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Chris Avellone

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  1. Chris Avellone
    Got some general questions from Joakim, and wanted to post them in 2 parts in case folks were interested. If not, that's fine, too. Joakim had some Knights of the Old Republic 2 questions as well, and I'll post those in a few days.
     
    1. If you couldn't be a game designer what would you be, and why? (in the game industry of course)
     
    I would either be cartooning (I still do one-shots for the comic "Knights of the Dinner Table" from Kenzer & Co), writing game supplements (Champions/Dark Champions) or scripting comic books. My current job allows me to do a little of all of this (my last stint was doing some of the Clone Wars Adventures with Jeremy Barlow, and that was great fun, especially having a chance to write Aurra Sing). Being able to do a little bit of each is a nice break from doing computer game design full time. Still, if I could get a job as a full-time gamemaster, I'd take it - that's what got me into the industry in the first place.
     
    2. Do you have some/a favorites people that are in the industry?
     
    I have a lot of respect and admiration for Richard Dansky, I think he's done a lot to help aspiring game writers and has also been a strong advocate for writers and assisting with promoting game writing in the IGDA. He actually makes me feel guilty, since he makes me wonder if I could do more than answer random inquiries from students and designers. So now that I think about it, Dansky makes me feel like crap, so I guess I actually hate him.
     
    I have a lot of respect for Tim Cain for the role-playing mechanics in Fallout (he's also a great guy, even with his obsession with pomegranates), Tim Donley and Kevin Saunders for teaching me aspects of management that a book can't teach you, David Gaider (who I hadn't met until recently) for the amount of investment he has in his writing and the way he's able to quickly and efficiently critique what's wrong with a character or story (he nails it pretty well in a lot less words than I do), Josh Sawyer and Dave Maldonado for the passion with which they express their design ideas, and Dan Spitzley and Eric Campanella for their work on Torment, which showed me what a strong work ethic combined with the "labor of love" perk can accomplish - Eric was one of the first artists I've encountered who not only read design documentation, but expounded on it in his concepts and character modeling. There are plenty of others whose work I respect, but this list is getting pretty long. Maybe I'll expound on it in another interview.
     
    3. You have told many times that you're sick of certain stuff in certain genres... What do you think is missing from most of the games that makes them boring in the long run - or in the industry in general?
     
    Lack of ambition in game premises. I don't think enough developers ask "what's the one thing that's going to set this game apart?" and then stick to it. I've seen pitches and proposals that don't even bother ask this question and are content to embrace being a lesser clone of a more popular game in the same genre, which makes me sad. At least choose *some* new mechanic you're bringing to the table to try and push the genre forward.
     
    4. a) Who has been your favorite character (of all the characters you have worked on) to develop and why?
     
    Morte and Fall-From-Grace in Torment, Myron in Fallout 2 (he was the first full companion I'd ever done) followed by Cassidy (the second), then Kreia in Knights of the Old Republic II.
     
    Just about every character I've worked on, though, has "moments" that I've really enjoyed scripting for them (writing HK-47's definition of love, or the Handemaiden's Echani philosophy of combat, how Atton obsesses over Pazaak to prevent his thoughts from being picked up by Jedi, or Visas Marr's feelings for your character).
     
    b) Also, what makes a good character?
     
    Consistent, believable motivation and a believable personal agenda. A tie to the game's theme either to reinforce it or as a sounding board for exploring a different perspective on the game theme. An emotional tie to the player (either hate, envy, love, friendship, respect) and reacts appropriately to the player character's actions. Proper casting of a voice actor or, if text only, insuring that the right writer is assigned to developing that character because they understand it (some narrative designers can't write sociopaths, do reverse gender romances, or commit to doing a goodie-two-shoes character). For a computer game, I feel it's also essential that the player understand the purpose of the character and that the character fulfills that role in the game mechanics and the world (for example, companions in F2 needed to be an asset in and out of combat, which I learned in Fallout 2 - Cassidy was much more valuable and appreciated than Myron).
     
    5. Who was your first character to design, and what has changed in your design process since then? (how you design characters now)
     
    The first characters I designed was Myron for Fallout 2. I was given the "child genius," but I did what I could to make sure he wasn't the Wesley Crusher archetype, which I thought was pretty played out in most media forms. In the end, however, Myron had his problems - he talked too much, could get really annoying in parts (especially if you were female) and was useless in combat. I do think he succeeded in being a highly-reactive character to events in the game and things your player did, and it was pretty awesome for high Intelligence and high Science guys to argue with him about his own creations. I really like it when he gets frustrated when you keep asking him insightful chemistry and pharmaceutical questions about Jet.
     
    6. You have said that you weren't very "happy" when you were announced to on K2 because how the force works and so on. Any other franchises you will try to avoid (if possible), and what franchises would you like to work on?
     
    That was my reaction at the beginning of the project, and it vanished after a few weeks. Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons were acid tests that proved to me that any franchise has room for you to express yourself within the franchise and have a great time doing so. I am fond of both now that I've been able to work with them and contribute to them.
     
    Franchises I'd love to work on: The Dresden Files, System Shock, Wasteland, Syndicate, a Bully RTS, the Wire (don't get me started), Aliens (I love the human psychology component), and anything involving superheroes (if they did a Dark Champions game, I'd be on that in a second). There's probably some I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that jump to mind.
     
    7. What do you find the most difficult thing with your job?
     
    Juggling some of the co-owner stuff along with design. I like to work - so being in a position where you're not in the trenches as much as I used to be during Torment and F2, I don't always feel good about going through the day without having something to point to that I physically did in game production, even if to say "hey, I did THAT."
     
    8. What are the disadvantages/advantages to move from a very sci-fi game such as Neverwinter Nights to something more realistic-based (Alpha Protocol)?
     
    It depends - on one hand, it was refreshing to work with characters who use real-world speech patterns and phrases and actually reference things a player can empathize with, but you also have to keep the game within real world parameters which aren't a concern with a fantasy title.
     
    For Alpha Protocol, we had to come up with the "bookends" of the powers, abilities, and gadgets of the character and the world, while in Neverwinter Nights, Dungeons and Dragons had set up that framework for us. Also, we'd done a number of titles with that ruleset already, so with Neverwinter Nights, we had many years of experience in area and dialogue creation to draw upon - with Alpha Protocol we were re-inventing some of these aspects, especially the one-route conversation system, the stance choices, dossier research, positive/negative reputation mechanics, and so on. I think they turned out well, and definitely complement the game's genre (just to be clear, the dialogue stance system isn't my creation, that was Mitsoda and Spitzley).
     
    9. Is there some you would thank extra that made you come into the industry?
     
    Scott Bennie was a colleague I
  3. Chris Avellone
    I recently did an interview regarding morality and games for a student's Master's Thesis, and I wanted to share in case anyone was interested. Or wanted to quote me in or out of context for fun.
     
     
    What is your name and professional title?
    My name is Chris Avellone, and I'm Creative Director (and Lead Designer on our Alpha Protocol CIA RPG) here at Obsidian Entertainment.
     
    For how long have you been working in the computer games industry?
    Over ten years (yikes) - I got my start in pen-and-paper gaming (Dungeons and Dragons, Champions), but the last decade has been primarily at two companies: as a designer at Interplay Entertainment, and then I went on to be one of the founders of Obsidian Entertainment.
     
    Could you outline your professional relation to moral aspects and choices in games? For example, have you worked on titles where these kinds of choices have been a premiere aspect of the game?
    Almost all the titles I've worked on have dealt with player choice and moral consequence, either in terms of a character alignment (good, evil). The moral consequences of choices you make in computer games is one of the hallmarks of a role-playing game, so it's core to what we do.
     
    If so, which titles?
    Planescape: Torment (the alignment system - you start out as a blank neutral slate, then your actions make you more chaotic, lawful, good, or evil), Fallout 2 (the karma system), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords (you can fall to the light side or dark side of the Force, depending on your actions, and it has consequences for your companions as well through the "influence" system), Neverwinter Nights 2, Neverwinter Nights: Mask of the Betrayer (both feature improved versions of the influence system, where not only can you become more good or evil, but the respect of your companions also increases or diminishes based on your actions).
     
    Do you consider moral choices in games to be an important aspect of game design? If so, why?
    At the risk of being quoted out of context, I don't think it's important. I think that the player should have difficult choices to make and moral choices are one of the best ways to present it, but the most important thing from a role-playing game standpoint is that there be reactivity and consequence to your actions, whether they are moral choices are not.
     
    In what game design phase do you think one should begin to think about moral issues in the game world, and why?
    Generally, I think it should be considered as early as possible in the game design, preferably at the time that you decide upon the game's "theme." For our Aliens project, for example, the moral theme that we're trying to communicate was considered an important establishing point in our early pre-production phase (as it was for Mask of the Betrayer).
     
    What do you consider to be successful use of morals in a game?
    Fallout 1 and Mass Effect come to mind. In Fallout 1, part of the dilemma in retrieving the water chip for your home has the potential to cause another community to be extinguished. This ultimately doesn't have the impact it could because you have the ability to save both, but it's a choice that makes you pause for a moment, since your choice can condemn one civilization or another to death.
     
    There's several moments in Mass Effect where I had to pause before making a choice because the game had done an excellent job of painting what the consequences of each action could be as I was making the choice. I don't want to give any spoilers unless you've played the game, but I had to struggle with some of the choices while making them, which makes them successful in my book.
     
    In our latest title, Alpha Protocol, we're presenting some of the moral choices within the context of the CIA operation itself - and the choices you make to achieve your mission or your goal can depend on how much you're willing to place others at risk.
     
    What do you think (in an ideal case) should be the consequences game-wise of a moral decision made by the player in the game? (for example: branching plotline, different reward/penalty, story related or functional character development, NPC-PC relationship development)
    All of your examples would be appropriate. The most important thing is that the world react to the choice, and the player sees the consequences of the action.
     
    To what degree do you think the consequences of such moral decisions can affect the player's progress without damaging the game experience?
    What, if any, non-game sources do you draw upon when contemplating moral choices in games (i.e. works on moral philosophy, current events, movies, literature etc)?
    A good many of the choices we make in daily life are the best indicators. Usually, the game sources we draw on are the situations that take place in the game - for example, when doing area summaries for a locale, usually a number of moral choices will suggest themselves just from the overriding idea for the location.
     
    What do you think a game design team should do in order to impart a coherent view on morality in a game?
    At Obsidian, either the lead designer or the lead creative designer (the designer responsible for the narrative and character) is the enforcer of the morality and choice in the game, in tandem with the game's theme. They act as the policeman across all quests, interactions, and NPCs to see that the theme and any moral arcs in the game are maintained.
     
    Have you ever during your professional career made any efforts to ensure a coherent game world regarding morality? If so, what have these efforts been?
    Not so much morality, but presenting balanced lawful, chaotic, good, and evil choices in Planescape: Torment, and in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the main characters in the game frequently questioned the over-arching influence of the Force on the lives of individuals and whether surrendering to its Light or Dark sides served the purpose that was intended for good or evil, or whether the true enemy was the predestination the Force seemed to lay out.
     
    ...and that's it for Part 1. I'll post the answers for Part 2 in the coming week.
  8. Chris Avellone
    Off to Comic-Con within a week, although we won't be showing Mask of the Betrayer there, the plan is to show it at Gen-Con Aug 16-19, and PAX Aug 23-25 as it currently stands. This may fluctuate, so don't quote me on this.
     
    In honor of convention season, I present some things to look forward to at game conventions.
     
    Enjoy and have a good weekend, folks.
  13. Chris Avellone
    Someone wrote me a letter this weekend, asking if I had any suggestions for breaking into computer game writing, and it occured to me I didn't. I had suggestions for breaking into computer game design, but...
     
    Anyway, here's the gist of the response in case anyone else has a similar question about how it all works.
     
    Writing for video games is something of a different beast compared to game design. My experience is that someone will contract a writer (and usually late in the process) once an idea and game direction has already been determined and then it becomes the game writer's job to flesh out the idea for the game. Sometimes you're employed basically as a script doctor for a title, brushing up the dialogue before it's taken into the studio.
     
    If you wanted to propose your own world and characters for a game, though, one could do it through the mod community on the internet and then showcase those
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