Interview Chris Avellone interviewed by Super Bunnyhop

[Infinitron]

Or Obsidian just can't pay for full time MCA right now.

What, you think he's lying?

There are plenty of writing tasks to do on a project of this scope even if one is not the lead. On Wasteland 2, for instance, Nathan Long did most of the writing, even though (AFAIK) he had little do with designing its overall narrative, so it's not "his" game.

 

[ghostdog]

Or Obsidian just can't pay for full time MCA right now.

Huh ? Avellone is one of the co-owners of Obsidian, so yeah, he's basically paying himself.

 

[Duraframe300]

"Full time" while working on Torment and the Wasteland novella. At best, it's seeming like he's writing a companion, a la New Vegas. Which is great, I liked Cass a lot; just too bad he's not getting his own projects like KOTOR2 anymore.

It's more than just a companion. I think he's just good at compartmentalizing.

Or Obsidian just can't pay for full time MCA right now.

What, you think he's lying?

There are plenty of writing tasks to do on a project of this scope even if one is not the lead. On Wasteland 2, for instance, Nathan Long did most of the writing, even though (AFAIK) he had little do with designing its overall narrative, so it's not "his" game.

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT?

All of that stuff was literary just answered in the other interviews/videos. Am dissapoint.

- Chris is working full-time on Project: Eternity and in his off-time on InXile related stuff (compared to W2 where this was different).
- Chris is/was doing narrative production on P:E. Quite similar to the overseer role he has on Torment, just way more involved.
- He is also writing companions, NPC's and maybe area design (last I heard)
- Roles are way more loosely handeled in P:E's case, so Creative Lead may still be his title. People are just assigned to something they are best at/have the best ideas for. This isn't a publisher project where the full-on Creative Lead role applies.

 

[Infinitron]

Relax, Stalkerframe.

 

[Duraframe300]

Relax, Stalkerframe.

This has been repeated multiple times in the last month(s) (And two of those were mentioned in the interview round-up. So, I seriously have to reconsider what stalkery means) Not some obscure one-note answer from 2012.

Of course, video game journalism. So, maybe it can't be helped.



Edit: (Not really serious, if the overreacting wasn't clear. Still wanted to give the info with a little pep.)

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"There are five hours of Chris Avellone playing Arcanum on the internet now"

"And I'm still not done!...actually, I've got quite a few more hours to go..."

Understatement of the century

 

[Duraframe300]

"There are five hours of Chris Avellone playing Arcanum on the internet now"

"And I'm still not done!...actually, I've got quite a few more hours to go..."



understatement of the century

At least we got re-confirmation that he seriously thinks about doing a blog thing as well.

 

[Rake]

"There are five hours of Chris Avellone playing Arcanum on the internet now"

"And I'm still not done!...actually, I've got quite a few more hours to go..."

Understatement of the century

I liked the part where he said that he wants to try multiple characters. A stupid playthrough for example. If he is serious about that, Arcanum plays will become a life's work for MCA

 

[Borelli]

And there it is!

 

[VioletShadow]

And there it is!

MCA is sort of cute

 

[Monty]

"So then the Thai hooker gripped my shaft like a clamshell... "

 

[Kz3r0]

"There are five hours of Chris Avellone playing Arcanum on the internet now"

"And I'm still not done!...actually, I've got quite a few more hours to go..."

Understatement of the century

I liked the part where he said that he wants to try multiple characters. A stupid playthrough for example. If he is serious about that, Arcanum plays will become a life's work for MCA

Arcanum is a life long game, all who played it for more than one hundred hours know that.

 

[AW8]

Is it me or is MCA getting bigger? Dude could probably crush my head between his biceps.

Why there's porn jazz playing on the background of the entire interview? The editor was a Codexer?

Watching this video made me want to fuck MCA even more.

I love the Codex! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

 

[Ninjerk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tq7yykR-DM

 

[Volourn]

"Or Obsidian just can't pay for full time MCA right now."

Huh? What a dumb post. He is Obsidian. You dumb shit. the guy is an obsidian founder and one of the fukkin' bosses. So fuck off with your retartedty.

 

[LeStryfe79]

That music in the background was really chill and gave the interview a really nice feeling too.

That was the same music used in the last porn I watched.

 

[Onholyservicebound]

MCA looks like Gary Sinise.

 

[PlanHex]

That music in the background was really chill and gave the interview a really nice feeling too.

That was the same music used in the last porn I watched.

I like porn.

 

[VioletShadow]

That music in the background was really chill and gave the interview a really nice feeling too.

That was the same music used in the last porn I watched.

I like porn.

 

[Lady_Error]

Wow, MCA is interviewed and see where we end up.

 

[SBHGeorge]

Really good interview.

I think partly because that guy seems to be someone that is only interested in the information rather than anything else and seemed to have not much problem changing topics

Umm, guilty as charged, I guess?

[quote="Infinitron,

Sup SBHGeorge

Sup Infinitron. Thanks for the share, really appreciate it.

I pressed him further about the South Park RPG after the interview, and he stayed tight-lipped. Only thing he said was that he wished Ubi would let them talk about it. Its not in development hell, but he also didn't make it sound like it was one of his own projects either.

Avellone's finishing up the novella work on Wasteland 2 now, but did some more extensive writing and design work earlier in the production process. Obsidian didn't have a full-time project for him at the time. It's safe to assume, based on his panel answers, that Chris' time nowadays is mostly spent on PE. He did a whole panel about the production process behind it and also claimed that when Obsidian doesn't have a project for him, he just drives 15 minutes away to work at inXile. Which is apparently the case right now. Fargo's the lead at inXile, who also originally hired Avellone and some other Obsidian guys, so it goes without saying that there's so much collaboration and staff shared between the companies that they may well be the same entity. So, according to the answer below, his off-duty hours are with Torment while Eternity takes up most of the week.

I'm gleaning this information from this question that he answered at the panel:
"What's your actual full-time position, are you full-time with Obsidian or are you kinda branching out to inXile or are you kinda in both?"

Chris' answer is too long-winded for me to reasonably type here (that's why he's such a good interview!), so I've uploaded it here:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1ykzm13pJo4

Lemme know if you guys have any more questions. I'll be monitoring this thread for the next couple days, and I hope everyone enjoyed the interview!

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Duraframe300]

Really good interview.

I think partly because that guy seems to be someone that is only interested in the information rather than anything else and seemed to have not much problem changing topics

Umm, guilty as charged, I guess?

As said, I actually think that's a pretty admirable charachter trait to have when interviewing (I dwell way too long on stuff when doing it in person). Also, if it was meant sarcastically, I forgot the IMO in that post.

Thanks for the additional info!

Edit: So, that was confirmation from what we've somewhat gathered. Part-Time Wasteland 2. Off-Time Planescape:Torment. Full-Time Eternity.

 

[DwarvenFood]

"There are five hours of Chris Avellone playing Arcanum on the internet now"

"And I'm still not done!...actually, I've got quite a few more hours to go..."

Understatement of the century

I liked the part where he said that he wants to try multiple characters. A stupid playthrough for example. If he is serious about that, Arcanum plays will become a life's work for MCA

I thought he was already doing a stupid playthrough

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I thought he was already doing a stupid playthrough