Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[Duraframe300]

Yeah he's the Creative Lead on an Unnannounced Project, probably the new Kickstarter.

That or their next AAA project.

Momentarly I'm actually leaning more towards AAA. Mainly because its early to give out definite roles for a kickstarter. And that info is already what? two months old.

 

[Infinitron]

Momentarly I'm actually leaning more towards AAA. Mainly because its early to give out definite roles for a kickstarter.

It's actually not too early, because this Kickstarter was postponed from April if you recall.

 

[J_C]

Alcohol is a depressant.

Good thing Josh and I don't bother with the stuff.

This sounds like you two are living together. Want to share something?

 

[Azrael the cat]

As I suspected, zero dialogue work other than his companions.

That's the problem with writers being gaming's bottom bitch - the good writers end up progressively less able to make a contribution as writers as they get promoted. Avellone has never been good at writing bits and pieces - New Reno is a good example, good in itself, but doesn't fit with the rest of the game. He shines when he gets to obsessively turn the whole setting on its head as an expression of his underlying psychological angst

 

[Duraframe300]

Momentarly I'm actually leaning more towards AAA. Mainly because its early to give out definite roles for a kickstarter.

It's actually not too early, because this Kickstarter was postponed from April if you recall.

That's assuming by that point they already had something definitive.

And thats not what I meant. If theres anything Obsidian has proven to do differently during Kickstarter production is that they give themselves as much time as they need with important decisions including lots of figuring out who on the team is best for what.
Aside from Sawyer (who was pretty obvious) the actual roles people had on the Eternity team weren't fixed till several months after the Kickstarter. Remember, people assumed Avellone was creative lead for a larger amount of time.

It would be a more than a bit surprising if they let all of that freedom go and try to approach Kickstarter2's production like any of their AAA projects.

Edit: Granted this could turn out to be some Avellone Pet-Project Kickstarter, but I personally doubt it.

 

[Sensuki]

He is a bit of an AAA/mainstream whore these days despite various "suck it consoles" comments and Kickstarter contributions.

 

[Roguey]

I imagine Avellone is getting all the writing work he can stand with his PoE novella, his Wasteland 2 novel, and his Torment comic.

 

[Sensuki]

Those are all after hours things though from what I gather? Not sure about the PE novella.

 

[Duraframe300]

He is a bit of an AAA/mainstream whore these days despite various "suck it consoles" comments and Kickstarter contributions.

He always said he liked to work in both.

Avellone isn't that complex to figure out. He's a dude who enjoys doing lots of things. If anything he's a whore of (nearly) everything.

 

[Roguey]

Those are all after hours things though from what I gather? Not sure about the PE novella.

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/481899692813717504

Finishing up companions now. Game content > Arcanum playthrough. I'll resume once novella is done, too, sorry for delay.

Note: I don't believe him. It's almost been over a year.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.change.org/en-AU/petiti...rpg-game-using-the-pillars-of-eternity-engine

 

[Rake]

Momentarly I'm actually leaning more towards AAA. Mainly because its early to give out definite roles for a kickstarter.

It's actually not too early, because this Kickstarter was postponed from April if you recall.

That's assuming by that point they already had something definitive.

And thats not what I meant. If theres anything Obsidian has proven to do differently during Kickstarter production is that they give themselves as much time as they need with important decisions including lots of figuring out who on the team is best for what.
Aside from Sawyer (who was pretty obvious) the actual roles people had on the Eternity team weren't fixed till several months after the Kickstarter. Remember, people assumed Avellone was creative lead for a larger amount of time.

It would be a more than a bit surprising if they let all of that freedom go and try to approach Kickstarter2's production like any of their AAA projects.

Edit: Granted this could turn out to be some Avellone Pet-Project Kickstarter, but I personally doubt it.

A "make it up as we go" pitch isn't going to cut it a second time. Like inXile with Torment, they need a Creative Lead to have the general story/setting made before the pitch starts.

 

[Infinitron]

I can tell you that Obsidian did have a concrete idea for a Kickstarter at the beginning of this year. I don't know whether that idea is what they will go forward with in September, though.

 

[Rake]

I can tell you that Obsidian did have a concrete idea for a Kickstarter at the beginning of this year. I don't know whether that idea is what they will go forward with in September, though.

And this concrete idea (or the one that replaced it), propably need someone to iron it out. Avellone is too good to be wasted in AAA crap, ffs

 

[Roguey]

Ugh, fuck steampunk.

Never forget https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/418824675326586881
https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/471719748179615744

 

[Roguey]

I remember reading a fairly recent tweet where some Obsidian dev was talking about how they were working on the new Kickstarter pitch but I'll be damned if I'm going to try to find it now.

 

[Rake]

I remember reading a fairly recent tweet where some Obsidian dev was talking about how they were working on the new Kickstarter pitch but I'll be damned if I'm going to try to find it now.

Yeah, Josh won't be the Lead on this one, so it will be shit i imagine...

 

[Sensuki]

You're going to let one buffoon shape your view on an entire subgenre?

Things like Cyberpunk, Steampunk, Fantasty, Sci-Fi are really just a loose definition of the visual aesthetics and style of content that's going to be found in a game. As long as the viewing angle, art style and content/systems are good then I don't give a shit what genre it is.

(However, not many games get all four of those right, let alone three of them.)

 

[likaq]

Fuck fantasy-steampunk hybrids.
Create proper 'pure' steampunk without magic and elves or gtfo.

 

[Duraframe300]

Momentarly I'm actually leaning more towards AAA. Mainly because its early to give out definite roles for a kickstarter.

It's actually not too early, because this Kickstarter was postponed from April if you recall.

That's assuming by that point they already had something definitive.

And thats not what I meant. If theres anything Obsidian has proven to do differently during Kickstarter production is that they give themselves as much time as they need with important decisions including lots of figuring out who on the team is best for what.
Aside from Sawyer (who was pretty obvious) the actual roles people had on the Eternity team weren't fixed till several months after the Kickstarter. Remember, people assumed Avellone was creative lead for a larger amount of time.

It would be a more than a bit surprising if they let all of that freedom go and try to approach Kickstarter2's production like any of their AAA projects.

Edit: Granted this could turn out to be some Avellone Pet-Project Kickstarter, but I personally doubt it.

A "make it up as we go" pitch isn't going to cut it a second time. Like inXile with Torment, they need a Creative Lead to have the general story/setting made before the pitch starts.

Doubt it. There's all the reason they will be more concrete, but that doesn't mean that they will have everything all fixed from before the Kickstarter.

LEAST OF ALL the story. Especially with Obsidian's no spoiler policy. A year ago multiple Obsidian devs also said how great the process of reviewing multiple story drafts was. They are not just throwing that away.

There will be hooks, yes. But, that will be about it.

Edit: Unless this is a more special project (for example like I said pet project), but normally I'm still leaning towards creative lead not set yet.

 

[tuluse]

I bet they prepare a lot more materials in advance this time. A more fleshed out world to describe and more art ready to go (they said the amount of art they needed to produce took them by surprise last time).

 

[Sensuki]

Obsidian also had a very early "prototype" or whatever you call it working before the KS (as they were talking about having AoE highlighting already working in the very first few days of the KS), as well as the works of an area (the first KS screenshot).

 

[Athelas]

Momentarly I'm actually leaning more towards AAA. Mainly because its early to give out definite roles for a kickstarter.

It's actually not too early, because this Kickstarter was postponed from April if you recall.

That's assuming by that point they already had something definitive.

And thats not what I meant. If theres anything Obsidian has proven to do differently during Kickstarter production is that they give themselves as much time as they need with important decisions including lots of figuring out who on the team is best for what.
Aside from Sawyer (who was pretty obvious) the actual roles people had on the Eternity team weren't fixed till several months after the Kickstarter. Remember, people assumed Avellone was creative lead for a larger amount of time.

It would be a more than a bit surprising if they let all of that freedom go and try to approach Kickstarter2's production like any of their AAA projects.

Edit: Granted this could turn out to be some Avellone Pet-Project Kickstarter, but I personally doubt it.

A "make it up as we go" pitch isn't going to cut it a second time. Like inXile with Torment, they need a Creative Lead to have the general story/setting made before the pitch starts.

It's gonna cut it just fine if they have pretty pictures to show and drop some enticing buzzwords.. The masses aren't as discerning as you. And Torment is not the best example to use since it was always going to be successful simply by virtue of its namesake.

 

[Wizfall]

I don't think Obsidian will need anything for their next kickstarter campaign if the PE early access/demo is released before it (and that it is good).
The money will just pile up.
Sure a well made campaign will make the money pile up even faster but it's not mandatory for their success.

 

[Sensuki]

It's more about having their campaign already pre-planned (stretch goals, etc) and not going too crazy with the rewards.

The PE Kickstarter arguably gave the best value for money regarding physical goodies out of all of the KS's. Great for us, but they won't do that again.