Double Fine Adventure!

[SurplusGamer]

Originally Posted by Strayth

It will be free for the fans who backed. Others have to pay OF COURSE.

No gameplay video, they will create the game "in real time" and show everything from A to Z.

The good thing is that they've stated on the double fine forums that they want to try to keep the documentary as spoiler free as they can make it while still being able to show stuff, they want it so people can enjoy the documentary and still not know everything about the game. But yes, they won't start making the game at ALL until the official project start.

[Valkian]

Originally Posted by ThunderPeel2001

That's good to know. I guess Lucas got seriously burned when he was forced to sell Pixar to Steve Jobs for next to nothing.

Since this is a topic that I love (Pixar), I feel compelled to make an off topic. Feel free to skip the following rant:
<off topic>
Back then Pixar was just a computer division, Lucas wasn't forced to sell it, he wanted to, the division was put together to develop audio and video non-linear editing systems (which became the foundation for Avid), and it had accomplished that mission. At that point it had only one animator (John Lasseter) and they had made only one short (The Adventures of André and Wally B.). Even though George was aware that the group wanted to make the first computer animated movie, it was both hard to see it at that point (when they only had one clunky short) and it was a very expensive thing to finance. He was going through a costly divorce and didn't want to have unnecessary divisions around. (It's interesting though that ILM ended up making a fully animated picture, Rango. It all comes full circle.)
Steve Jobs financed Pixar through several years in which it was losing a million dollars each year. Not many people would make that kind of investment.
</off topic>

And that talk about licences and IP, it's not a crazy thing that Lucas does, no big company in the world would sell intellectual property. It's the Disney way, to lock IP in a dark dungeon forever.

Originally Posted by SurplusGamer

But yes, they won't start making the game at ALL until the official project start.

Surely they can do some pre-production on it, brainstorm ideas, do some writing. I really doubt they begin this documentary completely empty handed.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Valkian, Lucas sold the company for far less than he wanted to. And why would Lucas sell anything off that he didn't NEED to. He didn't build the company in order to sell it, Lucas was forced to sell it due to financial considerations -- and he sold it for far less than he wanted to... because he had no choice.

There's a great article about it here: http://lowendmac.com/orchard/06/pixa...as-disney.html

[Valkian]

Sure, it wasn't great business for him to sell it for that amount, but he had no real interest in the division either (it made no money at that point, and had to be financed). Yet you were implying that the division would have become the Pixar we know under Lucas as well and that he was forced to sell something potentially huge, but that's not the case. Steve Jobs had a big role in creating Pixar.
Also, it wouldn't be the last time Lucas sold parts of his company, he eventually sold the software made by that computer division, EditDroid and SoundDroid, he also sold THX. But no one sells IP unless they are desperate, or selling a company and their IP as part of it (for instance, Disney buying Marvel not too long ago).

[ThunderPeel2001]

It's pretty clear that Lucas wouldn't have sold Pixar if a) income from Star Wars hadn't dried up, b) he wasn't going through a divorce, and c) Howard the Duck wasn't a massive bomb. He certainly wouldn't have sold it for 5% what he thought it was worth. Whether Lucas would have let it become what's its become today isn't relevant (knowing what we know about the man today, he probably would have just churned out more Star Wars stuff).

Also, THX wasn't sold, it was spun off into an independent company. And EditDroid and SoundDroid were only reworked and sold when Lucas shut down The Droid Works in 1986... the same year he sold Pixar.

[Valkian]

Huh, I always thought THX had been sold, curious.
And I've heard Lucas himself several times say that he had no use for that division anymore. His circumstances may have encouraged him to agree on a quick unprofitable sell, otherwise he might have taken the time to just sell it at a better price.

ANYWAY, adventure game...

[SurplusGamer]

Originally Posted by Valkian

Surely they can do some pre-production on it, brainstorm ideas, do some writing. I really doubt they begin this documentary completely empty handed.

Nope. It's been said repeatedly, Tim has a few ideas knocking around (which is bound to be true. If you spend any amount of time making games, you'll be familiar with the feeling of having more ideas than you know what to do with), but they aren't talking about them until the cameras are rolling. I've seen Tim Schafer say this several times on Twitter and interviews, and Greg Rice in another interview so... doubt all you like!

[Gabez]

SurplusGamer: it doesn't hold that they won't start filming until the official project start though (when the funding deadline has passed) though they might wait until then to start releasing stuff. I can't imagine that they're sitting on their arses at the moment when it's obvious they've passed the funding requirement.

[Thrik]

$2,000,000.

[Valkian]

Yeah, I thought they might start before the thing finishes, and surely they have more than "a few ideas", by the excitement this has generated, I bet they have a lot of them by now. But it'll certainly be great to see the process from the very beginning.

Speaking of bets, what do you think will be the final sum of money collected?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by Valkian

I've heard Lucas himself several times say that he had no use for that division anymore.

This is the guy who is now claiming that GREEDO always shot first, and that it was just poor editing that made it look like he didn't.

Anyways... $2 million!

[SurplusGamer]

Originally Posted by Gabez

SurplusGamer: it doesn't hold that they won't start filming until the official project start though (when the funding deadline has passed) though they might wait until then to start releasing stuff. I can't imagine that they're sitting on their arses at the moment when it's obvious they've passed the funding requirement.

They still don't know exactly what funding they'll have to play with by the end of 22 days, and stuff like that can absolutely have an effect on exactly what sort of story they want to tell. Maybe if it ends up closer to 2 million, for example, they'd be more comfortable telling a story spread across fewer characters and locations, but if it's nearer 3 million they might decide to go for a more wide ranging, ambitious idea that Tim has. Difficult to say, but the funding still matters at that stage, and I -do- think they need to be aware of how much money they're playing with before they can start making major decisions. And I know in the 'real world' they have an idea and they pitch it to publishers and it then gets funded. But they also probably have a good idea of how much money they need to make the game, when they enter those negotiations.

Also, they're not sitting on their arses. I was just listening to an interview with Greg Rice who said that they're currently looking at a few different engines that they're thinking about using, to determine stuff like portability, and how easy it would be to make a game like they want to make using them and so on. There's a lot of prep work that they can be doing before they sit down to talk about plot. Besides, this isn't the only project Double Fine have, perhaps some of the team are still working on other things!

[ThunderPeel2001]

Hmm. Originally a 1/4% of the amount raised was going to fund the documentary... I hope that's not the case now. Give them $200K, tops, if they think they can use it, but $500K seems too much... They have complete access to everything they need to film. What's the extra money going to bring them... Opening credits by Industrial Light and Magic? No thanks!

[jp-30]

A bigger marketing budget for the documentary? That will bring DF more exposure, and hopefully bigger sales across their portfolio, present and future.

I hope the documentary doesn't get overfunded too, but there are more things to do with the budget than use 3D cameras and 5.1 surround audio.

[SurplusGamer]

Originally Posted by ThunderPeel2001

Hmm. Originally a 1/4% of the amount raised was going to fund the documentary... I hope that's not the case now. Give them $200K, tops, if they think they can use it, but $500K seems too much... They have complete access to everything they need to film. What's the extra money going to bring them... Opening credits by Industrial Light and Magic? No thanks!

I think it's pretty unlikely that the funding will increase for the documentary at the same rate. That would be silly. But yes, it will increase a bit, if only because the crew will have to be engaged for longer now it looks like the project will go on for a bit of a longer time (which has already been pretty much confirmed in the FAQ)

[Valkian]

There are so many things in the development of a game that cost money, just on the audible side of things: they have to pay for sound design, for casting, recording studio time, the actors, the voice director, the music composer (musicians and more recording studio time, if it is required).
Even simple things like textures, cost money, if they are using a commercial engine for the game, they have to pay the license fee. They have to pay for the unnecessary butler they'll hire just because they can. So many things.

[Snugglecakes]

This is amazing. Well done Tim.

[Sven_Q45]

Lol, Tim already cashs checks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC74gbwtrvk

[Valkian]

833% funded! making an impressive $3,335,XXX (replace X with random number), more than enough money to make a Commodore 64 text adventure version.

[acdcfanbill]

I sent a hundred their way, It's going to be cool to watch their progress.

[Rum Rogers]

Donated 110$. Can't wait for that boxed stuff and t-shirt.

[Sven_Q45]

Dito. But I forked out to 150$.

[gos]

What does Update #6 contain? it is only for backers !

[Alex IDV]

Originally Posted by gos

What does Update #6 contain? it is only for backers !

Ron Gilbert reveals the secret of Monkey Island, the cure to cancer is found, and Grim Fandango 2 is announced.

[gos]

Originally Posted by Alex IDV

Ron Gilbert reveals the secret of Monkey Island, the cure to cancer is found, and Grim Fandango 2 is announced.

you serious?

[ThunderPeel2001]

I'm sure you have a very good reason for not sending $15 to the project, but the thing they keep asking is that we don't share the content that people have PAID for.

So I can just tell you that it's basically a video saying Thanks to you all the backers. Not much more than that.

[gos]

Originally Posted by ThunderPeel2001

I'm sure you have a very good reason for not sending $15 to the project, but the thing they keep asking is that we don't share the content that people have PAID for.

So I can just tell you that it's basically a video saying Thanks to you all the backers. Not much more than that.

yeah, to be honest i don't have anything to pay online with.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by gos

yeah, to be honest i don't have anything to pay online with.

So I guess you won't be able to play the finished game. Bummer!

[Rum Rogers]

Great, some moron has already posted it on Youtube. This sucks, just reported it.

[gos]

ok this is annoying ! when we will see a new update ?!

[Thrik]

Originally Posted by gos

ok this is annoying ! when we will see a new update ?!

Are you expecting this game to be made in a few weeks or something? Try a year+.

[gos]

...did i say i want to play the game now? i said i need to see new updates

[Jenni]

Originally Posted by gos

...did i say i want to play the game now? i said i need to see new updates

Non-backers won't be able to see new updates. There's a backers forum now, which is where everything on the project will be discussed.

[Thrik]

Indeed, and posting content from the backers forum here isn't allowed. Sorry, guy.

[gos]

did i say i need to see backers updates? i need to see tim's updates ! (update #8)

[Thrik]

Tim's updates are marked as 'backers only' in the emails now. It's all meant to be private for everyone but those who backed it.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by gos

did i say i need to see backers updates? i need to see tim's updates ! (update #8)

Update #8, and all future updates, are for backers only. Sorry dude.

Seeing how you're not going to ever be able to play the game, why do you care so much?

[s-island]

He can buy it when it's done?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by s-island

He can buy it when it's done?

Apparently not:

Originally Posted by gos

yeah, to be honest i don't have anything to pay online with.

That was the reason he gave for not backing the project. If he can't sent money online, then he can't buy the game, either.

[Haggis]

Unless of course the game will be so successful that it's going to be available in brick-and-mortar stores.

But yeah, if you didn't back the project, you'll just have to wait until the game is done (like me).