So, it looks like Obsidian is documenting their Project Eternity game development. This is what I read...

One of the biggest attractions of the fundraiser’s additions is the recent announcement of Obsidian’s “Project Eternity the Documentary”. That’s right, Obsidian will be making a full-fledged documentary of the process for making an entire RPG. This is what Obsidian had to say:

“After getting a lot of requests to do a documentary, like the Double Fine Adventure, we started looking into it a couple of weeks ago. We talked about it more last week and decided that we don’t have a visual history of one of our games, even after almost ten years as a company. We felt it was something we should just do and do it without it being a new stretch goal.

So, we are happy to announce that we are going to include a stream, download, or physical copy of the documentary in all of our Kickstarter reward tiers. At the $20/$25 level you will be able to stream it, at the $35 level you will be able to download it, and at the $140 level (and physical tiers above) we will include a DVD / Blu-ray.”

Here is the source.

while I doubt that anyone at obsidian is quite as charming and funny as Tim Schafer, I'm still looking forward to this a lot. Getting a look at the making of an old-school style rpg sounds incredible.

A good way to see how development progresses.. Also as a huge fan of Obsidian I can't wait to have a look behind the curtain..

I will watch it. The guys at Obsidian are talented enough that I'd like to see how they do their work, especially if it is unfettered by the crushing weight of publisher interference.

I don't know how to say this without sounding like a dick so I'll just say it. Obsidian just needs to concentrate on making a good game and avoid complicating anything. The idea of a documentary looking at the development process is a cool idea and I understand that the documentary process shouldn't effect the development process too much. But...well, every Obsidian game I've played since KOTOR 2 has been sort of messed up in some way. They always have cool ideas. But there's always some 'thing' that junks up the game and usually a stream of excuses for why those issues are there whether they are reasonable or not (ex: KOTOR 2 had limited time for development, New Vegas was on a bad engine, etc. etc.). They are talented but it seems like they need a perfect situation to put out a good game without any qualifications for that assertion. The documentary just seems like an extraneous variable that could be pointed to as yet another thing that fucked up an Obsidian game.

...or maybe I'm just a big jerk.

@JasonR86: maybe if there's a camera in the room we might see where those mistakes come from. i think it'll be an interesting film whether the game is good or not.

youre not a jerk though, you're totally right. there's something weird along the production pipeline with those games for whatever reason and having more moving parts to deal with won't necessarily help them make a quality product.

only 40-something hours left, and $3,140,856 raised, not including paypal.

I really hope they hit that 3.5 million goal. TWO major cities!

don't care much about a documentary, just make a good game and i'll be ok with that.

@damnable_fiend said:

while I doubt that anyone at obsidian is quite as charming and funny as Tim Schafer, I'm still looking forward to this a lot. Getting a look at the making of an old-school style rpg sounds incredible.

You clearly have never met Josh Sawyer.

It'll probably have a great story but will be terrible to watch.

@JasonR86 said:

I don't know how to say this without sounding like a dick so I'll just say it. Obsidian just needs to concentrate on making a good game and avoid complicating anything. The idea of a documentary looking at the development process is a cool idea and I understand that the documentary process shouldn't effect the development process too much. But...well, every Obsidian game I've played since KOTOR 2 has been sort of messed up in some way. They always have cool ideas. But there's always some 'thing' that junks up the game and usually a stream of excuses for why those issues are there whether they are reasonable or not (ex: KOTOR 2 had limited time for development, New Vegas was on a bad engine, etc. etc.). They are talented but it seems like they need a perfect situation to put out a good game without any qualifications for that assertion. The documentary just seems like an extraneous variable that could be pointed to as yet another thing that fucked up an Obsidian game.

...or maybe I'm just a big jerk.

I don't think you're being a jerk, you want a high-quality product from Obsidian; understandable. I don't think the Documentary will influence that outcome to much effect one way or the other, but I understand where you're coming from. This is how I started my New Vegas review:

"Obsidian is fairly well known for making flawed but fantastic games. Sort of like they give you your cake and never let you eat it too… at least not until a year and “X” amount of patches later. It usually takes Obsidian awhile after one of their game’s launches to get it up to where it should be, but afterwards their games are usually quite amazing. Regardless, I pre-ordered New Vegas knowing that Obsidian follows a trend of premature launch ignition and I have waited until now (a little over a year later) to play the game."

So, I had New Vegas pre-ordred, wrapped in cellophane for a year, and didn't open it to play it until a year later just because of their reputation, but that reputation is also why I pre-ordered it even knowing that. I can put aside what is usually a somewhat buggy/broken initial experience for what will ultimately be a fantastic RPG. Is it okay they tend to have buggy games at launch, no, but I, personally, can look past it and I choose to support them regardless. They're one of my favorite developers, I've been following them since Interplay.

@KevinK said:

@damnable_fiend said:

while I doubt that anyone at obsidian is quite as charming and funny as Tim Schafer, I'm still looking forward to this a lot. Getting a look at the making of an old-school style rpg sounds incredible.

You clearly have never met Josh Sawyer.

well um... well, no. no I haven't. sadly. that would be cool, though.

I hate this because I don't care that much about the game but I love these kind of behind the scenes in depth documentarys. I also don't think that this will affect the game production since they will hire a dedicated movie team for this. It's also worth noting that they pay this documentary from their own pocket.