Double Fine Adventure • Hacker News Board

Re: Double Fine Adventure

#61

Post by petercooper » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 8:05 AM UTC

thristian wrote: post #57

petercooper wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The giant spotlight that Notch (Minecraft) brought to the project and to Tim via the Psychonauts 2 funding "offer" helped a lot too. Must admit, I'd never heard of Tim's name before despite being familiar with his games until Notch was going on about it.

You don't have to put "offer" in quotes; apparently there are Serious Talks going on: http://twitter.com/TimOfLegend/status/167413887082311682 http://twitter.com/TimOfLegend/status/167414243858202624

Scare quotes are tricky :-) But they indicate something "does not signify its literal or conventional meaning" and while Notch mentioned it and they might be talking, I didn't see an "offer" per se, hence my quotes (but admittedly I was thinking of "offer" from a contractual point of view at the time).

Re: Double Fine Adventure

#62

Post by jvdh » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 8:50 AM UTC

teyc wrote: post #52

Some analysis here: 1. The publisher in this case has a track record, so there is less risk involved. 2. $15 for an adventure game sounds "well priced" 3. There is a bit of risk reversal on the pledgers since the game might turn out to be awful. This is compared to buying a game after it has been reviewed. 4. However, the risk is only $15 5. There is much nostalgia, and even if $15 is wasted, it would have been a nic…

And like he states in the video:

8. If the game does blow up in their faces, there will be video evidence of it for all the backers to enjoy.

Re: Double Fine Adventure

#63

Post by InclinedPlane » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 8:57 AM UTC

jeffool wrote: post #55

alex_c wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Industry insiders correct me if I'm wrong, but Grim Fandango was pretty much the final nail in the coffin (no pun intended) of the pure adventure genre, because it had terrible sales. Simultaneously, it was a true masterpiece - one of the best in the genre. So it's not surprising that lots of people grew up loving adventure games and now have the disposable income and the nostalgia to fund a Kickstarter project, whil…

Interesting that the Wiki entry continually calls out a commercial failure and goes on to say: Total cumulative worldwide sales are estimated between 100,000 and 500,000 units. [61] The game is commonly considered a commercial failure, [62][63][64] even though LucasArts has stated that "Grim Fandango met domestic expectations and exceeded them worldwide".

I wonder if it's the Radio Shack problem. Why make only a little money selling electronics components when you can make a lot more money with the same resources selling cell phones? See also adventure games based on new IP vs. FPSes based on Star Wars IP.

Re: Double Fine Adventure

#64

Post by dagw » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 9:35 AM UTC

thristian wrote: post #58

Aloisius wrote: post #31

Sigh. PC game. I'm not sure how long it's been since I've even seen a PC. I suppose I could kick in some money and hope it works under Virtualbox.

Maybe in a couple of years somebody will talk them into adding it to a Humble Bundle. I donated, on the off chance of it someday running on a platform I own, because hey, at least I can get a neat game soundtrack and documentary.

On the kickstarter page, when Tim talks about what they're going to do with the extra money they've gotten he say:

"Additional money means it can appear on more platforms, be translated into more languages, have more music and voice..."

So if money keeps rolling in like it has, chances are good they'll have the cash to make the game multi platform.

Re: Double Fine Adventure

#65

Post by coldarchon » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 12:41 PM UTC

gavingmiller wrote: post #13

What makes a project like this succeed so spectacularly on kickstarter? Is it because the video is so well done? Or because Tim Schafer is behind it? Or because a lot of people want to play an adventure game? Or the perfect storm of all of the above? Just trying to wrap my brain around it.

Personality. This guy has it.