As you probably know by now, I’ve decided to take the advice of several Matt Chatters and set up my own Patreon page. Patreon is still new enough to elicit more head scratching than enthusiasm at this point, but I think once you understand it, you’ll agree that it’s a better way to support folks like me than PayPal or Kickstarter. Here are my thoughts on it.
It really sucks when something you’re passionate about–and have to constantly defend to family, friends, and possibly a shrink–goes mainstream. Suddenly, you’re surrounded by people who normally wouldn’t glance in your direction giving you something like…What is that weird sensation you get sometimes–respect? “Oh, that guy was into classic games a long time before anyone else. I think he even has a Commodore 64 and an Apple II!” You’re probably put off by this unusual attention, but just as you’re warming up to the idea that–hell–maybe you are somewhat worthy of the veneration, along comes that bastard Mr. Kewl Dawg.
Growth. It happens when the kid in the caveman costume stops hitting his big sis and starts crying because she slapped him back too hard. That’s a sister’s job, really. And a good thing, too. The only thing more pathetic than a crying little boy is an insufferable, prizewinning, highly successful asshole who never got smacked to tears with his own stupid foam club.
One of the favorite things I like to ask my guests on Matt Chat is about their gaming history. What games did you play that sealed your fate as a lifelong gamer? I could talk about that for awhile, actually–because some designers admit to (really) not liking games very much anymore. My guess is that they’re into it mostly for the technical challenge of making them or the economic challenge of selling them. But anyway, on to my own CRPG History!
The earliest memory I have of CRPGs is a cassette tape my dad had labeled “Dungeons & Dragons.” I believe it was a game for the VIC-20 we had at the time. I asked him about it, but received only the mysterious response, “It’s too complicated for you now. You’ll need to be older to play it.” There are few things you can tell a 6 year old that will stimulate a lifelong interest better than that. However, sadly, I never played whatever that game was.
You may have heard that inXile’s Torment: Tides of Numenera project recently held an election among its Kickstarter supporters. The purpose was to help them decide whether their game should feature turn-based or real-time with pause (RTwP) combat. The results were very close, but they ended up (hooray!) going with turn-based combat. They also published a lengthy update on their Kickstarter page explaining their decision and why they think their version of turn-based will not be boring, slow, or repetitive.
What is the secret formula for Kickstarter success? Well, I haven’t done one myself, but as you know, I’ve interviewed plenty of folks who have–and tried my best to support the ones I felt passionately about.
As you’ve probably heard by now, Guido Henkel’s Deathfire Kickstarter failed to meet its $390,000 goal, coming in at only $204,344. You probably also know that this was Guido’s second attempt at a Kickstarter; his earlier Thorvalla project raised only $47,074 of its $1,000,000 goal. Guido did much better this time, but it’s sad to see what I thought was a remarkably promising CRPG fail to raise a modest sum for such an ambitious project. He’s since gone to “Plan B,” which amounts to re-thinking the project as a series of episodes and accepting donations through PayPal (the reward structure is similar to the one on Kickstarter).
I’ve been noticing a trend lately (inevitable, I guess) in the number of Kickstarter updates along these lines:
Okay, I made the last one up, but I bet it’s true for at least a few projects. But I’m not just posting to complain about all this. After all, it’s only human to make mistakes, especially when it comes to overestimating our abilities (especially our self-discipline). Likewise, there’s no denying that, as much as we like to bash them, publishers do bring certain things to the table: forcing everyone to stick to a schedule, cutting costs at every corner, saying “NO” to things that would disrupt the schedule or the budget. Kickstarter-funded developers, of course, are still accountable, but the folks who funded them aren’t in a position to get their money back or fire them.
Man, I love Kickstarter. Where else would you get the chance to fund awesome looking games like Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore? This bad boy has everything I love in CRPGs: you get to create a full party YOURSELF, all combat is tactical turn-based, and there are plenty of rats in dire need of an axe. The brain behind this project is Guido Henkel, who, yes, I’m arranging now to have on Matt Chat. Guido is German (with perfect English) who has worked on games such as Planescape: Torment and Realms of Arkania. Need I say more?
I can’t quite figure out from the video how movement will work in the game, though. It looks a lot like Legend of Grimrock, and I’m wondering if there will the same kind of pressure plate puzzles and such here. That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all in my opinion! Still, as much as I liked that game, I do enjoy getting outdoors and settling down for a few pints of fine ale at a tavern or two.
Keep your fingers crossed that I’ll be able to Guido on the show soon to talk about this (and hopefully his earlier work, too).
Bill Barrett, the voice actor for Dan Carlin.
I talked yesterday to Bill Barrett, the same awesome voice actor who does the liners for Dan Carlin’s podcasts. I was expecting his fees to be far beyond what I could afford, but it’s actually not bad at all. So, now all the pieces are in place–just need to start thinking about how I want to go about the podcast.
My purpose here is to create a rather excellent podcast that will be entertaining, informative, and inspiring. To that end, I’ve started re-reading my favorite books and articles on the subject, including my all-time favorite: Hackers by Steven Levy. If you haven’t read this book, go ahead and order it now–I haven’t read anything nearly as good on the topic. Levy does a superb job making his history read like a great novel without skimping on the details. It’s the kind of book that’s much more than just a good read, though–you almost can’t resist doing some coding or messing around with some hardware after you put it down. He also does a great job sketching the personalities involved. I’d love to capture some of that style and energy in podcast form.
Black main characters are becoming more common in games, but are they doing much to combat racism?
Lately, I’ve been studying up on the topic of racism, specifically, what it is and what can be done to prevent or at least reduce it. SCSU offers a number of CARE workshops and programs for faculty and students addressing the topic, and the city of Saint Cloud offers the Create CommUNITY “Conversation on Race,” which I plan to attend on Tuesday. What has struck me about all these events is a particular definition of racism–specifically, that “racism” isn’t just a negative attitude or prejudice against a race. Instead, it’s presented as a formula: Racism = Prejudice + Power. Some of the more provocative statements I’ve heard coming from the speakers at these workshops is that black people can’t be racist, since they don’t have the institutional power to discriminate against an entire group. Another claim that makes some people bristle is that “everyone is racially prejudiced,” that it just comes naturally to us and can’t be avoided. Even if you are a white person who is passionate about being anti-racist, you are racist despite yourself, since the system will discriminate in your favor no matter what you try to do. See Diane Sawyer’s True Colors on YouTube for a vivid look at what this kind of racism is all about.