TJD Kickstarter 106% funded! First stretch goal announced!

theo · Wed 02/09/2015 15:58:11

Breaking news! The kickstarter has launched!

We announced our first stretch goal today in a fancy video update. Please check it out!

At 80%, the kickstarter for TJD has scored some pretty awesome coverage so far, with the most recent ones being:

Kotaku - Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Eurogamer

Hey guys! Long time no see.

Remember The Journey Down?

Once upon a time I made an AGS game called "The Journey Down: Over the edge". It won some awards and I got carried away and decided to turn it into a bigger, fancier commercial product. (Albeit no longer in AGS) Years later we've launched the first two chapters (And got some pretty darn good reviews!!!) and are now working on the third and final part of the series. I'm proud to announce that it's coming along beautifully! We'll be launching a kickstarter in october to help wrap up funding for the last leg of development and I figured I'd be a complete dolt if I didn't make a thread about that here. So, from now on, expect project updates right here!

As you can probably tell, the setting has shifted somewhat. It's no longer film noir, but rather an eighties/nineties action move type mood. And we're LOVING working with it.

If anyone's curious, here's a new interview I did at gamescom about our current state: Video interview with Adventure Corner (youtube)

The TJD3 soundtrack is being produced by Jamie Salisburry, the insanely talented guy who took over after my good friend Simon passed. The soundtrack too, features a substantially different mood than the previous games, but don't worry, there will be saxophone. There will always be saxophone in TJD!

And here's a sneak peek at some of the new and old characters featured in TJD3:

Expect more shiny pics as we progress in working with our kickstarter campaign materal! And please don't be shy with your feedback.

Thanks again for taking your time and also thanks for being awesome. Without AGS and the awesome community surrounding it, there would be no TJD.

Yitcomics · Wed 02/09/2015 18:33:42

So awesome,totally a fan of your work

.Any hints of the rewards that's going to be on kickstarter,you know cause if its awesome I might have to save some money

.

Igor Hardy · Wed 02/09/2015 18:48:33

Looking forward to having the complete journey. Best of luck with the final chap!

yamipanda · Wed 02/09/2015 19:39:13

Great to hear some news from you! I'll definitely donate to your kickstarter. Good luck!

selmiak · Wed 02/09/2015 21:11:47

Cooool!

adm244 · Wed 02/09/2015 21:42:56

Thanks for posting TJD news here, glad to see you're back

Since I'm not being shy with my feedback I shall complain about performance issues in both Chapter One and Two.
There's something real scary going on in code, because sometimes (mostly right after location has finished loading) animation suddenly goes all shattery for just a few seconds ~~and then I have to buy a new computer to continue playing~~.

The game is great though. Love it so far.
And good luck with kickstarter campaign!

ManicMatt · Wed 02/09/2015 22:03:55

Got 1 and 2 in my steam library, loved them!

theo · Thu 03/09/2015 19:23:31

Here's a little peek from the kickstarter pitch video we're working on right now:

Yitcomics: Thanks, man! Not sure about the rewards so far. Will likely mostly be digital, but we've got a lot of digital goodies.

We'll likely have some kind of boxed version though, which may or may not include soundtracks etc. But it's too early to tell right now. Keep your eyes peeled! Thanks for showing interest, it means a lot!

Ascovel: Thanks! I look forward to seeing the last leg of the journey, too!

yamipanda: Awesome, thanks! Means a lot to hear that people are going to be willing to help support the kickstarter.

selmiak:

adm244: Thanks for the kind words! May I ask what system you play the game on? We take great pride in having very few performance issues. It's odd to hear that you've got 'em.

ManicMatt: Great! I'm sure you'll love TJD3 just as much.

And here's a pic from yesterday's development. We had to move out of our office last week, and decided that we'll do some traditional skygoblin-roaming for a while and work from cafÃ©s and random institutions for a while to save some money. To our great joy, the place we worked from yesterday had a refrigerator so we could chill our beer.

Monsieur OUXX · Fri 04/09/2015 08:41:06

Morobo, Gabi and especially Moorhead look totally like regular people. I found the African-masks faces to be an interesting aesthetics choice.

CaptainD · Fri 04/09/2015 13:39:15

Performance-wise, even my ancient laptop ran it fine.

Great news Theo, though I have to warn you, if we do not have a PLAYABLE KITO then I'm going to start a petition for you to make a new game starring him. Fiddly limb animations or not.

Tweet me when you need some PR about the KS.

Andail · Sun 06/09/2015 20:01:08

Sorry to hear about the financial pickle, Theo, but I'm sure the kickstarter will work out well for you guys!

theo · Tue 08/09/2015 09:43:53

Monsieur OUXX: Agreed! We should work harder to make the african mask theme more prominent.

CaptainD: Thanks for the offer to help spread the word, man. We're definitely going to need it!
Andail: Got my fingers crossed.

We should meet up Ã¥ kÃ¤ka lunch igen nÃ¥n gÃ¥ng.

Crimson Wizard · Tue 08/09/2015 10:08:53

Chapter 3?? How did I miss Chapter Two? Oh my...

Gotta play full hi-res version when 3rd is out, I guess.

theo · Tue 15/09/2015 09:26:27

Crimson Wizard: Yeah, I know, that's been a big problem for us, reaching out with TJD2.

We've been spending the past few weeks working on the kickstarter pitch video, and in doing so, I've been working on a new street scene from TJD3 that will feature briefly in the video. Here's a dirty work in progress shot from the Lightwave viewport.

Snarky · Tue 15/09/2015 13:08:30

Maybe you might want to partner with a publisher, or at least hire a part-time publicist (with knowledge of the adventure games biz), in order to raise the profile of your release? The first two episodes are damn fine, and deserve more attention.

ManicMatt · Tue 15/09/2015 23:09:31

It's true, I just stumbled upon it on steam one day.

theo · Wed 16/09/2015 15:54:51

Trust me, the thought of partnering with a publisher has crossed our minds many a time, but to me there's nothing as important as retaining full control over the game, which I now have.

It trumps everything.

theo · Tue 22/09/2015 11:30:42

So, I've put some more work into the downtown scene! It's not ready but certainly getting there. Just wait until you get to see this animated! (It will be in the kickstarter pitch video!) Click for larger version! (And do let me know if it's too dark, or something. difficult knowing, I've only seen it on my own monitor!) Thanks.

The kickstarter will launch on October 1st and we're currently trying to get people to spread the word via thunderclap. If you wanna donate a tweet or fb share there, I'd be incredibly grateful. It's really painless and there's no signup required.

Seeing we have virtually no money for getting exposure we're really dependent on friends and fans to help us reach out with the campaign, thunderclap is great for that!

Huge thanks for checking this out, you're awesome!

t

theo · Wed 23/09/2015 21:54:29

Here's a sketch of the TJD3 title screen.

Kickstarter launches in 8 days! Holy smokes.

Stupot · Thu 24/09/2015 00:07:50

That's a good idea, Thunderclap.
All the best with the Kickstarter.