Crowfall

We are now... almost 53 hours into our kickstarter Campaign! In that remarkably short period, we have almost collected $700,000 in pledges to make Crowfall a reality. That means we're 85% of the way to our goal!

You guys are amazing. We can't thank you enough for the confidence you have placed in our team and our vision.

Now... It's time to start talking about stretch goals!

Stretch Goal 1 is called "Upgrade FX, Hire Another Eric, Add Female Centaurs!"

This goal is really about the visual experience. We want to dramatically increasing the visual fidelity of the game -- and, if we can find a way to do that, while ALSO adding more content that our players really want -- it's a double win! How we intend to do that is described in detail, below. ...and, since we're putting out our first stretch goal, it probably doesn't hurt to post a preview of our second...

Stretch Goal 2: Mounts and Caravans!

Our second stretch goal is about improving gameplay; taking an area of that game that was already cool and making it much cooler. This one is described in detail as well -- jump down and take a gander!

Moving forward, we want to turn our stretch goal selection a discussion with you, our community. We have ideas, but we know that you'll have ideas, too -- and we want to hear them! If you are interested in helping us decide what to offer, and what you'd be willing to help us fund, we'd invite you to jump on our forums and make your opinion known!

As always, we are incredibly humbled and flattered by the support we have seen from this community, and we are delighted that you have placed your trust in us. We won't let you down.

Sincerely,

Todd, Gordon, and the ArtCraft Team

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Stretch Goal 1: Upgrade FX, Hire Another Eric, Add Female Centaurs!

We aren't happy with our combat, spell and environmental FX. The current FX in the game are placeholders... not ideal, but it was the only option available, because we didn't have a full time FX artist. Usually games have at least one artist who specializes in making amazing visual FX (explosions, fire, smoke, lightning -- you name it.)

Since we don't have a dedicated FX Artist, we handed that task to one of our other artists (Eric) and made him do it. The result are FX that look good, but not amazing (no offense, Eric!)

Eric is a fantastic artist, but his ACTUAL job is modeling 3D characters. Here are a few of the 3D characters that Eric has made -- the Confessor and the Frostweaver... see what we mean? amazing, right?

So, the "Hire Another Eric" stretch goal really does a few things for us: First: Spell FX! We will use the funds of the stretch goal to hire an FX artist and to secure an FX technology library for creating amazing spell FX in Crowfall.

Here's an example of the kind of effects that we'll be able to add to the game, by licensing the right technology and putting it in the hands of a pro.

Second: More Characters, Faster!

To be clear, we're not going to fire Eric!

Instead, we can put him back to work where he belongs, on characters! That means that we'll be able to get MORE character work done, more quickly!

With this extra capacity, we're going to add another gender option for one of our previous-locked raced: the Centaur Legionnaire archetype.

That means we'll have male/female variants on: Druid, Ranger, Champion, Confessor, Knight, Templar, Frostweaver... and Legionnaire!

Multiple wins, for the price of one stretch goal!

Help us make this goal, and we'll find an FX artist -- and put Eric back to work on characters immediately!

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Stretch Goal 2: Mounts and Caravans!

A major emphasis of Crowfall is transporting goods and materials. When you raid a quarry and secure a palette of Stone, getting that material back to your stronghold to it -- or to scavenge it for your Eternal Kingdom -- will be a major strategic challenge!

The core module assumes that players will be schlepping these items back and forth in their inventory. That's workable, sure, but it's not nearly as cool as using MOUNTS and CARTS to move those items!

Mounts are something you guys are already familiar with: find a drafthorse or a warhorse, saddle them up and ride them across the countryside.

Now take that concept and expand it, giving your mounts the ability to carry goods for you and expand your inventory. This opens up a whole new type of gameplay, where ambushing other factions and guilds becomes a lot more interesting (and lucrative!) and opens the door for more systems later (like taming and breeding!)

Help us make this goal, and we'll race to add MOUNTS to the core module! (ha! see what I did there?)

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In Other News:

Help Raise The Underworld!

There?s a project that deserves some recognition in its final days of funding on Kickstarter. If you haven?t already seen Underworld Ascendant, you owe it to yourself to check it out. We are long-time friends and colleagues of Paul Neurath, founder of Looking Glass Studios and now OtherSide Entertainment. At Looking Glass he pushed the boundaries of gaming by creating the first truly immersive, 1st person RPG experience with Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief. Underworld Ascendant promises to do the same with their ideas on improvisational game play. Just as we challenge you, with our destructible terrain, to be creative in solving problems, Underworld Ascendant will do the same by allowing you to use and change the environment in interesting ways. They emphasize the importance of player driven storyline. Your choices shape your gaming experience. This is something we can get behind. And we hope you will too!

Shroud of The Avatar- Lord British Returns!

We also want to give a shout-out to our friends over at Portalarium and their game Shroud of the Avatar. Richard Garriott, Starr Long, and Dallas Snell (and the rest of their awesome team) were incredibly supportive of ArtCraft as we prepared for launching the Crowfall Kickstarter. We?ve known them for years as friends and colleagues, and they were real pioneers in crowdfunding MMO?s, and they go even further with ?crowdsourcing?. Let us know what you think about their crowdsourcing practices! Their game vision is clearly different than ours, but it?s still incredibly cool. We like, and completely support, the wide diversity of MMO?s being created for different segments of players. Please check their game out and let other folks know about it, if you believe it would resonate with their playstyle. They deserve strong support for what they are bringing to the MMO medium!