While perusing my email inbox I saw a Google Alert entitled Numenera. Suffice to say, I was intrigued. (For those of you do do not know of Google Alerts, it's a nifty feature that will email you when Google finds/catalogs subject matter on the internet which match specific keywords of your choosing. Its cool, check it out. One of my alerts is 'Numen', but I have set Google to only send me content of 'the best results.' Due to the magic of coding algorithms, a project called Numenera had reached the critical mass and risen above its numinous peers and found its way into my email.)
Due to the remarkable similarity between the names Numenera (their project) and Numinous (my project), I decided to take a look at their website. When I arrived, I found, amid some very breathtaking science-fiction and fantasy concept art, this:
"Numenera is a science fantasy roleplaying game set in the far distant future. Humanity lives amid the remnants of eight great civilizations that have risen and fallen on Earth. These are the people of the Ninth World. This new world is filled with remnants of all the former worlds: bits of nanotechnology, the dataweb threaded among still-orbiting satellites, bio-engineered creatures, and myriad strange and wondrous devices. These remnants have become known as the numenera."
I was blown away. Now, for those of you who are familiar with my world of Numinous, you will instantly see both the similarities and the differences. But the chances of such a likeness in both name and content were astounding. As I did more research on their project and the creator Monte Cook and his team, I soon came to believe that they had not committed copyright maleficence and I, therefore, was just able to enjoy the world they were in the process of creating. To be quite honest, I was, and still am, impressed and excited where they will go with it. Then, I found this:
Torment: Tides of Numenera continues the thematic legacy of the critically acclaimed Planescape: Torment. Set in Monte Cook’s new tabletop role-playing world, Numenera, the newest Torment asks: What does one life matter?
Again, I was blown away. Back in the day, I greatly enjoyed Planescape (the D&D campaign setting) and Planescape: Torment (the story-driven video game RPG released by Interplay Entertainment.) So, with baited breath, I went to the Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter page in hopes to find another Torment game being created by one of my new favorite teams...
Now, for those of you who are obsessive like me and follow the gaming industry closely, you will already see the connections and know what I was hoping for. When I arrived, I found that YES, I was right! This new project was being created by inXile entertainment! I was very familiar was both inXile and its CEO Brian Fargo (who founded Interplay in 1983 and was involved in publishing/creating such games as Wasteland, Baldur's Gate, and the original Fallout (among many others.))
As I kept reading, a did a victorious fist pump into the air to celebrate both my powers of detection and the awesome game that was going to be made possible by Kickstarter. I had already helped fund Wasteland 2 (click here for my introductory blog posting on that project.) I had (and still am) very impressed with his team, their project, and their use of fan-based crowd funding of Kickstarter AND their subsequent creation of Kicking It Forward.
After the funding period of Wasteland 2 had ended, I had, kicking around in the back of my mind, the curious thought of what inXile was going to do next. So, I was greatly surprised when out of the blue this unknown (to me) project called Numenera appeared, looked very interesting, and then was being turned into a story based RPG video game by inXile. With the wild fundraising success and fan led support Brian and his team had found with Wasteland 2, I knew whatever upcoming project they would work on was going to be very well received.
So, without further adieu, click the PLAY button below for a very funny (and informative) video by Brian about the project. (I love the Kicking It Forward Kickbacks! All of these videos have been really great.)
I clicked the fund button even before the video was over. Very excited, I did some research and found that the campaign has crossed $2 million just two days after going live. And apparently, the game had sailed past its $900,000 target in just six hours, and reached $1 million in funding in seven hours and two minutes, thereby surpassing the previous record for fastest campaign to earn $1 million by 80 minutes! Wow!
Currently, (at the time of this blog posting) the funding is at $2.6 million from over 49,000 backers. Another thing that I found interesting is that out of 37,000 Kickstarter campaigns that have reached their funding targets, just 21 have reached the $1 million mark. Way to go inXile!
So obviously, if you are into story-driven RPG video games, I highly suggest that you back this program. Some might ask, "But Jamison, the project is already fully funded, why should I thrown down money now? I can just wait till it's released." And yes, you can do that, but I feel that is a grievous error, because you will miss out on some very cool things:
1. Awesome Kickstarter Pledge Rewards for Backers. If you are familiar with Kickstarter, you know that these rewards are only available to backers, and are very cool! Such items include, Novellas, DRM-free Digital Soundtrack, Art Concept Book, Beta access, and MANY more such as the ability to design an NPC, Alpha testing and game development feedback with mention in the credits, and even a private party with the developers. Click here to learn more.
2. Stretch Goals: Every dollar inXile receives from the Kickstarter (outside of expenses for reward fulfillment) will be invested into making Torment a better game. That means that if you (and others) wait to buy, you will sadly be buying lesser game. With each goal achieved, there will be added Depth of Storytelling, Reactivity, New Cults, Added Number of Legacies, Labyrinths and development personnel. Basically, more money up front means a better game being produced because of more time the Development team can work on it. You can click here for a full breakdown of the Stretch Goals.
3. Access to the Official Torment Community: This is a place where backers can provide input and will be polled on specific game development decisions and share ideas and conversation with some wonderfully like mined people. Being a fan of Kickstarter, I LOVE this feature of being a backer and always look forward to updates and seeing the wonderful progress of both the development team and the input from other fans
So, back this project, spread the word and tell your friends, AND check back here for more updates on this, and other great projects!
