The Banner Saga kickstarter (Viking Strategy/RPG with great 2D art from industry vets)

RainbowDespair

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stoic/the-banner-saga?ref=category

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YupzBYxsgow

Has a goal of $100k. Team is made up of three guys, all of which worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic (including the lead concept artist & the lead combat programmer).

From their kickstarter page:

"The Banner Saga is a role-playing game merged with turn-based strategy, wrapped into an adventure mini-series about vikings.

Travel through stunning landscapes straight out of an animated film. Battle painstakingly hand-animated foes in strategic, turn-based combat harkening back to the classic "Tactics" days of gaming. Make decisions with consequences in conversations with people you'll truly care about."

"DRM-Free, and available on PC and Mac

Not another generic fantasy: Drawing heavily from Norse culture while creating its own identity and mythology, The Banner Saga takes a low-fantasy approach to viking themes. Giants: yes. Horned helmets: no.

Strategic combat: Recruit a large roster of unique characters throughout the story, each with different abilities that interact in combat in a deeply tactical way and personalities of their own. The Banner Saga harkens back to classic turn-based gameplay with a strong emphasis on tactics over brute force and endless grinding.

Travel across gorgeous landscapes: The choices you make as events arise have a huge affect on how the story plays out- who survives, who dies, and what's worth saving. Add people to your caravan as you travel, or lose them when tough decisions arise. You're not just fighting to save nameless strangers, you're fighting for your neighbors, your family and your way of life. We want you to care what happens to them.

An emphasis on story: Your choices in dialogue and throughout the game truly affect the story and the people around you. A mature story for adults means forming relationships and making tough decisions; not sex, violence and swearing.

Play online: Though the single-player campaign is our focus, The Banner Saga provides a deep multiplayer game; build a unique party of characters and battle friends and enemies in multiplayer combat. Upgrade your party over time and devise new strategies.

Risk in gameplay: A lot of modern games play it safe- you know you'll defeat the evil and save the day. In The Banner Saga you can't take anything for granted. We want it to feel like a good tv mini-series; the world doesn't revolve around you, it's about how you deal with change."

On the one hand, the art style is great and I love a good Strategy/RPG. On the other hand, I'm a little worried that this project might be too ambitious for a first-time studio, even one filled with industry veterans. Still, it looks very promising and they've already gotten a fair number of funds (at $24k when I posted this) so I wish the best for them.

Mojo_Jojo

I was super excited about this, but that waned once I dug for details about the gameplay.

Specifically:

Mojo_Jojo wrote: »

desc wrote: »

Mojo_Jojo wrote: »

He seems really resistant to the idea of terrain playing a part in the battles of an SRPG.

but

In SRPGs you



What

Chewbot wrote:

Terrain will be a factor especially with some characters taking up four squares but we won't have elevation changes, instead focusing more on positioning than height or facing bonuses.

...

The board will be alterable to have squares blocked off (like those with rocks) or be shaped by bottlenecks or larger obstacles on the field.

This prompted somebody to ask:

So elevation, environment, cover, etc. won't be a factor in battles? That seems pretty shallow, and the combat shown in the trailer wasn't very reassuring either. What are you doing that justifies calling this "pretty deep strategy"?

The response wasn't inspiring

Chewbot wrote:

We may look into ways to add some other interest to the field. I think the point about height having an effect on the perception of the world is a legitimate one but we'll have to weigh that against the resources we have and how much this would impact production. In short, I absolutely agree but it could be very expensive for us.

Right now, it sounds like a rather basic SRPG with this caravan mechanic (which is potentially interesting, but hasn't been commented on much).

lowlylowlycook

This will be interesting to watch since they don't have either a big name (and a promise of reliving the golden age of X genre) or a demo.

The art looks super nice but how much of that can they put in a 100k game?

NailbunnyPD

I don't understand which tier gets me the game. It looks like $10 would, but then they specify Chapter 1 content, implying that this might be episodic. Chapter 1 or episodic doesn't seem to be hinted at anywhere else, though.

Linespider5

Holy-

Mojo_Jojo

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

I don't understand which tier gets me the game. It looks like $10 would, but then they specify Chapter 1 content, implying that this might be episodic. Chapter 1 or episodic doesn't seem to be hinted at anywhere else, though.

Lots of people are asking that question, so there should be an answer soon. It is odd that Chapter 1 is only mentioned in that one place.

Igpx407

This looks absolutely awesome. Now I'll have a game besides Skyrim where I feel compelled to drink mead while play.

Brainiac 8

This sounds like a huge case of over promising. I'm sure we wouldn't get anything near what they are selling here.

Linespider5

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

This sounds like a huge case of over promising. I'm sure we wouldn't get anything near what they are selling here.

I don't know. There's a lot of carefully chosen modes in that video. With a good narrative and solid music, they just might pull it off.

RainbowDespair

Well, they're up to $36k and 955 backers. Looks like this has a good shot of reaching its goal.

Whether or not it manages to deliver on its promises is anyone's guess though.

Brainiac 8

This kickstarting trend has a huge potential to burn a lot of people...I don't look forward to that day.

Igpx407

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

This kickstarting trend has a huge potential to burn a lot of people...I don't look forward to that day.

But it also has the potential to shower us in games we only dreamed about before drinking ourselves into a stupor because they would never exist! I think the reality will end up somewhere in between these two extremes.

Brainiac 8

Igpx407 wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

This kickstarting trend has a huge potential to burn a lot of people...I don't look forward to that day.

But it also has the potential to shower us in games we only dreamed about before drinking ourselves into a stupor because they would never exist! I think the reality will end up somewhere in between these two extremes.

Maybe...but I'll reserve final judgement until we actually see one of these fabled games appear due to a kickstart. (I don't think that day will come)

Frei

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Igpx407 wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

This kickstarting trend has a huge potential to burn a lot of people...I don't look forward to that day.

But it also has the potential to shower us in games we only dreamed about before drinking ourselves into a stupor because they would never exist! I think the reality will end up somewhere in between these two extremes.

Maybe...but I'll reserve final judgement until we actually see one of these fabled games appear due to a kickstart. (I don't think that day will come)

You don't think that day will come? If I were a less lazy man, I'd screen grab this post and then repost it on launch day for DoubleFine's kickstarter'd game and then again for Wasteland 2, but instead I will just tell you that you're wrong right now and then forget about it.

Brainiac 8

I hope I am wrong. But I could post a plethora of games that have screen shots that had major studios backing them that never saw the light of day. But once again, I hope I'm wrong.

stopgap

Honestly, Another Western Tactics game sounds amazing. I am interested in seeing how much they manage to do as they are already at $ 46,251 and its only the first day. I hope they have plans to expand this... cause damm.

Frei

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

I hope I am wrong. But I could post a plethora of games that have screen shots that had major studios backing them that never saw the light of day. But once again, I hope I'm wrong.

Yeah, a lot of games have been canceled/have had the plug pulled on them due to lack of funding and publisher support.

Which is kind of what this thing is all about.

I'm weary of the kickstarter thing myself, but I have no doubt that these kickstarters from major stand-up guys in the industry that have been backed fully, meeting and exceeding their goals will be made. I'm also sure that if this picks up, a lot of them wont.

RainbowDespair

They're up to $88k. Looks like this one is definitely getting funded.

Igpx407

RainbowDespair wrote: »

They're up to $88k. Looks like this one is definitely getting funded.

And it only took them 2 days to succeed. I'm not too surprised since everything they're showing off looks so damn promising.

RainbowDespair

Up to $143k and Jerry posted about them on the front page so I wouldn't be surprised if they get a boost from that as well.

Looks like this has a good shot at being the 3rd highest funded video game project on Kickstarter (after the Double Fine and Wasteland 2 kickstarters). Currently, the #3 slot is held by Code Hero at $170k.

UncleSporky

I know Jerry's post is why I just chipped in. Looks really neat.

The_Tuninator

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Igpx407 wrote: »

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

This kickstarting trend has a huge potential to burn a lot of people...I don't look forward to that day.

But it also has the potential to shower us in games we only dreamed about before drinking ourselves into a stupor because they would never exist! I think the reality will end up somewhere in between these two extremes.

Maybe...but I'll reserve final judgement until we actually see one of these fabled games appear due to a kickstart. (I don't think that day will come)

If Double Fine and inExile don't deliver on these games their entire core fanbase will desert them, and the business reputation of everyone at both companies will be irrevocably ruined.

If you seriously think they'd allow that to happen, you are kidding yourself. Sorry to be harsh, but it's the truth.

urahonky

Mojo_Jojo wrote: »

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

I don't understand which tier gets me the game. It looks like $10 would, but then they specify Chapter 1 content, implying that this might be episodic. Chapter 1 or episodic doesn't seem to be hinted at anywhere else, though.

Lots of people are asking that question, so there should be an answer soon. It is odd that Chapter 1 is only mentioned in that one place.

The Banner Saga as it exists in this Kickstarter will be a complete game. In terms of a larger story arc, it represents the first part of a three-part story that has already been planned out. We intend to release each subsequent chapter as a complete game. We don't yet have a timeline for the full trilogy, as our first priority is to complete Chapter 1 of The Banner Saga and see where that takes us!

Our goal is that when all chapters are complete, each game will both stand on their own, AND form a fantastic and cohesive whole, like any great series of books, movies, or games.

Chapter 1 of the game will not be a short 2-hour fling. Depending on how much we raise during this campaign the length of the game will vary.

The decisions you make and characters you build in Chapter 1 of the game will carry over into the other chapters of the game.

Why not just make one complete game from the start? Developing all three parts of the game could take some time and as an indie developer we can't afford to fund a 2-year development cycle. We decided to make it into a trilogy to keep people interested in the game and get it to players sooner.

Iolo

RainbowDespair wrote: »

Up to $143k and Jerry posted about them on the front page so I wouldn't be surprised if they get a boost from that as well.

Looks like this has a good shot at being the 3rd highest funded video game project on Kickstarter (after the Double Fine and Wasteland 2 kickstarters). Currently, the #3 slot is held by Code Hero at $170k.

Front page news! The whole world's got kickstarter fever.

True to form, Tycho boils the heart of the matter down to it's core nut meat:

Tycho wrote:

This momentum of that site really is marvelous to behold; I want to wring everything I can out of it before the inevitable High Profile Failure that transforms all that momentum into a bucking serpent of jagged, shredding metal.

(CW)TB out.

DeMoN

Oh my god this is so pretty.

Andytizer

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

I don't understand which tier gets me the game. It looks like $10 would, but then they specify Chapter 1 content, implying that this might be episodic. Chapter 1 or episodic doesn't seem to be hinted at anywhere else, though.

This is the quote about what you get for $10. Looks like they want to monetise for more content after the initial release...

The Banner Saga as it exists in this Kickstarter will be a complete game. In terms of a larger story arc, it represents the first part of a three-part story that has already been planned out. We intend to release each subsequent chapter as a complete game. We don't yet have a timeline for the full trilogy, as our first priority is to complete Chapter 1 of The Banner Saga and see where that takes us!

Our goal is that when all chapters are complete, each game will both stand on their own, AND form a fantastic and cohesive whole, like any great series of books, movies, or games.

Chapter 1 of the game will not be a short 2-hour fling. Depending on how much we raise during this campaign the length of the game will vary.

The decisions you make and characters you build in Chapter 1 of the game will carry over into the other chapters of the game.

Why not just make one complete game from the start? Developing all three parts of the game could take some time and as an indie developer we can't afford to fund a 2-year development cycle. We decided to make it into a trilogy to keep people interested in the game and get it to players sooner.

Zedar

Wait, so what are we getting excited about here? This looks like a pretty bog standard SRPG game.

DeMoN

Because it's really pretty.

EVOL

It is very pretty that's for sure. I hope that the writing's pretty as the art though.

Slimcea

I don't think I'll be supporting this.

While the artstyle is beautiful and they can really talk it up, the 3 of them aren't really writers (2 artists, one developer), so I'm not sure that there'll really be a compelling story.

Also, they're pretty up front about monetizing the whole game. Not saying that projects shouldn't be making money, but I'm not really sure I want to support something like that on Kickstarter, which I believe should be used more for labours of love that aren't designed upfront to be commercially viable.

Linespider5

Slimcea wrote: »

I don't think I'll be supporting this.

While the artstyle is beautiful and they can really talk it up, the 3 of them aren't really writers (2 artists, one developer), so I'm not sure that there'll really be a compelling story.

Also, they're pretty up front about monetizing the whole game. Not saying that projects shouldn't be making money, but I'm not really sure I want to support something like that on Kickstarter, which I believe should be used more for labours of love that aren't designed upfront to be commercially viable.

Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?

If that's what they want to do, and they're saying that at the beginning of this venture, that's fine. Which they've done.

It would still seem to be some kind of story-based tactics-RPG adventure game thing, but with some kind of multiplayer element also in the mix (their site indicates a free multiplayer demo thing would be part of the eventual outcome of their efforts). If Stoic Studios wants to monetize this thing, there they go.

Is it any better or worse than a collectible card game getting off the ground on Kickstarter? If the game isn't worth the add-ons, or is just fine by itself, people will decide for themselves. Pretty sure word will get out on it fast.

Drake

If you think Schaefer and Fargo aren't going to try and make as much money off of their Kickstarter projects as possible then you aren't really thinking about this.

nessin

Mojo_Jojo wrote: »

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

I don't understand which tier gets me the game. It looks like $10 would, but then they specify Chapter 1 content, implying that this might be episodic. Chapter 1 or episodic doesn't seem to be hinted at anywhere else, though.

Lots of people are asking that question, so there should be an answer soon. It is odd that Chapter 1 is only mentioned in that one place.

It's pretty self-expalanatory, what is confusing about it? They're looking for funding for whatever they define as "Chapter 1" of the game, and you get that at the $10 pledge level. While each level below that doesn't explicitly state you'll get the same Chapter 1 content (although the first few do), it's implied. Presumably the plan is for them to released future DLC or expansions (read, "Chapters") which will complete the rest of the game but you'll have to buy that separately.

UncleSporky

I would've been fine if they'd never mentioned chapter 1. We used to get games with clearly-leading-into-a-sequel endings all the time and they didn't need to be called "part 1" to make you feel like you're getting gypped.

Toxic Pickle

RainbowDespair wrote:

Horned helmets: no.

Do Not Want.

lowlylowlycook

Kickstarter isn't for things that aren't commercially viable so much as it is for niche projects that traditional funders (banks or publishers or whoever) don't think are commercially viable.

Linespider5

I can certainly respect a team that wants to make a AAA title that's intended to stand toe-to-toe with standard releases. I would also agree on the front that a team relying on Kickstarter to get their project off the ground is pretty unlikely to have the means to build a AAA title in the traditional manner (otherwise they probably wouldn't be on Kickstarter to begin with), so I can certainly understand Stoic making a strategic decision to develop the game in pieces that can be released incrementally and that will also eventually assemble into a greater whole.

Granted, Wasteland 2 sounds like it should be a pretty big game...but then again, the Wasteland guys have a lot more stuff in their corner.

Releasing it in pieces makes sense is all I'm saying.

Elvenshae

Thanks for posting this, RD! The game looks interesting.

Also, Banner Saga was picked up by the Kickstarter "Projects We Love" newsletter and got top billing (the subject line was "A Banner Week"). That should provide a nice bump.

lowlylowlycook

The devs could set it up so that the more money they make with Kickstarter the more episodes their backers get, say 1 episode per 100k.

That would be nice gesture.

RainbowDespair

The game is at nearly $300,000 right now.

They've also updated it to indicate that anyone who donates $50 or more, will get all 3 episodes.

Demiurge

I wanna toss money at this but its already got 3 times its target and I threw $110 at the Double Fine kickstarter so I think I'll sit this one out. It looks promising though and I'll probably pick it up once its released.