Wasteland Wasteland 2 Thread - Director's Cut

[StaticSpine]

I think Fallout 1 and 2 had an option to filter, that was set to off by default. Don't know if its a vanilla feature or a mod tho since I only played Fallout games modded.

Vanilla had it.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Let's all believe it was the publisher fault. Obviously Almighty Cain and Omniscient Boyarsky wouldn't do such a travesty on their own will. After an epic battle with an evil publisher our heroes had finally convinced him to set the filter off, knowing anybody wise enough to look into options, wouldn't turn it on. After that they kept on adventuring.

Spoiler

 

[Grotesque]

someone even had the time to make a diorama

...meanwhile I am still waiting for my collector's edition for which I've spent a shitload of money

 

[Akratus]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/240760/discussions/0/620700960713688202/

Any excuse to hate?

Spoiler

It is like Fallout 1 & 2, which both came out in the '90s and was a top down overworld with action point combat. Fallout 3 was done more like the elder scroll games.
#1

Sentient_Toaster

31 Dec, 2014 @ 6:05am
Smoke less crack, or put more effort into your trolls.
#2

iLLcAtTiVisSiMo

31 Dec, 2014 @ 6:08am
You lost? Might want to google your way outta here.
#3

Stoibs

31 Dec, 2014 @ 6:29am
Originally posted by Pay2Win:
when they say it's like fallout, they basically clearly imply it's like the Skyrim series... I'm sorry what?!
Does not compute at all :S
Please Explain.

Last edited by Stoibs; 31 Dec, 2014 @ 6:30am
#4

Beef Hammer

31 Dec, 2014 @ 6:35am
Troll or stupid, it really doesn't matter...
#5

Dredd 31 Dec, 2014 @ 7:29am
Man, ♥♥♥♥ this question. Seriously.
#6

josh.m5

31 Dec, 2014 @ 7:47am
an ignorant child who needs to do research before he opens his mouth or in this case decides to open a discussion with people who've been around longer than him
Last edited by josh.m5; 31 Dec, 2014 @ 7:47am
#7

randir14

31 Dec, 2014 @ 7:49am
Obvious trolling. Locked.

 

[Infinitron]

UPDATE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2/posts/1100648

It's just a big summary of the past year by Brian.

 

[t]

Next year we will continue supporting and making Wasteland 2 better, Torment will release later in the year and we will be looking at crowdfunding for our next title!

Yeah right.

 

[Infinitron]

http://wastelandrpg.tumblr.com/post/106124428331/happy-holidays-to-all-our-fans-with-thanks-to-the





EDIT: It's not there yet though...

Well, it's there now.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

We will continue to address bugs, improve localization, make balance passes and you can expect a few surprises in the future.

Just announce that Director Cut already! It's silly! Everyone knew we will have aimed shots and Regan Cult expansion even before the release.

 

[cw8]

Well, that's how to start and end a good Kickstarter campaign.

 

[Grotesque]

I've backed Wasteland 2 for $150 and I've finally received the games (standard box and collector's edition version)

Collectors's Edition:
Box is shit.
The small figurine is shit. (beyond shit in fact.)
The coin is a watery shit. (abysmal in other words)
Patch is unremarkable.
The manual is fine.
Poster is a poster. (Though I wonder who hangs a poster on a wall after it was folded several times)


The Ranger Edition is way cooler (from what I've seen from unboxing videos on youtube). you receive a CD with the soundtrack and some postcards with artwork which seems very nice.
I would have traded the figurine and the coin, patch happily for a CD with the soundtrack and those cards with printed artwork.

In conclusion: that awkward feeling when you have Collector's Edition and you want that cheaper Ranger Edition more.
Good job inXile & Deepshit Silver!

 

[Morkar Left]

In conclusion: that awkward feeling when you have Collector's Edition and you want that cheaper Ranger Edition more.
Good job inXile & Deepshit Silver!

Solution is pretty simple: sell your CE and get the Rangers Edition.

 

[Icewater]

!

On a brighter note, is that balance patch coming out any time soon?

 

[Akratus]

15 hours in.

The haters were right.

 

[Nas92]

15 hours in.

The haters were right.

Where exactly are you? For me Ag Center was the part where I nearly decided to drop thie game, but it gets better for a while. The Canyon of Titan is pretty nice, at least writing-wise it's better. The beginning of California is okay too, but it gets old quick. Definitely not the second coming they promised us.

A question: Does increasing the difficulty result in more fun fights?

 

[Akratus]

Right now I'm in the prison. That fight in that place next to the minefield was so shitty. .

 

[Bubbles]

A question: Does increasing the difficulty result in more fun fights?

No.

 

[Akratus]

Correction: The haters were right about the combat.

 

[Infinitron]

This is the End: Why We Love the Collapse Panel at PAX South
Brian Fargo will be at PAX South in San Antonio on January 24th, in a panel speaking to why we love the post-apocalyptic genre. Be sure to drop by!

 

[Sensuki]

Anyone here who participated heavily in the WL2 beta / reads the inXile forums a lot could you please consider replying to this for me: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...nication-during-the-d-os-and-wl2-betas.96507/

 

[Infinitron]

http://wastelandrpg.tumblr.com/post/108275159566/we-ended-2014-with-a-gift-to-our-backers-so-why

We ended 2014 with a gift to our backers, so why not start 2015 with the same? Log into your Ranger Center account and check under Rewards for a free 3 issue subscription to RETRO, the Kickstarter funded magazine that explores the heritage of modern gaming!
(note: requires registration on their website)

https://rangercenter.inxile-entertainment.com/your-rewards

Cool.

 

[Bubbles]

Very cool. That image just screams "Wasteland 2" to me.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.makinggames.biz/features/fans-make-for-great-employers,7237.html

Making Games Why did you decide to use Kickstarter for the funding of »Wasteland 2«?

Brian Fargo That was an easy decision. I first tried to fund the game the traditional way through publishers. However, these guys then decided that gamers no longer wanted RPGs. So this was a dead end. After watching Tim Schafer being successful, I wanted to present my project directly to the gamers and ask them for their support. The rest is history. I'm still over the moon that it all worked out so nicely. Otherwise I would have had to make the game for somebody else who possibly might have claimed the rights, too. And I would have needed to stick to their creative vision instead of making the game I wanted. At the time, when I got one 'No' after the other, I wouldn't have believed anybody telling me that it would all be for the better. But eventually that's what happened.

»With »Wasteland 2« I wanted to exceed all expectations.«

Making Games So, you would go with Kickstarter again?

Brian Fargo Absolutely. Kickstarter or another way of crowdfunding.

Making Games Is there anything that you would do differently if you had to start all over again?

Brian Fargo That's hard to say since our campaign was extremely successful. I think we did become better over time when we did the campaign for »Torment: Tides of Numenera«. We had learned a lot from the »Wasteland 2« campaign in terms of being prepared for questions by the backers. People want to know along the campaign time what you're planning to do. Then there are things like stretch goals. We were kind of caught off guard on »Wasteland«, while on »Torment« we were able to think ahead of time. We were also constantly communicating that we would move the scheduled date, if we reached certain funding goals. The launch date depends on the scope of the game. This means if the scope of the game changes due to more capital, the release date will change as well. But as I said I think we learned and improved a lot over time. It really is an exciting learning process.


In order to be able to make the tactical role-playing game »Wasteland 2«, Brian Fargo asked the fans for support: »I'm still over the moon that it all worked out so nicely.«



Making Games The first Kickstarter-funded games have now been released, and some of them haven't turned out as great as the backers had expected. What effect do you think this might have on the whole Kickstarter hype? Do you think people have become more skeptical already?

Brian Fargo With »Wasteland 2« I wanted to exceed all expectations. I wanted to create something that's epic in size and made with heart and passion, so that people would say: »That's why Kickstarter is great.« We simply couldn't have made the game without Kickstarter. But of course I also heard that some games didn't turn out so well or barely delivered what had been promised.

There are plenty of people who like to back Kickstarter projects. I have backed over 100 projects myself, and I'm not skeptical. If I see a project that I like, I still go ahead and back it. Of course I've been disappointed, too, and have invested without getting anything out of it. But that's not true for the majority of campaigns. It doesn't keep me from helping other people make their dreams come true.

But there are just as many people who don't back Kickstarter campaigns in general, no matter what they are like or what they are for. This group just wants to talk about the campaigns that have turned out well (laughs).

I think we will continue to see an ever increasing amount of Kickstarter campaigns since there will always be projects that are interesting and where people think: »Okay, here's a project I want to back. Go, take my money.«


The experience they had gained from the Kickstarter campaign for »Wasteland 2« (left) made them aware of things to improve for the »Torment: Tides of Numenera« campaign.



Making Games In December 2013 you published »Wasteland 2« on Steam Early Access; the game was still in beta almost up until release. Why did you decide to have such a long beta phase?

Brian Fargo We were definitely going to publish a beta version since that was part of our Kickstarter campaign. And it didn't really matter whether this would happen via Early Access or our website. But we were extremely lucky that we got such great response on our game. That's why we decided to invest even more money into the project. All the details in our game can only be made by hand though, so you spend a lot of time adjusting and fine-tuning everything.

»The community helped us a lot to make the game better.«

Making Games Do you see the feedback you get from the community as a form of Open Development?

Brian Fargo Yes, definitely. If you're working in a creative industry, it's important to have an honest and open communication with everybody. Everyone should be critical but in a positive way, and you can then take the helpful feedback to make the game better. Putting the game out to the audience… Well, people are extremely honest. They don't care how the recipient of their criticism might feel (laughs). So sometimes it can be pretty harsh, but it's definitely very valuable, too. The community helped us a lot to make the game better.

Making Games Which changes did you make based on the feedback?

Brian Fargo We basically changed the entire UI system and made the game even more open world based on the user feedback. Originally we had a few more gated places but when the users said: »Hey, we want to be able to go everywhere!« we came up with more alternative scenarios to please everyone. Those were the biggest modifications. Apart from that we also did a lot of smaller changes to the combat system.

When we released the beta, we knew that we weren't done yet. I'd say we knew about 75 per cent of the things people would be complaining about, so we would have addressed these issues anyway. But about 25 to 30 per cent of the feedback was about things that we probably wouldn't have changed any more. So this helped us significantly to make the game better.

The UI as it is now was even done by somebody from the community. We tried different varieties, but the users didn't really like any of them. At some point one of the community members on our forums took the UI and changed it – and the rest of the community jumped at it and said: »Hey, we like his version better.« So we used it. A young guy from Poland did it, and we're actually still working with him. At the end of the day it doesn't matter to me if something is made by one of my artists or by somebody in Poland who we then work with. I created a vision document what the game should look like in the end. The UI isn't one of my core tenets of what makes the game good. Of course, it has to be modifiable and detachable etc. but the exact look of it isn't one of the core tenets. So it was no problem changing that.


The »Wasteland 2« beta version was released in December 2013: »We were extremely lucky that we got such great response on our game.«



Making Games How do you generally include the community in the development process?

Brian Fargo First the fans helped finance the game and then they helped us through the Unity Asset Store: The users created assets for us that we bought from them. We told them: »You own the assets, you can sell them to other people and say ›as used in Wasteland 2‹.« The next step was obviously the beta testing with all the feedback and compatibility issues. And when it was time to do the localization, we quickly realized there was no way we could handle the 500,000+ words in »Wasteland 2« by ourselves. So we asked the fans if they wanted to help us, and boom, in about a month we were done. Now we have editors going through it to make it all sound smooth.

Once we ship the game and the fans are happy with it, chances are they're going to tell other people about it: »I backed this project and I'm happy with what I got.« And later we'll also create some mod tools.

»We took the principle of cause and effect much deeper.«

Making Games You just mentioned Unity. Why did you choose that engine?

Brian Fargo The Unity Asset Store played a big part in this decision since we knew from the beginning that we had to do a big project on a small budget. Also we were able to decrease the iteration time, plus the engine is cross-platform.

Making Games »Wasteland 2« includes elements from the first game. How did you decide what to include and what to replace with new features?

Brian Fargo Well, where do I start? We have a good mix of people in the company – people who were already working on the first game like me, but also people who weren't around back then. That's important because there are certain play patterns and styles and expectations that are very different than back then; we had to keep an eye on that. For example, we didn't have any audio in the first game! One of the first things I focused on in »Wasteland 2« was the radio. We do a lot with it, for example we make it react to decisions made in the game. We took the principle of cause and effect much deeper than we did in the first game. Also in »Wasteland 2« you can walk around with four to seven party members, which obviously changes the gameplay dynamics. There really are too many differences to list them all. The only thing that's the same as in »Wasteland« is the concept and the game world.


The users didn't like the original interface (left) too much, but favored a version created by a community member (right).



Making Games The last game you released with a big publisher was »Hunted: The Demon's Forge« with Bethesda in 2011. »Wasteland 2« doesn't have a publisher. Are you done with working for a publisher or is that still an option for you?

Brian Fargo Let me think … yes, I'm done (laughs). You have to remember that I used to be a publisher. At Interplay I had nobody telling me how to do things. I have a certain way of doing things. That's my style; just like Ken Levine or Warren Spector have their style. We all have our own style, no matter who you pick from this list. The same goes for publishers. All publishers have their own style in terms of contracts and the way they manage their teams. I just do things differently. I'm all about iteration while contracts are all about details – to be clarified upfront that is. And that's the actual problem; it's completely pointless to worry about these details upfront. I don't care about that stuff; I care about the iteration cycle. That's why the Blizzard games are so good. I'm reading the Pixar book right now. Do you know what the founder of Pixar says? Every one of their films starts off bad. Awful. Horrible. It's only through their iteration cycle that they make high-quality movies. We are no different.

Without a publisher I don't have to ask anybody for their permission when I have an idea. For example: »We need a kids' choir! We need a kids' choir!« I just do it and get the kids' choir without getting anybody's permission first. That was one of my favorite moments, I loved that. And that was something I would never have thought of upfront. The idea came when I was at my kids' recitals and I heard them sing. It was one of those »Oh, that's it!« moments. That wouldn't have been in the document upfront. It's simply impossible to plot things like that out; it's a fallacy. That's why we're lucky that we're doing it this way, independently. And that's why the indie products are getting so good. That's why half the titles on Steam now are from indie studios.


Brian Fargo deliberately decided against a first-person perspective: »You need to have a top-down perspective if you want to see what you're doing tactically.«



Making Games Why did you decide against a first-person perspective?

Brian Fargo I just knew that the audience wouldn't like it. And I didn't want it either. There was a large group of people that played »Fallout 1« and »Fallout 2« and that wanted a third game that would be like the first two. Bethesda took it a different way. I'm not saying it's bad, it's simply a different direction. »Wasteland 2« has the same direction as the first »Wasteland« and the first two »Fallout« games. For me it was the most obvious way for it to go. We also wanted it to be tactical with a party-based game. So you need to have a top-down perspective if you want to see what you're doing tactically.

Making Games Originally you wanted to release »Wasteland 2« in late 2013; however, the actual release wasn't until September 2014. Why do delays like these happen?

Brian Fargo I have a question for you now. I want to know how long it's going to take you to run one, three or five kilometers. But I need the answer now but I'm not going to tell you the distance. It's impossible to answer this question, right? Because you don't know the scope. When you don't know how far you're going to run, you can't predict a time. It's the same thing in game development. When we asked the backers for one million dollars and then it became three million, that's a different game. So, am I late or not? You always have to keep that in mind.

Here's another reason why the community is great. 98 percent say: »Just make a good game. Take all the time you need, just get it right.« If it was a publisher, it would be: »We're going to sue you, we're going to take your product away. If our market value goes down, we're going to sue you for the difference.« There's a whole list of horrible scenarios. The community just goes: »Just get it right, Brian, please. No big deal if you need more time.« The fans are good bosses. There's a lot of them, but they're reasonable (laughs).


Brian Fargo was impressed by the atmosphere in »BioShock Infinite«: »The world Ken Levine created was just fantastic.«



Making Games Will there be a demo for »Wasteland 2«?

Brian Fargo You can already play it on Early Access since last December. To be honest I haven't really thought about a demo. And nobody has ever requested it. Maybe that's because these days, games are immediately on YouTube and Twitch. There are a million sources where you can watch someone play it, so you kind of know what you're getting.

Making Games What are your favorite RPGs?

»When I really like something about a game, I write it down.«

Brian Fargo The original »Wizardry« series was just fantastic. I put so many hours into it, I absolutely loved those games. Then of course there was »Fallout«. I also liked »Icewind Dale«. It was lighter fare but I loved what they did with it. It would be easy to name the big obvious ones. What other RPGs have I played? I loved »Demon's Souls«, but I didn't put a lot of time into it because it was so hard and I couldn't beat it (laughs). It was just so incredibly tough. And I just downloaded »Divinity: Original Sin« but I haven't played it yet, so that'll be my next one.

Making Games What are the games that impressed and influenced you most in the last few years?

Brian Fargo I was really impressed by »BioShock Infinite« because of the mood, I was just fascinated by that. When you enter Columbia… all the singing and the light coming in… the atmosphere and the posters on the wall that help create this world sense – I look at that and think: »I have to step up my game.« because the world Ken Levine created was just fantastic.

Atmosphere is really important to me these days. That's why I also love games like »Limbo«. And I had a great time with »Hearthstone«. There's a lot to be learned about combat systems – and whether I'm using my head. Am I just pushing a button or am I thinking? That game reminds you of how great a combat system can be if it's deep enough in terms of tactics and strategy. Those are a few of the recent titles that I think made an impression on me. I take away something from every product. Even »Mario Bros.« has certain elements. When I really like something about a game, I'll write it down. Also when something's bothering me, I'll write it down because what will happen is this: If I play it for another hour, the things that bothered me, no longer bother me because I get used to them. I'll forget, so I write them down, even for my own products. If I play »Wasteland« and something's bothering me, I'll write it down and I'll report it back to my team because I know if I don't write it down, by the next day I'll have forgotten or I got used to it.

 

[Athelas]

Brian Fargo was impressed by the atmosphere in »BioShock Infinite«: »The world Ken Levine created was just fantastic.

I see he's been hanging around Chris Avellone.

Seriously though, the Bioshock games have some of the WORST atmosphere. They're so heavy-handed and obvious with what they're trying to do.

Making Games The first Kickstarter-funded games have now been released, and some of them haven't turned out as great as the backers had expected. What effect do you think this might have on the whole Kickstarter hype? Do you think people have become more skeptical already?

Brian Fargo With »Wasteland 2« I wanted to exceed all expectations. I wanted to create something that's epic in size and made with heart and passion, so that people would say: »That's why Kickstarter is great.« We simply couldn't have made the game without Kickstarter. But of course I also heard that some games didn't turn out so well or barely delivered what had been promised.

Some would say that your game was of one of those games that didn't turn out so well, Brian.

 

[Infinitron]

Just noticed this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csYPuGhoggU&google_comment_id=z124wvqaftzistzpt04cepupmvf5v1qzlyk0k

 

[bozia2012]

Just noticed this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csYPuGhoggU&google_comment_id=z124wvqaftzistzpt04cepupmvf5v1qzlyk0k

MM also stole from Aphex Twin