Psychonauts 2

[Himu]

Hey, don't take issue with Doublefine, take issue with God.

[chronovore]

Double Fine is also seeking $400k in donations to make a class point-and-click adventure game, as well:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

It's well on its way to tripling its funding goal in the first 24 hours online. I guess the game will be scaled to match the final budget?

$1,035,657
PLEDGED OF $400,000 GOAL

So is this the thread for Psychonauts 2, or this Kickstarter thing?

[Great Rumbler]

It's sad when kids die because they don't have doctors or money to pay for medical bills yet some fucking basement dwelling virgins donate 1 million to some fat ass and his video game company

It's not a "donation" if they get a videogame [and other goodies] in return once it's finished. That's called a "preorder."

[Howard Alan Treesong]

It's sad when kids die because they don't have doctors or money to pay for medical bills yet some fucking basement dwelling virgins donate 1 million to some fat ass and his video game company

It's not a "donation" if they get a videogame [and other goodies] in return once it's finished. That's called a "preorder."

yup - and I'd rather preorder with the developer, instead of letting GameStop and the publisher take their cut, first...

[chronovore]

It's sad when kids die because they don't have doctors or money to pay for medical bills yet some fucking basement dwelling virgins donate 1 million to some fat ass and his video game company

It's not a "donation" if they get a videogame [and other goodies] in return once it's finished. That's called a "preorder."

yup - and I'd rather preorder with the developer, instead of letting GameStop and the publisher take their cut, first...

[Joe Molotov]

Exactly. And this is not like this is first time a dev has let you preorder a game to get money to make the game with, it's just the first time it's been done on the scale. Usually it's just a Paypal button on their website, or you buy into the beta and get the full version when it's finished.

[Great Rumbler]

I'd like to see more companies do this kind of thing, to be honest. Of course, very few will be able to get the kind of money that Notch and Double-Fine did, but this is a great way for developers to cut out the middleman and go directly to gamers to find out what they're willing to buy. If it doesn't meet it's goal, then the game doesn't get made and everyone gets their money back, no big deal.

[iconoclast]

I'd like to see more companies do this kind of thing, to be honest. Of course, very few will be able to get the kind of money that Notch and Double-Fine did, but this is a great way for developers to cut out the middleman and go directly to gamers to find out what they're willing to buy. If it doesn't meet it's goal, then the game doesn't get made and everyone gets their money back, no big deal.

Yes. Cave should do this instead of saying "well, if we sell 500 PCBs ($2000-$3000), we'll be able to make another game, so be sure to buy one!"

[pilonv1]

Lets get a Kickstarter going for Himuro plinko

[MyNameIsMethodis]

i will gladly donate $1

[chronovore]

I'm actually more interested in the Notch-funded Psychonauts 2 possibility. That could be crazy.

[Human Snorenado]

I'm actually more interested in the Notch-funded Psychonauts 2 possibility. That could be crazy.

same

[Himu]

I'm actually more interested in the Notch-funded Psychonauts 2 possibility. That could be crazy.

same

ditto

[Howard Alan Treesong]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=35002239&postcount=2488

Ok, I don't like Schafer, nor Double Fine, but I just gave my 15$.

I'm looking at you, Yu Suzuki.

:munch

[Joe Molotov]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=35002239&postcount=2488

Ok, I don't like Schafer, nor Double Fine, but I just gave my 15$.

I'm looking at you, Yu Suzuki.

:munch

Haha, you called it. The soul still burns.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm glad that in these harsh economic times, people still have enough disposable income to fund financial failures and boondoggles like Double Fine games.

[demi]

"But we all bought a copy, that means it sold well right?"

[Great Rumbler]

I'm glad that in these harsh economic times, people still have enough disposable income to fund financial failures and boondoggles like Double Fine games.

Double-Fine's already pocketed $1.1 million and the game's not even out yet. Doesn't sound like a financial failure to me.

[Positive Touch]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=35002239&postcount=2488

Ok, I don't like Schafer, nor Double Fine, but I just gave my 15$.

I'm looking at you, Yu Suzuki.

:munch

only $69,999,985 to go!

[Great Rumbler]

Double-Fine kickstarter is at $1.6 million, by the way.

[etiolate]

MAKE IT MAKE ME PSYCHONAUTS 2

[Himu]

WHERE IS PSYCHONAUTS 2 NEWS

[Timber]

Psychonauts 2 seems like it would be too costly for Double Fine. They're thriving creatively and staying afloat financially making games with 2 mil budgets, so why disturb that equilibrium?

[Great Rumbler]

Psychonauts 2 seems like it would be too costly for Double Fine. They're thriving creatively and staying afloat financially making games with 2 mil budgets, so why disturb that equilibrium?

Minecraft's Notch wants to put up the money for Psychonauts 2, so I doubt Double-Fine would be hurt too much if it didn't do all that well.

[Timber]

Schafer said that Psychonauts' budget was 15 mil. If we're looking at something comparable for Psychonauts 2 then it seems unlikely to me that Notch would drum up that much. I mean, the guy is rich but 15 mil is a hell of lot of money for a pet project and would leave a substantial dent in his wallet.

[Timber]

Uuh I think most people are well aware of what they're getting themselves into and have no illusions about it.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/16-million-and-counting/3981/

[Timber]

Schafer said that Psychonauts' budget was 15 mil. If we're looking at something comparable for Psychonauts 2 then it seems unlikely to me that Notch would drum up that much. I mean, the guy is rich but 15 mil is a hell of lot of money for a pet project and would leave a substantial dent in his wallet.

lol this guy has no idea what he's talking about and needs to STFU imo.

http://kotaku.com/5884958/the-past-and-future-of-psychonauts-2

"I was like, 'I don't think you can make for a million dollars.' The original game was, I think, $13 million, I think you have to match the original game."

"As soon as I mentioned the amount of money he said, 'Yeah, I can do that.'"

[Great Rumbler]

[Vizzys]

asperger blood diamonds

[Bebpo]

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/16-million-and-counting/3981/

Good read, thanks.

[Himu]

I WANT MORE DOGEN

[Timber]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure/posts

[Stoney Mason]

Nice. I'm down with the ios version.

[Himu]

Nice. I'm down with the ios version.

Ditto.

[Stoney Mason]

A Tweeted offer to back a sequel to Tim Schafer's cult favorite Psychonauts was "a semi-joke," said Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of Minecraft and a guy who's not hard up for cash in light of that game's success. Notch rattled off a host of reasons why we shouldn't get our hopes up, especially the cost of the project.

"The budget for doing a Psychonauts 2 is three times higher than my initial impression, Notch wrote on his personal blog today in a post titled "Hype!" He also assumes (rightly, one thinks) that Schafer's Double Fine studio will be tied up with the Kickstarter project, which has raised $1.8 million in about a week.

"Tim and I haven't spoken much at all other than a couple of emails," Notch wrote. Also "a couple of other parties have mentioned also being interested in investing in it."

In one of those conversations, Schafer told Kotaku that he informed Notch the original Psychonauts budget was $13 million. It released in 2005. "I was like, 'I don't think you can make [it] for a million dollars,'" Schafer says he told Notch. Yet, "as soon as I mentioned the amount of money he said, 'Yeah, I can do that.'"

Evidently that figure moved up to about $40 million. That's not to say Notch hasn't seriously thought about it—he has, to the extent that he would be very specific about his reasons for doing so. "I would not be investing in this as a charity. It would be because I think the game would be profitable," he said. "And naturally, I wouldn't want to have any creative input in the game. It would be purely a high-risk investment in a project I believe in.

"All I know is that IF the numbers work out and IF they still want to do it and IF they don't decide to self fund a sequel by doing more crowd funding (which is honestly what I would've done if I were them), I would be most interested in doing this type of investment," he said.

[Himu]

Holy shit, I am going to buy Minecraft now.

[Timber]

Where the hell did fourty million come from all of a sudden?

[Timber]

Wait did they think Notch's statement about the budget being three times higher than expected means that it's three times higher than the Psychonauts 1 budget? I don't think that's what he meant at all.

[chronovore]

It's entirely possible that the budget would be $40M. At the time Psychonauts was made, $13M was a massive, huge game, a considerable budget for what was supposed to be one of the AAA experiences of its time. In order to scale that same expectation up to this or next generation, $40M is not an unheard of budget for dev alone. Another possibility is considering it $25M for dev, and $15M for marketing, which would also be pretty typical of current financials for current "big" games.

[Himu]

Double fine should try to sell a Psychonauts cartoon to cartoon network/nick. The formula alone is perfect for the format and would raise awareness. If you're going to try to release a game like this, you need some backing, something that already has an audience.

[Stoney Mason]

Double fine should try to sell a Psychonauts cartoon to cartoon network/nick. The formula alone is perfect for the format and would raise awareness. If you're going to try to release a game like this, you need some backing, something that already has an audience.

I've always said that. Their works has always felt like a mix of Nicktoons with a little bit of Pixar. LucasArts was dumb for not pursing that and everything they do should be cross media to promote itself in that manner.

[Himu]

Well there WAS the Sam and Max cartoon, which I watched. It got me into Sam and Max: Hit The Road.

[Great Rumbler]

Tim Schafer should do like American McGee and just throw Chinese orphans at the game until it's finished, saves a lot on overhead.

[chronovore]

On the topic of contributor entitlement (they may not even be contributors, come to think of it):

http://toucharcade.com/2012/02/14/double-fine-adventure-ios/

We covered the project because an iOS version seemed like a good possibility. In the original Q&A, Double Fine said Mac and iOS ports are something that it would "love to do" and they were both at "the top of the list for things" if it raised more funds than it asked for. Mission accomplished.

A recent update to that response in the Q&A, however, is decidedly more cautious about the possibility of a Mac or iOS port. "We would love to do both of those things," it says now. "They are at the top of the list for things to do and we're working to determine whether we will be able to offer them."

This is a subtle change, but an important one. An iOS port sure doesn't seem as likely as it once did -- which you know, was probably the point in fiddling with the wording in the first place. A rep told TouchArcade that an announcement should be coming shortly, and the change was just a new way of telling people that Double Fine is looking into iOS and Mac and pricing a port out.

"Games journalist" detects subtle shift in phrasing, suspects BETRAYAL of there preferred platform. Let alone the possibility that games tend to make their way to as many platforms as is feasible, over time, if they're successful enough, this is simply reporting on a non-event, a non-statement.

Oh, wait, right: games journalism.

[Stoney Mason]

To be fair I think that's the nature of a single platform site. In general I think Toucharcade is a very good site and they cover a niche that general purpose sites do a shitty job of covering but yeah if your focus is on a single platform you will probably over-react to things regarding that platform.

[benjipwns]

In the original Q&A, Double Fine said Mac and iOS ports are something that it would "love to do" and they were both at "the top of the list for things"

"We would love to do both of those things," it says now. "They are at the top of the list for things to do

So it says the same thing it said before?

[chronovore]

Yeah, like I said, non-news about a non-statement. Or I guess "non-change of statement" would have been more accurate.

And Stoney is right, that they're covering a spot that other "core" gaming sites are not devoting enough attention to, almost mirroring how major publishers ignored the movement while others ate their lunch -- and maybe that makes them more sensitive. They could rename themselves Touchy-arcade.

[Stoney Mason]