Wadjet Eye Unavowed - Dave Gilbert's RPG-inspired urban fantasy game

[garren]

Oh my fucking god



Everything is shit

 

[MRY]

Uh-oh: http://ask.fm/WadjetEyeGames/answer/131652506742

The world really is small.

Two things:

(1) I went to summer camp with the VP of design of League of Legends, and now work with his wife at my day job. Summer camps, man! Who knew!

(2) That said, I once remarked to a professor (none other than the Eugene Volokh who recently embroiled himself in GG!), "It's a small world." He responded, "No, it's a small bourgeois elite."

 

[Jaesun]

Wow... the fist ever Wadjet Eye game I have NO interest in....

Guess that was bound to happen eventually.

 

[MRY]

Holt shit

Wow... the fist ever Wadjet Eye game I have NO interest in....

Guess that was bound to happen eventually.

 

[DeepOcean]

Can't wait for emovampires that are obcessed with bland high school teens and spark on the sunlight.

 

[Jaesun]

To be honest the Vampire thing SOUNDED cool ( the setting at least), but a lot of his I WANNA DUMB DOWN STUFF!!!111 talks and now THAT writer?

I'm sorry, but something seems off. I'm just gonna sit over here and watch.

 

[DaveGilbert]

Did... I say something wrong? I am honestly surprised at the reaction here. I don't recall ever saying I was dumbing things down. If anything this is going to be the biggest, most ambitious game we've done (hence why I hired help!). If you have any concerns based on what I said, please let me know what they are.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Did... I say something wrong? I am honestly surprised at the reaction here. I don't recall ever saying I was dumbing things down. If anything this is going to be the biggest, most ambitious game we've done (hence why I hired help!). If you have any concerns based on what I said, please let me know what they are.

I don't know what Jaesun meant by wanting to dumb down stuff, but Jennifer Hepler is sort of infamous around here (mostly as an embodiment of some of the worst things about BioWare); hence the reaction.

 

[Jaesun]

I think it may more be a case of....fear, you might suddenly want to start making dumbed down/casual games. You ARE basically the only(?) Adventure Game publisher that does not cater specifically to the general public. And some of the topics you brought up, seemed to imply you would be wanting to more streamline some of the design of future games. However, you never DID state that was a direction you did want to proceed with. I can hope you don't, but I CAN also see some refinement being done on a game.

As for Hepler, not sure what qualifications she has or previous work that she has done that would want you to bring her to this current game? Just seems an odd fit. Perhaps it was dialogue or character writing? Something like that.

 

[evdk]

Hepler wrote Orzammar, didn't she? That was probably the best part of DA (Orzammar vs Deep Roads is an important distinction), so it might not turn out horrible. ALso her musings about skipping the killing and getting right to the conversing are a lot less damning in the context of p'n'c adventure games. Maybe she has finally found her niche?

 

[garren]

She was also responsible for a large part of the story for the wreck that is DA2, and doesn't even like games except for storyfag reasons.

Also she's a former biowarian... brrr.

 

[DaveGilbert]

I think it may more be a case of....fear, you might suddenly want to start making dumbed down/casual games. You ARE basically the only(?) Adventure Game publisher that does not cater specifically to the general public. And some of the topics you brought up, seemed to imply you would be wanting to more streamline some of the design of future games. However, you never DID state that was a direction you did want to proceed with. I can hope you don't, but I CAN also see some refinement being done on a game.

Hah. I've DONE the casual game thing! Never again.

I have made some statements about dialing back the puzzles in adventure games in favor of exploration, reactivity and immersion, and I stand by that. That's not to say it makes the game "easy". Just different. And I, personally, find it more fun. If my experience has taught me anything, it's that making (or publishing) the games that I personally like and want to play is the best rule to live by. If I design a game that doesn't warrant lots of puzzles, then I'm not going to throw them in "just because an adventure game needs puzzles." If I did, they would be very uninteresting puzzles because I don't have much interest in them. The more I like the game I'm making, the more heart it has and the more people connect with it. And, most importantly, the more sales it ends up generating.

As for Jennifer Hepler, not sure what qualifications she has or previous work that she has done that would want you to bring her to this current game? Just seems an odd fit. Perhaps it was dialogue or character writing? Something like that.

Jennifer Hepler was responsible for Orzammar in Dragon Age Origins. It had the most lore and the most detail of any area in the game. Her qualifications speak for themselves. I know she made some controversial statements a few years ago. And funny enough, it was those statements (about wanting to skip the combat in Bioware games) which inspired the game I'm writing now. A branching narrative without the combat is essentially a very detailed point-and-click adventure, and ever since I've been chomping at the bit to make that game. I was always too busy/swamped/dealing with family stuff. But earlier this year I started working on it. I designed a number of characters, details about the world, and some basic plot points I wanted to hit... but I realized very quickly that it was way too big for me to handle alone and I would need some help. Since Jen Hepler basically inspired the idea (and I knew her when we were kids), it seemed only right to approach her first. And she said yes.

Essentially, Jen is handling the basic design (the locations, the story arcs, what the individual goals are) while I am handling the writing (the dialog, the interactivity, the things the player actually does). We're still in the very early stages of it all, but so far it's a partnership that's worked out well.

 

[Kem0sabe]

She's not even hot that her comments on rpgs could be excused as the musings of a silly put pretty women.

Bad move hiring her.

 

[V_K]

"It's a small world." He responded, "No, it's a small bourgeois elite."

This is in fact an actual Soviet saying that originally went like "It's not a small world, it's a thin stratum". Its origins lie in marxist-leninist rhethoric which claimes that the intelligentsia is (in a pejorative sense) not a social class but a thin stratum between the classes. Considering this, the way Volokh adapted it to American reality is rather amusing.
Dunno why I'm writing all of this other than cause of being an anal aspie.

 

[Infinitron]

Haha, I love how just by showing up here and asking "what's the matter bros?" Dave diffused what was about to turn into a typical DECLINE DECLINE DECLINE Codex thread.

 

[V_K]

It's never too late for that, you know.

 

[Crooked Bee]

And here I was looking forward to two pages of outrage. Oh well.

 

[evdk]

She's not even hot that her comments on rpgs could be excused as the musings of a silly put pretty women.

Bad move hiring her.

Most of their audience won't give a fuck. Or know her.

 

[DeepOcean]

Did... I say something wrong? I am honestly surprised at the reaction here. I don't recall ever saying I was dumbing things down. If anything this is going to be the biggest, most ambitious game we've done (hence why I hired help!). If you have any concerns based on what I said, please let me know what they are.

Let's say many people here are alergic to what is known as "Bioware writing" and by Bioware writing I mean high doses of fan pandering and overdose on emotional expression to the point of melodrama. Jen Hepler being a Bioware writer that wrote for Dragon Age 2... let's say that isn't a resumee that would make anyone here on the codex confident on her skills. She could even be a good writer now that she isn't at Bioware but if past experiences are proof... many people will be cautious.

 

[Jaesun]

OK I'm fine with that Mr. Gilbert. This new game is just seems really odd. I'm personally someone who likes change and likes to see some new things, I'm not really sure what this new project will ultimately turn out to be. It almost seems more of a CYOA text game, with a vampire setting. Which is fine I guess. Though I completely understand this is all in the very very early stages of development.

 

[evdk]

DeepOcean

Considering the reception the finale of Blackwell Epiphany got here you should be wary of the writing in any case.

 

[DaveGilbert]

Haha, I love how just by showing up here and asking "what's the matter bros?" Dave diffused what was about to turn into a typical DECLINE DECLINE DECLINE Codex thread.

Well, typically I don't engage with stuff like that but I was genuinely curious. So... hooray?

 

[DaveGilbert]

It almost seems more of a CYOA text game, with a vampire setting.

I never said it would be a CYOA game or a vampire game. I said it would be urban fantasy. Think Dresden, Hellblazer, etc. Doesn't just mean vampires.

DeepOcean

Considering the reception the finale of Blackwell Epiphany got here you should be wary of the writing in any case.

I know folks on this forum didn't care for it, but I knew that ANY ending would be controversial and displease someone.So instead of trying to make an ending to please everyone, I just made one to please myself. And I definitely did that. If you didn't like the ending, I am sorry. I do stand by it.

Let's say many people here are alergic to what is known as "Bioware writing" and by Bioware writing I mean high doses of fan pandering and overdose on emotional expression to the point of melodrama.

You *have* seen our games, right? Emotional expression and melodrama is difficult with characters made up of giant pixels. We have to be a lot more subtle to get that kind of stuff across.

 

[MRY]

This is in fact an actual Soviet saying that originally went like "It's not a small world, it's a thin stratum". Its origins lie in marxist-leninist rhethoric which claimes that the intelligentsia is (in a pejorative sense) not a social class but a thin stratum between the classes. Considering this, the way Volokh adapted it to American reality is rather amusing.
Dunno why I'm writing all of this other than cause of being an anal aspie.

He's a Ukranian immigrant whose family left during Communism, so I'm sure that's the origin of his usage.

 

[DeepOcean]

You *have* seen our games, right? Emotional expression and melodrama is difficult with characters made up of giant pixels. We have to be a lot more subtle to get that kind of stuff across.

If you convince her to not do something like: "Duncan Wu was really distressed, waves of anger came to him as he was a pretty stormy beach, the waves of anger were so intense that the others seeing the anger on him and felt the heat of the waves of anger, not happy, Duncan Wu was so angry that he couldn't hold himself and just break half a metro station with just his fists on a fit of anger.". You know, about emotions, "Bioware" approach about emotions is as subtle as an ISIS car bomb.