If Obsidian Kickstarts a project, what manner of game will it be?

[Jaesun]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27204429/OOCCDDFree/OOCCDDEP20.mp3

Some people interview Chris Avellone in a podcast. A lot of it is just everyone messing around but at one point one guy asks Chris what he would want to do personally with a kickstarter project.

...I would want to do a largely text only, old school, isometric, RPG a lot like Baldur’s Gate or Planescape but not necessarily in those worlds...

If they could pull of a new interesting world like that (since getting the rights to BG or Planescape are basically impossible, even arcanum) would make me cum in my pants....

 

[XenomorphII]

That tease.

 

[Renegen]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27204429/OOCCDDFree/OOCCDDEP20.mp3

Some people interview Chris Avellone in a podcast. A lot of it is just everyone messing around but at one point one guy asks Chris what he would want to do personally with a kickstarter project.

...I would want to do a largely text only, old school, isometric, RPG a lot like Baldur’s Gate or Planescape but not necessarily in those worlds...

If they could pull of a new interesting world like that (since getting the rights to BG or Planescape are basically impossible, even arcanum) would make me cum in my pants....

I've always believed that the text adventure / text RPGs in Space Rangers 2 were some of the best use of resources. So much fun trying to win them, and yet just a series of lines. I'd love a $1 million MCA-made text adventure, with some pictures and polish of course.

 

[Jaesun]

I've always believed that the text adventure / text RPGs in Space Rangers 2 were some of the best use of resources. So much fun trying to win them, and yet just a series of lines. I'd love a $1 million MCA-made text adventure, with some pictures and polish of course.

To be honest I wish some Adventure Game stuido would hire him to do a story (dialogues). MCA (and Obsidian) usually does a fantastic job of telling a story in an established setting. They do that very well.

In fact, they should actually market that aspect of themselves to other companies.

But on topic, I wonder if Obsidian has ever given any long time thought on their own setting. It can't be any more fucking boring than Dragon turds supervised Tolkien playground fantasy land. Their was the 7 dwarves RPG project... but IIRC no publisher was interested in it. It probably wasn't enough pop-a-mole next gen for the publisher and it's marketing department.

 

[Metro]

Didn't see the phrase 'turn-based' in there~

 

[Skittles]

It's a nice quote, but I'm three words from orgasm--'tactical turn-based.' BG combat drives me up the goddamned wall some--most--of the time.

EDIT:

 

[Oriental European]

Why no first person option? This poll sucks.

I've always believed that the text adventure / text RPGs in Space Rangers 2 were some of the best use of resources.

I still hate Katauri for those lazy parodies of games. Worst 10 bucks i've ever spent. THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY IN UKRAINE.
God damn turnbased wall-o-text autits.

 

[Renegen]

Why no first person option? This poll sucks.

I've always believed that the text adventure / text RPGs in Space Rangers 2 were some of the best use of resources.

I still hate Katauri for those lazy parodies of games. Worst 10 bucks i've ever spent. THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY IN UKRAINE.
God damn turnbased wall-o-text autits.

And I'm jealous that you guys have the Russian-only free expansion that adds 43 NEW TEXT ADVENTURES.

 

[Oriental European]

I KNOW! IT WAS INCLUDED IN THAT 10 BUCKS COLLECTION!
FFFuck.

 

[villain of the story]

That means RTwP.

Didn't see the phrase 'turn-based' in there~

He already said BG and PST. RTwP games. He could have cited FO1/2 as a reference but didn't. That's no accident.

 

[villain of the story]

Why no first person option? This poll sucks.

For real?

They have never done a First Person game from scratch. Entirety of FNV is FO3 base game & assets + extras. They don't have the experience for setting up a FP game.

And if they were to do a FP game of their own some day, they would never try to do one just now for a low budget hypothetical kickstarter project. FP takes too much resources and development time compared to other types of games, especially if you try to meet the current minimum industry standards. Unless they wanted to do a highly stylised FP game like XIII, it's a pipe dream but even then, once again, they have no experience. It would most assuredly be made of pure suck.

They would need publisher backing right from the start for any FP game.

Also, see Alpha Popamole: their first attempt at a popamole console corridor shooter on rails and as many of us here predicted, it turned out to be made of pure suck. Can't even / don't want to imagine just how much more they would screw up a FP game.

Really, those options are quite sensibly grounded in reality.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Eh, color me apathetic about turn-based vs. RTwP in this case. Yes, in the abstract turn based is better, but really it's not like the combat in Fallout was any great shakes anyways, that game was great for other reasons. Overall the combat systems in IE and Fallout seem to me to be a wash (I actually enjoyed combat at least in BG2 better actually, mainly due to encounter design of course). So getting worked up about MCA comparing his dream to BG and Planescape over Fallout seems to me to be kind of silly, especially since I don't think anyone has any delusions of Obsidian designing a JA2 like turn-based system.

I think most people here agree that Planescape was a great game, and it seems like the kind of game that MCA wants to make. While I would love it if the game had great combat, its not in my mind necessary to make such a project worth watching, and given Obsidian's track record I would even say it's probably one of the least important issues. If the game is going to be good, I can almost guarantee that it won't be because of it's turn-based combat, even if such a system is implemented.

 

[villain of the story]

I kind of agree actually, though I'd still take Fallout's TB combat over BG2. Regardless, this would be as close as any western developer with one foot in the mainstream waters would get to making a turn based game so I think it would bear some significance. A developer whose Fallout title sold 5+ millions. And all the better now while they still have Tim Cain onboard to potentially help.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Modern-setting Thi4f right there

 

[Skittles]

Eh, color me apathetic about turn-based vs. RTwP in this case. Yes, in the abstract turn based is better, but really it's not like the combat in Fallout was any great shakes anyways, that game was great for other reasons. Overall the combat systems in IE and Fallout seem to me to be a wash (I actually enjoyed combat at least in BG2 better actually, mainly due to encounter design of course). So getting worked up about MCA comparing his dream to BG and Planescape over Fallout seems to me to be kind of silly, especially since I don't think anyone has any delusions of Obsidian designing a JA2 like turn-based system.

I think most people here agree that Planescape was a great game, and it seems like the kind of game that MCA wants to make. While I would love it if the game had great combat, its not in my mind necessary to make such a project worth watching, and given Obsidian's track record I would even say it's probably one of the least important issues. If the game is going to be good, I can almost guarantee that it won't be because of it's turn-based combat, even if such a system is implemented.

I hear you. I bring it up because I think that even rudimentary TB can avoid some of the things I find really obnoxious about BG's implementation of RTwP. Positioning, fighting in formation, reasonable coordination and time management between party members, isolation and ganging up on people are all things that are either a pain in the ass to accomplish or just irrelevant in BG. Enemies blow past your front defensive line, you have to fight with the system to properly coordinate spells, flanking's irrelevant and backstab is limited to a wonky stealth mechanic... Fighting smartly is limited to choosing the right weapon/spell and target selection, and it often seems like that's the limit of your strategising in the game. Mostly you twiddle your thumbs while the RNG whirls away. The combat would be less annoying and less tedious if moving people around the battlefield had some bearing on it--and TB is the right set up for that.

 

[gromit]

Voted "Good and diverse character system" and "Horribly broken and unbalanced character system."

 

[Father Walker]

I picked the same 7 or so choices as the majority, I feel special. I especially feel the game will be full of bugs, maybe not large enough, because it will be probably underfunded by the fans or overbudget by Obsidian.

Same here.

 

[Shannow]

What I'd like:

As to what kind of game I'd trust them enough with to actually consider giving them money via crowd funding: A Mount&Blade expansion-mod. That way they can't fuck up the gameplay. And what M&B needs most is story, quests, a working economy, interesting setting, etc. That's something even Obsidian should manage.

a "Planescape [or Darksun] setting with ToEE-like engine/mechanics"-direction

What I'd expect:

the standard Obsidian "Skyrim: Does the dragon shout if nobody hears/Dungeon Siege 4: Tide and Ehb/Dragon Age: You are the dragon/Mass Effect: Peace of the Reapers/South Park: Wrath of the ginger Jew/etc"-slam dunk

*hears MCA considering a BG-style game*
*interprets it as NWN2-style due to "The Technology has "advanced". LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL"*
*remembers NWN2 UI, camera and gameplay*
*shudders*

Anyway, am I the only one here who thinks all this fantasizing will simply end in Sawyer's Luck? (read: gets cancelled, or in this case: will never start)

 

[villain of the story]

Voted "Good and diverse character system" and "Horribly broken and unbalanced character system."

If only I didn't forget to do the same. I set up the options with these nuances in mind. IM GR8 TINKER!

 

[Oriental European]

For real?

Oh please, you included TP camera game, but not first person? Bloodlines has both, it is not hard to change position of player's camera if the game is 3D. Duke Nukem 3D had both views, lol.

 

[Stinger]

Anyway, am I the only one here who thinks all this fantasizing will simply end in Sawyer's Luck? (read: gets cancelled, or in this case: will never start)

Why? It's Obsidian with some actual creative control. Yeah it'll probably have some dumbshit flaws cause this is still Obsidz we're talking about but that's still better than the garbage that gets churned out these days.

 

[Outlander]

Oh well, I guess we lose nothing by asking, so: isometric turn-based futuristic cyberpunk/noire RPG. There.

 

[Turisas]

Kickstart my heart, MCA!

 

[villain of the story]

For real?

Oh please, you included TP camera game, but not first person? Bloodlines has both, it is not hard to change position of player's camera if the game is 3D. Duke Nukem 3D had both views, lol.

There is so much wrong with that post.

Let's start with Alpha Popamole: would the game work as a first person shooter? Think of the quality of game assets when it came out. It wouldn't look necessarily bad but it wouldn't look good enough to see everything that much up close and personal either, the game would certainly look less appealing and there would be absolutely no point to it being first person. Most levels are designed to cater to 3rd person awareness. Near zero interaction with environment. Shit game mechanics that are suited to 3rd person wallhack cheating. A lot of contextual actions that hinge on their shit animations and the player seeing those animations to correlate to his or her environment, from basic movement to how weapons are used. It's a matter or presentation. The difference between 3rd and 1st person isn't merely camera position. It's a very fundamental difference.

Yes, DN3D, as well as all the other Build Engine games had a 3rd person camera. And it was utter shit. Have you played the game like that? You see a hollow Duke/Caleb/Redneck/WoLang (sp?) in front of you, fucking up your view like a ghost. And it didn't work nice at all when pressed against corners and it let you discover secret locations. You go around telling anyone worth his shit that DN3D is as much a 3rd person shooter as it's a 1st person shooter, you'll be made a laughing stock or get the Codex equivalent of a treatment. And anyway, anyone who plays Build Engine games in 3rd person is a faggot.

Bloodlines is a bit different. It's not primarily an action game and it's almost universally acknowledged that it just sucks when it tries to be. The game packs enough eye candy for its time (however buggy, leaky and unoptimised). It's just a so totally different kind of game. It also feels more like an "espionage" game at times without resorting to popamole mechanics. Anyway, I'm a bit lost on this one. But I can say this much: It was made and marketed as, not only a First Person game but the first (and the last? LOL) game ever to use (a beta version of) HL2 engine, complete with swinging boobs. Both asset quality and art direction are high quality befitting a high profile game of its time. And the game has more variance (and style!) than AP for either perspective to work.

And let's also remember that it's a Troika title and Obsidian isn't Troika. They got more stuff right on their first ever attempt at a 1st/3rd Person game then OB did with AP.

 

[Shannow]

Anyway, am I the only one here who thinks all this fantasizing will simply end in Sawyer's Luck? (read: gets cancelled, or in this case: will never start)

Why? It's Obsidian with some actual creative control. Yeah it'll probably have some dumbshit flaws cause this is still Obsidz we're talking about but that's still better than the garbage that gets churned out these days.

That has nothing to do with what you quoted. Why is that?