Adam Brennecke

np. yer welcome.

The toughest fight in the game should be the gargoyle fight in the DLC temple area. Did anyone have trouble with him?

yes

I'm a game programmer on the super secret project (hush hush). I've been at Obsidian for a while so I've had my hands in a bunch of different things besides game programming.

The gameplay programmers usually do not write HLSL shaders - that job falls on the engine programmers or technical artists. I guess another way of looking at it is to ask yourself, "Is this feature game play?" from a gamers perspective, and if it is, then a game programmer usually implements the feature. For example, HLSL is used for programming materials, making cool effects, etc. but usually not something that directly relates to more tangible items such as killing monsters, jumping (wheee), monster behavior, equiping items, shooting guns, role playing design, user interface, earning experience, etc. so you can then narrow down who would work on the feature. At Obsidian we have three types of programmers game play, engine (CTG), or tools (CTG). CTG is the core technology group, and they make our Onyx engine. Engine guys work on "low level" things like rendering, physics, memory management, system IO, file systems, sound/music, animation technology, things closer to the hardware etc. etc. We say game play is "high level". There's not really anything called the "game stack" to my knowledge. Stacks are a pretty essential tool but it isn't anything more than a list of items that you push and pop from. You can read about a stack here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_%28abstract_data_type%29

Well, depending on how you look at it... C++ to me is a tool to achieve my means. Much like how a carpenter uses a hammer - if you are proficient in using a hammer, you may be good at driving in nails, but that doesn't mean you know how to build a house. But yes, knowing the ins and outs of C++ is needed to be a game programmer, since that's the primary tool that you use everyday.

I'm not sure if you will be satisfied with this answer, but tools programmers primarily work on tools (the level editor, build process, exporters), - typically programming software "outside" of the game executable itself. Game programmers primarily work on the game (combat, camera, ai, rpg systems, conversations, etc.). There can be instances where the streams cross, a game programmer works on a tool, or a tools programmer helps out with a game system. Best of luck on the pong game! :D -Brennecke

It usually starts around 7pm. It's a bit difficult to know who to talk to at the mixer because there are so many people around, and on top of that I don't think any of our programmers go regularly. However, it is fun, and you can meet a bunch of cool people. If you have any programming questions, I would be happy to answer them here.

Virginia still alive and kicking, I presume? What if I told you that Zane wasn't the project director of Virginia? OMG

Aranek, we currently do not have plans of releasing an update to fix this issue. I recommend starting a new game.

The team is really happy that all of you are liking it!

~25 people at peak. Who wrote it? Mr. George Ziets

~25 people at peak.

Oh yeah... that too!

The Obsidian Fantasy Football draft is today...

How do you enable this mode, is it available on the pc? For me abilities are cast at the target the mouse is over at the time, or if not mousing over any enemies it's cast at my character's feet. I wish I knew I could give the devs a bit more info..... It just happens. (only in a fight) I'm fighting, usually running and hitting spells/abilities. Then all of a sudden there is the silver ball where my cursor should be. After that it's like I said in my other posts.....can't do a thing until the ball vanishes about 30 to 45 secs later. The fight can end, or the NPC boss (the only time the fight didn't end) will just walk away. Once the ball vanishes and my cursor returns, I went back after the 'boss' and finished the fight. Oh and I use a PC not a console.... On the PC when using the mouse/keyboard controls, when casting a few abilities in the game you can hold down the ability cast button and then your cursor will turn into an orb so you can precisely cast to a specific location. For example Anjali's Fall from the Heavens and Pillar of Fire can be cast in this style.

Boris does not count as a "boss".

Is it the same silver orb used for targeting abilities? Some of the abilities can be cast at a specific location. It sounds like this "mode" is stuck somehow.

Haha. We had a few embarrassing party wipes.

How was it It was a blast. We had a lot of fun playing and talking to the fans, and it was awesome that many people were on their second playthrough.

ObsidianDev03 and ObsidianDev04 are online and waiting for people to play!

My favorite is Pliny the Elder, a really good Double IPA from Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa, California. Substitute Dogfish Head 90 minute Imperial IPA if Pliny cannot be obtained. -Brennecke

I've found the issue and have a fix for it. We'll have a patch for you guys as soon as possible.

This happened to me too and I couldn't stop laughing for some odd reason. It was just funny to have my character breaking the fourth wall... Heh, oh well. Did you see this bug in a multiplayer or singleplayer game?

lol