Planescape: Torment sequel might be created using crowdfunding

Feb 14, 2012 20:11 GMT  ·  By

Video game developer Double Fine has managed to gather more than 1 million dollars (about 755,000 Euro) in a little over 24 hours for an adventure game project using the Kickstarter crowd funding website and it seems that other developers might be interested in using the same route to finance their own ideas.

Speaking on his own blog, Chris Avellone, best known for his work on role-playing titles like Neverwinter Nights 2, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2 or Icewind Dale, stated, “All of Double Fine’s success from Kickstarter has been inspiring. I GUESS PEOPLE LOVE THOSE CLASSIC ADVENTURE GAMES AFTER ALL.

“The idea of player-supported funding is proof certain genres aren’t dead and sequels may have more legs than they seem. And the idea of not having to argue that with a publisher is appealing.”

Avellone has asked his Twitter followers and blog commenters to say what they would like to see created using Kickstarter-gathered money and it seems that the most popular choice is a sequel to Planescape: Torment, widely seen as the best-written role-playing game of all time.

Speaking to Gamasutra, David Jaffe, the leader of Eat Sleep Play team, considered the same business model, saying, “I definitely think it’s a really cool thing, so I would consider it. I think I would be really nervous because suddenly now it’s not just a publisher’s money. Suddenly you have all these peoples’ money, and you don’t want to let them down.”

The Kickstarter model allows people who have a business idea to post details about it and ask contributions from the community, with rewards offered based on how much people are willing to give.

Most of the money that Double Fine has gathered came from people actually interested in playing the game, with only a few contributors offering huge sums in order to get perks like a dinner date with Tim Schafer.