Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Fairfax]

wat

I think you may be going overboard with the MCA stalking

As Roguey said, it's not stalking if it's public.

 

[Roguey]

Info's only worth sharing if it's interesting imo.

 

[Irenaeus III]

Info's only worth sharing if it's interesting imo.

It's interesting to mock freaks.

 

[Fairfax]

Info's only worth sharing if it's interesting imo.

It's interesting to mock freaks.

Not what I did, though.

 

[Irenaeus III]

I never accused you of mocking this freak.

 

[Immortal]

Tee Hee~~ Me too Senpai~~

 

[Fairfax]

Recorded Live: 3/10/2013 - Blackheart (Austin, TX)

- He loves XCOM, and Obsidian examined that game in some aspects.
- Looking back on AP, the game's systems weren't "as refined or up to the standards of games like Splinter Cell and Mass Effect. Overall he's really proud of it.
- Believed one of Obsidian's greatest accomplishments was how they worked and incorporated technology from other companies to create their own.
- Thinks the amount of effort to downscope certain features and realize what needs to be cut early was one of their early failures. Said that improved a lot in Dungeon Siege III, mentions better bug-tracking software and how it was a long learning experience.
- Another KS project would require more financial independence than they had at the time.
- "Working on a project that was funded by Kickstarter has been one of the best experiences of my career".
Wonder if that's changed since then?

 

[Infinitron]

Not if you assume he was talking about Torment. You should clarify that video is from 2013.

 

[Fairfax]

Not if you assume he was talking about Torment. You should clarify that video is from 2013.

Done. As for TTON, the campaign was still going when this was recorded, he even mentions in the interview that it was doing really well at $2 million.

 

[Irenaeus III]

Maybe he was having a great time with PoE at the time, it might have been before his material was cut by Sawyer and his gang. Then later he wasn't having fun anymore.

He left Obsidian 2 years, 2 months and 6 days after this video, or 2.18309412 years according to google shirt "girl".

 

[Fairfax]

Jul 29, 2013

- Very first game he saw was Bard's Tale on the Commodore 64. Convinced his father buying one would be good for his education if he learned how to program.
- "Indie scene is where creators can actually create".
- He'd much rather design indie games for free while having some other job, just because that allows more freedom of expression.
- Praises Amnesia. Thought the core concept wouldn't work, but changed his mind when he played it.
- "Early negative feedback can save many man-months of work."
- He sees new developers trying to put too many concepts into one game. Advises people to "limit to two or three big things that you're trying to do, or a feeling that you're trying to evoke in the player."
- "Recognize and focus on the few things that you want to do well, and leaver the other things for a future title down the road when you have more time."

 

[Fairfax]

Who is this?

 

[kris]

Who is this?

Dances with raptors.

 

[Jasede]

A genius who is a (fellow) Mensa member.

 

[Fairfax]

As usual, early Obsidian era interviews with MCA are much more interesting than late Obsidian ones.
This one is from May 29, 2004, shortly after E3 2004.

Part 1:

Spoiler

Winterwind: First, you just got back from E3, what made you say “Wow”, and what didn’t live up to your expectations? Be honest.

Chris Avellone: My honesty is pretty boring (which is the excuse I use when caught lying), but here you go: I didn’t have any expectations for E3; most of the games being showcased I’d already seen bits of or I could check out on the net, and I was so burned out from doing the E3 KOTOR 2 demo that I couldn’t even focus half the time.(1) I went mostly to see friends who’ve gone to other companies and just catch up. And, of course, the booth babes.(2) And the massage room at the Gamespy/IGN booth.(3)

(Footnote 1) This is also the excuse used for why I was stumbling around “as if” I was drunk. Honestly.

(Footnote 2) I didn’t really want to see the booth babes until I got there, then I wanted to see a lot of them, since they’re all so tan and curvy in the right places.

(Footnote 3) Thanks to Kay, who gave me a massage ticket. Kay rocks.

WW: Is there a type of game you’re just itching to work on? Is it a certain type of RPG or maybe a different genre all together?

MCA: Yup. I’d love to work on a real world RPG, a high school-based RPG, and a few other crazier ideas that I’m not sure would work, but I’m dying to see if they could. Writing modern dialogue and dealing with real world themes is something I’d love to do. And then there’s times where I just want to do a game where the game world lends itself to allowing you to do anything, and you aren’t constrained by an existing game world’s design physics or genre parameters.

WW: While a few rpg's, like Harvest Moon, get away without having swords and guns they seem to meet with limited success. Do you feel a non-violent RPG could be a “main stream” success in the age of Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear?

MCA: Hey, if The Sims can do it, then there’s a chance.

WW: Many people notice a distinctive style in the areas and games you've designed. What are some of the influences that led to the development of your personal design style?

MCA: Caffeine, lots of comic books and novels, and writing a lot of superhero pen-and-paper supplements, actually – superhero games have such a strong focus on character, that I think it burned a lot of character development ideas into my brain. I don’t like doing happy endings for some reason, mostly because I don’t believe in them. I also did a lot of GMing in junior high and high school (and again, when we were running our Fallout 3 pen and paper game), and I think the most important thing I learned from that is that your primary design goal is to provide an entertaining experience for your players, not for yourself.

WW: When asked their favorite game characters, many on these gaming message boards choose characters from Planescape: Torment. What are some of your favorite game characters that you didn't have a hand in creating?

MCA: Floyd from Planetfall. Shodan from the System Shocks. Just about any of the voice-acted characters in Fallout 1 (Mark O’ Green has a great writing style). Fatima from Anachronox was one of the most brilliant characters ever, and I am insanely jealous I didn’t think of the idea of an interface with personality first – Tom Hall better watch himself if I ever cross paths with him in a dark alley. There’s probably a ton of others I’m forgetting. Oh, and this is totally stupid, but I liked Pondmuk from Icewind Dale 2, even though he was designed by Chris Parker.

WW: You worked on two games in a row at Interplay (Jefferson and Van Buren) that were shelved, both of which were eagerly anticipated by BIS fans. How did that effect your view of the industry and you personally?

MCA: Well, Jefferson was a splash of cold water followed by a slow, unsettling chill that it all could happen again. I think it was a combination of that and Feargus leaving that finally made me realize I couldn’t stay at Interplay any longer – a lot of work was invested in Jefferson, I think it was a good, solid hardcore PC RPG, and I had a lot of hopes for it. To have it suddenly shelved by circumstances beyond your control is something you can expect to happen in the industry, but that had been happening a LOT at Interplay, and it’s frustrating to work hard on something and then watch it all get flushed – I mean, that’s almost a year and a half of your life, with nothing to show for it. The artists were probably hit the worst - some of the art that was done for that game was amazing. I don’t really know how Sawyer stayed sane through all of it, but that man has a spine of steel.

Anyway, to sum it up, projects getting cancelled just happens, but the reasons that projects were getting cancelled at Interplay never felt like good reasons.

WW: Anyone who asks around about the Van Buren (Fallout 3) storyline will quickly run into what I like to call “The Wall of MCA”, where people refuse to talk about it out of respect for your wishes. While bits and pieces of the story got out, most of it did not. Will we be seeing elements of the VB storyline in your upcoming games or are you saving it for the long shot of a Fallout 3 someday?

MCA: No, the Fallout 3 story was specific to Fallout; while there are elements that could be transferred, it wouldn’t feel right. I’d feel like I was cheating on Fallout or something. The story meant a lot to me, and there were certain characters that gained their strength because of their position and history in the Fallout universe.


WW: When you left Interplay for Obsidian, did you know at that time you would be working on KOTOR2?

MCA: Yes. I was a little intimidated, since I knew nothing about Star Wars beyond the movies and spent ten months going through all the Expanded Universe stuff just so I could understand who this Mara Jade person was, what the heck Skywalker was doing having children with her, and why Aurra Sing has an antenna coming out of her head. I can’t say I achieved any sort of spiritual Star Wars enlightenment after reading all the novels and graphic novels, but it was just good to get the background of what other writers, game developers, and PNP game designers have already done in the universe so I wouldn’t be doing a story someone else had already done.

WW: For the first time that I can recall, it is very possible that the most widely anticipated upcoming RPG is coming out of the America. While success in RPG’s isn’t unheard of for North American companies, especially critical success, they don’t often get the “Final Fantasy” level of early hype that KOTOR2 is getting. Does that change how people approach their jobs? Do you guys ever stop and think: “Wow, this is as AAA as AAA gets”.

MCA: I think the guys here are really stoked by the coverage (seeing your concept art mounted on the ceiling of E3 and on the covers of multiple magazines can be a hell of a morale booster), but personally, I’m mostly too terrified to notice. BioWare did a great job on KOTOR 1 and that’s a tough act to follow. So basically, the fact it’s a triple A title means that we’re excited but also sweating blood, and there’s a lot of pressure, expectations, and it can be pretty daunting at times.

WW: Which is more unnerving, having to meeting Fallout fans expectations, or the wider audience of KOTOR expectations?

MCA: Fallout fan expectations. Star Wars fans are tame by comparison and use a lot less profanity. I’d hate to see the two groups of them get into a fight – the Fallout fans would shred the Star Wars fans in seconds. Still, the Fallout fans were always a good conscience.

WW: While KOTOR2 obviously isn’t a PC only RPG, do you think strong PC sales of the game could be the catalyst for that market to be reawakened? Do you think it possible for PC rpgs to rival their console cousins again one day?

MCA: I think they can – like you said, all it would take is just a PC RPG title to make a ton of cash, and suddenly publishers might be willing to give PC RPGs another chance. I’ll be honest – a PC-only RPG can be a pretty hard sell to many publishers out there, and there’s a lot of prejudice you have to get through.

WW: In a developer roundtable discussion it was said that you liked to build the stories in your games around certain themes. What are some of the themes that we can expect to explore in The Sith Lords?

MCA: Teaching as a theme, oddly enough (since I didn’t expect it until we started implementing characters and companions) – the mentor-apprentice relationship is one of the major themes the game revolves around. There are others, but that’s one of the more personal themes in the game.

WW: It’s not the biggest secret that Obsidian has another project waiting in the wings, but where do you see Obsidian going from here. You guys think you might be ready to gamble a bit on your own franchise?

MCA: Heck, yes. I think it’s every developer’s dream to do their own IP, and Obsidian is no different. We’ve got some great ideas in the works, and Ferg’s busy using Jedi mind tricks with publishers to help it see the light of day. We already got a lot of help from BioWare (getting KOTOR 2 right out the gate as a start-up surprised me), and I think our starting line of titles are going to be a good foundation to build Obsidian on... and should help when pitching new ideas to publishers.

Part 2:

Spoiler

Chris Avellone: In opening, if it’s cool, I wanted to introduce the members of our design team at Obsidian who are working on KOTOR 2 : Ferret Baudoin (Black Isle, formerly Van Buren and Jefferson), Michael Chu (Worlds of Warcraft), Kevin Saunders (C&C: Zero Hour, Shattered Galaxy), Scotty Everts (every Black Isle game ever made), and John Morgan (first project, but willing to suffer for his art).

WW: Article after article mentions that the main character in KOTOR2 will have amnesia or will be blacked out and therefore can’t know what has happened to him during that time. You said in a post on the Obsidian message boards that memory loss isn’t the case, which doesn’t technically include blacking out. So, one last time, what’s really going on, and why does the press for this game consistently get it wrong?

MCA: The main character doesn’t have amnesia, but he isn’t sure where he wakes up or what’s going on when he’s back on his feet at the start of the game. So it’s understandable why some game sites have printed it. What we really wanted to do was have the main character have amnesia, be the chosen one, wake up in a prison, and emerge into a grim, dark world. One of those is true.

WW: Another fun mix up is the number of planets (or should I say worlds) you visit. Five and seven have both been reported; which is it?

MCA: Seven, although each world contains a number of sub-locations that aren’t necessarily the world itself, if that makes any sense. If it doesn’t make sense, well, imagine if you will a common apple pie. Cut the pie into slices. Put one piece of pie on a plate, then watch the plate take off and orbit the table. Is it still all one pie?

These are the questions Chris Parker, our producer, both asks and answers on a regular basis.

WW: Can we expect Peragus to be closer to Taris or the Endar Spire in terms of how involved you get there, and will that count as one of the worlds/planets in the game?

MCA: Peragus is in-between the two; it’s not as fast-paced as the Endar Spire – it’s more like a building mystery, trying to figure out what happened and why, introducing the major problems (and minor ones), etc, etc. At a certain point, however, the action builds considerably. Peragus does count as one of the worlds in the game, but as mentioned above, there will be sub-locations that aren’t really the world itself.

WW: Game length seems to be a concern with the community after previews seemed to indicate K2 will be roughly the same length as KOTOR, a game many felt was a bit too short (a problem they were counting on the sequel to fix). Where do you currently foresee K2’s game length to be compared to KOTOR, and if about the same, would you like to justify that to some of your critics?

MCA: Right now, I’m guessing it’ll probably be a bit longer, but I can’t say exactly at this time. Peragus is long, but it’s not the same length as Taris, for example.

WW: Something a lot of people disliked about KOTOR was its endings. While they were pretty vague, giving you more freedom in K2, will the endings be more fulfilling to the player this time around and reflect what you’ve done in the game? Besides for just which side of the force you align yourself with.

MCA: The current game mechanic we’re playing around for the endings with is something similar to Fallout, but it will be presented a little differently. I can’t guarantee it will work in the game, however, but cross your fingers.

WW: In one of the articles about K2, it stated that each NPC will be getting a special ability. It mentions Atton as an example and stated he couldn’t be knocked out, preventing the “game over” screen. This strikes me as you can’t lose with him in your party. Can you better explain his ability, as it stands now?

MCA: Atton’s power only works if he’s not the last man standing. If he is and he’s knocked out, game over. That’s one of his special abilities – the other ability is that whatever he says is usually wrong. He’s like an inverse barometer. He probably also has some dark past involving some alien STD, but no confirmation on that.



WW: In a recent preview it says you'll have 10 NPCs to choose from, but it also says that you will get different ones depending if your LS, DS, male, female, etc. So does that mean there are more than 10 NPCs, but depending on your character, only 10 of them will be available to join you a game?

MCA: Currently, there are more than 10 CNPCs (currently, this may be scaled back), and you can choose between the 10 for which ones you want in your party again depending on your sex and your light side and dark side total at certain points in the game.

WW: KOTOR touched on same sex romances in a responsible way, but stopped short of the lengths other romance options went. Will this be furthered in K2?

MCA: Nope. I don’t have a problem with it, but it never struck me as part of the Star Wars genre, and it’s not my playground to dictate things like that. If it was Fallout 1 or 2, I wouldn’t care.

WW: It was stated in a recent Gamespy preview that K2 “will have a twist the equal of and possibly more spectacular than the one that graced the first game.” After that and the big twist in KOTOR1, is it a difficult task to think of a way to surprise people when they seem to be trying to guess the plot twist already. A sort of “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?”

MCA: We’re just trying to make a fun game with a cool story, not deliver a surprise. I guess you could call that the surprise. So enough with the shaming and the fools already.

WW: It is well known that conversations you have early on in K2 will have an impact on the game. What is not known is how much those conversations can change the game. Will conversation about Revan’s romances take place, and will the conversations in general affect the quests you get in a way you regard as “significant?”

MCA: The game changes, and that’s all I’m going to say right now.

WW: A common question on the Obsidian boards tends to be about the chances of seeing new robes and possibly new hilts in the sequel. While we saw a few new robes in the videos, can we expect even more, and varied in color?

MCA: We’ve got the basic Jedi and Sith robes right now, we might have more. There will be new lightsaber colors – hilts are still unconfirmed.

[note: Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian has confirmed the presence of new hilts.]

WW: A common complaint in KOTOR was a lack of character models for aliens. Will we be seeing increased variation in the models for K2?

MCA: We will have new aliens, but the variations will be similar to the first game.

WW: Possibly the number one question asked on the Obsidian boards is whether Bastila will have some role to play in K2 (early dialogue dependent, of course). So how about it, can we expect to have the possibility of seeing Bastila again?

MCA: We can’t comment on that at this time.

WW: In closing, aren’t you just a little sick of hearing people say “That White Haired Chick?” Any chance of you guys re-releasing that NPC’s name, or at least giving us something catchier?

MCA: I never get sick of hearing people say that “white-haired chick,” because it has a certain ring to it. I imagine you guys shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for a name. Besides, what’s in a name? Real computer game characters never really need a name anyway.

WW: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us and answer some common questions.

Interestingly, he seems to get annoyed after the question below, and every answer after that becomes short and dry compared to the previous ones. It's very unusual for him, probably the first time I've seen it, but I thought it was funny.
Maybe he wasn't used to so many interviews and stupid questions before KOTOR2? Not a lot of interviews with him from the Black Isle era.

WW: KOTOR touched on same sex romances in a responsible way, but stopped short of the lengths other romance options went. Will this be furthered in K2?

MCA: Nope. I don’t have a problem with it, but it never struck me as part of the Star Wars genre, and it’s not my playground to dictate things like that. If it was Fallout 1 or 2, I wouldn’t care.

WW: It was stated in a recent Gamespy preview that K2 “will have a twist the equal of and possibly more spectacular than the one that graced the first game.” After that and the big twist in KOTOR1, is it a difficult task to think of a way to surprise people when they seem to be trying to guess the plot twist already. A sort of “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?”

MCA: We’re just trying to make a fun game with a cool story, not deliver a surprise. I guess you could call that the surprise. So enough with the shaming and the fools already.

WW: It is well known that conversations you have early on in K2 will have an impact on the game. What is not known is how much those conversations can change the game. Will conversation about Revan’s romances take place, and will the conversations in general affect the quests you get in a way you regard as “significant?”

MCA: The game changes, and that’s all I’m going to say right now.

WW: A common question on the Obsidian boards tends to be about the chances of seeing new robes and possibly new hilts in the sequel. While we saw a few new robes in the videos, can we expect even more, and varied in color?

MCA: We’ve got the basic Jedi and Sith robes right now, we might have more. There will be new lightsaber colors – hilts are still unconfirmed.

[note: Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian has confirmed the presence of new hilts.]

WW: A common complaint in KOTOR was a lack of character models for aliens. Will we be seeing increased variation in the models for K2?

MCA: We will have new aliens, but the variations will be similar to the first game.

WW: Possibly the number one question asked on the Obsidian boards is whether Bastila will have some role to play in K2 (early dialogue dependent, of course). So how about it, can we expect to have the possibility of seeing Bastila again?

MCA: We can’t comment on that at this time.

WW: In closing, aren’t you just a little sick of hearing people say “That White Haired Chick?” Any chance of you guys re-releasing that NPC’s name, or at least giving us something catchier?

MCA: I never get sick of hearing people say that “white-haired chick,” because it has a certain ring to it. I imagine you guys shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for a name. Besides, what’s in a name? Real computer game characters never really need a name anyway.

WW: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us and answer some common questions.

I also find this answer quite interesting in retrospect:

WW: Anyone who asks around about the Van Buren (Fallout 3) storyline will quickly run into what I like to call “The Wall of MCA”, where people refuse to talk about it out of respect for your wishes. While bits and pieces of the story got out, most of it did not. Will we be seeing elements of the VB storyline in your upcoming games or are you saving it for the long shot of a Fallout 3 someday?

MCA: No, the Fallout 3 story was specific to Fallout; while there are elements that could be transferred, it wouldn’t feel right. I’d feel like I was cheating on Fallout or something. The story meant a lot to me, and there were certain characters that gained their strength because of their position and history in the Fallout universe.

 

[Irenaeus III]

Morte doesn't really fit you.

 

[Fairfax]

Morte doesn't really fit you.

Eh, it's not supposed to.

 

[Fairfax]

MCA is in the game, apparently:

A Disturbance in the Force
Kill Chris Avellone.




:mrpresident:

What can stump the nature of a man?

 

[Infinitron]

Chris Avellone - from man to Kickstarter stretch goal to meme

 

[Excidium II]

Meet FredAve:

Who dat?

 

[Fairfax]

Chris Avellone - from man to Kickstarter stretch goal to meme

Yeah, it's odd. He said he didn't like that the devs broke the 4th wall in FO1 and FOT and included him in-game. Still, that's far from a serious game, so it's all in good fun, I guess.
He's got two Codex portraits, btw:

Who dat?

His gf.

 

[Excidium II]

His gf.

Aaah. I like how she does the "how girls photograph objects" thing.

 

[Lacrymas]

The questions most, if not all, interviewers ask him are pretty stupid and inconsequential, it reads like random bits of trivia. Also, his gf looks pretty basic, so I don't know what he sees in her, lulz (past her appearance that is).

 

[Excidium II]

Maybe she's into watersports.

 

[Aenra]

his gf ... I don't know what he sees in her ... past her appearance that is

No offense, but are you female by any chance?