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Wasteland 2, PAX East Changes

Posted by Chris Avellone , 01 April 2012 · 2909 views

It’s been a crazy week, and I wish I could go back in time and tell High School Chris that he’d have a chance to work on the sequel to his favorite RPG. Then again, that might be bad, because he would probably have a heart attack and then I’d cease to exist.

Anyway, fired up about Wasteland 2, and the whole idea of Kickstarter still brings a warm glow to my soul.

I’ll be at PAX East this coming weekend:

- Jason Della Rocca is joining us for the “So you want to get into the game industry?” panel on Friday. He knows things, so that will be good.

- I’m happy to sign anything you bring, although if it’s after the Nuka Break panel and/or after the DLC panel so I don’t have to rush to the next presentation, that might make it easier. Also, I’m liable to forget a pen, so you might want to bring one for safety.

- Also, thanks to Jason Schreier, I’ll be on the Plot vs Play: The Duality of Modern Game Design on Saturday along with Ken Levine (holy ****) and David Gaider (holy **** x2). I would say the same thing about Ben and Jason, but I don’t know how dangerous they are yet, so I’m not going to use profanity in the same sentence. The panel description is below:

Plot vs Play: The Duality of Modern Game Design (5:30-6:30 PM, Arachnid (!) Theater).

How do you tell a story to somebody who can control the way it’s told? How do you blend a game’s narrative with its mechanics without forcing prominence on one over the other? How do you seamlessly tie the two elements together? Does it even matter? Join BioShock creator Ken Levine alongside Joystiq’s Ben Gilbert and Kotaku’s Jason Schreier for a conversation about the never-ending war between narrative and gameplay—and how the two can finally make peace.

PANELISTS:
Ben Gilbert [Senior Reporter, Joystiq], Jason Schreier [Reporter, Kotaku], Ken Levine [Creative Director, Irrational Games], David Gaider [Super Story Guy, BioWare] and uh, Me.




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C2B
Apr 02 2012 12:58 AM
Have fun. Hopefully someone will upload a video of that panel.
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PizzaDraco
Apr 19 2012 03:12 AM
Sorry about the repost, just realised this is the most recent post by you, so was more likely to be noticed :p Hi Chris, I don't where else to put this, but I wanted to throw a suggestion your way, have just signed onto the forum to get this message through I'm a fan of your games, and having just read an interview in which you said SEGA doesn't want to make an Alpha Protocol 2, I wonder if there is anything to stop you from making a 'spiritual successor' to it and adjusting your ideas for the possible sequel you had to fit a new spy rpg IP? After all, it fits with the nature of the Alpha Protocol organisation to disband and reform with a new identity, so why couldn't you make said new spy rpg with an organisation similar to AP set either before or after the timeframe of the game of that other spy rpg IP? It wouldn't need to be Alpha Protocol 2, but it could have the same elements that drew people to the original, and differ as much as you liked.
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Chris Avellone
Apr 19 2012 12:04 PM
@PizzaDraco: This is possible, and you're right it would have to be a new IP. We couldn't likely do the same type of game through Kickstarter, so it would be a matter of finding another publisher.

Overall, we've been looking at ways to use the mechanics we thought would be cool for AP2 in other formats (honeycomb mission structure, for example), so all the design hopes for AP2 aren't lost. :)
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PizzaDraco
Apr 19 2012 09:20 PM
Thanks for the reply Chris :) Just a few more thoughts re Kickstarter and another AP like game. Perhaps, if Kickstarter proves to be too limited in time and scope for bigger projects, someone could follow/adjust their model and make a site that does the same thing only with a greater time period, say one that runs parallel to the development cycle of a typical game. Alternatively, Obsidian could have its own pitch/project/donation part of its website to help fund future projects and get player feedback?

As for AP/spy games, the Cold War comes to mind as a broad and extremely appropriate setting for a spy rpg game, one that could have subtle references and nods to AP. Perhaps there could be a character who is Parker's father, for example, or Mina's grandfather, all they need is the same surname and the rest could be left to the player to infer, no confirming or denying of any link to the other IP needed. Just a thought ;)

Glad to hear you'll find some use for your ideas for AP2 though, however different they may end up being. I think I saw someone say they'd buy a kickstarter funded AP type game that was isometric, if you made one, and so would I! So whatever the limitations of kickstarter, maybe enough can be done through it in terms of setting up new IPs that might later be picked up by publishers for future games in the same IPs.

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