News - Major Kickstarter game 'Broken Age' burns through $3.3m budget

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But developers Double Fine say they will use their own money to deliver the game.

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Read more.

taking bets this wont ever get published.....

I don't know anyone who actually thinks the kickstarter budget is the complete budget for a game - the numbers are just way too small and game development is expensive. Usually it's a very big statement of intent and helps secure artistic direction so allowing other funding to come on board at a later stage and with prior proven backing (so giving requiring less control be given to the source of that future funding).

I'm not entirely sure why this is a news article (not Hexus' decision, it was in the gaming press a few days ago so they're just passing it on as well I guess) - most other kickstarter games are also relying on self-funding from the studio or other partners.

The fact they asked for an extra $7million for Brutal Legend may make it slightly more newsworthy (yes I know there was more going on with that game, but nevertheless they have form).

Yeah 3mil isn't really much money when it comes to developing a full AAA game. Star Citizen is tearing through $15m without batting an eye and still seeking more.

If they're really in the position they claim though, with most of the technical and creative risk overcome then there's a good chance it'll get published.

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Originally Posted by HalloweenJack

taking bets this wont ever get published.....

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Yep I recon that's a safe one lol

It's poor journalism to suggest the game's budget was $3.3M - the initial Kickstarter was for $0.4M, of which 25% was for the documentary by 2 Player Productions (which is still ongoing, as is very interesting). Kickstarter skimmed off about 10% in fees, including Amazon's card processing fees, and the physical Kickstarter rewards also constituted a bunch of money. Whilst we don't have exact figures, the actual initial funding for the game was closer to the $2-2.5M mark than the $3.3M mark being passed around in the gaming press.

So far, DF have put in about $2M of their own money - i.e. the proceeds from the PC/OSX/Linux port of Brutal Legend, plus the Humble Double Fine Bundle, plus Amnesia Fortnight. And current estimates say the game will cost a total of about 6M to build, unless it gets scaled back. So clearly there's a hole there.

Building a game to a budget is hard - and conversely to what people would expect, a bigger budget is harder to work with than a smaller budget. Clearly the $0.3M game which was being planned for originally just plain didn't happen. Scope changes a bit when your budget is about 8x what you expect. But I'm not in the least bit concerned about not eventually receiving some return on my investment (even though the pitch video made it clear that the whole thing could be a disaster, and that you'd end up with a video documenting that disaster, which is interesting too)

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Originally Posted by HalloweenJack

taking bets this wont ever get published.....

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Uh, it doesn't need to be? It's a self-published game. It being on Steam Early Access is it basically already published.

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Originally Posted by chuckskull

Yeah 3mil isn't really much money when it comes to developing a full AAA game. Star Citizen is tearing through $15m without batting an eye and still seeking more.

If they're really in the position they claim though, with most of the technical and creative risk overcome then there's a good chance it'll get published.

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But it isn't a triple AAA game, it's a bloody point and click adventure. This is just poor project management.

Star citizen is not far off being a totally kickstarter funded AAA game, I do wonder that all the bells and whistles they keep showing are going to help spend the lot before the games released though.

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Originally Posted by GoNz0

Star citizen is not far off being a totally kickstarter funded AAA game, I do wonder that all the bells and whistles they keep showing are going to help spend the lot before the games released though.

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AAA refers to advertising budget. It doesn't actually mean "expensive" or "really well polished" - just that it's being marketed to hell & back

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Originally Posted by directhex

AAA refers to advertising budget. It doesn't actually mean "expensive" or "really well polished" - just that it's being marketed to hell & back

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This.

But in terms of budget, star citizen isn't even hitting mid-range game funding yet. Development budgets for AAA segment games is in the multiple tens of millions alone. Marketing/publishing/distr. costs are well over 100% of that again.

The news article says: "Now with the game needing more money and expected to be released some time in 2015"

From Tim Schafer's letter: "The second part of the game would come in a free update a few months down the road, closer to April-May."

So the full game is expected in Q2 2014.

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Originally Posted by ijyt

Uh, it doesn't need to be? It's a self-published game. It being on Steam Early Access is it basically already published.

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releasing a public alpha is 1 thing , heck I could do that - releasing a final product so you don't get sued is something different