Interview Feargus Urquhart on the development of South Park: The Stick of Truth

[Infinitron]

Tags: Feargus Urquhart; Obsidian Entertainment; South Park: The Stick of Truth; THQ; Ubisoft

Despite the efforts of certain parties to tar it with the "Bugsidian" brush, South Park: The Stick of Truth has turned out to be Obsidian's most critically successful title yet. The game was only released just over a week ago, but apparently it's not too early for a retrospective, which is what Feargus Urquhart gave to Eurogamer in an interview posted there today. It's actually an excellent piece that goes over the story of the game's origins back in 2009, Obsidian's work with Matt Stone and Trey Parker (the latter of whom is practically a Codexer, it seems) and the whole European censorship fiasco. The most interesting part, however, is when the interviewer tries to get Feargus to talk about what happened to the game after THQ went bankrupt and Ubisoft took over. I quote:

Ubisoft took over, took stock and in September 2013 delayed the game to December. Then, a month before it was due out, another delay, this time to South Park's eventual release date in March 2014. Ubisoft North America's president Laurent Detoc said the game had required a "major overhaul" after it picked it up. "Within three weeks after acquiring the game, we sadly realised we had to turn this thing upside down if we hoped to deliver the experience everybody wanted,” Detoc said at the time. "It's been such a major overhaul to get to the point where we are that we couldn't let it go, even if that meant missing December."

I remember being concerned that something was very wrong. But what was really going on behind the scenes?

"I..." there's a pause, and Urquhart reluctantly clams shut, telling me he can't talk about it. He tells me nothing he'd say would conflict with "stuff that was coming out about those things, it's just hard to go into any detail".

I press: Did the game change considerably when Ubisoft took over?

"I can't answer that one either. Sorry."
​

Yipe. I wonder if we'll ever know. Here's another good part:

South Park: The Stick of Truth was a strange project for the studio in many ways. It was 2D, and it had to offer something other than "you're talking or you're killing", which is what, he titters, Obsidian's work tends to boil down to.

Having outsiders scrutinise Obsidian's methods was new and at times challenging as well. But as as Urquhart the wise man reflects, "We only get better as game developers when we open ourselves up more to criticism.

"We had to step back and really think about how we made games, because this game couldn't be made the same way as a lot of our other games, and it taught us a lot and the game turned out great."

According to Metacritic, cringe, South Park: The Stick of Truth (on PS3) is one of Obsidian's best games, scoring a review average of 86 per cent (the same as KOTOR2 on Xbox).

Metacritic is relevant here because an 85-plus score was exactly what Obsidian needed Fallout: New Vegas to achieve in order to receive a bonus payment from publisher Bethesda. But it didn't; Fallout: New Vegas averaged an agonisingly close 84 per cent, and Obsidian lost out, despite the game being a big success for Bethesda. There was quite a fall out.

There's nothing like that in place for South Park: The Stick of Truth, thankfully, and Obsidian never intends taking that road again.

"We have a general policy whenever we're talking to different publishers now: we don't do anything that has to do with Metacritic. It's an unfair way of... in a lot of ways it can only be used as a way to take advantage of a developer.

"Ultimately if a game is financially successful, if a developer has back-end royalties on that, then they should make those back-end royalties if they made money for the publisher."

Amen.
​

Amen indeed.

 

[Duraframe300]

Yipe. I wonder if we'll ever know. Here's another good part:

We will.

Like unless people take it literary to the grave, we will.

 

[Shadenuat]

South Park: The Stick of Truth has turned out to be Obsidian's most critically successful title yet

arrhhh make it STOP

 

[Azrael the cat]

Mr Trey Parker, if you ever read this, please put the Codex in South Park. The butthurt when a gazillion mostly normal people come and colonise the site, turning it into a Skyrim/Bioware fansite, will be glorious.

 

[abnaxus]

Having outsiders scrutinise Obsidian's methods was new

 

[set]

The real question is the game going to be a financial anything for anyone. Obsidian's future is rather murky, at least to me.

 

[RK47]

 

[Azrael the cat]

I'm assuming/hoping that they're doing the mmorpg content under contract for someone else's mmorpg. I see no reason why Obsidian would be any better at mmorpgs than Bioware - their strengths would have minimal room to shine, and like Bioware they have little corporate expertise in mmorpgs. I've been quite vocal in calling AP one of the best C+C games in recent years, but one criticism that's been underplayed is that Obsidian simply didn't have experience in making shooters/sneakers. And they've got a lot less $$$ with which to import that experience from outside compared to Bioware - and even then, the shooting mechanics in ME1 were a lot less ambitious than AP (not even a pretence of trying to make the guns have weight, no real expectation of moving/sneaking around - you might go from cover to cover, but you'll always be facing the same direction in combat with no real in-combat use of the as it's essentially static setpieces instead of giving full 3D use of a combat map). So why would you even expect them to be able to make good gunplay?

A mmorpg seems like this multiplied by 10. Doing a finite chunk of content work under contract would be a smart idea, as it would give them valuable experience if they ever decide to go down the mmorpg path. Doing a full mmorpg, however? That just seems crazy.

 

[Xor]

Weren't they doing contract work for some Russian MMO? That's probably what the job postings are for.

 

[Tigranes]

MMO job postings are for Skyforge contract work. Obsidian isn't developing its own MMO. So let's skip the redundant "OMFG OBSIDIAN MMO" blah.

Nothing really unexpected in that interview, the main point of interest would be what parts of the design changed when Ubisoft came in, but I suppose we won't know that for a few years.

 

[Forest Dweller]

What about that Wheel of Time thing too?

 

[lurker3000]

Ubisoft North America's president Laurent Detoc said the game had required a "major overhaul" after it picked it up. "Within three weeks after acquiring the game, we sadly realised we had to turn this thing upside down if we hoped to deliver the experience everybody wanted,” Detoc said at the time. "It's been such a major overhaul to get to the point where we are that we couldn't let it go, even if that meant missing December."

So much bullshitt packed into a few lines of corporate speak. You know because its so easy to do a major overhaul of a 4-years-in-development game in 6 months. Anyway ubi is going to ubi.

 

[Infinitron]

The real question is the game going to be a financial anything for anyone. Obsidian's future is rather murky, at least to me.

The game appears to be selling very well, at least on PC.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

IF Obsidian really needs Visual FX artists, character artists etc they can always hire Prosper. Look at this picture, it has visual FX and characters:

 

[curry]

IF Obsidian really needs Visual FX artists, character artists etc they can always hire Prosper. Look at this picture, it has visual FX and characters:

nice try, prosper

 

[Delterius]

To be fair its more like,

Despite the general fears of the population with the "Bugsidian" brush...

But then again...

And then you’re quickly plunged into a neighbourhood game of dungeons and dragons, in which the Cartman-led Humans are waging war with the Kyle-led Elves, in a battle to control possession of The Stick Of Truth. A stick.

This opens with a flurry of instructional sequences from Cartman, in which you’re taught the basics of combat. For another game. Quite what the hell happened here is a mystery only the years will solve, but these sequences are gibberish. Instructions fly at you and disappear without your clicking, and then don’t match what you’re actually supposed to be doing. Cartman screams at you for making mistakes the game is making, and at this point it’s only blind determination that sees you past a grimly weak opening.

Oh my God, he didn't get the joke. That Cartman was telling you to do the wrong things on purpose.

 

[Desktop Commander]

there's a pause, and Urquhart reluctantly clams shut ... I press ... he titters

Does he actually want to sound like someone with an unhealthy affection for fedoras who one day woke up and simply decided to do an interview?* Is it common for gamejourno outlets to write everything as if it were the blog of an undergraduate arts major?


*dat run-on

 

[crawlkill]

I still shrivel and wilt every time I think about 84gate. I know it's the only economic reality, but the whole concept of financing projects that way such that the the only "labor" the owner puts in is that of the pure capitalist, nobly handing out dollars to enable the creation of something the vast majority of the price of which (in a world with out insane advertising budgets) is just headcount. this isn't like building a building, where there's a complex infrastructure of interrelated industries that all contribute to the success of the endeavor in a very specific, active way. this is just a bunch of nerds in an office for a couple years and Steam.

I dunno. the world would be a different place if publishers -gave loans- to companies developing games, rather than -financing the project to then own it afterward.- here's to Kickstarter; may PoE be a mind-mutilating success so that Obsidian can keep self-funding. the whole "rich people get to decide what gets made and then own it after other people make it oh and beggar them for their trouble" thing is just too depressing.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I want to know what other games they're working on.

 

[Rake]

I want to know what other games they're working on.

PoE
AAA mystery game
collaborating in MMO
South Park DLC (?)
Next kickstarter preparation (?)

 

[Applypoison]

Ubisoft North America's president Laurent Detoc said the game had required a "major overhaul" after it picked it up. "Within three weeks after acquiring the game, we sadly realised we had to turn this thing upside down if we hoped to deliver the experience everybody wanted,” Detoc said at the time.

Let me run this through Publisher Translator v3.0:

"Within three weeks after acquiring the game, we sadly realised that it wasn't compatible with Dolby Surround, and that there was no support for XBOX controllers. We had to turn this thing upside down if we wanted to get 59.99$ out of it."

 

[Hormalakh]

Let me run this through Publisher Translator v3.0:

Too much game. Not enough QTE.

 

[Volourn]

So... Obsdiian's most critically successful game is because of Matt and Trey being so hands on plus Ubisoft cracking the whip. HAHAHAHA!

 

[Hormalakh]

heh: honestly it seems like matt and trey made the game and obsidian coded it. but i know that's wrong. oh well - good for obsidian. now make my poe

 

[Delterius]

Matt and Trey for Lead Designers on Eternity 2014.