http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1409430337/shades-of-sanity-psychological-horror-game

Looks interesting,but of course no mention of DRM policies.

I'll have to contact them and inquire. But something feels off about the project :\

If anyone notices something of note, feel free to share.

I just started Sanitorium a few days ago. It is an incredibly weird game and totally incoherent tonally, but charming in its way. I don't know that anything seems especially off about the Kickstarter, beyond being very lacking in details, although getting $1000 out of $200,000 on the first day basically translates into "no chance."

The description of the project comes off a bit dry and lacking enthusiasm on the part of the creators.

I also get the feeling that the creators are not well prepared and have done little planning regarding their campaign - the extremely slow first day seems to support this feeling.

As for the DRM aspect - they're playing the Steam card which could indicate that they don't care or haven't thought about it.

We decided to make Shades of Sanity DRM-FREE for backers, though other outlets might require us to have a DRM system when the game ships. DRM seems to cause more problems than it solves, so we're not too fond of it.

Nice to see another developer in the forums here. I would however suggest you rephrase the bolded part, especially after the "Shadowrun Returns" incident. So the actual question becomes, will a person that didn't back the kickstarter be able to get a DRM-Free copy of the game, or are those only available for backers?

And good luck with your kickstarter, and game :)

Sanitarium is one of my top 5 adventure games. After Shadowrun and Larry recently I'm not quite as Kickstartered out as I was.

So my only concern with this is that I don't know how a game trying to be like Santiarium could be like Sanitarium - a game which didn't try and be like anything else out there.

Take a closer look. There is a deeper logic that underpins the entire game, you just have to pay close attention for it to become clear. I've played through a few times and there's a ton that you don't notice the first time, but there is a thread that connects the entire game.

It's just a shame that it's so short.

Sadly I doubt a Kickstarter project will be any different in that regard.

Probably, and I'd be surprised if they were able to pull off the puzzle aspect as well.

I know Sanitarium is technically a P&C adventure game, but I tend to think of it as more of the gaming equivalent of a graphic novel. A great story, but not a whole lot to do besides the story.

I have to agree with that. The narrative is the defining aspect. It could just as easily been a graphic novel without anything significant being lost in the translation. Most of the puzzles were self contained and clearly inserted at regular intervals to make it more than an interactive story.

But who knows what this new game will play like. A lot of time has passed since Sanitarium.

I would say that if we distribute here on GOG that it would be DRM-FREE. We may also publish on steam as well, which comes with its own DRM system, though I think steam users already don't mind it. We don't have DLC, so that might not be an issue of going into the "Shadowrun Returns" incident.

This is good to hear, I hope you can bring it here.

The main issue with the SRR stuff was that everybody thought they had already negotiated a license before the KS campaign, and it turned out that they didn't have one. Then we found out well after HBS did that the license wouldn't permit the game to be sold DRM free.

It's nice to here that you're not ideologically opposed to DRM, but also realize that Steam is DRM. I'll have to think about whether or not to back.

SPOILER!!!

Care to tell me what's the deal with Aztecs? :) I mean, I replay Sanitarium almost every year and dare to say I know it by heart... but I still can't figure out how Max looking at some Aztec murnal figured out the cure.
:)

Thanks for the info about the SRR. We would definitely have to maintain our promise of DRM-free once we negotiate distribution. Is there a lot of concern that we would offer both DRM-DREE on one site and a steam version as well, or is it the fear that we would end up just going with steam and breaking our promise? I have a love/hate relationship with my steam collection.

For the most part, I liked Sanitarium - especially what they did with the last level. I can't say that what I've seen from the new game really sells me on it. I think it would be great if they decide to show a realistic depiction of schizophrenia, as opposed to the typical "insane" video game character.