00:07FUGUS URKARC
00:08Hi Kickstarters, I'm Fergus Urkark,
00:09founder of Black Owl Studios
00:10CEO and founder of Obsidian Entertainment.
00:13We've spent years putting a whole group of people together
00:15who love making role-playing games
00:17and are really the best guys on the planet to do it.
00:19We're excited to talk to you today about...
00:21After we launched it was sort of like
00:22you don't even know and I was talking to Brian Fargo about this
00:25and you know they did Torment which actually
00:26earned a little bit more than Eternity
00:28and you know they went out
00:30it's like what's gonna happen you know
00:32and you hope that you have a good idea
00:34and it's even like when you're launching a game you don't always know.
00:37We were making bets
00:38to see how much we would make in the first day
00:41and a lot of us didn't think
00:42that we would make more than $100,000.
00:45I think by the time I hit refresh
00:47so I put it up there
00:48and I hit refresh and we already made like $800
00:50like in 10 seconds.
00:52You know that morning it was
00:55I was hopeful but kind of skeptical
00:57and when it launched
00:58and it started getting money
01:00I was like oh okay cool people are looking at it
01:03and they're giving money but I didn't
01:05like I didn't really perceive the rate
01:07that it was going up.
01:08So I'd go into someone's office and I'm talking to them about a thing
01:10and they were just sitting there with F5 on the
01:12Kickstarter page going
01:14they're like another $5,000, another $5,000
01:17you know and I would have these short conversations
01:19with people like 5 minutes and they're like
01:21we just made $5,000
01:22and you know we all went out for beers
01:25you know that night
01:26and I think you know by the time everybody
01:28kind of went home and things like that
01:30I think we'd already gotten like $750,000 or $800,000.
01:32We reached the initial goal I think in 27 hours.
01:36Basically like a lot of us felt like we saved the company
01:39like it was probably the best day in Obsidian's history.
01:42we basically just sat and watched that number all day.
01:46And then you know it was about middle of the next day
01:49where we hit a million and a couple hours later
01:50that we hit 1.1 and a lot of it is like
01:53we weren't prepared.
01:55Hey everybody.
01:561.5 million.
01:58Pretty darn amazing.
02:00Thank you everyone who's contributed so far.
02:03Once we passed 2 million dollars
02:04I said okay we're really making this game
02:06and it's really going to be pretty big.
02:08And the thing is it had been kind of exhausting
02:10to that point but it was not anything
02:12compared to what the next month was going to be.
02:14Because it meant oh we all have to be in this weekend
02:16because we need stretch goals and we need this
02:18and we need that and we need to be communicating.
02:20We were really overwhelmed by how much money came pouring in.
02:23We were kind of expecting it to be high
02:25but not that high and not that fast.
02:27And so people really demanded stretch goals right away.
02:31So the stretch goal is a way of saying
02:33okay this is funded.
02:34Do you want more of this stuff?
02:35But we did not have those nailed down at all.
02:37So the next morning got up, ate, went to work
02:42and we all just got in the lounge
02:44and we're like okay I guess people want us to make this game.
02:48What else are they going to want us to make?
02:50Our fans have a pre-conceived notion of how big
02:53these types of games are.
02:55Just based on the games like Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2,
03:01Icewind Dale they have you know they expect at least a 40 to 100 hour game.
03:08Like tons of content.
03:10All of us were just in a lot of ways scrambling.
03:12I mean and hopefully what it looked like from the outside
03:14is that while we had our crap together.
03:18On the inside it didn't always feel that way.
03:20And people noticed like some people would say like it sounds like
03:22you guys are just kind of making stuff up as you go along.
03:24And I'm like
03:27Like I kind of am.
03:28And they're like well why isn't this all thought out?
03:30Because that's why we're kickstarting.
03:32It was really learning every day like how do you run a Kickstarter?
03:38Like how do you run a campaign?
03:39Because that's ultimately what a Kickstarter is.
03:40Like none of us have ever run a political campaign or anything like that.
03:43But it's almost, a Kickstarter is almost like that.
03:45Well so normally if we were developing a game.
03:48You know we would develop the pitch and take it to the publisher.
03:51And then in pre-production.
03:52We have all that time in pre-production to think about.
03:56All the details and we can kind of ruminate on it.
03:59There's a luxury in Kickstarter.
04:01You don't have time to do that.
04:02It's pretty nerve-wracking.
04:03So usually when I design settings and I design worlds.
04:06I go at a very slow pace.
04:08Because I wanna.
04:09I do things like write orthography for languages.
04:12Like fictional languages.
04:13You know I research a lot.
04:16And do a lot of things over time.
04:17But I needed to suddenly just turn things around.
04:20Almost.
04:20Not quite daily.
04:21But very rapidly.
04:23My next update will actually be about mechanics.
04:26Today I wanna talk about the souls and technology stuff.
04:28So the final few days of the Kickstarter.
04:32You know we were pushing towards.
04:34Kind of the highest amount that a game ever made with Kickstarter.
04:38We made almost as much the last day.
04:41As we made the first day.
04:43It was crazy.
04:44We had asked for 1.1 million dollars.
04:45And gotten 3.9.
04:47Plus anything in the PayPal.
04:49So.
04:49The company was so behind it.
04:51And everybody was excited.
04:53I think we had like 100,000 or more people on Twitch watching us.
04:57I think there was a press guy.
04:59I think it was PC Gamer Online.
05:01He even said.
05:02You know that was his whole thing.
05:03It was like wow.
05:04It was just fun.
05:05To be there with them and everybody else.
05:07We were so excited that it was distracting to the other teams at Obsidian.
05:133.
05:132.
05:141.
05:20We weren't wondering if we were going to make our goal.
05:22We'd already made our goal.
05:23We'd already made our goal three times over.
05:25You know.
05:26And so everything at that point was just gravy.
05:28And it just meant we could make the game even better.
05:311.
05:32We didn't think we were going to be able to make a game like this again.
05:352.
05:35We were worried about the state of the company before we started the Kickstarter.
05:38We were looking and saying.
05:39Like we're a bunch of people right now that are not bringing in money.
05:42From a team of that.
05:43We're the remnants of people after the layoffs had happened.
05:47So.
05:47From really really low morale to probably the highest I've ever seen the morale at the company.
05:51We finally kind of got off that treadmill.
05:54I always kind of say that when I'm talking to people is that.
05:56As an independent developer we're on this treadmill and we're just kind of treading water.
06:02This was like the opportunity for us to jump off that treadmill and kind of run at our own pace.
06:08Now we have in essence our backers during the development of this.
06:12And it's serious to us because they've already given their money.
06:16You know.
06:16So we owe them.
06:17Like it's our responsibility that we hold up our end of the bargain as much as we can.
06:22We're going to see if we can do it.
06:25Uh.
06:25Yeah.
06:27There's a lot.
06:28There's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of pressure on us.
06:30Because I think, you know, people.
06:32We're an established company.
06:34We.
06:35Obsidian and our team has a responsibility to our backers and to Kickstarter.
06:41And for the future of Kickstarter to actually produce a game that's good.
06:46And produce something that people will enjoy.
06:48So that people trust Kickstarter and people will trust us.
06:52So we can continue working on games like this.
06:54You know, it's all on us right now.
06:56It's, you know, there's not a publisher involved.
06:59There's not, there's not a whole lot of outside influences involved.
07:02It's our game.
07:04It's our time to shine.
07:05So it's, you know, it's, it's our time to step up to the plate and make sure that we can
07:09hit, hit a home run.
07:11It's our time to spend, hit a home run.
07:11Thank you.
07:12Thank you.
07:13Thank you.
07:16Thank you, everyone.
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