Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[Azarkon]

AP was never his project. After Mitsoda left, he had to fill in. MCA is a pretty humble person all around and never blames anybody else, less of all the publisher, for screw ups, but it was obvious that AP was a creative screw up after Mitsoda's entire vision was scrapped and they had to come up with a new one in a few weeks.

 

[Duraframe300]

AP was never his project. After Mitsoda left, he had to fill in. MCA is a pretty humble person all around and never blames anybody else, less of all the publisher, for screw ups, but it was obvious that AP was a creative screw up after Mitsoda's entire vision was scrapped and they had to come up with a new one in a few weeks.

And had to repurpose a lot of the old assets for it.

AP is kind of a Frankenstein monster

 

[Azarkon]

AP was never his project. After Mitsoda left, he had to fill in. MCA is a pretty humble person all around and never blames anybody else, less of all the publisher, for screw ups, but it was obvious that AP was a creative screw up after Mitsoda's entire vision was scrapped and they had to come up with a new one in a few weeks.

And had to repurpose a lot of the old assets for it.

AP is kind of a Frankenstein monster

Precisely.

Creatively speaking, MCA is known for a specific set of styles & themes, which were present in every game he's led except for AP. Not to say he's not a versatile designer - he's obviously capable of quality writing & design regardless of the situation - but writers & artists have personal passions and I don't think AP fit MCA's. It was new ground for him but not in a positive way. I think that's why Mitsoda was given the lead for that project in the first place.

Consider the games MCA wrote for, but which he wasn't the creative director of -

Fallout 2
IWD
New Vegas
NWN 2
MOTB
AP
etc.

Then consider the games he was lead designer on -

PST
KOTOR 2

There is an enormous difference in the ideas and themes presented in the latter two games versus those in the former. Even MOTB, which is called a 'spiritual successor' to PST at times, is in no way a MCA game, even though Ziets, I feel, consciously tried to capture a lot of the same themes.

To use a concrete example - one of the biggest design fixations of MCA as a designer is his love of subverting cliches. He greatly enjoys taking a video game/literary trope and deconstructing it in order to develop a different side of the story/theme. In PST, that was the idea of starting the player at the moment of death and having him seek death, rather than avoid it. In KOTOR 2, it was the idea that the Force was evil because it took away freedom. That's what gives his stories a feeling of novelty amid the cliche-driven enterprise that is AAA storytelling.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

MCA interview by Logic Artists' Jonas: http://www.xp4t.com/interview-with-the-devs-chris-avellone/

I demand this to be included in our monocled Developer Mugs Collection

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Yes, a strong contender for emoticon...

 

[Ninjerk]

From the interviews/Director's Cut shit DeMarle and the French Canadian lead guy sound like the reasonable people that kept the game stapled together instead of collapsing because of cuts and the artist guy sounds like a complete flake (he was the kind of dude that made that shit with the skinless boss surrounded by posing mannequins)

During the leadup to the game being released, it looked to be the opposite (if the FC guy you talk about is Jean-Francois Dugas). Are the interviews you're talking about primarily from DC in-game commentary? I was a bit curious about those.

 

[Roguey]

We prioritize everything – A, B, and C. All content except for A-priority content is designed to be able to be removed or downscaled – or easily added, if time permits.

Josh-way truly is the best way. Non-core gameplay elements are all well and good to have, but they must be easily cut if it's just not working out.

could you send my apologies to George Ziets for frying his videocard with our hideously unoptimised game? Because that is apparently a thing that happened, and we all still feel super bad about it.

Always funny.

 

[Sykar]

I wonder how much of Human Revolution's narrative absolutely falling apart DeMarle is actually responsible for?

The second half of the game screams "CUT CONTENT", so I would be wary of pointing fingers

It wasn't as bad as KotoR 2 at least though.

 

[throwaway]

Is there much new in the interview aside from the quoted PoE bit? 5 pages is a bit too much given how same-y MCA interviews are.

 

[Bleed the Man]

Is there much new in the interview aside from the quoted PoE bit? 5 pages is a bit too much given how same-y MCA interviews are.

It's an interview focusing on how the writing process is and that sort of stuff. It's a lot better than the others that have tried the same thing, probably because it was made by another designer.

 

[Infinitron]

Some kinda weird in-joke: https://twitter.com/PixelDynamo/status/559831356377534465

 

[veevoir]

Some kinda weird in-joke: https://twitter.com/PixelDynamo/status/559831356377534465

The most important part is that eggs and bacon belong together. I'd kickstart that, eough of that grimdark faggotry trend in RPGs, time for some real happy end!

 

[Gozma]

During the leadup to the game being released, it looked to be the opposite (if the FC guy you talk about is Jean-Francois Dugas). Are the interviews you're talking about primarily from DC in-game commentary? I was a bit curious about those.

The DC in-game commentary, although I might be conflating some other shit too; it's been a while. I didn't read or see any pre-release bits and didn't play the game until way late (fully patched and DLC'd) so I have no idea what it looked like earlier on.

 

[Sensuki]

Adam Brennecke ran into Sid Meier at The Alamo while in Texas

 

[Turok]

Twitter just nearly gave me a heart attack

For a fake I like though how another tab is gay sex with hats.

Gay sex with hats? LOL

 

[Duraframe300]

Woha

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/vi...me&authToken=eKXU&trk=prof-sb-browse_mmap-nam

Ossians Kevin Smith has been working for Obsidian at a new game since march.

Ossian is working again with Obsidian.


Senior Programmer
Obsidian Entertainment
March 2014 – Present (11 months)Ottawa, Canada Area
• Lead a small programming team building a new role-playing game in Unity 3D.
• Collaborated closely with a team of artists and human user interface specialists to create a unique and compelling user interface.

 

[Infinitron]

Or maybe he's just doing contract work between projects...

 

[Athelas]

Oh god, they're making a 3d game in Unity.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh god, they're making a 3d game in Unity.

That's not what "Unity 3D" necessarily means. PoE also technically uses "Unity 3D".

 

[Duraframe300]

Or maybe he's just doing contract work between projects...

?

What?

Its stated he leads a small programming team on a new game. Like thats not something little. Thats not simple contract work (unless you mean they possible contracted the Ossian studio, in which case as I said possible collaboration)

Also why was the other thread deleted.

 

[Duraframe300]

Codex conspiracies..........

 

[Infinitron]

Relax.

Or maybe he's just doing contract work between projects...

?

What?

Its stated he leads a small programming team on a new game. Like thats not something little. Thats not simple contract work (unless you mean they possible contracted the Ossian studio, in which case as I said possible collaboration)

Also why was the other thread deleted.

I meant that Ossian might not actually be developing a game now, after the release of their iOS game. So he still works for them on paper, but for now he's contracting with Obsidian.

 

[Duraframe300]

Relax.

Or maybe he's just doing contract work between projects...

?

What?

Its stated he leads a small programming team on a new game. Like thats not something little. Thats not simple contract work (unless you mean they possible contracted the Ossian studio, in which case as I said possible collaboration)

Also why was the other thread deleted.

I meant that Ossian might not actually be developing a game now, after the release of their iOS game. So he still works for them on paper, but for now he's contracting with Obsidian.

Hes working remotly though and why would he have lead a small team remotly under contract work.

Ofc very much possible.

 

[Infinitron]

Hmmm, what happened to Ossian's forum? http://www.ossianstudios.com/

From Google results it looks like it was spammed to death.

 

[Ninjerk]

Collaborated closely with a team of artists and human user interface specialists to create a unique and compelling user interface.

Phone/tablet game?