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inXile General Discussion Thread

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Brian Fargo on Inside: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-11-07-its-whats-inside-that-counts

It's what's Inside that counts
Why I Love: Playdead's platformer is visually striking, but inXile's Brian Fargo was taken by its elegant and thoughtful design


Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This column was contributed by Interplay and inXile Entertainment founder Brian Fargo, whose work spans classics old and new, from Wasteland and The Bard's Tale to Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

It's not often that I find the time and passion to finish a game but Inside was one of those rare gems that I had to see through to completion. I play a tremendous amount of games to stay on top of what is state of the art, to experience new UI approaches and to understand why people are enjoying it. One might assume that I only play RPGs, but every genre has lessons to be learned from and playing games in my own genre is often more homework than play.

When I was a kid (early Interplay days) I used to go to small animated movie festivals to watch experimental and crazed short films. Inside reminded me of the strangeness of those experiences. In fact, I remember first seeing Pixar's Luxo Jr. back in the late '80s at just one of those events.



One of the most difficult things to do in games is to set a strong sense of mood. Games like Hellblade and the original Fallout series did a wonderful job of striking the right tone and Inside does the same with its muted colors and subtle sound design. Ultimately our goal as game creators is to evoke a range of emotions (besides frustration) from our players. Strong mood aids immersion, which in turn gets the player's head in the space to emotionally react.

The game is simple in its implementation on the core mechanics of most every platformer: running, jumping, pushing, pulling etc. But Inside created a tension with its clever use of lighting, sound and timing. A simple flashlight became a terrifying moment that would result in an instant death if caught in its glow. Death was brutal and unceremonious with minimal sound effects to add to the bleakness of it all. Enemies simply stood over your dead body or strangled you silently. The lighting approach permeated the game as I was constantly avoiding headlights from cars and any number of strange machinery. It was a simple, effective and powerful.

Especially well done was the tension that the developers infused in the game, and with a special highlight on the dogs. Audio foreshadowing is a proven technique and the ramp up of the dogs barking as they approach always got my heart racing. Again, a simple maneuver but highly effective in the timing required to outrun them. I especially appreciated the small windows of time that would have me just barely leap from their jaws into the safety of the next scene. I loved it every time. There was a constant sense of foreboding as the strange adults were busy having conversations out of ear shot and turning knobs in some bizarre experiment that you could never get a handle on. My curiosity was piqued at all times.

The hallmark of good puzzle design is when I blame myself for not thinking of the solution should I fail at solving it, which is always a tight rope to walk. There were times when my desire to move forward outweighed my patience and I would find a walkthrough on YouTube and each time the answer was revealed I would know that I should have concluded it myself. Puzzles slowly cascaded up in difficulty and complexity but never to the point of feeling too rote. And again, the simplicity in thinking to solve them was always there. In one scene, the wonderfully terrifying dog chased me down to the edge of a lake, I jumped in to swim away only to find out he could pursue me in water and make his kill as I attempted my aquatic getaway. I felt like a champ when I realized I had to lure him into the water, quickly swim underneath him and then make my escape. Additionally, I found the overall pacing quite nice in that each room did not require me to solve a puzzle, sometimes I could run freely for some time before encountering another block. This freedom made the world more organic; putting a puzzle in every room can make the world feel overly gamey.

A special nod also goes out to the bizarre scenes in which you brain control a mob of ghouls to do your bidding to solve a series of clever puzzles. It was both inventive and broke up the flow of game by having me play with a different mechanics. In fact, Inside gave me the opportunity to play with different mechanics of movement several times throughout the game, a technique that I've always been a big fan of.

I've always felt that attention to subtle detail will be noticed or appreciated by the players even if at some subconscious level. And it is through the subtle detail in which the charm or soul of a game is felt. There were a number of techniques that I noted during gameplay that paid off this concept. Often when my character was running he would glance behind his shoulder to further the sense of being hunted. I also noted that the camera was in pretty tight during most of the game so that when it pulled out for the long shot I felt the sense of vast space.

714x-1


Inside is a game that when played in retrospect might look like it was easy to design but that is only because it is so tight in its implementation. Pulling off the kind of gameplay they did takes a tremendous amount of effort and focus on the power of iteration. This was not a game you simply designed on paper but a celebration of the long process of tinkering. Using the sound with just the right tone and frequency, creating tension with tight moments and the natural feeling of the puzzles into the environment and the cascading of puzzle elements was something that takes hundreds of hours to hone. Inside represented all that is artistic in creating video games.

Upcoming Why I Love columns:
  • Tuesday, November 21 - Voyageur's Bruno Dias on Magic: The Gathering
  • Tuesday, December 5 - Lightseekers' Ana Steiner on World of Warcraft
  • Tuesday, December 19 - Last Day of June's Massimo Guarini on ICO
  • Tuesday, January 2 - Raconteur Games CEO Nicholas Laborde on Rainbox Six: Siege
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
inXile looking for a Senior Level Designer for a UE4 open world first person survival game:



Senior Level Designer
Newport Beach, CA

We are looking for a Senior Level Designer to join our studio. Become a linchpin in transforming our award-winning crafted narrative worlds into their own reality!

Essential Requirements, Qualifications & Such:
  • 8+ years and at least 2 previously shipped titles in a senior level design or environment world building role, with established track record of crafting engaging open world content.
  • Work directly with the Creative Director on the vision and execution all world environment game spaces.
  • Preparation (and at times presentation) of level design documentation.
  • Ability to balance world aesthetics and gameplay needs within set technical limitations.
  • Deep understanding of first-person combat and exploration survival game mechanics.
  • Senior ownership of the world map design and its execution pipeline.
  • Environment and level reviews at multiple stages of implementation to ensure the design execution matches the overall creative vision.
  • Rapid block-out prototyping for conceptual layout.
Big Pluses:
  • Applicants with in-depth and proven experience in Unreal Engine 4 will go to the top of the pile.
  • Familiarity with inXile games and their licensed IP.
  • Experience with additional aspects of design development: character design, quest & narrative writing, event scripting, and AI design.
 

Cross

Arcane
Joined
Oct 14, 2017
Messages
2,983
Deep understanding of first-person combat and exploration survival game mechanics.
Sounds like InXile's answer to games like DayZ and ARK.

Wasteland: Survival Evolved?

Or maybe more accurately:

Wasteland: Shovelware Evolved?
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
Wasteland: Survival Evolved?

Or maybe more accurately:

Wasteland: Shovelware Evolved?

I think they will use a new IP, to be honest. There's nothing to lose by doing so, and by doing that, you avoid pissing off fans of Fallout who don't want InXile's successor's brand to be tarnished.
 

Lahey

Laheyist
Patron
Joined
Jun 10, 2017
Messages
1,467
Grab the Codex by the pussy
I think they will use a new IP, to be honest. There's nothing to lose by doing so, and by doing that, you avoid pissing off fans of Fallout who don't want InXile's successor's brand to be tarnished.
Did Fallout precede Wasteland in this timeline? Fucking cern niggers have gone too far.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,999
Location
Platypus Planet
The RPG renaissance meme is over so now Fargo is jumping on the next hot bandwagon which is open world survival games. Is there anyone here who still doubts that Fargo is just a conman who goes where there is easy money to be had?
 

Father Foreskin

Learned
Joined
Feb 6, 2017
Messages
167
I didnt know Fargo was into survivalism. Living in that big mansion and riding a limo doesnt really give off that Bear Grylls vibe, altough playing Torment does feel like drinking your piss. Lets look how a Fargo survival game would function:

- A leaf landed in the pool. Player must call Pedro the illegal to scoop it up. 10Xp

- Wifes fake tit ruptures and the silicone leaks all around the bedroom. Player must call Shaniqqa the maid to wash the shit up. 15Xp

- Fargos son Yitzak gets a bad grade in school. The player must choose between bribing the teacher or the principal. 20xp
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
I didnt know Fargo was into survivalism. Living in that big mansion and riding a limo doesnt really give off that Bear Grylls vibe, altough playing Torment does feel like drinking your piss. Lets look how a Fargo survival game would function:

- A leaf landed in the pool. Player must call Pedro the illegal to scoop it up. 10Xp

- Wifes fake tit ruptures and the silicone leaks all around the bedroom. Player must call Shaniqqa the maid to wash the shit up. 15Xp

- Fargos son Yitzak gets a bad grade in school. The player must choose between bribing the teacher or the principal. 20xp

You forgot this:
  • T:ToN gets an underwhelming response. The player must choose between announcing retirement or complaining about customers not appreciating the game's greatness.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
Their current youtube ads for numanuma are really sad. "Up to 70% off" is they only feature of the game they advertise in HUGE letters.
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
Their current youtube ads for numanuma are really sad. "Up to 70% off" is they only feature of the game they advertise in HUGE letters.

70% off a piece of crap doesn't change it from being a piece of crap. I wouldn't buy T:ToN for free.
 

TT1

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
1,479
Location
Krakow
Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
My google alert for "inxile" just sent me an email about a new Kickstarter reference, but there is nothing new there.

Maybe something will popup there.
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
My google alert for "inxile" just sent me an email about a new Kickstarter reference, but there is nothing new there.

Maybe something will popup there.

I don't think that is likely; inXile is more likely to use Fig than Kickstarter at this point.
 

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