Game News MCA's designer ramblings

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

<b>MCA</b>, aka Chris Avellone, has posted a series of designer ramblings on various topics including <a href=http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=26101&hl=>Amnesia</a>, <a href=http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=25989&hl=>New cast of companions</a>, <a href=http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=25916&hl=>PC Causality/Triggered Events</a>, and even <a href=http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=25876&hl=>Echani</a>.
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<blockquote>In K2, we made an attempt to make some events more PC reactive-dependent. I'm not sure exactly if those last three words belong crushed together like that, but hopefully they should give you a sense of what I mean.
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These aren't everywhere in the game, but we tried to have events triggered on the player's dark side and light side gains, no matter where the player is in the galaxy - when the player hits a certain amount of light side and dark side points, these events will advance the plot (or reinforce it).
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We weren't able to do this as much as we'd like (they're hard to pull off and usually have to be hard-coded), but we have some key events that are triggered by the player's actions rather than having them triggered off of some polygon you step onto in the game world.
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The intention with this was that we thought it would make the PC feel more special if it was more obvious that things were occuring, not because you hit a linear trigger, but because you were the one who set the fuse to the explosives through your actions or through a change in your personality.</blockquote>
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Sadly, there is no rambling dedicated to <a href=http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=27067&st=0>the controversial influence system</a>,
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[PennyAnte]

I cannot believe the amount of space in that first thread about who Chris Avellone is or isn't. I mean (...) I'm speechless.

 

[Volourn]

First off, this isn't news.

Secondly, even if they are counted as news, these posts of his, are pretty much ancient.

I mean, seriously, it'll be like a news organization reporting on the Vietnam War like it just happened yesterday.

R00fles!

 

[PennyAnte]

Granted, C.A.'s initial posts are a little over two weeks old in some cases, but at least one of those threads is still live, with discussion as of yesterday. Nothing wrong with consolidating all C.A.'s posts in one place either, really, is there?

 

[Vault Dweller]

First off, this isn't news.

It is. Deal with it. It's the equivalent of a designer diary which is a legit news item.

Secondly, even if they are counted as news, these posts of his, are pretty much ancient.

2 weeks old is ancient? For a game that hasn't even been released properly (i.e. on PC)? I believe that "yeah, right" would be an appropriate response.

I mean, seriously, it'll be like a news organization reporting on the Vietnam War like it just happened yesterday.

The Vietnam War is OVAR?!! Holy fuck! What else's happened? Is JFK still the president?

Aaaanyway, no, my trolling friend, it won't be like that. First, we are not a news organization, in case you didn't realize that YET (exactly how slow you are, Volly?). We are bitching_about_news organization, so anything goes.

 

[Volourn]

"It is. Deal with it. It's the equivalent of a designer diary which is a legit news item."

If you say so.


"2 weeks old is ancient? For a game that hasn't even been released properly (i.e. on PC)? I believe that "yeah, right" would be an appropriate response."

This is a 'news' section. Not a '2 week old rmablings' section.

Everything else is R00fleized!

 

[Kamaz]

Well, I did not agree with VD on those [not]retarded Morrowind fan questions, but this time I am on his side - who cares is it knews or smth? I am glad there is something to read in codex. To be honest, this "newspost" is not so different than others before. Whats so wrong with that? This site is dedicated to in-depth cRPGs and MCA speaks of it in quite theoretical manner, plus, we all know he worked[works] on KOTOR2 which is not yet released for PC games. So this is smth important concerning cRPG. You can avoid reading if you dont like it. Heh. Funny, eh?:D

 

[Volourn]

"To be honest, this "newspost" is not so different than others before. "

And, like before, I'm pointing out its not news. Imagine that. This is ancient 'feud" for VD and I. No worries.


"You can avoid reading if you dont like it. Heh. Funny, eh"

If one avoided reading what they disliked on the Code; none of us would read half of it.

Besdies, it be broing if I only read things that agreed with me. Meh.

*puke*

 

[Spazmo]

Volourn, let's say that instead of plucking it from two week old posts on Obsidian, we had reported on a Developer Diary written for, say, GameSpot.

Do you realize that between the time GameSpot asks for a dev diary, the time LucasArts okays it, the time that MCA is asked to write it, the time he finishes it, the time he sends it to LucasArts for review by PR monkeys, the time they send it on to GameSpot, the time they review it for whatever purposes and the time that it finally gets posted on GameSpot... well, more than two weeks.

Also, be aware that not everyone has the force of will to read the Obsidian boards.

 

[suibhne]

My only complaint is that MCA's contribution to those threads is limited to the initial post in each. I'll be forever scarred by my encounter with the subsequent posts, as I vainly searched for further Avellone arcana.

This is all your fault, VD. :evil:

 

[jiujitsu]

They should have a neurtral path in the game too. Not quite evil, but not quite good gets a different ending than the other two. Character would be weak with force powers though.

 

[Spazmo]

Not really. Force wave (the only power a KOTOR jedi really needs) is a neutral one. Besides, the only effect would be that all force powers would be more expensive. A neutral jedi would probably be more versatile since he'd have access to both sides of the spectrum.

 

[jiujitsu]

Yea, I suppose that makes sense.

 

[DarkSign]

They should have a neurtral path in the game too. Not quite evil, but not quite good gets a different ending than the other two. Character would be weak with force powers though.

Ive always wanted this.

At first the min-maxer/customizer in me wanted a way to pick different force powers from either side to make a cool mix.

but then i realized that the SW saga, while it has a few grey area characters, is more about a clear deliniation of whats good and whats evil. So IMHO, I dont think this ultimately fits.

 

[JanC]

Jolee from the first game was a 'grey' area Jedi. He was actually quite powerful when stuffed full of Dark Side powers. However, his dialogue was way more 'light' than dark in general. It didn't seem to quite fit. Still, he was my favourite NPC from that game.

 

[kumquatq3]

Actaully, there is a MCA rambling on Influence:

http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=25704

It's just not really that in depth in respect to the issues people are complaining about.


Here are all of his Ramblings:

http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=25894