you and me both

I am having a quarter-life qrysis. Essentially I am burned out on my current liberal arts masters' track. With a thesis looming some years into the future and most of my classmates already far more qualified and employed than I am, I'm discovering the ambivalence I always sort of had towards what I was doing. I think I'm done with this racket. It's not going to make me happy.

 

So having my QLQ, as I am, I'm trying to think of what I want to do, what I've always dreamed of doing, and it turns out that's work on games. I'm not a total moron re: the game industry so I'm not some greenhorn who thinks he can market himself as a writer or designer (lol). Were I to even aspire to a design position it would be on the back of a tangible skill, namely programming or art, and a Justin Cherry I am not. I'm not aware of the full scope of possible jobs - one option might be to sign on somewhere in a QA capacity and work my way up into a producer track from there? - but programming seems to be the most overall useful thing.

 

The thing is, I have trouble with math. While it's true that logic (which is different in some ways with math) underpins most programming, in modern game programming dealing with engines and visuals, an in-depth familiarity with physics is necessary, and therefore an in-depth knowledge of calculus. I've done fine in College Algebra (the real stuff, not "math for liberal arts majors") when I've studied hard, but CS degrees and the like require extensive calculus and linear algebra. I don't know if I lack the capacity for higher-level math processing or if my fear of math is causing paralysis. If I went back to undergrad, swallowed my pride, and made extensive use of math tutors I might take to it, I don't know. I don't know if it's relevant but I have a pretty solid grasp of the statistics and methods courses I've taken in my current / soon-to-be-ex discipline (public administration).

 

The thing is, I've done a little bit of low-level coding myself. I got about halfway through a BG2 CNPC mod and I enjoyed the experience, but it was all quite basic scripting - placing the CNPC at a certain map coordinate, setting triggers, and building dialogue trees, such as this intra-party dialogue I added:

CHAIN

IF ~InParty("jaheira")

InParty ("BJ#Auden")

See("jaheira")

!StateCheck("BJ#Auden",CD_STATE_NOTVALID)

!StateCheck("jaheira",CD_STATE_NOTVALID)

Global("BJ#JaheiraGab","GLOBAL",1)~

THEN BJAHEIR AudJahB1-1

~It appears that life on the road suits you, Auden.~

== BBJ#Aude

~It does, I think. It has been over a year since I left my homeland. One learns to live simply - it helps that I carry so few accoutrements of the adventurer's life.~

== BJAHEIR

~I imagine so. The simple life is often the better, I think. But traveling with CHARNAME, simplicity is impossible.~

== BBJ#Aude

~It musn't be so bad, if you're still here.~

== BJAHEIR

~Well now, I have old promises to live up to... I imagine you know a great deal about keeping to one's oaths.~

== BBJ#Aude

~If I have obligations to fulfill it it because I have chosen them. Those who break their promises lose control over themselves.~

== BJAHEIR

~Hmph. Better to break your word than do worse in keeping it. If you seek to ingratiate yourself to me, you can start by keeping watch at next camp. It is your turn to do so.~

== BBJ#Aude

~I look forward to it.~

DO ~IncrementGlobal("BJ#JaheiraGab","GLOBAL",1)~

EXIT

 

I had a lot of fun with this, and the logic of it made a lot of sense to me, though the lack of tutorials for that particular set of tools (and the overt creepiness of the modding community) made me give it up. I want to do that sort of thing again, and I'm looking forward to Project: Eternity allowing me to revisit that sort of mod work. But fun as it is, I don't think this sort of thing is greatly applicable to current industry work. Getting a job requires much more.

 

I guess my question is: Given my doubts about my ability to naturally handle physics and calculus with ease, am I better off diverting my attention to things like web development and the like (which would also, it should be said, require less and cheaper schooling), which are more overtly logic-based, and save my game aspirations for low-level modding of games other people make? Or is there some career path within the gaming industry that I could work towards that doesn't require that intense level of math? Can I learn to program and be employed and work on games without having to deal with hit detection and ragdolls and all that? Or should I do something else and partake in welterweight fanmod projects built on foundations laid by the pros? Am I hopelessly confused about what programming actually is??

 

Help me, Obsidian forums!

For Obsidian, alpha as a general status means that a "thing" (feature, area, quest, etc.) is content complete and fully functional but may still need additional work.

 

As a side note, I didn't have much input into the high-level direction of the RPG advancement system.

Were you using an existing RPG ruleset or making your own?

Hmmmmm, mixed. Obviously pretty unfinished, all the popup, area load issues, placeholder dialogue/sfx, AI issues, and the weak explosions (or that hilariously bad animation with the queen...) should make that pretty obvious.

 

All the movie showed pretty much was combat. Which didn't look too exiting to be thruthfully. But then again, very early footage.

Would have helped make me decide more if more RPG stuff was shown :/

The skill tree stuff didn't look all that inspiring (a lot of stat boosts, the sort of thing Sawyer has publicly labeled  as suboptimal design, strangely enough) but there was this little bit:

 

From what I recall, you could be a marine or an engineer or a Company Man (fighter / caster / rogue, basically), and I imagine there would be a bit of unique content for each, or at least the NPCs would react to you differently. Given Obsidian's history I'm sure the Lifepath options would have at least some import beyond skill changes.

 

The benefit of a "bottle episode" RPG like Aliens is that, similarly to Alpha Protocol, there would be a very limited number of NPCs and CNCPs, and thus greater focus on things like characterization and choice / consequence (since you ostensibly need some of these people to survive, and not in an arbitrary GO-TO way). Especially choice / consequence, since you're in a desperate situation. There's little of the power fantasy so endemic to most RPGs, which is frankly the appeal of a horror RPG.

 

Speaking of which, time to play some SS2.

yes

y'all mother****ers are sleepin on the job goddamn http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-18-a-video-of-obsidians-aliens-rpg-appears

THE DREAM LIVES

From SA

 

It's very unlikely that priests will be strongly dominant healers in PE.

Lust For Life: The Game

From SA. Question asked:

 

In terms of animation and the like' date=' are you aiming for a BG/IWD style system where I engage a low-level fighter in combat, and he swings three times in a round, only one of which is actually an attack and can hit? Or are you aiming for more of a NWN/NWN2 style where the number of attacks you had in a round were accurately reflected (until you got to really high levels and a number of attacks just happen mechanically)?

 

Not a huge deal, I'm just curious as to whether we'll see Carbos / Shank fights in the early game where everyone's clumsily swinging at one another and whiffing, in that distinctly Morrowind way.

[/quote']

Josh's answer:

 

Rounds? Where we're going' date=' we don't need rounds... :science:

[/quote']

Discrete combat rounds are out, by the sound of it. Makes sense as the combat system will not have been designed and optimized for tabletop play.

My advice, if this is something you guys really want... make some noise.

This sounds like a good system to me. You've got the opportunity to cheese the system, but whatever, there's very little reason to design the game with the exclusion of such tactics in mind. If anything it would enhance replayability, since players might want to go through the game with a party configuration not allowed by the pre-built CNPC roster.

 

And I agree that placing the adventurers' guild in a mid- or late-game area (or equivalent) it would go a ways toward correcting any pacing or narrative issues cropping up around creating a full party from the start.

Also we should probably see about getting the update threads consolidated or creating an official subforum because they are going to clutter up the first page pretty quickly at this clip.

The color can definitely be changed - the WL2 people were actually looking for feedback re: which of three palettes to use (between that one, a more saturated one and a more muted one).

Especially since sequels would have to be Kickstarted / self-funded as well, engine overhauls will likely be a small consideration. If they've got the engine they need, and it does what they need it to do, then they should stick with it. Major changes between iterations will probably be game system refinements. This is how it was between Fallouts 1 and 2. I expect the same. And I expect that customers will anticipate a sequel more than they will a mere expansion. That's the reason why Dragon Age 2 was not called Dragon Age: Kirkwall, as it probably should have been.

 

Beyond that, if a game closes out a story and leaves room for a new one, it calls for a sequel. If it closes out an act of a story, it calls for an expansion.

NBD, sounds like the Gods act by proxy and deceit more often than not.

A Greek-style pantheon full of jealous, capricious deities with the temperament, appetites and discipline of blindingly rich 16 year-olds sounds about right.

You don't want to include expensive physical swag at lower tiers, because if you do then you'll end up spending a surprising amount of your KS funding to produce and ship rewards.

I'll be taking credit for all of this btw

 

yr welcome Josh

Souls confirmed B)

We'll get multiple endings. But no, I just remembered who you are and yeah, you still have precious little notion of what content seems to cost

I have no actual notion of a rough dollars-spent/hour ratio (if there even is one), but I would expect, with the density of what the game is trying to achieve, that it be about MotB length, so substantial Xpac length.

 

I'm gonna put my money on 10 hours for the base $1.1 mil game, plus another hour for every $200k is added. So right now we're at about 13 hours.

Given that there are going to be several classes and several races (+ subraces, + backgrounds) and Obsidz is on a very limited budget, designing and programming The Event in a different place for each build is a terrible idea. Not to mention writing / scripting every discrete reference to it elsewhere in the game.

Yes! Speculation!

 

Fwiw, the Ferg and co have said that there is no "karma" system per se, only faction and region reputation. This would indicate a strong unlikelihood that souls reflect specific or even gestalt moral actions. Purity / taint of a soul in that way is an explicit indicator of some objective, universal ethics.

It sounds like you're positing that souls retain some sort of consciousness of their own independant of the body they're inhabiting. If so, whose? If for instance it is a size 10 soul, meaning it's 10 times larger than the soul found within your average power person (using person philosophically as refers to an individual consciousness as opposed to meaning "human"), does that mean it's an amalgamation of 10 different people's past lives ie the preborn in Frank Herbert's Dune series? Or is it instead simply due to its relative size overpowering to other souls it comes into contact with? If so, the holder of the powerful soul perhaps sometimes feels like their mind is being invaded by foreign thoughts as their huge soul has a kind of soul gravity or magnetism to it that allows them to essentially experience the thoughts and feelings of those who are weaker than they are that are nearby whether they want to or not.

 

If that was the case, would a person with a big soul of high intelligence be able to use this information to gain extra influence on the people around them? Would a person with a big soul yet low intelligence sometimes fall victim to external urges and act irrationally, perhaps needing to be isolated in order to stay sane? Perhaps the more apt attribute would be willpower, how well they're able to compartmentalize the extra information they're being given and retain control over their own personality.

We don't know yet if there's a reincarnation aspect to the way souls work. For all we know, the soul might just be some sort of ~life force~ that is created when you're born / conceived and is extinguished when you die. It could be that souls are quite literally like fire - not a substance but a manifestation of a substance acting a certain way, a reaction to (meta)physical forces, and not really an entity in any sense at all.

 

As for what I was getting at, yeah, if the soul is imbued with power then I was wondering if, like fire, its energy can become too volatile and strong for its vessel to contain. A soul "gravity" is exactly how I would describe it - powerful souls, by some (meta)physical law or force, affect other souls in their vicinity. This might go a ways toward explaining things like spiritual movements or cults (bright souls affecting dimmer ones) or the reason why a person with a particularly powerful soul might be inclined to become an ascetic mystic or a remote hermit - either to minimize the power he/she has over others, or to cultivate it such that he/she can control it to a greater extent.

 

I like the notion of greater power creating, as a side effect, greater danger, both for the vessel and those around him/her. The player would, in his travels, come across people who have learned to somehow use their power for their own interests, to the detriment of others, people who have practiced some measure of control over their power, and people who might not even realize their "gift", and whose lives have collapsed as a force beyond their perception exerts control over them and their surroundings. A (perhaps THE) focus of the game would be on how to mitigate the extent to which these forces run rampant on the setting, and on the characters. Perhaps the nature of souls is not particularly well understood, perhaps there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that maybe souls aren't a force, but an entity that can either be a symbiote, parasite, or even a controller.

 

I don't know if anyone played the "Red Steel" 2nd ed D&D setting, but it has a similar sort of dynamic to it - characters gain power but as they do, they accumulate strange and horrific traits, like a thin, unremovable layer of crystal that covers their entire body (through which they have to puncture constantly, if they want to breathe).

Jarsh is gonna give us a Soul Update tomorrow, or so he says on Twitter. PUMPED