The Outer Worlds Pre-Release Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Rev]

An Xbox-only Star Wars RPG can definitely help Microsoft's console bizz.

Yeah, but EA still has the license for another 5 years.
Now that I mention this, it still amazes me how badly EA has managed to use the SW license so far, even with the new movies coming out (which have been shitty, but there was a lot of hype especially for VII) and still they only managed to make two extremely flawed Battlefront, which have also flopped (esp. the second one).
Compare this to how LucasArts was putting out Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, KotOR, Battlefront, KotOR II, Battlefront II and Republic Commando all between 2002 and 2005, and all of which were at the very least decent/good games for the fans of the brand.

 

[Latelistener]

I didn't expect EA to produce anything worthwhile, but they exceeded my expectation with the BF2 drama.

 

[Rev]

I didn't expect EA to produce anything worthwhile, but they exceeded my expectation with the BF2 drama.

Everybody expected nothing of worth out of them, but they managed to far exceed even the worst expectations one could possibly have. And also a SW game during the hype of Ep. VII basically sold itself, yet they still managed to fail somehow.

 

[Flou]

Maybe they were working with MS for the past 6-12 months on a new pitch. I know it's somewhat far-fetched, but they have a lot of people in the studio and they have to work on something other than Indiana, as it has enough people already.

Plus, as you've noticed they're hiring a bunch of programmers, most likely to lay a foundation for a new game.

I don't think it is that far fetched and I agree that the programmer hirings are a foundation for a new game unless they are going all-in on the Project Indiana now that they have Microsoft backing them up. But since Feargus prefers the company to work on multiple projects at the same time, it would be stupid to assume that they only have Indiana and the Deadfire DLC (with a skeleton crew) going on. Something is surely being worked on with a smallish crew at least, because at some point all those people working on Deadfire DLCs & support and some of the people on Indiana are going to need an another project.

 

[Flou]

• Tim Cain - Co-Creator / Project Director
• Leonard Boyarsky - Co-Creator / Project Director / Lead Writer

• Julia Kernan - Associate Producer (Left the company last December)
  
• Ian Conway - Associate Producer (changed jobs during this spring)
• Josh Sawyer - Executive Producer (According to Avellone)
• Richard Taylor - Executive Producer(At Blizzard as of recently)
• Matthew Singh - Senior Producer
• Alec Frey - Producer (Lead?)

• Robert Nesler - Art Director
• Bobby Hernandez - Concept Artist / 3D Artist
• Ken LeSaint - Senior 3D Artist
• Brian Menze - Senior Artist
• Michelle Vargas - 3D Environment Artist
• Marina Bekeshko - Junior Environment Artist
• Geoff Schofield - FX Artist
• Aaron Dubois - Senior FX Artist
• Brian LeLeux - Lighting Artist (Left to the Crystal Dynamics in June)
  
• Hannah Kennedy - Concept Artist (no confirmation on her, working on an unannounced project as on 2017)
• Daniel Platt - Artist
  
• Omar Aweidah - Senior Character Artist (One of the more recent hires at Obsidian, I think he is in the photo as well)
• Aldo Vicente - 3D Character Artist. (Joined in June'17. Again, not credited for Deadfire, so Indiana.)
• Daniel Peterson - Graphic Artist (Twitter)
• Thad Clevanger - Contract Artist
• Clare Sim - Concept Artist
• Adriana Catarino - Lighting Artist

• Nicole Evanich - Animator
• Antonio Govela - Animator
• Shon Stewart - Animator
• Cathy Nichols - Character Animator

• Dan Spitzley - Senior Programmer
• Anthony Davis - Senior Programmer (Now at Blizzard )
  
• Ankur Oswal - Junior Programmer
• Nate McDorman - Junior Programmer (LinkedIn has him working on unannounced project since 1/17 which would pretty much leave only TOW as an option)
• Kyle Swaim - Senior Tools Programmer (I think he is in that staff photo)

• Scott Everts - Technical Designer
• Constant Gaw - Senior Designer
• David Williams - Senior Systems Designer
• Dini McMurry - Senior Level Designer
• Charles Staples - Senior Designer / Lead Designer
  
• Tyson Christensen - Senior Designer / Lead Level Designer
  
• Dan McPhee - Junior Narrative Designer
• Chris L'Etoile - Narrative Designer
• Carter Thomas - Level Designer
  
• Anthony Rogers - Cinematics Designer ( No confirmation, can be seen on the photo though)
• Carrie Patel - Narrative Designer
  
• Megan Starks - Senior Narrative Designer / Lead Narrative Designer (rpgsite preview)
• Kate Dollarhyde - Narrative Designer (Twitter)
• Marc Soskin - Level Designer
  

• Andrew Dearing - Senior Sound Designer
• Justin Bell - Audio Director

Those are the ones I'm quite sure or 100% sure about. Then there's the rest of the sound guys (For example Scott Gilmore is working on an unannounced game with Unreal listed as one of the tools he is using).
Craig Matchett (who was hired through one of the job ads for the project)
Brian Goetz (Senior Producer)
Joseph Than worked on the game has moved onto Blizzard during this spring (probably one of the people Avellone hinted that had changed jobs)
Pretty sure Jorge Morales is doing the UI Programming on the game.
Dennis Presnell as environment artist (the guy looking like he does not want to be in the picture and all joy has left his soul, former BIS empoyee though )
Scott Hafner as Level Designer (next to Rob Nesler, between the two women in the photo)
Allen Chen as Senior Engine Programmer (Has moved on to Visual Concepts during the summer)
Brandon Rosser as Environment Artist ( I think he is in the picture)

The somewhat unlikely group (since they are actually working something else than Deadfire and TOW):

Matthew Lowe - Technical Artist. Was hired back in June this year. Haven't seen his name on any of the Deadfire DLCs so that's leaves TOW as the only? option. Worked previously on Call of Duty WWII.
Andrew Bosold - Senior Environment Artist. Joined in September, so again sounds like TOW hiring, unless there's something else they are making. Has worked on Halo 4&5 and at Wargaming Seattle.
Jerrick Flores - Technical Audio Designer. Joined last month. Has previously worked on God of War.
Archye Valdes - 3d Animator. Has been with the company since May'17. Did not work on Deadfire, so TOW it is.
Phillip Chiu - Software Engineer. Joined last month, which makes is reasonable to assume that's it's TOW, especially since he has previous experience with UE4.
Steven Moret - Programmer. Ex-Troika guy and former Carbine Studios guy. Joined in Jan'17. Did Tools Programming on Deadfire. Did not work on DLCs afaik, so got most likely moved on TOW.
Glenn Lattiere - UI Designer. Working on unannounced game. Joined in Nov'17.
Christopher J Logan - Senior Lighting Artist. Joined June of this year. Has previously worked on RDR2, GTA5 and Angry Birds movie. Most likely the guy that got hired when they were looking for a lighting artist in summer/spring for TOW.
Jerad Dunn - Senior Software Engineer (AI/Gameplay). Joined in June, has worked on 6 different Madden games before. TOW, since don't recall seeing his name on Deadfire DLCs.

 

[axedice]

For the love of all that is holy, I hope neither Cain nor Boyarsky let Meghan Starks touch any of the companions. I don't think any of us could deal with another Xoti

 

[Quillon]

Stop exaggerating, a few cringy lines in a 60 hour game

Also we don't know shit about Indiana(ffs its been 2.5 years ) maybe there won't be any companions in this probable 3rd action RPG.

 

[Latelistener]

Leonard Boyarsky - Co-Creator / Project Director

Chris said he's Lead Writer.

Richard Taylor - No idea on his role

Lead Producer. Josh is suppose to replace him.

Edit: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...-leonard-boyarsky.119594/page-13#post-5815764
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...-leonard-boyarsky.119594/page-15#post-5861006

 

[Nano]

Sad times for Chris L'Etoile. Seems like he won't be working on Outer Worlds for a while, if at all.

 

[Flou]

That it is indeed very sad news. Though as a writer he can hopefully do some of his work from Pennsylvania and won't actually have to look for a new job in that region among all that going on.

 

[FreeKaner]

For the love of all that is holy, I hope neither Cain nor Boyarsky let Meghan Starks touch any of the companions. I don't think any of us could deal with another Xoti

Yes, especially since Megan Starks actually seems to be good at something else instead, area themes. The areas she wrote were actually all enjoyable.

 

[Latelistener]

Do not fret. Megan is going to be a fine replacement for Chris.

 

[Chris Avellone]

<Indiana Credits>

More info:

I think Thad Clevenger is gone (not let go, contract/remote work ended as they stopped doing outsourcing work on Indiana).

Charlie is Lead Designer and Tyson is Lead Level Designer.

I didn't know Julia or Joseph had left (I only worked with Joseph, he was great).

 

[Latelistener]

Chris Avellone, do you know why Mark Bremerkamp left? He was the lead animator on many Obsidian projects and also Bloodlines. Kinda hoped he will be on Indiana too.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

What's wrong with Xoti? I get that she's a divisive companion, but I think Megan Starks did a solid job executing and implementing the character concept. It's the concept itself that is divisive but the writing is spot on. She's the only companion that has a somewhat interesting story arc.

I can't speak about Megan's work in Tyranny because I found the entire game insufferably awful after 10 minutes. But in Deadfire I think she did more good than bad.

 

[Quillon]

What's wrong with Xoti?

inb4 someone posts a screen of a cheerleading line.

 

[Roguey]

What's wrong with Xoti? I get that she's a divisive companion, but I think Megan Starks did a solid job executing and implementing the character concept. It's the concept itself that is divisive but the writing is spot on. She's the only companion that has a somewhat interesting story arc.

I can't speak about Megan's work in Tyranny because I found the entire game insufferably awful after 10 minutes. But in Deadfire I think she did more good than bad.

She acts like a 21st century womanchild.

 

[2house2fly]

At one point she says "Oh. My. Gaun." which by itself is an enormous drag factor.

One thing I don't like in general in Deadfire is the use of the word for the afterlife "Hel" as a 1:1 replacement for "Hell" the mild curse word.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

That's more Norse Mythology than anything.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Chris Avellone, do you know why Mark Bremerkamp left? He was the lead animator on many Obsidian projects and also Bloodlines. Kinda hoped he will be on Indiana too.

I don't know why Mark left, he resigned after I was at Obsidian.

My first experience with working with Mark directly was the FNV DLCs, and I quickly learned I didn't have much to worry about from the animation dept, which was a relief. Mark was really great to work with.

Sad times for Chris L'Etoile. Seems like he won't be working on Outer Worlds for a while, if at all.

That's awful news. Donated (and thanks for showcasing the GoFundMe).

 

[Zed]

At one point she says "Oh. My. Gaun." which by itself is an enormous drag factor.

One thing I don't like in general in Deadfire is the use of the word for the afterlife "Hel" as a 1:1 replacement for "Hell" the mild curse word.

yeah that was Hela lame

 

[Latelistener]

Now I know how

looks in real life.

 

[Molina]

I never see Boyarsky before the livestream of Fallout, few days ago.

He seems the best game designer of all the time. Little bit depressed and disillusioned. A kind of contemporary Meursault. He promised a game that would look like him. Fuck, I can't wait....

 

[santino27]

Sad times for Chris L'Etoile. Seems like he won't be working on Outer Worlds for a while, if at all.

At least the gofundme is doing well. To his (sincere) credit, Sawyer donated $1k, as much as Parker's wife.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Speaking from experience it's really crap when tragic events to do with families happen and you've got multiple problems at work dealing with crunch. Meaning you can't do what your instincts are telling you to and just drop everything to deal with the people you actually care about. Not the retards who you need to babysit because they can't design in Source properly and if they fuck up you're getting the blame whilst all the other teams bitch about how incompetent you must be. I'm glad this guy is getting the help he needs. Back in my day you just ate your shit sandwich and asked for more with a smile on your face or you weren't "Contributing to the team" as my old boss like to say.