Jay G.

The only thing they pitched was "an adventure game." They're still delivering an adventure game, so I don't see the "drastic change" from the pitch you're suggesting. Nearly every game that has received more money than initially asked for has expanded the scope of the game. In this case, the expansion included the concept and story as well, since those weren't defined in the Kickstarter.

If they had kept with a $300K game and simply pocketed the rest, I think many people would've seen that as a cheat. They did mention that the scope, budget, and schedule of the game would be expanded well before the Kickstarter ended, so if there were people who initially pledged for the smaller game and didn't want the bigger game, they had the opportunity to revoke their pledge.

I brought it up because you specified the monetary amount, as if going over on a budget of several million qualifies as bad management in and of itself. I think it's more important to look at how they're managing the budget overrun, rather than focus on the monetary amounts. I will say that designing a game 4x bigger than expected is pretty bad. But I do feel that they're managing that overdesign in a rather good way; one that doesn't drastically reduce scope, while also not asking current backers for more money, giving them the full game (eventually), while also looking for ways to fund the overage themselves and aquire more funds.

fumanstan

Sorry Tim, I'm sure your game will be fantastic.

shizawn

If could affect you if they get so little revenue from Steam Early Access that they're unable to complete the second Act of the game. The chances of that are pretty low, but it's still possible.

Personally, I still have confidence that they'll release a quality product, but as an "investor", I feel that I've made a bad decision given what we've been told about the development. I've learned my lesson and won't back another Double Fine project. If they produce another adventure game, either self-funded or through Kickstarter, I'll just wait until it releases.

Jay G.

See, that's not how I interpreted the announcement. I don't think part 2 is dependent on part 1 sales at all. In fact, in the backer video, Tim specifically mentions that he wants to avoid a situation where whether part 2 is completed is dependent on part 1 sales.

The relatively short gap between the release of part 1 and part 2 indicates, to me, that they'll be working on part 2 before part 1 is even released. So far, they've been using the studio's funds from the revenue from the sales of other games to complete the gap, but there's a line in the backer video about "we need to be fair to both the game and to the studio overall". My understanding is that the decision to release part 1 early wasn't "we need to do this or we can't fund the rest of the game," but "we can continue to poor the excess revenue we're getting into the game, but let's see if there's a way to have the game itself start generating revenue before it's fully completed."

Personally, I'll wait for the finished project before funding another Double Fine adventure game. I didn't back Massive Chalice, because that game genre doesn't interest me much. If Broken Age is a quality game, then I'd be interested in another one from them, but I hope they would address upfront some of the issues Broken Age faced and how they plan to address them in the new game (having an existing adventure game engine will likely help though).

Duran

I don't get how their revised timeline fits their original story. If the game would have to go through 2015 as it stood, how is this multi-part strategy going to get it almost a year earlier, without cutting 75% of the scope like they mentioned? It doesn't make sense to me. I think they are struggling to come up with plans that will let them release something before they are insolvent. It's not like they have any hot games in the pipeline, right? Brutal Legend on PC? Big whoop; it wasn't that popular when it was originally released. The Cave? Are they really still seeing any significant sales of that?

If anything, I think this is a reminder as to why publishers exist. It seems that even some experienced developers can't manage their ways out of a wet paper bag.

Of course, Harebrained (Shadowrun Returns) and inXile (Wasteland 2, Torment) seem to counter that trend. Everything I've seen from them seems to indicate they're doing a fairly decent job.

I've definitely changed my approach to Kickstarter, though. I don't back video games unless it is a ridiculous deal. I'll just wait until release.

Jay G.

I think they're cutting some scope, just not 75%. I'd guess maybe like third. Although maybe they're counting on some improvements in efficiency now that all the tools are built and such.

Double Fine is split into about 3-4 teams, each working on a game. Broken Age is one. They also just finished a Kickstarter for Massive Chalice, so that's another team. They're also working on a game called Dropchord for PC, so that's another game. They may have another game they're working on in secret, funded by a publisher.

As for Brutal Legend on PC, they actually saw a sizable amount of revenue from that (an amount is given in the backer video). However, I doubt they're seeing any additional revenue from The Cave, as that was published by Sega, so Double Fine likely won't see any revenue from that aside from what they got paid to make the game.

Decker

Next Tuesday we're going to party like it's October 2012! Part One of Broken Age actually arrives 1/14/14. Looking forward to pointing & clicking it (finally).

fumanstan

Finally!

Liver&Onions

Game is downloaded - should be able to play a little bit of it at lunch today.

Jay G.

I didn't get an email, but I was able to get the game from my Humble Bundle account using this method:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...omment-5645258
Edit: And of course, I get my email shortly after posting this.

spainlinx0

Look forward to reading everyone's reviews of the game.

Liver&Onions

Played Vella's side for about 20 minutes. So far no major puzzles, but the art/voice/music is great. Looking forward to diving into it more.

fumanstan

I haven't gotten anything

Any of the Humble Bundle "tricks" don't work for me either. Hmph.

Canis Firebrand

I played about an hour last night. I started with the other side, can't recall his name. I think I finished it, or at least finished what you do at first as the game switched over to Vella's side for me. The voices and look of the game are well done. I enjoyed it.. The puzzles weren't terribly difficult, but a couple of times I did have to stop and think about what I needed to do.

shizawn

I also played through Shay's side first. Love the voice work and the music. Looking forward to continuing with Vella's side tonight.

shizawn

One thing I don't like is the inventory system. I found myself clicking on an item to use it instead of dragging it. Clicking it brings up an explanation of the item, sometimes with some associated animation, which becomes annoying if when you keep accidentally clicking, particularly if there's a timed puzzle. Just something I have to get used to.

Duran

I just started Shay's side. WTF? I've only played the first few minutes or so, but this is what has taken so long? I'll give it a go, but so far I am not impressed.

I realize I'm not far enough in for a final judgment, but in my experience the best games I've played often wowed me from the get-go. This looked like an indie developer's game that I got as a bonus on one of those bundles.

fumanstan

Still no code

shizawn

Completed Act 1 after around 4 hours. My overall impression is that it's an ok game, but nothing special. Most of the puzzles were not all that inspiring and the story, what we've seen, just hasn't grabbed me.

Jay G.

Are you sure you're checking the right email account? It has to be the one you used for Kickstarter, which is not necessarily the same as the one you use for Humble Bundle. Note that if you changed the email associated with your Kickstarter account since then, the email may have still been sent to the original email address you had used when you first backed the project.

On the Double Fine Backer forums, some people are saying they found the email with they key in their Spam folder.

fumanstan

Yup, only one email address I use. And not in spam. A lot of people on their Kickstarter page comments are saying the same thing about not receiving a code.

Jay G.

Which methods have you tried? Did you try the key resender?
https://www.humblebundle.com/?s=resender

You don't have any type of filter on your emails that might be deleting the email or moving it to somewhere else, right?

Some people in the Kickstarter comments have reported getting it fixed by contacting Humble Bundle support:
http://support.humblebundle.com/

fumanstan

Yup, tried the key resender. And no, no filters. You don't have to help, I know what i'm doing and have read all the suggested solutions already. Just venting. . But yeah, I already contacted Humble Bundle support and there's a few days wait. Pretty annoying.

Jay G.

How do you know it'll be a few days? Did Humble Support say that?

fumanstan

Sorry, I meant few days for a reply from support.