We’re there! Or rather “here”, seeing how we we’ve moved to the Land of Funded Projects overnight and are currently looking at its inhabitants curiously. The requirements for entering the place are a feverish glint in the eyes and cheering people in the comment section. Seems like we have both.
And the funds. Pathologic has been successfully funded.
So, er, we kind of knew there are some people interested in our endeavours and possibly frustrated with some aspects of original Pathologic, but we’re floored. We never thought we’d manage to collect more than $60,000 in our first few hours—more than 1/4th of the required sum! (Things are moving so fast that we actually had to correct the number while writing this update. More than once.)
Thank you so much! Each and every one of you. We don’t want to say something posh and cliche here, like “it’s an honor” or “we’ll do our best to be worthy of the faith you’ve put in us”. Just bear in mind that there’s a bunch of folks somewhere in Russia who keep refreshing the Backers page, reading every name and smiling giddily.
Thank you. There’ll be updates with more substance very soon.
(We’re also very grateful to The Chinese Room, Tale of Tales, and Brian Fargo for their support. We love their games, and it’s nice to know the feeling is mutual.)
Oh, and here’s another nice thing: a feature by Adam Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun on what exactly and why exactly we’re remaking (or rather reimagining). Hopefully you’ll find it insightful!
I will begin with a minute excuse. This report was written back in February (2006, Interpreter) but I kept on coming back to it from time to time to mend and add something. And every time all that I had written astonished me so much that I started over and over again. Last time I did it was exactly the night before I was to report, so here it goes again. I guess the topic itself is such that it takes over the thought and dictates from the very beginning. That is why this report turned out to be somewhat fragmentary.
I decided to address you as my colleagues, people that earnestly desire to truly understand all this. I will just share my observations that I managed to make and I won’t make any structured conclusions. This thankless toil I have prepared for you.
“The deep game”
Art does not degenerate; it changes. Art is like a wandering soul, moving from old bodies, to young ones. It finds new forms and transforms them according to its own laws. Creative activity emerges from the realm of pure pragmatism, technology, entertainment or services, making a quality leap, and acquires the ability to give shape to phenomena, which had before seemed inexpressible. It wasn’t too long ago that cinematography made this leap. Now it is the turn for the computer game to make the same leap. Its new shape must take its place at the junction where the game meets mystery. We call this new shape “the deep game.”
