RagingLion

It was a blissfully melancholic experience for me. I know I’m atuned and receptive to the tone that Dear Esther creates and therefore it meets me in a way it wouldn’t for everyone, but what I personally got out of it was a very memorable experience that surpasses what I experienced playing the original.

And I have to emphasise that the caves section for me was without hyperbole the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in a game – just utterly, utterly beautiful. I was frequently mouth agape, just saying “wow”, and complemented by the music those moments were really special.

The deliberate walking pace that is all Dear Esther allows meant that at the end someone who was watching me play said “I just feel like I’ve walked across an actual island this evening” and we had. In a very real way we had made that journey that felt like a real-life one. I’m still trying to piece together what I think about whether it delivered everything as effectively as it could and whether the randomisation of audio clips and a deliberately obfuscated story makes sense as a methodology, but wow, what an experience it all was.

@ShadowConqueror said:

Does anyone know if all the narration is the same as in the mod version?

There have been some new lines recorded and written compared to the original though I don't think a large percentage. The narration is randomised of course though so there's all kinds of line in there that you might not have heard in the original either depending on if you played it a few times.

Fez.

Where is Braid. That is personally the best ending to a game for me.

Good to see this interview - just read another one with Tim beforehand, but I was really wanting to hear his take in more detail on things after it all kicked off.

Donesn't sound like Double FIne were doing perfectly does it beforehand from this.

A well written piece.

There are some things and some experiences and therefore emotions that can only be elicited from games with great scale and some of those emotions are the most profound many gamers feel. Being lost in a world that feels dynamic enough to be believable is just such an experience, so it's not something to be sniffed at.

I hear you, though. Ultimately it's really hard to compare one game against another.

@SaturdayNightSpecials said:

The friend's stream isn't as good because it shows only the latest updates from everyone you follow, not the latest from each one. And updates get repeated a ton.

Yep. It's just harder to drive the conversation between people by seeing blogs and status updates so obviously. I do always go to my profile page to see that same info there but I know that many other people won't.

@SamFo said:

I know this joke was thrown around a bunch, but somewhere in the back of my head a studio like Double Fine starting Kickstarter projects with some proper publicity behind it feels like it just might actually work. I'd pledge so many dollars to have games made. Being a consumer is so reactive so much of the time. We are given a palette of games to choose from, and we commit our dollars to them after the fact, so to speak. We hear stories of games studios would like to make, but won't be made because publishers don't believe in them, or some other similar story.

you're a freaking wizard...

The timing really is pretty crazy and this topic is now stupidly prescient. The world is changing just a little bit...

@wumbo3000 said:

400 grand in 33 days? That seems like an impossible amount of money...But good luck to the Double Fine guys! Wish them the best!

This is hilarious given the hindsight of a few hours later but I don't blame you, this really is an incredible thing we're witnessing here.

I'm not even the biggest adventure game fan but I'm thinking of getting in on this just to see the documentary.

A well put OP. I don't know. Kickstarter stuff is already happening. Anything on slightly bigger scales than that such as a Psychonauts 2 require multiple millions and that seems to start to be out of reach even if a bunch of people are excited about it. It would only be the biggest projects that could generate that kind of interest - almost certainly only sequels of long unseen games though maybe a creator who's lauded enough might stand a change. There's probably a sweet spot where the bigger more intensive games aren't possible but those below that will work. For example 30 man teams are too much to be funded but maybe 10-15 and below are possible at numerous hundred thousands of pounds and you can still do an awful lot with that amount of money and the right amount of creativity. I wonder how much Journey took to fund for example? That size of game maybe.

@coolvee said:

And with Notch and his access to half a million followers on twitter, Psychonauts 2 would have an infinitely better marketing campaign just from his twitter feed alone and would outsell Psychonauts 1 easily.

This is an important point I think and one both Double Fine and Notch himself might well be aware in terms of thinking about making back their money on this game.

As some have said, this whole sitatuion is really just so cool and special.