Diogo Ribeiro

Just as a test, this a character sketch from some time ago. Not really anything interesting or about the gameplay, it was made to give myself an idea on what kind of artwork, and how the main character would likely be.

So by association, does that mean that Baldur's Gate villains stinked?

I was thinking of a gameworld which ideally combined both places, the real (or a semblance of it) and the fantastic (a land of the dead). You've been reading my notes haven't you? I came up with a setup for the game some years ago, but stumbled upon a problem. Death Jr. pretty much picked up on the same premise, and was then released, so I tried to do something different. In my case, I went with a more or less similar approach to that. Later on I went with a school for youngsters who would all train and study hard in order to be the next in line to take the role of Death. Death was meant to be chosen by a universal council, but one element of the council wanted the role for himself so he tried to sabotage their election by kidnapping all the future candidates. When he strikes at the 'death training camp' the main character is in, was when the story was meant to begin.

Gnarl**... *rabble*... *grrr*

That much is manifest, and doesn't address the question. I'm not questioning why they need to make a profit. I'm questioning why the profit they need to make has to equal the profit a much more mainstream game would make. Why does Fallout need to be changed in order to comercially compete with games like the very own Bethesda makes? Maybe they weren't satisfied with the profit it made back then and wanted it to make more? A legitimate stance, but it doesn't provide any support for your claim, or for the idea that it must make profit as if it somehow didn't - because it already did. If you want to argue that they want it to be more profitable, then that's a different discussion. Indie developers make their players happy and are in the 'business' as well. While they are based on a different business model, they prove that you don't have to sell as much as The Sims 2 in order to stay in the business.

Fallout already was a commercially successful franchise. It already made money. Of course, it didn't made as much money as something like Knights of the Old Republic. Question is, why does it need to sell that much?

Why does a niche game or franchise forcefully have to 'evolve' into a mainstream title?

True that. Gimme some time to finish wrapping up some of the stuff; I promise there'll be something to show by the beginning of February

4. Our module, Magical Volo!

Speaking of which I'm left with the decision on what kind of setting or theme I'll choose, which will then pretty much determine what story will figure into it. With that said, some of the settings I had in mind were: Science Fiction, more likely Cyberpunk Post Apocalyptic Superhero Horror Fantasy Weird To more or less expand on each setting or theme... The Cyberpunk theme had a background story pertaining to artificial intelligences striving for freedom and their interactions with their creators. The Post Apoc setting wasn't that much developed, except that it was meant to be about the psychological effect on a human (or group of humans) who managed to survive some cataclysm, and now roam a wasteland. The Superhero thing was basically meant to be an adventure game with some action and strategy elements, but can be worked into something else. It started with the death of the world's greatest hero the very same day the main character decided to become a superhero, and it would be up to him to try and solve the mystery. On the other hand it could initially forget about it and do what he felt like, helping the needy or just kicking their crotch. Horror would likely involve just that, horror. Not sure yet on what scale, but I had written a basic concept about several horror chapters about a man who could experience past actions of murderers. Fantasy would likely involve some magical fantasy setting but without the combat. Perhaps a bit more puzzle intensive but the context was of some kid trying to restore the world via magical artifacts found in ruins. Weird... Well, if I remember correctly it was about Death disappearing from the universe. And about the next person in line to take the mantle of Death stumbling upon a conspiracy of someone else who wanted to take the mantle for itself.

Est

That's an entirely different project. Me and Magical Volo were in talks of developing a NWN2 module but its currently not in any meaningful development for a couple of reasons. For one, Neverwinter Nights 2 hasn't been released yet (we were hoping to see what the first modders could provide in terms of scripting and creature modeling for some of our ideas). Also, since I haven't made any significant advancement in the module's development, and Volourn was at the time working on his own Neverwinter Nights module, there wasn't much to start with. I've shared some of the concepts I had with him, and hopefully we'll have more to work with as NWN2's release draws near.

oh noes! foiled again!

I share some of the opinions and preferences you've all shown. I think Llyranor was pretty much spot on about a desire to see his model of storydriven choices applied more often, although I'm inclined to believe this is perhaps a more genuine concern regarding roleplaying games... For the most part, I think adventure games do follow that. Of course, I may be wrong. As for puzzles and such, they can often become too much and I also agree that they are sometimes out-of-story and only there to artificially inflate the game's lenght or to present some sort of challenge in otherwise easy games. This doesn't mean they should be entirely removed, but I think the idea of a puzzle often relies on an archaic notion. Obstacles don't have to be about flipping switches or making a nuclear missile out of radioactive bubblegum, a hairpin and a tape recorder. They can be, but they don't have to be. But this isn't to say puzzles wouldn't have a place of their own... In a game where, say, a group of humans are kidnapped and placed in an alien labyrinth to be tested, I'm sure there's a lot of puzzles that could be credibly worked into that (admitedly campy) scenario. Maybe we'd all get bored at all the puzzles eventually, and it would considerably lessen replayability, but in that scenario it could be credible nonetheless. Much as I like Zelda games, at times the puzzle solving becomes boring. The puzzles are nice and sometimes fiendish but nearly always logical, and mostly fun... But their placement in dungeons is usually taxing. Especially when they've been solved but are reset when you leave the room and enter it at a future time. I think puzzles should be great mind twisters but they should also feel more natural to the gameworld rather than just dumped there. I also think they should try to draw more on player perception and ingenuity.

Yes. Reaching Godlike power in 30 hours is stupid and poor game design. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What if the game was designed so that you needed to increase in power as fast as you could in order to counter the villain's own race for power? Assume the game becomes harder the more time you take to level up, that the gameworld suffers more and more destruction the more time you take to become stronger because the villain is actually struggling for power as well and is not waiting for you to go around the gameworld becoming stronger so you can beat him? Still stupid? Of course, this is an "what if?" case that at least has a justification for levelling to occur in a fast paced way. Personally I'm more adept of slower level progressions.

No. And by "no" I mean maybe.

Well, I'm using 'adventure games' to describe games such as Gabriel Knight, Grim Fandango, Broken Sword, Beneat a Steel Sky and The Longest Journey.

So you want to play something that really evokes the feeling of adventure. What do you think is required to achieve this? What kind of feature from the ones presented above is more prominent in the games you play, and in the games you enjoyed the most? Also, what would ideally be your dream setting for an adventure game? Do you prefer any particular setting, or do you just accept what is given to you as long as it is well devised, consistent, or even charming?

I didn't miss the point. I deliberately went around it.

True. Who needs a cure for AIDS when we have green ham?

NOLF stands for No One LARPs Forever. "

I'd likely just trash mine and buy me a new one.

Pretty sad really, considering I actually didn't do a web search or anything. It just popped up. I probably can't remember what happened in class last week, but suddenly I remember the lyrics of the intro tune of a cartoon series I didn't like much.

Indeed. Although I'd suggest there always remain at least one or two options that run contrary to the character's alignment so chaotic characters will have a roleplaying outlet. Unfortunately this would perhaps mean a considerable increase in dialogue options, something which just doesn't seem like something developers are willing to spend time on. In the end, perhaps its best to concentrate on the options above.

Edited for the missing part.