nin wrote on Mar 25, 2013, 09:04:

InBlack wrote on Mar 25, 2013, 08:57:
Well this is the third rave review on Bioshock that Ive read. Although all of them have focused on the story as the best part of the game. This is both refreshing and suspect at the same time, the original Bioshock had a great storyline (apparently) but the gameplay was so terribad (for me at least) that I couldnt be bothered to finish it.

Anyone on Blues try it yet?

Just sent Blue several more - all look good!

Gonna be hard not to get up early tomorrow before work and play...

Golwar wrote on Mar 25, 2013, 09:13:
There is nothing wrong in what he said about the release troubles and the gamer's reactions. I'm pretty much tired of those first week uproars. It's childish and reminds me more of kids complaining about their inevitable vegetables, against better knowledge that their complains and tears won't improve the situation.

But if American McGee expected the PS4 to deliver some kind of revolution ... really?
I consider the Oculus Rift to be a nice toy, but nothing that will replace my current game experience. Not to mention that it should be quite easy to gain console support too.

And mobile gaming? Meh!

Slashman wrote on Mar 25, 2013, 08:05:
As an android user I think gaming on tablets is pointless.

My opinion would be the same were I an Apple user.

This is what PCs are for.

eRe4s3r wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 16:10:

jdreyer wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 14:37:

eRe4s3r wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 12:39:

Creston wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 11:49:
The midwest is slowly drying out, Australia is already a parched desert, and my parents keep complaining that it rains every single day in Holland.

We need to find some way to shift the global weather stream.

Creston

We still have snow here you know, and -10°C at night And yes, it's supposed to be spring time!

Still waiting for that "Global Warming" ...

Unfortunately, one of the effects of Global Warming is that temps in Europe will actually get colder. Europe is much warmer than it should be for its latitude due to warm tropical air brought by the jet stream. As the massive glacial ice pack in Greenland melts, it sends millions of tons of ice into the North Atlantic, much more than pre-global warming days. This ice actually cools the ocean so much that the jet stream is altered, and Europe freezes. Temps in Germany will become like those in Moscow.

Yeah I am well aware of that "theory" apart from the small detail that the past 33 years NOTHING HAS HAPPENED that would cause the gulf stream to change (and it hasn't changed). The reality is, it is colder despite the fact that the gulf stream is as strong as ever. Even more to the point, the current weather has nothing to do with the gulf stream. Rather it is a collection of low pressure air fronts pulling extreme cold from the east and blowing it in our direction.

I also know that harsh winters are not rare in Germany I mean my parents sure as hell told me some horror stories I can hardly believe, they laugh when I am saying that this winter is unusual...

Point being. Climate change predicted different things than are actually happening in Europe. ^^

Optional Nickname! wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 17:21:
30% was overstated for effect. But 5% does not include other party fees associated with processing the pledges. And don't think Kickstarter doesn't out-source most of its 'work' to Amazon and 'the cloud'.

In total, the fixed fee percentages are not trivial, certainly not 30%. But it could very well be 30% at smaller amounts if it is a set fee plus a percentage per pledge.

My point was not to speculate on Kickstarter's exact take but to illuminate the fact that Kickstarter and Amazon are making a great deal of money with their single digit fees for relatively little 'work'. Does not Chris Avellone deserves as much for the very real work he will do, if you consider scriptwriting 'real work'?

To prevent confusion jacobybrandy, that question isn't personally directed at you. I think it was InBlack who was the OP.

nin wrote on Mar 23, 2013, 02:57:
I remember scraping together the money to buy a 486/66 just to play Duke Nukem 3d, and then the moment I got a look at Quake (required a P75?), realizing another upgrade was in store.

So many awesome memories of gaming in the 90s...voodoo rush to voodoo2, seeing glquake and then Unreal run for the first time (jaw dropping, in both cases). Everyone coming up with patches that added glide support. Walking into computer city and seeing the huge stack of Starcraft boxes. That wacky assed spaceorb.

Gaming felt different back then...less of a focus on the megapublisher and their latest hit, and more of trying to actually make a decent game that pushed the limits of hardware.

Was fun while it lasted.

Verno wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 10:12:
He doesn't seem to have a strong direction of where he wants to go with the series which is a problem with the fantasy and science fiction genres in general. Martin also seems almost masturbatory in his nihilism which grinds on you after awhile. You rarely read a good conclusion in fantasy these days and there is this sense that a lot of authors just keep throwing things at the wall until something sticks then run it into the ground (Jordan).

I think part of the problem is the publishers wanting everything to be 10 book epics instead of allowing authors to focus more on shorter stories where they can't worldbuild for 4000 pages which makes them meander and struggle with characterization.

Dev wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 10:10:

InBlack wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 09:22:

nin wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 09:11:
I doubt it just goes towards that. It's about giving people an excuse to continue pledging. They had an extremely strong start but have slowed a bit (as all KS do, esp when heavily front loaded like this one).

Well they should clear that up on their KS page, or add a few more things that they will be doing with that cash (other thank hiring Chris) because from where I stand it looks like that money is going into his pocket...

They've already explained the distance between stretches, multiple times, that it will all go to improving the game.

Every dollar helps us create a deeper storyline, add more dialogues, build more areas, add more detail, design more items and creatures, add new foci, and more.

and

About Stretch Goals and Funding

We’ve noted some explicit Stretch Goals, but we’ve also explained that every dollar we receive from your contributions during this campaign (including the 10% matching from $2M to $3M by @Dracogen!) will be going into the game development budget (along with reward fulfillment). I wanted to explain briefly what we mean. As more funding is available, we can make many improvements that aren’t easily described as a Stretch Goal. For example, at this upcoming milestone, George Ziets will be joining the writing team. This doesn’t just involve George. His writing contributions will allow us to increase depth and complexity, resulting in an even more branching and reactive storyline. More written content requires new art, more scripting support, and more quality assurance and iteration to polish the content. As the game increases in depth and complexity, new interface elements and features will be needed to properly communicate to you everything you need to know. George (and each writer) who contributes to the game creates more work (in a good way) for many who are behind the scenes.

All that pretty much applies to Chris as well.
and

We promise to you that all of the funds will be leveraged to best realize the vision we have presented. (Several in our community have expressed opinions along these lines, including GrinningReaper659 and aratuk.) We won’t be using funds from this Kickstarter to add in features that deviate from this vision. We treat the trust you have placed in us seriously, and will maintain our precise focus on creating the game we have told you about. (For example, there is no total this Kickstarter could reach that would lead us to implement multiplayer.)

Its not their fault if someone doesn't read stuff like that in the updates, or blues forums (I've quoted some of this stuff in threads here before). Also, the very update that mentions Chris, mentions that they didn't want to put him as a stretch goal until they were sure they could get him, and get him without conflicting with his other commitments (like wasteland 2 and eternity). And every bit of input he has into the design has to have additional resources devoted to it, to do the art/animation/sound for his ideas, etc.

But if you still have concerns, voice them on the comments in the kickstarter update. They often address concerns sometimes in direct replies (not always blue since there's a lot of people involved) or talk about it in the next update. While we can blither about things like this here, it won't actually do much. Talking about it there is a chance to DIRECTLY influence the game itself, and they can address things. If you have a question about it, you are unlikely to be the only one with that question and if you ask, there's probably at least 100 (or more in this project) other people who want to see the answer.

Edit: And as mentioned above by wtf_man, it also includes an additional companion. Though Chris will be doing the design and writing of it, that doesn't include the art/animation/audio etc of that companion.

Finally, if all that kinda thing and commenting/interacting directly in the kickstarter doesn't satisfy someone regarding a particular project (speaking in general terms now, not just about this one), then they probably shouldn't be backing that particular kickstarter, they should wait until its out and read reviews. Then they only are out the money if its a confirmed good final product.

nin wrote on Mar 22, 2013, 09:11:
I doubt it just goes towards that. It's about giving people an excuse to continue pledging. They had an extremely strong start but have slowed a bit (as all KS do, esp when heavily front loaded like this one).