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| John McCarroll |
They got the band back together.
02.08.13 - 9:23 AM
As we reported back in November, independent developer Red Thread Games, made up of Funcom veterans, licensed The Longest Journey with the intention of launching a new iteration. Today, these developers announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund the title. While Red Thread Games received a $175,000 grant from the Norwegian Film Institute to build a prototype, Funcom is not financing the game in any way. Additionally, they state it is nearly impossible to secure funding for a classic-style adventure game from a traditional publisher.
This is why Red Thread Games is asking for your help. From their Kickstarter page, "We plan on publishing Dreamfall Chapters ourselves through digital channels, and to retain control over the story and the gameplay from beginning to end. With Kickstarter, not only can we make the game that adventure gamers (including ourselves!) want to play, we also don't have to make the sort of compromises a publisher will demand. In addition, we will be able to maintain a close and fruitful relationship with our community and fans throughout production.
With total transparency into the development process, our pledgers will have the chance to closely follow the design and production of the next chapter in The Longest Journey saga. And we will have the opportunity to talk directly to you, our supporters, and hopefully provide you with insight into the development process."
And while Red Thread Games is a new studio, most of the cornerstones of the Dreamfall team are returning. This includes writer/director Ragnar Tørnquist, art director Christer Sveen, writer Dag Scheve, and Lead designer Martin Bruusgard.
"It's an amazing feeling to have the team back together, and to be able to continue the story," says Ragnar Tørnquist, creator of The Longest Journey. "We're hoping there are enough fans of the first two games out there, along with new gamers who want to play a real adventure game, to meet our Kickstarter goal. We're relying on crowdfunding to produce the game, and the Kickstarter campaign is incredibly important to us."
The Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey campaign is seeking $850,000. $64,000 has already been pledged as of the publishing of this article, so Tørnquist and team seem well on the way to their goal.
