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[ackblom12]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lootdrop/an-old-school-rpg-by-brenda-brathwaite-and-tom-hal?ref=live

Legendary, award-winning RPG designers and game industry veterans Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall are teaming up to create a classic, old-school RPG reminiscent of the true masterworks in the genre!

Brathwaite got her start on the classic Wizardry® series of role-playing games, having worked on every award-winning game in the series, before moving on to work on Dungeons & Dragons®, while Tom Hall's visionary design on Commander Keen™, Anachronox™ and DOOM™ set the standard for character development, world design and over-the-top immersion. We want to get back to our roots and create an old-school game worthy of 30 years of RPG fan devotion.

While this has quite the pedigree behind it, including some of the developers from Darklands and the older Ultima games, this is probably the CRPG KS that I'm most skeptical of. Project Eternity has the Holy Trinity of CRPG developers, Tim Cain, Chris Avellone and John Sawyer and Brian Fargo just has far too much spite to let Wasteland 2 fail badly. It also has Chris Avellone. I'm a little skeptical of Shadowrun Returns as well, but I'm not sure I put it in the same category as these guys.

What do you guys think? If they can put up some real talk about what they're doing with the game, maybe some concept art and just put as much effort in communicating what it is they have as a concept as Obsidian, I think this could be great. On the other hand, most of these folks haven't had a real game release in... years. At least Fargo and Obsidian have been doing consistent work over the years, and Obsidian has even continued making some of the best RPGs on the marlet.

[Gregorio]

Ugh, I don't know. I have a feeling all of those minds working together will cause a problem. Most solid games (especially RPGs) have one person controlling everything to keep it from becoming sporadic and disconnected. I hated the Wizardry games, but am a huge Doom/Anachronox geek, and I unless Brenda and Tom can work together well and find their creative relationship, I have high hopes but low expectations.

While Kickstarter is interesting for game funding, I get very wary of "going back to old gamez" ones. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to bring back Fallouts and Baldur's Gates, but I'm not going to toss money and hype behind everything that has a few bullet points I agree with. I trust people like Obsidian or Double Fine, but these disjointed, unplanned ones feel destined to fail.

[VonKleist]

Ugh, I don't know. I have a feeling all of those minds working together will cause a problem. Most solid games (especially RPGs) have one person controlling everything to keep it from becoming sporadic and disconnected. I hated the Wizardry games, but am a huge Doom/Anachronox geek, and I unless Brenda and Tom can work together well and find their creative relationship, I have high hopes but low expectations.

While Kickstarter is interesting for game funding, I get very wary of "going back to old gamez" ones. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to bring back Fallouts and Baldur's Gates, but I'm not going to toss money and hype behind everything that has a few bullet points I agree with. I trust people like Obsidian or Double Fine, but these disjointed, unplanned ones feel destined to fail.

You raise a valid point. Didn't Tom Hall leave Id Software over creative differences concerning his input on Doom? (okay.. that was 20 years ago..holy christ.. 20 years!)
On the other hand this kind of personal involvement by a small group of people working on something made for the continuing appeal of the likes of Doom, Ultima etc. because you can still feel that someone really poured their heart into these games.
Anyway I´m a bit sceptical but I approve of the indie/crowdfunding take on games. It won't take us back to the days of yore of game developement but it already gave us a lot of stuff that wouldn't have been published by the big guys.

I never played Wizardry, Might & Magic or any of the other hardcore RPG of that era but if they can get the million bucks and make a game I´ll definitely check it out!

[ackblom12]

Yeah, the amount of ego on this project is a definite concern, but it also kind of feels like the first CRPG project by industry vets that doesn't understand Kickstarter.

Double Fine interacted with the fans and supporters, offering up real talk and showing off concepts of their incentives despite not having real concept art for the game itself.

Obsidian has basically been giving a handjob to every single CRPG nerd.

Shadowrun Returns is resurrecting an old beloved franchise that's been beaten half to death by publishers.

Wasteland 2 is a game that should have been made 20 years ago.

This is... just kind of old school fantasy CRPG but nothing at all is known about it. No concept art, no story concepts, just the promise of a game and maybe 2 and also a tabletop RPG.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Wow, that kickstarter page says nothing about the game. Or games (I really don't get that model)? "Multiple races and professions," "Gain experience and gain levels to hone your characters," "Solve hundreds of quests on your way to discovering and uncovering the secrets of the world," and "Explore a richly detailed world, home to unique, dangerous and sometimes crafty creatures who may be friend or foe" are all the most utterly banal, generic, and frankly meaningless descriptors when it comes to RPGs. All the other high profile RPG kickstarter projects have started with detailed explanations of worlds and race. This project gives me zero confidence. I feel like Obsidian will put my money to good use. I have no clue whatsoever what they guys will do with it, were I to give it to them.

[ackblom12]

I think my favorite quote for it is this little gem.

Brathwaite got her start on the classic Wizardry® series of role-playing games, having worked on every award-winning game in the series, before moving on to work on Dungeons & Dragons®, while Tom Hall's visionary design on Commander Keen™, Anachronox™ and DOOM™ set the standard for character development,

That is an awfully low bar to set.

[TheFuriousWombat]

I like how Doom apparently set standards for character development. That anonymous space marine sure was deep!

[snalin]

Even deeper than the kid who pogos on platforms?!?!

On more serious notes; did anyone play Anachronox? I've not heard about it before, but apparently (from the wikipedia page), there was characters and stuff?

I've not got much confidence in this being good - the only thing these people has made that I've played is commander Keen, and while that is some fantastic platformers, that kind of skill does not necessarily translate to rpg ability. The lack of any info seal the deal - not giving them a dime for now.

[Pilchard123]

Tom Hall looks uncannily like Andy Parsons.

[ackblom12]

Well they've also got folks from Darklands, Wizardry, Might & Magic and several other fantastic RPGs, but all of the great examples of the genre are mid 80's to early 90's.  If they were simply wanting to update an old franchise, I could get behind it, like Al Lowe is doing with Leisure Suit Larry, but a new game?

They just have given me no proof any of them still have it.

[Gregorio]

On more serious notes; did anyone play Anachronox? I've not heard about it before, but apparently (from the wikipedia page), there was characters and stuff?

It was a fun, well-written console-style RPG for the PC. In Ion Storm fashion, it was a fun (Daikatana not withstanding), yet buggy game upon release. Unfortunately, it was buggy, and its good reviews didn't seem to help sales (I think there were multiple big-name titles coming out at the same time). It's over on Good Old Games, and is worth a play.

[Rockman]

I was wondering if I was the only one who was thinking "are they going to talk about the game at all?" before I read the other responses in this thread.  Good to know I'm not alone!

It's entirely possible this will be a great, enjoyable game.  Once it's released (if it gets released) I'll watch some gameplay videos, read some reviews, and if it looks good?  I'll buy it.  But I can't think of any reason to contribute to it as a Kickstarter project, short of them releasing a ton of juicy information in the coming weeks.  Common sense, people - don't try to get a project funded based on your credentials alone.  Give your investors a preview.

[Gregorio]

I'll give Tom the benefit of the doubt. Id obviously lost some creativity around Quake 1, and lost it completely after Romero left. I watched a good LP of Quake 2 where the people who played it posited that id had a nice balance of Romero's creativity, and Carmack and Co.'s simplicity. When you split them up, you get the ambitious, yet over-reaching, buggy mess that is Daikatana, or the solid, yet dull browns and greys of Quake 2. I'm guessing Tom may have been one of the more creative minds to leave the studio, but I'm not going to buy the bullshit about him presented in the article and give him money just because of his name, and what he may have done.

[TheFuriousWombat]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lootdrop/an-old-school-rpg-by-brenda-brathwaite-and-tom-hal?ref=live

Why am I not surprised by this at all?

[ackblom12]

It is for the best.

[Gregorio]

Not that I'm trying to insult her or anything, but was Brenda once a guy?

[snalin]

Not anything about it on wikipedia. Her full name is Brenda Garno Romero Brathwaite, so you might be confusing her with her husband, John Romero, of Daikatana infamy?

[TheFuriousWombat]

Holy cow, I didn't even make that connection! Obviously it shouldn't matter, but that makes me even less confident. You know you fucked up big time in the game industry when over a decade later your name is synonymous with debacle.

[Gregorio]

Not anything about it on wikipedia. Her full name is Brenda Garno Romero Brathwaite, so you might be confusing her with her husband, John Romero, of Daikatana infamy?

Just saying her face is pretty masculine-looking, but whatever. I'm sure I'm just an asshole (yet regrettably so).

I'm sorry that any project with eager people behind it fails like this, but if you really want someone to fund your dream, present it right. This one just seemed to try to pull out "big names" and do the "F-YEAH OLD GAMEZ" routine, with no real plan behind it.