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Tags: Adam Brennecke; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity
Adam Brennecke, lead programmer and executive producer on Obsidian Entertainment's Project Eternity, gave a pretty decent interview to IncGamers today. In addition to providing a concise report on the game's current state, he also confirms that Mask of the Betrayer and Fallout: New Vegas designer Eric Fenstermaker is now its Creative Lead. Here's an excerpt:
Adam Brennecke, lead programmer and executive producer on Obsidian Entertainment's Project Eternity, gave a pretty decent interview to IncGamers today. In addition to providing a concise report on the game's current state, he also confirms that Mask of the Betrayer and Fallout: New Vegas designer Eric Fenstermaker is now its Creative Lead. Here's an excerpt:
IG: It’s been just over a year since Project Eternity secured its Kickstarter funding, which seems kind of crazy to me because it feels much more recent. Are you roughly where you thought you’d be at in the development process at this point?
AB: We are further along in development than I thought we were going to be at this stage. We have a great team, and we’ve been cranking for over a year now. Everyone is being productive and making a lot of content. The passion and dedication to the project is outstanding.
And I’m really happy that the game is fully playable with all 11 classes. In terms of balance and playability this is huge, because Tim [Cain] and Josh [Sawyer] have more time to iterate and polish all of the spells and abilities in the game. There’s still a lot to do, and we are still pushing ourselves to keep going and to keep momentum heading into next year.
IG: Since you guys are so regular with updates and active in the Obsidian forums, it’s a little tricky for me to be certain what information has already been shared about the game. So to try to stay ahead of the curve, I’m just going to ask what aspects of Eternity you’ve been working on this very day (other than answering these questions)?
AB: It’s a bit tricky for us too; we are trying very hard to not spoil too much content, but we always want to show everyone all the good things we’ve been working on. Currently we are focused on The Endless Paths of Od Nua, the 15 level mega-dungeon. Let me tell you that 15 levels is an enormous amount of content. The dungeon is huge. The team is having fun designing the dungeon layouts and we are putting special care to make each level interesting and have a unique feel.
IG: The most recent update seemed to indicate that the game will be called Pillars of Eternity when it launches, although that doesn’t seem to have been confirmed yet. Are you able to confirm it?
AB: I can confirm that we have an official name for Project Eternity.
IG: That same update also hinted at a major update to come for Thanksgiving. Can you provide any clues or hints as to what that may entail?
AB: The “Big Update” will contain access to our backer portal along with a new Project Eternity website. For people that pledged money you can log in to our system and manage your pledge, fill out surveys, and set up your forum backer badge. We have other exciting and wacky things planned for the update, so keep an eye out for it in the next few weeks.
IG: Obsidian titles are also pretty well known for offering proper systems of ‘choice and consequence.’ Will there be quests in Eternity with as many options and outcomes as (say) “Beyond the Beef” from Fallout: New Vegas?
AB: Yup, complex quest design is an Obsidian staple and we are going to continue to make quests like the ones you enjoyed in our previous games. All of our quests contain reactive choices, and we take care to make sure that the quests have many solutions with great role playing opportunities for the player. Many quests lines are deeper than how they initially appear on the surface and some may have a turn or two that could take you on unexpected adventures. And this will make you happy: Eric Fenstermaker, the designer of ”Beyond the Beef”, is the Creative Lead on PE, which should instill confidence in our quest direction.
Read the full interview for more information on the development of the soon-to-be-renamed Project Eternity, or if you want to know more about Adam's soccer jersey.AB: We are further along in development than I thought we were going to be at this stage. We have a great team, and we’ve been cranking for over a year now. Everyone is being productive and making a lot of content. The passion and dedication to the project is outstanding.
And I’m really happy that the game is fully playable with all 11 classes. In terms of balance and playability this is huge, because Tim [Cain] and Josh [Sawyer] have more time to iterate and polish all of the spells and abilities in the game. There’s still a lot to do, and we are still pushing ourselves to keep going and to keep momentum heading into next year.
IG: Since you guys are so regular with updates and active in the Obsidian forums, it’s a little tricky for me to be certain what information has already been shared about the game. So to try to stay ahead of the curve, I’m just going to ask what aspects of Eternity you’ve been working on this very day (other than answering these questions)?
AB: It’s a bit tricky for us too; we are trying very hard to not spoil too much content, but we always want to show everyone all the good things we’ve been working on. Currently we are focused on The Endless Paths of Od Nua, the 15 level mega-dungeon. Let me tell you that 15 levels is an enormous amount of content. The dungeon is huge. The team is having fun designing the dungeon layouts and we are putting special care to make each level interesting and have a unique feel.
IG: The most recent update seemed to indicate that the game will be called Pillars of Eternity when it launches, although that doesn’t seem to have been confirmed yet. Are you able to confirm it?
AB: I can confirm that we have an official name for Project Eternity.
IG: That same update also hinted at a major update to come for Thanksgiving. Can you provide any clues or hints as to what that may entail?
AB: The “Big Update” will contain access to our backer portal along with a new Project Eternity website. For people that pledged money you can log in to our system and manage your pledge, fill out surveys, and set up your forum backer badge. We have other exciting and wacky things planned for the update, so keep an eye out for it in the next few weeks.
IG: Obsidian titles are also pretty well known for offering proper systems of ‘choice and consequence.’ Will there be quests in Eternity with as many options and outcomes as (say) “Beyond the Beef” from Fallout: New Vegas?
AB: Yup, complex quest design is an Obsidian staple and we are going to continue to make quests like the ones you enjoyed in our previous games. All of our quests contain reactive choices, and we take care to make sure that the quests have many solutions with great role playing opportunities for the player. Many quests lines are deeper than how they initially appear on the surface and some may have a turn or two that could take you on unexpected adventures. And this will make you happy: Eric Fenstermaker, the designer of ”Beyond the Beef”, is the Creative Lead on PE, which should instill confidence in our quest direction.
