Planetary Annihilation [TA on Steroids] [Kickstarter]

[Zaxxon]

This is a cross-post from OO, something I generally try to avoid.  But I think this is a project that a lot of folks here will be interested in, so here it is.

Some guys who worked on the original TA (and SupCom 1, and Monday Night Combat) decided that they could do with some more TA, but with interplanetary combat.  Including the ability to launch entire moons at other planets.  Actual, real Death Stars.  This could go terribly wrong, but the demo video and description got me hooked in for $15.  If they pull off the ideas they're describing, this could turn into a very cool game.

Kickstarter link

The biggest hurdle they may have to deal with is pissing off Chris Taylor and/or whoever owns the TA IP.  The demo video is basically TA on a larger scale.

After less than a day, the project is over $175k and rising very quickly.

[EngineNo9]

That definitely looks like an awesome idea.  Total Annihilation is one of my all-time favorite RTS games, and this looks like an absurdly grandiose step above that, in a great way. 

I think Uber Ent. has shown they can make solid products, so despite that video only being a "gameplay visualization" (ie: totally fake), I'm willing to pony up $15 to see them try.

[Zaxxon]

Up to $514k now--almost 2/3 of the way there with 25 days left.  The donation pace has slowed down significantly, but I'm hoping that had more to do with it being a weekend than folks losing interest.  I'd really love to see what Uber can do with this concept.

[Blackjack]

The biggest hurdle they may have to deal with is pissing off Chris Taylor and/or whoever owns the TA IP.  The demo video is basically TA on a larger scale.

This got a little plug of sorts in a Tycho post at Penny Arcade.

As far as the name, lets look up "annihilation" in my desktop thesaurus. Only has the verb (annihilate), so we'll have to extrapolate possibilities...

Total Wipe Out
Total Obliteration (gets my vote  )
Total Wipe Off the Face of the Earth (eh, a bit too verbose, like "and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"  
Total Elimination (wrong connotation  )
Total Liquidation (fitting, giving the state of the economy...)

We'll have to pull up "destruction" for some other possibilities...

Total Destruction
Total Devastation
Total Eradication
Total Extermination

How about one of those?  

This is assuming the owner of the "Total War" strategy games won't claim a monopoly on using the word "Total" in game titles. So we'll return to the thesaurus if that happens. 

[Zaxxon]

How about 'Complete pew pew pew boom'?

[CeeKay]

Destructive Destruction?
Eternal End of Days?

[PR_GMR]

Wow.. Just had a chance to watch their Kickstarter intro video. Very impressive. Looks like loads of fun. Wished I had the dough right now to back them, but I hope they make their goal. I want to play this!!

And, oh, they're at $705k out of $900k!

[Blackjack]

Destructive Destruction?
Eternal End of Days?

Not bad. Perhaps...
Destructive Destructible Destruction: a 3-D Strategy Game

*The kids all buy everything 3-D these days, so why not trick them?  

[EngineNo9]

Well, they met and surpassed their $900k goal with just over 2 weeks to go, so chances are they will also get to some of their stretch goals like naval units or gas giant planets.

[Blackjack]

And a closer look (PA Report):

When $900,000 isn’t much money: the story of Planetary Annihilation’s Kickstarter
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/when-900000-isnt-much-money-the-story-of-planetary-annihilations-kickstarte

Uber Entertainment’s Jon Mavor wrote the game engine for Total Annihilation and was the lead programmer on Supreme Commander. His current project is Planetary Annihilation, a game that is trying to bring back the epic scale and feel of Total Annihilation.
...
Asking for $900,000 upfront was a risky move; many Kickstarters begin with a much lower initial goal and then raise additional money through stretch goals. That wasn’t the case with Planetary Annihilation, as that initial amount was the minimum the team needed to create the game. “If we couldn’t raise $900k, we couldn’t do the game. It was really that simple. Even 900, that’s not a huge budget,” Mavor explained.

“I priced, honestly, as cheaply as I could. I was originally thinking about coming at $1.5 million, but I thought that might be a little too much. But I’d like to be there,” he said. This is the disconnect with Kickstarter; $900,000 sounds like a lot of money, and by some metrics it is, but in game development it’s a modest budget, especially after you remove Kickstarter’s cut and the budget needed to fulfill the rewards.

“It is a very small amount of money, actually,” he admitted. “I’m pretty confident in my ability to write the game by myself. We can keep the team small enough that the budget is realistic. The game is very much designed to be cheap to make. We could spend $3 million on a single player campaign without breathing hard, and that’s why there’s no single-player campaign. There is only one faction, procedurally generated planets, all these things make it cheaper. And if there’s one thing we’re good at, it’s the tech stuff.”

Even the game’s art style, created by Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander alumnus Steve Thompson, was designed to be easy to implement while looking strong. “Look at the art style, it’s readable, which is a really big component of it, but it’s also very stylized to the point where we can build things quickly and cheaply. It’s the game play that’s the important part,” Mavor said.

I guess it's not so much a big deal hitting the $900,000 mark as it is asking for that immediately, as the initial goal (I don't pretend to know anything about Kickstarter goals).

And, wasn't sure it was common knowledge the game won't have a single player campaign. Does that mean it's strictly multiplayer, or does it just favor basic skirmishing (against AI and/or players)?

[Zaxxon]

Nice PA link. 

Update time...

1) They're going to cross ONE MILLION DOLLARS today.  Looks like at the least we're going to get the game plus a stretch goal or two.  Anyone that was on the fence due to uncertainty over whether it'll be made: PLEDGE.   

2) Total Biscuit did a 40-minute interview with two of the lead guys on the project.  After watching, it seems clear to me that they've actually thought the game mechanics through pretty well.  I was afraid initially that the 'gameplay visualization' kickoff video was basically shiny propaganda.  It seems that they do intend the actual game to match up pretty closely to the concepts seen there (including things like zooming out off of a planet and having things fold down into labeled planets/bases and that sort of thing).

3) They've got another video up from when they crossed the initial funding level of $900k.

[Zaxxon]

In the interest of continuing my posts-in-thread-without-a-response streak, here's some more info.  They're closing in on the $1.1M stretch goal and have 13 days to go.  If the current momentum holds, they'll also hit the 1.3M, 1.5M, and 1.7M stretch goals.  Below is the update that just went out tonight.  Back this project!

Hello Kickstarters!

In honor of reaching the $1M milestone we are adding a few things to the $100 tier and revealing our next stretch goal.

NEW ADD-ONS FOR $100 TIER AND ABOVE

Alpha Commander - A unique, in-game commander model designed especially for our Alpha users. See concept art below.

PA Commanders Miniature Set - We’re partnering with a certain miniature company you Kickstarter fans know and love to bring you THREE high quality 3-4 inch miniatures of PA Commanders. These include the Progenitor and Alpha commanders as well as a secret commander that we’ll talk more about later!

If you are pledged at the $100 level you automatically get these additional rewards.

NEW STRETCH GOAL

$1,500,000 - Lava and Metal Planets

We’re excited to introduce two new types of planets- lava and metal. Lava is extremely volatile but provides vast amounts of energy and raw materials. Geothermal plants and liquid metal processing mines provide the next level of resource extraction technology. Build in strategic locations to take advantage of the natural defense provided by rivers of flowing lava.

That’s no moon. It’s a space station! Metal planets are wandering relics of wars long past, giant artificial battle stations that can be recycled or reactivated to bring a new level of destruction. Harness the lost knowledge and brute power of the ancients by repairing their installations. Then take over the control structures and rain destruction on your opponents.

COMMANDER CONCEPT ART

We hit the ground running when we reached our primary goal and started to design and develop some of the Commander concepts further. Here's an early look at the limited edition Progenitor and Alpha Commander:

[wonderpug]

I'm so torn on this.  I'm a ridiculously huge Total Annihilation fanboy, but I got burned with TA Kingdoms and with SupCom 1 & 2.  I also kind of want to see at least one Kickstarter game make it to release before I throw more money into magic promise buckets.  Kickstarter games that are starting from scratch, that is.

But then, I am also a huge fan of Monday Night Combat.  And PlanAnn looks like it has some great potential. 

But then, if it turns out awesome then I can just buy a copy at release the old fashioned way.

[naednek]

I'll support the project the old fashioned way.  Buy it when it's out.

[Zaxxon]

True, you can just buy it when it's out. It's all a matter of whether you care about the stretch goal features or not. If not, buy when out. If so, back and help them get made.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[wonderpug]

I hated the metal planets in TA so I'm going to do my best to keep them at $1,499,999 at the highest.

[Zaxxon]

2nd stretch goal was achieved last night.  The 4th was announced--galactic war.  I am hoping they reach that one (1.8M), as it sounds pretty intriguing to me...

[wonderpug]

Wow.  That stretch goal is far more alluring than the others.  I might join the last minute funding frenzy if it looks like that one's not going to be reached.

[Zaxxon]

Metal planets will be achieved tonight.  Bring on galactic warfare!

[EngineNo9]

Well, they are quickly closing in on $2 million with about 17 hours to go.  They've met all game stretch goals including the Galactic War one, should meet the Full Orchestra goal, and may even get to the documentary at $2.1 million. 

[Zaxxon]

Hoping so...

[Zaxxon]

Funded.  Final tally including PayPal is $2.3M and change.  All stretch goals funded.