The original purpose of funding Broken Age via Kickstarter was to raise money for a type of game that all but died out because it lacked market appeal. The stakes have clearly been raised since Double Fine launched its original Kickstarter campaign. That will supply all the funds we need to be completely independent." In Double Fine's latest documentary episode, the company's vice president for business development, Justin Bailey, says, "If it sells 500,000 copies, we'll be an enormously successful studio. 28, and made the online video game store Steam's "Top Sellers" list. When the scene with the wolf appeared, I couldn't help but think about the corresponding moment in the documentary, and how many hours of work went into something that otherwise would have flown right by me. I couldn't help but wonder, however, how much of my experience with the final product (technically, the first half of the final product) had been influenced by closely following its production. Speaking for myself, as a backer of the project, I came away satisfied. The reviews of Broken Age: Act I are generally quite positive reviewers laud Schafer's script and the beautiful art style, though some have criticized Act I for being too short (about four hours) and not as difficult as older adventure games. One of the company's employees, formerly a video game journalist himself, reminds the team that not publishing information - especially after it's already been "leaked" - would make a reporter feel "derelict in their duties."Īll Tech Considered Sometimes, Death Is Only The Beginning. In one episode of the documentary, Double Fine staffers lament the actions of journalists as a "violation of our terms of use" and a betrayal of the agreement they made with backers. That didn't stop video game journalists from using backer updates as a source to report on the game's budgetary woes. Progress updates were made available to the project's 87,142 Kickstarter backers (plus people who backed the game after the Kickstarter campaign ended) with the expectation that the news they contained wouldn't be shared until the company made formal public announcements. It's a moment that's instantly relatable to anyone who's been involved in a collaborative creative process.ĭouble Fine has also struggled with how to work with the press while keeping its promise to make sure the project's backers are the first to know about the game's developments. The animator resigns himself to redoing hours of work. Visibly crestfallen, the animator attempts to negotiate - maybe he can make some small tweaks - and that's when Schafer firmly tells him that the entire scene needs to be re-animated. The camera focuses on the animator's face, and he smiles as the cutscene plays on a large monitor.Īt the end of the scene, Schafer tells the animator that while the work is good, the wolf's exaggerated movements don't fit with the character's personality. The scene is one of the first character interactions between the boy, Shay, and a mysterious talking wolf. In a particularly brutal scene from one of the latest documentary episodes, the development team gathers as one of the game's animators presents a cutscene he's particularly proud of. But the designer's followers pined for another Tim Schafer adventure, and jumped at the chance to crowdfund it. Schafer went on to found Double Fine and focused on developing games in other genres. Grim Fandango's commercial failure helped lead to the demise of the adventure game genre in the late 1990s. Grim Fandango was praised by critics, but it was largely ignored by consumers, and managed to only develop a relatively small cult following. Schafer is a legendary adventure game designer whose credits include the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and, most notably, Grim Fandango, released in 1998. The enthusiasm of backers for the project can be linked to the game's designer, Tim Schafer. This was a record at the time, and opened the doors for other developers to use the same strategy to fund their games. Developer Double Fine Productions initially asked for $400,000, but ended up raising more than $3 million. The game's funding came primarily through a Kickstarter campaign.
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