TentamusDarkblade
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Posts posted by TentamusDarkblade
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Just want to note that Xard poke at the aliens/predator cross-over and the alien versus alien EU stories were actually really good.
Dark Horse comic's Aliens Versus Predators was a great realization of how these two races would interact and how things would go if humanity happened to muck things up. It's a much more enjoyable story than the movie that came out a couple years ago.
The Aliens versus Aliens comic story, i believe was called Genocide, was a story about how as a species Aliens dealt with mutations. The inking of the comic made the two 'tribes' of aliens different colors so readers could differentiate them. The narrative follows a rich industrialist as he mounts an expedition to the alien homeworld in an attempt to collect samples of the queen's royal jelly (used to transform regular aliens into praetorian guard version). It's a fun read and stays well within established Aliens mythology.
If anything, the majority of the Dark Horse comics run of Aliens handled the mythos with more respect and staying within tradition than Aliens 3 or Resurrection did. Sure, they cast the space jockey's as malevolent bastards, but it was built off the concept of the derelict being a biological weapon bomber. I can accept that kind of direction shift a lot easier than Alien 3's idea that the aliens genetic structure changed based on the host organism (dog aliens....what the ****?) or Alien resurrection's human/alien/Michael Jordan hybrid and acid spitter aliens (if they could spit acid, then why did they have to tear apart one to escape the cells???)
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Muso' is dead on, Doom 3's computer interfaces scattered around where the perfect level of immersion into in-game data and text.
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being attached to the characters is more of a by-product of being emotionally invested in the overall story.
If you give the player a series of choices though-out the game and tell a story that emotionally hooks a player into it, then the ending needs to both offer an emotionally satisfying and logical conclusion. If the story has lead, logically, to a showdown with a big-bad then an end boss fight can make complete sense and be emotionally satisfying story-wise. It's all in how you frame the story and then staying honest to that narrative.
Aliens ended with a big-bad fight, with Ripley facing down the queen in the Sulaco's dropship bay. Did it feel cheap or did that feel like a natural part of the over-all story?
(as a side note, the original ending to Se7en was supposed to be Morgan Freeman shooting Kevin Spacey in the head, saving Brad Pitt from having to make that decision and sacrificing himself to break conclusion of the final sin - wrath.)
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I think you haven't seen what the advantages really are. Having a core technology that is built to be user friendly and marketable is a huge thing, having a built-in knowledge bases that has already encountered and dealt with the issue you'll likely face, devoting dev time on tweaking and modifying for core features instead of basic subsystem integration, working with a known quantity as a starting point...all of these things are pretty big.
Plus, in house devs are looking to create a tool that works to spec, not generally one that's artist or designer friendly. Thats generally considered a luxury that the devs skip and you end up losing productivity time because it's just not easy for your design or art team to use on a daily basis, even if it does perform the tasks you need it to do.
still, these are just my opinions. But i fail to see the advantage of doing the in-house dev work unless you're specifically trying to A) create a tech showpiece that pushes the hardware boundaries or B) Creating a game that is so different, so unique, that nothing would fit without massive modification.
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i think the trick of emotional connections like family or romances is the fact that players choose them. If they're just written-in as a given, like having the player start off with an already established emotional connection like a wife and kids, then the player feels not only less vested in them, but mildly resentful because it was forced on them.
You could write the entire thing the same way, but give the player the sense that it's something they chose in the beginning, and suddenly it's something the player can feel vested in, feel honestly emotionally tied to.
The base interaction is there. A Protagonist, a former love interest who's moved on, and her family who she is driven to protect. The player can approach that interaction as a knight in shining armor, a heartless mercenary, or something in between and it's completely the player's choice, giving them the role-playing options to progress in a manner that they believe fits their character.
Hell, even add in a potential new flame for the protagonist so there is a romantic options and you could still have all of the above interactions in place for the story line.
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Unreal Tech is used in Project Georgia, as far as I know.
Every good company needs a rocket-solid in-house tech/toolset. Obsidian got enough time from SEGA after all to build a new one. No Aurora clunkiness anymore.
i don't believe that, really. Building an in-house engine is, for the most part, a waste of dev time unless you're planning on being a tech showpiece instead of a great game (i'm looking at you Doom3!). Better to let a company who is entirely focused on making a solid engine with stable interconnectivity between various subsystems like PhysX or Havok do the heavy lifting in that dept. while you focus on art assets and game mechanics.
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I think my idea fits the theme of survival pretty well.
I like your idea, but from a design standpoint i wouldn't go with it. Folks don't, even if they won't admit it, seem to enjoy the romantic elements in RPGs but as a choice. Having a preset relationship that is beyond the player's choice would just be a turn off for most players.
Now, if you took your idea and twisted a bit, made the protagonist an ex-husband and the ex-wife has moved on and has a new family, now the story is more player friendly. Plus, think of the dramatic aspect of it - the ex-husband who has the means to get them off planet, the ex-wife with her child in tow, the new husband missing among the aliens.
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I think we've collectively learned a lot from the mistakes we made in developing modifying Aurora into Electron.
But is that technology that will provide the type of game-play experience that fans are looking for? I think you guys did a remarkable job in how you've built on previous technologies for NWN2 and KOTOR2, but neither of those games really captured the "in the moment" game-play that you've mentioned as being something you're shooting for.
Do you think Obsidian's best choice for technologies is to develop in-house or to take a proven technology (UR3 for example) and build on it?
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I'd really like to see the game stick to the basic arching goal of the first two movies. In Alien the goal, by the end, was simply get the hell away from the alien. Aliens, it was about getting the hell off the planet.
Survival may seem like too simple of a main goal, but look what it encompassed in those movies. Alien: Ash's betrayal on company orders, the fatal air duct hunt by Dallas, Ripley's mad dash through the ship to trigger the self destruct, and the final face-off with the alien on the escape shuttle.
Aliens: The tragic crash of spunkmeyer and Ferro, the long trek by bishop to the relay tower, The last stand in ops, Burke's betrayal, the desperate flight through the ducts, Ripley's rescue mission for newt, and the final showdown with the queen.
All of these things happened as obstacles to survival and made for highly enjoyable entertainment. Why not follow suit in a game? Forget saving the universe, save yourself (at least in the first installment).
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From the ground up, unless something changed.
I thought i heard that they were using the Unreal 3 engine. Which i say thank god to...i'm tired of seeing companies wasting time re-inventing the wheel when it comes to the basics.
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Action: My hope is that an Aliens game would have a nice mix of fast paced visceral action, slower moments where the "threat" of action keeps me on my toes, and more sedate moments to catch my breath and engage the world around me in a non-tactical way. I'd not want to see stat/skill checks when performing actions as much as stat/skill modifiers to those actions; i.e. my targeting reticule expands slower when firing on full auto as i increase my strength or firearm skill instead of am artificial forced miss (a la Bloodlines). stat/skill checks are fine for non-combat interactions, such as dialog, would be kosher.
Perspective: I'm going to say Third Person for this. I like seeing my character and i like having the larger view of the world around my characters. I look at games like Gears of War or Lost World and just imagine how amazing a fully realized Aliens game would look and i get all misty.
Combat: exclusively ranged weapons with melee options, much like halo. The caveat being that it shouldn't really do much, if any, damage. Instead it should push back an opponent and give the player some breathing room to fire his weapon without fear of spray.
world interactivity: Please, please, please steal the computer interface style of Doom 3. For all that utterly drove me nuts in that game, how you interacted with various computer monitors was perfect. It added to my sense of being part of a real, living setting and didn't break the pacing or tension of a moment. With the Aliens setting I'd love to be able to gather information from computers, use security stations to override atmospheric controls to take out enemies, all while not removing myself from the moment.
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My only fear is that they'll listen to the fanboys.
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you failed to include the true SW failure...Star Wars: Galaxies.
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Chu's answer is most dead on. If you want people to hear your ideas, get in the industry. Start in the "mailroom" of QA and work your way up. Find an internship and jump into it with 110% effort. Once you're in, you'll find it's easier to both frame your ideas so that people will buy into them and you'll be closer to having the access you need to talk to the people who get projects greenlighted.
Another thing i'd recommend is to take your ground shaking idea and put it in a pitch doc. Like was said, everyone and their mother has an idea. What you'll need to do is put that idea down and make it tangible.
Taking the time to learn how to write a full and comprehensive pitch doc shows that you not only can come up with simply stunning ideas, but that you can translate those ideas into something that artists, engineers, and other designers can pick up and understand. I cannot over-state how important that is. Your idea is *nothing* if you can't put it on paper in a form that anyone picking it up can grasp.
after all that, good luck. the games industry is alot of fun once you're in and there is going to always be a demand for folks who can sell their ideas.
EDIT: Ps Laozi, i miss your Monarch icon
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Shadowrun's IP is currently owned by MS. the rumour mill has it that they are making a FPRPG with it much like Deus Ex. Strong odds lay with it being a console title, since MS is cutting back (basically ending) their PC game publishing deals.
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Hi!
I usually shy away from forums, but I saw this Developer's Corner and was intrigued.
I've been developing software for many years now. These have been primarily government contracting jobs, but I've done a couple of commercial apps as well (one of which I am trying to market.) My question is very basic...
When it comes to testing software applications, what are the best approaches?
I ask this because, at present, the project that I'm currently working on has no real testing procedures or policies to speak of. In fact, we don't even have a test lab. It seems (with at least my organization) that testing gets put off and put off until it is just too late in the development cycle to even matter. Try as I do; I don't write bug-free code. I can't imagine any programmer who does, but obviously some bugs are harder to find than others.
As for testing, the company I'm with has just started seriously thinking about a test lab. What sort of computer systems does Obsidian use (i.e. Dell, Gateway, home built?) How many? Do you automate your tests? What sort of tools do you use (commercial or in-house?)
Thanks,
Brian
check out this book and any book by Cem Kaner. All of MS test reads these books. Nearly ever successful game and app tester has read the books by this guy.
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Greg Rucka's Atticus Kodiak Series
Matt Reilly's Scarecrow series
China Meiville's Rat King and New Corbuzon series
Patricia Bray's Sword of Truth series
Frank Herbert's Dune series
Scott McLeod's Understanding comic books
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I am a semi-professional [fiction] writer
No, you're a self-important windbag.
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oh well, time to kill this screen name anyway.
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If I had to choose I
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*Cough*Darksun*Cough*I know of Rifts, and I am very familiar with the Palladium system, and I really hate it.But I was thinking on Hades idea, as I was washing the dishes, and I think it could be really neat. Basically, take something like a basic fantasy D&D setting and blow it up via a magical apocolypse. Through the abuse of magical forces, all those who tapped into the magica forces damaged and weakened it irrevocably, and ultimately destroyed it, causing mass destruction. All magic users are killed, and the lands ravaged.
Set the game some time after the event (a decade perhaps). There is no contact with the gods, they may or may not still exists, some priests might even consider mages god-killers and hate the very utterance of any magic reference. So while priests exist, they are healers by traditional methods, and can curse and bless only through their followers believing that it's possible, so faith is just that - belief and dogma. There'd be charlatans, fanatics, doomsayers and whatnot.
And in this world the races and cultures are struggling to rebuild and crawl out from under the ruin.
Could be fun.
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Yes, Monolith did Shogo.
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OE doesn't need to be at e3 to announce something, only they're publisher. This is especially true if they don't have anything to demo yet.
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they betrayed our trust dude, they owe us a lot
you're either joking or an idiot. which is it?
Is the Alien(s) Franchise Suitable for CRPGs?
in Aliens RPG: Speculation & Discussion
Posted
because, looking at if from a genetics point of view, the entire species would basically be drastically mutating every time they reproduced. That makes no sense for a species that's basic driving factor is simply to propagate the species. Sure, it may give writers an easy out...but that doesn't make it a good idea or make it make any sense.