Since Bill Tiller is promoting (http://mixnmojo.com/news/A-Vampyre-Story-Kickstarter-news) his upcoming Kickstarter of A Vampyre Story Year One, I thought I'd post a thread about the game here since there wasn't one already (and since this game seems like it has a chance of actually getting made).

I'm pretty excited about this because Bill Tiller responded to Mojo commentator's criticisms (http://mixnmojo.com/news/Bill-Tiller-Kickstarter-is-A-Vampyre-Story-Year-One) about A Vampyre Story and Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island that he recognizes the faults in the games and plans to address them. I already enjoyed the games (what I've played of them, they're still two of the games I haven't completed yet. I'll put them on my to-complete-list, hopefully this month so I can include them in the October Monster Reviews I have going on my website (http://www.the-adventuress.com)), but they could definitely use some TLC in the writing department. I love when developers listen to constructive fan criticism and take it to heart. That's why I love Telltale so much. They've definitely made average (and in some people's views below average) games too, but they took the criticism and tweaked it for the better in their next game(s). I've got the same expectations for Autumn Moon.

Hopefully A Vampyre Story: Year One will be the Bill Tiller game that fans have been hoping for. :)

My only concern for this game is that Bill has a tale worth telling. The implication is that a prequel is only something he's pursuing because the sequel is tied up, legally, with a publisher that won't/can't publish it. How does the year Mona spent at Castle Warg prior to the events of the first game justify its own game and serve as a necessary installment in the saga as a whole?

The game is basically going to completely spell out the backstory that AVS1 would merely allude to in dialog in what I thought was one of the better storytelling choices in a game people love to beat up for its on-the-nose writing. Is this material crying out to be explicated, or are we getting the result of Bill's desperation to make an AVS project at all? It's impossible not to suspect the latter because if the days of Mona's captivity were so important to depict, why weren't they in the first game?

If Bill was going to go independent I kind of wish he'd have gone with an all-new IP or at least Ghost Pirates. After all, isn't the benefit of having to resort to the arduously slow (it's already been two years since Year One was announced) process of making the game on your own time supposed to be the freedom to do whatever you want? Why not that robot assassin game he's mentioned he has in his head, or whatever that rejected adventure game proposal was involving a ship?

My suspicion is that Bill's passion for AVS and perhaps his belief that an "established franchise" was his safest bet for breaking even were the motivating factors here. Of course, as you've pointed out, Autumn Moon has made promising games and look to be on a course for improvement, and what little we've seen of the art looks incredible, so I can't not be excited about any project they've got in the pipeline. I'm just dubious of "Well, we can't make a sequel, so let's make a prequel!" as the soundest of foundations for a narrative-driven game. AVS1 ended on a huge cliffhanger; how are the fans going to react to a game that takes place earlier in the chronology?

Day one pledge and day one purchase for me, by the way. :)

I think there's a story there to tell, especially if they really go back to the beginning of Mona's tale. It would be quite interesting to see human opera singer Mona. I've always enjoyed the backstory in Angel when he was a human named Liam and the point right after he was turned to a vampire named Angelus.

It would be quite interesting to see something like that (although not as dark and serious of course). :)

Iґd say itґs gonna be AVS 2 not year one.
Iґd plegde all of the 2 things!

And donґt forget 1954 Alcatraz from Gene Mocsy... *ahem*

Bill confirmed that it is Year One.

As noted on the front page, Bill has revised the Kickstarter launch date to "after New Year's" and is apparently hopeful that A Vampyre Story 2 could resume production after Year One is completed.

(Hate to see this forum so anemic.)

A Vampyre Story: Year One Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/876324751/a-vampyre-story-year-one) is live! The kickstarter video is quite fun. :)

It doesn't take place before Mona becomes a vampire (I'm a bit disappointed), but it does show the meeting between Mona and Froderick. Mona's voice actress has changed, giving her a less high pitched voice. I'm not sure about it, but it will probably grow on me. It's definitely an improvement over the original.

Bill did indeed confirm that if this does well, Crimson Cow will be interested in letting him finish A Vampyre Story 2 (with a hopeful tentative release date for AVS2 (assuming this does well) of "fall 2014 or sooner").

Man, I hope this catches fire. I'm ready for Bill to devote his time to graphic adventures again.