Game News Obsidian to co-develop Wasteland 2 if Kickstarter reaches $2.1mil

[Pegultagol]

One thing I am curious is why 2.1 mil? Is Avellone's participation along with Obsidian's assets worth an extra 400,000 mullahs? Aside from Chris' working to improve literary depth and maybe design couple of locations and whatnot, will the DS3 engine be retrofitted, for example, to up the graphics fidelity or maybe help shorten the development time? I am not sure who reached out to who first, I am guessing Fargo, but this participation seem really borne out of excitement at the possibilities to exercise creativity without restraint. And clearly if this works out, Avellone can look forward to not only Kick it Forward but participation from inXile for his own Kickstarter ambitions. This is essentially another example of Kickstarter transforming a part of industry, this time outsourcing, not based on contract per se, but more through active participation. Like MCA said, interesting times.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Chris Avellone (born: 1971)
First Game credited: Conquest of the New World: Deluxe Edition (1996)

Holy shit, MCA worked on Conquest of the New World? I remember playing that game as a kid and loving it.

 

[Stabwound]

One thing I am curious is why 2.1 mil? Is Avellone's participation along with Obsidian's assets worth an extra 400,000 mullahs? Aside from Chris' working to improve literary depth and maybe design couple of locations and whatnot, will the DS3 engine be retrofitted, for example, to up the graphics fidelity or maybe help shorten the development time? I am not sure who reached out to who first, I am guessing Fargo, but this participation seem really borne out of excitement at the possibilities to exercise creativity without restraint. And clearly if this works out, Avellone can look forward to not only Kick it Forward but participation from inXile for his own Kickstarter ambitions. This is essentially another example of Kickstarter transforming a part of industry, this time outsourcing, not based on contract per se, but more through active participation. Like MCA said, interesting times.

Because it's partly a marketing stunt. There's no way they need an extra $600,000 to hire MCA and license some of the Obsidian tools. It's just a big announcement to drum up new interest and donations now that the kickstarter had more or less died off.

 

[Azalin]

One thing I am curious is why 2.1 mil? Is Avellone's participation along with Obsidian's assets worth an extra 400,000 mullahs? Aside from Chris' working to improve literary depth and maybe design couple of locations and whatnot, will the DS3 engine be retrofitted, for example, to up the graphics fidelity or maybe help shorten the development time? I am not sure who reached out to who first, I am guessing Fargo, but this participation seem really borne out of excitement at the possibilities to exercise creativity without restraint. And clearly if this works out, Avellone can look forward to not only Kick it Forward but participation from inXile for his own Kickstarter ambitions. This is essentially another example of Kickstarter transforming a part of industry, this time outsourcing, not based on contract per se, but more through active participation. Like MCA said, interesting times.

Because it's partly a marketing stunt. There's no way they need an extra $600,000 to hire MCA and license some of the Obsidian tools. It's just a big announcement to drum up new interest and donations now that the kickstarter had more or less died off.

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

 

[Roguey]

Hope they make it, I liked Vault City and New Reno and a lot of the things Avellone's been saying these past few years (e.g. "I think the stories players create on their own from interesting system mechanics and AI behavior has more weight and meaning than anything a designer tries to do. My favorite example is that no enforced narrative can really trump the story of planting dynamite on victims in Fallout, superstimming people to death, or how a character's 3rd level dwarven fighter with 5 hit points trained 20 orcs into a narrow, funneled corridor and killed them all one by one with a ball-peen hammer, Oldboy-style. The player makes stories like that happen, and those are the stories I hear players talk about most in relation to games, computer game or pen-and-paper games, not necessarily their reaction to specific cued story events or anything the designer or GM tried to force on them." and "The best stories we’ve gotten from Fallout New Vegas aren’t the ones we put in there – it’s ones people made for themselves after we gave them the tools, the characters and the world to interact with.")

Additionally lot of Obsidian employees have claimed that Onyx has some of the best tools ever, and I'll take them at their word. I doubt Tim Cain'll be involved though since he allegedly doesn't like Fargo and hasn't even donated (unless he did it with an alias or just his first name). Can't win 'em all, but I still hope Sawyer gets a pass at combat mechanics.

 

[Cosmo]

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

There's no way they can pay for models and textures anyway, so wouldn't that be overkill to borrow this engine for a 2d game ?

 

[Infinitron]

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

There's no way they can pay for models and textures anyway, so wouldn't that be overkill to borrow this engine for a 2d game ?

Nobody has said it's going to be a 2D game.

And I doubt 3D is that expensive.

 

[Brother None]

One thing I am curious is why 2.1 mil? Is Avellone's participation along with Obsidian's assets worth an extra 400,000 mullahs?

Not at all. But they do have to keep the budget in mind, and $2.1M is where they can justify this kind of out-sourcing work and licensing these tools. That doesn't mean all the difference is spent on that, it just means Fargo is very careful about how is budgeting this title, and very weary of promising too much on too little money, so he doesn't want to promise anything before he has the money to deliver.

I am worried about the possibility of clashing design philosophies...

Personally I thought this was a good thing. A lot of the staff at inXile is younger too, sure, but with so many of the core guys having been out of the industry or not having produced anything particularly noteworthy for a while, this was exactly what I was hoping for, involve someone with more recent experience, and with proven skills but with an outside view of the franchise.

 

[Cosmo]

Nobody has said it's going to be a 2D game.

And I doubt 3D is that expensive.

Agreed, but 3D that doesn't look like shit is expensive, especially if you're aiming for open-ended environments.

 

[Spectacle]

Nobody has said it's going to be a 2D game.

And I doubt 3D is that expensive.

Agreed, but 3D that doesn't look like shit is expensive, especially if you're aiming for open-ended environments.

2D that looks good isn't exactly cheap either, unless you're going for retro pixel art. And it is tons easier to find game artists experienced with 3D rather than 2D these days.

 

[Cosmo]

I don't know, still skeptical...

 

[Marshall Malibu]

Fargo is embracing the soul of the wasteland i say.

He's got one shot at doing this right,at the least it'll be a big one.

 

[Roguey]

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

There's no way they can pay for models and textures anyway, so wouldn't that be overkill to borrow this engine for a 2d game ?

Onyx being a 3D engine doesn't necessarily mean they can't make 2D games with it, look at South Park. Plus 3D models are cheaper to animate than hand-drawn sprites.

 

[Cosmo]

Onyx being a 3D engine doesn't necessarily mean they can't make 2D games with it.

That was my point. There's also the solution of creating character sprites by filming 3D models and then placing them in a 2D environment.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

They’ve [InXile] just been in touch to say that, if they can reach $2.1 million during the 17 days remaining on the funding schedule, they’ll be bringing in Obisidian Entertainment, including Planescape: Torment mastermind Chris Avellone, to help them make the game.

Ok, everyone STOP donating before the game gets given to Obsidian and is ruined with shitty camera controls.

I'll see if I can take the Codex' pledge out before it's too late...

 

[felipepepe]

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

There's no way they can pay for models and textures anyway, so wouldn't that be overkill to borrow this engine for a 2d game ?

Onyx being a 3D engine doesn't necessarily mean they can't make 2D games with it, look at South Park. Plus 3D models are cheaper to animate than hand-drawn sprites.

Yes, the original Fallout was made like this, no? 3D models turned into sprites.

They’ve [InXile] just been in touch to say that, if they can reach $2.1 million during the 17 days remaining on the funding schedule, they’ll be bringing in Obisidian Entertainment, including Planescape: Torment mastermind Chris Avellone, to help them make the game.

Ok, everyone STOP donating before the game gets given to Obsidian and is ruined with shitty camera controls.

I'll see if I can take the Codex' pledge out before it's too late...

Et tu, DU?

 

[oldmanpaco]

I can't be bothered to see if this has been discussed but what would using the Onyx engine mean for a possible tool-set?

 

[Cosmo]

Yes, the original Fallout was made like this, no? 3D models turned into sprites.

That could be less expensive and level makers could even use static art, which is always better than 3D, if the overall style isn't too realistic.

 

[skuphundaku]

They’ve [InXile] just been in touch to say that, if they can reach $2.1 million during the 17 days remaining on the funding schedule, they’ll be bringing in Obisidian Entertainment, including Planescape: Torment mastermind Chris Avellone, to help them make the game.

Ok, everyone STOP donating before the game gets given to Obsidian and is ruined with shitty camera controls.

I'll see if I can take the Codex' pledge out before it's too late...

It would be a stupid idea to even try doing that. The Codex isn't about PR, but it would also be a massive PR blunder for the Codex if you would do that.

Also, your personal distaste for Obsidian isn't shared by everybody who contributed and I think that the majority of the posts in this thread prove that beyond any reasonable doubt.

 

[hiver]

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

Whatever Fargo made the deal for with Avellone + his and Obsidian (to some extent) involvement.
Win-Win for both parties in everything.

Wasteland gets the Onyx engine, Avellone writing stuff. Obsidian gets money and good coverage in the media.


oh and by the way....

-no...wait... some flags... hmm...maybe a troll in the background somewhere...

 

[Alex]

skuphundaku

I am pretty sure DU is just kidding.

 

[Twinkle]

Now, what was their reasoning behind shitty restrictive camera in Dung Siege?

If anything, AoD beta proved that rotating 3D cam is a fucking abomination that needs to die horrible death.

 

[skuphundaku]

Now, what was their reasoning behind shitty restrictive camera in Dung Siege?

If anything, AoD beta proved that rotating 3D cam is a fucking abomination that needs to die horrible death.

Actually, I think that AoD's camera was quite good. If they wouldn't have tried to be cinematic during the conversations, thus forching a change of the point of view each time, it would have been perfect. I don't understand some people's dislike of games in which you have the ability to control the camera. It would make no sense to use 3D graphics with a 2D-style fixed camera, and, in this day and age, a 3D engine is almost a given because it's easier to create and modify 3D assetts than 2D assetts and because there are much more available artists that are skilled in creating 3D assetts than 2D assetts.

 

[Infinitron]

They’ve [InXile] just been in touch to say that, if they can reach $2.1 million during the 17 days remaining on the funding schedule, they’ll be bringing in Obisidian Entertainment, including Planescape: Torment mastermind Chris Avellone, to help them make the game.

Ok, everyone STOP donating before the game gets given to Obsidian and is ruined with shitty camera controls.

I'll see if I can take the Codex' pledge out before it's too late...

9/10

 

[skuphundaku]

How much does it cost to licence a 3d engine like Onyx ?

There's no way they can pay for models and textures anyway, so wouldn't that be overkill to borrow this engine for a 2d game ?

Onyx being a 3D engine doesn't necessarily mean they can't make 2D games with it, look at South Park. Plus 3D models are cheaper to animate than hand-drawn sprites.

South Park, despite it's cartoony look, won't be truly 2D. Most likely, they'll use Onyx with cell shading. Cell shading 3D graphics doesn't make them 2D, it just makes them LOOK 2D.