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Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

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Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#11

Post by cbhl »

lmm wrote: post #10
i80and wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Additional platforms" is listed as a stretch goal. Linux might be a big bet in a year or two with SteamOS, but right now, wrangling Unreal 4's third-tier PC OS support is probably not the best time investment for a small studio considering that Linux only has 0.93% in the August Steam hardware survey. Regardless, we can hope!

There's a bit of a selection bias using the steam hardware survey - I'd bet that a greater proportion of windows gamers than linux gamers are using steam.

I suspect there are also a lot of Linux users who keep around Windows to run Steam and games in general, and who happened to be in Windows when they ran that survey.

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#12

Post by timdorr »

tobr wrote: post #2

I'm surprised how good this looks. Cyan hasn't really been able to produce anything of high quality or good taste for the past 10 years (and I say this as a huge fan of some of their earlier games). What little they show here though looks both tasteful and intriguing. I hope this will be a turning point for this struggling company.

Yeah, their most recent efforts are some really shitty-looking mobile games: http://cyan.com/games/stoneship/ and http://cyan.com/games/bug-chucker/

They've been struggling under the shadow of Myst. Hopefully this will get them back on track.

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#13

Post by msg »

cbhl wrote: post #11
lmm wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bit of a selection bias using the steam hardware survey - I'd bet that a greater proportion of windows gamers than linux gamers are using steam.

I suspect there are also a lot of Linux users who keep around Windows to run Steam and games in general, and who happened to be in Windows when they ran that survey.

Each time the survey appears you can elect whether or not to participate. If you are a Linux user currently dropped into Windows to whom this issue of OS identity matters, you can opt out.

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#14

Post by Miyamoto »

dublinben wrote: post #7

I'd love to see an indie studio like this providing something more than pre-orders and deluxe editions to backers. If we're not getting any equity for the money, at least the product should be freely released upon completion.

> If we're not getting any equity for the money, at least the product should be freely released upon completion.

Whoa, what? You've just described every single Kickstarter. Sounds like you have a problem with Kickstarter, not this campaign.

Isn't WeFunder your target?

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#15

Post by sjm-lbm »

timdorr wrote: post #12
tobr wrote: post #2

I'm surprised how good this looks. Cyan hasn't really been able to produce anything of high quality or good taste for the past 10 years (and I say this as a huge fan of some of their earlier games). What little they show here though looks both tasteful and intriguing. I hope this will be a turning point for this struggling company.

Yeah, their most recent efforts are some really shitty-looking mobile games: http://cyan.com/games/stoneship/ and http://cyan.com/games/bug-chucker/ They've been struggling under the shadow of Myst. Hopefully this will get them back on track.

This project does seem to play to their strengths more - during the Uru era, they got hugely involved in the technical side of things (running an MMO game, creating their engine in house, stuff like that) - and their major successes were almost entirely graphics and story, with only the minimum tech needed to pull that off.

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#17

Post by ijk »

dublinben wrote: post #7

I'd love to see an indie studio like this providing something more than pre-orders and deluxe editions to backers. If we're not getting any equity for the money, at least the product should be freely released upon completion.

Investment crowdfunding was, until very recently, highly illegal. It's present legal standing is complex and most crowdfunding platforms, like Kickstarter, have deliberately avoided it, for good reason.

A freely-released product would be very expensive for the developer. The crowdfunding would have to cover all of the development costs, since the project would have no further direct revenue. There's probably a clever way to fund a free-to-play or DLC-supported platform that way, but that only makes sense for a subset of games.

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#18

Post by GrantS »

For those wondering why the introduction is so long, I'm betting they realize that the opening Cyan logo animation and music instantly transports many people back to firing up Myst for the first time 20 years ago with a nearly identical animation. There's a huge emotional attachment there for me, and probably for anyone who played the game as a kid and now has $25 to spare to bring back some great memories of a different era. In fact, there may be millions of people who are already sold on the idea just from that opening 20 seconds, and they only need a tiny fraction of those folks to reach their funding goal -- best of luck to them.

This is one of those projects I would back even if there were no reward simply because I want to live in a world where Cyan is making Myst-like games again. Very excited to see this.

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#19

Post by Roritharr »

ijk wrote: post #17
dublinben wrote: post #7

I'd love to see an indie studio like this providing something more than pre-orders and deluxe editions to backers. If we're not getting any equity for the money, at least the product should be freely released upon completion.

Investment crowdfunding was, until very recently, highly illegal. It's present legal standing is complex and most crowdfunding platforms, like Kickstarter, have deliberately avoided it, for good reason. A freely-released product would be very expensive for the developer. The crowdfunding would have to cover all of the development costs, since the project would have no further direct revenue. There's probably a clever…

For some strange reason most people in Germany misunderstood Crowdfunding with Crowdinvesting and so we have a lot of Crowdinvesting platforms like Companisto, Seedmatch, Bergfürst...

Re: Myst creator Cyan Worlds announces Kickstarter for Obduction

#20

Post by dublinben »

Miyamoto wrote: post #14
dublinben wrote: post #7

I'd love to see an indie studio like this providing something more than pre-orders and deluxe editions to backers. If we're not getting any equity for the money, at least the product should be freely released upon completion.

> If we're not getting any equity for the money, at least the product should be freely released upon completion. Whoa, what? You've just described every single Kickstarter. Sounds like you have a problem with Kickstarter, not this campaign. Isn't WeFunder your target?

>You've just described every single Kickstarter.

Not at all. There have been numerous campaigns that released their product to the community upon reaching their goal, like Cards Against Humanity, The Pirate Bay - AFK documentary, the Open Goldberg Variations, and many more projects.

http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/creativecommons

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