Codex Interview Wasteland 2 RPG Codex Interview with Brian Fargo - Part 1

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

I don't think anyone really believes otherwise. He been talking about Wasteland 2 for ages, this seems to be the unrealized dream of his life. His enthusiasm with the original Wasteland is sincere, there is no doubt about that.

 

[Oesophagus]

Well exactly my point. I trust the guy

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Well exactly my point. I trust the guy

That's a point?

Dude. If he advertises on Kickstarter "Old school, TB, ISO, etc" then he is committed to making that game. That's how it works. There's no way for him to promise we'll LIKE the damn thing, but we'll at the very least end up with what was advertised.

 

[Stabwound]

What the fuck are you talking about

The new game won't be released on consoles. Schafer has explicitly said he doesn't want to fuck around with console licenses anymore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Fine_Adventure

Platform(s) Android, Linux, iOS, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows​

​

As for the game being "aimed at tiny kids", I'd be surprised, considering the people who donated money are definitely not kids​

In my opinion, saying that an adventure game is going to be released for iOS and Android has a worse connotation than saying it's going to be on consoles.

If Wasteland 2 ends up being anything but PC-only it will be horrible. There's no way you can make something compatible with portable devices without streamlining the experience to the extreme. The new Tim Schafer game is going to be nothing like the old Lucas Arts adventure games. It will be a bullshit "click around the screen" game like all of the Telltale Games... games. If it's anything but that I'll eat my hat.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Pretty sure it's already been confirmed as PC exclusive with possibility of phone/mobile b.s.

 

[Infinitron]

If Wasteland 2 ends up being anything but PC-only it will be horrible. There's no way you can make something compatible with portable devices without streamlining the experience to the extreme. The new Tim Schafer game is going to be nothing like the old Lucas Arts adventure games. It will be a bullshit "click around the screen" game like all of the Telltale Games... games. If it's anything but that I'll eat my hat.

I don't know about you, but I enjoyed the Telltale games I've played quite a bit, their only weakness being their small scope due to their episodic nature.

I also don't see what has to be "streamlined" about a mobile phone adventure game. Point and click, point and touch, what's the difference? This isn't the type of game that has sophisticated controls or UI, nor does it require massive memory and CPU to simulate a virtual world, like an RPG or strategy game might.

 

[felipepepe]

In my opinion, saying that an adventure game is going to be released for iOS and Android has a worse connotation than saying it's going to be on consoles.

If Wasteland 2 ends up being anything but PC-only it will be horrible. There's no way you can make something compatible with portable devices without streamlining the experience to the extreme. The new Tim Schafer game is going to be nothing like the old Lucas Arts adventure games. It will be a bullshit "click around the screen" game like all of the Telltale Games... games. If it's anything but that I'll eat my hat.

You are joking, right? Adventure games, especially the old ones, work 10 times better on a Ipad than they ever will on a Xbox. You could play Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle with only a one-button mouse, they ARE about clicking around on the screen, is just that Telltale is shitty at designning them.

 

[J_C]

The new Tim Schafer game is going to be nothing like the old Lucas Arts adventure games. It will be a bullshit "click around the screen" game like all of the Telltale Games... games. If it's anything but that I'll eat my hat.

Tell me that how a touchscreen device, which is perfect for pointing and clicking (touching) is not a good platform for a point and click game? Not that it matters, the main platform for Schafer's game will be PC, they wanted to do that all along, that's why they started the Kickstarter project. They only add iOS and Android compatibility, because they got more money.

It really starts to bug me that people are making shit up about this project (it well be dumbed down to consoles, Schafer will steal the money and won't make a game etc), without knowing ANYTHING about it. At least read the fraking discription.

 

[Brother None]

He could have?

Yes.

PS: well, the budget was just a stab in the dark, probably was less than that, but basically, publishers were interested, if only he'd drop the old-school, party-based part of the concept.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

In my opinion, saying that an adventure game is going to be released for iOS and Android has a worse connotation than saying it's going to be on consoles.

I can't think of a genre more suited for tablet and smartphones than point & click adventures, to be honest.

 

[J_C]

Yeah you can do a clickaround game easily. Who the hell wants that? I want something like monkey island or grim fandango or get lost.

Please tell me which part of Monkey Island or Grim Fandango is not suited for touchscreen devices.

I have the original Settlers and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 on my Android FFS! A point and click adventure would suit them just OK.

But I don't know why are we arguing, WHEN THIS WILL BE AN OLDSCHOOL GRAPHICAL POINT 'N CLICK ADVENTURE GAME FOR THE PC, JUST LIKE TIM SAID FROM THE BEGINNING. FUCK! FUCK! AND YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE THEY PROMISED THAT FROM THE BEGINNING, AND IT WOULD BE VERY BAD PR FOR DOUBLE FINE IF THEY BETRAYED THE ONES WHO DONATED. AND THEY CAN'T AFFORD THAT, BEING A MEDIUM SIZED STUDIO. YES, I'M WRITING USING CAPS-LOCK. WHY? SO EVERY FUCKER UNDERSTAND IT AND STOP TALKING SHIT ABOUT THIS.

 

[felipepepe]

Nobody is arguing about how glorious this game will be BRO, just ignore the bad trolls.

 

[J_C]

 

[DwarvenFood]

Chill out Matt, haters gonna hate.

 

[quasimodo]

http://watchplayread.com/tales-of-monkey-island-chapter-1-ipad-review/

 

[InspectorRumpole]

There's also the issue of demographics. Consoles are mostly teenagers and they are mainstream. Phones are even worse. People with iphones are the anticodex demographic. This is girls and homosexuals who think itunes is super neat and are absolutely bare bones computer illiterate. People who enjoy cute games and cute stories and send 500 texts a day while they are supposed to be working and talk on the cell phone while driving.

Wish it was possible to hand out over 9000 brofists

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

some guy I never heard of.

What.

Tim Schafer is "some guy (you) never heard of"? Seriously?

 

[Infinitron]

some guy I never heard of.

What.

Tim Schafer is "some guy (you) never heard of"? Seriously?

Just leave it. He's hopeless. Kickstarter will prove which side is right.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Sorry. Didn't read any of his other posts. There are actually sides here? Sides for what, exactly? Kickstarter is going to prove a whole lot of things in the coming months. Most of all it's going to prove that the middle man can and will be left behind. I've already seen a new potential 'Kickstarter-like site' being funded ON Kickstarter. I think the market for niche PC gaming is there. We've all been lamenting the absence of such games for ages. Now is our time to prove our goddamn Codex whinging from the last goddamn decade and support these Kickstarter campaigns. I have no doubt WL2 will get funded. I'm going to bet it far exceeds what it asks for long before the deadline.

 

[Brother None]

The Kickstarter page should be up before next Friday/Saturday. I wouldn't be shocked if it goes up this weekend, though I expect it to go up sometime soon after the weekend.

Oh, hmmm, nevermind this, it'll take a bit longer, due to stuff. Near Felipepe's guessed time.

 

[Morkar Left]

My most important question so far is how the game gets distributed. Is Steam necessary or a constant internetconnection or limited activations?

 

[Infinitron]

My most important question so far is how the game gets distributed. Is Steam necessary or a constant internetconnection or limited activations?

A project like this can't afford to have evil DRM, or anything else that might anger the type of people who fund Kickstarter projects. It would directly endanger the project's viability.

Most people don't consider Steam to be evil, though.

 

[quasimodo]

Fargo has been pretty smart with his PR so far. Considering the game is targeting oldschool PC gamers and a successful Kickstarter campaign means they have already paid it would be bad PR to have any major pain-in0the-ass DRM.


I hope my large contribution will get me a copy of the game with no strings attached.



I do consider Steam to be evil.

 

[Brother None]

My most important question so far is how the game gets distributed. Is Steam necessary or a constant internetconnection or limited activations?

If you buy it digitally, a non-DRM version will be made available to you, and/or you can activate it on Steam. The game will be distributed on Steam, but it'll be distributed without Steam as well. The box version will have no DRM.

At least, this is as it was pitched in the version I read. It might change, but I doubt it.

A project like this can't afford to have evil DRM, or anything else that might anger the type of people who fund Kickstarter projects. It would directly endanger the project's viability.

Most people don't consider Steam to be evil, though.

Heh, yeah. It's always surprising how people don't care about Steam, even though it's pretty invasive, internet required for activation DRM. There's worse, but there's definitely better too.

I know DF will be released on Steam digitally, though I dunno if that game's boxed version will be Steamworks.

 

[Shannow]

Steam manages to keep a more or less good PR. It also provides lots of extra stuff many people seem to care about. Still weird when you see people bitching about Origin or DRM in general and then go and happily use Steam...
Anyway, good to know, versions that don't require Steam are planned