InXile Aim to Kickstart Wasteland Sequel

“I haven't been more excited to make a game in over a decade. It is a dream to focus all my attention on making a wonderful experience without distraction from outside forces,” says an update to the recently launched Kickstarter for a sequel to Wasteland.

Much like the recent Double Fine Kickstarter campaign, Brian Fargo and his company, InXile Entertainment, want to return to their roots in a way: to follow up 1988’s post-apocalyptic role-playing game, Wasteland. Wasteland was developed by Interplay, the company that Fargo founded in the early-to-mid 80s. Interplay was a part of the golden age of computer RPGs, first making a name for itself with the fantasy-themed The Bard’s Tale series, before moving on to do Wasteland.

Shortly thereafter, Interplay began publishing their own games (previously done by Electronic Arts, Activision) and soon published other's notable games, like the Descent / Freespace series and BioWare’s Baldur's Gate. People today might best remember Interplay by their RPG division established in the late 90s, Black Isle Studios, who developed the original Fallout series and Planetscape: Torment, among others.

In the early 2000s though, Interplay ran into financial troubles after an acquisition by Titus Interactive. During this time, Brian Fargo left Interplay, founding InXile. (Other splinters from Interplay include the now defunct Troika Games [Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines] and Obsidian Entertainment [Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol].) Shortly after the foundation of the company, InXile acquired the rights to Wasteland from Electronic Arts, its original publisher. Since then, InXile has developed 2004's The Bard's Tale and recently, Hunted: The Demon's Forge.

Today, in a Kickerstarter pitch video, Fargo says that he has a team of creators to join him, including the original game's designers Alan Pavlish and Mike Stackpole.

Fargo adds that Wasteland 2 is intending to be a “turn-based, top-down role-playing game--and it is also party based, so that is you control a group of people rather than just one individual character,” which he says will allow for a more tactical approach to combat--in line with the original game.

Though InXile’s goal is 900,000 dollars, they outline what will happen if the goal is surpassed saying, “At $1.25 million, the money will go primarily into making the world bigger, adding more maps, more divergent stories and even more music.” Before adding, “At $1.5 million, the world gets even bigger. [...] We’ll add more environments, story elements, and characters to make the rich world come alive even more. We will even be able to bring Wasteland 2 to OS X for Mac lovers.”

InXile’s Kickstarter page hits familiar notes, coming off of Double Fine’s: “This is probably the last chance for a Wasteland sequel.  We have tried to pitch this game multiple times to game publishers, but they’ve balked. They don’t think there’s any interest in a solid, old school type of game. This is our shot at proving them wrong.”

The Kickstarter, at time of publication, has raised more than 300,000 dollars and 5,000 backers. The estimated release date is October 2013.