Interview Chris Avellone tells all on My Favourite Game

[Major_Blackhart]

Was Fergus that upset at Cain and co. for leaving BI tho?

 

[Fairfax]

I wonder how long this will go on for.
Will Obsidian ask him back in whatever capacity he wants? Or is the severing permanent you think?

I doubt they could even bring him back with more authority than he had. He was co-founder, partner and creative director.
Also, there's one more detail (which I think he'll share soon) that suggests it wasn't a friendly departure.

Was Fergus that upset at Cain and co. for leaving BI tho?

Yeah, they left the company in the middle of FO2's development.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Had no idea he loved SS2 so much. Wonder if he played Thief, he would have loved it as well.

 

[Roguey]

Yeah, they left the company in the middle of FO2's development.

Troika seemed far more bitter about it.

Slams against Troika in Black Isle games: Zero.

 

[Infinitron]

That's especially petty given that Black Isle didn't exist anymore when VTMB was released.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

They may have been promised something behind the scenes and then Fargo and or Fergus backed out.

 

[Fairfax]

Yeah, they left the company in the middle of FO2's development.

Troika seemed far more bitter about it.

Slams against Troika in Black Isle games: Zero.

It's childish, but we don't know the details. Took Tim Cain almost 15 years to work with them again, so it must've been bad.

 

[hivemind]

vtmb is also far better than anything black isle ever made

 

[Roguey]

Saying Bloodlines is better than Fallout and Torment is fighting words.

 

[Latro]

Fallout > Bloodlines > Torment > FO2

 

[Jasede]

I think that's up to personal preference, they're all pretty damn great.

I asked a friend to try to play Fallout and he said he can't, the perspective makes him dizzy. If only they remade it as an FPS, he says.

 

[Jedi Exile]

Chris is sort of a contradictory figure.

Perhaps, and it fits him well. The characters he wrote are also very contradictory persons.

 

[commie]

Avellone is a writer, writing walls of text is sorta what writers do. Maybe the problem isn't writing walls of text, unless Chris hates being a writer, I think this playing with alot of projects speak more of his age, when you are 40 to 50 , 3 years stuck on a single project becomes too much. It is a pity for us he wasted more than a decade of productive life on Obsidian.

Where else was he going to go from mid-2000's really? To make quality RPG's for EA, Activision? Indie scene wasn't really big at the time with no simple distribution system like Steam and crowdfunding wasn't a thing. Best he could do would be to sell wares in the hundreds or low thousands like the KoTC guy or Vogel! Had no real alternative at that point than to stay at Obsidian and hope for the odd good project.

Saying Bloodlines is better than Fallout and Torment is trolling words.

fixed for accuracy.

 

[hivemind]

Saying Bloodlines is better than Fallout and Torment is fighting words.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

I asked a friend to try to play Fallout and he said he can't, the perspective makes him dizzy. If only they remade it as an FPS, he says.

 

[Jasede]

At least he's hot.

 

[TimCain]

Yeah, they left the company in the middle of FO2's development.

Troika seemed far more bitter about it.

Slams against Troika in Black Isle games: Zero.

It's childish, but we don't know the details. Took Tim Cain almost 15 years to work with them again, so it must've been bad.

That sticker does not refer to Black Isle Studios, but to BIS, the Scottish indie band, which I really like, btw. Their album, Plastique Nouveau, had come out while Temple of Elemental Evil was being developed alongside of Bloodlines, and several of us on ToEE were listening to it a lot at work. One of the BL artists HATED that album and snuck that sticker into Bloodlines, and the game shipped without anyone noticing it.

 

[Roguey]

So many people over the years thought that was a dig at Black Isle. That damned artist

 

[Mustawd]

Avellone is a writer, writing walls of text is sorta what writers do. Maybe the problem isn't writing walls of text, unless Chris hates being a writer, I think this playing with alot of projects speak more of his age, when you are 40 to 50 , 3 years stuck on a single project becomes too much. It is a pity for us he wasted more than a decade of productive life on Obsidian.

Exactly. I think the guy just wants the diversity and freedom to choose projects that comes with being a sought-after freelancer. Honestly, I don't think it gets more complicated than that. The rest is just noise imo.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

It's pretty nice actually :

 

[Chris Avellone]

I think the "Black Isle" seeming-slam that most folks at BIS noticed was in a slice of dialogue in Arcanum referring to the "you mean the Black Isle?" and a follow-up of, "no one would ever want to go there," - I think it was in segments related to the Isle of Despair. Whether it actually was a Black Isle slam, I don't recall, but it was easy to interpret it as one. I don't think anyone really gives a shit about it all now, though - I don't.

But that said - the tension within the studio was pretty unpleasant following the departure, and it was mixed with a measure of confusion because it wasn't clear at first what had happened (or why it had happened), just that everyone leading FO2 was suddenly gone.

Considering what was going on (hey, Fallout's successful, why doesn't every non-developer in every part of the company jump in and try to guide the ship despite the fact it's going fine already), I don't blame anyone, that situation basically sucks - but I only saw it/heard it from the outside, so take that with a grain of salt.

I will say FO2 suffered without the three of them heading the ship and maintaining the vision - not to mention the subsequent loss of other folks who jumped ship, even if they weren't working on FO2 - we lost a lot of good people. But hey, that says just as much about the studio unable to keep them on board as much as the promise of better opportunities elsewhere.

I still rue the fact the original F2 artwork for the game cover was never used. :/

 

[Infinitron]

I will say FO2 suffered without the three of them heading the ship and maintaining the vision

What about Fallout 3? http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/van-buren-by-tim-cain.96084/

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

This is all false, according to my sources you guys listen only to the music that fits the setting of the game you're working on.

So Power Rangers theme for both Fallouts, Omen theme on loop for Temple of Elemental Evil, and She Wolf by Shakira for Arcanum.

 

[ghostdog]

Just one moment here, my dear Chris Avellone ... Isle of Despair? You actually got there during your Arcanum playthrough?

Does that mean you'll be continuing the promised Arcanum LP?

Teh codex nevar forgets!



PS: I can totally sympathize with that Bloodlines artist.

 

[Turisas]

Never underestimate the power of wolf diplomacy, ghostdog.