Codex Interview with Afterfall lead designer

[JarlFrank]

Tags: Afterfall

I've interviewed the lead designer of the post apocalyptic RPG <A HREF="http://www.afterfall.pl">Afterfall</A>, and received a nice and lengthy pile of answers.
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<blockquote><strong>Will there be multiple solutions for quests, and different outcomes depending on your choices? If yes, to what extent? Do you have any example of a quest?</strong>
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Quests will have many solutions, most of which will only be available to a player character with specific skills. Thanks to the plot bypasses you will often come upon completely alternative solutions, for example, to convince someone to help you, you will use acquaintance with some important characters. It is worth to mention that certain choices in performing a quest will bear various, sometimes long-term consequences. Some of the suggested paths may also prove to be dead-ends.
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As for the endings, we have adapted for ourselves the brilliant, but for an unknown reason never repeated solution from Fallout – the modular epilogue. After finishing the game and watching the outro presenting the consequence of the path you have chosen, you will also be able to see the fate of the world and its individual locations which you have influenced by your actions or non-action.
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<A HREF="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=168">Click here to read the full interview.</A>
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[JarlFrank]

And here's my comment on his answers:

Sounds like a really interesting and ambitious game, which is good – but at the same time, this is also a reason to worry that it won’t deliver in the end. The last game that has been that ambitious was Daggerfall, and they couldn’t include all the features they wanted because of a lack of time and, more importantly, money. I hope they’ll manage to include all the features they have in mind, but it looks just too good to be true.
Also, one of the first things I noticed is that they obviously haven’t played Arcanum. They claim the “modular epilogue” kind of ending hasn’t been used ever since Fallout – but Arcanum had it, too. Sure, I’m extremely nitpicky here, but I can’t forgive anyone for ignoring my favourite RPG of all time.
Well, sarcasm and the usual Codex-pessimism aside, this game looks quite promising indeed. The combat system sounds pretty similar to Jagged Alliance 2, which would rock if they manage to pull it off correctly, and it got a lot of interesting features. The implants and mutations sound pretty unique. Haven’t seen such a complex system for such things in any other RPG. It’s also a great thing that they don’t just bring you benefits, but also some bad things. Using up energy for keeping the implants working and mixed NPC reactions towards characters with implants and/or mutations are a great way to make it balanced. The energy reserve in your characters body also sounds pretty interesting, especially since you can use it to fire energy weapons. Could make for some great gaming situations (do I fire my plasma rifle and risk that my heart implant will run out of energy or should I rather not risk it?), especially if the combat system turns out to be good.
Well, the promise of an involving, non-linear story with many choices and consequences is the thing that excites me the most, especially since they are going to implement an ending slideshow similar to the ones Fallout and Arcanum used. This is a great way of showing the player that the choices he made throughout the game actually had an effect. I like that they are trying to make the plot as flexible as possible – with multiple solutions for all quests, and some of them pretty “random” and rather found by chance, while others can be found out by logical thinking. Nice new approach on the Choice and Consequence thing.
The setting sounds great, too. Gritty and realistic instead of political correctness. That’s a win right there. But it might also get a bit too Polo-centric, if that is actually a word. Most of their inspirations come from Polish post-apoc literature, and they might include a few references to fiction that is pretty popular in Poland but almost unknown in the western parts of Europe.
And, lastly, I also like their attitude towards finding a publisher. It’s a good thing that they don’t just accept any offer but want a publisher that does just that, publish the game, without interfering into their development. I really hope for them to find a good developer, would be a shame if a project with such ambitions became vaporware.
If they indeed manage to actually implement all those features, we might have a potential candidate for joining the Holy Trinity of Fallout, Arcanum and Planescape Torment, making it into the Holy… Quadrity, or something.

P.S.: Oh, and just what the fuck is a cul-de-sac?

 

[dagorkan]

Q: What will be the focus of the game?

A: The second priority is our system, which we intend to develop with time and employ not only with add-ons and a sequel to the game, but also with some of our later productions.

Here they go again, why do they think people have problems with their credibility?

As we were wrapping up our energy management system, to our surprise it turned out quite similar to a system of… mana. In many cRPGs set in a world where the use of magic depends on the consumption of mana, the hero possesses a pool of it and a pace of its regeneration. In Afterfall the hero may possess personal storage cells, the summary capacity of which is the energy reserve ready for instant use. The energy sources he possesses (like fuel cells), are responsible for energy production, that is, the pace of storage cells recharging.

I really don't like this.

You should have asked about the combat system. That's what I wanted to hear about. Examples of options, TU costs of weapons, damage, critical hit effects etc to get an idea for ourselves of whether it's more strategic than Fallout.

P.S.: Oh, and just what the fuck is a cul-de-sac?

Literally it means "ass of a bag".

 

[Jason]

P.S.: Oh, and just what the fuck is a cul-de-sac?

a dead end, as in the cul-de-sac of a street

 

[Kingston]

I call vaporware on this one.

Good job getting the interview though, Jarl. I heard those guys suck at PR.

 

[buccaroobonzai]

Regarding finding publishers and skipping them:

1. They can go the the same route Laidback Gaming, Dropship developers are, using Steam direct downloads:
Laidback gaming, the developers of Dropship are going to sell their game via Steam. No publisher required all the profit for the developer, so they can stay in business. In the interview with Michael Sean McCarthy who worked at Troika, he said using this method, they can make enough profits on its sales to stay in business,
quote from the interview:
"Laid Back Gaming is being formed with different goals than other game companies. I'm not looking for mass market appeal, or to sell a bazillion units. The goal is to be able to sell 50k-100k units to dedicated fans of games like Arcanum, Fallout, and X-Com. This is only possible through online distribution. So I'm not competing with anyone like EA."


2. Why won't they sel the game directly online, and from online retailers as a direct download. They can avoid publisher hassles for the time being usign this method as well.

They can do any of these retailing methods without finding publishers. When they do find one, they can negotiate better as they are already selling product.

These questions could be asked of them, do they answer emails? Or do we have to wait for another interview in 1/2 a year to ask them this, or implore them to do this.

 

[Amasius]

Being aware of the fact that the further we are with our work, the better offers we are going to get, we continue working on the techdemo.

Let's hope he is right and that's not just wishful thinking. Damn, I remain very sceptical about Afterfall. Anyway, good interview and CD Project Red has proven that polish devs are capable to deliver excellent RPGs and maybe The Witcher's success will help them to find a good publisher, so not all hope is lost.

 

[Durwyn]

They need cash to maintain a proper company studio, and to gather all the workers in one place... Now they're semi-pro. They have registered company and other shit, but organisation is the point.

 

[Dhruin]

They can do any of these retailing methods without finding publishers. When they do find one, they can negotiate better as they are already selling product.

Because if you don't actually have the money to complete the development, alternative distribution methods are moot?

I know publishers are like, teh ev1l, but they do more than just put a box on the shelf. I'm also not sure Dropship proves much. I'm not saying it isn't motoring along but how much do we know about it again?

 

[Globbi]

the story 'Autobahn nach Poznań' from the 'Zapach szkła' (Smell of Glass) collection by Andrzej Ziemiański

I absolutely love it! The most unique look at post-apo I've seen and with a nice feeling of reality. I don't think it's wrong that others don't know the sources of inspiration if they simply help creating a nice setting.

A nice interview in a whole. Good questions and carefull and interesting answers. As to be expected by codex but anyway I haven't seen a better interview about a game in a while.

1. They can go the the same route Laidback Gaming, Dropship developers are, using Steam direct downloads:
Laidback gaming, the developers of Dropship are going to sell their game via Steam. No publisher required all the profit for the developer, so they can stay in business. In the interview with Michael Sean McCarthy who worked at Troika, he said using this method, they can make enough profits on its sales to stay in business,
quote from the interview:
"Laid Back Gaming is being formed with different goals than other game companies. I'm not looking for mass market appeal, or to sell a bazillion units. The goal is to be able to sell 50k-100k units to dedicated fans of games like Arcanum, Fallout, and X-Com. This is only possible through online distribution. So I'm not competing with anyone like EA."

Cool, but where to get money for game creation and marketing?

These questions could be asked of them, do they answer emails? Or do we have to wait for another interview in 1/2 a year to ask them this, or implore them to do this.

I heard the answers were sent quite some time ago already, but it's true it's sometimes hard to get any answer from them. Try asking in NMA Afterfall forum part.

 

[OSK]

Regarding finding publishers and skipping them:

1. They can go the the same route Laidback Gaming, Dropship developers are, using Steam direct downloads:
Laidback gaming, the developers of Dropship are going to sell their game via Steam. No publisher required all the profit for the developer, so they can stay in business. In the interview with Michael Sean McCarthy who worked at Troika, he said using this method, they can make enough profits on its sales to stay in business,
quote from the interview:
"Laid Back Gaming is being formed with different goals than other game companies. I'm not looking for mass market appeal, or to sell a bazillion units. The goal is to be able to sell 50k-100k units to dedicated fans of games like Arcanum, Fallout, and X-Com. This is only possible through online distribution. So I'm not competing with anyone like EA."

That's only after you drop $200,000+ on the Steam engine.

 

[Elwro]

As for the endings, we have adapted for ourselves the brilliant, but for an unknown reason never repeated solution from Fallout – the modular epilogue. After finishing the game and watching the outro presenting the consequence of the path you have chosen, you will also be able to see the fate of the world and its individual locations which you have influenced by your actions or non-action.

In other words: "I don't know much about Arcanum".

 

[Jasede]

I never completed a Geneforge game, didn't they do something similar? I can't remember.

Oh, I remember: Temple of Elemental Evil too. Good thing they research their information so well.

 

[Augustus]

There is much space between 'didn't play' and 'finished a game', isn't it?

I've played Arcanum. I've benn amased by plot, and iritated by combat system, but I got stuck in that magic school (what was it's name?) and never finished that game.
However Arcanum is on my list of games to play (and finish I hope ), when I will have time.

Construction of ending is not a thing to mention in revievs right? On the other hand I should have asked my teammates to comment answer proposals. Sameone would have found my mistake. Sorry for that.

 

[gabahadatta]

I hope they’ll manage to include all the features they have in mind, but it looks just too good to be true.

we are aware that it may sound somewhat unrealistc, but on the other hand it is probably better to have too many ideas and eventually cut some of them off (i hope not) than to include only the nessesary ones and make the game easier to produce but less interesting/innovative/complex etc.

Also, one of the first things I noticed is that they obviously haven’t played Arcanum.

at least some of us have, but yes you're right, our mistake. but as an explanation - there ain't 20 people who write answers but usually one or two who just consult some questions with other team members if it's nesessary. so don't judge us too quickly in this matter [but i must admit that arcanum is not the top1 in beloved games rank beetween us - most of the dev team prefer FO and FO2. but that is just personal observation]

Nice new approach on the Choice and Consequence thing.

thanks, that is one of things we are focused on.

The setting sounds great, too. Gritty and realistic instead of political correctness. That’s a win right there. But it might also get a bit too Polo-centric, if that is actually a word. Most of their inspirations come from Polish post-apoc literature, and they might include a few references to fiction that is pretty popular in Poland but almost unknown in the western parts of Europe.

"polo-centric"? maybe a little, mostly because of geographical localization of the game world (and our origins of course). there probably will be a bunch of thing that non-polish players will not notice, but first of all we want to create a living world that will be coherent, with logical and uderstandable history (despite being fictional in most part) that will not require historical knowledge of Poland or other countries in region. in fact, at some point history in our game became alternative so there won't be many advantages of having knowledge of the real one.
references to polish-oriented fiction? probably there will be some, but rather subtle - they should not harness the readability of the setting.
and inspirations from polish postapo literature... is that bad to show things worldwide, that will normally remain unknown? share ideas, visions? in my opinion thats a good thing. in fact, this is inspiration not a rip-off nor our game is based on them directly.

If they indeed manage to actually implement all those features, we might have a potential candidate for joining the Holy Trinity of Fallout, Arcanum and Planescape Torment, making it into the Holy… Quadrity, or something.

we just want to finish the game and make it a good one.

You should have asked about the combat system. That's what I wanted to hear about. Examples of options, TU costs of weapons, damage, critical hit effects etc to get an idea for ourselves of whether it's more strategic than Fallout.

a cannot tell you any details ('cause i do not work with the system thing) but i can tell that it will be more strategic/tactical than FO and FO2, hard to say if more (and how much) than FO:T, but earlier connection to JA2 can be somewhat correct. combat will have more options than average cRPG has (probably even more than any older tactic-game), but it will be a cRPG mostly, so for example locations are not designed as much tactic-focused as in FO:T were.

Regarding finding publishers and skipping them: (...)

these are probably some good ideas, but publisher is only one part of game making process - the other one is investor (of course often this is connected, but not always) who will pay for developement and creation of the the game. we are looking for both, but today investor is more important for us - despite of all this fun in making AF, most of us have to earn for a living and this somewhat slows us down.

These questions could be asked of them, do they answer emails? Or do we have to wait for another interview in 1/2 a year to ask them this, or implore them to do this.

we do answer emails, so you are welcome to ask questions, but the interview-like system like with codex is preferable, mostly because of repeating questions etc.


cheers [and i'm sorry for my crappy english]


EDIT: uh, i need to practise fast typing as far as i can see :/
and i'm sorry for this AFdev team attack, it's just a bad luck, didn't plan it.

 

[Elwro]

There is much space between 'didn't play' and 'finished a game', isn't it? .

It's just that such a statement as "As for the endings, we have adapted for ourselves the brilliant, but for an unknown reason never repeated solution from Fallout – the modular epilogue." is quite suspicious when one of the arguably best (or at least, belonging to a class of games people regularly point out when talking about "best RPGs") cRPGs to date used it. "Never" is a strong word, you know. Anyway, best luck to your project! I hope you find a publisher and that he won't require you to strip 90% of Afterfall features.

edit: AF devteam, please stay :D (Don't click the links)

 

[Morbus]

Also, one of the first things I noticed is that they obviously haven’t played Arcanum. They claim the “modular epilogue” kind of ending hasn’t been used ever since Fallout – but Arcanum had it, too. Sure, I’m extremely nitpicky here, but I can’t forgive anyone for ignoring my favourite RPG of all time.

Neverwinter nights 2 and motb had it too. Great thing indeed.

The game looks awesome in theory, I hope all goes well...

Well, if they don't focus on graphics and shit, they'll have enough time and money to make it if they get, I don't know, like 2 million funding, and that's not much...

The energy reserve in your characters body also sounds pretty interesting, especially since you can use it to fire energy weapons. Could make for some great gaming situations (do I fire my plasma rifle and risk that my heart implant will run out of energy or should I rather not risk it?), especially if the combat system turns out to be good.

Come now, you're acting like an oblivion hyped kid. You quicksave and see how the PC fares... Not that difficult...

P.S.: Oh, and just what the fuck is a cul-de-sac?

Maybe something to do with ass-of-bag? WTF?!

 

[Jasede]

It's like a dead-end.
Gasse-von-Sack!

 

[kolos]

Also, one of the first things I noticed is that they obviously haven’t played Arcanum. They claim the “modular epilogue” kind of ending hasn’t been used ever since Fallout – but Arcanum had it, too. Sure, I’m extremely nitpicky here, but I can’t forgive anyone for ignoring my favourite RPG of all time.

I've played Arcanum couple of times, from the start to the end

At this time guys we are nothing, so first wait until Fallout 3 will be released. Then we gonna rock. (we need time for 'make money to dev')

As about The Witcher - i worked at CDPR, but imho Witcher is good hack&slash not realy good crpg game

 

[Nedrah]

and i'm sorry for this AFdev team attack, it's just a bad luck, didn't plan it.

No problem, it's always nice to have you guys around.

 

[Shannow]

Hehe, sounds a little like a game I'd design^^
Really very promissing.
I guess your combat will be turn-based? Action points?
Isometric, over the shoulder or first person point of view?

I hope you'll pull through.


ps: nobody I know actually finnished Arcanum...

 

[cardtrick]

ps: nobody I know actually finnished Arcanum...

Blasphemy.

 

[buccaroobonzai]

They can do any of these retailing methods without finding publishers. When they do find one, they can negotiate better as they are already selling product.

Because if you don't actually have the money to complete the development, alternative distribution methods are moot?

I know publishers are like, teh ev1l, but they do more than just put a box on the shelf. I'm also not sure Dropship proves much. I'm not saying it isn't motoring along but how much do we know about it again?

Well I don't know how much investment Laid back gaming has, but they are not using a publisher at all, and selling their games on Steam. I didn't know you need $200K to develop with Source and use Steam.

Iron Tower and their Age of Decadence project is not using a publisher as far as I know, and I have not heard of any amount of invested funding either. They're game engine seems to be comparable to Afterfall's/Dropship's/Scars of War's. I blelieve Iron Tower has been developing the game on their own time, and without pay...yet.

Spiderweb software, Eschalon, and Broken Hourglass have all forgone the publisher route. Spiderweb and Eschalon seem to have been successful with direct distribution as well.

When they're are such good game concepts being worked on as this, nothing should stop them from achieving their goals, nothing, not investors not publishers. They're should always be a way to get the best projects completed and/or financed. If that means getting a grassroots consumer investment campaign going, then that should be attempted. Make the development studio incorporated and have potential customers and more have the ability to purchase stock. Just an idea but their is always a way to reach you're goal, especially if its worth reaching, and as costomers of the best CRPGs, its in our best and only gaming interest to see that this happens. That means games like Afterfall, Age of Decadence, Broken Hourglass, Scars of War, New Dawn etc. are helped along by the consumer community if need be. Maybe a new relationship model has to be defined between the smaller niche devs and the tasteful intelligent-yet maybe niche consumers.

 

[Augustus]

They're game engine seems to be comparable to Afterfall's/Dropship's/Scars of War's

No, it isn't. Look here http://unigine.com/
Or compare some of our screenshots with those from AoD... or even our renders like this nice guy http://www.afterfall.pl/media/images/so ... 1189003031
It is rigged, low-poly model with maps, shaders and stuff (I'm not a specialist). Ready tu put into the game.These are not characters made for cinematics.

The way we have chosen, is the way threw finding investor. Game is too ambitious to be done without budget from beggining to an end.

 

[Section8]

Well I don't know how much investment Laid back gaming has, but they are not using a publisher at all, and selling their games on Steam. I didn't know you need $200K to develop with Source and use Steam.

I didn't think Dropship was using source? You don't need to license source to use Steam as a distro, and it would make a lot more sense for their publishing business model to involve a cut of the takings rather than a prohibitive fee up front. I call shenanigans.