I think she's raised by bar for interacting with the fans during the full campaign. I've enjoyed the process a lot. I think that's partly why the fans have responded with such enthusiasm (in addition to anticipating her games, of course).

And now I hope her fans and backers will be patient if there are delays, which is normal in game development. When you read the behind the scene of the development of Gabriel Knight 3, it really makes you realise how much work really goes into making one great quality adventure and that many miracles are required for them to get done on time and on budget, if at all:

Postmortem: Sierra Studios' Gabriel Knight 3
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3127/postmortem_sierra_studios_.php

Budget: Originally well below $2 million, final budget $4.2 million.
Length of Development: Almost 3 years.
Release Date: November 1999 (over a year late).

I suddenly developed an unbound admiration for the achievement of Gabriel Knight 3, I'm going to play it again now keeping in mind the hard work that went into it and the miracle of its existence.

As the gamer community who backed Jane and Robert we must be ready to accept delays, and to help further if necessary at some point. $450,000 for the type of high standard adventures Jane Jensen is capable of is not a lot of money and one year to deliver is a very short time.

At least as backers we will have an inside view behind the scene and see all the problems that will arise, and we'll be more understanding than publishers perhaps. I'm sure it will be as entertaining if not more than playing the games themselves, and perhaps this is what we have contributed to, primarily.

We love Jane and Robert, we love the games they're making and we trust them enough to back them up, and I'm sure we will be patient. And eventually we will enjoy the fruit of paying upfront for probably the most exciting adventures to come.

Rmt - totally! One of the main nightmares of game developers, I think, is that they're always forced to work under a terrible time pressure. You can almost always notice how end of games are rushed away - be it Gray Matter, Myst 4... it really happens often. And they keep whining about that, too.
We do indeed have a planned time, but I'm pretty serious that fans won't cause as much pressure as producers do.
It must feel soooo nice to not have a publisher telling you what you have to do, and how, and when. They already have their money and they can do with it as they will. If they eventually won't give us a satisfying product, the market will show the results - but now we'll know it has nothing to do with terrible publishers!

This is an amazing article, definitely worth a read for GK fans. When you read about how much went wrong with that game it's sort of crazy that it came out as good as it did!

New thank you video up. It mentions Two Guys from Andromeda and Tex Murphy kickstarters, wish was good of them.

Where did you see this at?

Thanks rmt

I really wish this had been a GK sequel. I would have donated quite a bit.

Let's think about this, why would they say Mystery Game X for the second game instead of announcing it? They said there was some sort of deal made, can you think of anything else but GK4? It must be a deal with Activision who has the rights. Of course, I am only speculating. You have only until 25 May to join on the Pinkerton Road Studio website and still benefit from the incentives and being able to beta test the game. I don't regret joining...

If Mystery game X is GK4, I'd die on the spot, and would consider my 280$ pledge the smartest decision I've ever made :-)

Problem is, without gk confirmed, I'm only willing to donate $50. With it, I'd double my amount.

It would have been the greatest argument, if they had said we will do GK4. But what if the deal falls through with Activision, or still remains to be negotiated? To get money from backers would be deceptive without guarantee.

At the same time to make us believe it is GK4 if it is not would equally be disappointing to all of us. If they had a Mystery Game X that is not GK4, when everyone is speculating that it is, there would be no harm in simply stating that it is not GK4, in order to prevent disappointment.

It can't be something smaller than Gray Matter 2, would that not be the most important project after Moebius? And what else could it be, that would require so much secrecy and excitement, and bypass Gray Matter 2? I can think of nothing. Tomer, what have others speculated it could be?

Jane said she approached Activision twice about GK, and also said that it would now be easier with their own studio to approach them more directly. I think it is a safe bet that it is at least GK related. But true, we have no confirmation.

Rmt, I have no idea.
I'm almost not sure I'd want it to be GK4 because it sounds unreasonable enough to develop two games in one year - let alone if one of them is GK4, which is one of the most anticipated AG games. (I hope it's the last one - I don't want to wait 10 years for the next one. I think it needs to be amazing, and it needs a proper ending. Doesn't have to be GOOD, but an ending nevertheless!)
Otherwise it could also be GM2.
It could also be something we've never heard of.
I really have no idea.
I agree though, Jane has been saying often that chances for GK4 are really high now, and she did mention 1-2 months.
As the Germans would say: mal sehen. We'll see.

*Edit: I'm not in a dilemma regarding pledging to paypal some more (after 280$!!!). I really do believe we'll get the orchestra regardless of those missing 9K, but I cannot be sure - and I'd hate it if it doesn't happen.
If you wanna take part in the discussion, join the forums and reply on this thread:
http://forum.pinkertonroad.com/showthread.php?147-Paypal-strategy-needed-(-lt-Question!)

Would I love to see a new game featuring Gabriel Knight?...You Bet I would! Do I think its the Mystery X game...no. First off I thought I read somewhere earlier on that Jane actually said that the Mystery X game was not GK4 but I am unable to find the article or interview I read it from. Leaving that aside, I re-watched the Update #16 where Jane announces the Mystery X second game. In the video she says that the Mystery X game will be free to all CSG members. I really can't believe that they would give away almost 6000 copies of arguably one of the most anticipated game series of all time. Further more if Jane and Activision have gone into a partnership together in a GK4 I can't see Activision wanting to give away 6000 copies for nothing without some kind of DRM to protect there investment. Trying to think logically and more probable I can see in the Future that Activision will contract with Pinkerton to develop the game and then Activision will publish it under their own title thus maintaining the rights and profits.

LOL..of course I could be wrong as I am just thinking off the top of my head. I wish it were true but I am in agreement that a GK 4 should not be rushed and farmed out so development should take more than a year.

Just thinking out loud...what do you think?

I thought she said $16 members had to choose either Moebius or X. $50 members and higher got both.

You could all be right, we will have to wait and see. I guess this is all part of the new game...

I am unable to decide if another GK4 would be better than an original new idea from Jane. The truth is, pretty much anything she would decide on is bound to be great.

I really would like Gray Matter 2 sooner rather than later, but Moebius might turn out to be something even more impressive than anything Jane has done before. She did say that for their first game they cannot fail, that it must be great!

same here.

I think to be a CSG Member you have to have donated at least at the $50 Tier. Anything below you are a CSG Supporter. At about the 2:30 mark of Update #16 she states that Mystery X will be free to CSG Members so I assume that leaves out anyone below the $50 Tier. Is that what you hear too? Update #16 Video

At 3 minutes and 40 seconds she clearly states that at $16 and $30 you can choose between Moebius or Mystery Game X. Does that answer the question? I also remember her saying again in another video that you would not have to choose right away at that level of pledging, that you could wait until the second game is out. I have copied below the pledges as per the kickstarter website.

About Mystery Game X, Robert says in that video 16 that they have been talking to publishers, hence Mystery Game X. What can we read into this? And why would they need to speak to publishers? The whole idea of kickstarter is to avoid publishers. Does it mean GK4?

Or more probably it means joining with a publisher in order to cover the difference in costs to get a second really good quality adventure game? We know now that this kind of quality we hope for can cost around 2 million each game. And a second game was originally only planned if they were to reach $600,000. The entrance of another publisher into it could simply mean that there will be a second game even if that goal was not reached. But It is all mysterious.

I did not get the vibe it was GK4, but I could be wrong.

For clarity:

PLEDGE $16 OR MORE - "CSG SUPPORTER": One of our studio releases this CSG cycle (your choice) on PC download. Access to quarterly Pinkerton Road CSG studio updates and our CSG-only forum.

PLEDGE $30 OR MORE - "CSG SUPPORTER II": Digital download of our "best of the year" game music soundtrack, monthly CSG wallpaper showcasing our latest art, participation in our "A/B" test group (give input on our games) -- and all previous tiers' reward goodies.

PLEDGE $50 OR MORE - "CSG MEMBER": ALL of our studio releases this CSG cycle on PC download, access to monthly Pinkerton Road studio updates, Beta test invite, pdf of Jane's design bibles for this cycle, digitally signed -- and all prevoius tiers' reward godies.

PLEDGE $51 OR MORE - THIS HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE $50 TIER -- the GK1 and GK2 novels as e-book. (applies to all tiers above, too).

What does it mean exactly when they say the games will be DRM Free, almost as a selling point? What does it change whether they are or not?

Does it just mean they will be downloadable, but with DRM we would have to have a DVD version because there would be a security thing like SafeDisc or something?

It means the games won't refuse to run because of incompatible copy "protection." It means antivirus won't block the game because the antivirus' heuristic scanning detects that the actions of the copy "protection" resemble those of a virus.


Whether the game is on DVD or downloadable has nothing to do with whether it uses DRM or not. DRM can be on both downloadable or disc versions of games. Even the online activation type of DRM isn't limited to games sold by download any more.

Mystery Game X really could be any of the (10 or so, from what I understand) adventure game ideas that Ms. Jensen has in mind for Pinkerton Road in the future, assuming that she's submitted some of them to publishers in the past. A publisher might have been interested, then seen how well the Kickstarter project was going, and decided to go ahead an fund part of the game.

I don't think it's GK4. I think it's possible it's even Anglophile Adventure. But I am often wrong.

Often.

But again, I'm hesitant to donate without knowing that it's GK4. I'd throw a lot of money their way if it were confirmed...even more if they could secure Tim Curry to do the VW.

I would love it if it was GK4, but honestly, I'm equally excited to see Jane branch out into other games. She's one of the best game authors out there, at least in my opinion, so seeing a variety of stories from her is very exciting to me. Yes I do want to see GK4 eventually, but I'm also very interested in Anglophile Adventure, for example, which would be something very different from her other works, while still including the mystery element.

I'm also very interested in GM2. Even something entirely different that we haven't heard of yet would be nice. I kind of hope it isn't a remake of GK1, since I've already played that game, but I could see it being for a "greater good" and will accept it if that's the case.