Wasteland 2 "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit Begins
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Can we clone you and put your clones in all the Big Ass Game Companies?
ChrisAvellone CCO Obsidian Entertainment: If you have the Clone Technology skill, a jug, and some chemicals, we can work something out.
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Brian, could you tell us anything in regards to where you're going (or hoping to go) with the game engine? Obviously top down, but are you looking into isometric? Straight down? Fully rotatable (Neverwinter Nights)? Something like Van Buren? Would love to know your ideal goal with this.
BrianFargo CEO inXile Entertainment: I probably have not been clear on this but the main city exploration and battles will take take place on an isometric view. There will be limited zooming but unlikely for full rotation. And the world map which gives you the larger scope of the world may or may not be isometric. Straight down for that may suffice but I want to experiment to see if there is a nice look we can achieve with a more isometric angle on that perspective. I should re-iterate that these are the kinds of things that we will throw samples up to the forums for feedback. Once we agree on the look is when I turn the artists loose.
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What is the hardest thing about producing a game?
ChrisAvellone CCO Obsidian Entertainment: The amount of detail and a careful eye on resources and budget.
To explain in terms of design, when doing a pen-and-paper D+D game you can "wing" a lot of the experience of the session with improv - for example, random NPCs the player meets, what they're carrying, etc.
In a computer game, you have to define EVERYTHING. Each NPC, their schedule down to every hour, their faction allegiance, their dialogue (and usually several dialogues depending on the player's choices in the game), their skills, their equipment... and that's just a typical townsperson. The detail gets even crazier from there.
In terms of resources, you have to become conscious of how long it takes to script and write a character and design a full level, as that determines how "much" of a game you can make in the time provided.
What I like about Wasteland with the text emphasis and the old-school elements, the design and content is much easier to focus on the fun mechanics.
BrianFargo CEO inXile Entertainment: I think the hardest part about producing a game is keeping everyone on point. No matter how clear the vision document is or how forceful I am you will find people wandering off the path. This can be the problem with an outside producer who can also force you to stray as they control the cash. You have to live and breathe the game while it is in production.
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Besides Wasteland, what other properties or projects would you like to resurrect or make a sequel to? (I'd love to see Obsidian develop another Fallout)
ChrisAvellone CCO Obsidian Entertainment: As for me, I'd love to do: Ultima (both conventional and the spin-offs like Martian Dreams), Wizard's Crown/Eternal Dagger (love the skill-based character building). In terms of existing franchises: The Wire, Archer, X-Com RPG, Deus Ex, and System Shock.
Wasteland was formerly one of the ones above, but then Brian contacted me, and made it a reality. Shiiiiit yeah
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Chris, question about Obsidian. There were a lot of talks about studio about a month ago with all that reductions and other unpleasant things concerning your contract with Bethesda on New Vegas. With that in mind can you tell me about the way Obsidian is going to choose after South Park is out? Would it rather stay with publishers mostly doing sequels for big publishers like before since your Alpha Protocol new IP was not so succesful and will probably scare publishers off or go indie-way with all these new Kickstarter thing? I understand that it is not really solid topic but if you can say something on it I will be really thankful.
ChrisAvellone CCO Obsidian Entertainment: Note this is just personal opinion. I can't predict the future, no matter how much Snake Squeezin's I drink.
So I believe Obsidian will continue to work with publishers. We'll continue doing larger RPGs, some will be sequels, some hopefully will be new, and some hopefully will be our own creations. But when it comes to stuff we've created, our chances of "owning" that world is rare to non-existent (Alpha Protocol is owned by SEGA, for example).
However, the idea of player/crowd-funding was something the industry considered as an option until Tim and Double Fine did it. Has that changed our view of the marketplace? Sure. And have we wanted to do small games? Sure. So it's an interesting time for the industry, and Kickstarter's a great way to directly ask fans what they want.
