Nearly a quarter of a century after the initial release of Interplay's seminal post-apocalyptic PC RPG Wasteland, a sequel is finally, officially in the works—thanks to close to a million dollars contributed directly by fans just over two days after the launch of a Kickstarter project to fund the game.
Wasteland creator and Interplay founder Brian Fargo, who gamers might know for his work on the Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Bard's Tale series, writes on the Kickstarter page that this was probably the last chance for a Wasteland sequel to get made, thanks to consistent disinterest in such an old-school, top-down RPG from publishers. Fargo says he wants to recapture the feeling of a game "made during the golden era of computer games when creativity was king," and possibly "bring back an entire genre of RPGs" with a successful launch.
Nearly 17,000 backers have already put in at least $15 towards what is essentially a prerelease purchase for the game, which Fargo says should take him and the team at inXile Entertainment about six months of preproduction and 12 months of active development to create. Eight backers paid over $10,000 to earn attendance at a private party with members of the Wasteland 2 team, as well as a shrine in their honor inside the game world.
With 33 days left in the fund, it seems likely the project will reach the $1.25 million milestone the team says is required for "making the world bigger, adding more maps, more divergent stories and even more music." If the project reaches $1.5 million in funding, the team has promised even more expansive gameplay and a Mac OS version of the game.
Following on the unprecedented success of Double Fine's Kickstarter adventure project, the quick funding for Wasteland 2 helps to prove that you don't need publishers to find a budget for your game—at least if you're a well-known game developer with decades of experience and an established brand name, that is.
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