We want your feedback on the Kickstarter Rewards

[cimino12]

would like a version of $ 100, but I'm from Argentina.
going to do international shipping?

[kurt]

I think the $100 reward might be the most "balanced" of these kickstarter thingys I've seen yet.

This whole kickstarter is the first justified one as well. Usually it's for bad bands and talentless filmmakers.

[Merin]

The rewards look good to me.

A suggestion (if no one else has made it yet) -

one of the things that made the Order of the Stick Kickstarter campaign so successful was the adding of awards as the days went on, and the setting of new goals for new awards. It made it something of a game, a horse race even, to keep seeing stuff added and seeing if the donators had blown past the latest goal yet.

If you could work something like that into the Kickstarter (including someone doing at least daily updates on the fundraiser drive) you'd make it more than just fan funding but a game/event in and of itself.

[Merin]

But InXile isn't selling to "the crowdfunding people", they're selling to "the cynical, weary videogame crowd". DoubleFine got where it was due to hype building within the videogame media and people, not by appealing to existing groups on Kickstarter. The same will be true for InXile. This isn't a "typical" Kickstarter appeal, really, nor was DoubleFine. You have to keep PR in mind as it will be covered by a large amount of websites and discussed by different crowds of people. Is this forum representative of all of them? Probably not. But while InXile might keep pre-order DLC in, they should at least know from this thread to present it right and clarify that it is extra, jokey stuff (as in Toast Repair and gold-plated uzi), and not the type of game-breaking preorder DLC that has been ruining BioWare game balance for years now.

And no, you can't ignore what happened with Mass Effect 3 when discussing this. Not because it's the same thing in practice, but because it will be received as similar in how it's marketed.

Doublefine didn't get where it was due to "hype" - it hit it's goal in 8 hours. I donated within hours of it hitting Kickstarter because Felicia Day mentioned it on G+. The "hype" happened when it cracked a million in about 24 hours. The media "hype" was because of the fundraising success, not vice-versa.

Look at other Kickstarter success stories, like Order of the Stick or Diesel Sweeties or JourneyQuest. Where's the media "hype" leading to their success.

I think YOU (and the people who are choosing Wasteland 2's Kickstarter campaign as a place to air their anti-DLC, anti-corporate marketing issues) are arguing against a strawman. What you are afraid of, disliking, pointing to (like Mass Effect 3) has NOTHING - repeat - NOTHING to do with Kickstarter, Kickstarter rewards, etc.

I echo the "I feel sorry for inXile having to deal with people like you" sentiment. You have an axe to grind and are coming to the WRONG PLACE to grind it.

[MapMan]

I don't know if this been covered already but wouldn't it be weird if there would be 15 statues and 8 shrines of random people?

[victorvusa]

Wall of Text brutalizes you for 100 damage.

== KICKSTARTER
Looks like the first post of the thread has been clarified as it now specifically states "Previous rewards +" for the higher cost tiers.

== STEAM
Steam does not bother me. Certain realities make it likely that Steam will be a part of this picture, especially if this project is successful enough that new story arc mission pack DLC is offered for sale later on. I would be happy to get the game DRM-free, though if not I will not consider it a show-stopper. I'm going to pitch in on a KickStarter tier of this project regardless.


== EXCLUSIVE DLC
Kickstarter exclusive DLC doesn't offend me. Giving an incentive to people to pre-purchase the game with some form of exclusive makes sense. However, as inXile wants to take the opinion of all fans into consideration, there has to be a happy medium between no-DLC versus yes-DLC.

However, the idea of removing the exclusive just because post-Kickstarter customers are going to miss out? No, I don't agree with this. Those customers that are late to the party are exactly that... *late to the party*. They weren't watching any news or they procrastinated on the idea of dropping lousy fifteen bucks on this... whatever happened, they missed out. Those of us who have been paying attention should be rewarded to some degree because we spent our own time giving a shit about the project from as far back as before the internet was publically available in a general sense.

Cosmetic only DLC might be that very thing to appease those on both sides of the argument (gold or chrome plated Red Rider BB gun perhaps, I think I read this idea floated earlier in the thread?).

I think an interesting alternative for KickStarter funder exclusive DLC would be an equip-able item that makes the game HARDER. Perhaps a desert ranger hat with a Grim Reaper or Scorpitron badge or somesuch. Once worn once before the 1st Chapter ends, the game is permanently changed to "Eternal Damnation Nightmare" mode where one or more of the following horrible things happen:

* enemies do double damage
* enemies have twice the precision when attacking
* player's luck attribute is permanently terrible
* an abbreviated time limit forces the player to complete the story quickly else it ends rather terribly for the entire Wasteland

or some other factor to make the game supremely challenging. A Grim Reaper icon appears on the corner of the in-game interface, and then everything in the game would be just much, much, much harder. Completing the game in this mode results in a special Steam achievement, an ending cinematic with extra scenes, a parade of bikini clad mutant chicks escorting the player through Vegas, I don't know, just an acknowledgement of some kind to confirm completion of the special challenging mode.


== SOUNDTRACK
If the soundtrack cannot be made available as a stamped/manufactured audio CD, then please give us a version of the soundtrack delivered with a lossless encoding form like FLAC, uncompressed WAV, or an audio CD ISO file.


== TIERS WITH PHYSICAL ITEMS
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tchotchke

Personal taste really comes to the fore on this idea, so pleasing everyone would be particularly challenging. I don't mind the physical items, I can see using a shadow box hung on the wall of my game room to house that stuff.

At first I wasn't feeling the idea of multiple medal tiers, but I recognize this is about exclusivity/reward for pitching in at certain levels.

Limited edition lithos are nice because they are easier to file away or hang up in a frame. However, I am partial to shadow boxes or something on my desk that I might fiddle with while pondering a problem I'm trying to solve.

@inXile - I know those Wasteland eye visors distributed with the original game looked pretty cheap in that photo I sent to Mr. Fargo's twitter feed, but I think an improved version could have merit for one of the potential tiers. Has this idea been dismissed outright? Or... will this be a part of the Wasteland Doomsday Preparation Survival Kit?

[nerv]

There doesnt seem to be any pledge where you get ebooks of the novellas and a digital copy of the game. I personally do not care about plastic disks...

[Arundor]

About the pre-order item and skill, these can sometimes be balance breaking or immersion breaking so I would want the option to opt out. I guess for the weapon you could just dump it on the ground and pretend it never existed, but a way to opt out of the skill (if it turns out to be problematic) would be nice.

Being DRM free is important to me. If we can get confirmation that the boxed version will be DRM free, I'd go for the $100 tier.

[Jozape]

About the pre-order item and skill, these can sometimes be balance breaking or immersion breaking so I would want the option to opt out. I guess for the weapon you could just dump it on the ground and pretend it never existed, but a way to opt out of the skill (if it turns out to be problematic) would be nice.

I imagine that the skill obtained from the KickStarter funding is something you wouldn't have to put any points into or use.

[SDX]

I didn't read all the replies, but I think there should be more steps at the bottom. (5$, 15$, 20$, 25$, 30$)

When I read through this I will probably go for just 15$ version. 30$ for soundtrack is a bad offer. There is Fallout series soundtrack out for free download which is great, but it is not the type of music I need in big quantities outside of the game itself (hint - a catchy theme song may get people to pay for otherwise perfectly fine ambient soundtrack which has little relevance outside the game).

I suggest there should be:

5$ - "encouragement level" where you don't get the game for free but a person can still contribute and show support to developers (for example if a person believes he/she is not interested in lower budget games but wants to say thanks to developers who stood behind the origins of the Fallout New Vegas or something).

17$ - could give a special forum icon here that shows "you are a premium contributor" aka "you payed more than a minimum for the upcoming game"

20$ - could get a soundtrack (more reasonable price)

22$ - could give an iPhone/Android app with a map of the Wasteland 2. Or some useless Steam inventory item that shows that you have backed up Wasteland 2.

25$ - should have another small extra like a subscription to a concept art feed with a weekly concept arts from the game artists or something. Something that doesn't cost too much, but motivates people to give you 1$ more.


hope this funding runs well

[WintermuteOmega]

The Polling was a good idea to calm the "Special Skill/weapon" discussion (go "Toaster Repair" + Red Ryder BBGun!) and the DRM-question and we can come back a little bit to the Tiers-Discussion. Though i still think, that i deserve a little extra for making this game possible, some useless skill and weapon that i can brag about
It's been mentioned earlier, that the 150 is maybe to weak to hold it's ground. But maybe thats the idea, to make people decide between 100$ and 250$.
No news from the "Manual with or without backstory" front. i can imagine it that "with backstroy" was just added to sound better, but that the manual is actually the same in both versions.
Printed Noveallas would be great, but i doubt that, since they are "early release episodic", so they will be electronic.
Still unsure about 15$ starting pledge. Maybe 20$ would be more appropriate, but then again it might scare some people away that are in for a cheap deal. Then again, 10$ extra for Mark Morgan is fair.

And all these little specials like minatures, coins, medals, survival bags, autographed boxes, blood sausage editions and medals sound soooo sweet, but for the most stuff i still can't figure out what it will actually be or look like

Finally i wanted to say, thank you for getting us all involved so much in this process, and thank you for planing all this. Now the responsibility is on us to spread the word and get this thing fundet.

[Grim Monk]

I just thought of something.

Will the "Novella’s" be in Book or Comic form?

Mr. Stackpole has a history working in both of those fields:
http://scifan.com/writers/ss/StackpoleMichael.asp
http://www.comicvine.com/michael-a-stackpole/26-53374/

[Ausir]

I'm pretty sure by "novella" they mean text, not comic.

[mbpopolano24]

I'll go for the $100 tier, it strikes me as a very good deal.

[DarkTwinkie]

And to see and discuss the tiers beforehand? AWESOME! i already never in my life saw so much designer/player interaction in my life.

I agree! It's fun from the other end too.

[DarkTwinkie]

Very cool rewards, wish you guys the best for the game development! We don't get games like - what I've understood from early interviews that Wasteland 2 is going to be - these days anymore. I've blogged about your plans of Wasteland 2 to give my support. Good luck.

We appreciate you spreading the word! We're gonna need all the help we can get to make this thing happen.

[Jozape]

I didn't read all the replies, but I think there should be more steps at the bottom. (5$, 15$, 20$, 25$, 30$)

5$ - "encouragement level" where you don't get the game for free but a person can still contribute and show support to developers (for example if a person believes he/she is not interested in lower budget games but wants to say thanks to developers who stood behind the origins of the Fallout New Vegas or something).

Can't you just donate 5$ then? I think you could donate whatever you want in KickStarter.

[DarkTwinkie]

I have another question; If a person donates $100, can they get two of the $50 rewards? I'd like to give my brother or a friend a boxed copy too, as much as I'd love to have a collector's edition.

I think you would have to sign up for the $50 reward twice. It sounds silly but Kickstarter will be keeping track of all of the rewards for us and they will give us a list of who purchased what tier. They don't charge any extra fees so it will still be $100...which is nice.

[Jozape]

I have another question; If a person donates $100, can they get two of the $50 rewards? I'd like to give my brother or a friend a boxed copy too, as much as I'd love to have a collector's edition.

I think you would have to sign up for the $50 reward twice. It sounds silly but Kickstarter will be keeping track of all of the rewards for us and they will give us a list of who purchased what tier. They don't charge any extra fees so it will still be $100...which is nice.

Alright, I might try that. Good luck!

[RangerBen]

Just read through the 14 pages and I only have two things to say:

1) In Wasteland (1988), toaster repair was not a useless skill. Sometimes you repaired a toaster and it coughed up a coveted energy cell. And for those who didn't know, in Wasteland, you could run out of ammo. Nice!

2) kgreene said, "How about some snake squeezins??". Love that!!

Just the other day I found my original 5.25" floppies discarded on the "Lego(TM)" table in my sons' room. I about had a fit. They weren't even sheathed! My eldest had found my box of 5.25" floppies, found the Wasteland disks, and tried to install them on the old Win95 PC in the house--the only one with a 5.25" drive in it that I scavenged from my first PC--a "Super 386S Hundai IBM-PC compatible" PC, just for the purposes of still getting use out of the old floppies.

The point is, I may never use those floppies again--heck they may have degraded by now--but the physical media is still something I get a kick out of just plain and simple "having." I know I can't take it with me into the afterlife, but talking about it with other 80s/90s gamer friends is great water cooler material.

Not sure what tier I'll pick--but it'll most likely be one where I will get something I can hold in my hands, put in my shelf, and in 20 years fret about finding misplaced on the floor or in my son's junk pile.