https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thesetales/proven-lands

Any thoughts people? I decided to back this one today.

Looks interesting
Nothing about DRM free on tiers or in FAQ. Yet again another KS to do that. Sigh. I dunno.

Looks pretty much interesting. On the other hand - 500k bucks is a lot of money. Those kickstarter projects become more greedy these days...

this project was/is of interest to me but the lack of any info about it being DRM-free, and the deluge of -385day DLCs is making me kind of wary.

with all that ambiguity id want them to confirm its a single player offline game as well. they do reference minecraft in the pitch video iirc, so they might be after that diablo3 account bs $$$s.

i do like what ive seen of the prototype though. hopefully they answer Nigel in their KS comments, but even then the road to £299k is a long one.


edit:
- the DRM response -

" Creator thesetales 8 minutes ago

@nigel: drm, in general? i hate copy protection, i know what you mean, but we need some sort of a minecraft launcher with a login. it's not decided yet, don't worry. perhaps at the end of the campaign? but i'd like to constantly update + multiplayer/login"

:(

Very cool, I'd like to get it from GOG if possible. The AI driven meta-game sounds awesome, what Skyrim should have had, but didn't. Hope they get kickstarted, $15 isn't unreasonable at all for what they say they're going to make.

hey. btxsqdr here. glad to see you're writing about us :) drm? it is an open question, actually, honestly. no decision made yet. no pr bla bla. gog is great. i'm using it myself. the thing is that... as a gamer, i always felt more confident with steam/launchers/auto-updates. it is for a game dev so much easier. but i might be wrong here. you know what? we will do a survey soon this weekend or next monday/tuesday (via reddit/tumblr/kickstarter/gog?/twitter/steam), as soon i've more time, and we'll see about it

Well thats stuffed me then.
Is it supposed to be a singleplayer co op or multiplayer game anyway???.

not even sure >_<

if it was procedural SP, similar to how starbound works it would be great.
w/ optional MP over TCP/ip lan + smaller individual servers independent of any centralized server / steam dependency.

i think MP unlocked w/ stretch goals or if the lead dev had some time (he did say he had a knack for it i think on the main page description iirc).

"Why Kickstarter? We have considered taking a private investor on board. We had a few interesting offers regarding publishers and investors. However, in the end, we came to the conclusion that Kickstarter is still the best choice for us. We also learned that a 3D procedurally generated science-fiction survival-roguelike-RPG-whatever such as Proven Lands is hard to evaluate, to say the least. A successful Kickstarter campaign is not only cool but proves that you guys believe in such a game as much as we do!"

" Keep in mind that the pre alpha tech demo is more a proof of concept, after some months of dev."

Looks like they expect to get a private investor to cough up most of the funds . It also seems an episodic game (they mention 5 episodes with 2+ in stretch goals)?.. co op multiplayer is part of the stretch goals... which makes me wonder like you Erekose what this game really is?.

Yes... my enthusiasm is deflating a bit, an episodic roguelike, how would that even work, you can't save games in a roguelike, and generally levels are generated randomly from all the assets the game has.

What would make more sense is a slower development process with an open alpha, like how most traditional roguelikes are developed (but costing money, ofc).

I'm not sure they have "proven" enough for me to plunk down any money. Stupid pun aside, I am worried that they are putting this on ios and android, in my opinion that seems to limit this games graphics and controls scheme.

And as others have said, no mention of GOG or DRM-Free is a strict no back for me.

Pledge goal of 299000 £!!!!!!!!!!??????? Are they building a new road or something?
Or does comma means something else in English speaking countries? :p I think this is going to be one of those steam early access titles that will 'eventually' see the day light.

btw, drm free. see on our ks page

"@nigel: you're right. i've an idea. let's do the paradox launcher way: a launcher without a login. if you like to use/update the launcher, do it. if not, play offline. no login needed. login needed only for: multiplayer and instant updates/easier dlc management (actually the only reason, because i hate copy&paste of mods/updates, and we're highly moddable). if you prefer to handle your dlcs copy&paste, do it. i would never force you to online access only, to be clear. i'm ccc member for a reason. i'm sure we can make it this way on windows/osx/linux (ios/android are a bit different, obviously) thank you! good point"

regarding goal: see FAQ: "Is your goal too high? Is it too low?" on our ks page.

"Oh, those are good questions. As mentioned in the project description, we’ve been thinking about the goal for months now. We choose an honest budget. It was not an easy decision to make. You know how it feels — compared to campaigns with a small budget that get funded with 1000%. Or compared to projects which get funded with £1.8m (approx. $3m) and then still are greedy, boom! 2D games in particular, for some reason.

According to Kickstarter the average successful campaign funding is £10,547.48 (approx. $17,549.88). Games as Kingdom Come Deliverance cost £1.2-1.8m (approx. $2-3m) and more, and then they ask for £300k (approx. $499) which turns out to be £1m (approx. $1.7m) in the end. We are backers too, with our private accounts. We think, Kickstarter did changed a bit within the last year, didn’t it?

Our goal, £299k (approx. $460k), minus Kickstarter fees, taxes, social security and other business costs, equals to approx. £150k (approx. $231k), which breaks down to just £12.5k (approx. $19.2k) per month for 12 months and a whole team. Yes, with a 3D procedural game such as Proven Lands we have some advantages compared to non-procedural games, but this comes for a price: the technical side is far more complex. Lighting, texturing, AI and generation in particular. This is perhaps the reason why AAA companies prefer static level design and tech. Well, take a look at our early demo.

We do not expect to get rich here – no fancy cars, no super computers. The majority of our team has worked for very little money, some did not get paid at all and have lived from their savings, tbh. Is our goal too low? Well, it is ok and we are confident that we can make it! But, the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings, right? :D You never know. We will see soon."

:)

No roguelike fan but if modding is kept in mind during development maybe saving progress will be available sometime after release. I'll keep an eye on it though.

Thanks for taking the time to reach out here :] Please consider a DRM-free release if possible, would definitely jump on that desert buggy :D

e: wait, just saw your other comment- I am confused, does the game come DRM-free only if you get enough votes on Steam Greenlight? Also, voted :]

Nvm, I see that's not the case! Thanks! Please bring it to GOG if you can :D