Obsidian and inXile are awfully chummy, with a shared history going back to Interplay and Black Isle Studios, close enough that they want to lend members like a cup of sugar. Both Californian studios are making crowdfunded Unity-based old-school RPGs too, and so are putting their heads together. inXile today announced that they'll be collaborating on tools and tech with each other.

"We are happy to announce that we at inXile and the great guys over at Obsidian have reached an agreement to share tools and technology when it makes sense," inXile said in a Kickstarter update. So tech inXile whips up for Torment: Tides of Numenera or Wasteland 2 may end being used with Obsidian's Project Eternity, and vice versa.

"This will allow both companies to be more cost-effective on these projects, allowing your pledges to go further in terms of creating art, content, gameplay, and game polish. Vive le classic RPG revolution!"

Isn't it lovely seeing BFFs together, doing what they love, with no publishers to seat them at separate tables. Just as using crowdfunding meant the studios could make games in genres publishers had turned their backs on, so too can they make them however they jolly well please.

inXile also teased that, when it comes to graphics, Torment may end up using pre-rendered backgrounds with 3D characters and effects on top--similar to the classic Planescape: Torment (okay, it didn't use 3D models, but you know what I mean). Project Eternity certainly shows pre-rendered backgrounds can still look flipping gorgeous.

With seven days left to go, Tides of Numenera's Kickstarter campaign has almost $3.2 million in pledges--far beyond its original $900,000 goal. Should it hit $3.25 million, fantasy author Pat Rothfuss will join the dev team. Chris Avellone, Planescape: Torment's lead designer and Obsidian's aforementioned cup of sugar, will come aboard at $3.5m, which seems likely.