There is this new adventure project on Kickstarter that seems interesting: Portal Reborn. It is something I might consider pledging to, but I would like to know what you think of it first and if you feel they can deliver:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subgames/rob-swigarts-portal-1986-reborn-v20

They seem very far from their $530,000 goal, and apparently it is their second round on Kickstarter as the first time they have not reached their $900,000 goal (I wonder how far it went the first time). Read the comments on adventuregamers before answering:

http://www.adventuregamers.com/forums/viewthread/85/

What sells it to me (as well as the art work on the Kickstarter page):

1) This campaign is to fund the creation of an all-new third-person science-fiction adventure game in the tradition of Gabriel Knight III and The Longest Journey: Dreamfall.

2) The game will feature story and characters based on Rob Swigart's classic 1986 science-fiction story, "Portal". You don't need to be familiar with the original to appreciate the concepts behind it.

3) Like adventure game author Jane Jensen's Moebius, Rob and a small distributed team will be responsible for design and a third-party will handle production. In this case, the #1 provider of production services to the game and movie industries: Virtuos.

What do you think? I never knew the original game Portal existed. And if you think it is worth it, what level of pledging would you suggest?

They also discuss it on Pinkerton Road Forum, starting on post 10:

http://forum.pinkertonroad.com/showthrea...s-who-helped-us

This project almost makes me think that as adventure gamers not only we could bypass the publishers, but we could also bypass the developers as well.

We could all sit together on a thread, design our perfect adventure game, find some within our group capable of drawing a few art work jpegs, go on kickstarter to get $400,000 and pay Virtuos to produce it.

Who's with me? Now, should it be more like The Longest Journey, Gray Matter, Black Mirror, AmerZone or Syberia…?

I think they are asking for an awful lot of money for a remake of a little known game coupled with the fact that they haven't done anything since.

Ana

And even if that wasn't the case, I can't afford any more pledging for a while and I'm sure I won't be the only one

Yes I think they've set the bar a bit too high. I actually have the original for the Amiga and whilst I have fond (if vague) memories of it I also vaguely remember it being a lot more story than gameplay. As a sidenote: whilst I think Kickstarter has been great for this sudden boost in interest for adventure games I also get the feeling there is going to be a KS campaign that fails spectacularly and kills the golden goose. A bit like lastminute.com did to the UK shares boom a decade or so ago:-) (Probably wont mean anything to people outside the UK:-))

To me the original is best described as an interactive novel. The story involved an astronaut returning to Earth to find everyone gone, but more than that I can't remember.

I thought they were talking about this Portal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8nBb5Bv8E

That's the Portal people will be familiar with.

The-Cake-is-a-Lie-Portal

Those would be very good graphics for 1986:-)

I have a dumb question about Kickstarter. Why would you give money to a company to make a game.
If I pledge money and they don't make their goal than the game isn't made but if they reach the goal I still have to buy the game. Sorry if I got it all wrong. I just don't like giving money away and get nothing in return.
Richard

YOu already bought the game and other things when you donate the money. You choose your amount and what you get. Usually a 15 dollar pledge gets you a game so that is likely much less than some will sell for when completed.

Kjos -- if they don't make their goal, then your donation pledge never takes effect -- they don't charge your credit card or Amazon account until after the goal is met and the "campaign" ends successfully.

Thanks Becky and Ana.
Richard

You won't have to pay anything until they reach their goal, if they don't reach their goal, they don't take your money. Usually the incentive to become a backer is that you get the game for free, and in most cases cheaper than buying it when it comes out.

They sweeten the deal with incentives like bonus art work, soundtrack, perhaps a second game if it is a company, behind the scene videos all the way through and like for Pinkerton Studio, taking part in certain decisions like which game, which character, how they look like and most interesting: testing the games depending on your level of pledging.

All in all it simply means for us paying upfront to get the game made in the first place (unless you go crazy and pledge too much), because without paying upfront, most probably when it comes to adventures games, it won't be made.

I believe that no matter what people say, in the future and certainly while the economy is not so good, kickstarter might be the only way to get quality adventure games made, and perhaps the only way to get 3D.

I predict we will learn to live with it, to pay upfront for various adventures, never pledging too much on a single project, and this is the way the adventure game industry will survive.

I did not over do my pledging, so now I can actually choose and pledge on something promising when I see it without thinking: oh no, not another kickstarter project, my wallet can't afford it!

I think I will pledge on this one, I like the concept, the story, the 3D, the fact that he intends to make it in the style of Gabriel Knight 3 and Dreamfall, but I am awaiting more comments to see how it develops before I plunge.

Whilst I am willing to "pledge" for some projects - preferably those attempted by individuals or very small concerns - I personally don't see Kickstarter as the only way forward for Adventure games at all.

Adventure games were written off by many as "dead" years ago so it must have been "non-Kickstarted" GHOSTS that I've been happily playing for the last 10 years or so !!

Perhaps I exaggerated a bit, but also the economy was thriving then... Many companies went bust since then.

I was about to go pledge, but it has been canceled. Next time I will pledge faster on any such project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subgames/rob-swigarts-portal-1986-reborn-v20/posts

There is a lot to be learned by trial and error in crowd funding. Some will have to set their sights lower and take baby steps.

I wish them lots of luck in their next venture.

Ana