Divinity: Original Sin

Pretty sure they're doing this sans publisher so it still costs a lot of money. Dev time, offices, licensing fees, shipping, etc. There's a lot of costs aside from just making the assets.

It's a good game so I'm not gonna complain.

Except that it's too linear and that makes me not want to replay again even though the combat is fun.

>>388733727
>Indie developers work on sequel to great game
>Crowdfund to make sequel even better
I don't see the problem.

>>388733727

>divinity original sin
>making millions

choose one you retarded newfaggot

>>388733727
FUCKING VOICE ACTING

The kickstarter was to increase the scale of the game, D:OS2 was going to happen anyways, the kickstarter was to add more features

>have enough money to make 2nd game
>tell public you are making a 2nd game, but if they crowdfund it beyond their budget, additional content will be added
>happens

>>388733727
What kind of game is this anyway? Like a top down rpg with optional co op or something.

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>>388733727

the original was a hell of a great game so idgaf, they get a pass

at least it didn't get the mighty no 9 treatment

>>388733727
they made me a fan with OS i think ill be happy with OS2 as well

>>388734643
It did tho. It saved their company from going under if I recall.

>>388734930
Pretty much exactly that, with one of the best rpg combat systems ever made in my opinion

>>388733727
why take a risk on losing money when dumb nerds will just give you money and all the sales will be 100% profit

>>388733727

That's why you don't donate or play early access, just wait for release to play it.

There are many people willing to part with their cash, leave it to them.

>>388734565

Hopefully 2 will address that.

>>388735380
>all the sales will be 100% profit
And also possibly less substantial, since the backers get their copy of the game for the money they donated. It's almost as if the two things balanced out.

>>388733727
They do it so that they don't have to answer to Mr. Goldstein and can do whatever the fuck they want with their sequel.

>>388735967
How can you possibly make that assumption without having seen the financials?

>tfw the elf god says at some point you will have to push everyone aside to gain true godlike power
Think the madmen will go through with it and give an option to fuck over your party?

>>388733727
Played this years ago and only got about 1/4 to 1/3 through it. I just started again to get hype for DOS2 but I again am only 1/4-1/3 through it and I'm super unmotivated to play. I think I'd keep playing if I rerolled my characters but I really don't want to do all of Cyseal again.

>>388733727
It's not like people are just handing them money, it's basically pre-ordering the game and paying upfront instead of on release.

>>388737127
mang I would consider just waiting for OS2, if you play all of one then jump onto two you might be burnt out.

>want to play divinity sin enhance edition tactician mode
>can't find any good pure double mage builds

>D:OS's gameplay was literally better than sex
>Everything else like writing was beyond awful

>>388737924
I liked the writing. Still better than 90% of all the other crap on the market.

>>388737924
I don't know what you think good writing is if DIVOS was "beyond awful".

>>388735231

Oh yes, making enough sales to keep the company from going under definitely means you have enough money to self-fund your next game in its entirety

Whoever managed OS2 must have jewish blood running through them, I thought feature creep would kill it dead with shit like DM mode/Arena but now we're a few weeks from launch and they just tossed full VO into the mix.

>Do thing.
>Make profit.
>Try to do thing again.
???????

>>388737127

Play co-op, game becomes 100x more enjoyable.

>>388738205
>making enough sales to keep the company from going under definitely means you have enough money to self-fund your next game in its entirety
>making millions

those arent mutually exclusive you dipshit

>>388738452
Swen literally had to sell his soul to corporate devils to see OS 1 through. And after that they still had to kickstart it and polish for a couple of years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-4gxB9ulHk

>>388736721
That seems to be the point. The steam page makes multiple references to becoming divine, and clarifies that only one of you can do it.

>>388733908
The whole point of a publisher is providing startup capital the devs don't have themselves to get development going, in return, they take most of the profits and the cycle goes on and on.

The point of kickstarter was to break that cycle and give devs the capital they needed directly from fans for basically nothing in return and the devs would get to keep all the profits and therefore have the capital for future independent development.

They shouldn't need it more than once.

>>388741545

Larian was fucked by their publisher when releasing Divinity 2, they had to drop them and put out a completely fixed version of the game and distribute it for free to anyone who already owned it to try and make up for all the shit that their publisher caused

They don't want that again.

>>388741951
ok, that doesn't address my point at all

>>388742151


The point is they went back to kickstarter to help them avoid the publisher situation, it's very simple.

>>388742151

Your point that kickstarter is supposed to be a one-off is innacurate. The KS can be used to supplement whatever budget they have for the game, in case the profits from the previous one weren't enough to make the company autonomous. Making a successful KS game won't turn you into CDPR overnight.

Though I agree that, eventually, studios like HBS and Larian should move on to self-funding.

They probably won't, though.

>>388742413
And my point is the point of a publisher OR kickstarter is to get startup capital

So the publisher path:
Dev needs capital -> Publisher provides it -> Game sells -> Publisher gets most of the profits -> Devs need capital again -> Publisher provides it -> And do on into infinity

Kickstarter:
Dev needs capital -> appeals to fans on kickstarter and get essentially a free loan from them -> Game sells -> Devs keep profits -> Devs should be able to fund their next game with those profits without having to beg on kickstarter again

>>388733727

There's literally nothing wrong with going back to the pot as many times as the want as long as they keep delivering.

>>388733727
It's always funny to see ignorant people sharing their ignorance of how the videogame industry works.

I still can't get over the fact that people on /v/ think that devs gets their salaries from game sales (before the game is even out).

>>388737924
the crafting system was fun too.

>>388733727
people gotta get paid

>>388743458
>looking for needles
>you can find them by searching haystacks

lel i love shit like that

>>388742990
>Devs should be able to fund their next game with those profits without having to beg on kickstarter again

You're assuming they've sold enough to pay all the salaries for their dozens of employees as well as office space and all other related business expenses. Making games is fucking expensive

>>388742990
>a free loan from them
You do get what you wanted though. Which is the game.

It's more like an advance pre-order like other anon said. That's how I treat it at least.

Most I go for is digital copy of game + possible expansion.

Only works if the dev has earned or kept the trust though.

>>388744067
If the sales of their games can't pay for their expenses then why the fuck would they even be in business even with a publisher or otherwise?

>>388733727
Because looking at it from a business perspective why the fuck wouldn't you? It's free money.

>>388741024
Larian is really one of the few studios doing it right even if they have been repeatedly fucked over by publishers.

>dat feel when they made educational software to company afloat at one point and save up money to make more Divinity games

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D:OS was a kickstarter? Well that's nice, at least there was one more success on the small pile.
If it was profitable it would make sense for them to use that to fund the sequel though, you're right. I didn't fund it so I don't care if they're scamming as long as I get a good game though.

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>>388733727
Nothing, you're just describing a great business model.

>>388744567
Yes, but it was funded entirely through kickstarter. It was used to polish the game.

>>388744260
except only a small portion of the "sales" come from the kickstarter phase and even then most of the donation tiers beyond "you get the game when it's out" are worth far less than what you're giving them, it's just a thank you bonus for putting more into it than most people would.

Even with 1:1 cash from kickstarter donator in to product out it's still a free loan compared to what a publisher would want, which is a profitable return on their investment, which is how they make their money.

>>388744270
You're saying they should stop making games because profits alone isn't enough to make new games? What?

>>388744270
You forget a large chunk of the "profits" of the first one went into its development in the form of backer copies.

>>388744270

Publishers have better access to marketing materials and general connections than devs themselves would have. There's a high likelihood sales with a self-funded game would be lower because of that

>>388736721
You can already do that by playing normally, so yes I would assume so.

tfw there will never be another ishmashell

>>388744794
Yeah? Obviously profit has to be made somewhere for devs to continue making video games (whether it goes to themselves or to publishers) unless they're being subsidized by government money or something.

They shouldn't have to keep going back to kickstarter if their games are profitable. Kickstarter is only necessary when you don't have enough money to make a game in the first place. If you come out zero or negative after kickstarter funding + sales you have a problem.

>>388745556
They should fix the problem but you're proposing instead that they go defunct and stop making the games thousands of people are happy to give their money to "invest" in.

They probably can make games in general but higher quality games require higher budgets that profit alone may not have been enough for.

>>388734643
It literally couldn't not have because it sold 1.5M copies.

>>388745035
They also butcher IPs like EA.

No physical, no buy.

>>388746685

We're talking about why sales might not be high enough to self-sustain as an independent developer vs having a publisher, not on the quality of the games themselves

>>388733727
Name 1 (one) developer that has survived on it's own.

Just finished this 15mins ago and really hyped for OS2. Anyone played the "demo", did you like it?

>>388747139
The writing is much much better, the music is worse, the gameplay is roughly about even although I think the bosses and areas aren't as interesting as OS1's yet.

>>388747330
>the music is worse
RIP Kirill

They couldn't fund the game by themselves, and we all know if a publisher got involved beyond funding they'd want the game Skyrimified.

>>388736721
Every god says the same. They also say to kill Lohse.

>Banner Saga gets crowdfunded
>Highly received, sells well
>Studio makes enough money to make a Sequel without crowdfunding
>Sequel gets no exposure and sells worse than the first game
>Many people don't even know it exists because kickstarter can work as an advertising method

There's your reason.

>>388737924
Yeah the crafting and opposing dialogue was also fun.
But you right the righting was real bad and I don't expect it to improve for 2. Good thing that mothafuckin DM mode will let me write my own campaigns. I'm actually super hyped for that.

>>388747330
>the music is worse
retard

>>388749451
t. deaf man

>>388733727
>ask for money
>make money off of game
>use money for next game
>ask for money
>deliver on game
>use profit for next game
>repeat ad infinitum
It's like you don't know shit.

>>388733727
Actually they funded and published it themselves (their first game completely self-funded as a studio) and went to Kickstarter to get/gauge hype and add features. It was going to be made either way but if they raised extra money they would extend development time to expand/add features (then backed out on the biggest extra feature, day/night cycles)

same scenario for this one. they are basically exploiting kickstarter as a PR machine and getting extra money in the process. they are geniuses of jewishness. the first game turned out okay and the stuff they added for free in the enhanced edition was nice

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>tried the game three times
>never made it more than one hour past cyseal

Maybe I should try it one last time before the sequel. The story is so damn boring tho.

>>388741024
Didn't know they had such an hard time with their finance.

>>388741545
>for basically nothing in return
So it was a charity and backers had to pay again for the game on release or what? Or fo you usually get a nice car and a blowjob when you buy games off the store? I'm trying to understand the fuck are you trying to tell with this

>>388750775

same, tbqh.

>>388733727
chromosomes

>>388752641
>a blowjob when you buy games off the store?
Why is this not a thing yet? Would literally save physical copies and gaming stores.