South Park: The Stick of Truth began without funding

We've known for some time that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone approached Obsidian Entertainment directly about making The Stick of Truth, but a new report reveals the developer got on board without financial backing.

In a profile piece on Kotaku tracing the developer's history, Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart said Parker and particularly Stone were impressed by the developer's initial pitch, but Urquhart himself had doubts.

"Look: let's pretend we can do all the RPG stuff. We can handle that. If it doesn't look like the show, all of this is pointless," Urquhart said to the pair.

"That's our job. We need to go and make something that looks like the show."

Obsidian spent a week putting together an initial prototype, using construction paper supplied by South Park Digital Studios to help get the look right. The animation company was still a little leery.

"They said, ‘That's totally on the right track, once you do a little bit more,'" Urquhart said of the company's reaction.

Perhaps thanks to Parker and Stone's enthusiasm, Obsidian kept working on the prototype - unpaid. Parker and Stone liked the result so much that the deal was made immediately. Viacom funded development until the project could be pitched to publishers, eventually resulting in a contract with THQ.

The full piece through the link above is full of interesting details, including word of a Snow White game cancelled by Disney, details of the shelved Aliens RPG, and more.

South Park: The Stick of Truth is due early in THQ's 2014 financial year, putting its launch at April or beyond. Obsidian's next known release is Project Eternity, a Kickstarter-funded RPG expected in April 2014.