Chris Avellone, developer of Planescape Torment, has responded to a fan’s urge for Planescape 2 “I’ve got Kickstarter fever now”.
The past week has seen a couple of big developments in middle studio publishing. First Notch’s offer to Tim Schafer, then Tim Schafer’s offer to gamers, and now a gamer’s offer to Chris Avellone.
A fan of Avellone’s work (Planescape Torment in particular) tweeted to the developer “@Chrisavellone I’d kickstart $500 for an old school isometric RPG. For Planescape 2? $1000.” To which Chris replied “Hmmmm. I admit, I’ve got Kickstarter fever now. I feel like a bunch of doors suddenly appeared in game development.”
It’s an exciting prospect. Previously the non-publisher route was only open to small (or extremely large) developers. The success Schafer has seen in the last couple of days shows that there is another route to development. Though, not all developers are Tim Schafer, and a lot of his success will have come from being both well-known and well-liked, as well as being the first out of the gates.
Of coure, Avellone has his own fans and if he were to push forwards he too may well see success. But it’s dangerous waters to stake a game’s funding on your reputation. If it doesn’t find buyer support on Kickstarter then it may sink a project: what publisher would invest in a title that has proven unsuccessful amongst the die hard fans.
So watch this space.
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