RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

The dead have risen, and are asking for money.

Black Isle Studios, the name associated with such role-playing classics as Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment, has been resurrected to an extent by Interplay. Naturally the actual teams behind those games have long since moved on to other companies and projects, although two of the original staff – Chris Taylor and Mark Green – have indeed rejoined the company. This unusual course of action is to promote a strategy RPG with a post-apocalyptic bent, currently called Project V13.

You may recall that as the name Interplay selected for its planned Fallout MMO, though the current PV13 pitch describes it as more of a single-player affair. You may also remember Interplay lost the rights to develop anything with the name Fallout in it. Indeed, the very name is bleeped out of their introduction video.

But here’s where it gets really weird. Black Isle is launching, in effect, their own Kickstarter, seeking crowdsourced funding to develop a proof-of-concept demo that will then be used to secure official funding. Quoting from their pitch: “We need to raise money to put together a prototype. We need more developers and staff. This is a big world we’re developing. The prototype will be a “proof of concept”. It won’t have the entire world or a finished game.

We’ve got some great ideas, but they haven’t been tested in the crucible of actual play. We need time and money. We’ll have most, if not all, systems in the proof of concept. We’ll be able to run around the world, interacting with NPCs and objects, basic combat, building and worker management, and test the other core gameplay mechanics. We can then use this prototype to raise the additional funds necessary to complete the game.”

Words fail me. See for yourself on their site.