Same here.

More....

Question: About the pet. 
Would you consider instead, to add in a non-combative companion, a spite/spirit /soul/whatever (fairy sized) that essentially follows you around and acts as a live journal? Talking to her, you can check on your quest status, or even get hints or prompt as to where to go next. The thing is, even for a cosmetic pet, I would like to see them make their presence felt and have a reason to have them around. Even if only to carry on in a banter with our companions.
Feargus: We will talk about that a bit more. Everyone will get pets, but the special KS pet is for the $50+.

Question: Regarding the pet, what kind of size are talking about here? I'd like a red fox, or something similar if there are no foxes in the world of Project Eternity.
Feargus: It will be something small, but not tiny.

Question: Will we be getting more information about the $50+ KS pet before this is over? And don't you dare says it's a cosmetic paladin pet.
Feargus: Artists are working like crazy on stuff ( the ones not working on South Park ), so we will see what we can do.

Question: the player's house right now is just a place for your characters to be picked from and maybe rest at safely and free of charge but has no quests or developments such as BG2 and the stronghold does?
Feargus: The house currently is a light stronghold, so a bit more than a straight house - but not a full stronghold.

Question: Feargus; If I pledge $50 but am not at the $50 tier (maybe $25 dollar tier + $25 for beta access) do I still get the pet?
Feargus: That is a good question. Let me talk it over with Adam.

Question: "Everyone will get pets, but the special KS pet is for the $50+."
You know that completionists won't care about that but about the fact that some content is forbidden to them (not enough pledge or coming after the Kickstarter). I'm quite sure that you know that it's impossible to please everybody. And quite sure that you know that the KS pet will be modded for "commoner use". Maybe "KS of 50+ get a exclusive pet unlocked by default, the rest must complete the game at leastonce"? Being vanity, I don't care about pets being exclusive but at the same time I can understand people like WIzard Ham (and also been burt by the stupidity of preorder bonuses)
Feargus: Not a bad idea. Putting on the list.

Question: Will we be able to hire npc guards etc to protect our stronghold, and maybe even have a battle or 2 defending it.......
Feargus: If there was a Stronghold at a certain stretch level then that might be something we were considering. :)

Question: Any ETA on the update for today?
Feargus: I'm your update for the day. :) I'll be on every other hour or two until about 1AM PST. The Friday and Tim update got put into one update and we put up at midnight PST.

Ink Blot Note: Feargus, you're killing me trying to keep up with these Q&A sessions!

Question: I'm pretty sure you won't give this question a straight answer, and you've probably heard it before, but ... :) ... Have you guys discussed the possibility of having George Ziets onboard? Maybe as a stretchgoal? (like WL2 did with Avellone)
Feargus: Yes we have talked about it. :)

Question: I'm glad people keep mentioning George Ziets, means i'm not the only one who thinks he'd be brilliant for this project :)
Feargus: We think he is brilliant as well.

Question: Have you considered doing a reddit AMA (Ask me anything)? That has helped alot of other kickstarter projects get their viral load up to critical mass in the past.
Feargus: Planning one for next week. Either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Question: Is the mega Dungeon designed to be just hack and slash to the bottom? Or do you play to create a story that ties the dungeon to the main quest? The reason I ask is that unlike an MMO or Diablo type game where the main focus is loot, I would like to have an important story driven reason for wanting to complete the Mega Dungeon in PE
Feargus: There will be lore and story behind the dungeon. It will probably be a little more action focused then the more story areas - but we always work to put story and meaning in every part of our games.

Question: I heard there was an internal screenshot. Will you guys consider releasing a screenshot towards the homestretch to get more folks to pledge?
Feargus: We are working on it. Hoping it is at the level we want for the game by next week.

Question: Screenshots are really advanced stages, you need to have an engine, background, characters, whatnot to freeze a frame.
Feargus: PE is a bit different when it comes to screens, since the backgrounds are pre-rendered.

Question: so you have finalized characters and backgrounds inside of an envrionment that will look like the one we'll play in when the game publishes?
Feargus: Hopefully a finalized background. Not characters yet.

Question: Will we be able to make our pet(s?) stay at the player house if we don't want it to follow us? :)
Feargus: We hadn't talked about that - so I'll put it on the list.

Question: In one of the interview articles there was this awesome artwork of a mage character... don't remember his name. Something starting with A?
Anyway, could we get a full version of that artwork with the next update maybe? That would be cool. :)
Feargus: We will be releasing the high resolution mage artwork early next week

Question: I'm not sure if this has been answered yet, but will there be regenerating health in this game?
Feargus: Yes and no. :) Josh has some cool ideas for that.

Question: Hi guys, you are speaking a lot about game mechanics, classes, etc.
But what about the life in the world ? Will the NPC have something to do or will they stand there waiting for someone to speak ?
Will we get across some others adventurers' groups that may be helpfull (ie: we have to go in the same dungeon but have different objectives) or will try to kill us ("hay lads ... nice stuff ya got thar") ? Will animals/creatures interact with each other in random/procedural events (ie: wolf hunting for food or a Horde of orcs ambushing a merchant's caravan) I think it would be a really cool addition to the background, you will not be THE Aventurer but a group in a world that could live without you :)
Feargus: We are working on a system that has the NPCs do more than stand around along with reacting to you and reacting to the state of the world and the story.

Question: will you use a karma system like the one in fallout? I thought it worked better than alignment
Feargus: Something very much like that, but you'll have various kinds of karma/reputation that better simulates your actions locally, globally and with specific groups.

Question: Does WotC have the rights to the Lim-Lim pet seen in the Planescape: Torment, or was it an original creation? Something really odd like that would be a great pet.
Feargus: If it's in Torment it is either owned by WotC or Interplay. Forgot about the Lim-Lim!

Question: Yes, i have read it and let's say it made me very curious. I am digging those ideas about non-combat. I think the question I have, is how much can be done to avoid repetition of solutions to avoid combat.
Let's say, finding a secret passage to espace a combat is fun and very rewarding but not so if that solution is repeated many time. Do not take this as a critic, I am just wondering as personaly I have no clue on how to do it.
Feargus: Our goal with the non-combat skills is to have them keep you engaged.

Question: I have one more question before bedtime... Do you think you'll release a screenshot before the KS ends?
Feargus: Possibly. It needs to be amazing, so that is what will make it happen or not.

Question: Might i suggest getting Chris, Josh and everyone at Obsidian with twitter to tweet about facebook?
Feargus: That's a very cool idea. I'll get the word out.

Question: Any idea on what platform will be used for the beta? I think Steam would be more convenient for pushing the updates, although not everyone will like the idea. But since the beta is separate from the actual game, people could play the beta through Steam and still get their DRM-free game on launch day.
Feargus: We have not settled on anything, but you are correct Steam would be a great way to do it - and we've done that before with Beta testing.

Video interview: Josh Sawyer on Project Eternity (20 minutes,in-depth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoRDtNag8rE

Hmm the comment section of this doesn't sound like the usual one's on KS....

Update from last night:


Question: Oh, and something that came up on the forums earlier... people were asking whether the boxed copy of the game would be DRM-free or Steam-only?
Feargus: For the box, we are either going to give someone the option or it will be DRM free.

Question: Will there be intoxication effects in PE?
Feargus: Not sure. I'll put it on the list.

Question: Feargus: any chance we could get a glossy paper map at the 65 box? Really want a map, but don't want to go to 140 for the cloth map
Feargus: Talking to Adam more about rewards and add-ons, I will put that on the list.

Question: Are there any detailed plans for the economy system in PE yet? Will it be very simple (just buy and sell) or more sophisticated with things like volatile prices and proposals, external shocks, limited merchant budgets, specialized merchants,bargaining merchants and so on?
Feargus: The plan right now is for a fairly standard economy. However, we do include in our stores (normally) specific, to the store and controlled by variables being set externally, mark-ups and mark-downs. So, we can simulate some things changing or being different in stores. I don't think we will write an algorithmic based economy though - more state based.

Question: will there be bikini armor for the barbarian class?
Feargus: Josh has a lot of opinions about armor that makes sense and doesn't.

Question: Will there be pickpocketing in game? And I don't mean only from player's side :)
Feargus: We have not talked about you getting pickpocketed.

Question: What are the special behind the scenes things going to entail in the book? Will they be substantial? I originally was confused and didn't know what exactly was meant for the $35 tier.
Feargus: We are going to put some info in there about the development of the game. Some pictures of us doing our thing, what our crazy whiteboards look like and the myriad of hats that Rob and Avellone buy and then walk around in.

Question: I think people would up their pledges if you promised to sign the CE boxes along with the rest of the team. What's carpal tunnel syndrome when you're getting closer to 2.5 million in funding? ;)
Feargus: I'm going to sign the boxes as well. My name isn't in there because we were worried all the rewards were getting way too long. Kind of silly looking back at it now.

Question: How's the paypal side of the drive going?
Feargus: It's at $22K - so that means - $2.4M is done folks!

Question: Do you know the dimensions , size, pages of the book ?
Feargus: Sorry, we don't yet. It will be cool though.

Question: Then it all will be old-school - player-thief and not a single pickpocket around it. Cool. But at least NPCs in game will be angry when you taking their possessions when they can see it? Oh, but don't overdo it. I'm just got tired from the way in Oblivion stolen things seemed to have @STOLEN@ written on them - because I couldn't explain how "law enforcers" can identify stolen silver fork among two others :)
Feargus: From my perspective as a game maker (nothing I've ever talked with Bethesda or Todd about), they did that for balancing reasons and to make being a thief cool (getting access to more places you can sell stolen things). For balance reasons if everything can just be taken then you could just rip off a whole town and immediately sell it. Less of a big deal later in the game, could maybe hurt the early game a bit. Maybe.

Question: Any ETA on when you'll have the next (and probably last) set of stretch goals for us? I wanna know when I can stare longingly at the goals we might not be getting to.
Feargus: Soon....

Question: about a possible add-on: a picture of you, josh, chris, tim and whoever else is in the top level of the development of you guys just goofing off or something, and signed by each of you. seems like a fairly minor thing that could possibly drum up a decent amount of add ons.
Feargus: That would be a pretty minor thing. We are looking at some other Physical Goods that we can put up as add-ons that could also be stuff to sign. I'll talk with the guys about it tomorrow (Sunday).

Question: oh yes, a signed cloth map would be amazing.
Feargus: I'll definitely talk to the guys tomorrow about signed stuff. TBH - I hadn't thought of that aspect of adding things.

Question: Feargus, anyone mentioned about featuring a "pet" that is really functions as your "live journal"?
Essentially you get a soul / conscience that follow you around that you can talk to, to have her (or him if you so choose) repeat what was last said by which npc, follow up on your quests and give hints as to where to head to next if needed, and participate in banter with you and your companions. She is however a non combatant, and doesn't take up a companion slot. Kinda like Morte form PST.

It would have cool to have a journal to be like that, to be "alive" but ah well. :)
Feargus: Definitely a cool idea.

Question: I just really hope you don't have spell casting done using a "Latin Incantation" system. I have always hated that sort of thing, I mean, Latin was not the first spoken language and if the "Spirits" are even halfway intelligent they would know modern languages. If you have vocal spellcasting, especially since it is Soul Power based, please just let it be a sort of personalized "Focusing Ritual" for people to put their concentration into form, and let the words used for the casting be modern laguages. I know if I was a Wizard I'd rather chant, "Let my anger be as cold as the arctic! Ice Javelin!" or "Let the fickle goddess guide me to a better end! Blessing of Fortune!" than "Bastardized-ium Latin-is!" It would also be more interesting to see "focusing rituals" for different cultures than have a single archaic language for all spells. Know what I mean?
Feargus: Josh is the guy designing that aspect and I'm sure he will come up with something that makes actual sense and not just a standard fall back. In college he studied history and all of that is very important to him. Things making sense, not the use of Latin just because it is "historic".

Question: Have you guys considered writing a PnP system for playing in the Eternity world as a backer reward?
Feargus: We've talked about it a lot. Nothing definitive yet

I don't like how they all want more physical feelies. They are interesting for about 10 minutes and then mostly forgotten. The immense increase in production and design costs for each item isn't worth it. Their budget is small enough as it is, no need draw more money from the game.

Agreed.

Another short Q&A from this morning:

From this morning:

Morning everyone - we have $26K in the PayPal account now and almost 7K people liking us on Facebook. So that is 13K more people to another dungeon and $80K to our next stretch goal. -Feargus


Question: could you tell us the number of paypal backers?
Feargus: Darren and I are going to work on figuring out how to get that out of PayPal. Looking at the screens, it's hard to see where you can get a number. Dumb reason, but we will get it figured out. We just see the list 20 people at a time and they don't list out the total number of pages.

Question: Wait, do you mean 13k more for the Endless Paths or what are you talking about?
Feargus: 13K more likes on Facebook for the Endless Paths. $80K more for the next stretch goal.

Question: quick question on the facebook likes... is it EVERY 20k likes, or just the first?
Feargus: Hadn't thought about every 20K likes. I think we are going to stick with 20K likes and then see where we are - I get in trouble when I start offering things. :) Oh, and remember: It's likes on Obsidian, not PE - that's not our site actually.

https://www.facebook.com/obsidian…

Not that it's different info, but I think I got the tumblr page looking ok.

http://project-eternity.tumblr.com/

Question: now with Crafting and Enchanting being included, could we have a little more information on the crafting and enchanting systems?
Feargus: The guys are all working really hard right now on foundation stuff with the game - and doing updates here. We will get info out on the crafting and enchanting - but it will, most likely, be after the KS. Josh, as an example, is doing a lot of race, culture and class work right now.

Question: Revolution somehow found a solution to show these Paypal numbers. I think they are nice guys. :)
Feargus: We will contact them and Darren has looked at the code already (so he understands it). We wanted to get the translated sites up first - with Spanish being pretty much done. Darren's wife is 8.5 months pregnant, so he's on a couple of deadlines right now.

Question: I have to ask - when is the next update?
Feargus: It will be tomorrow morning PST. Hoping to get it out fairly early. My Sunday is about getting that put together.

Question: Do you have an opinion on why in over 20 years of RPG development, no one has dared to create a playable Deity. D&D games are chock full of these entities meddling in the affairs of mortals, yet no developer has been able to dream up a fun way of including them in a game. {They would not even try) This question as puzzled me to no end can you help?
Feargus: I'm guessing here, however a lot of RPGs are about growth. Growing from someone of little consequence to someone of consequence. We probably focus more on the former than the later, so we don't think about the player playing the final incarnation of their character as much.

Question: OK, now I have posted to all my friends about the Faceboom thing but still I agree, you really should get the word out more.
Feargus: Thanks, we didn't want to spam people with updates until the last week. We did tweet it and the front page of our KS site has it up at top. But, you guys are right - will work on getting the word out. You know what, I'll put a Facebook post about it together and then see if everyone can share that across their groups.

Question: How did you manage to keep Tim Cain at Obsidian? I remember an interview where he said it would be only a temporary job and now he's working on PE.
Feargus: He's having fun and, I think, some of the reasons he left Black Isle don't exist anymore. We are all working towards making great games and he gets to do that every day. Plus, well, I'm there of course... why wouldn't anyone want to stay. :)

Question: You can see where pledges are coming from on the KS dashboard, right? What sites are most people coming in from? Or is it a lot of twitter type links.
Feargus: The largest amount is where they don't have information on where the person came from (20%), then about 15% from Kickstarter and then the biggest external site is Rock, Paper, Shotgun at 5%.


Feargus posted this just before signing off:

Ok, I added a post to the Obsidian Facebook. If you guys and gals are up for sharing with your groups, that would be awesome. Thanks!

"Fun new backer goal for Project Eternity, if we can get to 20,000 likes on Facebook for Obsidian, we will add another level to the Mega Dungeon the Endless Paths. So, please share and get the word out!

https://www.facebook.com/obsidian… "

Question for whoever's following the discussion on KS: how did Obsidian end up backing the Kerfluffles project?

They... like marshmallows?

EDIT: Wait, the woman's name is Spring Barnickle? That's kind of awesome.

Indeed.

A lot of old-school PC gamers are used to those physical goodies though and nostalgic for them. It took me a long time to realize how silly it was.

They only give physical stuff for large pledges; I assume they're profitable.

(For myself, I don't want a bunch of video game stuff cluttering up my apartment, so I'd avoid those tiers).

I agree, most extras are hogwash really. However, the one thing that isn't (to me) is a manual. And I mean a real manual, thick, and full of useful information. That is what I miss about physical goodies, and that's mostly it. Though I do enjoy maps as well laid out before me too.

On the physical goodies issue: For reference, DoubleFine spent about $400,000 (which was their original goal, btw) on producing and shipping physical goods. So yes, while it may do a bit to encourage higher pledges (I suspect not as much as you might think), they do eat a significant portion of funding.

Disagreed.