Can we please PLEASE have one of the characters fall over and faceplant into the ground so we can have a joke about the failing balance? :D

DONE.

When i first finished Dreamfall, i was so depressed that i had to wait an unknown amount of time to get the conclusion. I was wondering how did you guys feel about leaving the game so open ended without having an idea when you could finish Zoes story? And Ragnar, have followed you blog since I finished Dreamfall for any snippets about it's sequel. Not many updates lately. :-)

I promise to get back to my blog soon! SOON(TM)

And we thought we would be able to continue the story quite quickly. The plan was to get to Dreamfall Chapters within a couple of years...but that obviously did not happen.

We have felt very bad for leaving players hanging for so long, and we're really happy we're getting to make amends now!

Have you seen the cannonstroking gif? http://i.minus.com/iZXxn8hzmNISd.gif (I didn't make it by the way)

IT IS EPIC.

In The Longest Journey April built up a pretty sizable inventory, but in Dreamfall Zoe only had a couple items most of the time.

Will Dreamfall Chapters have more inventory items?

We will keep it mostly realistic, but we will probably have more inventory items in Chapters than we did in Dreamfall.

What is your most favorite puzzle in TLJ/DF?

Rubber ducky!

obligatory

honestly I've never heard of anything in this thread, and I'm just reading it with a profound and wondrous confusion that I rarely get to experience.

what the fuck am i reading.

Me too dude, I think we should just go play the games. It'll probably be too late for this thread when we're done but hopefully there'll be a next time...

I'll come back and answer your questions after you're done playing!

Hahaha, additional content from voiceacting recording was gold in TLD. If you have a chance to cram something like that in this time too, please do.

We definitely will.

We NEED to know: How long is Chapters Director´s Cut likely to be? Now that you get to develop the game in its entirety? :)

Longer than the non-Director's Cut!

We don't quite know yet, since we're still in the process of mapping out the entire game, but we are definitely going to be making a longer, richer and deeper game now that we've passed the $1,5 million mark on Kickstarter.

Will we be able to upgrade our game to the directors cut version or will it have to be a separate purchase?

I think you've got the wrong impression. I'm not Tornquist, but to me the stretch goal clearly reads that they will be able to develop a longer game, not that there'll be separate editions.

Yep, exactly. We're giving the Director's Cut to everyone.

Now that we reached The Director's Cut stretch goal, could you give us another example of something/someone we brought back because of this? ;)

Yes! We sent out an update yesterday with a little teaser, but one location that had ended up on the cutting room floor was The House of Dreams in Europolis, together with the proprietor, Madame Nyx.

You can read more about it here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redthread/dreamfall-chapters-the-longest-journey/posts/423902

Is Miracle your next project after The Longest Journey Home?

NO COMMENT!

This means yes.

Is that what 'no comment' means? Jeez, I've been doing it wrong all these years...

But yeah, no comment. cough

Any chance of TLJ saga recreation as a novel/series/graphic novel? In it's entirety and at a later time, I mean.

We are doing an interactive graphic novel before the release of Dreamfall Chapters, which will recap the stories of both TLJ and Dreamfall.

How about a novelization of the whole series somewhere down the road? Something self-contained, to bring this beautiful world and story to a broader, non-gaming audience?

That would be great. It won't be for a while, but maybe at some point in the future.

Can it be published in a non-interactive page-flipping medium?

What is this page-flipping of which you speak? Not sure my iPad supports it.

And NON-INTERACTIVE? Are you mad, sir/ma'am?

Hey Ragnar, best wishes from two fans over here!

Our questions:Why Kian has different hairstyle right now?It's because he is a prisoner?And will we learn more of his past? And will his change due to April be explained?

Love you guys! PS:Tell Dag he's cute.

Kian shaved his head in prison!

And I'm telling Dag he is cute RIGHT NOW!

TWO QUESTIONS.

1.) Now that Joel has taken over the moniker of creative director on TSW, are you still involved with the game at all?

2.) What are your own personal tips for overcoming writer's block?

1. I am still consulting, and Joel asks me a question now and then, but for the most part I'm working 187% on Dreamfall Chapters

2. Write. Just write. Push through. Find a way to distract yourself for a second. Watch a good movie or TV show. Have a glass of wine. Just don't stop writing.

Will you brew your own BINGO! Beer in the office during development?

Definitely!

Will there be a strokeable cannon in the game, maybe as a easter egg? I love easter eggs! Cannonstroking, too!

YES. #cannonstroking

Roughly how many pages will The Tome of Balance and Art of Dreamfall books be?

The Tome of the Balance might extend to several hundred pages, due to the MASSIVE amount of lore and material we have to draw from.

The Art of Dreamfall Chapters will probably be around a hundred pages long.

Congratulations on reaching 1.5 million and hope all the best for future titles you make after Dreamfall Chapters. You have been a great inspiration to everyone who has played your games and I and I'm sure others can't thank you enough for your hard work, passion and achievements you have accomplished. Thank You

Two questions:

1. Will Damien Cavanaugh comeback?

2. I have seen from other Kickstarter projects that they added Paypal and other options to help continue the funding of the project on their site after the initial goal was reached. Will you be doing the same for those who couldn't help fund now or couldn't help fund more at the time (e.g. me) but are able to down the road?

Thanks again for your games and will be looking forward to other titles by you guys.

Hiya and thank you so much!

1. Damien will be mentioned, but he might not make an actual return.
2. We will continue on PayPal for a bit, at least until we've sold out all the limited edition boxes. And we are looking at ways to allow pledgers to increase their pledges on PayPal.

Thank you!

How are you finding the kickstarter experience?

It's been amazing! Tiring, heartwarming, stressful, mind-blowing -- the whole spectrum of emotions. We've never experienced anything quite like it, and we've learned a TON.

Part of me wants to jump into a new Kickstarter immediately, just to relive the past month, but part of me also wants to go to sleep for a very, very, very, VERY long time.

There have been a lot of 20-hour days, and I don't think I've slept more than six hours at any point during the campaign.

But yeah. AMAZING.

We all really appreciate your dedication and support during the KS campaign. The entire RTG team has done an amazing job, we've been so spoiled by the constant flow of updates. Thanks guys!! <3

Thank you!

For us not that don't know too much about it, what exactly does the 'kickstarter experience' include?

Long, long, long days. Very little sleep. Staying up to date with all the comments and mails and up to speed with information and updates. Oh, the constant updates. Trying to produce as much material as possible to feed the ravenous audience of pledgers and potential pledgers. Keeping the game production going while also making behind-the-scenes videos, rewards, coming up with bonuses and benefits, holding daily brainstorming meetings. Contacting the press and trying to get them to write about every little thing we do. Working out deals with sites to get exclusives on things like new trailers and stretch goal reveals. Constant tweeting and Facebooking. Feeling like every moment NOT spend on the Kickstarter will result in fewer backers, less pledges, and a lower budget.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

But I would do it again in a SECOND.

Will you update/retcon the tech of Stark to be more in line with today's tech (for example will Zoe have a smartphone instead of a flip-phone etc.)?

We will stay true to the tech of the previous games, but of course there will be updates across the board in terms of styles and aesthetics.

What were your highest expectations for the campaign? Did the Kickstarter surpass them?

Definitely surpassed.

Our most optimistic estimate for the first twenty-hours was $200,000. We made $400,000.

And we never, ever thought we'd reach $1,5 million. And we're still going!

So we are bowled over.

Are you (and with what options and for how long) planning to collect money via Paypal after the KS?

Ragnar not having answered this, here is a quote from the most recent KS update:

Even if we don't quite make that amount on Kickstarter, however, we're going to add up the PayPal donations and keep working our way towards both The Director's Cut, The Small Screen and, eventually, The Longest Journey Home.

This!

Will we get detailed development updates after the campaign is over?

Yes. On a regular basis. You'll get sick & tired of us!

1. There are lots of similarities between Dreamfall and Otherland series by Tad Williams. Did you have any influence from it?

2. So far we've been finding ancient remains of lost cultures in Arcadia and always dealt with modern stuff in Stark. Is there simply nothing like that in Stark, or can we find something like a lost city in there too?

3. In TLJ Emma was the skeptical one and Charlie was the one who believed April at once and in Dreamfall they say otherwise. April only told them she was saving the world, but in Dreamfall they said she told them about Arcadia. in Dreamfall, when Crow hears the word "cool", he goes, "oh wait wait, I know what that means!" or something like that. in TLJ he used the word himself casually. I know you hadn't played the game for a long time, so I hope you're going to replay BOTH games with more attention, because there are die-hard fans out here, and we're going to notice every single detail ;)

4. Will you ever show us the Myrshnyk? :)

1. Not consciously! But I have read the series, and I love it. I'm sure there might have been some inspiration from that.

2. Good question! Stark is our world in the future, and there are of course remnants of the past scattered about. Also, there would be remnants of the world BEFORE it was split into Stark and Arcadia -- a thing that would be interesting to explore in the future.

3. True! We will be very diligent in Chapters :-)

4. We will see SOMETHING of the Myrshnyk in Chapters, I promise!

Do you think it will be harder to release the game with all these people waiting for you to release it?

Yeah, it will be. We will be second-guessing ourselves much more than usual, simply because we feel we owe our fans and supporters so much after what they've done for us. We feel we have a responsibility.

But it will also be a bit easier in knowing that there are SO many people who are rooting for us to succeed and want to help us accomplish that.

Do you plan on revealing the identity of the third playable character before the game's launch?

Probably not -- we want to keep some things a mystery until players can actually sit down to play the game.

Hello!! I just wanted to say that this series is very dear to me and your dev team is fantastic so thank you for bringing such a wonderful narrative to the medium of video games - especially at a time where many games are passing over narrative in favor of other game mechanics.

Will we be seeing anything more of Cortez in Dreamfall Chapters, or The Longest Journey Home?

In one of those games, you will DEFINITELY see more of Cortez.

[deleted]

Thank you. We are very, very proud of that game.

Couldn't agree more. The most immersive and beautiful mmo i have ever played.

Thank you! That means a lot to hear. We went through a bit of a rough time after launch, but comments like these make it worth all the hard work and frustrations. We're very, very proud of the game. It has soul. And that's all that matters to me.

Will the WatiCorp twins return???

They will definitely be mentioned!

What happened to the fan art competition?

We went through all the submissions in the live TwitchTV stream, and we will announce our nominations tomorrow! Winners later this week.

Have no idea what to ask - are you SCARED?

Always.

Let's make Roper Klacks famous:

http://imageshack.us/a/img202/4059/klacks.jpg

AWESOME. Share it with the world!

Although Roper Klacks doesn't really need any more attention at this point. The success of The Fingerings has gotten to his head. He's a celebrity now. And it's NOT becoming him.

Hello, logo on book on Loremaster picture is little bit different than is official logo, it is not in middle a circule - is some purpose?

There will be in Dreamfal Cgapters combination of movement like was in Broken Sword 4? I mean movement with wsad keybords and pont and click with mouse?

And what about "amateur" localization to some additional language for free. Some fans, will do after releasing, anyway. Is some possibility you colaborate with them and release more additional language at release dat a game?

And t-shirt, i suppose they will be available even after end of kickstarter?

So, thas all, thanks.

We will be supporting mouse-only controls in Dreamfall Chapters!

As for supporting amateur localisations, we will look into it, definitely.

T-shirts will be available via PayPal!

After chapters is done, do you plan on continuing the series as a game, or branch into other medias? (coughbookscough)

Speaking for myself, I would love to continue the series in another format, and I hope to be able to do that. Be it graphic novels, short stories, novels -- and more.

Ragnar, The Secret World is AMAZING. Thank you for that.

Thank you so much!

Is the iOS-version of TLJ still an issue? A while ago, you twittered about playing a prototype, the videogamer-interview (15 month ago) hinted in the same direction.

iOS- and Android-versions of TLJ (2013) and Dreamfall (2014) would be great, both Funcom and RedThreadGames would profit from them.

Many new players could be reached, strengthening the fanbase for the launch of Dreamfall Chapters, resulting in more sales (good for RTG). And the continuation of the series (Chapters + TLJH) should increase the interest for mobile versions of the predecessors (good for Funcom).

I know that Funcom has been working on an iOS version of TLJ, but I don't know what the status is. You'll have to ask them. Red Thread Games does not have the rights to the previous games in the series.

Certain user at the official forums keeps calling Kian a pussy. Please say something in his defense Q.Q

Kian is HARD CORE. You've seen nothing yet! In Chapters, Kian's badass side is coming out to play, and it's going to be SPECTACULAR.

He's also spent a year in jail, and a year in jail can change a man. Harden him.

In other words, Kian has become HARD.

Stop making Kian hard.

What is this Dickfall: The Longest Erection? Also a great name for the porn parody.

Perfect.

Ragnar and the rest of the RTG team, it was lovely to see you guys again on live! Thank you for taking my Skype call and for remembering me from the previous live show. :) I'm so excited that I managed to find a job today (I went to the last interview at the middle on the live show). And just when I got home I upgraded my pledge to the maximum of $1000! This is the first project I've ever supported and I'm so pleased that it's my first one to back! I'll see you guys at the forum. And until then...

Onward and Upward! :)

All the best, Gal Shemesh

Thank you so much, Gal! We really appreciate it!

First of all: thank you for wonderful Kickstarter campaign! It was the best campaign I seen. Almost everyday I woke up and I got e-mail about kickstarter update and I read and watched it still in bed. And that was always great news, simply because you make continuation of the best games ever for me. And when I read about TLJH I saw like crying, from happiness. TLJ means lot to me, more than just a game.

Questions:

1). Are there gonna be more little tasty pieces immersing player more into the world? In TLJ there were many ("original Bingo! cola", "if you ate ... delicious Bingo! pizza ... go to hospital"), and not many in DF.

2) Will you ever release TLJ Book, the one you talked about few years ago, in which you have ALL the secrets?

3) Will you write another book?

Thank you so much!

1. YES. We are already working on a ton of signs and 'embedded stories' for Europolis and Marcuria, stuff you can discover and examine and learn more about the lore and history of our universe. Bingo! will be back, with even more flavours!

2. I would love to write a TLJ book some day. For now, we're doing the interactive graphic novel, which will return to the story of TLJ.

3. YES.

Your name reminds me of some kind of Norse God or hero of old. How would you harness the powers of Valhalla and what kind of quest would you embark on and what or who would you vanquish?

I would harness the powers of Valhalla through consuming almost, but not quite, two glasses of red wine, embarking on a quest to defeat the current lack of journalistic integrity, and I would vanquish, oh, I dunno, Mecha-Ninja Nazi Satan or something like that. Something suitably epic.

Or maybe I'd just vanquish Brett Ratner. I really don't like Brett Ratner. I went to school with Brett Ratner, so I sort of know what I'm talking about. Brett Ratner! Grrr.

Will we see an Arcadian character entering and experiencing the world of Stark for the first time in Chapters?

Yes.

I've read in several places that people would love to see a Kickstarter for TLJH when the time comes. I know I would certainly pledge for that project, and when you finish Chapters and show people that you are delivering on your promises, more people will pledge as well. Will you do this?

We'll think about it. I think it's a good idea, but we want to make sure we focus on Chapters first, so that we can deliver a fantastic game to our pledgers.

But yeah, The Longest Journey Home is a great candidate for a future Kickstarter.

I've never been able to finish any of your games, but still love you man!

Edit: Question: Do we get to ride the subway again?

Love you, too!

Here is another question, you talked about the storytime being influenced by Australian aboriginal mythology...In Dreamfall Chapters, or perhaps future games in the series will we (the player) be exploring Australian stark-themed cities/towns?

--from a hopeful Australian and kudos to the harlem shake answer you gave me before ;k

Yeah, we'd love to explore Oceania in the year 2220. Maybe we'll see something sooner rather than later! :-)

Is it possible to buy the Wonkers USB stick alone without having to pledge for the more expensive tiers?

I'm a poor student and can't afford more than the basic tier right now.

Not at this point, unfortunately.

Hey Ragnar! I love The Longest Journey as much as I love saying your name. It makes you sound like a viking wielding a quill. So here's a question, and I don't actually know if you're far enough into preproduction to know the answer, but what the hell, right? Even though the Original Longest Journey used 3D character models on prerendered 2D backgrounds, that game felt dense and detailed and expansive. Though it was a linear adventure game, it was still really fascinating to explore and examine every object I could in Stark and Arcadia. But when Dreamfall was released as a full-on polygonal game, it became clear how the production requirements of a more "modern" game could unintentionally take away from elements of the older game I liked. Though Dreamfall looked great visually, it always felt more contained and linear and less detailed that its predecessor. It's possible I'm looking at the game through rose-tinted goggles, but I always got the sense that the realities of modern game development wasn't really compatible with the best elements of the adventure game.

With an independent studio and funding from individuals who WANT you to make a classic adventure game (Kickstarter backers and, well, yourselves), you certainly don't have any excuse to not try to make the pure, uncompromising sequel to The Longest Journey that you wanted (and let me be the first to say that you guys and gals really really REALLY don't need to include a combat system in this new game. Don't worry about it. It's totally fine.). But do you think the technology has come far enough to realize the kind of game adventure game fans want? Will your team have the resources to make a 3D adventure game that's as detailed and dense as the adventure games of old? Or do the realities of polygonal game development make the creation of expansive and intricate environments more difficult to create (especially for a small team)?

Yes, we do have the resources (and team) to make a 3D adventure game that will be more detailed and dense than Dreamfall. The tech and tools have improved massively in the past eight-to-nine years, which makes a huge, huge difference. Our team is more experienced. And the hardware has improved.

You're right in that a 3D game won't ever feel the same as a 2D game, which is why we want to make The Longest Journey Home next -- a 2D point-and-click adventure with painted backgrounds, concluding April Ryan's journey.

I Goddam Loved Longest Journey. Why was it removed from XBOX 360 Arcade?

No idea! I believe Funcom is trying to get Dreamfall back on Xbox Live.

Your name is legendary.

That's nice to hear.

I played the two previous games in the last two weeks and I was just amazed. These are the second games to make me cry - TLJ when Cortez died I think and Dreamfall when Faith disappeared. The other game was Planescape: Torment's finale, when your companions refuse to betray you. My question is this - I know that the series is not one for fights, but will we get a chance to see some actual magic being used? The system you thought up in TLJ of people who make magic, and others who use it was really interesting. Will there be unorthodox fights, like the joke duel in Monkey Island?

There might be some cool use of magic in Dreamfall Chapters, but we haven't nailed down all the features yet. Some interesting puzzles akin to the joke duel would be great -- we'll see what the guys come up with!

here's a question: How will the Director's cut commentary track be implemented, will everyone have access to it? and will it be available from the start or unlocked after you finish the game once?

Everyone will have access to it. We're still discussing the latter point. I'm leaning towards the former, but we'll see.

Not a question, but congrats to reaching 1.5M!

Thank you!

Hey man, just wanted to say thanks, I really enjoyed The Longest Journey. Looking forward to Dreamfall Chapters.

Thanks!

Cannon stroking! Stroke cannons and win rods of joye! - The Cups Handler

cannonstroking -- and we NEED to bring that guy back, he was awesome.

Ragnar, can you tell me about Rupert at the market square in Marcuria? He has an eye icon on him in the Norwegian version, but nothing happens when he's clicked. In the English version he doesn't have any icon. Please, I must know about Rupert!! Any chance of him being in Dreamfall Chapters?

Rupert is an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in some sort of wheat dough thingy.

We might just build the entire game around Rupert. I'd totally forgotten about him. Now I'm obsessed with figuring this guy out!

Hi guys so, are you intending this game to be the final Dreamfall game? Do you as a company plan on releasing more games in the same universe or do you want to move on to something new when Dreamfall is all wrapped up?

This will be the final Dreamfall game -- the second and final game in the Dreamer Cycle -- which wraps up Zoë's story, but we are hoping to make another game called The Longest Journey Home, which will conclude April Ryan's story.

First off, thanks for doing this AMA. As a fan of the adventure game genre, I'm a huge fan of your work.

1, It seems as if most video games these days are either targeted at small children, are 'casual games,' or are violent, gun-filled male adolescent fantasies. Do you think we can bring the adventure genre back into mainstream gaming? What would it take to do so?

1. Many video games have attempted to make the player's decisions have actual consequences. IMO, this hasn't yet been done well, with most ending up with very shallow good choice/evil choice options. It seems to me as if the adventure genre, where the primary goal isn't just shooting everything, offers a great opportunity to explore these ideas. Do you plan on, or might you in future, include this type of gameplay in your games?

2. In a similar vein, I read in an interview that, while not a sandbox game, you are hoping to create larger more explorable environments. The one complaint I often have with adventure games is that they tend to be very linear and lack replay value. How do you balance player initiative and exploration with creating a coherent and compelling story?

Edit: formatting

I do think we can bring the adventure back to mainstream -- and to do that we need great stories with great characters. The Walking Dead did that last year. Hopefully Chapters will do that next year.

In the future, we will explore gameplay like that, where player decisions have actual consequences.

And yes, our goal with Dreamfall Chapters is to provide spaces which aren't so linear. A playground for the story, lore and characters.

There are a bunch of classic adventure games coming up: Broken Sword, Space quest sequel, Tim Schafer's game, game from Gabriel Knight creators, etc. And the audience of this games (and TLJ) is mostly the same. Have you consider to make kind of cross-reference (e.g. in eastern eggs) between the games? This could be real fun.

We have done that to a certain extent -- for example with Constable Guybrush in The Longest Journey. I like in-jokes and Easter eggs, as long as they don't break immersion or interfere with the story or setting.

Women and video games has been a big topic lately because of Anita Serkesian's Tropes vs. Women video series, Tomb Raider and other things.

Where would you like to see the role of women as part of the industry and female characters in video games go in the next few years? What areas would you like to see expansion on?

I want us to get to a place where we don't have to have a discussion about it anymore. I want to work without women without having to think and talk about the fact that I'm working with women. I want to write female characters without that having to be a story or an issue or something that people pay much attention to.

I want people to care about our stories and characters, about what people do and what they're great at, rather than whether they're men or women.

Hey Ragnar! I'm a big fan from Israel. What are some of your favourite adventure games?

Best adventure game ever made: Day of the Tentacle.

Adventure game that most influenced The Longest Journey: Gabriel Knight (the first one).

Best adventure game of 2012: Journey on the PS3.

I got TLJ on Steam a while back, and am working my way through it. I love its sense of humor, and how it gives the feeling of being a part of giant worlds you're only getting a glimpse of.

Shrug, that's all I had to say. I don't know enough to ask any more questions! So, thanks.

(I don't suppose there's some sort of mod that boosts the resolution, or a texture pack, is there?)

No mod to boost resolution, unfortunately. It's a 2D game. Someone would have to go back and repaint the backgrounds to make it 'HD'.

Thanks so much for playing and for your nice words!

When will you guys have the forums up? So we can continue the the rabid fandom??

In a few days!

April tended to have funny anecdotes and commentary about almost anything the player could touch, while as in Dreamfall, Zoë's observations were much more factual in nature.

Do you recognize the difference in this little detail that added a lot of depth to The Longest Journey, that was a bit more lacking in Dreamfall?

Completely agree, and we want to do that. We have spoken about one feature in particular that will provide more commentary and insight into the characters' minds. And we want to provide more things to look at, examine, touch, interact with. That's something I love about adventure games, and it was indeed lacking a bit in Dreamfall.

Would you be able to make the trailer music available to backers before sooner than the soundtrack comes out? Perhaps as a bonus for the backers?

Yes, definitely.