Stretch Goals

This week marked a happy milestone for Shroud of the Avatar when we hit the $2.5 million mark in funds raised. We are so humbled that our community believes that much in what we are doing that they are willing to extend us their hard earned cash to fund our project. We want to thank each and every one of you for your contribution both monetarily and in building our thriving community.

The question has now arisen as to what, if anything, we are going to do with the “extra” money. Are we now going to do the $2.25M and $2.5M stretch goals we promised during Kickstarter? That is an easy question to ask but a harder question to answer. When we finished Kickstarter we had a given amount of money and a certain team size. From there we built our schedule, set our milestones, and laid out our tasks. A few months after that I joined the team. Part of my duties as Executive Producer is to manage our scope to meet our promised schedule. All game development requires constant scope management because when you estimated a task 6 months ago it might have changed since then, especially as other work was done. You might also realize a design that seemed fun on paper is not entertaining at all and you have to return to the drawing board, effectively requiring you to do the same task twice, therefore doubling the time spent on that feature.

There have been too many recent examples of Kickstarter projects that went too far down the slippery slope of stretch goals as the money increased. We do not want that to happen to us. We want to focus on the core elements that we think will make this game great: selective multiplayer, offline mode, rich narrative, deep character advancement, sophisticated crafting, detailed player housing, intuitive grouping, robust economy, beautiful views, engaging play spaces, and the ethical conundrums that make Richard’s games so great.

Instead of creating whole new features any time or money we have a surplus of we want to focus on making those core experiences deeper and more polished. That means you will likely see us extend features like player housing or combat before we introduce something like VR support. That does not mean we will never support VR, just not right now.

I know that we all want the same thing which is a great game, as soon as possible. Thank you for understanding and continuing to be such an amazing community.

Sincerely,
Starr

 

Gameplay ftw! This is good to hear, it is all about the game. While VR like Oculus Rift is interesting it is like 3D TV something of a gimmick and not available to all.

 

Thanks for the update DarkStarr.

 

Make full loot/open pvp happen!

..sorry, you asked......

 

I for one would like to go on the record as saying no thanks to the VR stretch goal. I have no issue with it being added at some point, but I would much rather the extra funds go towards getting a product in our hands that much faster.

 

Thanks for the update Starr! While it would have been great to see mod tools and VR for Episode 1, the approach you're taking to development is a welcome one to see.

However, are you also re-evaluating the other Stretch Goals, from the $1.1M through $2.0M that were achieved during the initial campaign? Or are you still keeping those within scope for Episode 1 for now?

 

This is exactly what I would have hoped! Focus on the core, delay the 2.25 and 2.5 stretch goals.

 

I don't care about VR support per se. But the fact that it could exist somewhere means a goal of keeping the interface simple. If you map every key to an action (like Ultima III) or have bars full of skills all over the screen (like say WoW), you're going to be limited forever from doing anything interesting in terms of alternative screens and controllers. Imagine playing the game on a tablet, with a console controller, etc. If you can't do this, it's way to complex and needs to be simplified.

 

Thanks Starr, all I needed to know. No new features, just enhancing the current ones. Sounds fair and honest to me.

 

Stretch goals reached during the campaign are still on the design table.

 

Taming > VR. But VR would be really cool to see in the future!

 

Thanks, Starr!

Noone wants the stress Doublefine has put people through (including their own staff). Although stretch goals can be helpful for raising more money, this is only beneficial during a short campaign like Kickstarter. At some point you need to build it and I am looking forward to more polish on the features that are already defined.

 

Totally showing the wisdom of the Development team that made me want to back this project. Excellent work guys!

 

I'd rather see already planned game features implemented than risk feature creep. Thanks Starr.

 

I like this. Good update! To me it's also about the game & content.

 

No VR Britannia yet then ? That dream for the '90s will have to wait I guess...

Just make the interactivity REALLY like Ultima VII - at the very least in Single Player Offline - and I'll be happy to wait for VR

-Sergorn

 

Hi Starr. As a recent backer at the $45 level I didn't realize at the time I would not get a house. I was told by the community that buying a housing pad with in-game currency is an option but I don't know how long this will take. I'm afriad by the time I have the coins all the pads will be sold. With the extra funds could SOTA's land mass be enlarged so that double or even triple (or higher) the number of housing pads are available? I would really like to own a house in the multiplayer game. I'm sure many backers at the $45 level would like to own their very own humble abode.

 

I'm Relieved To Hear That The $2.5 Million Stretch Goal Is: No More Stretch Goals! Keep Focusing Time & Resources On The Game Instead Of Gimmicky Goals.

 

Add me to the list of people that have no problem with this approach whatsoever.

You folks know how to make the games, I know how to play them. Do what you gotta do. My part is the easy one.

 

A very good choice, I agree whole heartedly!