The tie in was that Max was supposed to have figured out the cure while researching native plants and how the Aztecs used them to fight disease. I think it was the least received level of the entire game. I've heard a lot of "I love that game.. except for the stupid Aztec level!"

I figured out this much :) But what was the cure \ what did Aztecs do? And why were they so important? What did he see on that murnal? I mean, all the other parts were deeply connected with Max's childhood, traumas and motivations - all those were with him for a long time. Aztecs just gave him one illumination, not long before the game starts.

The other bit there is that the Aztecs are there from the beginning. Literally one of the first items you get in the game has to do with them.

The game itself has a lot to do with Max and his development towards curing the illness. Some of the stuff isn't directly connected to it, but rather to the main thread of the story. All in all, it might not be the most straight forward tale, in some ways, but the writers of the story did go to some rather impressive lengths to connect the various parts of the story.
The big thing there is to be clear about what you're promising and make sure that you can hold yourself to it. The better you can do that, the less likely you're going to worry about people having problems with it.

Developers of their own IP are in a much better position than those that have to license the IP from somebody else. The main thing that I could see causing a problem here is if you go with a publisher that insists upon using DRM.

Actually every later chapter is refered to in The Tower (the patients, the stained glasses, the key (which doesn't seem right, btw - winged human beings feel more like judeochristian \ European - identified with Angels since the Middle Ages I guess - or hinduistic figures).

Hi Rob, welcome to the GOG forum.

It's the bolded part. For a number of people (myself included) it's important that a game will be DRM-free for backers and non-backers alike and separating backers from non-backers can be a deal-breaker.
So, if you promise a DRM-free version on general release you need to keep that promise, i.e. you need to get on digital stores that don't enforce DRM (along any others that do or are DRM agnostic) or at least offer a DRM-free standalone installer on your own site. Comments like may cost you pledges due to the uncertainty of the final outcome they convey.

It's great to see you being active in the forum here, a thread that I began because I thought your game looked interesting. Now that you've decided to do your best and distribute DRM-free, and even on GOG, I might very well back your product.

Like the others said and as you now know it's good to offer it to as many people as possible, but DRM should not be written into the core programming of your game so that you can distribute it on platforms like Steam, or GOG. I have not had many good experiences with Steam and I don't like seeing them making a near monopoly of the business, with most kickstarter games waiting on getting the greenlight to be sold to a mass audience on steam and DRM only sites. But I also don't care for games that require me to register my game online. If I want to play an online game, I'll play an MMO or a browser based game (this is sort of directed at the newly launched Project Phoenix), but they've now agreed, after popular demand, to market a DRM-free, offline copy with (allegedly) no copy protection, with also the chance of a PS4 hard copy edition, which would solve most DRM worries for me.

Just keep it open, and listen to your backers, and also your potential customers who will buy the game after the fact, like many of us here. Not everyone can be legendary founders in an exciting, potentially groundbreaking kickstarter project, but the pledgers as well as the public need to feel cared for and should be able to buy their game the way they like to play.

I do hope you get greenlit though, since that is (unfortunately) the standard these days.

I use the same name on kickstarter so you might see my name pop up as a backer soon :)

Oh yeah, and welcome to the forums since you are a new user!

Oh, and consider adding a profile pic from your project. It would be fitting!

I'm a fan of Sanitarium so I definitely wish this project the best of luck.

They are off to a very slow start, though. It might be partially due to kickstarter fatigue.

Hmmm... as a fan of Sanitarium myself I'm concerned by the slow start of Shades of Sanity, too.

I think this game needs some now some serious buzz elements we have seen not that often in kickstarters.
I think one element not used enough is open-sourcing.

As Rob Seres is involved, maybe the old Sanitarium engine can be open-sourced (would help or subsitute http://code.google.com/p/asylumengine/)... or if at at least a new patch would be released for classic Sanitarium addressing some bugs and compatiblity issues with new OSs and hardware. (http://www.gog.com/forum/sanitarium/very_buggy).This would be a visible sign of dedication to the fan audience.

Also, open-sourcing of the new engine (if I understand them right the write their own engine) would a good bang and would allow still the commercialization, see the many games built and sold on open-source engines or Arx Fatalis retroactive opened and sold here on GOG. http://arx-libertatis.org/

Advantage would be the Mac and Linxu ports would be provided for free by the community ;)

Thanks for telling, Jinsei! This is news to me.

I've played Sanitarium as a teen and enjoyed it a lot however Shades of Sanity looks and feels like Myst or Atlantis which are types of adventure games I don't like. I'm going to follow the project and wish it the best of luck. Concept art looks nice, by the way.

And hi, Rob. Welcome to GOG forums. :)

PS. " The game is DRM FREE, at least for the backers." sounds like a line from Shadowrun Returns.

"As well as Sanitarium, we also made a couple of games that, in the end, weren't good enough to be shipped, they look purdy though - look!" (I'm paraphrasing slightly)

I enjoyed playing Sanitarium. What puts me off with Shades of Sanity is the 3D and the horror aspect, especially when coupled together. I do like the idea in general, but won't pledge.

Edit: And I agree with Mivas about the type of game. One of the things I like about adventure games is the conversation with characters, and Myst style games lack that.

I will be backing it.

it looks like a great game and the people behind it are great. What is there to lose?

Plus I like the Atlantis style of gameplay.

The question is how much should I give

Looks decent. I'll wait for some updates before deciding.

this looks nothing like Sanitarium...

cheap "horror" effects like flickering lights, blood from a facet? and those light sequence puzzles? no way...

I'm not a big fan of CnPs adventures, but Sanatarium managed to amaze me. It's a bummer you come as the enthusiasm for kickstarter is slowing down.