Thread bump, if nothing more.
Longish read ahead, pretty much all personal opinion, and ranting about the way this "trilogy" has been handled the last two years. I'm pretty "critical" about it, so yes, it truly is mostly ranting. Ignore or read, I don't care. =P
Don't want to read or scroll down? Just click here to skip this post.
Personally speaking... I can't agree with that "price". The first game had potential, but was short, very short. Unless they can promise the second has at least three times the amount of content, and includes the first game, or a discount on it, I'll wait for the bundle in the next month after release, after they've done with development, then turn to pure profit.
I'm saying they shouldn't make a profit, that's the penultimate goal after all, but there is said to be a third sequel yet to come. The first game was priced at $10, second at $20, and if they do the third for any less then people will bitch about it, so it'll have to be $20 again. Is this going to be worth the $50 price tag?
Personally again, I have a had time believing any game is worth a $50 tag. The biggest culprits for that then end up offering DLC's totalling $50 again, yet rarely "double" the content. Fallout 4 for example, apparently sold 1.2 million copies on steam on day one Source. Skyrim had a budget of 85 million Source, so you can probably "safely" assume 120 million for Fallout 4. At the $60 price tag they needed 2 million sales to break even. They'd done 60% of that on day 1, on steam alone. yes, most of that profit then turns into ongoing development for later series. Does that not however mean that a $40 price tag, and increased availability from lower budget requirements, would have done even better? Still, at least all that goes back into games.
In this instance with Consortium, however many units they sold, if it took two years to even consider development of the second game, where did the money they made from the original go? Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll? (Or more likely, Beer and Pizza's). Even 10% of that could have gone into investment for environmental textures or the likes, and actually start bringing Consortium 2 to life, so they have something to show off. "This is what we have now..." versus what appears to be "We can out of money. You want the sequel? We need more money to develop it."
My biggest problem with Consortium would be the lack of side quests, and fact it is pretty much based only on a singular map. Did I enjoy it when I played it? Eventually. The basic premise and concept was poorly explained. That, and the fact that while it claims to give you freedom to unfold the story the ending is ultimately exactly the same. It may differ in the next game, but you'd need to have the first as well, be forced a default selection, or have your first game choices having no consequence what so ever.
But, if they're kicking off again, just because their first attempt proved a failure - and this time technically even "increasing" the price tag by swapping from CAD to USD. Then it's already too late in consideration to change the pricing structure without pissing off the backers, even if they suddenly decided to throw in the first game, or some kind of OST, some people would have paid a lesser amount just for the game alone.
Otherwise, what I'd liked to have seen, would have been at most, a $10 tag, with 10% off if owning the original game, and a bundle package for the first, second and OST for $14; in line with the fact the first had been limited free, bundled, and currently even 60% off anyway.
Exactly the same thing when the third arrives, but a $20 "Complete Package".
The guys with the game AR-K and AR-K: The Great Escape have been trying to pull the same trick, with no information on the fourth episode yet. This made worse by fact AR-K already showed 4 episodes to select from on the title screen, heavily indicating either DLC or free updates, rather then a separate identity. From what I've seen, a number of those who were complaining about it were given free keys for the "second" game (third in the episode).
And these aren't the only games, nor developers, guilty of this approach. Though at least some actually specify "part one" or similar wording in their titles, so you know exactly what your getting yourself into, rather than enjoying a game only to have it end abruptly with "To be continued..." then seeing no word of updates, or having to discover on your own that it has a sequel, probably in some cases, under a different name.
Even the Deponia series was guilty of additional episodes, but at least the games could have been viewed as "complete", until suddenly the second game along to throw everything out of whack. Not purposefully cut off just to see how sales went before finishing off.
A far better approach would have been like the bigger companies, reference to The Walking Dead, Life is Strange, even Resident Evil Revelations. Sell the first episode, and the others as additional DLCs; or in case of the still ongoing Dreamfall Chapters, sell it at full price from the get-go as a episodic game, but with the other chapters free. They pretty much all ended up in the same price range.
That is, if the consortium guys had any intent on finishing the game prior to seeing how their first attempt was received.
All of this is, of course, my own personal opinion. I enjoyed the few hours of Consortium I played (about 5 1/2 hours of actual play time) but I do believe it could have been handled differently. It was made all the more worse by fact it's taken over (almost) two years for any indication that they hadn't simply abandoned planning the second game, by suddenly coming up with a kickstarter campaign, and now, Fig. Despite heavy implication of it being part of a trilogy game back in 2014.
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Well, let's see here. Fallout 4 sold 1.2 million copies at $60 each in 24 hours on Steam alone. (Not including console sales at all!) Consortium Game One has 386,834 ± 14,693 owners on Steam, where most of the sales would inevitably be from. (Consortium isn't available on consoles.) But that's after being on Steam for two years and three months, after numerous discounts on Steam, in addition to discounts on the Humble Store, and being given away for free on Steam for three days earlier this year. (GOG also sells the game, but I don't know of a way to get numbers from them. Then there's the fact that they also gave the game away for free on GOG for 48 hours to throw any number from GOG off, too.) The investment page on Fig claims that Consortium Game One sold about 86,000 units. (Of course, we don't know how many of those units were at a discounted price, and the price has been cut twice in addition to discounts.) Then figure in the distributor's cut, typically 30% of the sale price. So iDGi isn't exactly swimming in money from sales.
And hey, games are expensive. To be honest, I'm surprised to find out that they'll be able to make The Tower for $300,000, plus whatever money they have from sales of the previous game.
It didn't take them two years to "consider" making a second game, I guarantee that. They had post-launch stuff to worry about (bugfixes, marketing, etc.), and then development of the script for the new game, new art assets, picking and learning how to develop for a new engine (the Source engine isn't exactly the friendlist engine to use for non-Valve developers, from what I understand, nor does it make it easy to port the game to other platforms), etc.
I don't think making Consortium episodic would work out. The devs said that they plan on making The Tower at least double the average playtime of the first game. Depending on how long you took to play the first one (my first playthrough was ~5 hours, and you yourself said 5 1/2 hours), The Tower should be closer to the length of a season of one of those other episodic games. A bit shorter, yes, but also a bit cheaper. ($25 non-sale price for a full season, vs. $20 for Consortium: The Tower, if you are a backer.)
I liked the fact that it all took place in Zenlil. It's not meant to be an epic campaign, it's meant to be one continuous and uncut story, and on that front, I think they delivered. The fact that not everything is explained up front to you is also part of the appeal, in my opinion. The game even plays off of it, if you try to ask questions that Bishop 6 should know the answer to. That's just part of the experience. As for complaints about how your choices not having that strong of impact, I think the same complaint can be aimed at the Telltales Games games. That said, I do hope your choices have a greater impact on the story in The Tower, and from what they've shown, it looks like they will.
(I hope I don't come across as mean-spirited at any point in my response.)
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Been an hour, so... new bump. Plus way for me to have a "skip the rant" link. ;)
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I had to do re-do the train after I realized I didn't even look at the games but read your comments with interesting info on them, haha.
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Makes all of the effort to come up with giveaway descriptions worth it!
...Even if the later ones aren't as good, as I was running out of ideas. And I was tired. I posted the thread at nearly 2 AM this morning.
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Bump for awesome game.
I seem to be backer #652, I keep forgetting how to add pictures to posts.
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Step 1: Take screenshot. Go to page, hit the Print Screen (Prt Scr on my keyboard, at least) button, then open up Paint, paste it, crop it, save it. Write it, cut it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick, rewrite it.
Step 2: Upload to your image host of choice (imgur, in my case), upload, get link.
Step 3: Following the handy-dandy notebook comment formatting guide, use something similar to the following to post a picture: 
And there you go!
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Only needed the commenting format, but thats for the extensive explanation!
Backer number
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Nice one Sir! Will try to cobble together a few GA's to contribute to this at some point if you'd be inclined to tag-team this again
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Time is weird on SG; on what day does this event end?
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Thank you - joined two. Two bad Consortium doesn't work under Windows XP - ohh well.
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You best be careful online with that. It's been two years since Microsoft ended support for Windows XP, and just short of two years since the last security patch made available for it. (It's also been 14 years (going on 15 by the end of the year) since Windows XP launched.)
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Thank you, I know, that's why I'm using it offline most of the time.
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Really appreciate your post here about the crowdfunding project and Fig website. I haven't participated in a crowdfunding project yet due to concerns on completion, scams, and proper compensation for the project developers, but may consider Fig. And I think their approach can draw in potential investors/backers who otherwise wouldn't have done so.
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Beyond Fig offering an interesting approach, Interdimensional Games have already proven that they are trustworthy by doing a Kickstarter campaign that succeeded, then releasing the completed game and gave backers all of their rewards.
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We meet again. Already a Super Backer on Fig <3 Thank you for spreading the word!
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Seems like an interesting game concept, really seems like my kind of game. The first time I felt bad for not having a high enough level to enter a GA. Maybe I'll consider buying Consortium (unsure after reading the negative reviews).
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To be fair, the first game was decently buggy at launch, and probably still has a few issues left to fix. (I know the devs have at least one fix in line for a version 1.26 patch, but that specific fix only affects those who opt to try to complete the game without picking up the armor in the first room...which you are told to pick up at the beginning of the game. I wasn't even aware you could leave the room without picking it up until I read about it.)
Is it perfect? No. It's a bit short. There are certain unavoidable events. Knowledge of certain events doesn't let you prevent some of them. The combat isn't the greatest. But if you're looking for a first-person shooter, this really isn't that. It's a first-person story, a bit like an episode of a Star Trek prequel series, if one were to exist. Yes, you can shoot people in it, but this isn't a corridor shooter like Call of Duty or such.
tl;dr: Slightly buggy and passable combat, but an interesting universe and branching narrative make up for its shortcomings.
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The biggest appeal for me was the large narrative options and the possibility of resolving conflicts without violence. I like playing games that you can finish without killing anyone (Thief, Dishonored) or games that allow you to talk to your enemies instead of fighting them (Wasteland, Fallout). Much like in real life, I like to see violence as the last option. There are a lot of AAA FPS out there I doubt this one could compete with them, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't even mind if it's short as long as it's an enjoyable experience. Bugs could be a deal breaker it depends if they are merely annoying (like Fallout) or game breaking.
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I only encountered one bug in my playthrough, and it was purely an animation/visual error. I do recommend giving it a try, and if you encounter any bugs, if you post about them on the developer's forums, the devs should address them. They've been active on there, thankfully.
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Bumping with giveaway
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/cCeEM/retro-city-rampage-dx
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ooh! and another one!
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/coSrx/forced-slightly-better-edition
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Hello everyone! Remember this thread from a couple months ago, when a few of us here on SteamGifts were trying to push for Consortium: The Tower on Kickstarter? Well, now Interdimensional Games (iDGi) are trying again on Fig, so I'm making a new thread, too! So, without further ado...
(In case you're wondering, I'm a backer, not a developer!)
Consortium: The Tower
WOO, 115% FUNDED! $345,015 of the $300,000 goal, so let's not stop now! $350,000 is the first stretch goal, so let's go for it! There's been a lot of momentum in these final hours, so keep it up!
Here, have some discount codes for $10 off any pledge of $50 or more! Code One Code Two Code Three
Celebration Twitch stream on Wednesday at 9 PM EDT (6PM PDT) when the campaign ends. You can watch archives of their previous streams on Twitch or YouTube.
Link to the reddit AMA with Interdimensional Games CEO Greg MacMartin and BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk!
Consortium Game One is $2.99 on the Humble Store for the next nine days! Pick it up!
Alright, what is it?
Consortium: The Tower is the sequel to the 2014 game Consortium, picking up where the first one left off. There's a hostage situation going on in a skyscraper in the middle of London, England, and it's up to you to resolve the situation in whatever way you see fit.
Why should I care?
This video should probably do the trick in showing you basically everything you need to know.
The Consortium games are immersive sims—that is, games that concentrate on creating a believable game world for you to explore and interact with. It's not about killing waves of enemies, or progressing through corridors until you hit the end point, then go to the next level. You can go where you want, how you want, and do what you want, and then deal with the repercussions of your actions.
What the heck is Fig?
Fig is a crowdfunding platform, just like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Like Kickstarter, no money is collected until the campaign ends, and only if the campaign raises enough funds. Unlike either of its competitors, though, Fig offers investment backing, which means you can earn some money based off of the sale of a game you invest in on Fig. (Rewards backing and investment backing are two different things on Fig, so backing for rewards won't get you money.) In addition, Fig takes no money from rewards backers, meaning that only transaction fees are deducted from funds raised from rewards backers.
I still don't care, I just want free games!
NEW GIVEAWAYS ENDING 2016-05-11!
My new train! - STILL GOING!
Tynon's new train!OVER!Old giveaways:
...Very well.
Here's a giveaway for the first Consortium(ended), and thenthere's also a trainfor various other games. EDIT: first round is over, but there will be more! Missed the giveaway and the discount for Consortium Game One? You can still pick the game up on Steam, the Humble Store (includes a Steam key and a DRM-free download), GOG.com (DRM-free), and Bundle Stars (Steam key).In case you're interested, here's a link to the developer's forums. There's also a Discord server, linked to from the forum!
Edit
Some additional gifts from MosquitoSenorito: Giveaway one and Giveaway twoEnded!NEW UPDATE FROM DEVS: More details about the stealth system! Also, if for some reason you really, really dislike Fig (I've heard people talking poorly about it, but never specifying why...), you can now contribute via PayPal. Note that the devs will receive more of your money if you contribute as a rewards backer through Fig than if you go through PayPal, because Fig doesn't take a cut of rewards backers funds, while PayPal does take a cut!
Update from Devs 2016-05-04:
Have a copy of Consortium Game One already? There's a contest to see who can get the highest score on the new Virtual Trainer map, with the winner getting a poster for Consortium: The Tower signed by the dev team! Also, there's a poll on the forums regarding what game Greg MacMartin, iDGi CEO and creative director, should play on his Twitch stream on 2016-05-06. Vote while you can, as the poll ends 2016-05-05 at 8:45 PM EDT!
UPDATE 2016-05-09:
Reddit AMA with iDGi CEO Greg MacMartin and BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk!
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