Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment has asked fans what game they would like to see it make if it called for funding through Kickstarter.
Obsidian creative director Chris Avellone asked for suggestions on the Obsidian forum and on his personal Twitter page.
Many fans have suggested Obsidian create an old school isometric role-playing game. Funny that – Avellone was lead developer on old school isometric RPG Planescape Torment.
Cult classic Planescape Torment was developed by Black Isle Studios and released in 1999 by Interplay Entertainment. It uses the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) fantasy campaign setting and a modified version of the Infinity Engine, the one used for BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate.
“The idea of player-supported funding is… well, it’s proof certain genres aren’t dead and sequels may have more legs than they seem,” he said.
“And the idea of not having to argue that with a publisher is appealing.”
Avellone’s interest in Kickstarter was sparked by Psychonauts creator Tim Schafer’s astonishing recent success in raising enough cash to fund development of a new old school adventure game.
Last week Schafer’s Double Fine shocked the gaming world when it raised over $1 million in 24 hours for its publisher-free game. It obliterated its $400,000 target in a matter of hours, and smashed Kickstarter records.
“All of Double Fine’s success from Kickstarter has been inspiring,” Avellone said.
“I admit, I’ve got Kickstarter fever now. I feel like a bunch of doors suddenly appeared in game development.”
Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe, set to leave developer Eat Sleep Play following the March release of his PlayStation 3 exclusive, has also expressed interest in crowd-sourced funding.
But he cautioned against getting too excited by the likes of Kickstarter.
“I think the real question, whether in the next month, if [Double Fine’s campaign] hits $2 million or $8 million, does that signal a new way of funding games?” Jaffe asked in an interview with Gamasutra.
“Or is this kind of a one-off thing, because it was led by Tim Schafer? Is this actually moving the needle? That, we don’t know.
“Now, with what’s happened with Tim’s Kickstarter, sure, I would consider [crowd-funding]. There’s kind of the fear that this would suddenly become, you know, a dick-measuring contest. Schafer comes out and raises a million, and Jaffe only raises $200,000.
“But joking aside… I think I would be really nervous because suddenly now it’s not just a publisher’s money. Suddenly you have all these peoples’ money, and you don’t want to let them down.”
