Chris Avellone
Arcane
It's also a window into the creative process of the company he's in charge of. On the two occasions that they were finally given the chance to develop their own IP, Obsidian went with a modern military coover-based shooter and a medieval high-fantasy RPG, the two safest possible bets they could have picked. Even Tyranny, ostensibly an original idea, devolved into a chosen one narrative that railroaded the player into rebelling against the evil Kyros.
Okay, I guess I can't stop. So another issue with the books is that, at times, Feargus will inflict his story preferences on teams. When this happens, as a Creative Director it is helpful for me to try and ascertain where these story preferences came from and if necessary, argue against them, using the the same books that are upheld as shining pinnacles of inspiring storylines but yet cause brain tumors within seconds to people reading them. This was my job, and why I read these books - to use the very material to argue why we shouldn't do something that undermined the story experience.
Books do seem "minor," but in this context, it was to protect the game stories at the studio when I could. I didn't always succeed, as indicated by the DS4 example (again, the pitch failed partly b/c Square-Enix didn't want to work with us again).
Also, should probably say it on Mankind Divided: They weren't asking us to do all the content for the game, we were going to be asked to build a % of the game's levels with them, so please don't consider it as "hey, Obsidian could have done DX: MD." (Also, the writer, Mary DeMarle, Homeworld and DXHR is an amazing writer, so there wouldn't have been any need for writer resources, imo) - Anyway, as simple as the contract was, and as much as we needed income, Feargus could not get the deal signed despite how much we needed work to stay afloat.
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