Development Info InXile consults academics to create Wasteland authenticity

[Mastermind]

(...) Do you seriously need to pay a scientist to design a better game than Bethesda?

Apparently, yeah. Look at Fallout 2. It was retarded when compared to Fallout 1 and while not as retarded as Fallout 3 there were fire Geckos, magicians and other shit. With scientists looking over inXile's employees shoulders such epic ideas are less likely to be implemented.

I am extremely butthurt about the existence of fantasy elements like fire breathing ants/geckos in a franchise with orcs, invisible orcs, zombies and mind control in it.

 

[Infinitron]

Orcs?!

Oh wait it's Mastermind.

 

[Excidium]

Super Mutants.

 

[Alex]

Orcs?!

Oh wait it's Mastermind.

I think he means the super mutants. Though the original super mutants are much more like ogres, in my opinion.

 

[Mastermind]

Orcs?!

Oh wait it's Mastermind.

Pretty much. Big dumb muscular green brutes. But hey, call them supermutants and suddenly "it's different".

"I swear officer, I'm not a prostitute. I had no clue the item that penetrated my anus, vagina and throat repeatedly was in fact a male human phallus."

Codex hypocrisy never ends.

 

[Excidium]

I think he means the super mutants. Though the original super mutants are much more like ogres, in my opinion.

They are more like bugbears to me.

 

[Arkadin]

If there is science at all I prefer it to be either decent science or SCIENCE!. The worst thing happens when a game tries to present something in a scientific manner and fails horribly at that. I recently played UFO:Aftermath and mutant design and autopsy results were plain stupid, exactly because it seemed that the devs tried to make it plausible but failed horribly.

This is something I was wondering about. Sometimes in fiction, people make a half-hearted attempt at making something "scientific"...and it just seems fucking retarded, and you wonder why they didn't just leave things open and unexplained. Wasteland doesn't explain everything, and it works fine. I wonder if making a modern game with more explicit graphical representation has made Fargo worried that a lot of stuff from Wasteland will just seem too lulzy, and at odds with the tone they're trying to set, and thus he's trying to find some way to "justify" wacky shit in their lore.

 

[St. Toxic]

Pretty much. Big dumb muscular green brutes.

Fucking Orcs man.

 

[Alex]

I always liked this kind of orc better:

 

[St. Toxic]

Looks nothing like an orc. Super mutants don't have tusks.

 

[Mastermind]

Butt status: hurt.

 

[St. Toxic]

Butt status: hurt.

You got me, bro. Me and everyone else who've dedicated their lives to differentiating between orcs and mutants.

 

[Vault Dweller]

 

[almondblight]

Also from that interview:

Alvarado: Deus Ex [Human Revolution] and Mass Effect did their homework. BioShock also gets points for crafting an interesting balance between stem cells and molecular biology.

Bioshock wut? Sea slug juice lets you shoot bugs from your arms? Thank god they crafted a balance between stem cells and molecular biology, otherwise that would have been retarded.

Upon further reflection, I doubt thwacke will impede the games ridiculousness quotient one bit.

Yeah, that comment's pretty stupid. The only other place where he actually mentions some specifics are when he saus they're helping the Wasteland team find out what kinds of animals would survive a nuclear attack. Oh, look what I found on Google:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherno...dies_on_wildlife_status_in_the_Exclusion_Zone

 

[hoverdog]

I always liked this kind of orc better:

 

[Vault Dweller]

Yeah, that comment's pretty stupid. The only other place where he actually mentions some specifics are when he saus they're helping the Wasteland team find out what kinds of animals would survive a nuclear attack. Oh, look what I found on Google:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherno...dies_on_wildlife_status_in_the_Exclusion_Zone

You should start your own consulting business. There are a lot of people with googling disabilities out there.

"Tell us what you need and our team of experts will google it for you in no time!"

 

[Jasede]

Personally I'd be happy not to see any status reports and simply get a good game once it's done. Wasting time and effort for publicity at this point is just arousing an interest that is going to fizzle out again soon anyway.

Hearing a terse "we're making decent progress" statement is going to make me feel more at ease than some nebulous statement about scientists or some more concept art or a statement like "trust us, we got words! lots of words! plus emotionally engaging timmy / dog dynamics! awesome!!!".

 

[Excidium]

Or they could post actual design updates like Obsidian does.

 

[Jasede]

Ha.

 

[Infinitron]

Or they could post actual design updates like Obsidian does.

It's still too early to tell how regular Obsidian's updates will be, though.

 

[Brother None]

Haha. Oh Codex.

Nobody gives a fuck about such things in games.

Yeah, nobody gives a fuck. Except, y'know, you do.

The main quest is one of the game's biggest weaknesses. It doesn't make sense. The water contains radiation and thus isn't safe to drink. Maybe if people stopped playing with nuclear catapults and blowing up nuclear cars, the situation would improve… Anyway, even though it's relatively easy to purify radioactive water - see the quote above - top East Coast scientists, including your dad, have been trying to find a much more complex and unnecessary solution, known as Project Purity.

Sounds like Bethesda could've done with a scientific consultant!

 

[Vault Dweller]

Yeah, nobody gives a fuck. Except, y'know, you do.

"The main quest is one of the game's biggest weaknesses. It doesn't make sense. The water contains radiation and thus isn't safe to drink. Maybe if people stopped playing with nuclear catapults and blowing up nuclear cars, the situation would improve… Anyway, even though it's relatively easy to purify radioactive water - see the quote above - top East Coast scientists, including your dad, have been trying to find a much more complex and unnecessary solution, known as Project Purity."

Sounds like Bethesda could've done with a scientific consultant!

Yes, you need a scientific consultant to learn that drinking from abandoned, dirty toilets won't heal you.

We're talking about two different things here. What Bethesa did was plain fucking stupid. Like "putting all that dumb shit in Fallout 2"-stupid. You don't need a consultant for it. You need a bit of common sense and I'm surprised that some people use it as an argument - "if we had science! on our side, fallout 2 and 3 would have been better games!" No. They wouldn't have.

What we're talking about, what that consultant is talking about in that interview, is something else: making the gameworld science-approved, which is a gimmick and already doesn't fit the Wasteland setting.

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's still too early to tell how regular Obsidian's updates will be, though.

Way to stay positive, bro.

 

[Infinitron]

It's still too early to tell how regular Obsidian's updates will be, though.

Way to stay positive, bro.

I'm not being negative, I'm stating a fact. The Eternity Kickstarter only recently ended. We don't know yet whether they will go dormant like Wasteland 2 did after that first "screenshot" or whether they will continue providing regular updates.

 

[hiver]

Yeah, nobody gives a fuck. Except, y'know, you do.

"The main quest is one of the game's biggest weaknesses. It doesn't make sense. The water contains radiation and thus isn't safe to drink. Maybe if people stopped playing with nuclear catapults and blowing up nuclear cars, the situation would improve… Anyway, even though it's relatively easy to purify radioactive water - see the quote above - top East Coast scientists, including your dad, have been trying to find a much more complex and unnecessary solution, known as Project Purity."

Sounds like Bethesda could've done with a scientific consultant!

Yes, you need a scientific consultant to learn that drinking from abandoned, dirty toilets won't heal you.

A scientist cant cure bad sense of humor.

We're talking about two different things here.

This is the only statement that is actually true.

What Bethesa did was plain fucking stupid.

Ok, this one also.

I'm surprised that some people use it as an argument - "if we had science! on our side, fallout 2 and 3 would have been better games!" No. They wouldn't have.

Did anyone actually said that?

What we're talking about, what that consultant is talking about in that interview, is something else: making the gameworld science-approved,

Oh sure he does.

"
GamesBeat: How do you strike that balance between realism and fantasy and being scientifically accurate or plausible without inundating the player with minute details?

Alvarado: While some may think we are out to achieve “realism” in gaming fiction, we are actually out to help shape plausibility and logic of a fictional world."


http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2778