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Double Fine's Broken Age Splits Into Two Parts, Part One Planned For 2014
Double Fine's highly public and highly Kickstarted game, Broken Age, is getting split into two parts in order to get the game in people's hands, and keep the studio afloat while development on the game continues.
Double Fine's CEO and Broken Age's designer and writer Tim Schafer updated the game's Kickstarter page recently to let everyone know the new distribution model. The way development is going right now, according to Schafer, the game wouldn't be complete until 2015. Releasing the first part of the game early will get the game into player's hands in January 2014.
Backers will still get early beta access as promised, but the first half of the game will now release through Steam Early Access, giving players a chance to pre-pay for the game and play the first half. When the full game is complete, the Steam Early Accessers will receive a free update that will add the rest of the game a few months later.
Schafer was quick to proclaim that these changes and delays are not a product of the team's work, but rather his own. "I want to point out that Broken Age’s schedule changes have nothing to do with the team working slowly. They have been kicking ass and the game looks, plays, and sounds amazing." Schafer said, "It’s just taking a while because I designed too much game, as I pretty much always do."
For more on Broken Age, Double Fine, and Tim Schafer, head here to read a recent interview with him.
[Source: Kickstarter]
Our Take
Brilliance takes time. And money. I can't speak to the quality or brilliance of Broken Age (I haven't played it) but given free reign and time, Tim Schafer has delivered exceptional experiences in the past, even if they weren't the most profitable experiences. I am happy to wait as long as necessary to play Broken Age, but I understand that working on the game forever is impractical for the studio. I hope this plan works, but I do fear that the copies of the game that were going to be sold, have already been sold by the folks who Kickstarted the game. Will there be anyone to buy the game who hasn't already when it releases? I am interested to see how this grand Kickstarter experiment plays out, and I hope it's good news for players and Double Fine alike.
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