Double Fine has been having some rough times lately, being forced to split Broken Age into 2 parts to secure necessarily funding, having to release Spacebase DF-9 early under controversy, and recently having to fire 12 workers due to a publisher cancelling an unknown project.
It seems not everything is done with some issues yet. Double Fine has recently announced that the second part of Broken Age is going to be delayed until 2015, with the goal currently being that they hope to have the alpha of it done by the end of 2014. According to Double Fine, the writing and voice over work is all done and they estimate part 2 will have a playtime of 8-12 hours, meaning it is possible they are using a more ambitious idea of 'alpha' then others in the industry do.
Broken Age was the first of the large Kickstarters that started the crowdfunding craze, raising $3.3 million back in March of 2012, well over it is original goal of $400 000. Promised to come with a Documentary covering the development process and cashing in on Tim Schaefer's name, the project's crowdfunding was a huge success and the game's goals expanded considerably. Thus it was no surprise when it didn't meet the original October 2012 release date goal, but the project has been having issues since, with the split happening as Double Fine appeared to have run out of money part way through, selling Part 1 to raise additional funds. It is worth wondering now if Broken Age Part 2 will be released before March 13th - the date that will mark 3 years since the Kickstarter ended.
Broken Age is designed to be a classic point and click adventure, a genre that has benefited greatly from crowd-funding in general. While Double Fine's is the most notable, many smaller adventure projects have been funded in that manner - often for far less ambitious amounts. TechRaptor reviewed Broken Age Part 1 earlier this year when it was released, and it has been discussed as potentially being one of the better indie games of the year despite all the issues surrounding Double Fine this year.
