“I was born to be wild, man.”
Update 29.01.13 – In an emotional video update Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor, has confirmed that, following his decision to terminate a significant proportion of the company’s workforce, the future of the Wildman project is now uncertain.
Original Story 16.01.13 – Chris Taylor is a name that most readers will be familiar with. Despite being the butt of more than a few jokes, as a games designer he has worked on titles such as Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander and Total Annihilation. With such a high quality back catalogue there is always going to be interest in what his next project is. Well that project has now been revealed as an action RPG/strategy hybrid called Wildman.
Taylor and his team at Gas Powered Games are promising to bring elements from three of their past hits into the new game to create a unique experience. By combining the RPG elements of Dungeon Siege, the RTS stylings of Supreme Commander and the wave based format of Demigod, Gas Powered Games is looking at making a game that is unlike any other. Throw in the Neanderthal design of the characters and gamers are looking at something that has the potential to be fresh and new.
Of course these lofty goals are not funded by wishes and grand plans, no Taylor needs some hard earned cash to get this interesting idea to computers everywhere. To get this money Chris has of course joined the revolution and turned to Kickstarter. With a fairly hefty goal of US $1.1m, he had better hope fans of his past work turn out in force to support this ambitious new endeavour. There are various enticements for potential backers to dive in with their wallets including the usual things like copies of the game and soundtracks all the way up a ticket to the launch party and an Executive Producer credit (if someone has a spare $10k to donate).
Of course once the money is raised, the game is not due to hit shelves for quite some time (March 2014 to be exact) but with such an interesting premise, Wildman may just be worth the wait.
Disclosure Policy for Kickstarter and Similar Programs: Black Panel staff and contributors will always inform you if they have backed the project they are discussing.
I’ll admit it looks like it could be a promising game, with the pedigree behind it. But, $1.1m is a HELL OF A LOT to be asking for. I’d be inclined to say way too much. If you need cash like that to finish I’d be considering seeking out a traditional publisher and pitching it to them. Asking the community to pony up that kind of money for a game over a year away I think might be asking too much.
Agreed the game looks like it could be a cracker but 1.1 million is massive. Though in saying that after just one day they are over 10% done.
I thought 400k for double fines thing was asking a lot though. I understand publishing isn’t the cheapest thing to do. But asking for that kind of cash upfront is pretty ballsy regardless of who’s doing it.