Obsidian - "Project New Jersey"

[dagorkan]

Anyone know what this was?

url

 

[Annie Mitsoda]

It was something very sweet and beautiful that was too good for this world.

/tear

 

[thesheeep]

You are not allowed to speak about things that don't have and never will be finished?
That is strange.

I'd love to have a book about all promising, but cancelled projects, with background info, etc.. I'm sure that would be very interesting and informative. And sad.

 

[inwoker]

It won't be released?

 

[Hellraiser]

It was something very sweet and beautiful that was too good for this world.

/tear

A good space opera RPG?

 

[MisterStone]

You are not allowed to speak about things that don't have and never will be finished?
That is strange.

I'd love to have a book about all promising, but cancelled projects, with background info, etc.. I'm sure that would be very interesting and informative. And sad.

Put yourself in her situation though. You describe this awesome game that didn't make it through the final stages of development. The Codex RPG fanboys think its just awwwwsum, and then they start sending emails and petitions to the studio/publisher asking them to continue development. What would it look like to you, if you were Annie's boss, or people at a higher tier of the publishing process? It would look like you are trying to use popular opinion on the Internet to push a personal project.

 

[Lumpy]

And even a cancelled project has a chance of being picked up again in the future, so putting it up for grabs on the Internet isn't the best idea.

 

[Drakron]

Anything that sames the same name as New Jersey cannot be good.

I suppose the concept for the game was based on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO8hbpUhwI

 

[hiver]

It was something very sweet and beautiful that was too good for this world.

/tear

Dont make me cry!

 

[Annie Mitsoda]

Anything that sames the same name as New Jersey cannot be good.

I suppose the concept for the game was based on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO8hbpUhwI

Heh - nay, it was tradition. Quoth Wikipedia, "Obsidian Entertainment code-names its projects after a name of a U.S. state." At Black Isle, they did it after Presidents. Josh Sawyer's idea.

And Mr. Stone has it down exactly. Fucking hell, you guys have NO IDEA how many projects get canceled before you in the outside world hear Word One about it, even if they've been in, say, preproduction for over a year. Or maybe you DID hear about it, but it got canned for one reason or another. Sometimes this is a blessing, other times a curse. And it can happen for any number of reasons, this industry being what it is. I'd LOOOOOVE the book that thesheeep suggested - the canceled projects book (because god knows you get a buncha devs together who've been in the industry for more than 3 years and eventually they will ALL start talking about the One Project That Got Away) - but because of legality and the "incestous" nature of the industry, it could never happen. FUCK, you go onto a dev-only site like The Chaos Engine, and 95% of people on there go anonymous and don't use specifics. It's the (sad) nature of the beast.

And I can tell you that any designer who worked on Project New Jersey was goddamn sad to see it go. It is my One That Got Away.

 

[Forest Dweller]

So you really can't tell us? Not even a littlle hint?

 

[GMonkey]

Long time lurker, created an account just to post in this thread.

As far as I can remember, Project New Jersey was Sawyer's baby and was supposed to be an action RPG with the combat depth and feel of (say) a Devil May Cry. I remember this because Sawyer left little hints on PNJ's forums, and this was exactly the kind of RPG I'd like to see. I think bits of its design philosophy ended up in Alpha Protocol, although that's just a guess.


You Codexers would have fucking hated it with a passion.



@Annie: Now that you've left Obsidian, could you at least soothe the pain by going back to making Blue? Pretty please?

 

[Drakron]

... action RPG with the combat depth and feel of (say) a Devil May Cry.
...
You Codexers would have fucking hated it with a passion.

I say old chap, you might possible be correct in such assumption.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Long time lurker, created an account just to post in this thread.

As far as I can remember, Project New Jersey was Sawyer's baby and was supposed to be an action RPG with the combat depth and feel of (say) a Devil May Cry.

Uhhhh.....please say you are kidding. That sounds amazing and I've always hated that action-RPGs have shit for combat in addition to shit for role-playing ad I'd hate to see something like this go.

You Codexers would have fucking hated it with a passion.

Maybe not so much. If it was like Onimusha, definitely. If it was like God of War, probably. If it was like DMC1 it would be great. If it was like DMC3, Shinobi or God Hand, it would be awesome. If it was like Ninja Gaiden....that'd be beyond amazing.

 

[GMonkey]

Imagine if The Witcher had combat like Ninja Gaiden. :wishful thinking:

 

[Black]

You Codexers would have fucking hated it with a passion.

That's one way of saying it. The other is "we'd love to hate it."
Sounds better!

 

[crakkie]

Feargus: Next up we're making a console action-rpg with a premade character...

JE: Let's do something with Devil-May-Cry combat, some huge tree of unlockable combos and whatnot.

MCA: How about something like Deus Ex, but in a modern setting with a bit of flexible reality and flair, a bit of No One Lives Forever?

Feargus: *flips coin*

 

[Jaesun]

Feargus: Next up we're making a console action-rpg with a premade character...

JE: Let's do something with Devil-May-Cry combat, some huge tree of unlockable combos and whatnot.

MCA: How about something like Deus Ex, but in a modern setting with a bit of flexible reality and flair, a bit of No One Lives Forever?

Feargus: *flips coin*

IIRC, Mr. Feargus would have tried to show off/shop for a producer for New Jersey to publishers, and I assume none of them would offer to produce it.

I.E. no publishers interested in Troika's PA Game. ;_;

 

[GMonkey]

Yes, it seems that PNJ's problem was that it never got picked up by a publisher.

Also, let's not forget that Alpha Protocol will, apparently, have proper melee combat.

 

[A user named cat]

An RPG with Tekken/Soul Calibur-like combat would even be awesome, if it could somehow be worked into a keyboard and mouse control scheme. Some jRPGs have touched on that and they were damn fun, Star Ocean and Tales of... series comes to mind. Devil May Cry combat was a little too much button mashing though.

 

[thesheeep]

I'd LOOOOOVE the book that thesheeep suggested - the canceled projects book (because god knows you get a buncha devs together who've been in the industry for more than 3 years and eventually they will ALL start talking about the One Project That Got Away)

Guess that is a typical dev thing. Some kind of "Good Ol' Times"-book every developer would love to read

But, ah, yeah... the business. Its incredible how many lecturers we have that seem to be really relieved to just talk with us (more or less just reporting) about things they wouldn't be allowed to talk about in public.

 

[Annie Mitsoda]

But, ah, yeah... the business. Its incredible how many lecturers we have that seem to be really relieved to just talk with us (more or less just reporting) about things they wouldn't be allowed to talk about in public.

Oh, chickadee, you have NO IDEA. Bless your collective corrupt little hearts. Bad or good, praise or scorn, we cannot heap it in quantity on anything we've worked on in public - or people we've worked WITH. If your name is near it, people'll find out.

And ok, since Sawyer leaked a hint, it was an action RPG. Goddamn if it didn't have some fucking solid design behind it, too - Mitsoda was doing levels in addition to writing it, I can say that. Also Travis Stout and Matt MacLean (both now on Alpha Protocol) were on it, Kevin Saunders (of MotB lead design and SoZ producingness) was the lead, and Brian Heins (now at Cheyenne Mountain) was part of systems along with the most esteemed Josh Sawyer. First time I ever really got solid level design in was on that game. Fuck - I'm tempted to go ferret out my sketches for it for my own perusal, but it might just depress me...

GMonkey: You mentioned my comic! You get a million Sweetness points and an Internet hug! Perhaps someday I shall, but I wanna feel like I can give it something new first.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

An RPG with Street Fighter 3-like combat would even be awesome, if it could somehow be worked into a keyboard and mouse control scheme. Some jRPGs have touched on that and they were damn fun, Star Ocean and Tales of... series comes to mind. Devil May Cry combat was a little too much button mashing though.

Fixed. Because Namco gameplay is noob faggotry.

 

[Gragt]

I'm tempted to try to play Devil May Cry to discover with my own eyes what kind of furfaggotry you guys are talking about.

Still I guess an ARPG with decent combat, character building and story with choices could be nice.

 

[A user named cat]

An RPG with Street Fighter 3-like combat would even be awesome, if it could somehow be worked into a keyboard and mouse control scheme. Some jRPGs have touched on that and they were damn fun, Star Ocean and Tales of... series comes to mind. Devil May Cry combat was a little too much button mashing though.

Fixed. Because Namco gameplay is noob faggotry.

No, just no. Street Fighter garbage has nothing on Tekken.