DigitalMonk

While Obsidian has made an inordinate number of my favorite games ever, I will also be referencing things below from Bethesda and others. And I will be mentioning both good and bad things, from everybody. This is, of course, only my own opinion. Use your own IP or make up some. I'd rather the money go to you guys and the game than to a license holder. Steampunk sounds interesting, as does cyberpunk or space. But the main thing is do whatever gets your own creative juices flowing, because (for example) I'd rather have an amazing work of love set in "ye same olde high fantasy setting" than a mediocre work because you felt you had to fit it into a setting that you weren't really feeling. Turn-based or active-pause or VATS style combat. I like the KotOR style, and I'm currently enjoying Fallout 3. Main thing to me is smooth controls (GUI doesn't break me out of my immersion) and that I don't have to be a twitch freak. Isometric or first or third person doesn't really matter to me. The main thing is that I don't want to have to fight with the interface to do what I'm doing. If fixed isometric, don't hide doors/items behind the scenery where I have to sweep the mouse in a pixel hunt style. If dynamic isometric or third person, when I pan the camera around, fade out things that get between the camera and the character -- don't jump the camera in and out, and don't block my view. I can't think of any similar irritations in first person, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I like helpful features, but I know that they really annoy some players. Largely this is because I just don't have the time to spend obsessively poring over scenes looking for loot, or wandering the wilderness for days because the directions were a bit vague. So, I like "key to highlight interactable objects" and "quest compass marker" and "major NPC markers" and "auto pause on enemy sighting" and that kind of thing, but please make an obvious way in the options to turn them off for people who hate them. Mod-ability! Even if you want to sell the editor as a separate product so that you can get a feel for how many people actually want to create vs just play. But I love to see what people come up with, and I love having the ability, if I really wanted it, to go in and tweak something that wasn't quite the way I wanted it. A refinement of the mod-ability comment. I prefer Elder Scrolls style "you can modify the main world" mods over Arcanum or NWN style "you can load your characters into totally separate scenarios". I prefer to add flavors to my banquet feast rather than drive to another restaurant This one doesn't affect me now that I'm separated, but for everybody out there in a position like I used to be: Adult/violent/gory/cursing/no-good-guys-here kinds of stuff are interesting, but if they can't be turned off, there will be some people who can't play your game either because of their own preferences or because of their spouse or children or whatever. I've only been able to start playing Fallout 3 since my separation, because my wife couldn't take the use of the F-bomb and Bethesda wouldn't allow turning it off. Likewise for the considerable gore in that game. I'm not saying that you need a lot of knobs and switches, and I don't want to kill you with game re-balancing issues. But there are known obvious things that take you from PG-13 to TV-MA, and a big button to turn them off would be useful. If, on the other hand, you feel like challenging yourself with a lot of configuration knobs I REALLY like how System Shock 1 let you adjust the difficulty of all the different parts of the game, so that you could play it as anything from a twitch shooter to a casual puzzle adventure. I have nightmares thinking about balancing that throughout a game, but I do really, really wish it could be done again. I think we've gotten away from the old "pick a verb, then a target" style of gameplay, but just to be clear: There are only three useful verbs for 99% of all situations -- look/pickup/use -- and the game can automatically tell which one is appropriate: If I can pick it up, I pick it up (I can "use" it from my inventory). If I can use it, I use it. If nothing else, I look at it. The only exception I can see is that I might want to look at objects before I use them or pick them up, and that can be handled with a CTRL key or something. Just please don't make me cycle through a selection of verbs, or have to pick out which skill I want to use while using something. I want to use all my skills when I use something. If it is partially mechanical and partially computer, then do some kind of mixing of those skills and roll against that. Please give me sortable inventory. Something like Oblivion has, where I can sort my stuff by type, weight, value, condition, damage/resistance, charges, etc. Think the "Details" view of Windows Explorer I like the idea of being able to get through a game without fighting anybody, even though I've never been able to do that myself. But I like that the game is designed that flexibly, and that I could do it through replay. I like replay. Thank you. I am very excited to hear what you decide on, and to see the results.