Black Isle Studios, the Interplay subsidiary that was recently reformed, has launched a crowdfunding scheme for its first comeback game -- but it's rather different to your average Kickstarter.
The studio is best known for the Baldur's Gate franchise and Fallout 2, and was closed down in 2003. However, parent company Interplay revived Black Isle earlier this year, albeit with a different team.
In a bid to not let the work on Fallout Online go to waste, Black Isle has removed all references to Fallout from the game, and has continued to work on the title as a separate entity. There is no word as to whether Masthead is still involved with the game.
The crowdfunding scheme for the game is not your typical pledging initiative. Backers will not receive a copy of the finished game, or indeed any product at all, but will instead be offered access to a Black Isle forum.
Unlike most crowdfunding initiatives, the pledged money isn't going towards the finished product, but rather, a Project V13 "proof of concept" prototype, which Black Isle will then attempt to use to raise the additional funds necessary to finish up the main game. This means that backers don't even receive the promise that the final game will actually be released.
As of yet, there aren't many details regarding how similar Project V13 is to the original Fallout Online, or even what type of game it is.
"PV13 has been in development for years, but we've had to make some major changes recently," reads a statement from the team. "We believe the changes are for the better and we're excited about working on this new iteration of PV13."
They can't get the money together to create this thing but they STILL want to create an MMO? Why not just convert the game to something less ambitious that could turn out to be just as good?
Either make a singleplayer RPG (possibly with CO-OP) or use the Diablo/GW1 model where it's still a multiplayer game but you don't have a massive world or anything.
F2P makes MMOs less risky these days but they still cost a ridiculous amount to get off the ground.
as noted in the article, Black Isle hasn't actually said that Project V13 is an MMO anymore, but instead left the details remarkably vague. If you read the game's description on the pledge page, it certainly doesn't sound like an MMO anymore, but rather it sounds like they're taking FO's world and revamping it for a different genre.
I wouldn't trust Interplay with anything these days, I actually registered on their one page flash site for the fallout mmo and the only update they ever sent me in several years was an ad for a crappy unrelated game they were trying to sell.
Black Isle in name only, hopefully anyone who remembers the once great Black Isle knows this.
I still find their pitch way more sympathetic as the one earlier this year from Obsidian. Lovely remarks (YES developer PR interviews do suck!) and apparently a clear vision.
Yet given their late history and the fact, that this is still rather about a prototype building... not very convincing for me to spend money.
I knew there was a problem the instant their video starts with the text "Mayan Countdown" overlaid over an Aztec carving. Geez, these guys totally don't know their mesoamerican cultures!
Either make a singleplayer RPG (possibly with CO-OP) or use the Diablo/GW1 model where it's still a multiplayer game but you don't have a massive world or anything.
F2P makes MMOs less risky these days but they still cost a ridiculous amount to get off the ground.
as noted in the article, Black Isle hasn't actually said that Project V13 is an MMO anymore, but instead left the details remarkably vague. If you read the game's description on the pledge page, it certainly doesn't sound like an MMO anymore, but rather it sounds like they're taking FO's world and revamping it for a different genre.
Black Isle in name only, hopefully anyone who remembers the once great Black Isle knows this.
I still find their pitch way more sympathetic as the one earlier this year from Obsidian. Lovely remarks (YES developer PR interviews do suck!) and apparently a clear vision.
Yet given their late history and the fact, that this is still rather about a prototype building... not very convincing for me to spend money.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_Stone