Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Swole dude]

Chris Soyvellone

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

implementation of Caravan

Ah yes, Caravan, everyone's favourite part of NV.

I'm definitely not here to defend Caravan

 

[deuxhero]

I'm sure it's old to his more dedicated stalkers fans, I just found out MCA did some work on Champions
Some art from the final Adventurers Club, confirming it's the same MCA

A Word of Warning
Block Party does not deal with mature themes in any way, shape, or form, and some GMs may find this childish action-intensive slugfest inappropriate for their otherwise tranquil Champions campaigns. GMs should be aware that some players may find the idea of superhero combat uncomfortable, and GMs should take this into consideration when running Block Party

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Some of us have been aware of Chris Avellone's interest in superhero RPGs since he wrote two related articles for Dragon Magazine in the mid-90s:

"Essential Villainy: What Every Supervillain Needs - Character" by Chris Avellone in Dragon Magazine #207 July 1994
"For Truth and Justice: An Adventure Checklist for Superhero GMs" by Chris Avellone in Dragon Magazine #214 February 1995

Edit: This post and the previous post have been moved here from the Chris Avellone thread in the Gaming Drama subforum.

 

[deuxhero]

Going through Block Party (Heroic Adventures 1), it seems like an excellent module but really restrictive on party type (willingly work with feds in the open, yet not be Justice League tier powerful) since it takes place in a restricted government site. Games People Play (Heroic Adventures 2) is also good, but far less restriction on party composition (since it's in a public area and includes a worst case scenario you're in the area when shit happens option), yet I'd also say it's easily the less "ambitious" of the two (the plot is fairly standard as far as superhero things go).

 

[Latelistener]

It probably doesn't mean much, but he has a new profile and header image on twitter. I don't know if it's just a random picture, something hugely popular that I should know about, or if it's a teaser.

It was mde by Cornelius Dämmrich, a Germany-based 3D artist. Did some logo stuff for Spellforce 3 and Elex. Not sure if he's into gamedev much.

 

[The_Mask]

I feel this needs to be catalogued, because I thought the same thing at one point:



Was Atris' name an anagram and throwback to Trias?

It was unintentional, I was just trying to choose a root name that had some similarities to "hatred" without completely telegraphing the plot point.

 

[Lacrymas]

The meaning is there, regardless of intention. Atris is an anagram of Trias and both fulfill similar roles ;d It doesn't matter much, though, it's just cute.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

If you write something that is good and meaningful, you will always get a bonus to your meaningfulness level by people who on good will will interpret some extra, unintended meaningfulness into your work.

 

[Theodora]

Yeah, people digging too deep in search of a meaning is a classic.

People will mock the dumbed down literary criticism they did on poetry in high school, and then go looking for this #deep shit in old video games lol.

 

[0wca]

If you write something that is good and meaningful, you will always get a bonus to your meaningfulness level by people who on good will will interpret some extra, unintended meaningfulness into your work.

Amen, brother.

 

[Endemic]

Yeah, people digging too deep in search of a meaning is a classic.

Maybe he took it from: https://www.atris.com/ ?

 

[Nano]

Maybe he came up with it while playing Tetris.

 

[Humbaba]

Omg guys, is Trias actually Atris? IS NESS ACTUALLY SANS???

 

[Roguey]

Avellone praising the Biodocs, wishing Obsidian had been more like them, and talking about publisher buy-outs. https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/1467243966261186562

I think the management structure that Ray and Greg (the original founders) had at Bioware worked in its own way, but that structure doesn't work on multiple levels when someone like EA (or to be fair, any publisher that adheres to proper scheduling and deadlines) comes in.

Ray and Greg felt like they advocated quality first, no matter the cost in time or resources (and it worked as long as they were running the show). I still cite old BioWare as a model to keep in mind for studios, I feel like old BioWare did a lot right, despite all the problems.

there's many (me among them) who wish they'd never been bought, but then again, I'm thinking as a selfish player who wants more quality games from the studio, which isn't fair if the developer needs money (which I don't think BioWare did, but who knows).

Still, even a successful studio may sign with publishers like EA because often the deal includes language like "we'll buy you but leave you be to do the thing we bought you for" but like EA and Activision proved, they can... change their minds.

Also, the people you form those deals with can sometimes transition elsewhere, and the new publisher execs don't feel the same way. The only time I've seen it work pretty well seems to be with Microsoft (most acquisitions from MS I know of have had no complaints).

Lastly, it depends on how well things are going. Publishers may not let a developer do their own thing when the rest of the companies the same publisher owns are hemorrhaging money, or if they need a stock boost, etc., so...

So generally "we'll let you be" only works when everything's going great on all levels, the pub doesn't want a short-term cash influx, the stockholders are all happy, etc. but not sure how much that happens. :/

Most publishers (esp. if they don't actually care about the games they release) want as much money coming in as fast as possible, so you're always fighting that, even if the long-term consequences to individual studios is pretty damaging (driving away talent, burnout, crunch).

I guess the ultimate lesson of BioWare, (this wasn't my judgment, it was made by one of their project leads), was Ray and Greg worked best as their own bosses w/o answering to anyone else. It may not have been perfect 24/7, but it was better than after the acquisitions.

Volourn vindicated.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

If you write something that is good and meaningful, you will always get a bonus to your meaningfulness level by people who on good will will interpret some extra, unintended meaningfulness into your work.

Yup.
I remember how even Erik Wolpaw from Valve at some point during his Portal 2 post-mortem joked about this phenomenon of people finding deeper meaning where there was no "authorial intentionality" whatsoever.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

cool part is that you can say "yeah that was intended" and look a lot smarter than you are

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

cool part is that you can say "yeah that was intended" and look a lot smarter than you are

He joked about that, too.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Timestamped at 47:15 if for some reason it doesn't work for you guys:

https://youtu.be/OLqk4aqpXlQ?t=2835

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I remember reading a theory that Kreia is aware she's in a game and therefore sabotaged the development of the game to get the developers murdered
sometimes, fans need to get a new hobby

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

cool part is that you can say "yeah that was intended" and look a lot smarter than you are

It's much better to say something cryptic and seemingly meaningful that neither confirms or denies this kind of theorizing. That way they will be forced to theorize all over again to make sense of your response, and so long as they are fixated on your words, you will rise in prominence in their minds. That will help sell more of your works in the future.

 

[Roguey]

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/1473750779936661504

The Smuggler Cache markers were so annoying it made me put Witcher 3 on hold for a few months because the fun factor started dipping into negative levels

I turned that garbage off and only did quests with a narrative hook and had a good time. I see Chris is the kind of NPC who tries to be a completionist and ends up miserable.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/1473750779936661504

The Smuggler Cache markers were so annoying it made me put Witcher 3 on hold for a few months because the fun factor started dipping into negative levels

I turned that garbage off and only did quests with a narrative hook and had a good time. I see Chris is the kind of NPC who tries to be a completionist and ends up miserable.

Chris said somewhere that when he played Morrowind, he spent hours collecting all the plates, spoons, knives, etc. in the Census and Excise building (the very beginning of the game).

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So he's a bit nuts, yeah?

 

[Harthwain]

Chris said somewhere that when he played Morrowind, he spent hours collecting all the plates, spoons, knives, etc. in the Census and Excise building (the very beginning of the game).

I did that too. That's a legitimate strategy to rise as much money as possible early on.