Double Fine has launched crowdfunding campaign to fund Psychonauts 2

Just because no one named it here, yet: Brutal Legend, fantastic game.

I feel really deep sympathy for DF, they were the first bigger player to really support linux.
Without them, icculus and humble, linux gaming would have been in a much poorer state when valve started to think about a linux client and who knows if they would have taken this endevour then.

As much as it pains me to say it, there's no chance DF are getting my money unless it's for a finished product which is actually good. They're addicted to crowd funding money to the point where this supposedly "small indie studio" manages to keep multiple crowdfunded projects going at once while at the same time maintaining this sort of "we're your cool quirky buddies" demeanour... I feel it's kind of stomach churning at times.

That said, I don't think they have bad intentions, just that they don't know how to manage money and are too caught up in this "blue sky thinking "brainstorm synergies" "business is a philosophy and a way of life" BS. If they do more stuff like the remastered Grim Fandango, I'll still pay for it.

Personally, I would totally throw moar money at them but sadly, as soon as I thought that, my sock-puppet took away my credit card, looking at me like I'm some retard who can't be trusted with money.

LOL. No. Double Fine is not to be trusted. I'll buy once it's released.


Last edited by Storminator16 on 5 December 2015 at 1:19 am UTC

Wrong Thread


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 4 December 2015 at 11:40 pm UTC

Quoting: fleskBy the way, it's funny how people conveniently forget about Massive Chalice, when it was ON time and ON budget.

Sure, but that game really sucked :P. No offence to them, but in my eyes to make a game which on paper is EXCATLY the kind of game I pay good money for, but still manage to make it mind numbingly dull is just a massive achievement. Only other game I've had that with in the last couple of years is Grand Ages: Medieval.

Anyway, I don't know why I bother commenting on them anymore. They'll get their money regardless of what people say and I do hope this one turns out to be a good game.

$33 for the early bird price of the game ? I don't go over $20 for a crowdfunder. Not a chance unless your name is Star Citizen.

Quoting: hummer010

Quoting: DrMcCoy

Quoting: hummer010Let's see, they received 8X the funding they were looking for, and with all that extra money, managed to release the end of the game only 30 months late.

...You say that as if an increased budget, and with it an increased scope, means faster developement. That's not how it works.

Nope, I'm saying their project management skills are awful. In my world, if I'm only 50% complete, 14 months late, and I've already burned through 8X my initial funding request, I'm fired.

In most contexts, you'd already have been through some hard meetings and negotiated expanding the budget and scope. The documentary shows some stuff along these lines, admittedly done without a lot of community consultation, but the general attitude among backers at the time seemed to be, "Take your time, the game will be better for it."

Quoting: Segata SanshiroAnyway, I don't know why I bother commenting on them anymore. They'll get their money regardless of what people say and I do hope this one turns out to be a good game.

That's the nature of crowdfunding, isn't it? It's a way for people who believe in a project and its creators to support an attempt at bringing that project into reality. There's not really much in the way of meaningful outcomes from discussion for people who aren't interested in the project (unless their goal is to actively prevent others from supporting, which is kinda weird).

Quoting: Segata SanshiroNo offence to them, but in my eyes to make a game which on paper is EXCATLY the kind of game I pay good money for, but still manage to make it mind numbingly dull is just a massive achievement.

Massive Chalice is far from dull. Its vibrancy is along different axes to other prominent squad oriented turn based strategy, games which demonstrates that it's not exactly the same kind of game. With that game's crowdfunding campaign putting a lot of focus on the planned generational aspects, it felt to me from the beginning that the MC had different priorities and that that would be reflected in the final game.

Either way, I think it highlights that it's really important to for anybody considering supporting to make sure that they're in the same headspace as the designers - Psychonauts 2 feels a little easier in that regard with it being a sequel, but at the same time, sequels can take things in directions that are different from what a given player of the original might have expected, and Psychonauts has had 10 years of speculation shaping their expectations.

To use other sequels that Tim Shafer has worked on as examples, Day of the Tentacle changes a lot of what I think defines Maniac Mansion's identity (I really enjoy DotT, but I can see why some people who love Maniac Mansion don't and vice versa) and Monkey Island 2 has a distinctly different kind of atmosphere and approach towards the characterisation of Guybrush (though not to the extent or in the same ways that Monkey Island 3 does).

It's important and healthy to be cautious, and if anyone feels like it's not for them or that they'd rather wait for the finished product if the game gets made, that's totally cool :)

Paying off our mortgage decided things for me anyway.

Quoting: fleskBy the way, it's funny how people conveniently forget about Massive Chalice, when it was ON time and ON budget.

On time? Yes
On budget? Yes
Good? No