Interview Chris Avellone Interview at The Critical Bit

[shihonage]

Black Isle was different because we were an internal studio part of Interplay. We had access to resources, personnel, and could directly interface with our “publisher.” This gave us more latitude to draw on resources as a result – if we needed to borrow the whole QA department for a week or two while Fallout 2 was in its final stages, we could do that

So, why didn't you?

 

[Johannes]

What are some common mistakes people make when writing for games?
- Neglect for stories that result from game systems (Fallout and pickpocketing, especially planting explosives on people, allows for great stories, and Fallout: New Vegas’s reputation mechanics provide the same fun).

What? Pickpocketing in Fallout mostly told stories of constant reloads and out-of-depth weaponry. And as far as planting explosives goes, only thing I remember was blowing up the father of the marriage candidate in order to fuck the girl without getting creeped upon, of course the game got stuck on a black fadeout then. Awesome stories.

 

[FeelTheRads]

What are some common mistakes people make when writing for games?
- Neglect for stories that result from game systems (Fallout and pickpocketing, especially planting explosives on people, allows for great stories, and Fallout: New Vegas’s reputation mechanics provide the same fun).

What? Pickpocketing in Fallout mostly told stories of constant reloads and out-of-depth weaponry. And as far as planting explosives goes, only thing I remember was blowing up the father of the marriage candidate in order to fuck the girl without getting creeped upon, of course the game got stuck on a black fadeout then. Awesome stories.

Herpa derp. "I abused the game so the game sucks".

 

[Cosmo]

What? Pickpocketing in Fallout mostly told stories of constant reloads and out-of-depth weaponry. And as far as planting explosives goes, only thing I remember was blowing up the father of the marriage candidate in order to fuck the girl without getting creeped upon, of course the game got stuck on a black fadeout then. Awesome stories.

He only means that it's no use building a straitjacket of linearity to guide players along a story. Exploring the ruleset, bending it, trying to find exploits, winning a quest or a combat in a very unlikely way, circumventing scripted events, all those things are also part of what makes a good CRPG experience. As such they should not be dismissed by developers.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

 

[Shannow]

Let’s see. The concept of High Fantasy bugs me. I’d love to take a high fantasy game, fuck it up and then dump the wreckage in a player’s lap to experience. This probably also explains my desire to knock cupcakes and ice cream cones out of kid’s hands.

Bioware already did that.

Conversation mechanics also bore me and frustrate me. I feel like dialogues have been devolving as time goes on, and the idea of being placed in a paralyzing face-to-face conversation with limited interactivity doesn’t seem to be the way to move ahead with this system.

Yeah, that really shows in Obsidian games. "I hate Bioware face-to-face, good-neutral-evil kind of dialogue...unless it has a timer!"​

Next – dialogue morality bars tied to your character’s power with no middle ground that gives you equal empowerment. It removes any interest or awareness of the conversation beyond trying to hit the button that says “choose Good side or Bad side.” When that happens, I feel like you’re in danger of losing the RPG experience because you’re not reacting like you would naturally based on the context of the situation, you’re “gaming” the system instead of role-playing it.

Yeah. Thankfully KotOR2 didn't have shitty power-boosts for being EXTREME! Oh wait...



*Disclaimer: You are too easily trolled.

 

[Johannes]

What are some common mistakes people make when writing for games?
- Neglect for stories that result from game systems (Fallout and pickpocketing, especially planting explosives on people, allows for great stories, and Fallout: New Vegas’s reputation mechanics provide the same fun).

What? Pickpocketing in Fallout mostly told stories of constant reloads and out-of-depth weaponry. And as far as planting explosives goes, only thing I remember was blowing up the father of the marriage candidate in order to fuck the girl without getting creeped upon, of course the game got stuck on a black fadeout then. Awesome stories.

Herpa derp. "I abused the game so the game sucks".

As if anyone used pickpocketing without reloading in practice. I get his point, but why use the most broken and boring example of it? It just kinda hints at having a bad taste.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Has he given any indication of what his Kickstarter would focus on yet? I mean, he must be aware that a Planescape sequel (or prequel, or spinoff), would garner so much attention that it would be a guaranteed winner. Although I have to admit that I have no idea what sort of legal and financial hurdles he'd have to jump to get the Planescape license.

I'd also like to see TORN resurrected, but that's not going to happen.

There is a whole thread on ideas on the OBS forum, and later on he posted on his blog that he read throught it all, and concludes that the thing that people would like to see most, would be a spiritual successor to Torment (so no licensing issues there), in isometric perspective. Not sure about the exact quote there, it was a while back.

So yes, I am very excited and, in this interview he is also leaning to a Torment successor it seems:

personally, I’d like to set up a Kickstarter as well and start resurrecting some of the old franchises (or at least spiritual successors) to titles that got put on the shelf or weren’t considered good fits for pitches and publishers.

 

[Mrowak]

Has he given any indication of what his Kickstarter would focus on yet? I mean, he must be aware that a Planescape sequel (or prequel, or spinoff), would garner so much attention that it would be a guaranteed winner. Although I have to admit that I have no idea what sort of legal and financial hurdles he'd have to jump to get the Planescape license.

I'd also like to see TORN resurrected, but that's not going to happen.

There is a whole thread on ideas on the OBS forum, and later on he posted on his blog that he read throught it all, and concludes that the thing that people would like to see most, would be a spiritual successor to Torment (so no licensing issues there), in isometric perspective. Not sure about the exact quote there, it was a while back.

So yes, I am very excited and, in this interview he is also leaning to a Torment successor it seems:

personally, I’d like to set up a Kickstarter as well and start resurrecting some of the old franchises (or at least spiritual successors) to titles that got put on the shelf or weren’t considered good fits for pitches and publishers.

You know the main issue with Torment - the fact that you'd need to buy D&D license from Wizards(TM). I can see that hardly happening with the flimsy amount of money gathered at kickstarter.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Yes but that's exactly what I'm saying as well

Spiritual successor, not as in Torment 2, But more like Fallout1 was to Wasteland1.

In truth, I hope they will kickstart The Black Hound without the AD&D stuff but make it a custom setting and rules. Could become the next OBS IP.. But I'm getting too dreamy.





So, where can I buy that music CD..

 

[villain of the story]

He would like to make an Archer RPG, among other things? Ergh. They already made Lolpha Popamole to the same tune and there's no need for another console corridor popamole shooter. Not to mention the game barely had an ounce of espionage in it. But nobody can be perfect, I guess.

A TB The Black Hound would have been majestic without DnD, high fantasy and RTwP crap.

 

[Infinitron]

He would like to make an Archer RPG, among other things? Ergh. They already made Lolpha Popamole to the same tune and there's no need for another console corridor popamole shooter. Not to mention the game barely had an ounce of espionage in it. But nobody can be perfect, I guess.

Who says it would be popamole?

 

[Mrowak]

Yes but that's exactly what I'm saying as well

Spiritual successor, not as in Torment 2, But more like Fallout1 was to Wasteland1.

But in that case wasn't MoTB a spiritual successor to Torment, already? Hell, even Kotor2 gives you planescapey vibes, which is hell of an achievement in Kotor universe. Do we need another one.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Never played MotB, unfortunately. I just cannot into the NWN camera. And Star Wars setting is not for me.

 

[felipepepe]

/pics

Man, I just recalled that sweet sweden campaign "The Hero" for Radiotjänst in 2010 where you could upload a pic of someone as a world hero that gave us C&C choice...I even found the link, but he site is broken, I can't homage MCA now.

 

[Commissar Draco]

He can do the Dance with Rogues 3.... The license should be cheap and obsidian has it's own engine to port it from NWN1.... Much more emotionally engaging than another story about Amnesiac Whigger.

 

[Mrowak]

Never played MotB, unfortunately. I just cannot into the NWN camera. And Star Wars setting is not for me.

Play both. Kotor 2 is good exactly because it subverts Star Wars universe and does away with oversimplified depiction of it. Just remember to install the restoration mod.

 

[villain of the story]

He would like to make an Archer RPG, among other things? Ergh. They already made Lolpha Popamole to the same tune and there's no need for another console corridor popamole shooter. Not to mention the game barely had an ounce of espionage in it. But nobody can be perfect, I guess.

Who says it would be popamole?

Alpha Popamole, "an espionage RPG" without any espionage said any similar endeavour would likely end up the same. But hey, THEY TOTALLY SUBVERTED ESPIONAGE GENRE AMIRITE?

Likewise, they first said that Alien RPG would be based on stealth and survival and then it turned out after the cancellation that their primary idea of stealth consisted of setting up explosive traps and gun turrets to decimate the aliens.

 

[Infinitron]

Alpha Popamole, "an espionage RPG" without any espionage said any similar endeavour would likely end up the same.

Does not compute

 

[villain of the story]

You don't compute. I don't know about you but my idea of espionage, or the spy genre in popular culture, doesn't consist of running in corridors with popamole shooting to the point of near exclusivity.

 

[Infinitron]

You don't compute. I don't know about you but my idea of espionage, or the spy genre in popular culture, doesn't consist of running in corridors with popamole shooting to the point of near exclusivity.

why the fuck does the fact that Alpha Popamole was popamole mean that any other snarky spy game would have to be popamole
that's what doesn't compute FFS

fuck this, you're trolling again

 

[Mrowak]

I am playing Alpha Protocol for the first time just now.

I do agree with the villain of the story that gameplaywise espionage bit falls flat on the face. Clearly, the bross at Obsidian didn't play Thief and Hitman series for the stealth component. I like the dialogue system, though it could use a little bit of Deus Ex: HR treatment, and in espionage RPG it should be used, much, much more often. Also, the game levels resemble one convoluted corridor we know from ME series. Again, more options and paths like in Deus Ex could have saved the grace.

Having said that, I do enjoy some elements of the game - like the need to buy intel, characters, intrigue, at least some requirement to go about the mission stealthily.

Even though I am midway through it the game, I slready wish Alpha Protocol 2 was a possibility.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/for...lone-on-Publishers-Wasteland-2-and-RPG-Design

- He's previously expressed a dislike for romances that are actually happy
- He's so self-opinionated that his favourite characters are his opinion-spewing author avatars
- He's now expressing antagonism for pretty much anything pleasant
- Also, his games are coded for shit
Why do people like this asshole again?

 

[villain of the story]

Why anyone would frequent Escapist to do anything other than trolling and circle jerking is beyond me. That place is one of the lowliest smelliest cesspits of natural born butthurt losers on the internet. Even Watchwitz is a shining harbour of reason in comparison. Escapist, more like Shitcapist.

 

[villain of the story]

why the fuck does the fact that Alpha Popamole was popamole mean that any other snarky spy game would have to be popamole
that's what doesn't compute FFS

fuck this, you're trolling again

I just gave you the Alien RPG example. A game of "stealth and survival" which they later revealed to be about killing stuff with explosive traps and extravagant alien boss fights. In short, a "Stealth & Survival RPG" that is anything but stealth and survival. A concept that is echoed through the entirety of Alpha Protocol. An "espionage RPG" that's anything but espionage. A recurring pattern of the design philosophy at Obsidian when the subject is stealthy stuff.

I know, it's hard to face the truth. While AP had some good stuff, it fails as a game. There are far better console corridor shooters that don't shit on my game experience with their juvenile crap. Not to mention they didn't deliver on any of the 3Bs ie. Bauer, Borne, Bond. It's more like Banal, (Bull)Shit, Boring.