Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Sannom]

And on the Icewind Dale topic - wasn't Sawyer only the lead on Icewind Dale 2?

There was a podcast one or two months ago in which Sawyer said that Icewind Dale had no lead, so I guess you're right.

Mitsoda claimed his version of AP was similar to Bloodlines, at least in terms of dialogue, and that he later found out they replaced it in favor of the more "fashionable" dialogue wheel. I don't know how much of the game was changed, but he mentioned that aspect in particular so I guess he's especially bothered by that detail.

That doesn't sound right. AP is one of the few games in which the dialogue wheel makes sense because of the timer, and Mitsoda came up with that.

I seem to remember that Mitsoda's plot was supposed to be a lot more serious than what we got in the end, with Syriana mentionned as an inspiration? Although how that aligns with the visuals of the Grey Griffin-voiced character that was cut, I have no idea. The lady was apparently supposed to wear a combat uniform which consisted of a tank top with long sleeves and a cleavage window, pants which rested dangerously low on her hips and a Hello Kitty backpack?

 

[GarfunkeL]

 

[Roguey]

I seem to remember that Mitsoda's plot was supposed to be a lot more serious than what we got in the end, with Syriana mentionned as an inspiration? Although how that aligns with the visuals of the Grey Griffin-voiced character that was cut, I have no idea. The lady was apparently supposed to wear a combat uniform which consisted of a tank top with long sleeves and a cleavage window, pants which rested dangerously low on her hips and a Hello Kitty backpack?

As mentioned in the screen, none of the character designs changed. Brian Menze was on a different page than the other Brian, a consequence of AP having no lead, game specification doc, or consistent vision. An ex-Obsidian person told me it was "a confused mess of people working on unrelated, sometimes directly conflicting things."

 

[Fairfax]

long quotes

1. It was one buggy release from a new developer, not enough to establish the reputation.
2. They weren't. You can look at the list of game-breaking bugs FNV had at launch, KOTOR2 wasn't anywhere close.
3. Feargus said it was a considerable bonus.
4. More reactivity didn't harm the game, quite the opposite. Also, Sawyer said it was the only case where he saw teams on the same project basically pitted against each other. It's ludicrous to suggest the game was a failure because Parker listened to MCA. Also, that pic you posted doesn't say anything about Mitsoda quitting over what you said.
5. Agreed, but you left it out while including AP.
6. I saw on Obsidian forums that Virginia was his project, but if you say so.
7. Just like summer blockbusters can make more money than Oscar season arthouse films. Both are valuable to any studio, specially when the latter is critically acclaimed and receives numerous awards. Just look at how highly regarded PST is today, how it fares in Top RPGs of all time lists, how much money it raised for TTON based on a very vague potential resemblance, and so on.

 

[Fairfax]

Mitsoda claimed his version of AP was similar to Bloodlines, at least in terms of dialogue, and that he later found out they replaced it in favor of the more "fashionable" dialogue wheel.

You're mistaken, he was the one who created the dialogue stance system and he boasted that he did it before Mass Effect had even been announced.

He's full of shit, then. Mass Effect was announced at X05, same year Troika shut down. Sure, the dialogue wheel was first shown at E3 06, but he was still working on either Dwarfs or NWN2 at the time and AP didn't even exist.

 

[Infinitron]

New MCA Q&A here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...h-talking-numenera.103521/page-3#post-4291201

 

[Diablo169]

Reading the Q&A it looks like Chris may be done with leading projects or even being a full time game developer? That's rather sad.

 

[Roguey]

1. It was one buggy release from a new developer, not enough to establish the reputation.

First impressions are everything.

2. They weren't. You can look at the list of game-breaking bugs FNV had at launch, KOTOR2 wasn't anywhere close.

I see you're ignoring the reality that is http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...reciation-station.101693/page-32#post-4290973

3. Feargus said it was a considerable bonus.

Show me. That doesn't sound like something he'd say.

While chatting with Obsidian head Feargus Urquhart for the profile I published in December of 2012, I asked him about what had happened with Fallout: New Vegas. For legal reasons, he couldn’t get into the specifics.

“I can’t comment on contracts directly,” he said. “But what I can say is that in general, publishers like to have Metacritic scores as an aspect of contracts. As a developer, that’s challenging for a number of reasons. The first is that we have no control over that, though we do have the responsibility to go make a brilliant game that can hopefully score an 80 or an 85 or a 90 or something like that.”

More reactivity didn't harm the game, quite the opposite.

They threw out everything and started over after two+ years of development. It was a risk that failed. The Josh Sawyer Method would have been to do the best they could with what they had already set-up.

Also, that pic you posted doesn't say anything about Mitsoda quitting over what you said.

"Brian Mitsoda quitting Obsidian after they threw out his second draft has nothing to do with why he quit."

Agreed, but you left it out while including AP.

The circumstances are different; Avellone was on the title for much longer (about a year or so) and he thoroughly made the story his (he wrote almost all the spoken dialogue).

He's full of shit, then. Mass Effect was announced at X05, same year Troika shut down. Sure, the dialogue wheel was first shown at E3 06, but he was still working on either Dwarfs or NWN2 at the time and AP didn't even exist.

Over the next few months, Obsidian found themselves with something of a feast. While they were wrapping up work on Neverwinter Nights 2 in late 2005, Urquhart got a call from Sega's people, who were looking for a brand new original RPG. Problem was, Obsidian was all tied up. They had nobody available to work on a new game.

"[Sega was] like, ‘Why don't you come up with a concept and we'll negotiate a contract and when you're available it'll all be done?'" Urquhart said. "And we were like, ‘Ummm we're fine doing that... you don't feel it's a waste of time?' And they're like, ‘Yeah.'"

So they came up with a concept: spy RPG. They came up with a name: Alpha Protocol. And they came up with a main character: Michael Thorton, a superspy as suave as James Bond, as savvy as Jason Bourne, and as badass as Jack Bauer.

Sounds like Mitsoda came up with the concept then before they negotiated the contract.

 

[Jarpie]

I remember a lot of people forgiving the bugs and obviously half finished ending in Kotor 2 because it was quickly found out that Lucasarts cut off development time and basically took it out of Obsidians hands.

 

[GarfunkeL]

 

[Infinitron]

Source:

 

[Xor]

Mitsoda's judgement should always be called into question since he married the craziest SJW in game development and he spent the last 7 years on a shitty zombie game.

I never really understood that; Annie used to post here and she seemed pretty normal from what I remember. When did this sudden turnaround happen?

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Mitsoda's judgement should always be called into question since he married the craziest SJW in game development and he spent the last 7 years on a shitty zombie game.

I never really understood that; Annie used to post here and she seemed pretty normal from what I remember. When did this sudden turnaround happen?

When she discovered Twitter.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Somehow real world politics pushed ppl to extremisms in the last 10 years. Look at me for example, I was much more moderate 10 years ago, now I'm almost a nazi. Most ppl jumped on the SJW, on the other hand. No idea what will happen, but I think it's sad.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Mitsoda's judgement should always be called into question since he married the craziest SJW in game development and he spent the last 7 years on a shitty zombie game.

I never really understood that; Annie used to post here and she seemed pretty normal from what I remember. When did this sudden turnaround happen?

Nothing changed. She understandably was on Sarkeesian-Quinn side when Gamer Gate broke, at least initially. I didn't pay too much attention so I don't know all the details but basically, as always, the shitposters are blowing it out of all proportion.

Oh here are some of them already.

 

[Irenaeus II]

understandably

lol

 

[Fairfax]

Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

 

[Sannom]

Where we talk about Josh Sawyer, Annie Mitsoda and Brian Mitsoda, with the discussion sometimes veering into the subject of Chris Avellone!

 

[Irenaeus II]

We would talk about Fenstermaster too if anyone knew who he was!

 

[Grimlorn]

Mitsoda's judgement should always be called into question since he married the craziest SJW in game development and he spent the last 7 years on a shitty zombie game.

I never really understood that; Annie used to post here and she seemed pretty normal from what I remember. When did this sudden turnaround happen?

She joined the social justice cult. A lot of those journalists were normal as well around 2010-2012. Somewhere along the lines they all did a 180 on their personality, which is very odd. I kind of wonder who influenced and manipulated them. Whoever or whatever did it, was able to completely manipulate and change people's personalities within a few years.

 

[Azarkon]

Anita Sarkeesian, and she never changed anyone's personality; she just made it cool to shit on patriarchy in games, and because she released her videos just before it, Gamergate basically made her into a prophet.

She's the only one of the GamerGate personalities to make it to Time's top 100 list, received invites from major television channels, sponsorship from Intel, etc.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

I know right? Why all these people keep going off topic, instead of appreciating Chris. Its almost as if the last time Chris made a decent game, was during Bush administration.

Oh wait.

 

[Sannom]

We would talk about Fenstermaster too if anyone knew who he was!

He said something about the plot and setting of PoE on his twitter recently, why has no one pointed that out?

 

[Kalin]

Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

I know right? Why all these people keep going off topic, instead of appreciating Chris. Its almost as if the last time Chris made a decent game, was during Bush administration.

Oh wait.

More like Clinton administration.

 

[Fairfax]

We would talk about Fenstermaster too if anyone knew who he was!

He said something about the plot and setting of PoE on his twitter recently, why has no one pointed that out?

Probably because he posted 5 tweets and said nothing worthwhile.