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 pre-order game, OST, beta, etc etc: http://dropsytheclown.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfRjByXbenA OUT SEPTEMBER 10! YAY!  Note: This has been Mod approved. Buzzword-y Summary: Dropsy is an open world adventure game with an emphasis on surreal atmospheric elements and environmental storytelling. You guide perpetually carefree Dropsy through a meticulously detailed world. Though its roots are in the point-and-click titles of old, Dropsy is an almost entirely text-free experience. There are still colorful characters to communicate with, but the dialogue is handled visually rather than linguistically. This also gives the game a bit of universal appeal as people who speak other languages can enjoy it fully. The goal is to allow the player to discover the narrative at their own pace instead of spoon feeding them plot points. Solutions to puzzles emerge organically as more is learned about Dropsy's world. There are a few things I've never liked about adventure games that are entirely missing here. Those things include:
Dropsy's World: Dropsy is an 'open world' game in the sense that you can visit almost every area from the very beginning. There is initially a clear suggested route, but very few locations are off limits. Though often bizarre and humorous, this game's world takes itself more seriously than other graphic adventures. It's organized by a few nuanced people groups, and all of them relate to one another in some way. I've taken a lot of inspiration from Fallout: New Vegas in the implementation of this. Players progress by learning. As you familiarize yourself with how the world's history, locations, NPCs, and groups of NPCs relate to each other, solutions to puzzles become apparent. Dialogue System: Rich, colorful characters are one of my favorite things about adventure games, so despite Dropsy's inability to speak normally, I wanted to include some type of dialogue system. I spent a few weeks doodling ideas and ended up with the icon based system I'm using now. Instead of direct communication, NPCs will 'speak' a series of icons. I discovered early on that some icons are difficult to interpret. After a small period of disappointment, I've since fallen in love with the idea that players won't always discern the dialogue. This adds a sense of exploration to NPC interaction, and allows environmental details to fill in the story. Take this mockup for example:  Before encountering this NPC, players will explore the island he lives on:  His island is peppered with crosses, wooden stakes, mirrors, garlic shoots, giant signs that say NO BATS (in symbols, of course) and other such things. It should be pretty obvious by the time you meet him that he despises vampires. The solution to one of the puzzles on his island involves dressing up as one to scare him. Most of the time dialogue will merely assist in solving puzzles that players can figure out anyway. Dialogue trees are generally kept quite short. In more involved conversations, the player can react by choosing between various animated emotive Dropsy heads. The Dreamworld:  Dropsy's dream world will be another avenue for discovering more of the story. Only accessible for five minutes at a time while Dropsy sleeps, his dream world is a surreal amalgamation of events from his past, opinions, interests, and desires. When you return, you'll begin where you left off. The dream world is entirely optional, and completion of the game is possible without visiting it once. This serves two primary purposes. The first being a text-free way to give extra exposition of Dropsy's backstory and personality. The second being a place I could draw all kinds of cool trippy stuff and stick it in for no good reason.  The Music: The music for most of the game will be composed by Chris Schlarb. Chris would be best known here for the soundtrack to Nifflas' ambient puzzle-platformer Night Sky. His solo albums released under Asthmatic Kitty and work as half of experimental jazz duo I Heart Lung have also recieved acclaim. I'll be recording the music for the dreamworld myself. I'll be chopping up Chris' melodies and implementing them when something in the dreamworld relates to the main game. Keith Rankin (Giant Claw) will also be recording a track. While there has been a resurgence in pixelly throwback adventures lately, they totally forget the old crusty Soundblaster/FM Synth tones that gave the classics a warm edge. We'll be combining this aesthetic with fuzzed out guitars, organs, tape echo, 70's drum machines, vintage keyboards, ukulele, and jacked up drum kits will also have their place. The Story The Kickstarter posted:In addition to being a gentle soul, Dropsy harbors at least one miraculous ability: While his bumbling speech sounds like babble to your average human, animalkind understands it perfectly. This was discovered by his parents at an early age and put to good use in their circus as he grew older. The act gained widespread notoriety, and Dropsy quickly became a hometown celebrity.  Other stuff:
Dropsy's sprite was created almost 10 years ago for a circus level in a dinky zombie platformer I whipped up in Multimedia Fusion. It never really went anywhere, but I always loved the sprite. So, I touched him up and reused him as the protagonist of a GBS Choose Your Own Adventure thread. Most of his existing personality traits are because of suggestions in that initial thread. Since then I've built a mythos/universe around him on my own, but Something Awful is definitely Dropsy's home. I'm happy to answer any questions you guys have. Twitter: https://twitter.com/dropsytheclown Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dropsy/341621375923 Active GBS CYoA Thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3556365 Gaspy Conana fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Jul 10, 2013 17:56
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Threw 25 bucks your way. I was gonna only give you 10, but you suckered my childlike wonder with that Book of Secrets.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:09
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Ballz posted:Threw 25 bucks your way. I was gonna only give you 10, but you suckered my childlike wonder with that Book of Secrets.  Oh man, the book of secrets is SO much fun. I'll probably be sending that out to backers in October.I'm recording a backer Q&A thingy tonight, so if any questions are posted here I'll cover em in the video too. Gaspy Conana fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jul 10, 2013 |
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Jul 10, 2013 19:43
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Gaspy Conana posted:
I guess my question would be what's your backup plan if the kickstarter fails, since it appears I'm suddenly the only goon interested in Dropsy any more. 
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Jul 11, 2013 00:25
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Ballz posted:I guess my question would be what's your backup plan if the kickstarter fails, since it appears I'm suddenly the only goon interested in Dropsy any more. If the Kickstarter fails I'll be re-launching in August (or whenever I'm prepared enough.) I know it looks bad to have so many failed projects, but if I can keep whatever momentum I've built up I think it could work. If both crowdfunding attempts fail, I'm not quite sure. I'm definitely finishing the game. No question about that. It's my passion right now and I'm working as hard as I can to make it work. I'm still debating on whether to take up a few programmers on their offers to work for free until release, or just learn the skills and do it all myself. I'd really like to have Chris on for the music still. I haven't talked to him about what we'll do if it fails yet. He's way into the project, so we may be able to work some kind of deal out. That said, hopefully it won't! It's looking a bit grim right now, but I've seen projects make crazy numbers in their last 48 hours. I think I need to mobilize some kind of goony street team or something. 
Gaspy Conana fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Oct 16, 2013 |
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Jul 11, 2013 00:42
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I think if you do another one, a pitch video which is simply 'here's this game i'm making, here's the backstory, here's what it's going to be like' might be worth a shot. The current one you have feels a bit like an inside joke, might be worth playing it straight up.
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Jul 11, 2013 00:50
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Out of curiosity, what languages/libraries are you using to write the game code?
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Jul 11, 2013 02:40
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poemdexter posted:Out of curiosity, what languages/libraries are you using to write the game code? I suppose it depends on whether or not it's funded. Nothing has been written yet, but if the Kickstarter is successful we're considering Unity. I've been using Multimedia Fusion to make little bits and prototypey things to show my programmer, but we're definitely not using it for the final build. All of the screenshots and mockups are from them. cubicle gangster posted:I think if you do another one, a pitch video which is simply 'here's this game i'm making, here's the backstory, here's what it's going to be like' might be worth a shot. I'll definitely be switching it up. That video, while some absolutely love it, is definitely less accessible than it should be. Gaspy Conana fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Jul 11, 2013 |
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Jul 11, 2013 02:48
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I really enjoy your Dropsy threads when you post them and I wish I could offer you financial support, but I am currently looking for work. I'm gonna post this all over my Facebook and Twitter though and if I find a job before its finished I will definitely make this the first Kickstarter I donate to. I hope it goes super well for you!
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Jul 11, 2013 05:06
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Sid Vicious posted:I really enjoy your Dropsy threads when you post them and I wish I could offer you financial support, but I am currently looking for work. I'm gonna post this all over my Facebook and Twitter though and if I find a job before its finished I will definitely make this the first Kickstarter I donate to. I hope it goes super well for you! I appreciate that! Pimping it is almost as good as backing.  Postponing that Q&A video until I get more questions. 
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Jul 11, 2013 06:49
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Well I don't have much but it is pay day for me so I've kicked you $100.
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Jul 11, 2013 10:03
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Count Clockwork posted:Well I don't have much but it is pay day for me so I've kicked you $100.  Anyone have any advice regarding the campaign? Is there anything (other than a demo) I'm lacking or should adjust on the Kickstarter page?
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Jul 12, 2013 01:03
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I love the idea for the dialogue system (I have a bad habit of skim reading words in games but this looks fun, like a mini puzzle to work out on its own, and I think sometimes it should be a bit hard to discern). Kicking in 25 bucks.
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Jul 12, 2013 06:46
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Gaspy Conana posted:
I personally think Kickstarter success is almost entirely a crapshoot, but I think this might have also had more momentum when Dropsy was still a new thing and everyone was crazy for him (when was the first thread... year ago? Two?). You're definitely going to need to try to capture the minds outside of the forums... how the gently caress that happens, I have no idea. You're also going to be battling Steam Summer Sale... so I don't think your timing could really be much worse. Lots of gamer dollars will be pouring into Steam for the duration of the month, and I think people look at Kickstarter video game projects as just a pre-order opportunity and not really an investment or way to support someone they like. I hate to admit it, but I'm holding on to my spending cash until Steam Summer Sale stuff ends while I wait to see if my favorite games go on sale. That said... if you haven't already, Gamasutra is the big website where you go to read about the games biz, and Kickstarter blogs and articles have steadily piled up these past couple years. Gamasutra is a great repository for all kinds of lessons learned by other people who have gone before you; whether it is development processes or project management or Kickstarter successes and failures. Even big games get postmortems posted by their developers on occasion, where they detail what went right and what went wrong. https://www.google.com/search?q=gamasutra+kickstarter Get cracking! If Kickstarter fails, then you could always do it the old fashioned way and get a contract with a publisher. There are several "big" publishers out there that focus almost entirely on niche indy games. I'm willing to offer some time to help make the game happen, even if it's just to offer advice on how you should "manage" your developer(s). Captain Candiru fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 07:42
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I pitched in another 25$ for Dropsy, the most endearing protagonist I've ever witnessed. It is a pity, though, that the Dropsy hype seems to have dropped already, your CYOA were amazing.
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Jul 12, 2013 08:30
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Definitely going to echo the feedback on the pitch video. I think it would be better to play it straight and let the game's weirdness speak for itself. Otherwise... send lots of pleading emails to websites that post news about games (which you're probably already doing). I pledged and posted on all my social networks!
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Jul 12, 2013 20:32
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Yeaah, I'm hearing a lot of that about the video. It's too late to re-record, but do you think it would help to throw my trailer at the beginning of it? Thanks guys! Captain Backslap posted:I personally think Kickstarter success is almost entirely a crapshoot, but I think this might have also had more momentum when Dropsy was still a new thing and everyone was crazy for him (when was the first thread... year ago? Two?). You're definitely going to need to try to capture the minds outside of the forums... how the gently caress that happens, I have no idea. Oh man, thanks for that. I did page through a few Gamasutra articles earlier, but I didn't know about the postmortems. I do agree that success is generally arbitrary, and largely depends on luck landing press/exposure. I just did an interview with Gamesradar, and have one with Polygon coming up. Hopefully those will help in the final push. I did quite a bit of research on reward levels and presentation, but it doesn't mean much if nobody finds it. I'm doing everything I can for a project that doesn't have a playable demo. Barring the Kickstarter, a publisher sounds like a good idea. Any suggestions that seem like a good fit for Dropsy?
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Jul 12, 2013 20:33
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Gaspy Conana posted:Barring the Kickstarter, a publisher sounds like a good idea. Any suggestions that seem like a good fit for Dropsy? Yes! Wadjet Eye Games. http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/ Dave just had a baby and moved to a new apartment, and the company is basically him and his wife, so he may be reluctant to strike a deal right now, I don't know. Or maybe now that he has another mouth to feed, he'll be super motivated to get that green. He's a swell guy. edit: also, he can cast and produce voice acting for the game Shart Carbuncle fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 20:35
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Wikipedia Brown posted:Yes! Wadjet Eye Games. http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/ Awesome. I've known about them, but it never crossed my mind. Already sent the email. 
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Jul 12, 2013 20:42
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I've never read one of the Dropsy forum adventures but I like adventure games and your art both quite a bit so I'm in for ten.
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Jul 12, 2013 23:12
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I'm going to make a series of videos explaining certain aspects of the game in more detail, along with concept art, etc. Is there anything that seems confusing/unclear about how the game will play?ddddddffdfddddfddf posted:I've never read one of the Dropsy forum adventures but I like adventure games and your art both quite a bit so I'm in for ten. 
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Jul 13, 2013 16:49
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I like that you specifically mention the puzzles won't be weird adventure game logic but then the only example of a puzzle you give is having to dress as a dracula because a guy has signs that say no bats and he has crosses on the ground. I imagine every game designer in history felt their puzzles made perfect sense and the user is just at fault for not having been observant enough.
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Jul 13, 2013 17:13
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For some reason I immediately think of those weird games with the egg. In a good way.
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Jul 13, 2013 17:14
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Owlofcreamcheese posted:I like that you specifically mention the puzzles won't be weird adventure game logic but then the only example of a puzzle you give is having to dress as a dracula because a guy has signs that say no bats and he has crosses on the ground. I imagine every game designer in history felt their puzzles made perfect sense and the user is just at fault for not having been observant enough. Ahh, you're totally right. That example was meant to explain how the dialogue system works in conjunction with the gameworld as opposed to painting a complete picture of a puzzle. Sounds like a good thing to tackle in the video. Most of the puzzles here aren't mechanically much different from your average adventure game. The difference is the emphasis. There isn't a chain of small actions you have to take to solve a larger problem. An example of that could be this bit from Monkey Island: GameFAQs posted:Before you leave the bar, hang out near the kitchen door and wait for the Dropsy only has around fifteen main puzzles, and most of them are solved with only one or two actions. They'll initially seem harder or more nebulous than your average adventure game puzzle, but the solutions become apparent as you observe more of the world/interact with NPCs. It's this shift in focus that eases the 'adventure game logic' issue. In the vampire puzzle, which is one of the smaller/less significant ones, there are eight other little 'hints' that point you in the direction of the main solution. They get progressively more blunt with their exposition as you move closer. Since the game is open world each puzzle has a geographically 'hot center' where the solution is made as obvious as possible without giving it away. Whatever the case, there will be tons of testing to make sure that I'm not delusional. This is really hard to explain without something visual, so look out for the video too.
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Jul 13, 2013 18:54
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Dropsy is on the front page of gamesradar.com and in the Features section. Woo!Nevvy Z posted:For some reason I immediately think of those weird games with the egg. I'm so confused. PC Games?
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Jul 14, 2013 04:30
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Can't believe I almost missed this. I thought the kickstarter video was hilarious and sold the concept pretty well. To be fair, I'm more interested in the general atmosphere, music and art direction than the actual game though. Gameplay is probably pretty crucial in the eyes of most. Godspeed, Dropsy.
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Jul 17, 2013 03:13
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Polygon just put up an article about Dropsy! Goons get a lot of love in it. tokz posted:Can't believe I almost missed this. I thought the kickstarter video was hilarious and sold the concept pretty well. To be fair, I'm more interested in the general atmosphere, music and art direction than the actual game though. Gameplay is probably pretty crucial in the eyes of most. Thanks mayne.
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Jul 17, 2013 20:30
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It's good to see some articles popping up. It might be a good idea to remind them next month if you do another Kickstarter. If you do, make it clear that the goal has been reduced with some content moved to stretch goals. If you do make a second Kickstarter, don't forget to post an update to the first one so the backers will know. The 'learning-based' concept for puzzles sounds really interesting. It fits very well with the character of Dropsy - he's only capable of doing simple things, and the main challenge for him is understanding situations in the first place.
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Jul 19, 2013 04:19
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I'm in. I'm surprised this hasn't made it yet, honestly.
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Jul 19, 2013 04:28
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Thanks. I think it's a combination of the Steam sale and the fact that I'm competing with a few higher profile projects. Getting a Kickstarter Staff Pick is pretty crucial for a smaller project like this, and we weren't so lucky. It isn't over yet though! BiggerJ posted:If you do make a second Kickstarter, don't forget to post an update to the first one so the backers will know. I'm already working on it. Along with more mockup screenshots and a revamped video that gets to the point more quickly. While I've had quite a few positive comments on my current video, it does seem to drag.
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Jul 19, 2013 04:48
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Sorry about the double post, but I just made this to answer a few of the questions I've received: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yQC8SG7mQk Also, only 4 days remaining for the Kickstarter and we're at 35%. Even if there isn't some kind of crazy miracle comeback, it's been a pretty rad campaign. 
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Jul 21, 2013 15:39
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Nevvy Z posted:For some reason I immediately think of those weird games with the egg. I think this is referencing either Mitoza or the Grow series by Eyemaze. Another common(?) gripe in adventure games like these is the requisite hoarding of items that inexplicably vanish once used to solve a single puzzle, and attempting to use each item anywhere other than the one place it fits results in the age-old excuse "I can't use these things together." Games where a single item not only solves different puzzles but does so through unexpected applications are rare, but highly valued. I like the concept of your hot-cold hint system. Might "leftover" items play a part in revealing these hints?
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Jul 21, 2013 16:52
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Austin S posted:I think this is referencing either Mitoza or the Grow series by Eyemaze. Definitely. There are generally fewer items in Dropsy, so I'm trying to give them more narrative weight than is usual. I put a lot of thought into who owns the item, where it's from, what it's owner uses it for, etc. The details immediately surrounding an item in it's native location will be the biggest hint as to how you'll need to use it later. Dropsy is potentially a very short and simple game IF you know everything about it at the start. The fun (hopefully) is in enjoying the ride while exploring an unfamiliar mythos and discovering its nuances. Gaspy Conana fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 18:20
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Backed for 50 bucks. Good luck man!
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Jul 24, 2013 05:15
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Talorat posted:Backed for 50 bucks. Good luck man! Thanks man. PS -  Only ~42 hours to go. Maybe the president will retweet it and we'll totally be funded.
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Jul 24, 2013 05:36
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Threw in 50 bucks, I wish I'd have known about this KS sooner. Love your threads, surprised this didn't get more publicity across the forums. Or maybe I'm just ignorant.
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Jul 24, 2013 17:23
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the Gaffe posted:Threw in 50 bucks, I wish I'd have known about this KS sooner. Love your threads, surprised this didn't get more publicity across the forums. Or maybe I'm just ignorant. Thanks man. Yeahh, I think Dropsy fever ended a few years ago. If this doesn't succeed I'll relaunch in a few weeks with more game to show. I need to update the GBS CYoA thread, but I've been sick so I'm backed up on stuff.
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Jul 24, 2013 20:20
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Gaspy Conana posted:Thanks man. I'm not familiar with Kickstarter fees, you think it might make more sense to extend it to 40 or 50 days instead of 30?
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Jul 24, 2013 20:57
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Gaspy Conana posted:Thanks man. You should also buy a bunch of ads on SA. Heck when I ran the guild for the vanilla WoW server, we put an ad up for that and we got a bunch of responses and new members.
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Jul 24, 2013 22:26
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^I just found Dropsy through a SA ad. *hands over $50*
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Jul 24, 2013 22:47
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