Interview NEO Scavenger Interview at The Digital Fix

[Zed]

Tags: Blue Bottle Games; Daniel Fedor; NEO Scavenger

NEO Scavenger, a post-apoc survival RPG by Blue Bottle Games (founded by ex-Bioware dev Daniel Fedor) was earlier scrutinized by Codexers. Daniel himself appeared and answered questions, responded to feedback and good times were had by all.

We haven't really heard much about the game since then - until now. The Digital Fix just published part 1 of an interview with Daniel. In this part of the interview, he talks about leaving Bioware for creative freedom, the state of classic CRPGs today, inspiration for NEO Scavenger, and more.

Why do you think classic CRPGs like this stopped getting made?

It's just capitalism at work. Market pressures and development costs drive much of what we see in the games market. Most studios try to find the intersection of games they want to make with games they can afford to make. If more people throw down cash for games like Call of Duty, more games like Call of Duty get made.

Once in a while, a studio decides to take a risk and make something different. Most of the time, it's a failure, and that behaviour is punished by bankruptcy. Very occasionally, it's a hit, and then there's a new gold rush to that genre.

Do you think they're coming back into fashion?

The hand-painted, turn-based, isometric CRPGs many of us fell in love with faded away because other genres were a better bet, financially. They just evolved out of the market. The reason we're starting to see them crop up again is because the cost of making and publishing them has gone down. I can write a game using off the shelf tools for a fraction of the cost and effort it took a decade ago, and then sell it through an increasing number of channels, including my own website.

When the barriers drop like that, we see more games with more variety. It enables people like me to afford taking the risk.​

Click here for the full part 1 of the interview, and go back there tomorrow for part 2.

Thanks Jake!

 

[DwarvenFood]

I think it is interesting that he basically says that making a game similar to let's say Fallout in this day and age would cost substantially less now. Quoting VD's chart of how much did the production of game X cost must be seen in a bit of perspective with the technology having changed over the years.


And on DRM/Piracy:

DRM takes time to make, which could otherwise be spent adding value to the game. And since adding DRM risks annoying customers and, at best, only delays piracy, it seems like a really bad investment.

 

[villain of the story]

DwarvenFood, can you link me to that chart of VD's? I haven't seen it.

Anyway, I bought into the beta. I enjoyed the game a lot but he seems to be fucking too much around with trivial shit his "pimps" demand at this time. I won't be checking the game back for another 3-5 months. I hope he will soon ramp up the design on combat and social scenarios as well as the actual plot, before bloating the game with every little feature request.

Oh and I wish he really didn't kiss the postcards. With a lipstick.

From his game blog:

http://bluebottlegames.com/main/node/242

Makes me feel gay to hold it. Yes, I'm homophobic and obviously I would feel far more enthusiastic if the developer were a natural born female. For your next game, please use a girlfriend or a hooker for this, mang.

Well, at least there doesn't seem to be any protein stains anywhere on the cards. But I haven't checked with an UV light.

 

[toro]

A nice turn of events. :D

 

[Johannes]

 

[Zed]

Sending a postcard to every pre-purchase of the game? And kiss it with lipstick?
What a horrible idea

 

[villain of the story]

Only the first 200 buyers who paid for the "Yukon Edition".

I like the postcard itself. It's very nostalgic. I hope Dan isn't gay; it may be contagious. Not that I'd need to worry about it with my superior hetero genes, of course but still.

 

[dcfedor]

Thanks for the call-out, Zed!

DwarvenFood, yeah, making NEO Scavenger probably would've taken a larger team and more money before tools like Flash and Flixel were available. Both Flash and Flixel have a huge amount of blitting, UI, memory management, and data tools built-in which I can start using right away. It lets me focus more time on making the game, and less on building a framework for game creation. It still cost me a ton of money (a year's worth of living expenses, to-date), but I doubt I'd have even attempted it if I had to build everything from scratch.

villain of the story, nope, not gay I mention on the order page that it's my girlfriend who applies the lipstick, because I didn't want people to feel too creeped out by it. But yeah, it probably would've been best to just sign it. For every person who thought it was funny enough to win their support, there was another who was too creeped out to buy it. I'm probably going to stop the lipstick promo after the first run of 200 is complete (only a couple dozen left, and I am soooo ready to stop wearing that damned cheap lipstick).

Regarding your other comment, about plot/combat, that's the plan. More plot encounters is the current top priority (as voted by players, and I agree), so I'm working on that these days. I'm still doing bug fixes here and there, but the flurry of new features is on hold until I get some more plot work done.

Combat is a few ranks down from there, though it is definitely the most talked-about failure in the game (particularly the luck-based outcomes). I'm seriously considering working on it ahead of the voting order for that reason. However, I'm not entirely sure how it *should* work yet.

One option is to make it work like the dogman encounter in the cryo lab. It has the benefit of offering the player interesting ways of dealing with the situation. However, it also has the drawback of being repetitive and deterministic. If I did all combat like that, there would only be as many combat types as I create (e.g. when you meet the raider, it's always the same solution to defeat him).

There might be a way to make it somewhat less predictable, but I'm not sure how that system would work yet.

I think most people would prefer it doesn't play out on the map, though. At least, those who want more options besides attack/run. The map is good for strategically controlling when combat happens, but little else. Perhaps the map could let you control when combat happens, at which range, and which terrain? And then it goes into some other system for resolution?

If you guys have seen some really good combat mechanics that would fit well with the NEO Scavenger framework, definitely point me to it. I'm anxious to get this system more fun.

Thanks again for the coverage!

 

[DwarvenFood]

You seem intentionally ambiguous about your GF applying the lipstick but yet saying that you would like to stop wearing the lipstick ...

Thanks for stopping by again. I'm sure some of us have some good ideas and opinions.

 

[DwarvenFood]

DwarvenFood, can you link me to that chart of VD's? I haven't seen it.

Don't know, just some quotes in text format.. buried somewhere in the AOD thread, I'll find it one day, too tired now.

 

[Zed]

Hey Daniel, thanks for popping by again.

I understand you dilemma about the combat. I really like the type of encounter that the cryo lab is. Would love to see more of that.

 

[villain of the story]

There were good combat suggestions in the older thread about NEO Scavenger.

I have some other ideas about it, inspired by the dogman encounter in the lab and the first screen when you leave the lab, in a way that could work with the game system. I'll write about it later, sleep time now.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I think it is interesting that he basically says that making a game similar to let's say Fallout in this day and age would cost substantially less now. Quoting VD's chart of how much did the production of game X cost must be seen in a bit of perspective with the technology having changed over the years.

I've never said anything about the cost. My posts were about how long it takes to make games like Fallout.

It's kind of like writing books. It's much easier and faster to type and research using computers and internet, but quality books still take years. Same with quality games. The cost aspect is coincidental - if you have a large team that's working on a game for 3+ years, it's gonna cost you.

Also:

Do you think they're coming back into fashion?

The hand-painted, turn-based, isometric CRPGs many of us fell in love with faded away because other genres were a better bet, financially. They just evolved out of the market. The reason we're starting to see them crop up again is because the cost of making and publishing them has gone down...

Crop up again?