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Information Brian Fargo on Going Social (and Being Socially Unacceptable)

Crooked Bee

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Tags: Brian Fargo; Kickstarter; Wasteland 2

In the latest post on his Wasteland 2 blog, Brian Fargo has a few things to say about the possibility of introducing "social" features in the game while also mentioning a mod kit and expanded content:

Creating fan funded projects with input and transparency is certainly a new experience for me, and I would not have it any other way. I think it is important to note that we still want to be creative and throw ideas out for debate, which is why I couch most of my details with caveats. What I have discovered is that there are some four-letter words with extra letters like “Social” which get very emotional responses. Social means casual to some people and Wasteland 2 is NOT a casual game. I will certainly be careful in my word selection as I want new ideas to be discussed without being railroaded for bad word choice. Also please keep in mind that we don’t start full production until the funding hits in about a month. Until then, the forums are helping us hone in on the most important tenets.

And to repeat… this is an old-school RPG and nothing is going to make us deviate from that experience but there could be some options to consider that make it more fun. In fact, the reason we are not doing multi-player is because it would have affected the narrative. Keep in mind that this game is pre funded, so I don’t have to use clever buzzwords to get attention or convince people to buy it. My thoughts on additions are pure in the sense of whether it would make it more fun to play. Period.

I clearly made a mistake in throwing out an idea before I communicated a cohesive vision document on the overall game. At two million in funding we will be doing the top things everyone wants anyway: a larger world and more content, more character dialog, more graphics across the board, and more audio. I should not have thrown out any fringe ideas this early on… but live and learn.

The mod-kit is a whole other beast which I have let people know we are considering, but it would not make launch as I want to keep our development focus on the content we plan to ship.

I do like sharing my experience with my friends when I play a game—be it conversation or leaderboards. I would be curious to see my friend’s stats when playing: how many kills he had, ammo used, his level and other various non-spoiling information. However, I think the best way to handle new concept is to put them out on the forum for people to discuss. We will also try to communicate the work required for any potential new ideas so people understand impact. We want to spend our energy on the parts that people will enjoy the most no matter what.

My statement is still true that I would rather make a smaller group ecstatic than worry about a bigger audience. All of you backers are the core group I care about the most, and I will continue to post and read from the forums to sync us up.​

So if you want to sync Brian Fargo up, be sure to communicate your thoughts over at the official Wasteland 2 forum.
 

zeitgeist

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In fact, the reason we are not doing multi-player is because it would have affected the narrative.
Really now? From all the possible reasons not to do multiplayer, choosing this one?

And I'm not saying I yearn to see multiplayer or anything like that, I'm just finding it hard to imagine a party-based RPG that wouldn't work exactly the same in coop multiplayer as it would in single player, unless there's a significant amount of main-character-only-related railroading, cutscenes, forced story elements and similar.
 

Haba

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Multiplayer works very poorly in old-school turn-based games. Well, depending on how patient you are, but still. Implementing it wouldn't be too much of effort.
 

Micmu

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...I do like sharing my experience with my friends when I play a game—be it conversation or leaderboards. I would be curious to see my friend’s stats when playing: how many kills he had, ammo used, his level and other various non-spoiling information. ...
xbox achievement faggot detected
 

Johannes

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An online highscore list for Ironman runs or something like that could be a nice touch maybe. The game would somehow check that you don't cheat, and emphasis on finishing the game fast in ingame time, instead of grinding every skill to max. That's interesting because it's an actual challenge and competition unlike singleplayer games usually. Like roguelikes often have.

But sharing meaningless stats of other peoples normal playthroughs isn't interesting to me in the least.
 

Spectacle

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I get the impression that Brian Fargo really loves using social media, so he thought it would be cool to do a link to the game.
 

communard

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I get the impression that Brian Fargo really loves using social media, so he thought it would be cool to do a link to the game.

Sounds like a reasonable assumption. It's a idea which holds very little promise to me who hates social media with a burning passion, and I have a feeling that most other neo-grognards feel the same way. Still, and I think I've said this in another thread, it will very likely be a rather minor investment in money/dev time so I'm cool with it. Especially after the mostly negative reaction. I really respect Fargo for the way he's handled communication with the "community" so far, unlike people like Todd "The Prince of Lies" Howard he doesn't come off as a snake oil salesmen.
 

Zed

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Note:

The mod-kit is a whole other beast which I have let people know we are considering, but it would not make launch as I want to keep our development focus on the content we plan to ship.​

He kind of stated that before, but in case anyone was expecting it at launch.
 

LeStryfe79

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The mod tools might end up being a separate release like this one:

255px-Bard%27s_Tale_Construction_Set_cover.jpg
 

oldmanpaco

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Note:
The mod-kit is a whole other beast which I have let people know we are considering, but it would not make launch as I want to keep our development focus on the content we plan to ship.​

He kind of stated that before, but in case anyone was expecting it at launch.

A later release of a mod kit is fine but the systems need to be in place from the start to make it work. The engine license would be a big deal.
 

commie

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...I do like sharing my experience with my friends when I play a game—be it conversation or leaderboards. I would be curious to see my friend’s stats when playing: how many kills he had, ammo used, his level and other various non-spoiling information. ...
xbox achievement faggot detected

I have no friends, only enemies. I need not know their kill count, only that they stay the fuck away from me and my RPG.


I just hope it will be as easy to use as this or better yet FRUA was/is. If so there could be some great stuff coming out(and a lot of turds as well). :bounce:
 

Achilles

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Fargo should have realised that the hardcore crowd considers some specific words as casus belli. So, Brian, if you're reading this, avoid the following: Social, console, DRM, streamlining, reimagining, emotional, romances. I'm sure there's more but I can't remember them right now.
 

Black

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If I wanted to be social and liked people I wouldn't be playing video games and posting on this shitty forum.
 

Grimlorn

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Fargo should have realised that the hardcore crowd considers some specific words as casus belli. So, Brian, if you're reading this, avoid the following: Social, console, DRM, streamlining, reimagining, emotional, romances. I'm sure there's more but I can't remember them right now.
Majestic
 

Alex

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In fact, the reason we are not doing multi-player is because it would have affected the narrative.
Really now? From all the possible reasons not to do multiplayer, choosing this one?

And I'm not saying I yearn to see multiplayer or anything like that, I'm just finding it hard to imagine a party-based RPG that wouldn't work exactly the same in coop multiplayer as it would in single player, unless there's a significant amount of main-character-only-related railroading, cutscenes, forced story elements and similar.

Well, consequences for your actions has been promised since day one. If you need to consider that different parties may have been the instigator of these actions, that far reaching consequences need to be implemented so a second party can observe and take part on them, among other scenarios, the complexity can easily escalate to the roof. I figure this is what Fargo is complaining about.
 

Stabwound

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It seems as though Fargo has experienced a real life example of choices and consequences. :smug:
 

Baron

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Fargo should have realised that the hardcore crowd considers some specific words as casus belli. So, Brian, if you're reading this, avoid the following: Social, console, DRM, streamlining, reimagining, emotional, romances.
Exactly.

And in the days of yore, some douche in a suit would straddle a dev's desk and take a gigantic turd on his creative vision.



...and thanks to kickstarter, that douche in a suit is us. :smug:
 
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Grow up, people. Some people like social networks and it makes life a better place for a lot of people, unless you're one of those fat fucks that I posted about a while ago, the kind of facebook user who worries about being ignored by her friends, thinking everybody is super happy when she's miserable. Is Fargo making Farmville: The Wasteland Farmer? No. Then the fact that you are reactionary antisocial fucks who hate it and get a gag-reflex at its mere mention with an empty sense of entitlement to oppose the idea is an irrelevant bit of data without an ounce of significance from game development angle. I hope he manages to link it to facebook and everything and it will be glorious.

Oh and it's too late to bitch about social networks anyway. Codex has already become one with the new features, so deal with it bitches. And perhaps Fargo can include RPGCodex support along with facebook and others as well :smug:
 

Morkar Left

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After the initial 1 sec. shock to the idea to implement social gameplay features I found the idea wasn't that bad. It could add some solid value to some players. But the more I think about it the more I'm worried. It's far to ambitious to implement it properly. And even if implemented properly the social features would unavoidably affect the singleplayer experience. I don't want that.
 

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