Interview Leon Boyarsky on... things.

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Leonard Boyarsky; Troika Games

<A href="http://www.hardwired.hu/">Hardwired</A> has an <a href="http://www.hardwired.hu/leonardboyarsky_int_en.hw">interview</A> with <b>Leon Boyarsky</b> about all kinds of fun stuff, like <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika</A> making a post apocalyptic CRPG. Here's a bit on why publishers smoke poles:
<br>

<br>
<blockquote><b>There is a significant gap amongst these type of games nowadays, and the adorers of the theme are just starving for an excellent, cunning post-apocalyptic RPG. What are the publishers point of view in this matter and how hard is to breathe life into a genre so close to your hearts, but mostly neglected due to current market trends? Did you have success finding a publisher so far?</b>
<br>

<br>
Most of the publishers we approached with this idea weren't interested in a post apocalyptic RPG because they "don't sell". We did have some interest when we were trying to get a publisher to license Fallout for us, but that never panned out, as you know. It's very difficult in these license driven times to convince a publisher a great post apocalyptic RPG would be a good investment. As I said above we haven't got a deal with any yet, but we're talking to a few that seem really interested in making the game and share our views on what would be a great RPG in this genre. </blockquote>
<br>

<br>
Be interesting to see the percentage of commercially produced post apocalyptic CRPG that "sold" versus those released as well as fantasy CRPGs that also "sold" versus released. I'm pretty sure there'd be more fantasy CRPG flops out there percentage-wise.
<br>

<br>
Thanks, <b>Andras Izsof</b>!
<br>

 

[Mr. Teatime]

I found the mention of real time with pause depressing. Wouldn't it be ironic of Bethsoft's FO3 was turn based while Troika did a real time game.

 

[Whipporowill]

A very informative read (not to mention some really interesting manhandling of the english language) and some bad news at the same time. IF Troika scores a publisher it seems pretty likely to be a RT title...

And Teatime, I really doubt that will happen - but it's easier for a self-published company like Beth to take risks, however unlikely it is that they actually will.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

We did have some interest when we were trying to get a publisher to license Fallout for us, but that never panned out, as you know.

Too bad trolls never stick around to eat crow. Jumping to conclusions my ass.

 

[Surlent]

Was that interview to have the first comments from Troika guys about their screens from the mysterious PA game ?

 

[Whipporowill]

No, Leon commented on it on the recent Bloodlines interview at Gamebanshee as well - although in no way as detailed.

 

[Seven]

I found the mention of real time with pause depressing. Wouldn't it be ironic of Bethsoft's FO3 was turn based while Troika did a real time game.

Like like he said selling the idea of a PA/TB game to a publisher would be pretty impossible, but I still doubt that Bethsoft will do TB, or isometric or even use SPECIAL (in its present form).

 

[MF]

If selling it is impossible, don't make it until you can fund it yourself. In the meantime, there are other things to make. See what they can reap in with Bloodlines and go from there.

Unless they have a very innovative idea for a real-time-with-pause that actually works, but I doubt it. Real-time-with-pause reminds me of the Nintendo slow-down joypads. They just paused and unpaused real fast so you could play in slow-motion. Something for retards.

If troika makes a bioware-ish game they lose all credibility. Just make Arcanum 2 damnit!

 

[Mr. Teatime]

Troika doing a game that sells out for the real time crowd - and Leonard basically admits that it would be a compromise, rather than combat that they specifically want to do - would make me lose a lot, if not all, faith in them. They market their games on their 'hardcore RPG' status, and if they do real time with pause, that 'hardcore' is just a marketing gimmick.
Freedom force is the only game I've ever played that had decent real time with pause combat, and that's the exception to a lot of bad combat games.

 

[Spazmo]

Erm... Arcanum ring any bells? That one had awful combat--RT or TB--and was still a good game.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

This pisses me off like crazy. How would anyone know if a PA game would sell or not! We haven't had a PA RPG in a while! WTF!

 

[Briosafreak]

Guns and Real Time don`t mix in RPGs. Actually i don`t like it in any RPG, but at least i can tolerate it in games like Gothic2. But with guns in isometric? Another War and Harbinger anyone?

A shame, good luck for them though, even if i`m out.

 

[Country_Gravy]

Blackhart,

Without a recent PA RPG, there is not really any data that a publisher could use to say, "this game is going to make us some serious bank." Therefore, it is a risky venture. Businesses hate risk, especially if the reward is just as good as a Fantasy game that is a "slam dunk."

It still pisses me off, though. I just kind of understand where a publsiher would balk at it. They want to make as much money as possible. Can't blame them for that!

 

[almondblight]

I wonder if TB PA RPG's (ok, I just liked all the acronyms) really are poor for sales. Judging by the garbage that sells and the great games that fail, I do have to accept the possability that many gamers might just have horrible taste...err....taste that's different from mine. There's also always the possability that publishers who think they know how to make a TB game better by, say, forcing real time and multiplayer (*cough*Arcanum*cought*) or forcing censorship and a rushed release (*cough*ToEE*cough*) create a self fullfilling prophecy - they think since TB games don't sell well, they must need these changes, then the changes make the games sell worse, then they think that these games must be really bad if even with all this extra work the sell poorly. Unfortunately it seems like Troika won't have the capacity to self publish or go shareware, so there will continue to be the burden of the increasingly monolithic pulishers hanging over their shoulders.

 

[FrankHorrigan]

If they absolutly have to do a RT mode to find a publisher, surely they can do as before and add a TB mode as well. I know its not perfect, that such a combination normaly cause's problems, but its better than just having RT.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Id rather have them just do RT instead of RT/TB because we already seen their shot at that and it sucked.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Gravy, the whole idea for them (publishers) to take a risk on this is precisely the reason: No PA CRPG's have been released in a bit. It would be a good way to get a jump on what could possibly be a growing trend. The market is saturated with fantasy. Hell, the head of Viacom (Mel Karmazin's boss) said he never got anywhere not taking risks. He also just recently approved MTV's request for an all gay channel. Risk is part of the job.

 

[Country_Gravy]

I agree, risk is part of business. To run a successful business, you must make calculated risks. These publishers must think that at this time a PA TB RPG is not worth the large sum of money that they have to put into it. It sucks, because I love the PA setting and TB is definately the way to go with a RPG, but these assholes at the top are always thinking about the bottom dollar, and they are going to go where the money is. Until one of them grows some nuts and decides this is a viable genre to tackle, we are going to see more of the same bullshit that keeps flooding the market and making money.

If we can just get retards to stop buying NWN, we might be able to get some decent games out there. As long as RT Fantasy keeps bringing in the dollars, they don't have any reason to shift to TB.

We should start our own publishing company.

We could call it "Stop the BS Ltd."

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, like I told Teatime earlier, the big problem with all this is publishers see NWN and Diablo and think, "REAL TIME + FANTASY = $$$". They obviously want a return on their investment in what they pay Troika to make the game. The big problem with that is that for every big success like NWN or Diablo, you have DOZENS of flops that followed that same principle. If they actually based the thing on percentages of success versus failure, you'd see that neither fantasy setting nor real time actually insure success. In fact, many derivative games actually bomb.

Dungeon Siege might have done well, but anyone ever see Dungeon Siege's "expansion" do anything? It wasn't really an expansion, it was a whole new game using the Dungeon Siege engine, which also included Dungeon Siege as well as the new campaign, for less money. Yet, it didn't do so well. It was REAL TIME + FANTASY, and even made using an engine that sold well the first run. The problem is, a lot of people who bought and played Dungeon Siege were bored to tears by it.

 

[Grifman]

If selling it is impossible, don't make it until you can fund it yourself.

That makes no sense. If they can't sell it, then why should they invest their own money to make a game that they can't sell to a publisher and get on the shelves. You have to have a buyer for your product you know.

Grifman

 

[Human Shield]

We'll drive to Troika studios.

 

[Stark]

If they absolutly have to do a RT mode to find a publisher, surely they can do as before and add a TB mode as well. I know its not perfect, that such a combination normaly cause's problems, but its better than just having RT.

in an ideal world that would happen. unfortunately slapping a TB mode on top would mean additional development hours, and to ship the game on time they'll have to make compromises, and end up with both poor RT and TB game.

having said that, i still hope for a RT/TB hybrid, simply because i suck at RT combat.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'd much rather see a pure real time game or a real time with pause game over some TB/RT drivel like Arcanum. I'd elucidate further on this subject but I can't think of anything to add.

 

[Ap_Jolly]

CRPG that is not fantasy?! lol wtf, gay - next!

 

[MF]

If selling it is impossible, don't make it until you can fund it yourself.

That makes no sense. If they can't sell it, then why should they invest their own money to make a game that they can't sell to a publisher and get on the shelves. You have to have a buyer for your product you know.

Grifman

Find a distributor and let the consumer do the talking. Of course publishers also handle things like marketing, but that is usually fucked up anyway and most advertisement is done on the internet. (At least for PC games)