RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Blaine]

Small correction:

RPGCodex ------------------------- Chris Avellone

Something Awful ------------------ Josh Sawyer

RPGWatch--------------------------- Kiva Maginn

NeoGaf------------------------------- BEEP BEP

ResetEra------------------------------Brianna Wu

Obsidian Forums--------------------???????????

reddit---------------------------------???????????

GameFAQs---------------------------???????????

IGNBoards---------------------------???????????

GameSpot----------------------------???????????

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

I'm already out as a Communist. It's caused surprisingly little friction. CFO hates me for it though. I've put her on the list for after the Revolution.

Typical modern bourgeois commie LARPer, pretending to give a shit about "the people" all the while planning to be part of the inner party elite come the revolution.

 

[Maculo]

RPGWatch--------------------------- Kiva Maginn

Who?

NeoGaf-------------------------------David Gaider

ResetEra------------------------------Brianna Wu

Wouldn't these examples be too white for Neogaf or Resetera?

 

[aratuk]

I have no idea how courts banning people from professions because of criminal activities would be relevant to the question of legality of lifelong non-compete deals.

leaving beloved company isnt criminal activity?


also, i thought that law works by prohibiting stuff, not enabling it. Is there actual law that prohibit too long non competitive clauses? Ive never heard of one

Tonya Harding was banned for life by the main US figure skating association, which apparently holds all major competitions and is responsible for selecting skaters for the Olympics. If I recall correctly, even if she were to coach a young figure skater, that young figure skater would then also be ineligible for competition. She was banned by the only organization where it’s possible to easily make money from figure skating in the US. If there were an alternative organization that would have her, of course she could have joined it, but figureskating appears to be kind of an insular, niche sport, so there wasn’t anywhere else she could go. (I live in the city Harding comes from, where the mother of one of my coworkers claims to have been in a bar fight with her.)

US non-compete agreements are voluntary civil contracts that can be challenged if they fall outside the norms in a particular state or jurisdiction. In some states they are barely enforceable at all, and they are generally easy to invalidate anywhere if they try to have terms that are too broad or last longer than a couple of years. The law concerning them is more set by case precedent in higher courts than by legislative statutes.

:mrfussy:

The other thing you mentioned, hackers being banned from touching computers, would be part of probation terms resulting from a criminal conviction. Probation would also generally be for a limited period of time. Like, a hacker is convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, with nine years of the sentence suspended pending successful completion of a specified probation program. So they only go to the penitentiary for one year, and then they are let out with restrictions on their behavior (like touching a computer) under the threat of having to return for the remaining nine years.

 

[Fenix]

carrie patel is a cutie

With long hair maybe, not with that protective feminist coloring intended to scare the man away.

it looks a lot like you failed to effect meaningful process improvements

Single man can only do that much work and fight that much problems, don't overvalue his responsibility and capabilities.

Everything I had been coaching and trying to develop as a foundation had been struck out in one, casual and dismissive, 5-minute conversation.

That was exactly as I suspected.

The public perception I have of Sawyer is that he's a nice guy, with good taste in tattoos and a quirky sense of humor.

Based on his face expressions and eyes, my perception was he is a kind of guy who kill strangers and stockpile them in the basement.
The man who strokes the handle of the axe under the table.

Well, since we're on blunt honesty day, I'll ask: Chris, are you satisfied with how Wasteland 2 & Tides of Numanuma turned out?

what are you doing devil, I'm laughed my ass off

I'm really surprised that this didn't get more coverage from mainstream media like kotaku since they usually report studios drama

Absolutely no surprise, which universe are you living in?

Feel-good stories about Obsidian cupping your balls and whispering into your ear that you're handsome and a good boy are nice, but is MCA lying about getting hosed when he left Obsidian, or isn't he?

I've read all of the

posts in this thread, to my knowledge, but I don't recall seeing an answer that specific charge, only protestations that Obsidian's corporate culture isn't as rotten as Chris lets on.

Chris getting hosed is actually the main point of contention here, let's not forget. I'm sure it was totally his fault, he brought it on himself, etc., but that too is fairly irrelevant.

While I have no reason to doubt in his words, I absolutely don't belive the reasons behind them, he was acting like extinguisher, corporate speak, damage control etc.

Why not a more credible area.

Because they run from it like a fire?

It's not my only criterion. You were arguing with me in the current Deadfire megathread about the dangerhair fan fiction writers they've been hiring, remember?

Link pls, and what is dangerhair.

Feargus's buddies in the Russian Mob

Ah, those Russian Mob with jewish names... exactly! Saw it in american movies!

supposed "successor of PS: T"

Spiritual - it's that part when I'm always break.

I would have reconfigured his fugly orkface right then and there

I actually hope it happened...

dissatisfied

Ah, so Chris was "dissatisfied" I see.
You are a moron.

 

[Maculo]

dissatisfied

Ah, so Chris is "dissatisfied" I see.
You are a moron.

You didn't follow the context of the post, did ya? That's okay.

 

[Projas]

what is dangerhair.

protective feminist coloring intended to scare the man away.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

GameFAQs---------------------------???????????

Replace the flowers with the Ocarina of Time cartridge and you have the authentic GameFAQs experience.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Kiva Maginn. Who?

Disappointing lack of decline knowledge. Know your enemy. Kiva Maginn, lead designer at Harebrained Schemes. That's right. According to Roguey, Kiva was Kevin until he transtioned during the mid-development of Battletech.

The image was quoted by Roguey in another thread. There is also the controversy involving pronouns.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

what is dangerhair.

protective feminist coloring intended to scare the man away.

Aposematism

 

[Kem0sabe]

Whats a Pomona?

 

[Blaine]

Link pls, and what is dangerhair.

Dangerhair: A person with electric blue, pink, green, or red hair coloring/highlights, indicating that the said person is incapable of rational thought; may also refer to the hair itself.

Problem glasses: Modern glasses similar to or directly mimicking horn-rimmed glasses, which were last in fashion over half a century ago (not unlike, say, the fedora or trilby), indicating that the wearer wishes to channel the perceived positive aspects of the people who wore them in a bygone era (this always fails).

This is in the very same category of fashion statement as fedoras and trenchcoats, although because they're women, it's politically incorrect to bully them for being ridiculous retards.

Edit: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...d-coming-may-8th.119184/page-368#post-5589025

(And a number of posts/Tweets earlier in the thread)

 

[Maculo]

Kiva Maginn. Who?

Disappointing lack of decline knowledge. Know your enemy. Kiva Maginn, lead designer at Harebrained Schemes. That's right. According to Roguey, Kiva was Kevin until he transtioned during the mid-development of Battletech.

The image was quoted by Roguey in another thread. There is also the controversy involving pronouns.

Battletech? I have not paid much attention to it. Oh lord.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Whats a Pomona?

a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman

 

[Irata]

I can't claim to have read every comment, but how does a partner walk away from a partnership with absolutely nothing? Everything about his experience sounds more like an employee. Is co-founder being mixed up with being a partner/co-owner?

On a side note, if he was just an employee then any non-compete clause is automatically not binding in California and I can't imagine a situation where a court would uphold a lifetime ban. Generally, even in states they allow them, they have to be pretty limited.

 

[rohand]

Ok, done.

*dies*

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Ha! I know who you are now. Let's see how being in the alt-right works for you offline, NAZI

The hipocrisy of the left is so much that the Western world allows you to be a open supporter of fascist communism, which for some bizarre reason is perceived as less evil than nazism, which is also socialist. Go figure.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Waaaaaaaaait a minute. "Sudden" cancellation? Why it would be sudden if you'd planned on resigning?

Chris, were you fired from Obsidian?

(I realized I didn’t answer this.)

No – after raising some questions about company finances and other issues, Feargus de-ownered me (which I didn’t have a choice in) and then told, “but don’t worry, we’ll still allow you to work on Tyranny for us,” and my response was, “that’s okay, you can work on it by yourself.”

Before this seems unusual, de-ownering was actually a common threat tossed around, so it wasn’t specific to me – if any owner raised objections to events going on, the response was often, “you don’t sound like you want to be an owner anymore” and never addressed the actual issues being brought up.

Not surprisingly, this shift in being de-ownered coincided with taking place shortly before the first royalty payments from Eternity came in, which meant that the surviving owners got a much larger share with me de-ownered (I don’t mind that, as I didn’t want royalty payments from Eternity, but I don’t think the other owners deserved royalties, either, except maybe a set amount for Darren for the Backer portal work he put in – the team deserved all of it). It was a good business decision, but not good ethics.

 

[Infinitron]

So they de-ownered you and then you resigned on the spot, is what you're saying?

 

[Don Peste]

Hi Chris Avellone,

It's 9am, a nice spring day, and you invited someone from OBS upper management home for a beer and to discuss about deleting your OBS forum account. Then, someone knocks on your door. It's monsieur Hervé Caen, he wants to chat with you about a draft he has for Descent to Undermountain 2.

But! You got a bit distracted the day before with some unrelated stuff and it turns out you only have one beer left. Who would you give it to?

 

[TT1]

While no game portal is covering this thread, there is some talking in reddit and twitter. Of course, Obsidian will never speak about this.

 

[Maculo]

The drama gods are with us on this fine day.

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

Feargus Feargus ...

 

[Crispy]

We should move this thread to GD so the jealous fucks can't see it anymore.

 

[Max Edge]

Yeah yeah, I know that much of the "evil publishers" narrative is more due to fan extrapolation than anything you (or other people from Obsidian) actually said. Still funny though.

Still awaiting quotes, Slippery McSlipinginfinitron. Will address each in turn. Afraid? Don't, will answer.

1. Do Obsidian have other projects than PoE 2? As far you know.

2. Do Owlcat will be Troika for this generation?