Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.
"This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.
Josh Sawyer and a Turn-Based game. I... can not even fathom what an abomination that would turn out to be. The most unfun turn based game ever? So much that it would lead to mass suicides, weeding out an already niche player base of turn-based fans. Whose payroll are you really on, Mr. Sawyer?
Then again, it could turn out to be a study case of how not to make a TB game.
Yeah. The effort is much appreciated, the questions are great and there's plenty of gold information in this. So great work there.
But the transcript needs a heavy edit. Mainly, you need to leave out filler ( like, you knows, kind of, etc.) and repetitions (I was thinking, I was thinking). It's barely readable as it is. So keep that in mind when doing the MCA transcript.
Part of the issue was that Obsidian has the power to blacklist us if we try to put words in FU's mouth. That won't be a concern with Avellone, so that transcription should be done much faster.
Not really a concern as long as you can contact Feargus and get his permission to the edited text, along with the original transcript. Ie. the ethical way to conduct business.
Josh Sawyer and a Turn-Based game. I... can not even fathom what an abomination that would turn out to be. The most unfun turn based game ever? So much that it would lead to mass suicides, weeding out an already niche player base of turn-based fans. Whose payroll are you really on, Mr. Sawyer?
Then again, it could turn out to be a study case of how not to make a TB game.
Yeah. The effort is much appreciated, the questions are great and there's plenty of gold information in this. So great work there.
But the transcript needs a heavy edit. Mainly, you need to leave out filler ( like, you knows, kind of, etc.) and repetitions (I was thinking, I was thinking). It's barely readable as it is. So keep that in mind when doing the MCA transcript.
Part of the issue was that Obsidian has the power to blacklist us if we try to put words in FU's mouth. That won't be a concern with Avellone, so that transcription should be done much faster.
Not really a concern as long as you can contact Feargus and get his permission to the edited text, along with the original transcript. Ie. the ethical way to conduct business.
"Hey Chris, we can't put the companion you wrote in the game, but is it ok if we dedicate a whole DLC to him instead? Oh and I've planned for you to write two other DLCs as well, that cool too?"
I've never understood why NV/Ulysses would count among the reasons why MCA was discontent with working at Obsidian.
MCA working on the DLCs wasn't Sawyer's call, and his role wasn't planned in advance. Also, Ulysses was the only original companion concept by MCA, Cass was outlined by Sawyer and then given to him. He still wasted a long time working on the companion, because the overwhelming amount of content he wrote is the reason Ulysses was cut in the first place. And time is a valuable asset, specially after so much of your life wasted on cancelled games.
I guess "FNV (Ulysses)" was poorly worded. Should've been FNV + Ulysses, because the way FNV happened must've been frustrating to him as well (just my hypothesis).
Basically:
Obsidian working on Aliens: Crucible and Alpha Protocol.
Sawyer is Lead Designer and MCA is Lead Writer on Aliens.
Alpha Protocol is in development hell after ~2 years of work.
When talking about this situation, MCA said "most (or "a lot", don't remember the exact word) people at Obsidian like to wash their hands".
MCA leaves Aliens to work as Lead Designer/Writer on AP to save it.
Aliens is cancelled. Accounts differ on the reason. IIRC the anonymous dev who leaked the AP development drama said it was because AP was a mess and SEGA didn't want more of that shit. Another dev said it was because of the financial crisis. Feargus said it was the "best vertical slice SEGA had ever received", but that they couldn't turn it into a good game. Interestingly, MCA once said cancelling the game was the right decision.
Obsidian takes the offer to make FNV.
MCA is stuck working on AP, so he can't work on FNV and only joins the project much later, which is why he had a relatively minor role.
Leading a Fallout game is a unique opportunity he had and lost, wasting 2 years of his life. When FNV came up, he was by far the most qualified for the job. At the very least, he would've had a much bigger role - perhaps Lead Writer - if it wasn't for Alpha Protocol.
Instead, because people "washed their hands" and he decided to be the good guy, he lost this opportunity. And then the guy who got the job (that probably would've been his) cuts one of his two major contributions to the game.
I don't know if MCA's the type to dwell in "what if", but I'd be surprised if none of this contributed to his frustrations. Specially in retrospect, after being told Obsidian wouldn't get to work on Fallout again.
Whatever the circumstances and the real reasons involved, thank goodness the Alien game was shafted. It was going to turn out to be the most generic banal boring shit ever, regardless how solid and feature complete the vertical slice may have been.
Josh Sawyer and a Turn-Based game. I... can not even fathom what an abomination that would turn out to be. The most unfun turn based game ever? So much that it would lead to mass suicides, weeding out an already niche player base of turn-based fans. Whose payroll are you really on, Mr. Sawyer?
Then again, it could turn out to be a study case of how not to make a TB game.
IWD2 wouldn't work as a TB game. The game works because the encounters are relatively challenging and tactical and when they become an annoyance, at least you can work your way through them rather fast due to RTwP.
Second: I asked him about it. He was totally shocked. And declined an answer. Only other answers he declined was about projects in the works he cannot talk about. And Dwarf villain, but some people at Obsidian still want it to be made, so that may be the reason.
About Hidden. He looked at me for a moment strangely like he had just noticed I was a Reptilian, he said nothing for a second or two and then he said with an admiration: "You are good". Will not spoil it more
Second: I asked him about it. He was totally shocked. And declined an answer. Only other answers he declined was about projects in the works he cannot talk about. And Dwarf villain, but some people at Obsidian still want it to be made, so that may be the reason.
About Hidden. He looked at me for a moment strangely like he had just noticed I was a Reptilian, he said nothing for a second or two and then he said with an admiration: "You are good". Will not spoil it more
About Hidden. He looked at me for a moment strangely like he had just noticed I was a Reptilian, he said nothing for a second or two and then he said with an admiration: "You are good". Will not spoil it more
Who cares about any historical moment that doesn't pertain to them? The American Civil War was a moment in time where modern warfare (including total war) began to displace gentlemanly warfare.
Telecommunications
This was the first war where transcontinental telecommunications played a significant role. The telegraph line to California was pivotal in helping to keep California in the Union. Telegraphy permitted generals to communicate rapidly with far-flung forces and journalists to file stories with their newspapers, in turn keeping public support for and interest in the war high by providing a sense of direct participation. (It all depends on the war - media coverage had exactly the opposite effect in Vietnam.) Photojournalism
Although photographs were taken in a few earlier conflicts, this was the first war massively documented. Over a million photographs were taken during the Civil War. The clumsy glass plates were so numerous that in some cases they were recycled as window panes for greenhouses. Aerial observation
Balloons had been used in a few earlier conflicts, and they were widely used by both sides in the Civil War, often with a telegraph line so the observer could communicate directly with the ground. Submarines
A one-man mini-sub was unsuccessfully used during the American Revolution, and Civil War submarines were only marginally more successful. The most successful (if it can be called that) was the C.S.S. Hunley. About 12 meters long with a crew of two officers and six sailors, it was powered by steam. It was armed with a torpedo, which in those days was an explosive charge attached to a long pole. Torpedoes were also attached to surface ships and were detonated by ramming them into an enemy vessel. The Hunley was sent out three times, sinking each time. On one trial, two crewmen escaped. The fourth time it was sent out to attack the U.S.S. Housatonic. It detonated its torpedo, sinking the Housatonic and thereby becoming the first submarine ever to sink an enemy vessel. But the Hunley was also sunk by the blast, becoming the only ship in naval history to go down with 375 per cent of its crew. The Hunley has recently been discovered and raised and is now undergoing preservation. Steam and Iron-Clad Ships
If submarines failed to get beyond the prototype stage, steam vessels came into their own in the Civil War. The first duel between iron-clad warships was the celebrated duel between the Monitor and Merrimac, both prototypes, in 1862. By war's end, steam and iron-clad vessels were the norm. Railroads
This was the first war in which railroads were crucial in moving large numbers of soldiers and large amounts of supplies quickly over long distances. Rapid-Fire Weapons
True machine guns were not invented for another twenty years, but the Gatling gun, a rotating bundle of gun barrels each firing in turn, was in use. The speed of a Gatling gun is limited only by how fast the barrels can spin, and they are still in use on helicopter gunships.
With respect to the effort involved, I have to say that it is still not polished enough. You have to be really motivated to go through it in its current form.
But it's that idea, it's a modern setting with sort of that magic, and it was interesting, we had a proposal, that we were working on for a while and it was... Chris did most of the work on it, which was called “Hidden” and it was that idea of having... of that nursery rhymes like, the Old Woman in the Shoe or Old Mother Hubbard and the... all these, the Big Bad Wolf and all these things, they were real. They weren't like, around, like you would just see the Big Bad Wolf right there. They were more, you know, they were more in the shadows? And that was the idea of Hidden, so it was always there, like this world existed and you just didn't see it
Josh Sawyer and a Turn-Based game. I... can not even fathom what an abomination that would turn out to be. The most unfun turn based game ever? So much that it would lead to mass suicides, weeding out an already niche player base of turn-based fans. Whose payroll are you really on, Mr. Sawyer?
Then again, it could turn out to be a study case of how not to make a TB game.
Why? IWD2 is the worst of the IE games, no doubt due to Sawyer's incompetence.
The only reason it would be more fun in TB is because of the ruleset, and all IE games would've been more fun in TB.
"Hey Chris, we can't put the companion you wrote in the game, but is it ok if we dedicate a whole DLC to him instead? Oh and I've planned for you to write two other DLCs as well, that cool too?"
I've never understood why NV/Ulysses would count among the reasons why MCA was discontent with working at Obsidian.
MCA working on the DLCs wasn't Sawyer's call, and his role wasn't planned in advance. Also, Ulysses was the only original companion concept by MCA, Cass was outlined by Sawyer and then given to him. He still wasted a long time working on the companion, because the overwhelming amount of content he wrote is the reason Ulysses was cut in the first place. And time is a valuable asset, specially after so much of your life wasted on cancelled games.
I guess "FNV (Ulysses)" was poorly worded. Should've been FNV + Ulysses, because the way FNV happened must've been frustrating to him as well (just my hypothesis).
Basically:
Obsidian working on Aliens: Crucible and Alpha Protocol.
Sawyer is Lead Designer and MCA is Lead Writer on Aliens.
Alpha Protocol is in development hell after ~2 years of work.
When talking about this situation, MCA said "most (or "a lot", don't remember the exact word) people at Obsidian like to wash their hands".
MCA leaves Aliens to work as Lead Designer/Writer on AP to save it.
Aliens is cancelled. Accounts differ on the reason. IIRC the anonymous dev who leaked the AP development drama said it was because AP was a mess and SEGA didn't want more of that shit. Another dev said it was because of the financial crisis. Feargus said it was the "best vertical slice SEGA had ever received", but that they couldn't turn it into a good game. Interestingly, MCA once said cancelling the game was the right decision.
Obsidian takes the offer to make FNV.
MCA is stuck working on AP, so he can't work on FNV and only joins the project much later, which is why he had a relatively minor role.
Leading a Fallout game is a unique opportunity he had and lost, wasting 2 years of his life. When FNV came up, he was by far the most qualified for the job. At the very least, he would've had a much bigger role - perhaps Lead Writer - if it wasn't for Alpha Protocol.
Instead, because people "washed their hands" and he decided to be the good guy, he lost this opportunity. And then the guy who got the job (that probably would've been his) cuts one of his two major contributions to the game.
I don't know if MCA's the type to dwell in "what if", but I'd be surprised if none of this contributed to his frustrations. Specially in retrospect, after being told Obsidian wouldn't get to work on Fallout again.
I... i, i don't think i... really you know? really like this kind of transcript. Like, yeah... well like i like it more not having to read the same useless words again and again.
But nice job man, i liked the questions.
Problem has never been romances but how to properly implement them, especially if there is a tragedy involved, could be quite a player motivator. In fact in a perfect world a little bit of eroticism would also be amazing.
That Hidden pitch reminds me on a series o books I read by Michael Scott Rohan, who'd later write Winter o World trilogy, same idea that every myth, fairy tale an legend in history still lingered on around dark corners, an sometimes you could wander into em by accident or design. Had idea o a wheel as their take on it, at the hub or core o the wheel there was little movement an reality were stable as we knew it but on the spire or spokes that arose from the hub all kinds o weird shit stretched out into mists o legend. The outer edge were the Rim, where no man went an nothin was known of, but sometimes things would come back from the Rim an be changed an strange.
Pretty good idea really, think it'd lend itself well to a game, certainly no end o content an imagination.
That means the game Cain and Boyarsky are working on isn't turn-based.
You can also expect that their first turn-based game will be by JES, which means at the very earliest after Eternity 2, so basically either it's far away or it's never gonna happen.
About Hidden. He looked at me for a moment strangely like he had just noticed I was a Reptilian, he said nothing for a second or two and then he said with an admiration: "You are good". Will not spoil it more
I had no idea the Hidden pitch had been revealed, nor that anyone had talked about it, let alone on the PoE forum (sorry for the reaction, Radek). Sometimes revelations like this, even within the same company, can be a bit of a surprise, unfortunately.
To clarify based on the revelation above since I'm called out publicly on my involvement with it, I wouldn't want any credit for it or be associated with it - it wasn't my idea, and it was waaaay too close to a pitch to Obsidian 4-5 years ago, unfortunately (after parting Obsidian, the older pitch and the timing of it came up in conversation with the folks who had originally pitched it, and with the reveal above, I've since apologized to them and am happy Hidden never saw the light of day). Their idea was much better and I would have preferred that to what's described above, which sounds like a cheap Fables knock-off, although admittedly there was no Fables games at the time, IIRC.
"Hey Chris, we can't put the companion you wrote in the game, but is it ok if we dedicate a whole DLC to him instead? Oh and I've planned for you to write two other DLCs as well, that cool too?"
