Ex-Interplay Fridays
NowGamer has an interview with Adam Brennecke, the executive producer for Project Eternity.
The Kickstarter campaign for Torment: Tides of Numenera began on March 6th. It hit its initial fundraising goal in about six hours, prompting the hasty announcement of stretch goals, and had nearly doubled down on its fundraising goal after just two days. The $2 million mark was surpassed shortly thereafter.
IGN, by the way, has some details about the Numenera setting that may be of interest. Kotaku, meanwhile, has a good article up looking at why people like Planescape: Torment so darn much, which in turn explains why the idea of a sequel has been so warmly received.
And inXile Entertainment have also explained a bit about their internal structure and workings, and how their “team and a half” of employees will support both the new Torment RPG and finish Wasteland 2 at the same time.
I haven’t played Planescape, but have read Manual of the Planes (great read if you like D&D). The Kickstarter video seems unnecessarily melodramatic, as though the key dev staff moonlight as actors and are genuine hams in person. Are celebrity devs the future of indie/crowdsourced gaming? I have a semi-nervous breakdown when in front of a camera, even if alone. Perhaps I’m doomed.
Garriott’s Kickstarter video was more conservative, opting for prototype/alpha gameplay accompanied by his narration and ending with his on-camera presentation. No Austin Powers composited effects of people walking toward the camera with a black background while talking to you (Planescape KS trailer; last scene). I think so far he’s handled the media presentation extremely well. I can’t believe Gamasutra doesn’t have an article yet. Coming soon, I’m sure.
The video is in line with the first game. It is probably the best story I’ve ever seen in a video game. The entire game is centered on asking deep, personal questions. So that is what people are looking for in the second game.