Developer Story Time with Old Man Davis

[Kane]

you're trying too hard jewitron

 

[Kane]

Turning a weakness into a strength isn't the same as hiding a weakness as a strength.

i agree but i dont think that not having enough employees to make shedule is a strength. unless you dont have to care for shedules. in which case you have enough $$$ to pay extra heads anyway

 

[Rake]

Turning a weakness into a strength isn't the same as hiding a weakness as a strength.

unless you dont have to care for shedules. in which case you have enough $$$ to pay extra heads anyway

But in the latter case, having a small team of talented individuals you trust to do a good job is an advantage. I would trust more a 10 person dream team of devs to make the game by themselves in 5 years time, than having the same devs as part of a five times bigger team in one year time.

 

[Kane]

Turning a weakness into a strength isn't the same as hiding a weakness as a strength.

unless you dont have to care for shedules. in which case you have enough $$$ to pay extra heads anyway

But in the latter case, having a small team of talented individuals you trust to do a good job is an advantage. I would trust more a 10 person dream team of devs to make the game by themselves in 5 years time, than having the same devs as part of a five times bigger team in one year time.

sure but everyone knows that you dont need to point it out to keep your company "lean and mean".

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Sure Obsidian are bros and all... but I like Brian Fargo's policy of keeping inXile lean and mean.

corporate talk for "we don't have enough money to hire the people we would need to keep shedule"

Yes sure hire 100+ employees and then brown nose publishers for popamole contracts...and each quarter is a struggle just to pay the staff and fire them later when its not immurshive enough. Larger is not always better. EA tried that with DA2 larger audience and what not.

Infinitron This tidbit at this point is nothing more than an educated guess mostly from aggregated gossip. I ain't jason schrieder to claim it is EXCLUSIVE NEWS FOR OUR LOYAL READERS. But if it turns out to be true... at least it can be speculated in perhaps the only forum which gives a fuck about the quality of RPGs and is not afraid to call shit for what it is. Of course codexia has its share of degenerate retards. At least I can call them that without getting banned.

EDIT: how about moving this secret speculation to a new thread in popamole forum? Obsidians Super Secret Popamole speculation. Anthony should be the focus of this thread...as long as he is allowed to atleast.

 

[Kane]

Yes sure hire 100+ employees and then brown nose publishers for popamole contracts...and each quarter is a struggle just to pay the staff and fire them later when its not immurshive enough. Larger is not always better. EA tried that with DA2 larger audience and what not.

Meh, the reality is people make games and different people make different games and that has become quite apparent with D3, which didn't even had a substantially bigger team than D2. It's not so much about the size but who? works on what? Logically, smaller teams will fare better but only if they have been working together for a long time and know their teamplay OR magically the right people happen at the right time in the right place (which does happen suprisingly often)

Plus, with the way games are designed these days you just want those 200 "writers" writing all those quest descriptions you click away anyway. It's not like their existance makes the game bad, it was bad from the start and typically the group of people that designs a terrible game and is therefore responsible for the outcome isn't bigger than a small studio (rather, a lot smaller).

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Yes sure hire 100+ employees and then brown nose publishers for popamole contracts...and each quarter is a struggle just to pay the staff and fire them later when its not immurshive enough. Larger is not always better. EA tried that with DA2 larger audience and what not.

Meh, the reality is people make games and different people make different games and that has become quite apparent with D3, which didn't even had a substantially bigger team than D2. It's not so much about the size but who? works on what? Logically, smaller teams will fare better but only if they have been working together for a long time and know their teamplay OR magically the right people happen at the right time in the right place (which does happen suprisingly often)

Plus, with the way games are designed these days you just want those 200 "writers" writing all those quest descriptions you click away anyway.

God points... but your corporate philosophy would not be applicable to markets catering niches. Look at how retarded Jeff uas become with Avadon...but his return on investment due to his small team size and development cable makes a sequel so much more viable than the latest popamole that failed to break even.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Also wasn't DS3 considered good hit due to its low investment? Even though its sales figure were lacklustre compared to most popamoles?

 

[Kane]

Also wasn't DS3 considered good hit due to its low investment? Even though its sales figure were lacklustre compared to most popamoles?

i don't know about the financial aspect, but blizzard gambling their good name with D3 is certainly a thing.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

raw I meant Dungeon Siege 3 published by Square Enix

 

[Endemic]

raw I meant Dungeon Siege 3 published by Square Enix

Anthony did imply that, yes. The consumer reaction seemed mostly negative though.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

raw I meant Dungeon Siege 3 published by Square Enix

Anthony did imply that, yes. The consumer reaction seemed mostly negative though.

Is it any good from storyfag point of view though? I heard George Z did some writing for it...

 

[Endemic]

Is it any good from storyfag point of view though? I heard George Z did some writing for it...

Ziets' role on DS3 was akin to his previous jobs writing background lore for MMO projects.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...t-know-about-dungeon-siege-iii/1#.UjHQan9In48

Our Creative Lead Designer, George Ziets, created a large Ehb Sourcebook (reminiscent of the Forgotten Realms Gazetteers for all of you Dungeons & Dragons nerds out there. You know who you are!). He took all the lore that he could find from the first two games and advanced the land of Ehb over 150 years. He built this tome in consultation with [series creator] Chris Taylor who was responsible for the original Dungeon Siege games.

 

[DwarvenFood]

I do have two ideas for Donut Based RPGs:

1. A game very similar to Game Dev Story, except that you are running a Donut Store and the goal is to become the Donut King or Queen within 10 years. Donut Research, supply management, employee training, and donut conventions and other various things to do.

2. A post apocalyptic game where you discover a derelict donut store in the wasteland and begin a series of quests to get it up an running. The donuts become a popular source of nourishment, where customers pay for their donuts through bartering, ala Fallout. You will need to assemble an adventuring party with members of your staff as you quest for upgrades to the equipment and new recipes.

I'm kind of leaning towards number two, although it has a Recettear vibe to it. Alternatively you can make a more traditional RPG but set on a huge donut planet.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Is it any good from storyfag point of view though? I heard George Z did some writing for it...

Ziets' role on DS3 was akin to his previous jobs writing background lore for MMO projects.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...t-know-about-dungeon-siege-iii/1#.UjHQan9In48

Our Creative Lead Designer, George Ziets, created a large Ehb Sourcebook (reminiscent of the Forgotten Realms Gazetteers for all of you Dungeons & Dragons nerds out there. You know who you are!). He took all the lore that he could find from the first two games and advanced the land of Ehb over 150 years. He built this tome in consultation with [series creator] Chris Taylor who was responsible for the original Dungeon Siege games.

good thing I didnt play that shit.

 

[Endemic]

There's always T:ToN and P:E I guess. Don't know if he has any more "proper" writing contributions after that.

 

[Duraframe300]

Is it any good from storyfag point of view though? I heard George Z did some writing for it...

Ziets' role on DS3 was akin to his previous jobs writing background lore for MMO projects.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...t-know-about-dungeon-siege-iii/1#.UjHQan9In48

Our Creative Lead Designer, George Ziets, created a large Ehb Sourcebook (reminiscent of the Forgotten Realms Gazetteers for all of you Dungeons & Dragons nerds out there. You know who you are!). He took all the lore that he could find from the first two games and advanced the land of Ehb over 150 years. He built this tome in consultation with [series creator] Chris Taylor who was responsible for the original Dungeon Siege games.

Bullcrap

That was ONE of his jobs. He was basically the only full time writer on the project.

Chaotic_Heretic DS3 suffers from having the story scaled back later in development. There's some cool things/concepts in there but they are pretty subtle due to that. So you have to make some connections yourself. Also main is pretty neutral written so if you want a charachters personality you have to take them as a companion. Not as the main.

It's fun though. And impressive enough for a kickstarter budget game with high production values.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Is it any good from storyfag point of view though? I heard George Z did some writing for it...

Ziets' role on DS3 was akin to his previous jobs writing background lore for MMO projects.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...t-know-about-dungeon-siege-iii/1#.UjHQan9In48

Our Creative Lead Designer, George Ziets, created a large Ehb Sourcebook (reminiscent of the Forgotten Realms Gazetteers for all of you Dungeons & Dragons nerds out there. You know who you are!). He took all the lore that he could find from the first two games and advanced the land of Ehb over 150 years. He built this tome in consultation with [series creator] Chris Taylor who was responsible for the original Dungeon Siege games.

Bullcrap

That was ONE of his jobs. He was basically the only full time writer on the project.

Chaotic_Heretic DS3 suffers from having the story scaled back later in development. There's some cool things/concepts in there but they are pretty subtle due to that. So you have to make some connections yourself. Also main is pretty neutral written so if you want a charachters personality you have to take them as a companion. Not as the main.

It's fun though. And impressive enough for a kickstarter budget game with high production values.

End Result, story is nothing spectacular (despite GeorgeZ writing...whcih was butchered i suppose)...and combat is undoubtably popamole. meh...i will pass.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

There's always T:ToN and P:E I guess. Don't know if he has any more "proper" writing contributions after that.

Well, that actually gives me a reason to be genuinely excited for PE (never got into IE games xcept PST and MotB..and PE is supposed to be combat rush IE clone with Sawyerism).

 

[Endemic]

That was ONE of his jobs. He was basically the only full time writer on the project.

He was? Got any quotes?

 

[Duraframe300]

That was ONE of his jobs. He was basically the only full time writer on the project.

He was? Got any quotes?

Too many. Was Lead Creative Writer. John Gonzalez and Travis Stout helped writing the companions, but they were focused on NV/ AP

Chaotic_Heretic Well writing isn' t really butchered and still quality. Just not as much. His contributions to torment and pe are of course also limited of course compared to MOTB. He will also do area design more than writing dialouge in Torment as he does not like writing dialouge.

 

[Duraframe300]

At least from what i gather on torment might be wrong

 

[Endemic]

Too many. Was Lead Creative Writer. John Gonzalez and Travis Stout helped writing the companions, but they were focused on NV/ AP

Okay...I'll put it this way, is there a "Myrkul" moment in DS3?

 

[Duraframe300]

Too many. Was Lead Creative Writer. John Gonzalez and Travis Stout helped writing the companions, but they were focused on NV/ AP

Okay...I'll put it this way, is there a "Myrkul" moment in DS3?

In what way, do you mean that?

Pure quality? Not exactly. But that would be kinda like comparing pst to aves later games. There are three moments that stick out in ds iii. The reveal of the truth and especially odos refusal to learn about it and what that means for his actions. Jeyne's past and manafactured but still true beliefs and the conversation with the lion statue at the end of the dlc that has a really cool choice attached to it and i hope that pe will do something similiar.

 

[Endemic]

Pure quality? Not exactly. But that would be kinda like comparing pst to aves later games. There are three moments that stick out in ds iii. The reveal of the truth and especially odos refusal to learn about it and what that means for his actions. Jeyne's past and manafactured but still true beliefs and the conversation with the lion statue at the end of the dlc that has a really cool choice attached to it and i hope that pe will do something similiar.

Fair enough. Ziets himself admits Obsidian took the wrong approach to DS3:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-in-dungeon-siege-3.73864/page-2#post-2172744

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-in-dungeon-siege-3.73864/page-3#post-2358973