Interview Brian Fargo Interview @ Joystiq

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Brian Fargo; Wasteland 2

After the success of the Wasteland 2 kickstart Brian Fargo gave an interview to Joystiq. Is Kickstarting the future of game publishing?

Tell us about the game. How true to the original do you plan to make it?

I want this game to be comfortable for either a Wasteland of Fallout 1/2 player to be able to step into like a comfortable pair of shoes. Obviously the graphics need to be updated and will have different combat systems etc. but there is a tone, stats, and interface that comes with the RPGs from that era. People are very clear about wanting THAT experience and none of this "re-imagining" business. The game will initially take place in the (American) southwest with you controlling a band of desert rangers like the first game. The game will have scope and scale like both Wasteland and Fallout; it will be open-world in the sense that we don't lead you around by the nose; it will have multiple approaches to most things to avoid the moralistic "right" solution; it will be skill based; NPCs will join the group and not always behave like you want, and it will not require hand-eye coordination. Oh, and tons of weapons so people can shoot their way through situations instead of charming anyone.
...
Do you think funding campaigns like this will spell the end for big game publishers, or cause them to re-evaluate their business approach in the future?

Well it would certainly be overstating the cause to expect it to spell the end for them but it should be some sort of wake up call. There are fans that are going unnoticed and there is a treatment of developers that is abysmal. I hope all the talented developers find a niche audience that allows them to make games with the purity of a direct relationship with their fans.

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

It's not the future of the ultracapitalist megacorporate AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA++++++++++++++++++ publishers; it's an immense choice for indies that want to go a step beyond in quality and development speed.

It's a simple model.

"You want a top down hardcore RPG, old school, no buzzword bullshit, for art's sake, with quasi (very quasi) mainstream funding? Fund it yourself!"
Nothing hard to grasp or unreasonable here.

...and we have our funding idea for AoD 2, of course.

 

[hiver]

Very good interview. As i expected Fargo is on top of things.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Another Fargo interview, this time at GameZone:

http://www.gamezone.com/editorials/exclusive-interview-brian-fargo-talks-wasteland-2

GZ: We watched your Kickstarter video which was not only informative but humorous, how similar was that to the actual process of trying to get backing for Wasteland 2 before Kickstarter?

Brian Fargo: Every single comedy bit in that Kickstarter was taken from real meetings. I had people that have never heard of Interplay, or Publishers that were excited about the product who then subsequently never called me back but sent me Facebook game requests for the games they were playing. I told myself 'This guy won't return my calls, but he wants all this stuff from me on Facebook!' And even the red boots, we were in a meeting and they sent some junior guy who wanted to sit there for an hour and talk about the color and height of the boots! So this was all drawn from reality. I kid you not.​

 

[Stabwound]

GZ: We're actually big fans of open sandbox games, where NPC's do their own thing.
Brian Fargo: Exactly, instead of preaching what you should do, or leave map markers- or one of the things, the Guardian Citadel in Wasteland, if you wanted to make your way over early in the game, go for it, but these guys would destroy you. But eventually you'd work your way up and when you finally got your way in, it was a great feeling!

Fuck yes. I hope there is no level scaling at all in WL2.

GZ: If Wasteland 2 becomes a commercial success and appeals to the mass market, would that mean Wasteland 3 could be a reality?
Brian Fargo: If we do a great job with this game, and the fans love it, and they want more, I'd love to do more. We're back in my wheelhouse now, we love making role-playing games. Even at Interplay, to my detriment at times, I held on to that core gamer value even when things were changing. When things were spinning out and becoming console, we were delivering Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Torment, Sacrifice, MDK, I mean we were delivering one stellar PC game after another in the late 90's, while the console business was taking off, so having this opportunity now to go back to doing role-playing games is a dream.

I hope this happens again. Give us another Bard's Tale - a real one this time.

 

[hiver]

On top of that, some of the role playing games today have become fairly pretentious, and ours is not, ours is 'you play it the way you want' and so we don't set any kind of morality on anything you do and there is no clear cut way to handle things. And often when you try to do things right, you end up getting yourself in a situation going from bad to worse, and we just put you in these uncomfortable situations where you just couldn't help it. NPC's that join your group have a mind of their own, so you have some control over them, but if they want to steal from you, or empty a clip, or maybe they have a vendetta against bikers and open fire when you didn't want them to, then you have to deal with the consequences.

How many times i have to brofist this dude?

If NPC's go through all the clips which are really hard to find, you find yourself screaming at them, and you can't get that kind of emotional reaction from the writing, you get it from the system.

Many times thats how many.

GZ: You still have more than 30 days left on Kickstarter, do you have anything you want to add?

Viva la resistance! It's been the most amazing week of my life!

 

[LeStryfe79]

Hiver, I nominate you as Fargo's White Knight!

 

[hiver]

Fuck off!

 

[LeStryfe79]

Fuck off!

 

[Metro]

I get the feeling EA will rush in to exploit crowd funding: 'Hey guys, if you raise $10 million for us via kickstarter we'll give you Mass Effect 4!' And you know what? They'd probably get it!

 

[Crooked Bee]

I get the feeling EA will rush in to exploit crowd funding: 'Hey guys, if you raise $10 million for us via kickstarter we'll give you Mass Effect 4!' And you know what? They'd probably get it!

That's... a frighteningly feasible idea.

 

[Shannow]

Well, it would certainly be overstating the cause to expect it to spell the end for them, but it should be some sort of wake up call. There are fans who are going unnoticed, and there is a treatment of developers that is abysmal. I hope all the talented developers find a niche audience that allows them to make games with the purity of a direct relationship with their fans.

Dammit. Fargo pushes all the right buttons.

Well, EA could only use KS as a way to avoid piracy and get a certain amount of money early. And to make Origin more popular. Not quite the same advantages as actual devs going getting unfundable games funded and cutting out the middlemen. And even with re-using assets, areas, story arcs, companion-types, etc. their game'd still cost several millions. And they'd get an image of begging for scraps. Probably not too good for high and mighty AAA+ publisher EA. All that said, a KS move for 2 million to show that fans want MEh4 would probably be viable and EA might be dicks enough to consider it...

EDIT:

If NPC's go through all the clips which are really hard to find, you find yourself screaming at them, and you can't get that kind of emotional reaction from the writing, you get it from the system.

 

[dumuh]

So what are the internals of the game going to be like? Are they going to use open source tools where possible like World of Goo did?