RPGWatch - OutWard Kickstarter Interview

[Couchpotato]

Outward is a new an open world kickstarter RPG from developer Nine Dots Canada. I had the opportunity to ask developer Guillaume Boucher-Vidal a few questions this week.

Couchpotato: Welcome to RPGWatch to get started can you introduce yourself, and your studio Nine Dots Canada for our readers?

Guillaume Boucher-Vidal: Hey there! I’m Guillaume Boucher-Vidal, founder of Nine Dots Studio. My goal with the company is to create a more sustainable development culture than what is usually seen in the game industry. This means that we don’t do crunch time, ensure that the whole team has a creative input on the project and that we make the kind of games we want to play.

More information.

 

[borcanu]

looks good, i like the vibe the team has. but i dont do fantasy for at least a long while.
its like the perfect cop out, weak plot, weak setting, predictable everything besides the gameplay.
its like playing mmos, yeah, fun fun .. but where does it lead and what are you left with for your time

 

[ToddMcF2002]

I disagree it's a cop out. It's the genre most people look for in RPGs. The emphasis on co-op is a red flag for me though.

 

[Amazilia]

Pre-Alpha Game

The game has good visual.

This is surprising what this team of 6 people was able to do in only 3 months of developping.

I pledged on Kickstarter and also voted for them on Steam Greenlight.

I'm eager to see this game development.

I'm glad it has coop! I will have even more reasons to invite friend over to play

 

[forgottenlor]

The game has good visual.

This is surprising what this team of 6 people was able to do in only 3 months of developping.

I pledged on Kickstarter and also voted for them on Steam Greenlight.

I'm eager to see this game development.

I'm glad it has coop! I will have even more reasons to invite friend over to play

While I have nothing against coop, some coop games have poor single player balance, because they were balanced for coop, hence I am also sceptical of coop games, and normally wouldn't fund one via kickstarter.

 

[Bahasa]

I'm looking forward to the game and am extremely excited it will be co-op. This will allow me to take my wife with me as I adventure, yet she will be able to do what she wants to do as well.

I view this game as a realistic simulation (as real as we can get) of what would happen if I were an adventurer. While I'm not thrilled with some of the choices the devs made (we need to eat, sleep, inventory is limited, can only join one faction), I understand why they chose them. The game would be quite different if there were no limitations; in fact it would become another Skyrim or Pillars of Eternity.

I enjoy both of those games, but they allow me to be lazy with my character. If you ask me if I think my characters in those games eat and sleep I'd say, "Of course!" But in PoE I sleep only when I need to heal, and I'd rather drink a potion than eat (and in Skyrim, it's about the same). PoE even has awards for doing the game WITHOUT sleeping.

I absolutely LOVE the inventory allowed in PoE! Why? Because I'm an adventuring packrat, and I'll collect worthless notes if the game lets me. *chuckles* But it's very unrealistic for me to have 127 weapons, 65 suits of armor, 35 pieces of clothing, 25 ingredients, 87 potions, and 12 quest items on my person. The lazy part of me adores the party chest in PoE, but it's NOT realistic.

Outward promises to be realistic. The world around us will exist without us. We are not the savior. We CAN make a difference, but most likely, it will be felt locally with some ripples extending from that. I think some gamers (if they look inside and are honest) don't want a realistic game. They want to feel more powerful than they are.

As for the co-op, I feel the devs will find a good balance for solo and co-op play. If they continue to posit "what would happen if ...", and if they continue to hold fast to their core beliefs, I think the game will be great. For those who don't like co-op games, here's a news flash for you: ALL RPG games are co-op. Don't believe me? Answer these questions: Do you hire NPCs to help you in the game? Does your party consist of more than yourself? Does an NPC join your party (even temporarily) anytime in the game? And lastly, are those in your party working together for a common goal? If you answered 'yes' to any of those questions, you are playing a co-op game with the computer playing the other players. I'd rather have my best friend next to me than rely on the AI the devs write. We all have games where we wish we didn't need the NPCs because the AI sucks. Team members in The Bureau: Xcom Declassified serve as a temporary distraction (until they get shot) rather than as teammates who are really assisting you. In PoE I'm constantly pausing the game to issue orders to my five NPCs. Allowing me to play in split-screen and have a friend alongside me is a very welcomed feature.

 

[forgottenlor]

I'm looking forward to the game and am extremely excited it will be co-op. This will allow me to take my wife with me as I adventure, yet she will be able to do what she wants to do as well.

I view this game as a realistic simulation (as real as we can get) of what would happen if I were an adventurer. While I'm not thrilled with some of the choices the devs made (we need to eat, sleep, inventory is limited, can only join one faction), I understand why they chose them. The game would be quite different if there were no limitations; in fact it would become another Skyrim or Pillars of Eternity.

I enjoy both of those games, but they allow me to be lazy with my character. If you ask me if I think my characters in those games eat and sleep I'd say, "Of course!" But in PoE I sleep only when I need to heal, and I'd rather drink a potion than eat (and in Skyrim, it's about the same). PoE even has awards for doing the game WITHOUT sleeping.

I absolutely LOVE the inventory allowed in PoE! Why? Because I'm an adventuring packrat, and I'll collect worthless notes if the game lets me. *chuckles* But it's very unrealistic for me to have 127 weapons, 65 suits of armor, 35 pieces of clothing, 25 ingredients, 87 potions, and 12 quest items on my person. The lazy part of me adores the party chest in PoE, but it's NOT realistic.

Outward promises to be realistic. The world around us will exist without us. We are not the savior. We CAN make a difference, but most likely, it will be felt locally with some ripples extending from that. I think some gamers (if they look inside and are honest) don't want a realistic game. They want to feel more powerful than they are.

As for the co-op, I feel the devs will find a good balance for solo and co-op play. If they continue to posit "what would happen if …", and if they continue to hold fast to their core beliefs, I think the game will be great. For those who don't like co-op games, here's a news flash for you: ALL RPG games are co-op. Don't believe me? Answer these questions: Do you hire NPCs to help you in the game? Does your party consist of more than yourself? Does an NPC join your party (even temporarily) anytime in the game? And lastly, are those in your party working together for a common goal? If you answered 'yes' to any of those questions, you are playing a co-op game with the computer playing the other players. I'd rather have my best friend next to me than rely on the AI the devs write. We all have games where we wish we didn't need the NPCs because the AI sucks. Team members in The Bureau: Xcom Declassified serve as a temporary distraction (until they get shot) rather than as teammates who are really assisting you. In PoE I'm constantly pausing the game to issue orders to my five NPCs. Allowing me to play in split-screen and have a friend alongside me is a very welcomed feature.

I have to disagree with your definition of co-op. Games like Magika are truly co-op. Single player you play alone. In co-op you have a party. Magika is balanced around co-op making the single player game not very fun. While I have no problem with you wanting to play a co-op game with a friend, I don't have any friends in my time zone who play computer RPGs, so I don't play co-op. There are some games that have co-op and are well balanced for single players, but I'm not going to take my chances supporting a co-op game on kickstarter, which is full of risks as it is.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Another Quebecer developer. Those ex-Ubisoft Montreal staffers are finally making something more interesting than AAA games. There are many popping up, for instance Outlast was started by ex-Ubisoft people too.

 

[Amazilia]

Steam Greenlight

They succeeded on being Greenlight in 7 days! Hope their Kickstarter will work out.

 

[Bahasa]

They have cancelled their campaign.

 

[CelticFrost]

Hello everyone,

It is a rather painful thing to do, but we had to cancel the campaign and redirect our efforts. From the start, it was obvious that without the involvement from the press to help spread the word around, we wouldn't be able to reach enough backers to meet our goal.

Running a kickstarter campaign is a very time-consuming effort, and time is a resource we have less and less of. Given that we were obviously not going to meet our goal, we decided that we should focus the rest of our resources on alternative ways to get funding.

First, we have submitted an application for something called the Canada Media Fund. If we get approved, then the project is fully funded. It's the best case scenario, but once again we'll need a bit of luck. We should hear back from them in June or July.

Secondly, we will try and find either investors or publishers. It is very hard to evaluate our chances of getting one, and it largely depends on how flexible we are with the terms of the contract. The thing is, we aren't. So we'll see if we can find a publisher that has a vision in tune with our own, or find an investor who has a high level of trust in our ability to deliver a high quality game that gamers want. Since looking for a publisher is about as intense as running a Kickstarter, this is where we will be directing our efforts for the time being.

Third, we'll try and find ways to generate more revenue from GoD Factory: Wingmen, our previous title. I don't expect that this could fund the next project entirely, but it could definitely buy us more time, increasing our chances of securing a larger investment. "Live long enough to get lucky", as they say.

Believe me when I say that no one is more saddened than me that I had to cancel the Kickstarter. Outward is our dream project, something we all want to make at Nine Dots. It's not over yet though.

We will keep you posted on updates about the game. We have a new forum where people can stay in close contact with us. If there's enough activity there, we might also send out a playable demo of our game to forum members to gather feedback. Maybe once we have something playable, it will be easier to get the attention from the press and thus build a larger community.

Here's the link to the forum: http://ninedotsforums.com/

Thank you 1029 times for your incredible support. We'll do everything we can to make Outward a reality. Those who have known Nine Dots for a long time know that we don't give up easily.

- Guillaume

From kickstart

 

[wiretripped]

Sadness. I do hope they manage to find some way to get funds.