Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[agris]

..and I can finally hit unsubscribe to this thread. OE isn’t making games with heart any longer, they’re just making Product.

 

[Efe]

quite the opposite, the jaded management is actually making what they dream of the most.

money.

 

[vortex]

Unannounced smaller project must be Sawyer's. I bet this new AAA rpg is like that cancelled Stormlands they had with MS but changed now.

..and I can finally hit unsubscribe to this thread. OE isn’t making games with heart any longer, they’re just making Product.

Product can be a labor of love.

 

[Quillon]

I bet this new AAA rpg is like that cancelled Stormlands they had with MS but changed now.

Tyranny is the "changed" Stormlands. This is more likely a Skyrim-wannabe.

 

[vortex]

Tyranny is the "changed" Stormlands. This is more likely a Skyrim-wannabe.

But can Obsidian make that kind of a big world with their tools?

 

[nikolokolus]

Obsidian has plenty of tools working there. I have faith.

 

[vortex]

Obsidian has plenty of tools working there. I have faith.

But they don't have Gamebryo.

 

[Butter]

Yeah they might even be forced to use a good engine.

 

[Quillon]

Tyranny is the "changed" Stormlands. This is more likely a Skyrim-wannabe.

But can Obsidian make that kind of a big world with their tools?

They don't need to, all they have to do is to make the game just look like Skyrim/ES without any of the underlying systems and whatnot and they'll get away with it cos their writing is soooooo much better than Bethesda haven't you heard?

 

[Ging_Sama]

Tyranny is the "changed" Stormlands. This is more likely a Skyrim-wannabe.

But can Obsidian make that kind of a big world with their tools?

Yep with the help of Microsoft, besides, feargus said that it was on this point that he was most excited.

Microsoft have a team of Advanced technologies group which helps all first party studios to realize their vision.

With tools like Houdini etc ... It will allow them to make big open worlds. And they're also going to get help from Playground Games who are on a big Open World Fable Reboot on the same engine.

https://www.obsidian.net/jobs/open-positions/programming/tools-programmer

Obsidian is looking for experienced programmers to create and maintain tools for our content creation teams.

You will be working hand in hand with our talented Area Designers and Environment Artists to generate tools which help create our immense open worlds and breathe life in our games. If you are passionate programmer that enjoys building tools that empower their colleagues to create amazing things, come help us make our next world class RPG!

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

their writing is soooooo much better than Bethesda haven't you heard?

Obsidian Entertainment is Looking for YOU!

Join the Obsidian Entertainment Team!
Obsidian Entertainment is always looking for creative individuals interested in a challenging environment creating the best role-playing games in the world. If making the next generation of role-playing games in a friendly, enjoyable atmosphere is what you're looking for, we want to hear from you!

Obsidian Entertainment is the best of both worlds - the stability and cutting edge projects of a large studio combined with the family (and family-friendly) feel of a smaller company.

Welcome to the Obsidian University Summer Internship Program!

Obsidian Entertainment is known around the world for the incredible stories we tell. We would love for you to join us in our latest adventure! For the first time Obsidian will be offering an official summer internship program. This summer you will go on a quest unlike anything you've experienced so far.
https://www.obsidian.net/jobs/internships
https://www.obsidian.net/jobs/open-positions

Spoiler

 

[Cael]

their writing is soooooo much better than Bethesda haven't you heard?

Obsidian Entertainment is Looking for YOU!

Join the Obsidian Entertainment Team!
Obsidian Entertainment is always looking for creative individuals interested in a challenging environment creating the best role-playing games in the world. If making the next generation of role-playing games in a friendly, enjoyable atmosphere is what you're looking for, we want to hear from you!

Obsidian Entertainment is the best of both worlds - the stability and cutting edge projects of a large studio combined with the family (and family-friendly) feel of a smaller company.

Welcome to the Obsidian University Summer Internship Program!

Obsidian Entertainment is known around the world for the incredible stories we tell. We would love for you to join us in our latest adventure! For the first time Obsidian will be offering an official summer internship program. This summer you will go on a quest unlike anything you've experienced so far.
https://www.obsidian.net/jobs/internships
https://www.obsidian.net/jobs/open-positions

Spoiler

I can just see it now:
Chad: So what did you do this summer?
Codexian: I got a job with Obsidian!
Chad: That explains the pink hair and sudden boobs...

 

[KVVRR]

Didn't they do this before?

 

[Ging_Sama]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephrubino/

Cinematic Director on AC Odyssey & Director of photography/Cinematic on RDR2 join Obsidian as Cinematic Director.

 

[Flou]

I guess they are beefing up their cinematics department as well. They've only had like 1 or 2 people working on cinematics on their latest games.

 

[Duraframe300]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephrubino/

Cinematic Director on AC Odyssey & Director of photography/Cinematic on RDR2 join Obsidian as Cinematic Director.

To be fair that's a vast improvement over what they've previously got in that department. First hire in a while where one could actually say that.

Now, there's a valid argument to be made that's neither the area Obsidian should focus on (though if they continue making First/Third Person titles a necessary one), nor aren't there a million departments at Obsidan that wouldn't be better served with an improvement, but yeah. Perspective and all that.

 

[Ol' Willy]

I guess they are beefing up their cinematics department as well. They've only had like 1 or 2 people working on cinematics on their latest games.

Yay, more cutscenes! That's definitely the thing that Obsidian games need!

And people from Gearbox! Remember Duke Nukem Forever and that Aliens shooter? I don't understand why y'all not excited yet.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

What's wrong with having cutscenes that aren't crap? They have microsoft money now.
This looks like one of their best hires in a long time. Also, for all we know the guy might be doing cinematics during conversations in a first-person like manner(e.g., VTMB/latter Fallout entries). IIRC, Outerworlds' felt very lifeless and in general, shitty.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Also, for all we know the guy might be doing cinematics during conversations in a first-person like manner(e.g., VTMB/latter Fallout entries).

If that's true, it's good, but somehow I doubt that this is the case here.

Also, Bethesda's Fallouts have awful cinematics and NPC animations.

 

[Flou]

If that's true, it's good, but somehow I doubt that this is the case here.

Also, Bethesda's Fallouts have awful cinematics and NPC animations.

Definitely. Everything they will do or even imagine doing will be just shit. They should go back to making games from Feargus's attic. Those were the days!

The guy is highly talented Cinematic Director with actual experience in making cinematic pipeline for a game with branching dialogue. Sounds like a great hire for a company known for their branching dialogue? Was Alpha Protocol shit because it had cinematic conversations? No, the whole conversation system with it's cinematic delivery was one the best if not the best feature in the damn game.
Obsidian's bigger projects will benefit greatly from this addition. The smaller ones (aimed at grognards) won't need cinematic experience.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Obsidian's bigger projects will benefit greatly from this addition. The smaller ones (aimed at grognards) won't need cinematic experience.

Good point. And we all hope that this is exactly how it turns out to be. No point arguing about it now for the time will tell. But it's always better to be pleasantly surprised than bitterly disappointed.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

The smaller ones (aimed at grognards) won't need cinematic experience.

You are super optimistic if you think we will get grognard games anymore.

 

[vortex]

You are super optimistic if you think we will get grognard games anymore.

It's only a matter of time.

 

[Flou]

The smaller ones (aimed at grognards) won't need cinematic experience.

You are super optimistic if you think we will get grognard games anymore.

Sawyer's game doesn't sound like it's aimed at mass market. If you look at how some of the MS owned companies are run, they are definitely working on multiple projects when possible. I don't think Obsidian will start churning out only sequels to Outer World and whatever that new IP is. There's clearly room for smaller projects if they are willing to fund Sawyer's project and Grounded.

It's a niche market, but a subscription based service like GamePass is build for such things (in addition to all the AAA games in there). It would be stupid from Microsoft to say no to such smaller projects. They give the service more content, at quite low cost and in return reach those smaller niche markets as well. If there's enough passion at Obsidian for projects like that, they will make those. Unless Feargus has completely missed the memo where MS wants steady flow of content from their gaming studios and will rather have them working on each game 3-5 years with just only two being in the works simultaneously. And since they seem to have 4 different games being worked currently, I seriously doubt that's the case either.

 

[DalekFlay]

The future for MS is a subscription service with exclusive content that pushes subscriptions, so I don't think everything has to be AAA for them anymore just because they're a massive corporation. Think of how Netflix has Stranger Things and Witcher, but also a ton of cheap ass dramas and stuff my wife watches like "On My Block."

That said I don't see them making stuff that doesn't play well on console.