If that's the case, it's a work of art. To look like that in game. Here's hoping.

The beauty of prerendered backdrops. Yeah, it's really nice. I hope the characters don't look too out of place.

As far as reaching the 3.0/3.5M goals, (since I doubt they will do it in 4 days) how will investments continue to be placed? Through Kickstarter?

I'm senile and forgot already.

I'll dump my pledge at the one day mark. Awesome to see that they're already at 2.7M.

I have my doubts about the 3.5 million mark, although I don't think it's out of the question, but I'm positive they'll pass 3 million. Kickstarters tend to take a steep upward jump in the last couple days.

Ok 3.0M yes, I highly doubt 3.5M.
I think I read somewhere that they would continue to accept pledges after Kickstarter deadline passes?

Same here, although they hit $130,000 in pledges today alone, so you never know, given how the pledges really tend to spike up sharply in the last couple days.

They said they will via Paypal, but not sure about any other method.

57500 backers reached! = The Endless Paths of Od Nua mega dungeon now has 6 levels (Obsidian is 1660 facebook likes away from adding a seventh)

$2,700,000 reached! = Paladin and Chanter classes added :D

Latest Q&A:

Question: If the 2nd big city comes within reach, would you guys consider to open a few more $5000 "Design a Tavern" slots?
Feargus: That's a good question. I'll ask the guys.

Question: is there going to be weapon sheathing so you dont walk around at the ready at all times?
Feargus: That would probably be a B priority thing I think. It would be cool to have, but we would focus on making sure we had enough animation variety before introducing that - however, I'll ask the animators and see what they are thinking.

Question: That screenshot has many of us salivating. I know it's early but when do you think we'll be able to see something like this Wastelans 2 demo (http://www.youtube.com/watch…) for PE? It'd be great if you could manage the impossible and have something like that on the final day to see nerdgasms turn to big pledges.
Feargus: That I have to admit is not going to happen during the campaign. We are working toward that right now along with betting some machines that can help render these crazy scenes.

Question: Brendan suggested you guys have a livestream (that is password protected to be just for kickstarter backers) when you play whatever game(s) it is you play with the high-level backers. What do you think of that idea? I think that would be great, and lots of fun. :)
Feargus: Hmmm... Being on stage when playing D&D - that would be a new one.

Question: Have you guys considered prestige classes for higher levels, like D+D 3rd Edition or like what we saw in the NWN series? Or do you think the base classes will allow for enough specialization so that prestige classes aren't necessary?
Feargus: I believe that our goal is to have enough specialization within classes and not go with a Prestige Class system. If you get a chance to stop by the reddit on Monday - Josh will be there and he can give a more specific answer.

Question: some people on the BG:EE forum are wondering how you can ever finish Project Eternity, when you leave Paypal donations open after the kickstarter has ended. Their point is: If you get more money during the developing-process, you have to use that money to add additional things ingame - which will prompt people to donate more, which will make you add even more stuff. So you will never be able to finish Project Eternity. In brief: If you let Paypal donations open after kickstarter has closed - How are you going to use those additional donations?
Feargus: That is a good question. I think we would continue to use the funds to make the game better. However, that would be on things that are low risk - content that is fun, but can be easily scoped up and down. There is a point where we shouldn't add anymore to the game and if we haven't taken the PayPal pledges down by then - that is when we would definitely do it.

Question: thought about an inbetween stretch station between 3 mil and 3.5. Last night (my time) alot of people seemed to notice that perhaps people would pledge even harder then, if they get a quicker fix so to speak. Even more a feel of accomplishment.
Feargus: On the subject of goals between 3.0 and 3.5 - Josh feels really strongly about wanting to do the Big Big City 2. That is something that will take a lot of resources. It feels like we would be compromising that if we try to offer much at all between the two numbers.

Question: Anyone know if any responses have been given to the questions about moving water and/or animated waterfalls?
Feargus: As there were big animations in Torment, we will have large animations on screen as well. And the spray of water would be using the graphical effects system.

Question: will the almanach be printed in the collector's book at the $250 tier?
Thanks. :)
Feargus: We are not currently planning to do that, since we might want to print the Almanac separately.

Question: How long did the level/area used for the screenshot take to render out?
Feargus: We have built out a good amount of space around it, however we really tuned and rendered just that part of the scene. Rendering just that screen took about 30 minutes - trying to remember the processor in the box - maybe a i7 970 or a i7 2700 - can't remember.

Question: any paypal news to report? not numbers, but function. such as adding to pledges for paypal peeps, or post kickstarter pledge upping?
Feargus: Sorry, not other PayPal news. I will try to talk to Darren about it today. After getting the update out and doing some other meetings on the game, I needed to leave early (yeah, I know - bad Feargus) to get home to then get an early dinner than then the show [with the family.]

Question: I did the math, and if we get to 3.5 mil, we'll also have enough backers for 13 floors of the megadungeon, which you stated was your goal for how deep you wanted to go. Is that a coincidence? :)
Feargus: That is pretty funny and I'd like to say it was planned, but I'm just not that smart. :)

Question: will it be at all possible to make the books (Collector's Book, Almanac, Novella) as physical add-ons? Because I would dearly love a physical Almanac. I'd even bump up to a physical tier to do it (currently sitting on a digital).
Feargus: We'll talk about it tomorrow. We were surprised by how many people have requested the Almanac to be printed.

Question: [asked by Bobby Null] Can we get a stretch goal for a third city?
Feargus: It's Bobby Null everyone. Take a bow Mr. Null! So everyone, Bobby Null is one of the designers at Obsidian. He's currently working on South Park, but we will hopefully be able to steal him for Project Eternity sooner rather than later.

Question: You guys at Obsidian have covered almost all of the now traditional settings for RPGs (Fantasy, Pos-apocaliptic and sci-fi) and other non-traditional like you did with Alpha Protocol and now with South Park. Are there settings that haven't been explored yet or as much that you @ Obsidian have brainstormed with?
Feargus: I'd love to do a Harry Dresden like world RPG / Tales from the Nightside by Greene.

Question: I think B. Null was probably the brain behind the Adventure Hall from what I read on the forums. ;) Awesome man, great work!
Bobby Null: It was strange. Yeah, I had the idea and I pitched it to Adam. He loved it and wanted me to talk to Josh about it. The pitch with Josh took about 30 seconds as he was having similar thoughts. We then talked about the Adventurer's Guild in Pool of Radiance for about 5 minutes and ended the conversation with, "let's make this happen".

Mega Dungeon was me too.... /pats himself on the back.

Question: Have you talked to Penny Arcade or any other notable groups about getting in on the game to help publicize it as PA did with Dreadball?
Feargus: PA did interview Adam a couple of weeks ago and we got some pretty positive response from the article. I don't think they have done anything other than that.

Question: Have there been anything that you've had to either not do or scale back in the past due to technical or other limitations that you are able to do now?
Feargus: I would say a lot of stuff. All the way back on Fallout, I had created this SWAT team of guards that will kill any QA guy who dared to steal even one thing from the Hub. However, computers at the time couldn't handle that many of them, so I had to scale back and the grubby QA guys found ways to rip off my store keepers. [Note: I was a grubby QA guy]. More, seriously - we often have to scale back. The area that I think we have to it the most is with NPCs that wander around in towns. They are really expensive in memory and processing and so, we are always having to optimize and figure out how to make towns feel full even when we may only be able render 10 people at one time. PE will be a bit different, since we are on the PC and are not having to also render the background (at run-time).

Question: I know Rob is going to get upset, but the new dungeon level picture still says 'next level @ 57,500 backers'... :)
Feargus: BAD ROB!!! BAD ROB!!! I'll get it fixed up in the morning.

Question: One question about de mega dungeon: will the part of the architecture displayed on the progress illustration correspond to the actual final product, or is the illustration just for "fun". I ask because I already like the atmosphere coming from that picture, especially the giant statue carved from inside de dungeon!
Feargus: It is mostly for fun, but we are all really digging it as well - which usually means it pushes us in that direction.



Feargus: Paypal is at 1,050 backers and $48K.

Three mil is a sure thing considering how kickstarters work. I would guess 3.5 is a longshot but possible.

Wish I could contribute but I just can't. I hope some of the rewards can be bought when the game comes out, like the almanac.

we'll be close to 3M by late tomorrow.

Looks awesome. Judging the game will contain 2D backgrounds, it's how this game may actually look when it's finished...
WOW.. 2D backgrounds rock.

I actually sent a message to Obsidian on KS page about this question when the project first launched, and got a reply from Feargus himself!

He said the game is going to have 2D pre-rendered backgrounds (like the screen), but with 3D objects for animated things like moving characters and NPC's, swaying trees, that waterwall (I assume).

Basically like Temple of Elemental Evil.

That's great news. ToEE is one of the best looking isometric RPG ever created.

Well I was kinda hoping for full 2D like the Infinity Engine, with 2d sprites for objects. But I guess we can't have everything our own way.

Well, I guess most of the people wouldn't apprecieate 2D animated sprites today. But if done right, It may look great too. Like in Icewind Dale 2.