Interview RPG Codex Interview: Dan Vávra (Warhorse Studios)

[Spectacle]

Hobz: I dont think that aiming with a joypad is an issue. Its much easier to aim with a joypad than to aim with a real weapon.

Hell no it isn't!

 

[Hobz]

Hobz: I dont think that aiming with a joypad is an issue. Its much easier to aim with a joypad than to aim with a real weapon. So the fact, that aiming is harder with joypad more than with mouse is a plus for me

More difficulty can be great, I'm all for behind less forgiving to the player, but is difficulty through non-optimal controller really the kind players are looking for ?

 

[Daniel.Vavra]

Hobz: I dont think that aiming with a joypad is an issue. Its much easier to aim with a joypad than to aim with a real weapon.

Hell no it isn't!

Have you ever tried to shoot moving target with real gun or longbow? I did. Actually I do it pretty often and its much harder

 

[Quigs]

Hobz: I dont think that aiming with a joypad is an issue. Its much easier to aim with a joypad than to aim with a real weapon.

Hell no it isn't!

Have you ever tried to shoot moving target with real gun or longbow? I did. Actually I do it pretty often and its much harder

Shooting a bow in real life? It's got better physics and graphics then your game, is free, has more choice and consequence, and I'm not forced to play as some derpy midget Slav. I think I'll give it a shot. Reviews will be up later.

 

[deuxhero]

Such things are better left to mods.

Playing as a loli however is not one of them.

Sales wise, I saw a lot of people were interested in DD because the character creation system was expansive enough to do so.

 

[evdk]

is free

I somehow doubt that.

 

[Spectacle]

Hobz: I dont think that aiming with a joypad is an issue. Its much easier to aim with a joypad than to aim with a real weapon.

Hell no it isn't!

Have you ever tried to shoot moving target with real gun or longbow? I did. Actually I do it pretty often and its much harder

Bow no, guns yeah. The shot goes where you point the gun, no wrestling with the inherent slowness and inaccuracy of a joystick.
Guns may have a bit of a learning curve, but when you've overcome that shooting comes naturally, while the limitations of a controller never go away.

If you think you can make an interface for controllers that's equally good as one for mice you're delusional. There is a reason office workers use mice and not controllers.

 

[MetalCraze]

The Witcher 2's plot made zero sense and was ridiculously incoherent (with the king's murder being incredibly ridiculous) - so kinda speaking about coherency and praising The Witcher series doesn't make me believe in "believability" of this game, Daniel.Vavra

And BTW Fallout New Vegas is my favourite RPG.

OK forget I wrote dat shit. One more game to remove from toplay list.

 

[Infinitron]

Yo Skyway, Christmas is over.

 

[Metro]

This thing is going to be another Amalur.

 

[evdk]

Are you insinuating that the investors Dan is showing the prototype to are from the Prague Municipality? Another glorious funding scandal in Prague would be wonderful to behold.

 

[Quigs]

Regarding our game, you all clever people just opened my mind. Now I see, that I am developing linear first person shooter.

Your use of animated images sucks. Allow me to school you on the matter.

 

[mikaelis]

Regarding our game, you all clever people just opened my mind. Now I see, that I am developing linear first person shooter.

Your use of animated images sucks. Allow me to school you on the matter.

Quigs, The image you posted is the reason my monitor is flooded in spit and wine. It should be a strong candidate for the next rpgcodex emoticon.

Still your stalking obsession about Vavra and inferiority complex against midget Slavs is disturbing. Care to tell the story of your childhood?

 

[RedScum]

'Murica is butthurt.

 

[Quigs]

I grew up with a CGA monitor and a keyboard. Mice were for Mac faggots back then. One hot summer night in the inner city of Philadelphia, a Midgeted Slav climbed onto the roof and tried to steal my window AC unit. My mother beat him to death with the iron piping of our 1960's vacuum cleaner. She left the corpse to rot in my bedroom for a month as punishment for my complacency during the holocaust.

 

[mindx2]

Thats progress. People should learn to live with that.

AAA developer comment of the year winner!!!!! I've seen the light and now realize I need to learn to live with the dumbed-downed, controller/ console gimped crap my beloved "next-gen" game developer/ publisher overlords tell me is really good!!!

 

[Stinger]

I have no issue with a developer trying to do Skyrim "right", there's obviously an audience for it and it can be a cool game when handled by actually talented designers on an engine that isn't utterly horrible- even if it won't have the same appeals as a cRPG.

But why talk about it with the codex, who aren't really as interested in the genre?

 

[Zed]

But why talk about it with the codex, who aren't really as interested in the genre?

Speak for yourself.

 

[Mrowak]

Thats progress. People should learn to live with that.

AAA developer comment of the year winner!!!!! I've seen the light and now realize I need to learn to live with the dumbed-downed, controller/ console gimped crap my beloved "next-gen" game developer/ publisher overlords tell me is really good!!!

How about learning not to be butthurt over nonsense?

 

[Gord]

Well, I certainly could imagine playing a open-world (sandbox?) game where "playing a role" is determined by the players actions and skills, as long as it offers enough freedom and responsiveness to the player's decisions and actions.
It's clear though that Daniel.Vavra has a different concept of "role-playing games" compared to many other people here.
The goals seem ambitious (if too much so, we will hopefully see soon-ish), but if it works out, I think it has the potential to be a good game (whatever genre it will be).

Personally, I prefer character-skill based roleplaying games to c/aRPGs that are more depending on player skill:
If I play a rogue that's good at sneaking and opening locks, representing that by a talent-check seems better to me than making it depend on the players skill - what if I simply suck at the mini game the designer implemented? Will I never be able to play a thief then (this example was just one of the things I didn't like about the new Fallout games; you needed the skill to be allowed to pick a lock, but picking it would still deped on your mastery of a mini game?)?
On the other hand, I do think that in a 1st person real-time game, player-skill based combat at least is easier to get right than character-skill based combat. Also I certainly got some enjoyment out of Skyrim, but incidentally one of the things I though it lacked in was to make your character matter - I think that's a downside of focusing too much on player skill in a RPG.
Also, the "do everything with every character at every time" route Bethesda is using, hopefully is something this game will avoid.

So, if my incoherent ramblings do have any conclusion, it's probably:
I prefer character-skill based RPGs to player-skill based games, but can enjoy both, if done right. Ultimately a game can be good with either approach.
I'll try to avoid the old "What is an RPG" discussion, though.

 

[mindx2]

Thats progress. People should learn to live with that.

AAA developer comment of the year winner!!!!! I've seen the light and now realize I need to learn to live with the dumbed-downed, controller/ console gimped crap my beloved "next-gen" game developer/ publisher overlords tell me is really good!!!

How about learning not to be butthurt over nonsense?

I was trying to be funny but it obviously didn't work...

Seriously, I read Daniel response and it seemed to me he takes the position of so many developers who want to make "mainstream" console-centric flavored games that sacrifice too much so people can sit on their couches and press a few buttons to win the game. And this is PROGRESS we non-game designers just don't seem to understand. It's not dumbed down, it's just more accessible... now take your medicine buy are game and like, it's good for you! It's the only thing your going to now get so "learn to live with it."

 

[Drowed]

Seriously, I read Daniel response and it seemed to me he takes the position of so many developers who want to make "mainstream" console-centric flavored games that sacrifice too much so people can sit on their couches and press a few buttons to win the game. And this is PROGRESS we non-game designers just don't seem to understand. It's not dumbed down, it's just more accessible."

Exactly. The problem is that, how many times this same conversation happened before? A developer stating that the act of producing a game for PC and also consoles would have no noticeable effect on its features, interface, theme... Said that it can be more accessible without losing its complexity and depth. But how many times has this happened? I can't remember a single one, really.

And then, when they are confronted for such misplaced statements, the only answer is: "you just refuse to accept this new view", "you are stuck in the past", "these mechanics you want are archaic and unnecessary" . Things we're reading here and now and the game wasn't even released yet. Imagine what we will hear when it is? Do not get me wrong, I want to be proven wrong. Badly.

I just don't believe I will be.

 

[Infinitron]

Of course you won't be proven wrong. The man says he wants to make a Skyrim killer, FFS. Take it for what it is.

 

[Drowed]

And I do like Skyrim for what it is. Just don't tell me that it is an evolution of RPGs, that its mechanics are improved, and that [insert here that talk about how the game is the perfect example of everything that tabletop RPG players ever dreamed]...

I can enjoy it for what it is. But please, these developers have to stop trying to sell me it for what it isn't.

 

[felipepepe]

While I do love my m&k and truly believe that Fallout, Arcanum or the Infinity Engine games would never work on a console, one has to be fair and recall that most pre-mouse RPG that people love over here could be ported even to a NES controller without losing much...