PS:T goes out of print

Platter · Post by **Platter** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 2:58 pm

Originally posted by interrupt
- Scott Warner

*bows down*

Aubrey · Post by **Aubrey** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 7:32 pm

@ Platter --

*bows down*

Psssst! ... Why are you bowing? Who's that guy?

Platter · Post by **Platter** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 8:09 am

A Designer and Scripter of Torment.

"Scott Warner was a new recruit we were able to hire near the last half of the project, and he did work on Curst and the Trash Warrens - a lot of the cool scripted sequences you see in these areas come from the long hours Scott put in tweaking the areas. The layout and behavior of the Curst and Carceri inhabitants got a face-lift once he joined the project."
-Chris Avellone

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 8:27 am

Several copies of PS:T, both new and used, have shown up here. Just in case someone is lacking a copy, and interested.

interrupt · Post by **interrupt** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 10:57 am

I also handled the level design (with the exception of concepting for the environment) and some scripting for most of the Lower Ward, the Mausoleum, the Outlands, some of the Fortress of Regrets, and the Brothel.

- Scott Warner

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 3:12 pm

Scott, hi. I know you worked on IWD, Fallout 2, and PS:T. Are you doing anything these days involving CRPGs?

Platter · Post by **Platter** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 1:45 am

Scott, you wouldn't happen to know/remember which particular plane Nameless One ends up in, in the finale video, would you? (assuming it was even thought out beyond being just some Lower Plane).

interrupt · Post by **interrupt** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 2:45 am

I left Black Isle when TORN was cancelled and went to work at Pandemic Studios. I've helped out on various projects, but my main role has been lead designer on an unannounced squad-based military sim for the X-Box.

So, I'm not working on an RPG at the moment, but I'll eventually end up back in the design chair for one. One problem with working on a huge RPG is often times you're one designer out of ten (like Torment) and you have a relatively defined task(s) for the entire project. I wanted to learn about the development process for more action/console oriented games, and I wanted to challenge myself to be better as an all around game designer, so after TORN fell through I went off to pursue that role.

As for the question regarding the Nameless One... he's off to fight in the Blood War. I forget exactly which of the Lower Planes he's in, but I want to say it's the Grey Waste. Funny, I remember having the discussion for setting it next to this huge monument on one of those planes, but I can't remember if, in that scene, the monument was in it along with all the beasts fighting below...

- Scott Warner

Platter · Post by **Platter** » Mon Dec 09, 2002 4:10 am

Khin-Oin, the Wasting Tower (which is on Oinos, of the Gray Waste)? That's what I thought that giant spinal column was.
The only thing is that the sky is orange, not gray...

Also, did he die at the end or just get sucked down into the Lower Planes alive?
I could ask you a million questions, you'll probably have to ignore me to get me to stop.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 10:10 am

Originally posted by interrupt
I left Black Isle when TORN was cancelled and went to work at Pandemic Studios. I've helped out on various projects, but my main role has been lead designer on an unannounced squad-based military sim for the X-Box.

If it doesn't open old wounds too much, what was the deal with TORN being cancelled? Arguably, in BIS, Interplay had the best design team for RPGs ever assembled at that time. I heard all sorts of rumors afterwards, of course--everything from a mutinous crew to accountants eager to cut losses--but it's hard to get a handle on internal workings at any company, from the outside. This, of course, was not just any company. It was the BIS that produced PS:T. [/b][/QUOTE]

interrupt · Post by **interrupt** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 2:56 pm

I think the Gamespot Graveyard feature on TORN with Ferg and Dave pretty much covered it all. We had a lot of technology limitations and organizational problems, and all of them combined derailed the project long before it was cancelled. It certainly wasn’t for lack of talent on the team; the vast majority of us had developed at least one top notch CRPG before and Dave’s design work for the game was fantastic. Most of us were relived when TORN was shelved, because there’s no way it would have congealed into anything remotely resembling a class Black Isle game in the time that we had left.

In retrospect, had Feargus been around more during the first year of development I think a fair amount of our problems would have been squashed early on (he was overwhelmed with overseeing the production of both Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate II), but I still don’t think we would have ever overcome our issues with Lithtech. It’s not that it was a bad engine or anything, but we fell for the same mistake that many developers have in thinking that licensing an engine will always save you time and money. Our industry has more than enough examples of the opposites happening.

Hope that answers your question.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 3:22 pm

Yes, it does, thanks.

Scott, as you can probably tell from the top threads on this board, many of us feel that PS:T went considerably beyond the average jejune "kill this now kill that" CRPG, delving into darker areas of personal manipulation and ethical ambiguity. Did any of this interest you? What were the aspects of PS:T within the game intself that made it something you enjoyed working on?

Platter · Post by **Platter** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 6:24 pm

Eh... I wasn't serious about ignoring me.

interrupt · Post by **interrupt** » Thu Dec 12, 2002 6:55 pm

Most definitely. The first time I read one of Avellone’s dialog documents for the game I knew that Torment was in as class by itself and that I had to be involved with project. To give you some perspective on the why the content was how it was, the three principle writers for the project had degrees in Writing, Philosophy, and Psychology, and all three of them had a lifetime immersion in PnP role playing (and of course one actually worked for TSR). The game didn’t turn out like it did by accident.

I was also attracted to the wild imagination of Planescape. I grew up with computer role playing games and science fiction, so while I had a definite interest in all things D&D, if I had the choice between working in established properties and 100% original ones, I’d chose the latter. Working within Planescape felt entirely fresh as the setting itself allowed for such a high degree of reckless creativity. A large portion of the team was influenced by Japanese storytelling and game design, so the rigid-ness of your typical fantasy archetypes wasn’t exactly everyone’s bag. After the success of Torment, the initial design ideas for TORN were, in some ways, far more daring than what we’d done before, but we were quickly brought back down to Earth by management that knew more about Interplay’s bottom line than we did.

The experience of working with those three (Avellone, McComb, and Maldonado) was very inspiring, and I’ll take their knowledge with me in all the design I end up working on.

Platter:

That disappearing act you see in that scene may very well have been one our equivalents of “Ninja Smoke”. I don’t remember the specific reason Chris requested that. Good catch on the Grey Waste as well. The end movie was done at the very last minute.

Azmodan · Post by **Azmodan** » Sun Dec 22, 2002 8:32 am

omg!.. Scott!...

(sorry sounds like a frenzyed fan)... i just wanted to say, that it's such a loss that PS:T is taken of the shelves, and that we never ever get to see a secuel... it's the game of the century! (if you ask me)