Interview Brian Heins talks about Tyranny and the nature of evil at PCGamesN

[Excidium II]

CRPG devs in charge of drastic changes.

 

[FreeKaner]

There better be an option to totally buy into the Kyros dream.

Considering you can do it in PoE and replace the antagonist, a game that did not even advertise it, I don't see why you couldn't in this one.

I am slightly hyped for this game, if it is a marketing gimmick to be unique then I don't expect much from it but if I remember correctly I have read somewhere it was an idea they had for a while but without any opportunity to create it. If it is a passion project of sorts then it can turn out really good, there are a lot of moral dilemmas and implications a position of power can bring to the table if done well. Besides in games you are often against black & white evil and black & white evil does exists, a bit more variety where it doesn't, even in a fantasy setting can be refreshing, as long as it is not pretentious ambiguity.

 

[Prime Junta]

I would really like to know the budget, even in the ballpark. It's 20 hours long. If you have a finished engine and a team that's up to speed with it, you can make a pretty good 20 hour game for a few hundred thou, but it's gonna be linear. If they put a few mil into it, they should be able to make it another AoD (without all the tedious numbers and shit, since it's 'streamlined' ofc).

 

[agris]

I would really like to know the budget, even in the ballpark. It's 20 hours long. If you have a finished engine and a team that's up to speed with it, you can make a pretty good 20 hour game for a few hundred thou, but it's gonna be linear. If they put a few mil into it, they should be able to make it another AoD (without all the tedious numbers and shit, since it's 'streamlined' ofc).

They're in the US, in California. You're off by an order of magnitude.

 

[Trashos]

I would really like to know the budget, even in the ballpark. It's 20 hours long. If you have a finished engine and a team that's up to speed with it, you can make a pretty good 20 hour game for a few hundred thou, but it's gonna be linear. If they put a few mil into it, they should be able to make it another AoD (without all the tedious numbers and shit, since it's 'streamlined' ofc).

They're in the US, in California. You're off by an order of magnitude.

Still, it is published by Paradox, which means that the budget can't be less than several million. Maybe even much more than that. They can definitely build a AA/AAA AoD with that money, the real question is "Do they want to?". The answer is probably no. It remains to be seen how far they will take the CnC.

 

[Prime Junta]

I would really like to know the budget, even in the ballpark. It's 20 hours long. If you have a finished engine and a team that's up to speed with it, you can make a pretty good 20 hour game for a few hundred thou, but it's gonna be linear. If they put a few mil into it, they should be able to make it another AoD (without all the tedious numbers and shit, since it's 'streamlined' ofc).

They're in the US, in California. You're off by an order of magnitude.

Still, it is published by Paradox, which means that the budget can't be less than several million. Maybe even much more than that. They can definitely build a AA/AAA AoD with that money, the real question is "Do they want to?". The answer is probably no. It remains to be seen how far they will take the CnC.

Again, it's 20 hours.

Pillars is several times that, including side content. They already have the engine. The mechanics are streamlined (=easier to make and tune). What else are they gonna spend that budget on? Coke and hookers?

 

[GrainWetski]

What else are they gonna spend that budget on? Coke and hookers?

Living in San Francisco.

 

[Excidium II]

Actually Obsidian is in Irvine but still California so I bet it still costs 100k/year to employ some random dude.

 

[Trashos]

Again, it's 20 hours.

Pillars is several times that, including side content. They already have the engine. The mechanics are streamlined (=easier to make and tune). What else are they gonna spend that budget on? Coke and hookers?

Some casuals-related content that I can't even fathom.

I hope you are right.

 

[GrainWetski]

Actually Obsidian is in Irvine but still California so I bet it still costs 100k/year to employ some random dude.

They're going to make San Francisco great again by moving there.

I forgot they weren't actually in San Franshitsco. Doubt it's much cheaper in Irvine, though.

 

[Fairfax]

Actually Obsidian is in Irvine but still California so I bet it still costs 100k/year to employ some random dude.

Nah, it's not that much. Some examples here. And here's Blizzard.
A guy like Boyarsky is definitely making more than 100k, though.

 

[Excidium II]

Isn't that just their basic salary? No overtime, benefits, taxes, etc.

 

[Fairfax]

Isn't that just their basic salary? No overtime, benefits, taxes, etc.

No way to know, these are all anonymous, and they're different in each company. Blizzard has a performance bonus based on your salary+position, so I think it might've been included?

For the sake of argument, let's take PoE. $4 million from KS, minus fees, manufacturing costs for the physical shit, etc. But Obsidian also had to invest more money into it later on, so let's assume the whole project had exactly $4 million.
Sawyer said the game had a core team of 20-25 across 2.5 years. That's an average salary of $64k. Still, they also had VA, marketing, Paradox's cut, bills, equipment, taxes and more to pay for.
Roughly half the team had been working for 5-10 years at the company and 20+ in the industry, while the other half were new hires.

Lead designers and lead programmers in CA seem to make at least $120k, though. Safe to say Sawyer and Brennecke weren't cheap.

 

[Excidium II]

$120k to write about xaurips and design that rulesystem. Living the dream.

 

[Kem0sabe]

$120k to write about xaurips and design that rulesystem. Living the dream.

It has even more value for a guy like Sawyer, who doesn't own a car, rides that bike everywhere, only eats vegetarian instead of meat and fish.

 

[Fairfax]

$120k to write about xaurips and design that rulesystem. Living the dream.

That just seems to be the average in the region, though. Maybe he took a hit on his salary because it was crowdfunded, but I doubt it. With his résumé, there's no way he'd get less than $100k elsewhere.

 

[Roguey]

A lot of Josh's paycheck goes to paying his parents' mortgage.

The material impact of video games is fairly low, as are individual rates of consumption (for the majority of people, anyway). The more video games move toward full digital distribution, the smaller their environmental impact should become. Video games do require a lot of electricity to both make and play, which does have a negative impact and is perhaps the most difficult thing to reconcile. I try to make games that are enjoyable but not addictive. I want people to be able to pick them up, put them down when they have something more important to do (which should be almost anything), and eventually stop playing entirely.

I've attempted to find other occupations into which I could go, but most of them require going back to school for two or four years. I do not have any marketable talents or vocational training outside of what I have learned in the game industry -- very little of which is applicable outside. Whether I'm good or bad at it, video game development is the only place where I can make a wage that allows me to fulfill financial obligations to people who depend on me. A true believer in minimalist consumption would sacrifice everything for the principle of it, but I'm not That Guy.

I've looked at other professions, but I'm not really qualified to do anything else, and certainly nothing that would do a better job at fulfilling creative and financial goals. There are too many important things in life for me to be seriously upset about the amount of creative ownership I have in my paying job making video games.

You can do whatever you want in life as long as you don't expect anyone to thank, praise, or pay you for it. If you want thanks, praise, or money, you probably aren't going to get to do what you want -- or if you do get to do what you want, you probably aren't going to get to do it the way that you want or when you want to do it.

I've grown up around and lived with professional freelance artists my whole life. You know what consistently makes them unhappy? Not being able to pay rent. For most people, there are always trade-offs.

It may be that due to circumstance and/or exceptional talent that you get to do what you want, how you want, when you want, and you get praise, thanks, and money for it. That is great. I am not one of those people, but I am very happy that at least I get to do something I like and get paid for it.

Some people have to perform dangerous physical labor and get paid virtually nothing for it. Some people pour their hearts into creations that go unrewarded. Some people are willing to do almost anything and no one will hire them. And if you really have it bad, you work in terrible/dangerous conditions, live in fear and squalor, and eke out a meager existence under severe wage slavery.

I don't have to deal with any of that (other than my self-imposed financial obligations to others). To be upset that my life is not more dreamlike and pampered than it already is would be absurd.

Yes, paying the mortgage on the house my parents live in is more important to me than ending my career in an industry with relatively low environmental impact so I can live the life of an ascetic hermit doing something I have little to no skill at. Count me out of the fourth wave RAF.

 

[Xzylvador]

I had a girlfriend named Kyros once.

She didn't put out so I had to euthanise her.



Hmm.... Could be she was called Kyra, actually...
She also kind of acted like a stalker sometimes, which weirded me out.

Anyhow, point is, it was quite a disappointment. I hope there's no connection.

 

[Trashos]

I had a girlfriend named Kyros once.

She didn't put out so I had to euthanise her.



Hmm.... Could be she was called Kyra, actually...
She also kind of acted like a stalker sometimes, which weirded me out.

Anyhow, point is, it was quite a disappointment. I hope there's no connection.

You should be a professional reviewer.

 

[Prime Junta]

pontification

Yeah, it'd be nice if somebody made a book or something explaining what words mean.

 

[Fenix]

Lol, I just want somebody explained it with his own words. )
But I'll try to look in some cultural dictionary if you link some. )

 

[Prime Junta]

Lol, I just want somebody explained it with his own words. )
But I'll try to look in some cultural dictionary if you link some. )

Wouldn't it be nice if someone made a website where you could type in something and it would find them for you?

But okay. Pontification is when you drone on about something in a judgmental or dogmatic way. The snippet from The Last Ringbearer is an example, and the book is full of it. Russian novels tend to do that.

 

[Fenix]

judgmental or dogmatic way

Well, now it all sounds negative somehow - "pontification", "judgmental", "dogmatic".
But why? Why to be confident in something - is it bad?
Why have a clear moral compass - it's bad?

Btw you sound all the judgmental yourself.

 

[Prime Junta]

Well, now it all sounds negative somehow - "pontification", "judgmental", "dogmatic".

I'm sorry, I didn't realise this was a safe space.

But why? Why to be confident in something - is it bad?

Only if you're confident in error.

Why have a clear moral compass - it's bad?

Only if it points the wrong way.

Btw you sound all the judgmental yourself.

Only about people who are confident in error and have moral compasses that point the wrong way.

 

[Lurker King]

Still, it is published by Paradox, which means that the budget can't be less than several million. Maybe even much more than that. They can definitely build a AA/AAA AoD with that money, the real question is "Do they want to?". The answer is probably no. It remains to be seen how far they will take the CnC.

Nope, not even close. Only on TV ads for Fallout 4, Bethesda spent 14 million. How much they spent on payroll? Around 150 million. Moreover, you need to consider that FO4 is a very repetitive and linear game. A heavy C&C game like AoD would represent more bugs to fix, more everything in triple-A terms.