inXile to make Planescape: Torment spiritual successor on Kickstarter.
TheCoffeeGod
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4NkADMQwzgTorment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter
Torment: Tides of Numenera Official Homepage
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a game set in the world of Monte Cook’s new tabletop RPG setting, Numenera. Torment continues the thematic legacy of Planescape: Torment, a critically acclaimed role-playing game from 1999 that's considered by many to be a hallmark for storytelling in computer RPGs. With Torment, we're striving to create a rich role-playing experience that explores similar deep, personal themes. Here's the scoop:• Torment is a single-player, isometric role-playing game.How Is Torment: Tides of Numenera Similar to Planescape: Torment?
• You will play a single, specific character, though you will encounter optional NPC companions you may choose to include in your party.
• The story-driven game will have a rich dialogue system and approach similar to that of Planescape: Torment.
• The game will be developed in the Unity engine for PC (Windows), Mac, and Linux platforms.
• The game will be available in English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish.
• The game will be distributed DRM-free. (You’ll be able to get it from Steam, and other DRM-free download options will be made available.)
We're crafting Torment with the goal of creating a gameplay experience like that evoked by Planescape: Torment (or PS:T). We want Torment to challenge, reward, surprise, and entertain you in ways that PS:T did. To do that, we examined PS:T carefully, and took these four pillars as our foundation:• A Deep, Thematically Satisfying Story. The philosophical underpinnings of Torment drive the game, both mechanically and narratively. Your words, choices, and actions will be your primary weapons.These pillars reach through all aspects of the game design, including characters and dialogue, the overarching story, gameplay systems and combat, and aesthetics.
• A World Unlike Any Other. The game has a fantastic, original setting, with awe-inspiring painterly visuals, imaginative locations, truly offbeat items, and massive feats of magic. In Numenera, however, "magic" is actually something surprisingly different.
• A Rich, Personal Narrative. The story is thoughtful and character-driven—epic in feel but a deeply personal narrative, with nontraditional characters and companions who have their own motivations and desires that drive them throughout the game.
• Reactivity, Choice, and Real Consequences. The game emphasizes replayability and reactivity, and your choices will make a real difference. You can play the game with a different approach and discover entirely new pathways. Most important, we won't tell you how to play. The best ending is the one you choose, flowing naturally from your actions throughout the game.
Team. If you were looking for team continuity, you've got it. Many key members who played a role in the Planescape setting and Planescape: Torment are involved in Torment: Tides of Numenera. Colin McComb and Monte Cook were two of the three primary writers for TSR’s Planescape setting. Colin was also a key designer on PS:T, where he worked closely with lead designer Chris Avellone. For Torment: Tides of Numenera, Colin is leading the creative vision in the setting that Monte has crafted. The two are also joined by their long-time partner Ray Vallese, who edited and wrote for the Planescape setting and who'll be editing Torment content. (That’s right – the quality of writing for Torment is so important that we have a professional editor on the team.)
We have the honor to work again with Mark Morgan, who composed PS:T’s music. You can hear his first piece in our Kickstarter launch video. Other contributors to Torment in this preproduction period have included Adam Heine (a scripter on PS:T) and Aaron Meyers (an artist on PS:T). And, of course, it was Brian Fargo who originally saw the potential of Planescape: Torment at Interplay and who greenlit the project so that it could be made in the first place. And we're going to bring on a lot more people-some of the Wasteland 2 team, or course, and other high-profile writers who can provide their own inimitable voice to the game. We're excited to be working with them.
Details. While we aren't focusing on a direct story or setting connection between the PS:T story and Torment, we’ll include elements reminiscent of PS:T. That’s not to say that Torment will be overflowing with inside jokes, but players familiar with PS:T will notice some nods to the original. But just as PS:T strove to defy RPG tropes, so too will Torment – including some tropes that were established by PS:T. So expect a lot of surprises.
How Is Torment Different From Planescape: Torment?• Torment is not a sequel to PS:T. It does not continue the stories of PS:T or its characters.
• Torment is set in Numenera’s Ninth World, a new tabletop RPG setting created by renowned designer Monte Cook (he and Colin wrote much of the material for the Planescape tabletop setting).
• Torment will use a new rules system that's based on the Numenera system but adapted specifically for a computer RPG.
•We'll strive to make Torment's combat system and encounters an engaging and entertaining part of the gameplay. We'll connect them narratively to the overall story. And, continuing the Torment tradition, we'll make most if not all combat avoidable.
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Comments
And...Woot! They already nearly did it! 700k in a few hours! Unbelievable... And after "Project Eternity" I thought it couldn't get any better. Somtimes it feels good to be wrong :-)
I wonder what the strech goals will be ?
BUT:
- They're working on Wasteland 2, too. Might be a little too much. I hope they know what they're doing.
- Until today I don't know of any real good kickstarter-funded game. Therefore, the whole concept has to prove that it really works.
Anyways, awesome news. Looks like they'll meet their funding goal in the first day.
The concept is already working. You have Project Eternity and Wasteland 2 in development. Whether they succeed or not, doesn't really matter. Huge number of games fail, no matter how they are funded. Kicstarter just provides the initial funds and shows that there is interest for the concept so its easier to raise more funds from other sources.
Yeah, I was just coming to say that!
Now, everything past this point is extra goodies!
Let's see what they come up with.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/posts/421386
Their pre-production team, world designers, artists, storyboarders, are done on Wasteland 2 and are now twiddling their thumbs. With Torment funded, they can get started on this world, and by the time pre-production is done (storyline fleshed out, characters designed, levels designed, conversations written) the production team can take all that and get to building it. This keeps everyone active and keeps InXile from having to fire people because there's no work for them.
Also, as soon as the paypal option hits, I'm pledging 60,- for the boxed version (the cheap fancy boxed version is already sold out, and 100+ dollars plus delivery is too big a drain on my pitiful finances atm).
Its only curiosity but also if what I saw is true, a bit wierd too.
I do know Brian Fargo and his past and believe he will make both wasteland 2 and torment in a way that not much people nowadays could, great games.
Everything about the team is really great so that made me wonder: "if they exist since 2002 what have they been doing?"
Why would such talented people only make iphone/flash games for 8 years? I get it that everybody is/was trying to make some money with apps and phone fever, was it it then? Every company has to do things like that to survive and that might have been it.
If that is true then I had no idea how kickstarter changed this studio's life. And I'am happy it did because they have potential. Apparently they were just stuck making those console/phone games due to lack of funding.
Bards Tale was the first and as you would expect its a good game, a game brian would do. Then a series of iphone games... and later a helicopter (very generic) game hunted demons forge which is quite mediocre.
I only find it interesting because while I have no doubts about the teams quality, these past games (except bads tale) are quite bad for someone making 2 of the best games in the next 2 years (I hope).
To resume, anyone know the story why inxile started in 2002 but only truly started making games in 2012? Maybe the studio was on a hold for some years? Again its only curiosity and please feel free to ignore my post if you don't care or dont have any information to add because I would hate to fill the thread with "useless posts".
There's been all kinds of talk about wanting Overhaul to enhance PST, but there has never been a sequel to PST... ever.
And this isn't either.
A while later, this was posted: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/15088/planescape-damnation/p1
which appears to be a semi-professional sequel, being made through extensive modding of the original.
Ultimately the first post I mentioned turned into the sequel we're seeing now, but yeah, I could see how it could feel like there's all kinds of speculative sequels in the works.
Which means, though they may be trying to continue the story and make it sequel-esque, in the end, it's just another mod.
As for this, there's a reason why I added the "How is it similar/How is it different" parts to the first post taken from the Kickstarter page.
It clearly states this isn't a sequel.
They put up Stetch Goals finally.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/posts/421842
I'm holding off on pledging until I see a little more meat. as @TJ_Hooker says, the pitch comes off as a bit pretentious, and while I loved Planescape: Torment, the last game Colin McComb worked on that I played was, well, Planescape: Torment. Similarly, Brian Fargo hasn't worked on a game I've played since '97. If I've learned anything from the likes of George Lucas and Tim Schafer, it's that you can't count on star power alone when it comes to creative works. Especially when those stars haven't done anything for you lately, but [i]especially[/i] when there's a lack of editorial oversight.
Not to say I won't end up pledging before the campaign's done (although, given that more money means longer development, maybe I'd be better off waiting for the actual release), but I'd like to see something other than cheap shots and lofty questions before I commit.
The only exception was the EE. I already knew the game and Overhaul's proposal of bug hunting and modernizing the code making it more compatible with modern and future OSs was something I completely agreed with and still do. I preordered BGEE and have all intention of preordering BG2EE when the preorder opens.
But giving money to a game that doesn't even exist yet because someone famous is involved with it is not something I'll do. If it turns out to be a good game I'll buy it, of course
I guess its unlikely that either of these product would never be done, but there is far greater risk that the end product simply doesn't deliver what was promised.
And in the end, it's better that these things come out and didn't turn up to be quite as great as we thought they would, than that they were never done at all. Some people just deserve a chance, even if they were not given it by those that only see profit in their eyes, and Kickstarter gives them that chance.
Pledged 275 $ for this reward --> Cypher Collector 2 - Physical goods!
Maybe you can help me. What is the difference between Cypher collector - Physical goods and Cyoher collector 2 - Physical goods? (except first one is 250$ and second is 275$?)
I therefore consider it a far better investment than preordering a yet another AAA FPS. Those tend to be more expensive anyway.
Like a lot of people here I think it is best to hold off on donating until I see something concrete, kickstarting should help a project reach it's goal, not demand so much with so little to go on.
I wouldn't preorder a AAA FPS either, but that has more to do with disliking FPS games than disliking AAA developers.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/444692/posts/422515/image-221040-full.jpg?1362696621
Stretch goals ^^
All considered, it's still not that much money, and while there is still a possibility of them having gone full George Lucas, it's a risk I'm willing to take.
Next up 2.5m