Chris Avellone's Blog

Fallout had ropes as an item to acquire through merchants, and the only time you were informed you needed them is if you didn't have one (or did, but didn't use it) and came to a point where it was a required item to proceed. I imagine that they aren't the sort of developers who would make handholding the priority over player immersion.

 

Exactly! And you could use coins on vending machines, and to enter Mariposa you needed a pole+explosive. I'm pretty sure the first wasn't even hinted while later was. So yeah, I trust Obsidian to give us a good balance between hand holding and free, organic gameplay. I'm just stressing something that to me really contributed to what I consider "old school" (it's not just being turn based or isometric) and the way things have been "dumbed down" as it's so often said.

 

If you have an amount of 300-400k, you can receive a significant loan with that as collateral. This will provide -much- lower interest rates than if you used any other form of collateral. Often times they look at a 20% down loan as an investment, and they will finance you for much more reasonable rates.

That's pretty much what I think too, they can go to another investor, and say: "this idea/generated has generated xxxxxxx US dollars from our customer base. I repeat, just the idea. So you may want to jump in on this sure hit!" And I also don't think 2d is actually that much cheaper or requires less work. Full voice acting is quite expensive, though.

Dearest MCA,

 

I want you to write and design your dream RPG. I would gladly part from my money for whatever you did without publisher constraints.

That is all.

I am a long time lurker, but I couldn't resist adding my two cents in.

 

As awesome as another Planescape RPG would be, I think is it pretty logical that any IP that is a license or that is held by a publisher would not be possible for a Kickstarter project. But here is what I would like to see:

 

1. I would like to see the resurrection of a project that you guys personally felt had a lot of promise but got canceled. It would be really awesome to see the Aliens RPG finished this way, but there is the license issue again. But, what about the "Seven Dwarves" (New Jersey?) project? From little tidbits gleamed from Obsidian staffer interviews, it sounded like people really loved it. If Obsidian has the rights to it instead of whoever the published was supposed to be, it would be really cool to help them self-fund it to completion.

 

2. I want to see something crazy that Obsidian believes in that would never get greenlighted by a publisher due to the risk involved. As the guy behind Planescape: Torment, you know there is lots of crazy awesomeness in MCA's head. Nothing like Torment would be given the go ahead today. I want to see where Obsidian can go if we take off the handcuffs of a publisher.

 

3. Give us a different genre besides high fantasy or space opera. I love those as much as the next guy, but it would be nice to see some of the diversity of tabletop gaming come back to CRPGs. That was one reason why I was disappointed behind the reception to Alpha Protocol (although I personally loved it). It was a modern-day espionage RPG! I can't think of another game in the same category. If there is, I will wager that it is an older title and/or pretty obscure. I love GURPS and Hero. Go look at the list of GURPS worldbooks or Hero genre books and then think about an Obsidian RPG in one of those settings. Arabian Nights? Pulp (Indiana Jones-type RPG?) Cthulu? Cyberpunk? Or...something I always thought would be kick ass (but really difficult to do), a time travel or alternate dimension RPG (think Timepiece/Stopwatch or the Infinity Ltd. setting in GURPS Time Travel). I drool over the possibilities.

 

4. Another thing that would be interesting to explore if possible within the type of funds Kickstarter could raise: negotiate a license to a favorite book series and use that for an RPG. Think about how cool it would be to play an Honor Harrington or Vorkosigan RPG. Even a license on that scale might be too much, but it would be interesting to get a licensed game on something that isn't totally mainstream (e.g. Star Wars).

 

Anyway, I hope Obsidian does try this at some point (soon) in the future. I think we would get something from them that could never have seen the light of day otherwise.

Please make another rpg on the Planescape Torment universe. The settings, the characters, the themes, everything is so engaging and creative.Isometric view with crisp graphics would be ideal imho (not everything has to ''change'' look at Diablo 3), yet it could also be fully 3D.*Note: A full remake or remaster of the first game would also work.

The Planescape universe isn't part of the Torment theme. They could make a Planescape based game, for a lot less money than a followup to Torment. As for a remaster of the game, you might consider looking at GOG (good old games) for the first version of PS:T, and there is a nice widescreen/high resolution mod available. I use a 42" TV as my monitor, but I've had it for a number of years, so it only uses 1360x768 resolution. The game was beautiful, at the original vertical resolution. There are higher resolutions available, but 2D art scales much better than 3D. Quake III looks alright, but it doesn't really scale too well over time. As a 2D game, Planescape will be just as attractive as it ever was, in twenty years. With a tablet, it will never look any better than it does now, and is actually quite playable on a tablet. While I know I showed the game to my nephew, and he skipped past all the introductory text, and said "this game is boring" and I had to inform him he effectively just flipped through a book and called it boring.

Like many others, I joined the forum as soon as I knew about this thread.

 

I really, really dig the idea of a new 2D isometric CRPG. I'm simply fed up with all the action RPGs around... And with the fantasy setting. Seriously, the fantasy setting is so overused it's not even funny. Thus my opinion is that, unless you're absolutely, positively sure you're going to make some innovative setting, you should avoid fantasy settings like plague. Personally, I'd like to see an actual sci-fi/cyberpunk RPG, but hey, it doesn't really have to be like that. What if we made a RPG with a contemporary setting? One that is about some average joe, living in an average city... That suddenly has to face something crazy? Or something average, if you want to be that groundbreaking.

 

Anyways, there are three factors that, to me, are important for such a game to be good, and those are factors you guys already used in previous games:

• Fallout 1 had a way to make you feel unsettled and ignorant, which to this day I failed to find in any other game. It's not about game mechanics being hard or something (the game manual, which, by the way, was really neat, explained everything just about right): it's the game itself that is confusing. You are literally thrown out of the vault, with little to no weapons, and you barely have an idea where to go and what to do. You head for shady sands and there it kicks in: you realize that you can do pretty much everything. Which is the second point of my brief list.
  
• You should be able to do almost anything. I'm not talking about "anything" as in "lol i can shoot ppl hurp durp". I'm talking about "I can pay this goon to work for me and then pickpocket him to get my money back". Although I couldn't really wrap my mind around it, Wastelands had an interesting take about this. You could use your skills creatively. And there's tons of different skills. Just like in real life... Lateral thinking and lots of stuff you can learn and do.
  
• Torment was great because you actually had to... smart your way into the game. You could've finished the game almost without fighting. That means you could get experience by the darndest things, like... Noticing something strange, remembering something some other NPC said, and so on. I would really love to see something like this again.
  

That said, I don't think a PS:T sequel is a good idea; it's ok if you want to use the Planescape setting (although it's fantasy, at least it's not the same old fantasy) or a similar plane/space-dimension based one.

 

Plenty of other users had awesome ideas. I see the general consensus is that the game should be C&C based, and I agree, but, like many others, I want to see some real consequences, as in, something more than "NPC # 354 is mad at you" and "you get a different ending cutscene". For this reason, I feel that the only "game over" should be from your character dying, and not from, let's say, your main-quest being failed. I've always been wondering what would've happened in FO1 if, after surrendering to the Master, you didn't get your game over cutscene... but you got to play as a super mutant instead. Catch my drift? one should be allowed to play his/her heart out. Do things they didn't even come up with.

 

Voice acting is almost completely unnecessary: ditch that and get some real good soundtrack composer(s) instead. Same goes for graphics: everything you can save without adding fancy visual effects, can be spent to make a more "deep" and complex game mechanic.

 

finally, such a complex game will lead to loads and loads (and loads... AND LOADS) of bugs. The game should therefore be easily moddable.

 

there, I'm done. I apologize if you think I sound demanding or just flat out crazy, and I'm sorry for my english.

 

Keep up the good work.

I keep seeing people ask for a Planescape: Torment sequel. Planescape is a huge Dungeons and Dragons world, Torment was the first game in that universe these people had to work on. However, they could much more easily work on a Planescape based game. Planescape might cost them some money, but the Torment license belongs to the publishers. However I really do feel that it would be a great idea for them to visit a world that isn't licensed by any current development operation.

Another Planescape, not a sequel, just one in the setting. Isometric and text heavy, the good stuff.

No forced romances like recent mainstream RPGs have been, if one is an option it should be very minor, or fit well within the story if it's big.

Pausable combat would be nice, with room to stragetize.

At the same time there should be options to get through the game without killing anyone, you guys did this in Alpha Protocol and it was great, and Planescape had a lot of times where you could just talk your way through things.

...Maybe make it a bit more clear what you need to do that though, I remember looking at a guide half way through the game (Planescape), at a part I was stuck at, and found out my INT wasn't high enough to do something very important.

I want to see where Obsidian can go if we take off the handcuffs of a publisher.

Pretty much this. Then again, it's the whole point of a Kickstarter project (especially in the case of a well-known developer, like Double Fine or Obsidian).

 

Anyway, they have my full support as long as they promise two things:

 

1) Solid, satisfying combat (whatever style, and only if the game has combat)

2) Proper QA / bug hunting

 

These are usually the glaring issues that plague their otherwise brilliant games.

If you were to fund a project with kickstarter, it should be something special. You should go all the way and make a true, worthy spiritual successor to Planescape Torment. Isometricy, turn-basedy goodness. The kind of RPG your grandfather used to play, not a glorified action game. I realise this genre is long dead, and it's not the type of thing you go after if you're out to make money, but, well, I hope that you'd be surprised and at the very least could give classic RPGs one last hurrah.

 

It of course wouldn't need to be Planescape Torment 2; the original wrapped things up quite nicely. Just that style of game with the great writing, atmosphere and characters. The only thing I'd like to be different is the combat which was fairly mediocre - I'd like challenging, tactical, turn-based combat, like in Fallout 1 and 2, but better than that (it had a number of issues and often devolved into mindlessly eye-shotting things until they fell over). Still, you get the idea.

 

Personally, my dream RPG is set in a space-western universe like Firefly or Cowboy Bebop. Similar to such shows, you are a member of a rag-tag group of rebels, mercenaries or outlaws who do what they need to do to survive out in the black, travelling from planet to planet, meeting new and interesting people, discovering each planet's culture, history, and the problems its inhabitants face, then leaving before things get stale. I think a universe like that would be amazing for a creative mind like yours to work with.

 

The two most important things for me are writing and quest design. I love well written games and I love choices and consequences - such a game would have tons of ways to complete quests, with choices that actually matter and can effect the game and may even come back to bite you in the ass.

 

But really, you're a legend. I'm sure you have ideas that are far superior to anything I could come up with. I'd love for you to have complete and utter freedom for once, not bound by any publisher. I, for one, will happily donate to such a game.

 

Thanks for reading.

Well first off...

 

To everyone saying "remake Torment"...leave. Just leave. There is absolutely no need to remake Torment with 'better graphics' as better graphics would do nothing to improve the game. There is absolutely no need to remake Torment with 'better gameplay' as the gameplay was superb (I'm assuming the people saying this are conflating combat with gameplay, which is just silly). The game was almost perfect the way it was.

 

To everyone saying 'Torment 2', 'Kotor 3', 'BG3' etc. Think about it. The point for the whole kickstarter thing is to have Obsidian maintain 100% autonomy on the project they are making. If they are tied to existing IP, the people holding those licenses would hold a large amount of control over this project, ruining its purpose. Additionally, the surge of sequels we've seen in the past few years is due to publishers wanting relatively safe returns on their investments. Though this only seems to work for Activision and Zenimax (sometimes), it is still the course that most studios are going to take. Why not use this to free up a studio to completely buck that trend and use creativity and innovative to get sales - not rehashing.

 

There are also many technological trends that are proving to be utterly pernicious to game development. The amount of resources that have to be redirected to voice acting and animation are hamstringing the quality of games that are being released. Other aspects of the game suffer to accommodate these supposed requisites. This would be an opportunity for a studio to be free of those obligations and create a game in a manner that they believe would be best to tell their particular story.

 

Now...as far as what to make. Why are you asking us? I've never made a good game, nor has anyone responding to this blog (The original ideas put forth in these comments should be enough evidence that you should not be coming to us for ideas). The reason people are excited over this is because we trust that Obsidian, if allowed to run loose, would make an extraordinary game. Personally, I just say lock you, Tim Cain, and Michael Kirkbride (The fellow responsible for much of Morrowind's excellent lore) in the same sensory deprivation tank for a week and see what comes out. But that might be a bit extreme. You've had well over a decade in the industry and you know what you would like to do. Why not give us a few examples of games you think should be made and let us mull over those?

Another guy who made an account just for this. I donated to Tim Schafer's project for one major reason: because he wanted to make a game like they used to make, a type of game publishers think can't sell.

 

That is the only type of game I would be willing to fund for Obsidian. You offer to make something niche, and old school, you have my support. As I've seen mentioned on other forums, there are lots of "old school" RPGs. Games like Wizardy, Bards Tale, and Might and Magic. Games like Ultima. Games like Daggerfall, Eye of the Beholder, and Ultima Underworld. Games like Fallout, Fallout 2, and Arcanum. Games like Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Ice Wind Dale. What ever "old school" type RPG you want to make is up to you, but please give me a game that the publishers won't. Please don't "streamline". Please don't "evolve" by making a game that is simple, and that holds your hand. If I want a game like that, I can currently get that from most of the RPGs the publishers are willing to put out.

 

I don't want Planescape 2, or anything that would require a license. I know that put's me in a minority, but please don't spend money on that. Just put whatever money you raise into the game. Instead I want something "like" Planescape. A project where you guys just go wild, without worrying about limits. Create whatever world you want, and let your writers put in whatever depth they want, without worrying about alienating the audience.

 

so in conclusion, I'd love to Kickstart an Obsidian RPG, but only if its an RPG experience that used be made, but isn't being made now. I mean no offense, but I don't want a Mass Effect, a Skyrim, a Kingdoms of Amalur, a Dragon age 2, and yes, I don't want an Dungeon Seige 3 or an Alpha Protocol. I can get those games or those kind of games right now. I want an experience that the publishers won't give us right now. Give me a promise to deliver something like that, and I WILL help fund it.

Wow, well this seems like it would be an opportunity to create an awesomely deep and complex game, complete with a brand new set of mechanics.

 

Setting makes not much difference to me, I play RPGs in many different settings. Isometric is a plus.

 

Something that would be cool...

Have a game world where people react realistically to antisocial behaviour, like looting their wardrobes. Don't gear the game around the concept of being able to steal from and murder people, plenty of modern RPGs fulfill these sociopathic urges. Don't have false morality systems (unless you implement deities, who would approve/disapprove of certain actions), but punish crime harshly. Outright murdering someone who asks your party for help should probably cause most of your party to leave, some of them would attack you, and even the coldest killers on your team would be like, "What is the point of that? Trying to get us arrested?"

 

Opt for granularity in skills, and have them interact in surprising ways. So you'd train in a very specific thing like short bows, but that also slightly improves your other bow skills, and marginally improves your "ranged mastery" and up to the trunk of "combat prowess". So you basically are picking which roots of the tree to strengthen, but every time you do, everything that particular root nourishes also gets a bit of a boost (to stretch the analogy). Other main trunks could include streetwise (general sneakiness, getting people to see your way, that sort of thing), survival (outdoors type skills that help you travel/hunt), trade (job-type skills that enable you to function as a member of society, and the sciences, anything learned at a university) and magic (broken up into elements/other types of magic like telekinesis, illusion, etc).

 

Think of it as a system of skill trees, but MUCH more complex. The idea is that the complexity is hidden and you discover it by training your characters. You also wouldn't get to that point where your entire development path is optimized and pre-determined (I loathe the term "build", characters should be individuals darnit). Have surprising interactions like training in fire magic and gaining a degree of proficiency at melee combat grants you some kind of burning strike (maybe makes your blows harder to parry or something). And also have crazy amounts of non-combat skills as well, that also can interact. Let's say you study wind magic and leatherworking, in addition to runesmithing, and that lets you make some windwalking boots.

 

But whatever you do, make all of these paths hidden. Make it surprise a player when he gains new abilities. In this way, you just train organically and sometimes little perks will just pop up and you will have to figure out how to use them. Character stats would be incrementally increased based on skills selected for training. Basically make this really complex system with tons of ramifications, but the only thing the player does is train from a list of skills. Each choice trickles up the complexity chain, and if implemented correctly, there would be no incorrect skill choices.

 

A lot of old D&D tabletop games aspired to this level of complexity in non-combat skills, but it is very rarely implemented correctly. Climbing/swimming could be in, and maybe it would mean you have to split your party as only some of them can gain access to certain areas.

 

On the perks - Don't make them things that the character should be able to do anyway. Like, any bow user could climb a tree and snipe down from cover, but rather make the perks have you better at doing it (less likely to fall out of the tree/increased accuracy for this example).

Planescape yes please!

I'd love to see an RPG with the mechanics of Darklands. But rather than a sequel to your games I'd much prefer it if we could see what Obsidian can do when it isn't shackled by publisher and player expectations. In other words, go wild and do your own thing. Heck, I'll chip in even if it isn't an RPG.

- RPG

- Fantasy setting (liceneced or new IP, no PnP adaption)

- Multiplayer with community hosted dedicated servers

- Toolset and scripting engine

- Custom content friendly

Just realized in my fit of packing for the new move I confused you with Double Fine.Here's what I support:1) Wasteland Universe-centered game...5) Wasteland Revisited (use your imagination and get Mr Fargo on the phone post-haste)

I love you!

BALDURS GATE III

 

isometric view is a must, but that doesnt mean it shouldnt have other views as well. Im an old school rpg fan and that definitely includes DnD, Forgotten Realms, LoTR and many other universes. This game would be the perfect fan game that could be made. A new chance to bring the life back into the genre again. Class based party system (up to 6), akin to shadows of amn with all the improvements of the last decade in game devolopement and experience since those days. I could go on and on about it but there isnt enough time and patience for everyone to read.

I think this topic should be less focused on "what license do you want Obsidian to blow the hundred thousand dollars or whatever the Kickstarter raises" and more on "what genre would you, hypothetically, support". Because as much as I would love to see Sigil again, I know that it's never going to happen. And that's fine. I have the happy (and unhappy) memories associated with it, and that's all I need from it.

 

Doublefine's Kickstarter really only said one thing - it said "hey, do you want Tim Schafer and his crew to make a point and click adventure game?" And a lot of people said "aw hell yeah I'll drop 15 on that, take me down that lane again crazy man". If Obsidian makes a Kickstarter that says "hey, want to go down memory lane and have Obsidian's badass writing crew craft a new isometric designed-for-PC RPG?" I would totally drop 15 to help make it a reality. I don't need a known property. I don't need amazing graphics. I don't need you to waste half the budget hiring Liam Neeson to voice your dad for 30 minutes. I just want a game that can't be sold to a publisher these days - a well-crafted RPG that didn't spend 95% of its resources on combat mechanics. Those aren't your strong point anyways, we all know that, I'm cool with it. I want skill checks, and dialogue, and memorable party members that stick in your mind for decades to come. I want, after all this is said and done, for this to be a game for people 10 years from now to hold up and say "man, remember when Obsidian totally toppled Planescape from its golden throne? Why don't they make those any more?"

 

But all that nomenclanture about not telling you what to do aside, I really must stress the "PC first" part of this. Been burned FAR too many times on console ports... consoles can have it later, to be sure, I'm not greedy. But considering that I am, hypothetically, one of the ones paying for this... I think a little time in the sun is appropriate, don't you?

I'd defenetly support:

Planescape 2 or Planescape remake;

some new rpg;

Arcanum 2;

some rpg in Forgotten Realms setting.

A thought-provoking, atmospheric, philosophical, weird, artful, bold masterwork of a game.

There's a false dichotomy going on here that's bugging me.

 

It goes like this: "An old, isometric game you could NEVER sell to a publisher because, uh... it's old! So make that, Obsidian!"

 

Except, to the contrary, an isometric, old-school, traditional RPG with low costs and low risks (to the niche being sold to) would have no trouble finding a publisher. I mean, look at the success GoG have had. If a developer approached a group of publishers asking them to sell such a game, they'd probably end up with more than a few offers.

 

I agree with the notion of having something you couldn't sell to a publisher, but a thing that's already been tried and proven isn't the way to go about it. "Wild and risky!" doesn't equal "Make the same game that GoG is selling twenty times over."

 

I mean, the way most people do it is to either keep the traditional mechanics, or the traditional setting, and that's why that sells. Cthulhu Saves the World and Avernum have seen success, so has Kingdom of Amalur. But (barring perhaps the humour of Cthulhu), these games are all quite dull. Quite, quite dull.

 

The way to really create a game that a publisher wouldn't buy would be to go outside of the comfort zone of the lowest common denominator. And that means being experimental and controversial, not only with your setting but with your mechanics. It's intellectually dishonest to claim that a publisher wouldn't buy something that's a sure bet, and really, with the low production costs of an isometric RPG and a studio like Obisdian behind it, that's a sure bet.

 

This is why I challenge them to be abstract with their game, to NOT create the same generic world, to NOT create the same generic RPG, to NOT dwell on the same old mechanics. To make something that's actually new, and to do it their own way.

[sorry for my English]

 

Only Obsidian still can create true RPG (Bioware? Bethesda? Are you kidding?), so I'll deposit money surely! I already have all their games and I really love these games!

 

Of course, I want to see something really big and thorough like sequel Planescape, Arcanum, NwN2 (more like Mask of Betrayer), Alpha Protocol, or something in LotR-world (but not in Third Age, more like closed 'White Council') or even full version of KotOR2 (without cutting of script). But I can not even imagine how many cost license on these titles or 'worlds' and how many costs production of such big project, so will be created something new and independent.

 

I only hope that new game will be interesting and qualitative like others Obsidian's games. Steampunk or fantasy, present days or fantastic - no difference at all if created world is live - logical and 'realistic', full of interesting personages (with lot of dialogues) and many abilities/choices and proposes his own mechanic of personage's evolution. Isometric or not - only your decision too (but isometric is cooler!). As for me, I should like to see something in Arcanum or Planescape style and without 'dialogue wheel' (of course if new project will not be Alpha Protocol 2)

First of all, I have to say that one reason, perhaps the main one, that I paid for the Double Fine Kickstarter was the promise of a documentary coupled with the introductory video (which showed that such a documentary could be very enjoyable to watch). I unfortunately don't spend much time on gaming these days, so it's a little hard to justify spending money on them (which I still do all the time).

 

That said, Planescape: Torment is at the top of my favourite games list. Only thing I didn't like about it was the combat. So I may be willing to put some money towards an RPG that promises to provide a similar level of story. Provide a way to go through the game without combat and it might be another incentive to pay.

There's a false dichotomy going on here that's bugging me.It goes like this: "An old, isometric game you could NEVER sell to a publisher because, uh... it's old! So make that, Obsidian!"Except, to the contrary, an isometric, old-school, traditional RPG with low costs and low risks (to the niche being sold to) would have no trouble finding a publisher. I mean, look at the success GoG have had. If a developer approached a group of publishers asking them to sell such a game, they'd probably end up with more than a few offers.I agree with the notion of having something you couldn't sell to a publisher, but a thing that's already been tried and proven isn't the way to go about it. "Wild and risky!" doesn't equal "Make the same game that GoG is selling twenty times over."I mean, the way most people do it is to either keep the traditional mechanics, or the traditional setting, and that's why that sells. Cthulhu Saves the World and Avernum have seen success, so has Kingdom of Amalur. But (barring perhaps the humour of Cthulhu), these games are all quite dull. Quite, quite dull.The way to really create a game that a publisher wouldn't buy would be to go outside of the comfort zone of the lowest common denominator. And that means being experimental and controversial, not only with your setting but with your mechanics. It's intellectually dishonest to claim that a publisher wouldn't buy something that's a sure bet, and really, with the low production costs of an isometric RPG and a studio like Obisdian behind it, that's a sure bet.This is why I challenge them to be abstract with their game, to NOT create the same generic world, to NOT create the same generic RPG, to NOT dwell on the same old mechanics. To make something that's actually new, and to do it their own way.

 

I'm pretty sure most publishers wouldn't fund a 2D, isometric, old-school CRPG, even if it only cost $1 million to develop and market. Publishers are interested in making the most profit possible. An old-school RPG wouldn't be profitable enough for them to even bother. This is why most publishers stick with big-budget, high-profile, multiplatform releases in mainstream genres (and mostly sequels at that). Sure, games like CoD 2012 and Skyrim cost a lot to develop and market but the potential profits are far greater than any low-budget, niche game could ever achieve.

 

Also, your GOG comparison is invalid because GOG is not a publisher and they didn't fund the development of any of the games they sell. Publishers only allow them to sell their older games because it gives them another revenue source with a negligible investment.

Planescape 2