Thorvalla Kickstarter Campaign Launches Tonight, Teaser Trailer and Introduction
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And a snip from Neal's intro:
Tomorrow THORVALLA will launch into the very stormy seas of Kickstarter. If funded, it will not only mean that the world gets a great role-playing game built by people with a long pedigree of gaming hits, but it will also create jobs for myself, for project creator Guido Henkel, and a team of designers, artists, and programmers for almost eighteen months. That's a pretty great deal for everyone, but it will not be easy.
Our goals are high, in the same league as already successful Kickstarter campaigns like Brian Fargo's WASTELAND 2 and PROJECT ETERNITY, helmed by my good friend Chris Avellone and the good folks at Obsidian. One million dollars. To the uninitiated it may sound like an astronomical amount of money, but to put it in perspective, that was what it cost to make my hit game BETRAYAL AT KRONDOR...22 YEARS AGO. To hire an entire professional dev team for eighteen months today, it's a bargain basement price by today's standards.
So. A million big ones. WHEW! How do we get there? Well, we get there with your help. Your donations are awesome and welcome of course, but we're going to need a lot more than just that to make this a reality. If this is going to happen, we need to get your gaming buddies, your friends, your neighbors, your church group, your SCA friends, your yoga master, your science fiction club, your ladies tea society, your auto mechanic, your-pretty-much-everyone-you-know INVOLVED. It's all in the power of that little SHARE link you see at the bottom of your screen. Even more than we need your donations, we need your POSTS. And not just here. Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Reddit, on your favorite gaming site...wherever you go either in person or virtually. People are 70% more likely to make a donation if they receive a recommendation from a friend. If this game gets off the ground it will be because YOU helped make it reality.
So why should you donate to this project and not another? There are lots of games, films, and other cool things on Kickstarter, so why THORVALLA? Well tomorrow Guido will begin making the case for us on Kickstarter, but as an opening volley let me just put a couple of things in front of you. First off, this isn't our first rodeo. Guido's been doing this for something like thirty years, and I've been at it for a mere twenty two. Several of the games I've worked on have been bestsellers, have won awards, have been inducted in the Computer Gaming World Hall of Fame, and a couple of them are still cited as some of the best RPGs I've ever made. Guido can say all the same things. Suffice to say, we know what we're doing here. We've got lots of experience in getting this particular job done.
Secondly, let me say that we're planning a pretty unprecedented level of access to what we're doing AS we're doing it. You're going to see what we're planning, you'll get a chance to give us feedback, and you'll be involved in helping us make THORVALLA the best game it can possibly be. We'll talk more about that as we move forward, but for now, just know that we're viewing this not as a collaboration within the team, but also with you who are the fans (and I have to assume you ARE a fan if you've read this far down this thread.)
In sum, leaving you with three important points to keep in mind as we launch: THORVALLA will create gaming jobs, it's being made by veteran game developers with long track records of success, and you're going to have a say as to how it unfolds.
