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Double Fine's Massive Chalice finishes Kickstarter campaign with $1.2 million
Double Fine's Massive Chalice has finished its Kickstarter campaign, funding the project and earning a total of $1.2 million (minus Kickstarter's various fees) for production. In addition to the core game, which sounds like an intriguing mix of turn-based strategy and large-scale kingdom building, the team promised to grow the project's scope based on the funding received rather than rely on stretch goals. Other features and platforms will be determined as the project goes along. Development is being led by the smiley Brad Muir, above, who also designed tower-defense shooter Trenched, later called Iron Brigade. This is Double Fine's second successful Kickstarter; the first was the Adventure Game project, which resulted in the upcoming Broken Age. Massive Chalice's $1.2 million isn't quite as big as the $3.3 million earned for the game that became Broken Age, but the latest project began with a goal of $725,000, much larger than the Adventure Game's initial goal of $400,000. Massive Chalice will now start production, so it'll likely be a while before we see the game ready for release.
Brad Muir on building trust with Double Fine's Massive Chalice
Double Fine is using a second (and already successful) Kickstarter to produce "Massive Chalice," an ambitious turn-based strategy game that hinges on the lineage of your kingdom. Project lead Brad Muir is candid about the early delta between the game's promises – allowing you to produce and raise multiple generations of heroes in a war against demons – and the reality anticipated by those committed to its crowdfunding drive, which exists independently of that for Broken Age. "We're gonna mess up in public, and that's a little bit scary, but it's also like – I think it helps build trust too," Muir told me during E3 last week. "We're totally fallible, and we're gonna trip up, but we'll figure it out and we're gonna make the game the best game it can be." Muir also responded to fears from backers who have yet to see the fruition of Double Fine's previous Kickstarter project, Broken Age, and expressed enthusiasm over developing a game with "the doors wide open on the studio."
Double Fine adds 'Brazen' prototype to Amnesia Fortnight rewards
Double Fine's internally developed and externally funded Amnesia Fortnight game jam soldiers on, and as is always the case with Humble Bundle promotions, an additional reward has been added for those that donate above the current average.Now, anyone that drops coin beyond the norm (currently sitting at $7.05) will receive a playable prototype of Brazen, which was originally created during a previous Amnesia Fortnight game jam. Designed by Iron Brigade project lead Brad Muir, Brazen is a Monster Hunter-style four-player online co-op homage to Ray Harryhausen, whose revolutionary work in the field of claymation helped define an era of movie monsters. Players choose between three classes (Stalwart, Waracle or Beerzerker) and join forces to slay retro mythological beasts, such as the massive two-headed snapping turtle/scorpion seen in the trailer above. Personally, we're still keeping our fingers crossed for some unsettling, disturbingly animated skeleton warriors.
Double Fine's second THQ game coming in early 2011
Yesterday, Double Fine and THQ announced Costume Quest, the first downloadable project in a two-game deal, due this Halloween. According to THQ, the unnamed second project is a third-person adventure and is "scheduled to be released in early 2011." It's not clear whether this game (one of four "smaller" games from Double Fine) comes from the mind of Lee Petty, Nathan Martz, or Brad Muir -- the other three developers listed during Double Fine head Tim Schafer's talk at Develop -- but we've asked THQ for clarification. Given what we know about the three other titles, the unnamed game could be anything from "sort of retro but also new" (Petty's) to one that "focuses on gameplay mechanics" (Muir's). Frankly, we can't imagine why anyone would base a whole game on the lives of gameplay mechanics. Do they just come in and fix your gameplay?
