By Nathan Grayson on December 22nd, 2012 at 10:08 am.
You probably remember that legendary RPG powerhouse Black Isle Studios abruptly rose from the dead earlier this year. You might also remember feeling supremely baffled by that fact, given that Interplay’s now a penniless shell of a company, and the “old band” it was hoping to get back together had already, you know, done that – just at Obsidian and inXile. So how exactly does this new studio wearing Black Isle’s pajamas hope to paddle through the overwhelming waters of seeming impossibility? Well, predictably, that’s where you come in. But, to be perfectly honest, you probably won’t want to.
The first step in Black Isle’s plan is actually quite sensible: the newly rechristened videogame company would like to make a videogame. And it actually sounds somewhat interesting, to boot. Titled Project V13, it’s set to be a sprawling post-apocalyptic role-player (yes, kind of like that other one), but with a couple potentially game-changing twists.
“Once you have determined your character’s background, you will found your ‘colony’. From a deserted city, a broken down military base, or even the ruins of an oil pumping station, the colony will be yours to rebuild and control. Attract non-player characters for guards, peons, scientists, and other activities. Or, if you are the type that so desires, shanghai the NPCs. Put them to work rebuilding your society and improving your colony.”
Problem is, little else about this funding drive inspires confidence. Most obviously, it offers practically nothing in the way of evidence that this game exists outside of promises that Interplay’s been attempting to get it off the ground for years. Moreover, the drive has no end date, charges donors immediately, and doesn’t even offer a copy of the completed product in the event that it “succeeds.”
Oh, but you can get some fancy forum titles. Isn’t that neat?
And then, of course, there’s the elephant in the room: who are these people? Unfortunately, a heavily bleeped (for legal reasons, presumably) and horrifically stilted introductory video doesn’t do much in the way of building faith. Meanwhile, I’ve sent over multiple interview requests, but the impending holiday break appears to have left them in a smoking, irradiated heap on the floor. If that changes, you’ll be the first to know, but until then, probably think long and hard before tossing some of your precious caps in this one’s cup.
22/12/2012 at 10:17 rei says:
Sadly, people are silly and some aren’t going to see past “Oh Black Isle didn’t they make some cool games?” without realizing that they’re actually giving money to the Caen brothers, not BIS.
22/12/2012 at 11:25 D3xter says:
Well, you can check for yourself if people are so silly xD
http://invested.in/U10274/black-isle-studios
22/12/2012 at 12:07 Drayk says:
Gamers aren’t that silly it seems. 18 k views and only 82 contributors. I feel bad for those 82 guys though…
22/12/2012 at 14:43 S Jay says:
Everyone has some supportive friend or relative, pretty sure at least 50% of those 82 donors are somewhat related to the poor chaps at the video.
23/12/2012 at 05:15 D3xter says:
#8 on the “Hero Board” is Eric Caen, Herve’s brother. xD
http://blackisle.com/
22/12/2012 at 17:24 rawrty says:
I’m still really confused if this is supposed to be just an elaborate joke or a serious fund raising campaign. I guess my confusion doesn’t bode well either way.
23/12/2012 at 11:23 SpakAttack says:
This article goes a long way to describing why you shouldn’t give these idiots any money:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Caen
22/12/2012 at 23:26 dontnormally says:
Signal boost:
http://www.indiegogo.com/SaveInterplay
This is a campaign to raise enough money to purchase a majority stake in Interplay.
A much, much, much more sound investment.
23/12/2012 at 11:20 Halbarad says:
See, that’s an almost worst investment. Sure, buying a majority stake in Interplay will give the power but for your money as an investor, you’re getting nothing. They promise to give you a vote but they get to choose what the choices are in those votes. If you put a significant amount of money down the best bet would be to buy Interplay shares yourself and then negotiate a union between the shareholders who are wanting to over-rule the current people at Interplay.
23/12/2012 at 14:45 Slinkyboy says:
You’re not an investor when you give your money through KS or Go-Go. RPS made an article about that. You should look for it yourself.
23/12/2012 at 11:01 Namey says:
The thing is, I’d be much more inclined to make a donation here, if they weren’t trying to distract us with the old Black Isle label, and not using the very dodgy, non-kickstarter system. If they were completely honest with “Hey, we’re the remains of Interplay and would like to do some games again, could you help?” I might actually pitch in.
But the whole “Remember how you loved Black Isle?” angle is so emotionally manipulative that the whole deal leaves me rather disgusted. And having no concrete goals or promises really hurts the trustworthiness too. I assume they’re not using Kickstarter, because Kickstarter doesn’t actually allow this sketchy pitches.
24/12/2012 at 08:44 stupid_mcgee says:
Yeah… Sure… Keep telling yourself that Kickstarter isn’t filled with “sketchy pitches.” Whatever helps you sleep at night.
I’d be willing to bet it actually has more to do with Kickstarter taking a cut from the amount raised. The Caen brothers are nothing but shysters.
22/12/2012 at 10:20 Continuity says:
Dubious, very dubious.
I’d like to know how they got the rights for the Black isle name and logo.
22/12/2012 at 12:05 Hoaxfish says:
Erm, because they’re Interplay… they always had it I think.
22/12/2012 at 20:51 tyren says:
Black Isle was always a subsidiary of Interplay, which is why they were shut down by Interplay back in the day rather than, say, finding a new publisher.
23/12/2012 at 07:06 socrate says:
Thus why this isn’t worthy of being backed up with donation…black isle was awesome and they killed it….once its dead something like that never will be “reborn” its just impossible….they are just trying to cash in on the name just like EA tried to do it with Bioware.
I have good memory of Black isle very good one at that…but i did also have good one about Bioware and they just went to much console way….KoToR was really nice…but Dragon age is not even close to Baldur’s gate and play like a dumb console game with almost no tactic and just gory effect and well done animation….beyond that it as horrible gameplay and fight that aren’t memorable at all…even the story was dull to me and extremely unimaginative….and Mass effect is even worst…its not an rpg at all its 100x closer to an FPS then it is to an actual RPG…and the story…i don’t even get why people even complained about the end of ME3 in the first place the story didn’t make any sense in the first place.
So yeah i doubt Black isle will make a come back like that…i mean they have what it take to do it on their own if they still have the talent and brilliant mind that made all these godlike RPG that i still play today from time to time,but with this…nothing shown and just blah blah about idea that have kind of been made…and usually not in a good well done way,yeah not really interested.
22/12/2012 at 10:23 Greg Wild says:
Not sold on me for a second.
22/12/2012 at 10:23 caddyB says:
Backed Project Eternity and Wasteland 2, I’ve done enough for the real Black Isle. I’m sorry for the old Black Isle guys working on this, but I don’t have any faith that they can deliver anything at all.
22/12/2012 at 15:50 Xerian says:
And those “old” guys are literally only two people. The rest of the team has no past in developing games, and Chris whats-his-face that made the concept of the SPECIAL system for Fallout (where the actual work he did do was shoddy), and hasnt been in the industry for about ten years, until they started working on Fallout Online, which is now this V13. They spent over FIVE YEARS on Fallout Online, and never even got a tech-demo off the ground, which is what the current funds go towards. Making a tech-demo to show to possible investors. This’ll never get off the ground, if its even intended to. So dont feel sorry for them, its just a cash-grab.
23/12/2012 at 16:36 Cerius says:
He did a lot more and that work wasn’t shoddy at all. He was the (second) Lead Designer after all. Also the Lead Designer of Stonekeep. It’s also not only two guys. The others have also worked in the Industry before including Interplay. Do your research.
I don’t understand why these guys not quit and do their own thing? Fear before the market? I’m sure Taylor could have his own studio or get a good position at another.
It’s a shame, since I actually have respect for most of the devs there. Chip Bumgardner worked at Obsidian before as well and is good friends with them including MCA. Taylor has a board-game company with Scott Everts (Obsidian)
Caen holding their families hostage or what?
22/12/2012 at 10:25 Chris says:
Chip BUMGARDNER?
Seriously?
That name made laugh out loud.
Bumgardner! HA!
22/12/2012 at 10:31 FurryLippedSquid says:
There’s a US baseball player called Rusty Bumgardner.
Damn.
22/12/2012 at 10:40 tobecooper says:
We’ve already had our share of bumgardening with Barry the Silly Lawyer from some months ago.
22/12/2012 at 10:45 FurryLippedSquid says:
Ah, apologies, I’m n00.
22/12/2012 at 10:59 tobecooper says:
Ah, sorry if I came off as an ass.
I know bum gardening is a joyous activity and everyone should experience it at his own pace.
22/12/2012 at 11:29 FurryLippedSquid says:
No, no. I didn’t think you were being an ass, no worries!
22/12/2012 at 11:44 Blaaaaaaag says:
Now you’re deliberately being cheeky.
22/12/2012 at 13:04 tobecooper says:
Ah, but this does look bad, now that Blaaaaaaag is trying to pun it further.
Haven’t hit the rock bottom yet, Blaaaaaaag! No, sir!
22/12/2012 at 13:37 FurryLippedSquid says:
I’m not sure I understand the hole concept. Bazinga.
22/12/2012 at 13:43 Axyl says:
The entire thing just looks s**t.
(My 1st pun. Be gentle)
22/12/2012 at 18:02 iucounu says:
I know we all seem to find Bumgardening very amusing, but let’s try to keep these cracks clean?
23/12/2012 at 14:20 Jediben says:
I think you should all sphincter moment about how hurtful these puns could be. Shame on you!
23/12/2012 at 21:05 Blaaaaaaag says:
Taint gonna lie, some of these really stink.
22/12/2012 at 11:06 Runs With Foxes says:
Variation of German baumgardner, like tree gardner or something. Bad idea to lose the a.
Google says ‘Bogart’ is another variation.
22/12/2012 at 12:09 povu says:
http://i.imgur.com/BvbRQ.jpg
I trust this guy with all my monies.
22/12/2012 at 12:34 tossrStu says:
This man is clearly the best of the Bumgardners.
22/12/2012 at 10:32 Yosharian says:
A couple of people who worked on the original Fallout, dunno I’m not convinced.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to use Black Isle as the name of this new group either, it reeks too much of corporate opportunism.
22/12/2012 at 17:56 Dances to Podcasts says:
Feels like they’d do better with a fresh start kind of image than the old brand.
22/12/2012 at 10:36 tobecooper says:
I know this doesn’t change anything but the drive has an end date, Nathan – there’s Project V13 Apocalypse Countdown in the upper right corner of the webpage – 27 more days to go.
22/12/2012 at 10:37 somnolentsurfer says:
You did decide to cover this then? The biggest problem by far here is that they’re not actually offering a game. How little they have to show pales in comparison. Seems distinctly unethical to be asking for money without offering any return on investment. Or, at least, if they’re now a charity expecting us to help them purely out of the kindness of our hearts they need to be a lot clearer about it. And they should be offering to put the results of their work in the public domain. This article should really come with a big “don’t donate” warning. I suspect a good few people are going to donate without realising they have none of the rewards or protection of all the other kickstarters recently.
Also, given that the world didn’t end, I’m guessing they don’t actually need our money to save it now.
22/12/2012 at 10:40 SlappyBag says:
The website alone is just disgusting. Why aren’t they using kickstarter, that would give the project even a slight boost to reputation. =/
Also the FAQ they have literally states that you get naff all. Its to make a prototype (which it no where states you have access to) to then acquire additional funding.
Just wow, how many game industry cash grabs have we had in one month. Whats worse, this or War Z =/
22/12/2012 at 10:50 Lukasz says:
They can’t offer Kickstarter as it would have never been accepted. they are not offering anything. they want money from people for nothing, just so they can create some sort of prototype to sell it off to a proper investor. these guys are bankrupt and have no ability to acquire money the normal way anymore.
although i do like idea of having one town and rpging in order to improve it and rebuild the civilization
23/12/2012 at 12:41 Don Reba says:
I checked the Kickstarter rules, and there does not seem to be a requirement to offer anything tangible as a reward.
24/12/2012 at 08:53 stupid_mcgee says:
There isn’t. There never has been. A bunch of idiots just assume that’s the rules, so they run around spreading misinformation rather than actually bothering to really figure out the rules and regulations.
Good on you for taking a moment to properly educate yourself on the matter. I wish more would take this approach before they begin to try and speak with some form of authority on matters.
Anyways, Kickstarter does take a 5% fee, as well as an additional 3% to 5% for transaction processing. My guess is that they want to avoid the 8%-10% cut that Kickstarter would take.
22/12/2012 at 12:05 Carwash says:
Well, at least with War Z, there IS a game there to play.
A game I quite enjoyed, when I played it using the 24 hour guest pass..
(Just not enough to spare the cash)
22/12/2012 at 10:46 GoliathBro says:
Four pieces of generic concept art, a horribly low quality video pitch, a terrible website, and next to zero details about the game, topped off with the worst ‘incentives’ I’ve ever seen.
These people can’t put together a halfway decent fundraising campaign, how are they going to manage a video game?
22/12/2012 at 10:48 Llewyn says:
What on earth makes you think they’re actually interested in producing a game?
22/12/2012 at 11:59 LeiterJakab says:
To be fair thses two require rather different skills.
22/12/2012 at 10:52 Rao Dao Zao says:
The bleeping is rather unfortunate. “… and f***”
22/12/2012 at 11:19 Big Murray says:
“I worked on F*** 1 & 2″ …
22/12/2012 at 12:38 Hoaxfish says:
I’m not quite sure what legal precedent could lead to them not being able to say Fallout, when they have actually worked on it.
I can see them not being allowed to say they’re making Fallout 4, but that’s what they’re not doing.
24/12/2012 at 08:59 stupid_mcgee says:
Not sure about with other countries, but in the US there is absolutely no reason they would have to bleep that. The cynic within me thinks they’re merely doing it to play the victim card, regarding Interplay’s legal troubles with Bethesda over the Fallout series, to garner sympathy.
The Caen brothers can go to hell.
22/12/2012 at 14:39 Kasab says:
I had no idea Black Isle worked on Fakk 2.
22/12/2012 at 10:54 coffeetable says:
Note that Project V13 was the codename for the Fallout MMO Bethesda sued them over: Interplay’s contract said they had to start developing it within two years of the signing, but though claiming they were working on it, Interplay never actually hired anyone.
22/12/2012 at 11:02 NathanH says:
I don’t think anyone should back this. At best it is exploiting people and at worst it’s a scam. There seem to be far more worthy and reliable things to pledge money to if that’s the sort of thing you do.
22/12/2012 at 11:07 Text_Fish says:
Johnny No-Shoes could do better green-screen with a phone camera and a bedsheet. Really, what were they thinking? Low-tech is charming when it comes from true indies, but these guys are clearly already forking out a shit load of money on defunct brands and overblown industry egos, so how about just a smidgen of polish to suggest that our money might be well spent?
22/12/2012 at 11:10 Ninja Foodstuff says:
Pretty sure it’s offensive to use “Shanghai” as a verb in that way.
22/12/2012 at 11:15 LennyLeonardo says:
Is it? I guess it could be, given that child labour is still an issue in China, though the term relates to a practice specific to the 17th and 18th century, one not necessarily linked to child labour as it is now. I’m not sure – would be interested to know how others feel.
22/12/2012 at 11:27 Lanfranc says:
Etymologically speaking, the practice of impressment of sailors was known as “shanghaing” because Shanghai, being a “treaty port” open to foreign merchants, was one of the most common destinations for merchant ships going to the Far East. So it doesn’t really imply anything about Shanghai itself or people from there, other than that it’s a place very far away, which you might not be too thrilled about being forced to spend six months sailing to. I personally wouldn’t consider it offensive.
22/12/2012 at 11:34 Brad Grenz says:
Yeah, the term refers to the destination, not the perpetrators. The “crimps” who rounded up people forcibly to crew ships were mostly white guys operating in port cities like San Francisco and Portland.
22/12/2012 at 11:33 x1501 says:
You’ll get over it.
22/12/2012 at 19:04 Ninja Foodstuff says:
yeah.
22/12/2012 at 11:25 melnificent says:
Wow, just wow.
This makes the Elite kickstarter look like a fully furnished campaign with intensely detailed updates and information.
22/12/2012 at 11:32 D3xter says:
“Will my contribution get me a copy of the Project V13 game if it is released?
No. This campaign isn’t meant to fund the final PV13 video game.
So what DO I get?
“What’s in it for me?” It’s a fair question. Your contribution at $10 and up will get you access to news, special updates, and content from the new Black Isle Studios – PV13 forums. At $20 and over, you will achieve special insider status and you will be able to participate in a restricted area of the forum to interact directly with the BIS game designers – make suggestions, discuss our progress, ask us what we had for lunch…
You will receive a certificate of appreciation documenting your efforts to prevent the End of Time. You will also receive a special Black Isle Mayan Apocalypse Replacement (BIMAR) virtual backer badge for display in your forum profile and in game if we successfully launch. The certificate and BIMAR backer badge will be tied to your level of contribution and will demonstrate to others the level of your ongoing support. The top 20 contributors will each receive a unique BIMAR badge reflecting their outstanding commitment to saving the world.
We may hold other promotions in the future that offer forum or in-game badges as rewards, but this will be your ONLY chance to earn the BIMAR badge to show that you supported this project from the beginning. So act now!
When will the new Black Isle Studios forums open?
Assuming we get the support necessary to Save the World, we should have the forums up and running in about 30 days (approximately the end of January). Shortly before then, we will make a further announcement and send email notifications inviting contributors to register. NOTE THAT YOUR PAYMENT WILL BE CHARGED NOW, AT THE TIME YOU MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION, NOT AT THE TIME THE FORUM OPENS.
Sounds great, but what will you do with my money?
We have been working hard behind the scenes to resume operations as Black Isle Studios. Since we are no longer constrained by licensing issues, we have the opportunity to build a new IP from the ground up and there is a lot more latitude to unleash our creativity, try some new ideas and even incorporate your suggestions. Our goal at this stage is threefold: 1) prove to management that you want Black Isle Studios resurrected – and all the history and tradition of excellence that goes with it; 2) to continue to staff up BIS and complete our PV13 game design; and 3) to develop a tech demo/ proof of concept for our design that will open the doors to additional funding.”
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100203223349/fallout/images/5/5b/Herve_Caen.jpg
I think this is a more worthy and noble Crowdfunding campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/SaveInterplay
22/12/2012 at 11:53 RobinOttens says:
Well that sure sounds trustworthy. “Give us money for access to a forum that’s not yet up. We’ll maybe let you know what we’ll do with the money at some point.”
22/12/2012 at 13:38 Hmm-Hmm. says:
“But be sure to hand over your money quickly, or you might miss on our priceless forum badge!”
I mean.. really? If there was a way to do the opposite of throwing money at a screen, this would be a time to apply that.
22/12/2012 at 13:53 Lanfranc says:
I tried throwing lawsuit complaints at my screen, but it didn’t work very well. :-(
22/12/2012 at 14:05 Vorphalack says:
After reading that pitch I threw the screen at my money. Hope it helped!
22/12/2012 at 20:49 The Greatness says:
Throwing money at your face?
22/12/2012 at 11:57 honuk says:
I hope this puts a nail in the crowdfunding fad
22/12/2012 at 12:06 Text_Fish says:
I really don’t. Crowd funding has the potential to get some great games (FTL to name one) made. There will always be a few greedy tossers out to exploit nostalgia without putting any effort in, but the beauty of the whole setup is that if that’s not what the “crowd” really wants (which would seem to be the case if reactions to this and Dizzy are anything to go by) then it won’t work. It’s survival of the fittest rather than the fattest, and that’s exactly what the industry needs.
22/12/2012 at 13:23 x1501 says:
“FTL was announced on February 27, 2012 via Kickstarter and released in September 14, 2012. .. Although much of the game was initially self-funded, Subset Games turned to Kickstarter in order to fund the final polish of the game as well as costs associated to its release, seeking a total funding goal of $10,000…[W]ith interest spurred in crowd-funded games, Subset games was able to raise over $200,000 through the effort.”
As much as I liked FTL’s ideas, I think it’s safe to say that most of the money raised through Kickstarter simply went to the developers’ pockets and had very little effect on actual development of the game. First of all, the kickstarter campaign to finish what was already a half-finished game didn’t seem that essential. Second, even if it were, with the $10,000 funding goal that raised over $200,000, and with god knows how many sold copies after the release, it certainly didn’t seem that the game’s developers put anywhere near that much effort into additional development as they could have. Again, it’s a pretty little game with an interesting concept, but as far as the quantity of content, art assets, and core mechanics goes, it’s an extremely basic product. With most of the game already being completed through self-funding and the development team basically consisting of two developers and a part-time music guy, in the 6-month window between the Kickstarter’s announcement and the game’s release those $200,000 went where, exactly? I’m not that sure I approve of the model at all.
22/12/2012 at 13:50 Lanfranc says:
What you call “an extremely basic product”, I’d call an extremely tightly designed product that would have been hurt if anything more had been added to it. It has precisely as much content as it needs to do what it wants to do.
Other than that, what’s the problem? Two guys design a product that lots of people want, lots of people pay them money, they end up with lots of money in their pockets. That’s how a marketplace works.
22/12/2012 at 14:34 x1501 says:
The fact that you find the game’s austere qualities attractive is irrelevant—from a developer’s perspective, the game’s engine design is rather basic and extremely cheap to implement. And I’m not criticizing the gameplay at all. What I mean by this is, to give you a crude example, that they didn’t have to invest into voice acting, motion capturing, third-party middleware, high-poly 3D modeling, or any other usually expensive technologies and techniques to create what they did.
As for the way the market works, with a team that small, a game engine that simple, and a development cycle that short (2011-2012), it’s more than reasonable to assume that the developers already recouped most, if not all, development costs with the Kickstarter campaign alone and then just collected pure profits from selling the game at a normal price. Which is good for them I guess, but I still prefer a traditional model where a company would sell a product, recover its development costs and make any profit on its investments only after the product was actually finished and available to sale. Call me old-fashioned.
22/12/2012 at 14:04 NathanH says:
What to do if you’ve received a lot more Kickstarter money than you expected, know what to do with, and possibly even wanted is a difficult question. It’s quite conceivable that you just can’t think of anything good to do with the money without risking the quality of your game or the release date. And you have to remember that your goal is to make some money as well, so you maybe don’t want to go spending everything you receive over the desired budget. As an extreme example, suppose everyone in the world supported your Kickstarter at the “get the game as a reward” level. Then clearly there is rather little potential profit in the game, so you’d definitely not want to spend all the money.
On the other hand, if you’ve received a lot of money to make a game then morally you should probably use as much of it as you can.
Perhaps in the future when a project starts really going over its target by a long way, the developers could consider some sort of anti-stretch levels. Like, “if you fund between $400,000 and $500,000 we’re probably not going to spend it all”.
22/12/2012 at 18:37 Dances to Podcasts says:
Pay it forward to the next project, so you won’t have to rely on kickstarters all the time?
22/12/2012 at 18:24 dmastri says:
I could not disagree more with this argument. Subset needed a few bucks (to the tune of $10k) to cover finishing and release costs for their game and in return for your investment, even at the lowest $10 tier, you receive a copy of the game. Not really all that different than pre-ordering through traditional channels using a “pay whatever you want” model. I’m not really sure how any of this is greedy or bad.
22/12/2012 at 19:17 x1501 says:
Except that the retail version of the game was actually valued and sold at $9.99, slightly cheaper than even the lowest tier $10 pledge. 2500+ backers of the $25 pledge and almost 1000 backers of $40-5000 pledges got what? The knowledge that $200,000 they collectively donated went on spending a thousand or two on the sound and then directly into the two developers’ bank accounts? The Kickstarter page said that since their the developers’ funds were starting to deplete, the expected $10,000 from the pledges would go toward covering the business costs related with releasing the game, paying the sound designer, and “making FTL as good as it can”. Clearly, it has not been the case.
22/12/2012 at 19:52 Lanfranc says:
Presumably those who backed at higher levels got the extra rewards for those levels in addition to the game? Since that’s how Kickstarter works?
Personally, having backed at the $10 level, I do recognise that I could have saved an entire cent by waiting to buy it until after release. But I do not begrudge the developers that extra cent. I think they deserve it.
22/12/2012 at 18:36 Shuck says:
“most of the money raised through Kickstarter simply went to the developers’ pockets”
In other words it was “income” that was used to support the developers so they could work on the game full time. What else would the money get used for?
22/12/2012 at 18:39 Bhazor says:
Next you’ll be saying developers make games for money.
22/12/2012 at 21:36 Shuck says:
Heresy!
22/12/2012 at 23:25 Lanfranc says:
Ban this sick filth!
23/12/2012 at 19:01 deke913 says:
3 man team = roughly 63k each for a years worth of work
not too shabby depending on their lifestyle
the question would be “Are they arrogant self indulgent douchebags who wouldn’t have been the worse if this had not worked or hard working dreamers taking a long shot and succeeding?”
22/12/2012 at 12:33 Hoaxfish says:
Dodgy company uses their own personal website to take money while not offering anything worthwhile back…. not sure anyone seriously considers this a decent attempt at crowdfunding, let alone a reason to pull away from crowdfunding in general.
22/12/2012 at 14:29 Slinkyboy says:
Agreed. Probably just some poor lonely hatemonger.
23/12/2012 at 06:02 Thants says:
What possible reason is there to hope that?
22/12/2012 at 12:04 Drayk says:
Just … No !
22/12/2012 at 12:14 FullMetalMonkey says:
It sounds like they want to make Kenshi
22/12/2012 at 13:59 Lars Westergren says:
Or Dead State in a Fallout setting.
22/12/2012 at 17:55 abandonhope says:
Or Lodestar, a little blip of a Kickstarter that never was.
22/12/2012 at 19:43 mwoody says:
Or Pac-Man in a postapocalyptic Korean BBQ restaurant
22/12/2012 at 12:16 SpecimN says:
The real question is: could you be named “Chris Taylor” and be something else than game designer ?
22/12/2012 at 12:20 CaspianRoach says:
Thiiiiiis sounds very much like a free to play facebook timewaster.
22/12/2012 at 12:26 Ironclad says:
how is interplay still around anyway? Are they surviving purely on the income from selling old games (gog, steam, etc?) or is there necromancy involved?
22/12/2012 at 15:56 strangeloup says:
I seem to remember something about Interplay being essentially a shell company, with no employees, no income and no outgoings, but just existing to maintain the name.
Wiki sez different, but no by much; they have 8 employees, no money, and haven’t done anything of note in 9 years.
22/12/2012 at 18:41 Shuck says:
They must be getting income from some past games – not enough to hire any number of actual developers, but enough to support the “management” who are keeping the company going.
24/12/2012 at 09:11 stupid_mcgee says:
I don’t understand how Titus Software ever got enough money top buy Interplay. I guess The Blues Brothers game really payed off. Also, Titus are the geniuses behind Superman 64, considered to be one of the worst games ever made.
22/12/2012 at 12:27 Lemming says:
” the drive has no end date”
I’m seeing 12/01/2013 on the link. Not that I’m advocating it though. Stay the fuck away from it, is my advice.
Kind of weird to see a UK date format on something in dollars though. Unless they are keeping it up for an entire year O.O
22/12/2012 at 12:35 Hoaxfish says:
maybe they got their wrong year for the apocalypse
22/12/2012 at 13:11 Shadowcat says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country
22/12/2012 at 12:55 Revisor says:
Hervé Caen – the man who destroyed Interplay and then asked the world for money.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Hervé_Caen
22/12/2012 at 15:52 mwoody says:
Good god, this man is attached to nothing that made Black Isle great, and has overseen its downfall. Giving money to this shite is like spoon-feeding a tumor.
22/12/2012 at 16:07 Hoaxfish says:
Doesn’t help that they look like dodgy second-hand car salesmen.
22/12/2012 at 17:00 D3xter says:
Dón’t yóu daré insúlt glórious Hérvé Cáén.
Herve is not amused: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8MS9MOwKfiw/UDcn6LsZxhI/AAAAAAAAATE/KMuM8ImQztE/s1600/Herve.jpg
He revive illustrious Interplay and make many many games in Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent, MDK and naturally Fallout® franchise.
http://www.interplay.com/about/article.php?id=20
22/12/2012 at 21:59 apocraphyn says:
Jesus Christ, you’re right – this is the man who destroyed what Fallout (and Black Isle) was. This is the man who ruined one of the most influential game development studios I ever knew of.
This man is a monster.
23/12/2012 at 14:59 RProxyOnly says:
“Giving money to this shite is like spoon-feeding a tumor.”
I nearly passed out laughing.
22/12/2012 at 13:48 Corporate Dog says:
So I’m willing to kickstart small (handful of employees) gaming companies that appear to have made significant progress on a game that interests me.
And I’m even willing to kickstart projects put out by larger companies, dabbling in genres and gameplay that wouldn’t broach the sort of sales figures that are expected of AAA games.
But the common thread in both scenarios, is that I need to get some sense that the game will be seen through to completion. I tend to believe in the ability of the small guys to do that, if it looks like their game is mostly developed. If they’re small enough, the game is most likely their entire raison d’etre, which puts a particular impetus on their ability to finish.
This project has about 10,000 warning signs, plus one.
22/12/2012 at 16:00 rsanchez1 says:
They’re counting on the people who can’t see the warning signs. Looking at you, The War Z beta testers!
22/12/2012 at 15:46 Bhazor says:
Chris Taylor.
No not that Chris Taylor.
Or even that Chris Taylor http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lavidimus/chris-taylors-arakion
I somehow get the feeling he was hired just because of his name.
22/12/2012 at 15:52 Xerian says:
Please note that the picture they’re using for the mayan calendar is an Aztec Calendar. And a religious one, at that. Not one based off of science.
But yeah, two guys from Black Isle and a bunch of moneygrabbers, this can only be good, right?
Right?…
22/12/2012 at 15:58 rsanchez1 says:
Sorry Interplay, but unless you can bring me back to the American West and tangle me with the affairs of the New California Republic, my money is staying with me.
22/12/2012 at 16:06 Gotem says:
Did I just saw the AZTEC calendar with the word MAYAN over it?
22/12/2012 at 16:09 Hoaxfish says:
At least it’s not an Olmec head
22/12/2012 at 17:26 Mr-Link says:
The only interesting thing about this video is that for a split second I was able to imagine that agent “Bob Smith” is actually Wendell from Frisky Dingo.
22/12/2012 at 20:32 rustybroomhandle says:
FYI – “isle” is an anagram for “lies”… and “black” is an anagram for “kalbc”, which means nothing.
22/12/2012 at 21:05 tyren says:
It means nothing… just like Interplay’s promises! OH GOD IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!
22/12/2012 at 23:18 Cockles says:
No, don’t put yourself down, it means something. I just googled “kalbc lies” and I was asked:
“Did you mean: BBC LIES”
YES! You are on to something; a deep, dark conspiracy.
23/12/2012 at 11:36 iridescence says:
No way I would ever donate to a project like this that wasn’t even offering me a game in return. Do they really think they are just as worthy of donations as a charity? Unbelievable…
23/12/2012 at 16:54 Freud says:
It’s a bit like when bands from the 60s and 70s tour without anyone from the original lineup.
24/12/2012 at 09:22 stupid_mcgee says:
In case anyone was wondering, this isn’t actually to fund a game’s development. It’s to pad Herve Caen’s $270,000 per year income and his brother Eric Caen’s $140,000 income.
http://www.forbes.com/profile/herve-caen/
http://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-caen/
24/12/2012 at 16:58 acal says:
These idiots are almost as sad as the WarZ Douche bags!
25/12/2012 at 00:32 tkioz says:
It’s a real pity they’ve cocked up their pitch so bad, there is no way in hell I’m going to give them money… but damn does that game idea sound like something I want to play!
27/12/2012 at 23:27 Drshotgun says:
That was the worst commercial i ever saw. Obvious scam, the guys running the shtick look like the shadiest used car dealers imaginable, got eleven times worse, found cheesier mustaches, and discovered ultimate-hair gel.
28/12/2012 at 02:58 Josh W says:
Don’t put any cups in their cap either.