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Torment Kickstarter closes at over $4.1 million, most-funded game in Kickstarter history
The Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Torment: Tides of Numenera has come to a close, raising $4,188,927 over the course of its 30 days on the crowdfunding site, more than 465% of its original $900,000 goal. This makes Torment the most-funded gaming software ever on Kickstarter, as well as the second-most funded gaming project in general, bested only by the $8.59 million raised to get Ouya off the ground.Torment's Kickstarter has been a runaway success since it began on March 6, earning the totality of its original $900,000 goal in less than 24 hours. Since then, developer inXile Entertainment has added Planescape: Torment lead designer Chris Avellone to the project, in addition to delaying the game past its original December 2014 release window and into 2015.
Torment passes $3.5 million, adds Chris Avellone to team
Torment: Tides of Numenera will officially feature design work and writing by Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone, lead designer of Planescape: Torment. His position on the Torment team was a stretch goal for the game's Kickstarter, and his arrival on the team marks the passing of an impossible-sounding $3.5 million milestone – including about $67,000 in direct PayPal contributions.Kingkiller Chronicle series author Patrick Rothfuss has also joined up, his presence promised as a $3.25 million stretch goal. Both he and Avellone will contribute companion characters in addition to their other writing and design work.Torment has yet to complete its massive Kickstarter drive, but the as-yet notional game has already been delayed into 2015.
Torment: Tides of Numenera delayed 'a few months' beyond Dec. 2014 release
With just under three days left in its highly successful Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter campaign, developer InXile has revealed the spiritual successor to PlaneScape: Torment has been delayed.Originally scheduled to launch in December 2014, a recent update on the project now confirms the team requires "a few months" past the planned date; tormenting fans with a wait into 2015."We purposely designed Torment to be modular so that, if we had additional funding, we could easily expand upon the game in ways that would make sense. Your support has exceeded our expectations. It is clear to us that to create as high quality a final product as we desire, and as you deserve, we're going to want more time than we had in our original schedule," Project Lead Kevin Saunders wrote in a Kickstarter update.Saunders says that thanks to fans providing "enough resources to increase Torment's scope and quality bar," the team will use funds beyond the initial request of $900K to allow more time for "design, [iteration], polish and more."Currently, Torment: Tides of Numenera's crowd-funding support rests at over $3.3 million. The developer has also added a number of stretch goals and items to acquire with a few extra dollars, including a digital comic from The Kingkiller Chronicle author Patrick Rothfuss.
Torment: Tides of Numenera gets its first screenshot
This is your first screenshot of Torment: Tides of Numenera, the Planescape: Torment-inspired RPG which is already up to $3.2 million in Kickstarter funding with four days left to go. What you're looking at, project lead Kevin Saunders tells us, is an environment called The Bloom, which also happens to very much be a living creature. Yes, it's both a bustling commercial hub and a "semi-sentient predator" - sounds like Manhattan to us.The Torment Kickstarter washed past its $900,000 goal, amassing $1 million in just 8 hours. The campaign for the PC, Mac, and Linux game has broken more than a few stretch goals since then, unlocking everything from new areas, character companions, and novellas to developer inXile bringing in a live orchestra for the music. The traditional late Kickstarter surge should see the fundraiser past the $3.5 million stretch goal, at which point Obsidian's Chris Avellone, who was the lead designer of Planescape: Torment, will join Torment's design team.Click here for a larger look at Torment's first screenshot.
Torment is Kickstarter's fastest ever to $1M, clears $1.7M in first day
The Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter is the fastest ever to reach $1 million, doing so in under 8 hours - Ouya reached the milestone in 8 hours and 22 minutes. Just 24 hours after its launch, the campaign for the Planescape: Torment-inspired RPG has been backed by over 30,000 people and has raised over $1.7 million, nearly doubling its $900,000 goal with 29 days left to go. So yeah, it's not doing too badly.Developer inXile laid out some early stretch goals yesterday, with two already eclipsed at $1.2 million and $1.5 million. That means players will be able to choose their characters' gender, with "appropriate reactivity" from non-player characters built in, and that writers Murs Lafferty and Tony Evans will join the team. Lafferty was nominated for last year's John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction or Fantasy, while Evans can boast the likes of BioWare and Obsidian on his CV.If When the campaign reaches $2 million, which at this rate it'll have done by the time you're reading this, inXile will enlist Monte Cook, the creator of the Numenera tabletop RPG, to add his talents to Torment's writing team. That stretch goal also means inXile brings in a live orchestra as well as further compositions on the musical side of things, and on the gameplay side a fifth player companion described as a "changing ball of goo."
'Torment: Tides of Numenera' meets Kickstarter goal, raises over $900K
Well, that was fast. After its launch this morning, the Kickstarter campaign to finance Inxile's latest endeavor Torment: Tides of Numenera has reached its goal of $900,000. Funding will be open for potential backers until April 5, 2013.Torment: Tides of Numenera is a sequel inspired by the classic game Planescape: Torment, a single-player RPG game set in the Numenera role-playing system created by Monte Cook. Inxile's first Kickstarter campaign was a success, and the studio is currently working to produce a sequel to another classic IP, Wasteland 2.
'Torment: Tides of Numenera' is inXile's new Kickstarter
Wasteland 2 is still early, but Brian Fargo's inXile Entertainment has just launched another Kickstarter, this time for Torment: Tides of Numenera, the Planescape: Torment-inspired role-playing game set in the world of the Kickstarted tabletop RPG Numenera.Torment: Tides of Numenera is a single-player RPG in which you play a "single, specific character" joined by NPCs. As the "Last Castoff," the last incarnation of the Changing God, you find yourself hunted by the "Angel of Entropy" in a world full of mysterious, magical ruins. You can read much, much more about the storyline and setting on the Kickstarter page. Torment is being developed in Unity for release on PC, Mac, and Linux. In its first morning, the drive has already exceeded $86,000 of its $900,000 goal, with the total rapidly growing. inXile has proven to be good at Kickstarter – or its fans just that ravenous for old-school RPGs – as it raised over $3 million for Wasteland 2.
First early gameplay video for Wasteland 2 surfaces
Wasteland 2, in development by inXile after the studio raised over $3 million on Kickstarter for the project in April 2012, recently got its first gameplay video. The update post for the project lists off a number of elements not seen in this early trailer.Still, Development Director Chris Keenan's guide to the agricultural area of the game is a lengthy one, as he detailed topics such as the game's customizable UI and turn-based combat. Watch the full video above for a run-down on the game's progress.
Spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment in 'very early' stages
While many have anxiously awaited a sequel to Planescape: Torment, it's not the pipe dream it once was. Brian Fargo – the InXile Entertainment founder who has the Torment rights and once ran the original game's developer, Interplay – has said a successor is in the works, though there are a few caveats fans should consider.For one, the sequel will ditch the Planescape setting for the Numenera role-playing system, the Kickstarter-funded brainchild of Monte Cook blending together sci-fi and fantasy elements to emphasize "story and ideas over mechanics." Cook should be a memorable name to those who played the Planescape pen-and-paper campaign setting, having helped design and write that series and numerous other games for Wizards of the Coast back in the day. "The more we explored the Numenera setting, the clearer it became that it's a natural fit for a Torment game," Fargo told Rock Paper Shotgun.And with the new setting, Fargo suggests that this sequel will be less so in the literal sense and more so in the ideas Planescape: Torment presented to players. "Rather than overt links, we are trying to recapture the feeling that players experienced through PST –both while playing it and after having completed a playthrough. We will remain true to the essence of PST, but we'll also be looking for ways to improve the areas in which PST could have been even better."The new Torment game is still a ways off, "very early" in the pre-production phases, Fargo says. "We have a basic story outline, design sketches of the major characters, and thematic concepts defined," Fargo said, adding that with Wasteland 2 in full production, InXile can't focus too great of resources to working on this new Torment game.However, with writers and concept artists finished their early stages work on Wasteland 2, they're freed up. "There will be some other surprise talent that I'll announce later on but I thought it important to stress the heritage of the great team we have." As for funding this sequel, Fargo is unsurprisingly considering Kickstarter.
Will work for Wasteland 2: inXile asks fans to create its Unity assets
Wasteland 2 is hosting a crowdsourcing experiment that feels more like a straight-up art contest: interested artists can create game assets in Unity, based on concept images, and inXile will review the entries. inXile will pay and credit artists to use any designs it likes in-game, with other creations that meet the requirements available for purchase in the Unity Asset Store.The first batch of concept art is live now, and artists have one week to create something beautiful and submit it to the Unity Asset Store. inXile has a special start-up artist pack available for free here. The concept art will update weekly until inXile has all the cheap labor assets it can handle.
Bard's Tale and Choplifter HD on sale for inXile's 10th anniversary
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, InXile Entertainment has dropped prices on its games Bard's Tale and Choplifter HD by 75% on Steam. In addition, the satirical RPG Bard's Tale has been updated to bundle in the 1985 Bard's Tale game and its two sequels. That's a lot of light-hearted role-playing for $2.50. These deals are only available until 10AM Pacific (1PM Eastern) October 22. If you'd like to continue the celebration of inXile's career outside of this Steam deal, there's always Hunted: The Demon's Forge and the Line Rider series.
First Wasteland 2 screenshot is only the beginning of development
The screenshot above is your very first look at the Kickstarter-funded Wasteland 2, presenting some environment and character art from the game as it's being worked on. The project hit its goal of $900k easily on the nearly ubiquitous crowdfunding service, and ended up with nearly $2.9 million. Over on the official blog, the developers say they're releasing this early shot for feedback, and that they're also almost done with the game's main site, which is where backers will be able to update their support if they'd like to do so. The props found above are largely part of Unity's own database of in-game items, customized for the Wasteland world. As the team members learn to use the Unity engine, they're hoping this is only the beginning of the way the game looks. Presumably, they'll will have some help: Obsidian Entertainment promised to pitch in if the Kickstarter reached at least $2.1 million.
Wasteland 2 will include the original Wasteland
While we imagine most who are eager to play Wasteland 2 have fond memories of playing the original RPG and might possibly still own it, InXile is still tossing it in free of charge with each copy of Wasteland 2. It is due in no small part to the aid of EA, the publisher of the original Wasteland.InXile's Brian Fargo says including the classic PC game was the biggest request during Wasteland 2's Kickstarter campaign. "Fortunately EA has continued to support us on this project and has granted us the ability to bring the original to the players," Fargo said. "It is great to be able to make Wasteland available for those feeling nostalgic or who want to experience it for the first time. It certainly will not be a pre-requisite to understand Wasteland 2, but it adds some extra flavor if you did play the prequel."Wasteland 2 is currently on track to launch sometime next year.
Wasteland 2 Kickstarter raises over $3 million
People are ready for a new Wasteland, it would seem. The Kickstarter for inXile Entertainment's Wasteland 2 ended at $2,933,252, well over the $900,000 goal and $800,000 more than was required for Obsidian to join in on development.Oh, and then fans kicked in another $112,089 through PayPal.Of course, some of that money will go to Amazon, PayPal, and Kickstarter fees, and producing and shipping prizes, a lesson all Kickstarter users should remember. After the game is finished, 5% of the profits from the final release will be put into other Kickstarter projects, as part of a "Kicking it Forward" initiative. Perhaps the stimulation of the Kickstarter economy through this project will prevent the world from becoming a Wasteland-esque nightmare for another couple of weeks.Update: Corrected the amount going to "Kicking it Forward."
Obsidian will help with Wasteland 2 if Kickstarter reaches $2.1 million
Brian Fargo's Wasteland 2 Kickstarter, having already surpassed two funding goals, has laid out a third one that will ensnare Obsidian Chief Creative Officer Chris Avellone if passed. With 17 days of funding left to go and $1.7 million already pledged, Fargo's company inXile wants to hit $2.1 million on Kickstarter, after which Avellone will agree to work directly with the design team on the project.Fargo and Avellone's relationship goes back to the better days of publisher Interplay, where the pair worked on titles like Fallout 1 and 2, and Planescape: Torment."Wasteland is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and when Brian asked if I wanted to work on the sequel, I jumped at the chance," said Avellone. "While I've worked on Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, getting the chance to work on the spiritual predecessor to the Fallout franchise is a honor."Developer Obsidian will also lend a hand in the game's creation, providing "experience they have in the development of RPG games and tools to inXile."Fargo stated, "Obsidian has an incredible library of story, dialog and design tools that they have used to create hits like Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, and of course, Fallout: New Vegas. Regardless of the tech we use to develop the game, experience with these tools will help us efficiently design the game without wasting time and resources on the tools needed for development."If you're looking to support the dream, you know where to go.
Wasteland 2 Kickstarter passes $1.5 million, game coming to OS X and Linux
When Brian Fargo revealed his Kickstarter project to fund Wasteland 2, he laid out some goals. One of those tiers was $1.5 million, which at the time seemed kind of ridiculous. It has since been pledged by backers, meaning Wasteland 2 will also be available on Mac OS X and Linux at launch.Wasteland 2 has well exceeded its original goal of raising $900,000 on Kickstarter, and there are still 24 days to go. We don't expect it'll beat Double Fine's current record-level of pledges, but we're certainly ready to be surprised again.
Wasteland 2 Kickstarter exceeds goal (and is still going)
That Wasteland sequel you've been waiting for is about to go into production, as the game's Kickstarter crested its goal of $900K while we slept last night. The Kickstarter has started to pick up some momentum, it seems, as the total currently sits at just over $967K, with another 32 days to go.As stated on the project's site, the goal is actually to raise $1 million, but inXile head Brian Fargo had agreed to put $100K of his own scratch on the line -- it's looking like that won't be necessary any more. Which isn't to say there aren't plans should the team raise even more money. If they reach $1.25 million, the extra dough will go to "making the world bigger, adding more maps, more divergent stories and even more music."If the fundraiser reaches $1.5 million, that depth goes further, with, "more adventures to play, more challenges to deal with, and a greater level of complexity to the entire storyline. We'll add more environments, story elements, and characters to make the rich world come alive even more." Oh, also, it'll come to OS X. So, hey, how about we get things to $1.5 million so your buds at Joystiq can play the game on their writing machines? That'd be just capital.
You can now help fund Wasteland 2
Fans of classic PC games (with a post-apocalyptic setting) can help fund a sequel to Wasteland starting today. Just as inXile head Brian Fargo promised, a Kickstarter page for Wasteland 2 is now live. The goal is $900,000 -- as of writing this post, $380,897 had been raised.Wasteland 2 will be a DRM-free PC title. "It'll finally be the game worthy to be a Wasteland sequel, as challenging and rewarding as the original, with all added capacity and dazzle of games today," the Kickstarter page says. Many of the original designers are returning for the sequel, and Fallout composer Mark Morgan will create the tunes. Jason Anderson, co-creator of Fallout, will handle Wasteland 2's story.Fans will be able to offer input during the development of Wasteland 2 through the forums. And of course there are the usual Kickstarter benefits, ranging from the soundtrack to various special boxed copies of Wasteland 2 and a collectible coin and cloth map. Wasteland 2 is slated to launch in October of 2013.
inXile plans to launch Kickstarter drive for Wasteland reboot
Developers must have Kickstarter fever right now. After one of the most successful campaigns ever with Double Fine, inXile Entertainment has announced intentions to start its own Kickstarter fundraiser.The Hunted: The Demon's Forge developer wants to use Kickstarter to fund a reboot of Wasteland, CEO Brian Fargo told IGN. Fargo, who recently acquired the rights to the classic PC RPG, is one of the creators -- apparently fans have been bugging him for a new game since they saw Double Fine achieve success. Soon after, Fargo was having meetings and mapping out a production schedule.The idea is only 48 hours old at this point, but Fargo is on board. He likes the Kickstarter model since it would eradicate publisher influence on the project, but warns that a reboot would likely need a million dollars.Fargo hopes to launch the Kickstarter campaign sometime next month.
EA adds CD Projekt RED, Paradox, and nine other publishers to Origin
When Valve introduced the hat system to Team Fortress 2, you swore off Steam forever. You're a die hard PC Battlefield player, and simply won't play it anywhere else. You refuse to use standalone clients for launching your favorite PC games. Do these things describe you? Then you're probably a big fan of EA's Origin game service, which will be getting content from 11 publishers "in the coming months," according to a press release issued by EA this morning.The first game to be added is the aforementioned Rift from Trion Worlds, with games from Robot Entertainment, CD Projekt RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, Inxile Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning, and N3V Games joining Rift's ranks soon. EA says that more specific information on pricing and release dates will be offered in the near future via Origin, so keep an eye out while you're remaining steadfast in your stance against that other major digital retailer.
