http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1424869054/tortured-hearts-or-how-i-saved-the-universe-again

I'm not sure whether to back this one or not. They say that they've already completed a large portion of the game but don't have screenshots or gameplay to show, only lists of Aurora engine data (see: http://torturedhearts.com/15901.html ) They also show a tech demo of their 3d engine which actually looks interesting.

They are asking for funding to turn this immense amount of dialog, quests and gameplay into a working game.

My gut feeling tells me they are genuine but launched another poorly planned kickstarter. They seem to have some interesting ideas and I will probably back them just to support an indie RPG developer. However, the lack of real demonstrated gameplay (Like banner saga or FTL) and the lack of expereinced and well known developers (i.e. schafer, fargo) I am hesitant to give my cash.

What do you guys think? I have no experience with Aurora (or game development at all for that matter) so is the lists they are showing and the claim that it can easily be ported to another engine legitimate? Will you back this?

Honestly I'm starting to get a little tired of Kickstarter.

They want $300,000?? That seems highly unrealistic to me.

This project is being worked on 15 miles (24 kilometers) away from me. Neat! :P

One of the devs of that game was on the Codex forums sort of defending that kickstarter. I highly doubt this is one of the kickstarters that will make it. They should have either started one before WL2 or wait until people's wallets recover.

Yeah I started reading the codex forums after starting this thread. It looks like a lot of the people there are having similar concerns to me. The dev is doing a very poor job of answering their concerns. Unfortunately, it seems in no small part due to english being a second language for him.

I'm not convinced that this is 1) a game I really want to play and 2) a signal that the industry needs to hear. There's nothing particularly innovative or different here.

I love the idea of kickstarter for devs, but I'm not quiet sure why devs think their first game has to be their magnum opus. Hint: people may not trust you enough yet to create a magnum opus/really expensive game. While people might finance this guy to the tune of 20-40 grand, yeah, don't think the big haul is gonna happen this time.

I doubft that they'll be able to get it. There is just too much money at stake.

They say "What needs to be done?

This is where the pledgers come into the picture; we need the moola to finish the graphics, music and sound effects, voice-overs, and combat system, and hand a bug-free product over to you."

To finish it?. It sounds to me like they have bulk of work done. But only a tech demo?.No gameplay? Hmmmm. Makes you go hmmmmm and not pledge...

I'll be surprise if this kickstarter gets off the ground. I gave my money for Wasteland 2. I'll be skipping this one.

the art style doesnt really interest me. i would be very surprised if they got anything like $300k. not many kickstarter projects get anything like that kind of funding.

Looks like the dev has already made two large NWN modules (Tortured Hearts I and II) and is now looking to basically take some of what he developed there and turn it into its own game (and make some money off it in the process). Clearly has demonstrated the ability to see a large project through to completion when it comes to content design and execution, although it remains to be seen how the rest of the team (technical lead and artistic lead) can perform.

I also remember trying out Tortured Hearts I for NWN quite a few years ago and not caring for it enough to play more than ~30 minutes (seemed unpolished and a bit too tongue-in-cheek for my tastes), but on the other hand both of the modules are quite popular so maybe it's just a matter of taste. The game being produced is something I'd definitely take a look at if it were finished, but not something I'd be willing to put up money for up front.

It's like they're holding the game hostage or something ...