Late in October I did a series of posts on Funcom. In them, I talked about a possible sequel to The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, the brainchilds of Ragnar Tornquist. And, in my post on Dreamfall, I suggested that one way to fund such a sequel would be through using crowdfunding sites - in the same way that DoubleFine have found money for their own games.
So I'm feeling happy and psychic today, because a few days later that's precisely what was announced. And, should the Kickstarter fund take off, it'll be yet another victory for crowdfunding, particularly when it comes to adventure games.
I for one am all for the return of the genre - rather than shooters, which challenge your skill with a mouse, and quick thinking abilities, or RPGs which challenge your persistence and forward planning, adventure games (of the puzzle variety) encourage deep thought and experimentation. There aren't many other genres which accomodate that.
And, encouragingly, the developers have dropped the idea of 'episodes', along with the combat elements which damaged Dreamfall, but which were put in back in the day to broaden marketing appeal. It's a good sign then that developers feel that the niche for pure adventure games is sizable enough now - that's in no small part to services like Steam, which give indie games immediate and cheap marketing.
In short, it's a bright new future, because Funcom's hand is strongest when it deals in story, and that's precisely what the gaming world needs.
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