Interview Putting Stuff in Holes the Chris Avellone Way

[Jason]

Tags: Chris Avellone; Obsidian Entertainment

<a href="http://polygamer.com/?Parlons-jeux-video-avec-Chris" target="blank">Polygamer</a> recently interviewed <b>Chris Avellone</b>, but posted the results in some strange, non-American language. Fortunately, MCA came through and posted a translation on his <a href="http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=1&showentry=133" target="blank">Obsidian blog</a>.
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<blockquote>2] As an author full of ideas, what would you do to make us laugh like fools or cry like little girls? Would you work especially on the narration ? Interaction ? Visuals ?
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Don't force the humor, let it come out of context of the player's actions, and whenever possible, make that humor reactive based on the player's actions, not on watching a passive sequence. Try to get inside the player's head, and not only anticipate what they may think, but provide options for it. As an example, nothing created a more sympathetic reaction for me than Ripley in Aliens echoing exactly what the viewer is thinking ("Nuke 'em from orbit." Followed by "They can bill me.") - everyone in the audience can completely sympathize with getting the hell off of LV-426 and dropping nukes on a nest of vicious predators with acid for blood. So look for points in the game where you catch yourself thinking of a solution and have characters in the game echo what the player might be thinking.
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Narration, interaction, and visuals can all contribute to humor or sense of loss, but really, you want to focus on the audio.
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The tone of a voice actor and the background music will do more to create mood than any visual or interaction sequence can strive for. As an example, in Alpha Protocol, Michael Thorton can develop a romance or a hatred with a contact, Madison, in the game... and when you interact with Madison, the music and the voice acting is what drives the emotion of the scene. When you have a hatred going, the music is tense, dangerous, and everything about Madison's tone tells you how much she despises you. On the counterbalance, the voices and music (softer, slower) is what drives home the romance at the other end of the spectrum. </blockquote>
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?s=8ba23e0befac0f9be2c73fbdbdf90d18&automodule=blog&blogid=1&">Chris Avellone's Blog</A>

 

[Serious_Business]

I'd love to do a game based on the HBO series the Wire

Hell fucking yes

I don't even have words to describe how fucking awesome that would be

 

[yaster]

I'd love to do a game based on the HBO series the Wire

Hell fucking yes

I don't even have words to describe how fucking awesome that would be

To fucking awesome, that is way it will never be. Good things die young.

 

[shihonage]

As an example, in Alpha Protocol, Michael Thorton can develop a romance or a hatred with a contact, Madison, in the game... and when you interact with Madison, the music and the voice acting is what drives the emotion of the scene. When you have a hatred going, the music is tense, dangerous, and everything about Madison's tone tells you how much she despises you. On the counterbalance, the voices and music (softer, slower) is what drives home the romance at the other end of the spectrum.

Looks like we continue the proud trend of hammering "emotional cues" onto the player with the subtlety and finesse of a piano dropped on their head.

 

[Phelot]

I'd love to do a game based on the HBO series the Wire

Hell fucking yes

I don't even have words to describe how fucking awesome that would be

Yes.

Or even any kind of modern urban setting that isn't for retarded kids like the GTA games.

I was thinking about how cool it would be to have to consider ditching guns that have been used in a murder, making sure not to kill anyone in front of a lot of people, and that not only can you get killed, but also end the game by going to prison for life.

 

[Grunker]

As an example, in Alpha Protocol, Michael Thorton can develop a romance or a hatred with a contact, Madison, in the game... and when you interact with Madison, the music and the voice acting is what drives the emotion of the scene. When you have a hatred going, the music is tense, dangerous, and everything about Madison's tone tells you how much she despises you. On the counterbalance, the voices and music (softer, slower) is what drives home the romance at the other end of the spectrum.

Looks like we continue the proud trend of hammering "emotional cues" onto the player with the subtlety and finesse of a piano dropped on their head.

Fucked up, fin fyr, fed frits.

I agree. And to make it abundantly clear, we devide every emotional response into two categories: HATRED or ROMANCE

 

[Sckarecrow92]

I was thinking about how cool it would be to have to consider ditching guns that have been used in a murder, making sure not to kill anyone in front of a lot of people, and that not only can you get killed, but also end the game by going to prison for life.

It would be better if the game continued in jail, and forced the character to adapt to the new environment. Plus, you could have dexterity checks to see if you drop the soap or not.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Aren't you a secret agent? I think your agency woul rather kill you than send you to prison so you can spill their secrets

 

[denizsi]

I agree. And to make it abundantly clear, we devide every emotional response into two categories: HATRED or ROMANCE

Fixed. Pink's no good for romance. And grimdark gritty red for true hate.

 

[Grunker]

I agree. And to make it abundantly clear, we devide every emotional response into two categories: HATRED or ROMANCE

Fixed. Pink's no good for romance. And grimdark gritty red for true hate.

Much better moar EXTREME.

 

[Rhalle]

'Make the humor a result of a player action'-- that's pretty apt advice by MCA.

Oh, and, fucking lol at the thread title.

 

[gromit]

3] Let us imagine that I am in a good position at Microsoft and Epic, I give you the head of the next Gears of War development with totally freedom. What would you with that and why?

I'd probably turn it into a fantasy 3rd person RPG, and give the main character a colorful outfit, pointy ears, a hat, and... I don't know... a boomerang, sword, shield, and some bombs.

4] Let us imagine that I am in a good position at Nintendo (yes, many people love me), I give you the head of the next Zelda development with totally freedom. What would you do with that and why?

I'd have Link's world invaded by creatures that live below the earth, give Link battle armor, a chainsaw assault rifle, the ability to call down blasts from a Hammer of Dawn death cannon in orbit, and the ability to maximize his use of cover in order to wipe out encroaching hordes of mole-like humanoids from holes that erupt from the ground.

 

[-=DarlSephiroth666=-]

Popamole?

 

[Azarkon]

8] Tell us about one or several of your projects which you would have loved to release but you could not for various reasons. There appears that each creator has at least a cursed project of this type in his bundle, so do it, please frustrate us with this game we will never be able to play… Moreover, with the time, what do you think about this project(s) which stay on the paperboard and why do they stay like it ?

I wanted to do a Planescape Torment sequel called Lost Souls where it took the lives of Deionarra, Ravel, Dak'kon and others from the original and told their tangential stories in an RPG format before and during the events of Torment.

I also wanted to do one other game set in the Planescape universe that wasn't tied to Torment itself, called Planescape: Tesseract. I actually turned a sample of the premise into a 2-3 hour pen-and-paper game session that played at GDC one year with a lot of press folks (and Ray and Greg from BioWare), giving each of the folks a pre-made player character and a time limit to accomplish their goals. I really liked the character designs, and I'd love to develop those characters, but most of them only work in the context of a Planscape-style universe.

I thought this would have been more interesting to the Codex...

 

[denizsi]

I don't know how I completely missed that one.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

I thought this would have been more interesting to the Codex...

more depressing than interesting since what we get instead is all me, baby!

also: the thread title makes me giggle like a little Skyway girl every time i read it.

 

[Jason]

I thought this would have been more interesting to the Codex...

Thought that was old news to everybody at this point.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Has anyone - Codex or otherwise - asked MCA about the utterly embarassing Thornton voice acting (and, less common but still there at times - dialogue)? He talks all the right talk regarding good voice acting and good game writing, and he's proven that in the right genre and the right working conditions he can also walk the walk. But Thornton seems so...wretchedly bad...by MCA's own standards. And not in a way where you can blame the market or contractual obligations (as you can with, say, FO: NV being a near-clone of FO3, given it's contractual status and obligation to target Bethesda fans and all). Bad voice acting is just bad voice acting.

I really want to hope we're just seeing the worst of it. But this isn't just 'action! action! action!'. It's simply horrible lines and acting even as they're showing off the non-action parts of the game. Please oh please can someone do or find a POLITE (don't be a codex dick in the interview - there's NOTHING to be gained by that - save the bitching for the forums afterwards) interview pointing out the questionable aspects of Thornton's dialogue and whether they are indicative of the end product. If not, then in what SPECIFIC ways are they likely to be changed.

 

[Jaedar]

I don't think MCA does a lot of writing these days. He's lead designer, not lead writer. He probably does some writing, but the bulk of it is probably and sadly left to someone else.

 

[Jim Cojones]

Has anyone - Codex or otherwise - asked MCA about the utterly embarassing Thornton voice acting (and, less common but still there at times - dialogue)? He talks all the right talk regarding good voice acting and good game writing, and he's proven that in the right genre and the right working conditions he can also walk the walk. But Thornton seems so...wretchedly bad...by MCA's own standards. And not in a way where you can blame the market or contractual obligations (as you can with, say, FO: NV being a near-clone of FO3, given it's contractual status and obligation to target Bethesda fans and all). Bad voice acting is just bad voice acting.

An interesting fact:
Alpha Protocol: voice director - Margaret Tang
Bloodlines: voice director - Margaret Tang
And I'm almost sure choosing the actors was one of her duties, so you can't say she simply can't help the fact that she's leading an untalented actor.

I don't think MCA does a lot of writing these days. He's lead designer, not lead writer. He probably does some writing, but the bulk of it is probably and sadly left to someone else.

He has never been listed in credits as a writer for any game he's been working on. Some companies, including Interplay and Obsidian, don't/didn't hire anyone on such position but their designers are the ones responsible for writing.

 

[Volourn]

Besides, as LEAD designer, I'm sure he has some say on the game's writing. Just sayin'.

 

[Chefe]

Has anyone - Codex or otherwise - asked MCA about the utterly embarassing Thornton voice acting (and, less common but still there at times - dialogue)? He talks all the right talk regarding good voice acting and good game writing, and he's proven that in the right genre and the right working conditions he can also walk the walk. But Thornton seems so...wretchedly bad...by MCA's own standards. And not in a way where you can blame the market or contractual obligations (as you can with, say, FO: NV being a near-clone of FO3, given it's contractual status and obligation to target Bethesda fans and all). Bad voice acting is just bad voice acting.

I really want to hope we're just seeing the worst of it. But this isn't just 'action! action! action!'. It's simply horrible lines and acting even as they're showing off the non-action parts of the game. Please oh please can someone do or find a POLITE (don't be a codex dick in the interview - there's NOTHING to be gained by that - save the bitching for the forums afterwards) interview pointing out the questionable aspects of Thornton's dialogue and whether they are indicative of the end product. If not, then in what SPECIFIC ways are they likely to be changed.

I think the reason for Thorton's character, from his appearance to his voice to his very name, is there to provide the blankest of slates in order for the character to project on to. Maybe. Just sayin'.

 

[yaster]

An interesting fact:
Alpha Protocol: voice director - Margaret Tang
Bloodlines: voice director - Margaret Tang
And I'm almost sure choosing the actors was one of her duties, so you can't say she simply can't help the fact that she's leading an untalented actor

I think the problem (with most cases) are the time constrains putted on such project. It's always to short. To my understanding Alpha Protocol will have more dialogue than VmtB, multiple path etc. So it's understandable that quality deteriorate, even with talented director and voice actors.