Wasteland 2 and Kickstarter

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Category: Giskard's Blog

Last Updated on Thursday, 07 June 2012 12:21

Written by Giskard

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I have said the way games are being created these days and distributed is changing, the old guard that makes everything main stream is losing control and the creative artists out there are finally keeping control over their work and giving us the games they wanted to make, instead of the games EA and others want them to make.

This blog is about Kickstarter and Wasteland 2 which is a Kickstarter Project.

Kickerstarter is a method of funding projects that does not require bank loans or publisher agreements first, it grants complete control over the work done to the people making a project and is entirely funded by donations from interested parties in return for something at the end of the of the project.

This is only possible now because of the wonderful digital distribution method that internet provides these days.

Wasteland 2 has been mentioned several times on this site and many users are interested in it, Wasteland 2 is a Kickstarter project that has successfully raised the money needed to start production. So it is currently being made.

Here are the details for that game.

• 325% funded
• $2,933,252 pledged
• Funded
  Apr 17, 2012

This means Wasteland 2 has x3 the funding it asked for and will not be needing an publisher to dictate how it should be made or when it should be released. Its Kickstart Page can be found here and gives you an overview of what the game will be about.

On its Kick Start Page are several videos explaining the game and the problems the developer faced in getting funding. Before you wonder if this is a two bit operation, let me list some of the games the lead developer was involved with.

The head guy at InExile is Brian Fargo, founder of Interplay a company that ranked as one of the best RPG makers during its Hayday but times have changed and Interplay lost ground when publishers insisted every game had to be a 3d shooter in the late 90s. Since most of their games where not 3DFX games at the time, they faded away.

I remember seeing a lot of games ruined by the conversion to 3D and found that period of game development to be very boring as a gamer. With digital distribution, developers are once again free to go mad make anything they can imagie.

Some of the things Brian Fargo made include Wasteland 1, Fallout,  Startrek 25th Anniversary, Balders Gate, Icewind Dale, Freespace, Kingpin and many others. A very respectable list of games that few today can match. Freespace being very different from the usual RPGs but Brians RPG qualifications are second to none.

So you see Kickstarter is not just for new start up companies, existing big names are using it and people are taking notice.

Brians got positive comments from

Ray Muzyka - CEO Bioware
Chris Avellone - Obsidian
Rob Pardo - Executive Vice President of Game Design, Blizzard Entertainment

Such is the respect Brian carries within the industry.

Definitely a project fans of the original Wasteland or Fallout 1 and 2 will want to follow.

I have been  a gamer long enough to remember the pre-3dfx 3d gaming days, when it was okay to be a 2d or 3d or isometric 3d game and it was okay to have the classic Civilization in a top down format. I saw the damage big developers did to the games industry the day they decided everything had to be 3D or it did not get funded.

Many of our best developers disappeared during that change over or was reduced to almost nothing. Interplay certainly suffered because they stopped being a major player almost over night.

Kickstarter and the digital age should see an end to the days when EA and UBIsoft decided what we want to play and a return to a vastly more creative era that I have certainly missed.

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0 #3 Jag Garrick 2012-06-08 11:10

It's very similar with music - artists that aren't considered to be commercial enough for the record labels are getting the chance to produce and release their work based purely on whether they can find people who want to listen to them, rather than what some corporate focus-group think. I came across Kickstarter when one of my favourite musicians Amanda Palmer used it to release her new album, which has raised more than a million dollars, and since then I'm getting addicted to exploring it for new and interesting projects.

 

 

0 #2 Giskard 2012-06-07 19:58

me too nikki

 

 

0 #1 nikki 2012-06-07 15:34

theres so many great games coming on kickstart for old school rpg fans, from the mentioned wasteland 2 through to shadowrun returns and the latest one to arrive on kickstarter dead state. for the first time in years im not looking forward to AAA games but indy. times are a changing

 

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