we could along the way. All while looking for additional funds from bundle revenue, ports, etc. But when we finished the final in-depth schedule recently it was clear that these opportunistic methods weren’t going to be enough.
We looked into what it would take to finish just first half of our game—Act 1. And the numbers showed it coming in July of next year. Not this July, but July 2014. For just the first half. The full game was looking like 2015! My jaw hit the floor.
This was a huge wake-up call for all of us. If this were true, we weren’t going to have to cut the game in half, we were going to have to cut it down by 75%! What would be left? How would we even cut it down that far? Just polish up the rooms we had and ship those? Reboot the art style with a dramatically simpler look? Remove the Boy or Girl from the story? Yikes! Sad faces all around.
Would we, instead, try to find more money? You guys have been been very generous in the tip jar (thanks!) but this is a larger sum of money we were talking about. Asking a publisher for the money was out of the question because it would violate the spirit of the Kickstarter, and also, publishers. Going back to Kickstarter for it seemed wrong. Clearly, any overages were going to have to be paid by Double Fine, with our own money from the sales of our other games. That actually makes a lot of sense and we feel good about it. We have been making more money since we began self-publishing our games, but unfortunately it still would not be enough.
Then we had a strange idea. What if we made some modest cuts in order to finish the first half of the game by January instead of July, and then released that finished, polished half of the game on Steam Early Access? Backers would still have the option of not looking at it, of course, but those who were sick of waiting wouldn’t have to wait any more. They could play the first half of the game in January!
We were always planning to release the beta on Steam, but in addition to that we now have Steam Early Access, which is a new opportunity that actually lets you charge money for pre-release content. That means we could actually sell this early access version of the game to the public at large, and use that money to fund the remaining game development. The second part of the game would come in a free update a few months down the road, closer to April-May.
So, everybody gets to play the game sooner, and we don’t have to cut the game down drastically. Backers still get the whole game this way—nobody has to pay again for the second half.
And whatever date we start selling the early release, backers still have exclusive beta access before that, as promised in the Kickstarter.
I want to point out that Broken Age’s schedule changes have nothing to do with the team working slowly. They have been kicking ass and the game looks, plays, and sounds amazing. It’s just taking a while because I designed too much game, as I pretty much always do. But we’re pulling it in, and the good news is that the game’s design is now 100% done, so most of the unknowns are now gone and it’s not going to get any bigger.
With this shipping solution I think we’re balancing the size of the game and the realities of funding it pretty well. We are still working out the details and exact dates, but we’d love to hear your thoughts. This project has always been something we go through together and the ultimate solution needs to be something we all feel good about.
In the meantime, I’m hoping you are enjoying the documentary and like the progress you’re seeing on Broken Age. I’m really exciting about how it’s coming together, I can’t wait for you to see more of it, and I feel good about finally having a solid plan on how to ship it!
Thanks for reading,
Tim
Episode 10: Part One of Something Great
That was a long note! Okay, on with the episode:
(You can also watch this video on the private backer forums or the backer site if you have proper access—see below.)
PROJECT UPDATE 10
Hello again team Reds! Greg here with another update on what’s happening on the game!
We just finished a sprint last Friday, during which a lot of great progress was made on Vella’s village. (Vella is the Girl's name!) Tim finished up all the the writing on that area as well and had a bunch of great early casting meetings.
We started a new three-week sprint Monday with the goal of taking Vella’s village and the Maidens Feast entirely to Alpha. Tim and Khris are continuing to have casting meetings and we’re shooting to have everything casted and ready for a recording session on 7/15. A small team of folks (Lee, Bagel, Tim and Anna) are also moving forward to the area we’ll be working on after the village and getting that ready for everyone to jump on.
Our rescoping and rescheduling work is now complete! With Tim’s new and final design we were able to map this all out on a timeline and are using that to plan all future sprints (including the current one).
As I’m sure you’ve already learned, schedules are a living thing and will continue to be massaged and adjusted for the rest of the project, but we definitely have a clearer view of the future now then we have ever had. It’s very exciting!
WRITING UPDATE: CREATING CHARACTERS
In our lengthiest dev update yet, Tim delved deep into his process for creating characters. It includes several examples from Broken Age as well as other Double Fine games, and even resurrects an internet-ancient social network that Tim once used to flesh out the camp kids from Psychonauts!
Enjoy it on the forums, or on the backer site! (You need backer forum access to follow this link—see below.)
FORUM ACCESS REMINDER
Don't forget—to access private backer content, you need proper access. If you don't have it, make sure to register on the Double Fine Action Forums using the email address associated with your Kickstarter account. (Once you're registered, you can choose to read the content on the forums or on the site proper.) Register here.
Once you sign up and confirm your membership, it can take up to a full business day for the system to authorize you as a backer, so give it a bit of time. If it's been a couple days and you still don't have access, email support@doublefine.com
There are a few ways to easily keep up with content updates:
Bookmark and check the backer landing page
Subscribe to the backer RSS feed
Subscribe to the Table of Contents thread on the forums
And thanks to everyone who helped the MASSIVE CHALICE Kickstarter succeed! You're the best!
Phew, that was a big one! Okay, see you guys next time!
Previous update
Gromber escribió:Ojo que tenemos lio... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dou ... sts/527683
Paboh escribió:Lo de que iban mal de tiempo/dinero lo digeron en uno de sus primeros video documentales. La verdad es que me mosqueó un poco cuando Ron se largo del proyecto, no se si realmente explicaron cuales fueron sus motivos.
mrbadnews escribió:en la ficha pone idioma inglés pero en subtítulos está el castellano entre muchos.
yo soy backer y ando desesperado. me llegó el email con el enlace, pincho, me lleva al humble bundle store, asocio la cuenta de steam para que me llegue el código y me pone "reedemed to...y mi mail"....pues ya he pinchado 2-3 veces desde que me llegó el email ayer y no me entra nada...¿algún backer por aquí que me pueda explicar qué estoy haciendo mal?
mrbadnews escribió:en la ficha pone idioma inglés pero en subtítulos está el castellano entre muchos.
yo soy backer y ando desesperado. me llegó el email con el enlace, pincho, me lleva al humble bundle store, asocio la cuenta de steam para que me llegue el código y me pone "reedemed to...y mi mail"....pues ya he pinchado 2-3 veces desde que me llegó el email ayer y no me entra nada...¿algún backer por aquí que me pueda explicar qué estoy haciendo mal?
Rebanapanes escribió:mrbadnews prueba a buscar broken age en la pagina de la tienda, y una vez en la ficha, mira si sale el recuadro verde diciendo "ya tienes este juego", asi es como he confirmado que la clave se ha canjeado correctamente.
Gaiden escribió:Nada me armaré de paciencia hasta las ofertas de verano entonces...20€ por 4 horas + otras supuestas 4 en el siguiente episodio...no, si encima es fácil, menos
Gracias por las impresiones, a todos.
Además no me gusta eso de los episodios, hace que pierdas el hilo... es como twd..hasta q no esté completa la season 2 yo paso.
Gromber escribió:Si será así, pues es un pase de temporada como en el Broken Sword 5 o Walking Dead, cuando salgan los siguientes capitulos, steam actualizará los juegos automaticamente.
La verdad que me da ganas de esperarme y vender la clave, pero claro esta complicado y menos por aquí que no se permite xD
Como el del telar, guiño a LOOM
El árbol al que hay que hacer vomitar savia, los guardianes ciegos, las doncellas sacrificadas (unas y otras), el alcalde, el leñador... es una detrás de otra