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InXile and budget problems

InXile's problems are

  • Small budgets

    Votes: 6 6.2%
  • Something else

    Votes: 61 62.9%
  • Kingcomrade

    Votes: 30 30.9%

  • Total voters
    97

getter77

Augur
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GA, USA
pnp Numenera came first---they went with it on a misguided bit to tie in prior authorship as a ride hitching venture. As the source was handled poorly as has all of the post D&D ventures, the game winding up a mess was all but fated.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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Is there a single example out there of some developer/designer releasing two good RPGs 15 years apart?

If the answer is no, maybe we should learn from it.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
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Is there a single example out there of some developer/designer releasing two good RPGs 15 years apart?

If the answer is no, maybe we should learn from it.
Wizardry (#64 on Codex list, 1980) and Wizardry 8 (#10, 2001).

If we're just looking at individuals, Chris Avellone on PS:T (#1, 1999) and D:OS (Codex GOTY 2017), etc. The problem is that most people age out of designing (as to some degree Avellone himself did). Van Caneghem, maybe, with M&M1 (1986) through M&M8 (2000) gets close, though neither of the bookends made Codex's list.

That said, 15 years is a very long time in the industry. Most game companies don't really last in any meaningful way for that long (maybe that was your point?); even entire genres don't last that long, and certainly RPG franchises seldom do. I mean, Ultima I to Serpent Isle is less than 15 years. If you look at the Codex top 70 list, almost no games are from the 1980s. The list has some >10 year spans, like Baldur's Gate (1998) to DA:O (2009) or Wasteland (1988) to Fallout 2 (1999), so that might be a more reasonable measure.

Also, maybe I'm misreading the question and it means two good RPGs 15 years apart with nothing in the middle, in which case, I have no idea.
 

getter77

Augur
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Is there a single example out there of some developer/designer releasing two good RPGs 15 years apart?

If the answer is no, maybe we should learn from it.

Hmm...well, Guido Henkel COULD have pulled it off/still well might if only enough of universal circumstance would align with him instead of wind up arrayed against him.

Otherwise, MRY pretty much has it given the absolutely short history and relative volatility of the games industry outright. Though...probably the purely P&P Tabletop space has a fair assortment which would put it down to inherent difficulties bridging means and mediums.
 

BEvers

I'm forever blowing
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
808
Is there a single example out there of some developer/designer releasing two good RPGs 15 years apart?

Jeff Vogel.
How do you get there? Exile I to Avernum 6 is only 14 years. (15 years is a really long time!) I though the Codex consensus on everything post-Avernum (Avadon and rebooted Avernum) is not great?

I'm counting Avadon 1 as "good for what it is."
 
Unwanted

a Goat

Unwanted
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Chris Avellone on PS:T (#1, 1999) and D:OS (Codex GOTY 2017)
PS:T was bad and his involvement in Div:OS was Fane and probably inspiring the story to be carbon copy of pillars. In the meantime he also designed "pearls"(kinda soft and with very offensive smell tho) such as Dungeon Siege 3
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
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37,083
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Bulgaria
LoL
American developers-if only we had more money we could have made a game that could run,please now buy this piece of shit that doesn't,also you are responsible for it

European Indi devs- Hey guys,we spend two years eating bread and slat to make this game,it is filled with our passion,we will iron out the bugs months after release,hope you like it.

Fandom-Look guys,obsidian is making another piles of shit,lets go and preorder it now!


Money is not the problem,stagnation and centralization of the industry is. Everything is located in one city and everyone have connections thus they can't get new and capable people rise to important position. It doesn't help that the region is one of the most overpriced places in the world.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Is there a single example out there of some developer/designer releasing two good RPGs 15 years apart?

If the answer is no, maybe we should learn from it.

The developers of Pathfinders Kingmakers did release Silent Storm, Silent Storm Sentinels, and hammer & Sickle across such a timeline~ While S2 and S3 is a bit lite, Hammer Sickle is pure story tactical RPG set in Cold War Germany.
 

DavidBVal

4 Dimension Games
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Pathfinder: Wrath
Is there a single example out there of some developer/designer releasing two good RPGs 15 years apart?

If the answer is no, maybe we should learn from it.
Wizardry (#64 on Codex list, 1980) and Wizardry 8 (#10, 2001).

If we're just looking at individuals, Chris Avellone on PS:T (#1, 1999) and D:OS (Codex GOTY 2017), etc. The problem is that most people age out of designing (as to some degree Avellone himself did). Van Caneghem, maybe, with M&M1 (1986) through M&M8 (2000) gets close, though neither of the bookends made Codex's list.

That said, 15 years is a very long time in the industry. Most game companies don't really last in any meaningful way for that long (maybe that was your point?); even entire genres don't last that long, and certainly RPG franchises seldom do. I mean, Ultima I to Serpent Isle is less than 15 years. If you look at the Codex top 70 list, almost no games are from the 1980s. The list has some >10 year spans, like Baldur's Gate (1998) to DA:O (2009) or Wasteland (1988) to Fallout 2 (1999), so that might be a more reasonable measure.

Also, maybe I'm misreading the question and it means two good RPGs 15 years apart with nothing in the middle, in which case, I have no idea.

I was indeed talking about individuals, not companies, given how people were discussing Brian Fargo. Wizardry is a perfect example of my point, namely: unlike in other creative fields like filmmaking or literature, talent and creativity seems to fade out after 3-4 games. Original Wizardry team seemed to be exhausted by the time Wiz 4 was released, D.W. Bradley created three amazing games and then after some dubious ones, gone as well.

Avellone is still active, and may still be an exception to the rule (hopefully), but as far as I know he's currently just acting as "support" writer, given his huge relevance and proven talent he should be the lead writer in some of these modern projects... I do not doubt one can still do a good job and make a living, the question is wether given the constant changes in the videogame industry we should expect anything truly remarkable from the legendary names from the 80s and 90s. In other creative fields, these people should be in their best moment and producing their best stuff...
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
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Messages
5,703
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California
>unlike in other creative fields like filmmaking or literature, talent and creativity seems to fade out after 3-4 games.

Not sure that's right. I think there's a fairly highly likelihood that what's going on is that game genres change, which means (1) people good at making games in the old genre might no longer be good in the new genre and (2) fans of the old games might not be fans of the new ones. Also, it may just be that because the game industry just doesn't have the same mechanisms for highly compensation non-management level people, as you progress, you go into higher positions. Also, the sample size of "recognizable RPG names" is so small it's hard to really know one way or another.

In plenty of other game genres, there are developers who have produced great games for a long time. Plenty of Japanese developers come to mind (e.g., Shigero Miyamoto or Yu Suzuki), but in the U.S., you could go with anyone from Sid Meier to Andrew Plotkin to Steve Fawkner to Tim Shafer (Monkey Island to Psychonauts is 15 years) to Chris Metzen, etc., etc.
 

A horse of course

Guest
In plenty of other game genres, there are developers who have produced great games for a long time. Plenty of Japanese developers come to mind (e.g., Shigero Miyamoto or Yu Suzuki), but in the U.S., you could go with anyone from Sid Meier to Andrew Plotkin to Steve Fawkner to Tim Shafer (Monkey Island to Psychonauts is 15 years) to Chris Metzen, etc., etc.

:hmmm:
 

Reader

Scholar
Joined
Jan 28, 2018
Messages
191
I think that inXile problem is not budget, but people. I mean staff. I dont know why they tolerate obvious lack of programming skill (BTIV) and pumped writers for TToN. Why they cant just rotate people in search of really talented like CDPR does?
Second, i think Mister Fargo shouldn't really ask for feedback. Just make the game like you see it. It is way more efficient.

Plenty of Japanese developers come to mind
Right. Because they dont tweet various nonsense, they work.
 

StaticSpine

Arcane
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Joined
Dec 14, 2013
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3,232
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Moscow
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
If we're just looking at individuals, Chris Avellone on PS:T (#1, 1999) and D:OS (Codex GOTY 2017), etc.
Come on, D:OS is clearly not "his" game. Larian brought him for additional hype, counceling etc.
 

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