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Alpha Protocol's writing


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There's some uncertainty/controversy over Alpha Protocol's lead writer. Of course game has writing team, but lead writer has always left considerable blueprint on the game; On KotOR2 you can see Avellone's craft since the beginning, MotB's story was Ziet's baby and presumably Aliens will be Josh Show: The RPG

 

Nowadays Alpha Protocol's lead writer position belongs to Lead Designer Avellone as exemplified by many mention by himself and others. In particular Anthony Davis recently said at codex "AP is oriented more towards action, but the story and dialog are still Chris Avellone. Matt McClean has done a bang-up job implementing an RPG system that is fun and actually has meaning in an RPG world. "

 

However this game has been under production/designing for many years now and it has had one or two previous lead designers (can't remember, confirmation on that would be cool too).

 

Even though lead designers have changed through these years Brian Mitsoda was the Creative Lead for Alpha Protocol all the time.

 

Now this leads to conclusion that substantial amount - and at least the main story itself - has been written by him already as well as numerous characters etc. material in game, which in turn goes against more recent info we've had. So what's roles of MCA and Mitsoda if they are compared? Avellone is OE's "Creative Director" or whatever that mojo-filtered title was meaning he has his hands at least writingwise in all your games. In MotB Avellone wrote Gann and Kaelyn based on Ziet's initial idea/theme for the character(s).

 

So did Avellone come up with skeleton of the storyline (and some characters) during preproduction and then left the responsibility for Mitsoda to create proper body around the bones? Or did Mitsoda come up with "bones" and most of "body" as well for the game?

 

It is rather confusing, especially now that Mitsoda haven't been mentioned since the initial Game Informer IIRC. Apparently he hasn't left Obsidian (thank god) but he no longer seem to be involved with Alpha Protocol, at least fulltime. So did he get shift on some another (that unannounced?) project?

 

 

 

This thing interests me greatly even alone from the POV of how you guys build your storylines for your games. It would also give some indication how much of previous writing has been scrapped (presumably with the shift from down to earth approach to over the top one) etc. :)

 

 

 

 

As for the ( utterly random) topic description...

 

I wished I believed in romance more than Bioware. -_- I just can't write it unless one of the pair gets impaled on a pike, set on fire, or betrays the other and then impales them on a pike or sets them on fire. Generally, I prefer unrequited, melancholy, quiet suffering whenever possible, which really doesn't go over well with a lot of the role-players out there.

 

lol finn mentality much? :)

 

 

 

edit: In fact it was mentioned in Game Informer Mitsoda is no longer working on AP. But questions stays

Edited by Xard

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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I would also like to know that who I must worship for this game. I mean, it is confusing - should I worship Avellone or Mitsoda? Or someone else? I mean, if someone would just say that you need to worship this guy for this game out loud - yeah, you guys should have a "To Whom I Should Look Up In Awe" (Twisluia for short) job title, as it would save all of us from those embarassing situations, when we finally manage to pass the security and break into Obsidian, and then we lay ourselves before the feet of the wrong person. Avellone sure must be getting tired of correcting us all the time.

 

"Are you The Messiah, Savior of Mankind, Son of God?"

"No, not really. He was the lead writer on that game."

Enough with the dancing clown.

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It is rather confusing, especially now that Mitsoda haven't been mentioned since the initial Game Informer IIRC. Apparently he hasn't left Obsidian (thank god) but he no longer seem to be involved with Alpha Protocol, at least fulltime. So did he get shift on some another (that unannounced?) project?

 

Mitsoda is still with Obsidian? That's a relief. Also, to be perfectly honest, I don't care specifically who wrote what. As long as I know Mitsoda and Avellone worked on AP, it's all good! :sorcerer: Mitsoda did story and dialog for Bloodlines (which excelled in both) while Avellone wrote a lot of stuff for both PS:T and KotOR2. That's all I need to know.

Edited by fastpunk

"We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

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It is rather confusing, especially now that Mitsoda haven't been mentioned since the initial Game Informer IIRC. Apparently he hasn't left Obsidian (thank god) but he no longer seem to be involved with Alpha Protocol, at least fulltime. So did he get shift on some another (that unannounced?) project?

 

Mitsoda is still with Obsidian? That's a relief. Also, to be perfectly honest, I don't care specifically who wrote what. As long as I know Mitsoda and Avellone worked on AP, it's all good! :sorcerer: Mitsoda did story and dialog for Bloodlines (which excelled in both) while Avellone wrote a lot of stuff for both PS:T and KotOR2. That's all I need to know.

 

Judging by the place he lives according to Myspace yes. At least I don't know any other developer studios on the area than OE

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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Judging by the place he lives according to Myspace yes. At least I don't know any other developer studios on the area than OE

 

Oh. So it's not for sure that he's still with OE... :sorcerer: I hope he is.

"We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Judging by the place he lives according to Myspace yes. At least I don't know any other developer studios on the area than OE

 

Oh. So it's not for sure that he's still with OE... :sorcerer: I hope he is.

 

Nope, there's no word about it and it makes me a bit worried.

 

But then again I fail to see reason why he wouldn't be working at OE anymore

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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I'm already worshipping Avellone for K2's story.

"Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"

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I wished I believed in romance more than Bioware. :) I just can't write it unless one of the pair gets impaled on a pike, set on fire, or betrays the other and then impales them on a pike or sets them on fire. Generally, I prefer unrequited, melancholy, quiet suffering whenever possible, which really doesn't go over well with a lot of the role-players out there.

 

lol finn mentality much? :)

It's not like only finns can approach romantic relationships in fiction as a fatalistic deal, you ethnocentric man!

I don't post if I don't have anything to say, which I guess makes me better than the rest of your so-called "community." 8)
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You know one british journalist blamed Jokela school shooting on finnish gloomy and melancholic mentality, for us rather numerous psychological health problems and the fact we don't get enough sunlight in the year.

 

Try and beat that!

 

I'm already worshipping Avellone for K2's story.

 

Which, for all its glory and depth, is nothing but shade of Planescape Torment :)

 

Bloodlines on the other hand has best end. twist. ever. :bat::)

 

*constrains waves of rabid fanboyism*

 

I'm honestly curious about this, also partly because I must know to whom I must build my altar for

Edited by Xard

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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You know one british journalist blamed Jokela school shooting on finnish gloomy and melancholic mentality, for us rather numerous psychological health problems and the fact we don't get enough sunlight in the year.

 

Try and beat that!

I'm sure that you know as well as I do I could find an article by a journalist which blames a school shooting on the atheistic nazi mentality. Does this mean that atheists are the only nazis, or, hell, that it actually was motivated by atheistic nazism?

 

No. No it doesn't.

I don't post if I don't have anything to say, which I guess makes me better than the rest of your so-called "community." 8)
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Yeah, I kinda figured it out :bat:

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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As far as Mitsoda goes... I'm replaying Bloodlines at the moment, and one incredible strength of this game is the characters. Really a colorful bunch, and for once it came full-circle with writing, great face animations and extraordinary voiceacting. I hope AP will be like Bloodlines in that way, because the characters are really extremely good. Jeanette/Therese, Jack, Maximillian Strauss, Alistair Grout (though we only hear him, what a magnificent voiceacting performance, absolutely dead-on), Lacroix... It's great stuff.

 

I hadn't played Bloodlines in a while, so I thought Mass Effect would be the new "king" here so to speak. But after playing Bloodlines again, I'm blown away by the work done with the characters.

Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0

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As far as Mitsoda goes... I'm replaying Bloodlines at the moment, and one incredible strength of this game is the characters. Really a colorful bunch, and for once it came full-circle with writing, great face animations and extraordinary voiceacting. I hope AP will be like Bloodlines in that way, because the characters are really extremely good. Jeanette/Therese, Jack, Maximillian Strauss, Alistair Grout (though we only hear him, what a magnificent voiceacting performance, absolutely dead-on), Lacroix... It's great stuff.

 

I hadn't played Bloodlines in a while, so I thought Mass Effect would be the new "king" here so to speak. But after playing Bloodlines again, I'm blown away by the work done with the characters.

 

And I for one just finished replaying PS:T

 

 

It is still utterly undefeatable, though great chunks of KotOR 2 and Bloodlines gives it good challenge. MotB is fantastic too.

 

oh, and how could you NOT mention Fat Larry? :bat:

Edited by Xard

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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ME characters are badly written and boring, why would it be the king of anything?

 

Wasn't clear in my post, but I was mainly referring to the visual presentation of the characters.

 

I think it's a bit hard to compare something like PS:T to Bloodlines though, since they are kinda on different sides of the spectrum. I myself prefer PS:Ts direction, with it being based mostly on words with its great use of descriptive text and so on, and leaving the visual spectrum more limited. But Bloodlines is great in the other direction, where the writing overall may not as elaborate, but instead relies more on the visuals (and voiceacting).

And of course, there is a huge difference in setting as well, which obviously affects the writing a lot. The Masquerade, while quite fantastical, is still a lot more steeped in realism than something like Torment which is sort of "all out".

 

Like I said, I generally prefer "graphics-lite" games that rely much on words, since that tends to vibe with me for whatever reason. But if we're gonna have fancy technology involved, then I really want that tech poured into the characters. Bloodlines did that wonderfully I think, and having seen some of the screens of AP, I really hope it will follow suit.

Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0

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Well, I only talked about dialogues :)

 

 

edit: Is it just me or did Bloodline's just take Morte's "what's up chief" and changed that simply to boss for Gary? :thumbsup:

Edited by Xard

How can it be a no ob build. It has PROVEN effective. I dare you to show your builds and I will tear you apart in an arugment about how these builds will won them.

- OverPowered Godzilla (OPG)

 

 

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