some small images from Game Informer online

[funcroc]

http://www.gameinformer.com/Magazine/

 

 

 

 

 

The first three banner images look like some parts of screenshots.

Edited March 14, 2008 by funcroc

[Meshugger]

Wow, almost too tiny to tell anything.

[Dagon]

I would prefer to see the scans than this tiny shots

[Pop]

It's not much, but we get our first glimpses of the engine in the first and third panels, and significant NPCs in that last one. And we can reasonably assume that there will be a mission in China and a mission in a city subway.

[Leferd]

Having read the GI article, I came away with a few impressions:

 

1) The dialogue system is in some ways similiar to Mass Effect but different. What your PC says is not written on screen but is chosen based on three archetypal personas.

-A. What James Bond would say.

-B. What Jason Bourne would say.

-C. What Jack Bauer would say.

However, I'm a little confused as to whether it is explicitly stated just what each choice will do/say? And will we have more than three options?

 

2) I certainly like the premise for romance in this game. There is none! It's just gonna be a shag fest James Bond style. No cringe-inducing courtship rituals ala Bioware.

 

3) If this game will be released roughly one year from now, will Obsidian have enough time for polish? They can't have been working on it for too long. Plus, if they actually will have time for polish, will this be a surperlatively short game? How much content can they produce for a game that uses the Unreal Engine 3 with such a relatively short development period? It took Bioware many years to produce ME.

[Pop]

Project Georgia's been worked on for at least since NWN2 came out, yes?

 

And no, they wouldn't be able to actually use the trademarks of Bond / Bourne / Bauer. They'll probably have "suave / utilitarian / savage" options. Which admittedly makes the dialogue system sound incredibly facile.

Edited March 15, 2008 by Pop

[Leferd]

Well, I remember that Avellone was the Creative Lead for Aliens before he bailed to be Lead Designer for P. Georgia. This wasn't too long ago was it? Maybe he was working on both titles concurrently before concentrating fully on Alpha. Still, my understanding is that being Lead Designer is a full time job, as is being a Creative Lead. Or was there some serious project personnel shuffling going ons behind the closed doors of OE?

 

For that matter, is Alpha Protocol scheduled to be released before Aliens?

[Pop]

Aliens is scheduled for Fall '09, and AP is scheduled for Spring '09. So yes. But you never know with game development.

[funcroc]

The first lead designer on AP was Raymond Holmes.

 

Lead Designer

Obsidian Entertainment

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

 

August 2006

Edited March 15, 2008 by funcroc

[Leferd]

*In awe*

 

Man, do you have everything written by/about any OE dev cross-referenced, catalogued, and organized into some master database, and easily recalled at your instant beckoning?

[Pop]

So AP's been in development for almost a year and a half. Another 6 months or so to wrap it up, maybe 3 or 4 months for testing, and you'd fit comfortably into that timetable.

 

So don't be surprised if we see some delays down the road.

[funcroc]

*In awe*

 

Man, do you have everything written by/about any OE dev cross-referenced, catalogued, and organized into some master database, and easily recalled at your instant beckoning?

 

I'm a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[Alvin Nelson]

That is amazing.

[Winterwolf]

The first lead designer on AP was Raymond Holmes.

 

Lead Designer

Obsidian Entertainment

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

 

August 2006

[Pop]

It appears MCA is in the same boat Josh helmed with NWN2, yes.

 

We'll just have to see how much of a problem Holmes' departure will spell for AP. For NWN2, Ferret (that was his name, right?) splitting caused a whole lot of cut content.

Edited March 15, 2008 by Pop

[Spider]

Brian Mitsoda is Creative Lead, if that helps any.

 

(although I'm sure MCA was involved in the origins of the game somehow. Isn't he like head of creative at Obs or something?)

 

Also, I don't think Ferret splitting is what caused the cut content. I'd guess they were behind schedule and stuff needed to be cut, regardless of who was heading the project. Maybe more could have been kept if Ferret had stayed, with him being more up to speed and all, but then again the rest of the team should have had a decent grasp on things I guess.

[J.E. Sawyer]

That content was begging to be cut for months prior to his departure, much like a gangrenous foot.

[Xard]

Mmm... foot *munch munch*

 

 

Well, there is still about one year worth of development time so MCA should have enough time to leave some blueprint on final product and not only "let's make this damn **** work somehow" a la NWN2 and Sawyer

 

 

And hasn't Mitsoda been lead writer for this game from the very beginning?

Edited March 16, 2008 by Xard

[Morgoth]

And hasn't Mitsoda been lead writer for this game from the very beginning?

And I hope he still is!

 

So, development started in March 06, and it will be released roughly 3 years later. That's quite some time, considering they already use a middle ware technology. But then again, art assets and experimentation in design always takes a lot time. I'm glad Obsidian found a publisher willing to support a new IP that just needs a fair budget and time.

[Xard]

Yeah, SEGA is far from bad publishers

[Morgoth]

In fact, they're one of the better ones out there. Still, they gotta do something about their horrible marketing.

[Zoma]

Sega needs to build connections with popular online blogs like Kotaku, or the folks at Penny Arcade for minimum cost of marketing IMO.

[Annie C. VanderMeer]

Anything that gets me to the Penny Arcade Expo to show off a game makes Annie do the Happy Dance.

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the PAX.

[sharkz]

Sega needs to build connections with popular online blogs like Kotaku, or the folks at Penny Arcade for minimum cost of marketing IMO.

 

Unfortunitly Sega and Kotaku will never happen, the writers at Kotaku would rather put negitive spin on just about every Sega announcment since they droped from hardware...

 

As for Marketing, Sega have stepped up a lot this year and last a good number of games have had TV commercials. By the time Alpha Protocol ships Segas Marketing will be as healthy as it used to be I'm sure of it. AP and Alien RPG will get strong marketing campaigns for sure. (Probably TV commercials)

[funcroc]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthrea...2#post341152257