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Author Topic: Defense Grid 2  (Read 11562 times)

Offline KingIsaacLinksr

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Defense Grid 2
« on: July 11, 2012, 10:54:49 am »
So Defense Grid 2, the sequel to the original, was announced by Hidden Path Entertainment. They're funding it via a Kickstarter which I'll link below. I really enjoy the first game and still play from time to time. This is my first kickstarter I'm supporting too. It is really quite interesting how they're doing it with tiers of rewards until the $1 million goal. I'm excited though, I want more Defense Grid. Anyone else Tower Defense players?

Also, they raised $43,000 since yesterday's announcement. That gives me hope! :)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hiddenpath/defense-grid-2

King
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Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2012, 10:55:23 am »
Uh yeah...a MILLION dollars? They're not really shooting low, are they? Cripes, that's a lot of cash.
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Offline KingIsaacLinksr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2012, 10:58:21 am »
Quote from: Moonshine Fox on July 11, 2012, 10:55:23 am
Uh yeah...a MILLION dollars? They're not really shooting low, are they? Cripes, that's a lot of cash.

Well, they want to do quite a bit more with the sequel than they were able to do with the original and considering how the polished the first one was, well, it can't be cheap :P

King
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Offline x4000

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2012, 10:58:56 am »
And yet, not unreasonable at all.  Without having the graphical powerhouse that they're looking to have, it cost me a good $250k to make AVWW.  Making games is costly!
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Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2012, 11:02:56 am »
I'm not saying it's unreasonable at all. I'm just saying that out of all the Kickstarter games I've seen so far, this is by far the steepest. I've seen everything from 50k up to around 200k (Clang! being an exception at 500k).
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Offline x4000

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2012, 11:06:00 am »
Yep, they have their work cut out for them for sure.
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Offline tigersfan

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2012, 01:10:05 pm »
And, for those who care about such things, DG just went on sale on Steam for their daily deal for $2.50.
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Offline madcow

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2012, 01:13:02 pm »
I have never even heard of defense grid before. But looking at it on steam, is it basically just a tower defense game?
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Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2012, 01:17:35 pm »
Quote from: madcow on July 11, 2012, 01:13:02 pm
I have never even heard of defense grid before. But looking at it on steam, is it basically just a tower defense game?
Yes.
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Offline zebramatt

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2012, 01:18:01 pm »
Quote from: madcow on July 11, 2012, 01:13:02 pm
I have never even heard of defense grid before. But looking at it on steam, is it basically just a tower defense game?

It's done really well though.
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Offline Wanderer

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2012, 01:29:29 pm »
Quote from: madcow on July 11, 2012, 01:13:02 pm
I have never even heard of defense grid before. But looking at it on steam, is it basically just a tower defense game?
Basically, yeah.  It's very polished though and you can get some pretty reasonably deep play out of it.  One of the things that Defense Grid brought into the genre was path controlling, in particular (they mention it in the video) the concept of juggling your enemy.

Defense Grid is probably one of the finest examples of tower defense out there, particularly in implementation and ease of use.  It can also be very difficult if you're 'doing it wrong'.  Overbuilding early really hurts you (and/or your score) in the late game.  Balancing turret builds that can kill the enemy in a single pass vs. a double pass with less interest earned on saved points is another strategical component.  It's got a lot going for it.

That said... I know they kicked some ass making the first Defense Grid.  Did all the profits from that just die?  Why the hell do they need a kickstarter?
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Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2012, 01:31:16 pm »
Quote from: Wanderer on July 11, 2012, 01:29:29 pm
That said... I know they kicked some ass making the first Defense Grid.  Did all the profits from that just die?  Why the hell do they need a kickstarter? Why the hell do they need such a HUGE kickstarter?
Fixed dat fo ya.
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Offline x4000

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2012, 01:41:14 pm »
Another tidbit about game design: it's a speculative business.  Aka, you pay first in order to make whatever game you're making, then you make some income.

So if you think they made a million dollars, for instance, on their first game, that's just what they made before factoring all the development time that originally went into it.  How long until they broke even?  How much did they then spent on free content patches and support in order to keep sales going for a longer period than their original flurry on initial release?

Once you then factor all that in... how much money is left to make the next project?  Especially if you had business loans or something to make the first one (which I don't know if they did).

Arcen has always had the good fortune that AI War cost me almost nothing but a massive amount of my own time in order to initially create, and so the profits from that have enabled further projects like Tidalis and AVWW.  However, a lot got reinvested back into AI War as well, post-release, but the expansions and so forth balanced that out and made it so that it was still very much a net gain for us the whole way through with AI War.

But you can't just look at the surface finances of a game company and know these things.
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Offline KingIsaacLinksr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2012, 01:55:11 pm »
And Defense Grid has had quite a bit of post-release support, not to the level of Arcen but more than the usual support. They also are using a new engine for the sequel by the sounds of it and last I checked, those aren't cheap.

King
« Last Edit: July 11, 2012, 01:57:08 pm by KingIsaacLinksr »
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Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Defense Grid 2
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2012, 02:02:11 pm »
Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on July 11, 2012, 01:55:11 pm
They also are using a new engine for the sequel by the sounds of it and last I checked, those aren't cheap.
That depends on wether they are licensing an engine or developing one in house. The latter is usually very painful and expensive unless you're pro to begin with.
Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on July 11, 2012, 01:55:11 pm
King
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Yes, we can see you made the post. ;)
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