Interview Developing Expectations: MCA Podcast Interview

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Chris Avellone

<p><a href="http://twitter.com/chrisavellone"></a>In this <a href="http://playablecharacter.com/2011/07/27/006-developing-expectations/" target="_blank">podcast interview</a> over at PlayableCharacter <em>Chris Avellone discusses Planescape: Torment, Fallout: New Vegas, and player expectations in RPGs.</em> MCA talk starts at ~4:00.</p>

 

[Regdar]

I used to think MCA was overrated, but this interview completely vindicated him in my eyes.

 

[MicoSelva]

Chris Avellone discusses Planescape: Torment

Poor MCA, will he ever be able to shake off his PST fame? Do many other developer get continuously asked about a game they made 12 years before?

 

[Excidium]

I hope he's happy developing RPGs tailored for people that don't like RPGs.

 

[commie]

Chris Avellone discusses Planescape: Torment

Poor MCA, will he ever be able to shake off his PST fame? Do many other developer get continuously asked about a game they made 12 years before?

Well the solution is simple: he needs to make another game like PS:T and then he'll be asked about that for the next decade.

Are you listening MCA? If you're tired of the same PS:T crap then make something like it!


Warren Spector also gets asked about Deus Ex, Lawrence Holland used to be asked about Tie Fighter, LB about Ultima 7...yeah, he's not alone.

 

[kaizoku]

Chris Avellone discusses Planescape: Torment

Poor MCA, will he ever be able to shake off his PST fame? Do many other developer get continuously asked about a game they made 12 years before?

Do you know how you evaluate one's contributions to the fields of science or arts?
It's how those contributions persist through time.

It just shows how many people liked his game and he's probably happy with being asked about it.

 

[.Sigurd]

Good interview.
It's a pity that he can't put his ideas to use in big-budget games but only in DLCs.

 

[thesisko]

Personally, I find it strange when Feargus or MCA talks about "modern" gamers when it's clear that it's an entire different audience we're talking about (100K PC gamers when they made Fallout, 5 million console gamers today).

If they wanted to sell Fallout to 5 million console gamers back in 1997, it would probably have to be retard-proof as well.

 

[J_C]

Ha made great points in the interview. Sometimes Codexians accuse him being an all talk-no action guy, because he has very good ideas, yet there are dumbed down elements in their later games. But as he says in the interview, even if they have a distaste about these bad gameplay elements, they have to integrate them into their games, so they appeal to the mainstream market. Obsidian wants to make money after all, and they are greedy like every company, just not as much as BiowEAr and Bethassda. (Fortunately they are more talented.)

They should go full indie, and make cheaper, but more complex, hardcore RPGs. But this is not going to happen for a while I think.

 

[ironyuri]

Chris Avellone discusses Planescape: Torment

Poor MCA, will he ever be able to shake off his PST fame? Do many other developer get continuously asked about a game they made 12 years before?

Are you listening MCA?

 

[Machocruz]

Ha made great points in the interview. Sometimes Codexians accuse him being an all talk-no action guy, because he has very good ideas, yet there are dumbed down elements in their later games. But as he says in the interview, even if they have a distaste about these bad gameplay elements, they have to integrate them into their games, so they appeal to the mainstream market. Obsidian wants to make money after all, and they are greedy like every company, just not as much as BiowEAr and Bethassda. (Fortunately they are more talented.)

They should go full indie, and make cheaper, but more complex, hardcore RPGs. But this is not going to happen for a while I think.

I don't buy some it though, no matter who is saying it. I don't think quest compass and breadcrumb trails are factors in whether mainstream gamers buy a game or not. They don't analyze games enough to know those things exist in a game before hand. Skyrim would still sell major if it had the Morrowind way of quest tracking.

I believe things like heavy stats, micro-management, and non-action gameplay definitely turn them away. But I'm not even sure enforcing consequences is a deal breaker. People complaining about a feature does not mean they will not buy the next game in your series.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

They should go full indie, and make cheaper, but more complex, hardcore RPGs. But this is not going to happen for a while I think.

Actually, why should they have to choose between the two? They could make low-budget digital-release-only hardcore RPGs on the side while being a "proper" developer at the same time. Hell, if it's simple 2D graphics and all that they could even do it with a handful of guys on coffee breaks if they've got the idea down pat and just need to put it into reality.

 

[JarlFrank]

Ha made great points in the interview. Sometimes Codexians accuse him being an all talk-no action guy, because he has very good ideas, yet there are dumbed down elements in their later games. But as he says in the interview, even if they have a distaste about these bad gameplay elements, they have to integrate them into their games, so they appeal to the mainstream market. Obsidian wants to make money after all, and they are greedy like every company, just not as much as BiowEAr and Bethassda. (Fortunately they are more talented.)

They should go full indie, and make cheaper, but more complex, hardcore RPGs. But this is not going to happen for a while I think.

I don't buy some it though, no matter who is saying it. I don't think quest compass and breadcrumb trails are factors in whether mainstream gamers buy a game or not. They don't analyze games enough to know those things exist in a game before hand. Skyrim would still sell major if it had the Morrowind way of quest tracking.

I believe things like heavy stats, micro-management, and non-action gameplay definitely turn them away. But I'm not even sure enforcing consequences is a deal breaker. People complaining about a feature does not mean they will not buy the next game in your series.

As long as you have enough hype and COOL STUFF, most mainstream gamers will love it and not care about the flaws. Heck, some people even defend features they don't like by saying "it doesn't matter because the rest is so good".

Obsidian could make a game that is like PST + Arcanum + Fallout + Bloodlines + every other Codexian smash hit ever made, and appease the mainstream gamers by adding some AWESOME cutscenes, "likeable" characters (perferably romancable for both genders) and lots of DRAMA with these characters. Then make the normal difficulty easy enough so idiots can beat it even when they utterly fuck their character build up, and add a hardcore difficulty that is actually hard for all the people who actually like challenge.

Add some Bioware or Bethesda level of hype ("WE GOT DRAGONS, LOOK AT HOW AWESOME OUR DRAGONS ARE!!!" - "We are so fucking MATURE we got tons of BLOOD and we got SEX look at how fucking MATURE this game is") and I don't see why it would not be a smash hit.

 

[lisac2k]

breadcrumb trails

I heard they call it Clairvoyance the other day.

Terrible terms!