Kickstarter: Legends of Dawn

Uggg....

Too many projects....

How do you people keep up with all of this???

I'm not sure why they thought voiceovers were so important that the game had to miss the holiday season--traditionally regarded as the best time to market games.  They could always sell it now, promising a free add-on with voices if the game sold XYZ number of copies.  But to hold out at this time doesn't seem especially wise. 

On a separate point: voiceovers...?  I turn them off.  I'd rather imagine a really good voice than hear a really bad one.  Or any one, for that matter.  But I suspect that's just me.

It is just expected today. Even BG1 has some voice over. Also they said they need to pay for some plugins they used. If they tried to sell the game without paying that they would get some nice lawsuits against them. 

Update #1 is out. It is talking about combat. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/522716131/legends-of-dawn/posts/373101

Update #2 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/522716131/legends-of-dawn/posts/374732

No DRM. No level scaling for creatures. Multiple AI behaviors based on moral of creature and time of day. More content for people that like to play on harder difficulties. Sounds awesome to me.
I am sure going to try my 1st game on Hard.

That does sound good.  I only hope they can recoup their investment after the year starts.

Thanks for the post.  Looks like another KS backing for me.  

It wasn't a case of "even BG had some voiceover."  They had a large budget for the time, and they were deliberately trying for the cutting edge.  Just having each character voice a single line was sufficient to achieve this.  But you can see where this has led: now there are many people who think a game isn't finished if it doesn't have complete voiceovers for every line of dialog.  These take up a fair amount of space, and have led many game creators to minimize dialog, as a result.  And arguably few actors can be as good as the ones who live inside our heads, while some are a great deal worse.  I can hear a good unvoiced character in my head, but if I hear that character aloud and it isn't well done, the game's immersion is hurt.  Just my opinion, mind.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the part about their needing to pay for plugins as a reason for not releasing the game.  Without knowing more about it then you've just stated, it would seem the opposite is the case.  If your bills are higher, you aim for a holiday release.  That's why so many games show up in the October through early December timeframe: you have your largest market at that time, and your best chance for recouping (or hopefully improving) on your investment.  January and February are dead for game sales, traditionally.  I mean, yes, there will always be a few people ready to buy anything at any time, but the big crowds you make your money off won't be back until later in the spring--and even then, not as good as the Christmas season.

When you use 3rd party software in developing your game you are not legally allowed to sell the game without paying people for using their software. That is what I meant. 

As for VO, I like that modern games have lots of voice overs, even when done not so perfectly. But it is not a selling point for me. It is more like icing on a cake. But kids that grew up after the golden age of RPG games it is expected for the game to have VO. They would lose more buyers by not having it then by having it.

Yes, I understood that part. What I don't understand was how this pushes back the timeline to release.  Because if you have more bills, it makes sense to release in time to take advantage of the best season for games.  Getting out a game as swiftly as possible to pay things off is a pretty good idea, all other matters being equal.

I don't care one way or the other personally, but I do agree with your point.  Once voiceovers started up, it became a kind of "how far can we push this to look cool?" contest with game developers.  It's a much easier thing to bring in actors and voice a bunch of lines than to provide lots of game balance, intricate mechanics that are still fun to play, etc--and much easier to market, as well, when the best known models and heroes on the tv geek shows lend their skills, and appear in public to sign autographs. Which isn't to say that everybody uses voiceovers, but it is more or less expected now, at least among A titles.

Because, if they actually release the game and sell it for real money *before* they actually have a contract for the 3rd party licenses and paid them they will be sued to oblivion.  They need contracts and payments in place *before* they sell anything.  Not sure why this doesn't make sense.

What you post is true, they get the game out they make money.  But that does them no good when they would be sued to bankruptcy shortly after if they don't pay for the licenses ahead of time.

Dell certainly doesn't sell a laptop before they actually have a contract with Microsoft and pay for the Windows license.  

Because I misread, taking "Also they said they need to pay for some plugins they used," to mean "They've been paying for some plugins," as opposed to "They haven't paid yet for some plugins they've used."  With that in mind, if they can't pay in advance, securing an arrangement to provide payment at a certain point after release makes sense, just to get the product out the door in Oct/Nov--but since they couldn't manage that, it's a moot point.

I wouldn't call that an especially good analogy, since the game developers had a contract for the plugins, and hadn't paid for the code, yet.  That noted, I'm reminded of how IBM approached Bill Gates for an operating system after a deal fell through with Digital Research for the original PC-based DOS.  Gates agreed to and signed a deal, seeing how much he stood to gain though he didn't have the goods.  He then turned around and purchased a variant of CP/M-80 developed at Seattle Computer Products by Tim Patterson.  So it is legal for someone to sell an operating system before actually having a contract that gives them one to sell.  Or maybe Gates was just lucky at not being called on it.

Update no 5 is up: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/522716131/legends-of-dawn/posts/380351

It talks more in detail about crafting. And next week we can expect more gameplay videos and lower stretch goals. 

Also, the got 80% of what they asked for and 15 days more are left

Update no6 is up with a new gameplay video and more Zrinka : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/522716131/legends-of-dawn/posts/381266

I'm glad they're taking that on, but it's going to be damned hard to balance properly as we all know.  Some games make it too easy to create items.  In others, by the time you get to do so, you've already found items that are easily as powerful.  Best of luck to them, in any case.

Updates #11 and #12 have new videos. #11 is 2nd part non-combat gameplay video and #12 is art and soundtrack sample. Both are great. Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/522716131/legends-of-dawn/posts/387489

BTW, kickstarter ends in 37h so if you want to get it cheap or want to support them with a bit more $ now is the time. We are trying to reach the 45 000 $ stretch goal so they are able to release very powerful Mod tools with the game (one of the updates is about those tools as well).