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[–]H_asardeur have you already decided if the Aumaua and Orlans are going to be playable races? (selectable by the player at the start of the game?) Obsidian_Ent[S] JESawyer: Yes, we are planning to have aumaua and orlans as two of our playable races.

JamisonKrig Tim Cain - Considering how popular steampunk has gotten, have you thought of making a sequel to Arcanum? Would you have the rights to it, or are they held by Activision Blizzard? Obsidian_Ent[S] Tim Cain: those rights are held by Activision Blizzard, who got them from a chain of buy-sell events occurring after Sierra closed. I have often thought of making a sequel to Arcanum, especially since Troika designed a sequel called "Journey to the Centre of Arcanum" back in 2001, but I don't own the rights and there doesn't seem much interest from the publisher to back such a project.

]ZyrxilToo How much overlap is there in the people working on Wasteland 2 and P.E? Obsidian_Ent[S] Chris Avellone's multiple design personalities give their voices: There's only me working on Wasteland 2 (I feel so alone snfff snfff), and I'm working on wrapping up the area designs now. It's been a blast, and I'm really enoying working with Brian again - I usually am there 2 days out of the week at the inXile offices and attending design meetings, kicking around WL2 thoughts, etc.

CZYSTA_WODA What were your predictions on amount of money from Kickstarter before it started? Obsidian_Ent[S] Chris Avellone puts on Rasputin hat: Only our Art Director, Rob Nesler, felt super confident about us hitting our goal and hitting it so quickly. The rest of us felt it was more of a gamble, and we were afraid because of the amount we were asking - but we didn't feel it would be responsible of us to ask for less. Brian Fargo was the same way with WL2 - never ask for less than you need to make the game, be responsible budget-wise and be practical. If you don't get funded as a result, then you don't get funded, but it means you're not letting anyone down on both sides of the Kickstarter.

MDSVentus First off, a big thanks to you guys for being interested in creating a game in the form of Project Eternity that is trying to bring something that, in this current industry is distinct and interesting and attempting something different from what you see a lot nowadays. As to my question, I love what you guys have said so far in regards to the project including creating a great party system with full control and distinct classes. Along with the gameplay-related features, I'm extremely curious as to how personally developed the party characters will be. How well can you get to know them and will there be quests/extensive dialogue that helps develop them? To me, personal relationships with party members adds so much in many of the RPGs that have it, and I was wondering what the focus on that would be in Project Eternity. Obsidian_Ent[S] JESawyer: The companion characters will be very well-developed. It's something we love doing and we feel that companion reactivity can provide a lot of information about the world and a continual criticism (or praising) of the character's actions. Companions will have their own quest lines that you can not only complete, but determine the outcome of. Player choice will be important throughout the game and your interactions with companions will be no different in that regard.

hodnemocpenez Re: Powder guns. I backed this project because the promise of making BG-type of game was something from a dream. But your plan to include powder guns into the game is taking me down little bit. Can you please explain more in detail how common the guns will be? Obsidian_Ent[S] JESawyer: Guns are not particularly common and are universally single-shot black powder weapons. They are powerful (especially against wizards using an arcane veil for defense), but they are so inaccurate and slow to reload that most people would rather use a bow or crossbow, especially at long range. Side note: similar firearms were actually in the Forgotten Realms following the Time of Troubles. It's just rare to see any character using them.

tentomasz Hey, first of all: thanks for opening paypal option. Otherwise I wouldnt be able to support you. Could you please elaborate as much as you can about P:E's story? I guess it's not only me who's hoping it will be the most important part of the game. Please bring back this thrill I could experience during the good old days where it wasn't all about "expand your group, kill the finall boss, boom, end of the story". I'm reaaaaaally hoping for something I will be telling about long after I'll be done with P:E. Obsidian_Ent[S] Chris Avellone pontificates: I can elaborate on how we approach the story structure, if that helps, although I don't want to say anything more than that right now. Here's the process we ideally want to follow: Understand the core mechanics, classes, and magic systems, as well as the "physics" that underlie the world. This may sound obvious, but when writing for a companion that has a certain profession of class, you need to understand everything about the mechanics of that class to make it work - when I was doing Gann in Mask of the Betrayer, the fact that his class choice didn't mesh well with his character and Kaelyn's did was my fault, and I should have put more effort into finding more ties between Gann and his chosen profession as I feel it would have made his character stronger. Quantify the principle differences/unique elements and themes of the world. For example, the concept of souls in PE is extremely important, and all the players and companions should have opportunities to see examples of the range of soul mechanics and discuss/have quests/gain lore according to it. Nail down your theme. Once the player movement set and toolset is established, the lore is set up, and we have a sense of how the world moves and why, then you place the player and his companions (usually as sounding boards) in the middle of that situation. I don't feel that every game has to have a theme (it should be a game first, and subtext should come second to entertainment) but if you make a strong theme that's developed well, I feel that does make a game more fun and meaningful for a player that's exploring it.

cave_rat Will I be able to pick locks if I play as a barbarian? In other words, will skills in PE be class-specific? Obsidian_Ent[S] JESawyer: Skills will not be class-specific, though classes may have inherent bonuses with certain skills. If you want to blast up Mechanics with your barbarian, you can do that. You probably won't be as good as a Rogue who is dedicated to Mechanics, but you won't be restricted from putting points into those skills.

NudoJudo With level growth planning to be slower in PE, will there be leveling mechanics to make each level more meaningful? Eg: feats/perks/talents/skill points/gold stars per level instead of every two or three levels. Obsidian_Ent[S] Tim Cain: Yes. Our intention is that you will level more slowly than many modern games, but each level will feel significant in terms of power level and new abilities. If you play like me, you will already be planning where to spend your points when you level up, so when that "ding" happens, you will upgrade your character and immediately look for someone new to fight/talk to/sneak past, just to try out the new abilities.

Nithrakis Josh, you name drop MicroProse's 1992 Darklands quite frequently. If you were given the opportunity, would you like to do a direct sequel to Darklands? And, if so, what would you change about it? Also, what aspects of Darklands can we expect to see in Project Eternity? Obsidian_Ent[S] JESawyer: Yes, I would definitely work on a direct sequel/reboot/whatever to Darklands. I would probably want to restructure some of the skills in the system (or adjust the game's content) so players got more use out of the neglected skills like Streetwise, Ride, or Speak Latin. Also I'd like to offer alternatives to being a virtuous Catholic in the game, which was pretty much "the way" to play. Overall, though, I still think it holds up very well. The aspect of Darklands I'm most interested in trying out in Project Eternity is the manner in which certain non-combat sequences/conversations are presented with an illustrated scene accompanied by text. Performing a ritual, talking with an important character at a specific time/place, or even figuring out how to cross a broken bridge -- those are all things that I could see taking place in such a format.

ARTIFICIAL_SAPIENCE Is there any interest in including another incarnation of Ravel? The last one I recognized was back in KOTOR 2. Has the concept become less interesting? Obsidian_Ent[S] Chris Avellone thinks: I think Ravel's been explored enough. If I did another D&D game, I might, but Kreia in K2 was designed to explore that relationship more, and I feel she ended up being a thorough exploration of her personality archetype so much so I don't feel the need to go any further. It also helped that the context of the Star Wars universe also helped give her a fresh take. The fact that Ravel existed across the Planes and perceived time differently than others was always an interesting element to write for. And I always liked her for her more honest emotions (feelings for the player and her attempts to do good and change her nature even when her nature got in the way).

jarpie If you are going to put social skills such as speech, diplomacy, persuasion, intimidate or something similar to those, would they be tied to the classes like in D&D 3E/3,5E or free for all classes? ChrisAvelloneCCO Obsidian Entertainment We are tying responses to attributes, but what we want to avoid in the mechanics is using attributes as "insta-win" buttons (for example, often in previous RPG titles, using the Skill option often is the instant win for quest solutions). What we'd rather do is have attributes and skills open up a range of new information that allows you to make a more informed decision about a choice rather than gate you to a solution. This may sound complicated, but it's like the Empathy skill in Fallout 1 and 2 - it would only tell you if the person you were talking to would react positively or negatively to your dialogue option, but that didn't mean it was the right option to choose in every situation, and sometimes you wanted to make someone mad to achieve your goal. Hope that makes sense.

]Nosferax -1 points Will there be multiplayer available? ChrisAvelloneCCO Obsidian Entertainment No multiplayer, no. We're focusing on the single-player experience.

[–]GoldenSama First off, a big thank you to you guys. I’ve spent more hours playing Fallout games than I can count. Absolutely love the universe, the settings and the games. What are your involvements in the future of the franchise? Are you guys involved in Fallout 4, or have plans for any other upcoming Fallout titles? How do you feel about mods? And one final question, because I have always wondered… why is there only short-hair in the character creation? ChrisAvelloneCCO Obsidian Entertainment Fallout is all in Bethesda's hands. We loved working on Fallout 2 and New Vegas (and obviously, Tim on Fallout 1 and 2). We love mods. Not only because it gives a chance to see what players can make (and use it as a way of testing potential design candidates), but it's also informative in terms of letting us know what design elements to include in future installments. As an example, the "Sink" in Old World Blues was due directly through realizing how frequently people made homebase mods and then designing a DLC around that.

Thanks and i am using it now, had to duck out for a few to do the new 2 hour update.

[–]dinxusa Thank you all for doing an AMA! What do you think is it about the Fallout series is it that makes it so popular? What do you like about it? PS thank you for writing the Fallout Bible! TimCain I have always thought that Fallout was popular, in part, because it introduced a world with no law and a very grey morality and then asked the player "how will you behave?". The player had to decide if he or she wanted to be nice or to act badly, and then to live with those consequences. This feature not only made the game replayable (what would happen if I was nice to those ghouls instead of killing them all?), but I'd like to think that it made people think more about how they act in real life.

2 hour update time! 3,311,248 is our new total a 21,092 increase or 10.5k/hour. Our backers now total 65,744 a 273 increase or 136/hour.

I'm posting them for everyone else. Yes, but look at my links. All answers show up there! I'm just trying to make posting it easier for you. Are you using them? Err no, I was actually doing a lot of 'deleting' and reformatting.

I'm posting them for everyone else.

]delias_ What are some of the harder aspects of having the ability to create all new lore, geography, etc. this time around? Previously, many of the BI and Obsidian games have worked within existing worlds, like the Forgotten Realms where awesome places like "The Spine of the World" already existed. Any major tug-of-war going on between you about what something should be named, perhaps? Obsidian_Ent JESawyer: I think the most difficult aspect right now is that generating content during the Kickstarter campaign is very "seat of the pants". A brand new setting takes a lot of time to fully develop since you have virtually nothing to start with. We haven't had many arguments/disagreements about how things should be named. The general approach is that things around the Dyrwood are named by Aedyr settlers using common words/names that are either plain English or Old English in origin (or at least OE in "feel").

[–]gyshall Can we expect to see unique dialog choices and options for characters with low intelligence? Or unique ones relating to skill/feat/talent/etc levels? ChrisAvelloneCCO Obsidian Entertainment Absolutely, it's an important part of the dialogue process, and from a dialogue standpoint, they're a lot of fun to do. I really enjoyed doing the ones for Vault City in Fallout 2, especially. Ideally, the more reactive you can make the dialogue to a character's stats and attributes, the better, obviously, and we intend to do it in this title.

[–]hswbaz How do you feel about the current trend of RPGs and where would you like to see it go/what would you like to see changed? ChrisAvelloneCCO Obsidian Entertainment The genre's definitely advancing in some ways (art fidelity, voice/sound) and technology aspects, although sometimes I worry that some of the older elements that made RPGs RPGs has gotten lost along the way. For example, party-based control, ability to write your own bios and enter your own text, and also some customization elements (importing your own portraits, for example, rather than sticking with the range the devs allow). While there are some technology elements that may make games better games, I don't know if those technological improvements make them better role-playing games. As an example (and I cite this one a lot because it changed my design philosophy), the idea that skills and attributes could change your dialogue options in Fallout 1 was brilliant and didn't need anything from the latest processor or video card.

[–]syn2083 A lot has been talked about regarding combat, and some of the mechanics. Can you describe how the lore, or mythos will effect the abilities or spells available within the game. EG In Dungeons and Dragons a cleric may worship a specific god, and be granted specific abilities due to this. Will there be any mechanic akin to this, and if so, will it be limited only to a 'cleric' like entity? I find that this is an often under-used mechanic that can really enhance the 'getting into the world' factor. jesawyer Priests and possibly paladins will have altered access to lists of spells and abilities based on their chosen deity or cause. It's not about the god/cause limiting it, but the person limiting their access themselves since their power is internally-derived.

[–]Greenei 5 points How are you going to handle reactions from the world on actions of the Player (like thievery, violence and murder) or events in the world itself? Will there be some kind of legal system? Will NPC remember how you treated them and will there be ways to get on a good branch with them again? Will NPCs be reflective of what's going on in the world and have dialogue about it? [–]jesawyer 2 points 1 minute ago We haven't discussed reactions to criminal acts, but we'd like there to be good reactivity to those events. For reputation, we will be using a modified version of the system found in F:NV, which allowed for a broad spectrum of reactions that could shift over time. Not having to worry about full voice acting means we can have even more reactions to player actions from NPCs throughout the world. Overall, this is pretty important to us so we will support it as much as we can.

[–]Justhammer 8 points 7 minutes ago With the release of the screenshot, the fans got a glimpse at what 10 years of rendering technology can add to the Infinity Engine. Can you tell us what, if any improvements, that can/will be made to Character/character animations as Project Eternity moves forward? [–]jesawyer 8 points 2 minutes ago The animators are looking at Unity 4's Mecanim system and what it can allow us to do. One of the big differences is that working with 3D characters instead of sprites means that we have a lot more flexibility for equipment/armor/weapon combos on characters. Also we can do much better blending and animation scaling since adjustments and interpolation can be done in real-time.