Pillars of Eternity

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This article is about the video game. For the 1982 science fiction novel, see The Pillars of Eternity.
Pillars of Eternity
uprigh=1.15
Developer(s)Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)Obsidian Entertainment
Director(s)Josh Sawyer[2]
Designer(s)Josh Sawyer
Writer(s)Eric Fenstermaker
Chris Avellone
George Ziets
EngineUnity[3]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux[3]
ReleaseQ4 2014[1]
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Pillars of Eternity (original working title Project Eternity) is an upcoming fantasy role-playing video game from Obsidian Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux at least partially funded through Kickstarter. Involved in production are Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, Adam Brennecke and Josh Sawyer.[2] It is notable for its crowd funding campaign, which raised $3,986,929, at the time the highest funded crowd sourced video game on Kickstarter. Together with the amount funded through PayPal, its final value rose to $4,163,208.[5]

Gameplay

Pillars of Eternity will feature a party-based real-time-with-pause tactical gameplay, fixed isometric user interface for the game-world with two-dimensional pre-rendered backdrops,[2][6] in a similar vein as its spiritual ancestors Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale series and Baldur's Gate series (all based on BioWare's Infinity Engine).[7]

The mechanics will not be based on Dungeons & Dragons rules, and the plot and setting will be an original IP.[8] The player's party can have up to five companions, and they'll be recruited while exploring the world. The main character will be highly customizable and the player's choice of class, race (and subrace), culture, traits, skills and appearance will give the character its own personal background.[6][9]

Development

Pillars of Eternity concept art published during Kickstarter campaign

On September 10, 2012, Obsidian's webpage began teasing about a brand new game (entitled "Project X"), it initially was a number 4 encircled by an Ouroboros.[10] The next day it was revealed to be a countdown.[11] On September 14, the Kickstarter campaign went live revealing further details of the project.[12] It completed its 1.1 million dollars objective in just over 24 hours, and the first set of "stretch goals" were announced.[13] Pillars of Eternity surpassed the $1.6 million mark five days after the fund-raising began, and it was announced an OS X version of the game would be provided together with a DRM-free option through GOG.com.[4] A Linux version was announced on September 21, 2012.[3] It passed the $2 million mark on September 26.[14] On October 2, text translation for French, German and Spanish were announced. One day later, translations for Russian and Polish were added.[15] On October 8, it was announced that Wasteland 2 would be offered to backers who pledged US$165 (and above).[16] In the last day of the campaign, Pillars of Eternity surpassed Double Fine Adventure as the Kickstarter's most-funded videogame.[17] The team aims to have Pillars of Eternity ready to ship for Q2 2014.[8]

Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian's CEO, has explained why they chose to use a crowd funding model for Pillars of Eternity instead of the traditional developer/publisher arrangement, "What Kickstarter does is let us make a game that is absolutely reminiscent of those great [Infinity Engine] games, since trying to get that funded through a traditional publisher would be next to impossible."[2] In an interview, Josh Sawyer stressed that being free of the limitations of a publisher would enable them to "delve into more mature subject matter[...] slavery, hostile prejudice (racial, cultural, spiritual, sexual), drug use and trade, and so on will all help flesh out the story".[18] Obsidian was inspired by InXile Entertainment's recent success of using Kickstarter to fund Wasteland 2.[19] Chris Avellone mentioned at the project's announcement that if the campaign were to succeed, Pillars of Eternity would become a franchise. He also ruled out a possible console port of the game, "Those [console] limitations affect RPG mechanics and content more than players may realize (especially for players who've never played a PC RPG and realize what's been lost over the years), and often doesn't add to the RPG experience."[20] Additionally, he has pledged to write a novella set in the game world.[21]

On October 16, 2012, Pillars of Eternity's Kickstarter funding campaign concluded with a total of $3,986,929, becoming the most highly funded video game on the Kickstarter platform. This record has since been beaten by Torment: Tides of Numenera.[22]

In December, 2013, Obsidian announced that the official title for the game will be Pillars of Eternity, dropping the working title Project Eternity. They also launched a poll asking backers whether or not they would support further fundraising. According to Sawyer, the money would chiefly be used to add additional wilderness environments for exploration and to pay for the creation and design of additional companions in order to have one of each character class.[23][verification needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Obsidian Entertainment (2013-12-11). "Buy Pillars of Eternity". Obsidian Entertainment. Retrieved 2013-12-11.
  2. ^ a b c d BuckGB (2012-09-14). "Project Eternity Interview". GameBanshee. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
  3. ^ a b c Jones, Chris (2012-09-21). "Update #6 – Choosing the Best Tool for the Job". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  4. ^ a b Urquhart, Feargus (2012-09-19). "Update #4 – Digital Tiers, DRM, and Add-Ons Update". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  5. ^ Purchese, Robert (2012-10-17). "A Project Eternity recap: what $4 million has funded". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  6. ^ a b Peckham, Matt (2012-09-21). "Project Eternity's Chris Avellone: Pitching Publisher-Friendly RPGs 'Makes Me Want to Slit My Wrists'". TIME. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  7. ^ Peckham, Matt (2012-09-18). "Kickstarted: Old School 'Project Eternity' RPG Gets Funded – Could It Raise $10 Million?". TIME. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  8. ^ a b Purchese, Robert (2012-09-18). "Lots more Project Eternity information and a tentative spring 2014 release date". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  9. ^ Urquhart, Feargus (2012-09-17). "Game Basics – Your Party, Your Characters, and Races, Update #3". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  10. ^ Reilly, Luke (2012-09-10). "Obsidian Teasing Mysterious "Project X"". IGN. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
  11. ^ Karmali, Luke (2012-09-12). "Obsidian's Countdown Continues With New Details". IGN. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
  12. ^ Campbell, Colin (2012-09-14). "Obsidian's Fantasy RPG Reveals Founders' True Desires". IGN. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
  13. ^ Sharkey, Mike (2012-09-17). "Project Eternity Funded in Just Over 24 Hours, Obsidian Outlines Stretch Goals". GameSpy. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  14. ^ Chalk, Andy (2012-09-26). "Project Eternity Breaks $2 Million". the escapist. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
  15. ^ Michał Filipiak (2012-10-08). "Have Eternity, Will Travel – Check out the Oodles of New Info on Obsidian's Kickstarter Project". ripten. Retrieved 2012-10-11.
  16. ^ Urquhart, Feargus (2012-10-08). "Update #17 – Brian Fargo from inXile Kicks In, Obsidian Kicks it Forward, New $165 Tier, and Expansion". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2012-10-11.
  17. ^ Tach, Dave (2012-10-15). "'Project Eternity' surpasses 'Double Fine Adventure' to become Kickstarter's most-funded video game". The Verge. Retrieved 2012-10-16.
  18. ^ Kyle, Orland (2012-09-21). "Project Eternity's all-star effort to revive the classic PC RPG". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  19. ^ Cook, Dave (2012-09-21). "Project Eternity interview: Obsidian on making RPGs awesome again". VG247. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  20. ^ Schreier, Jason (2012-09-14). "The People Behind Fallout And Planescape Are Making My Dream RPG". Kotaku. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
  21. ^ Nye Griffiths, Daniel (2012-09-26). "Contemplating Eternity: Chris Avellone Talks Sales, Souls and (Kick)Starts". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
  22. ^ inXile entertainment (2013-03-06). "Torment: Tides of Numenera". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  23. ^ Sawyer, Josh. "Pillars of Eternity". Something Awful Forums. SomethingAwful LLC. Retrieved 11 December 2013.

External links

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