Well, if it gets Kickstarted funds- which I’m pretty sure it will.
I’m really stoked- Wasteland was the first real video game I ever played and it was really formative. I have it to thank for my love of apocalyptic genre anything. I remember recopying disc 3 so I could go through Guardian Citadel over and over to stock up on power packs. And I never figured out what the point of fixing broken toasters was.
One of the greatest games ever. Recently played through this again after getting a copy of the Ultimate RPG Archives. If only I could find that 3.5" disk with my old save game on it… (and figure out a way to use it with my modern computer)
Didn’t fixing toasters get you a part for Max or a Sonic Key or something like that? I remember you at least got power packs out of it when you fixed one.
I think the people who donate to video game Kickstarter projects should first ask themselves why the people who fund video games for a living have no interest in these projects.
The video on this project’s Kickstart page answers that question pretty well, I’d say. 
It gave you various things that you could get in other places. At least one of the objects was Base Cochise plot related, but you could get one as loot from one of the random enemies in the base (and you only needed one, and could only use it for one purpose).
It might have had a sonic key, but you could get at least three sonic keys in the game in other places, IIRC. Plus, the sonic key was only required to get into the room in the sewers Max was hiding. The bloodstaff given to Charmaine could get you into the sewers if you didn’t already have a sonic key, and one of the fixed enemy Newmen (i.e. the in-game name for the cyborgs) down there had a key.
It’s simple: a *good *video game only requires locking several smart, creative people in a room for a few years and waiting. But a game that makes a lot of money requires tens/hundreds of millions of dollars in production costs.
The first game will only appeal to a specific niche who nevertheless retain a cult-like attraction to the game. The second game will be largely forgotten in a few years but has enough broad appeal to nearly guarantee a return on investment.
$1M pays for several employee salaries for a few years, and might extend a bit farther if it comes with the promise of additional sales money at the end.
IMO, Kickstarter is best viewed as modern patronage, but with the twist that the original artist retains rights to the work.
They already made Wasteland 2. It was called Fallout, and it was awesome.
It’s too late for another creator of classic games trying to fund a game on Kickstarter, but maybe if enough people ask themselves Fargo can avoid a similar fate. Sadly, Double Fine raised only $3.3 million of its $400,000 goal.
Dude, I’m not worried about Fargo. I’m worried about another 87,000~ people throwing their money into a system with zero financial accountability.
Double Fine has proven that there is a market for traditional point-and-click adventure games. We’re not just talking about an online petition, which people rightfully ignore, but people will actually put their money where their mouths are. Yes, this opens the consumer to getting outright screwed if the producer fails to produce. But, Double Fine has already demonstrated the ability to crank out polished, innovative titles. And they have every motivation to provide proof of the concept that the system works, that fans can get more of the niche products that they love if they’re willing to pay upfront. I myself gave $30, which is about what I would have paid for a new game from Telltale.
Brian Fargo, et al, are also long-time game industry insiders who demonstrably can produce the goods and are well motivated to prove that it could pay off to front money to game designers known for good work rather than hoping for investors with no particular love of your favorite genre to cough up.
The value of investing in these other, little products by unknowns are less certain. I myself am waiting to see if anyone will start a project to produce a new Infinity Engine game.
Sweet, it’s funded! It’s made over a million in 3 days.
On the Double Fine project: I keep getting updates. I wonder if that’s really necessary. I believe the people I funded know what they’re doing, and they’ll produce a product within the specified timeframe and the budget they’ve been provided. Weekly updates do nothing for me until the project is close. Hell, even the documentary they promised for the $30 donation level is not a big incentive for me. I sent them that much because that’s about what I judge a well-done adventure game to be worth, though in practice I spend about $35 for each new Telltale game season.
Although I can budget supporting Wasteland 2, I feel funny just throwing out the money having never truly experienced the original. But now I’m spoiled with some things about modern games – a journal, an automap, the fact that I don’t need to go through several menus to issue a command, etc. I never really played it when playing it would have been the most fun, and now I’m in a quandry about whether or how to catch up.
One thing I wish somebody would offer to do for donors is update old games so that the stories would survive the technology that they were limited to at the time. At this point, I’d love to just see a Wasteland 1 reboot, and I’d murder the grandma of your choice for an update to Planescape Torment so that I could explain the appeal of the game to people who can’t stand to deal with those gigantic pixels (or, in modern fixes those tiny sprites).
If you think about it, Fallout was basically Wasteland with a new coat of paint, all the way down to having almost exactly the same story. Which makes sense, considering that it was mostly the same guys who made both.
Fallout 2 was the sequel to Wasteland in that sense.
Now if we’re wanting to remake 80’s games, I think Mail Order Monsters would make for an awesome online multiplayer game.
I think Tell Tale Games has been demonstrating that for a few years now.
In story yes. But I do miss the old mechanics of the Wasteland/Wizardy/Bards Tale/ Gold box where I could make the party I wanted and kick some proper ass. The whole 1st person with companions with free will model which seems universal in RPG now , makes me staby sometimes.
Ironic I guess in this thread though, since it was the first game I can remember where you did have NPCs in the party, but back then it was a cool new gimmick.
Stupid worthless Felecia!
Covenant was the man. He was always the first guy I would go after (well, after building up my guys enough to survive a foray into Vegas).
Vegas? Nooooooo! The Scorpitron will get you 
[sub]Damn I hated that thing[/sub]
Yeah, Scorpitron was a bitch. But one of my favorite things after beating the game was starting over with my awesomely built-up characters and going back to take on the Scorpitron with just melee weapons or even just fists. Very satisfying.
Well, yeah, they’ve been getting my money. Actually, I have found it a bit strange that nobody is mentioning that there is another Lucas Arts offshoot already making very fine point-and-click adventure games. Of course, they’ve started doing games for non-gamer franchises, and these have so far been too simplistic for anyone who pines for the days of Lucas Arts. Hopefully they’ll get back to making games for actual gamers soon.
There have been a billion remakes already, but it’s about time Elite got remade by a proper software house with big money.