Pinkerton Road (Kickstarter - Jane Jensen)

[Family Fry]

Surely is Schafer can get a couple of million, the creator of Gabriel Knight can get $300k?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1005365109/jane-jensens-pinkerton-road-2012-2013-csg

http://pinkertonroad.com/

"The independent studio will use a unique “community supported gaming” model to make Jensen’s distinctive games available to subscribers, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes involvement in the games’ development"

From press release.

http://pinkertonroad.com/wp-content/themes/pinkerton/inc/pdf/PinkertonRoad_Launch_4-5-12.pdf

Pinkerton Road's first adventure game will be developed this year and a poll on 1st may will decided which of these 3 is made first.

Moebius


A man investigates a series of events around the world for a mysterious benefactor and learns a secret that changes his entire world view.

Gray Matter 2


Dr. David Styles, a renegade neurobiologist, and Samantha Everett, a street magician, seek the truth about a dead girl’s strange powers.

Anglophile Adventure

Visit Regency England for a little sex, lies and scandal.

[Chief H]

Hm, whilst I'd like to see this project succeed and I'll end up backing it (my main hesitation at the mo is that whilst I enjoyed Gray Matter, I wasn't super-blown-away by it), I think this could struggle a bit in meeting its goals, as I think they've got the pitch and model round the wrong way here.

Something about having the pitch video outside on their farm estate, to the slightly confusing 'subscriber' model, it just feels as if the focus isn't so much on the community but more on the studio itself. In a way it shows how Double Fine not only got there first, but absolutely nailed every aspect perfectly right to generate the right kind of buzz and support. They realised people are essentially paying for something they won't get for a long time yet, so they have the whole documentary film to fill the gap until release. Pinkerton Road has a quarterly update. Double Fine have poured all the excess backer money above the target back into the title they're making with ports and translations amongst other stuff to make the one title everyone will see even better. Pinkerton will use the extra to make a second game that backers will need to pay for again unless they punt for the $50 tier. It just seems like less of a value proposition (which was a big plus for Double Fine as well as the uniqueness) for the backer who in reality is taking a fair gamble in investing in a concept.

I dunno. There just doesn't seem to be the same excitement or anticipation about backing this at $16 given that only just over a year ago I bought Gray Matter for ?17 on release day. Whilst Double Fine Adventure felt like it could never work without our support, I don't get quite that same feeling here. Nonetheless it's a great opportunity for the fans to back her and let her do her stuff and hopefully deliver more of what they all love.

[Deuteros]

Moebius: Empire Rising will be released on the 15th of April.



Given the small budget they had for development, I wish they'd have gone for a 2D game. To put things in perspective, the original Gabriel Knight had a bigger budget (around one million dollars), and that was around 20 years ago... Still, the impressions I've read are positive and I believe Moebius will do well enough to be but the first of many projects helmed by Jane Jensen.

[Guts]

It looks ok visually, about the same level as the new Broken Sword. The animation seems a bit clunky (as was Broken Sword), but you can live with that if the story is interesting and the puzzles are nice and clever.

What I wonder is, would an actual 2D animated game actually be cheaper to make today, than a 3D model based? I have no idea, but I'm sure there are people on this forum who know how much work each style requires.

[Deuteros]

I agree on the story and puzzles taking precedence over graphics and animation. It's just that 3D made on a shoestring budget can look nasty and dated while 2D, with the right artistic direction, can overcome much if it has a certain amount of style and flair.

I'm not sure how much more expensive to develop one is compared to the other but, looking back, the first Gabriel Knight looks much nicer than the second and both look much better than the third. Rather tellingly, the first game is being remade and I doubt the following two games will ever get the same treatment, though they could certainly use a 'visual reimagining' much more.

[Guts]

Don't get me wrong, I agree 100% and would prefer beautiful, hand drawn and animated 2D graphics to 3D models which look like they're from 2005. Beautiful 2D graphics are, for me timeless where as 3D has evolved so much that those early 3D games look terrible now. I just suspect that using a 3D engine is much easier and requires a lot less work, but that's just a guess.

I also agree about what you said about the first Gabriel Knight, easily the best looking out of the three games and still looks nice. Parts 2 and 3 really look out of date now and products of their time.