Avellone asks for your kickstarter ideas

[WorstUsernameEver]

All that stuff Oner is citing was already in Dark Souls but I still wouldn't call it a survival horror RPG (not even while trekking the Catacombs, Tomb of the Giants and New Londo Ruins, nope).

[Lexx]

Loved the Ocean House Hotel, but yea, in the end, it's way too linear. Plus, I wouldn't want a horror rpg. :> First, because horror games can fail very easily, second, because I just don't want that.

 

Now I am tensed to see what happens next.

[Oner]

All that stuff Oner is citing was already in Dark Souls but I still wouldn't call it a survival horror RPG (not even while trekking the Catacombs, Tomb of the Giants and New Londo Ruins, nope).

Haven't played the game, but I don't think that means anything. Is it supposed to be survival horror? If yes, does DS failing at it mean it can't be done? I don't think so.

Doom 3 was supposed to be horror, wasn't scared for a second, and I'm weak against horror.

[Bos_hybrid]

I sound like a broken record, but an horror RPG sounds the most interesting to me. Whether it be zombies/psychological/vamps/werewolves/demons/satan/ghosts/murderous little ponies, all sounds good to me.

 

Most of all would love to see an RPG knock off of the thing, have 8 companions throught the game and every new game a different companions are the thing knock off. There's a reason many horror/Sci-fi shows has a thing copy episode. Sure not original but enjoyable to me.

[WDeranged]

I'm not against horror aspects in an RPG but isometric perspective really doesn't lend itself to terror, also, as much as I enjoyed the Ocean House scene it's no where near as cool the second time through, a bit of a one trick pony, which is kind of the problem with most horror games.

Edited February 14, 2012 by WDeranged

[Nonek]

Please not zombies, i'm bloody sick of the rotters. Or Vampires.

 

Thought the Broodmother in Origins was rather spiffing in horror terms, shame about the rest of the deep roads. Not a big horror fan but i'm all for more survival aspects though and a well realised setting that embraces verisimillitude, rather than the overly stylised and exaggerated.

[Flouride]

I'm not against horror aspects in an RPG but isometric perspective really doesn't lend itself to terror, also, as much as I enjoyed the Ocean House scene it's no where near as cool the second time through, a bit of a one trick pony, which is kind of the problem with most horror games.

 

True, while Ocean House is pretty neat for the first time, it really doesn't work on the 2nd time around. Also no enemies popping from behing you all the time (yes, I'm looking at you Doom3) that gets really old and fast.

 

The only problem I personally have with horror rpg is that it's hard to see such a game as a isometric and turn-based. Maybe it's just because all the horror games I've ever played have been first person games with no pause or turn-based functions. Though I gotta agree with Nonek the "road" to Broodmother was pretty good try at horror/thriller.

[Lexx]

I can't even imagine how a horror game with iso and turn-based could work at all. Spawning enemies around the character will hardly shock the player and changing the music depending on where in the map you are? That's nice, but it won't kick off the same feeling.

[WDeranged]

It'd have to be tension based, maybe it could work if they used the descriptive writing they tried in PS:T along with some godlike audio and lighting skills, audio would probably be the most important.

 

*edit*

 

Is anyone else slowly becoming incapable of reading the suggestions on the blog?

Edited February 14, 2012 by WDeranged

[Nonek]

Give the protagonist a field of view? You've got a fog of war covering any area yet unexplored, the door your character approaches is just that, a door with seeming blackness beyond. Cue dramatic heartbeat music as you notice blood and scratches on the floor, you interact with them and find them still fresh. Suddenly a huge slam against the door shakes it in its hinges and something beyond growls horribly. You arrange your party order, before pulling open the door to have a freshly gnawed corpse fall through with a trail of blood and chewed viscera leading from it to a nearby tunnel. There are old broken bones strewn along that trail.

 

Just build up the tension so your mind creates the monster, should work even in isometric. Cripes remember the sound of babies crying in the original Diablo, think it was the catacombs, bloody disturbing.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Nonek

[Flouride]

True, fog of war would work with great level designing.

[WDeranged]

Give the protagonist a field of view? You've got a fog of war covering any area yet unexplored, the door your character approaches is just that, a door with seeming blackness beyond. Cue dramatic heartbeat music as you notice blood and scratches on the floor, you interact with them and find them still fresh. Suddenly a huge slam against the door shakes it in its hinges and something beyond growls horribly. You arrange your party order, before pulling open the door to have a freshly gnawed corpse fall through with a trail of blood and chewed viscera leading from it to a nearby tunnel. There are old broken bones strewn along that trail.

 

Just build up the tension so your mind creates the monster, should work even in isometric. Cripes remember the sound of babies crying in the original Diablo, think it was the catacombs, bloody disturbing.

 

Nicely put, it's pretty much the scene I was picturing, sound design would be crucial

Edited February 14, 2012 by WDeranged

[Lexx]

Yea and when you play the game a second time, you can strike out the horror of that horror game. :>

 

/Edit: Actually, in an iso / turn based game, Cthuvian-horror is something I could be friend with, but not this Fear or Doom(3)-kind of horror, which relies solely on shock moments.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Lexx

[WDeranged]

Yea and when you play the game a second time, you can strike out the horror of that horror game. :>

 

That is indeed the critical issue with horror in games

 

*edit*

 

Horror in general too I suppose, dunno, it's probably a personal thing, some people can repeatedly watch the same horror movie and love it.

Edited February 15, 2012 by WDeranged

[TheTuninator]

Really good horror is done through atmosphere, not jump scares, and that's something that holds up much better on repeated examination.

[Giantevilhead]

I think a horror game should play more with the player's perceptions. After all, if you're just a human fighting against demons and monsters or being hunted by them, your physical health isn't the only thing that'll be affected.

 

Instead of just having hit points, there could also be stats relating to mental conditions like paranoia and fear, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Fear could increase certain physical stats like movement speed and strength but decreases perception and accuracy. Paranoia sharpens senses but also causes delusions and hallucinations.

 

Different paranoia levels could triggered events that have the potential to increase paranoia or fear. For example, when paranoia gets up to a certain point, you experience delusions and hallucinations. But you don't know if it's a delusion/hallucination so you can go investigate. If it turns out that it was a delusion/hallucination, your paranoia goes up. If it turns out that it wasn't a delusion/hallucination, then one of two things could happen. Your fear goes up if it's something dangerous/scary like blood dripping from a mutilated corpse, but your fear goes down if it's something innocuous like a branch scratching on a window.

 

Also, instead of having every detail in the environment being shown the moment you enter a room, it takes time for you to notice things and for things to come in focus. The higher your fear is, the less you notice and the longer it takes for details in the environment to become clear. The higher your paranoia is, the less time it takes for you to notice the details but some of those details may be distorted or they may be delusions or hallucinations.

 

That way, the game plays differently each time depending on your character's mental state.

Edited February 15, 2012 by Giantevilhead

[Oner]

One thing that added to the atmosphere of horror games, that gave them some measure of unpredictability and made them just plain scarier, is parolling enemies. Remember Return to the Cathedral? The Cradle? In the former you see the enemies patrolling the lower floor of the Cathedral. You are on a balcony on the upper floor, hiding, pondering which way to go, then the doorlock screeches behind you and a hammer haunt walks in, screaming as it notices you... *shudder*

[PoetAndMadman]

So, Brian Fargo also wants to kickstart the hardcore RPG - Wasteland 2. Obsidian should develop isometric/top down with turn based combat variation of Onyx engine with their first hypothetical kickstarter project and then make a countles sequels and games in different settings, including Wasteland 2 for Brian.

[Nonek]

Thinking about it a good way to introduce replayability would be multiple quest routes, say you're trying to infiltrate the castle of Lord Murdo Mc Murderpants: You could be shown a path across the rooftops to an unguarded window by the black hand, the legendary noble thieves of the city. With a nod and a wink to a beggar you could have a key dropped into your palm for the sewers, where the enigmatic Beggarmaster holds court. Staking out the local taverns you could mug a drunken guard and pinch his uniform, before rolling up to the postern gate in a cloud of alcohol fumes to demand entrance for your shift. Or you could have found out about the secret tunnels running from the graveyard to the castles cellars from studying at the libraries of the silent brotherhood, a reclusive sect of monks hiding many secrets.

 

Each of these paths could be fraught with dangers and atmosphere, running from shadow to shadow across the rooftops, the danger of slipping to your death or being spotted by archers and ventilated if you stay too long in the moonlight. Diseases and great swarms of rats (that you must shake off or put to flight with fire or else be borne under by hundreds of squirming bodies) as you wade through the putresence of the sewers. The quick, brutal murder of innocent guardsmen before nervously crossing the courtyard keeping your distance from the other patrolling guards and their fields of view lest you be shot by the crossbowmen above or worse mobbed and overwhelmed to awaken in the torture chambers with Murdo gloating through prison bars.

 

A mix of Deus Ex's numerous paths and Alpha Protocols faction alliances.

[Lexx]

I see multiple paths as default situation for a real RPG. But this also makes the game much more complex, more bugs can get through, more work needs to be done, etc.

[Auxilius]

Well, such a project at least needs to speak to a small crowd, and I don't see 15 years old or more games do that. While there is a nerdgasm going on about Arcanum 2/PT2 (I'm part of it concerning Arcanum 2), I don't think that will happen because borrowing the license would be too expensive and would go against the idea of a kickstarter project to begin with: working free of pressure from publishers and copyrights. On this subject, if I listened to myself, I would fund someone for KOTOR 3, ignoring all SWTOR canon. Alas, the world spoken and we got a MMO. Even worse, the Exile is a young woman and not the bearded 40 years old world-weary man I grew to love. I guess that's the problem when your roleplaying doesn't mix with canon.

 

If it is made, it will be all about the settings and the mechanics of the game. I guess Chris and errr. Urquhart? (sorry) will have to run a poll about it.

 

After all, we're only asking Obsidian to work their normal magic with writing, plotting, storytelling and worldbuilding.

[pmp10]

Well, such a project at least needs to speak to a small crowd, and I don't see 15 years old or more games do that.

But why ask for opinions then?

It was pretty obvious that the 2 things fans will want is Planescape/Icewind Dale setting-wise and decade old mechanics.

Aiming your 'kickstart' project at the die-hard fans will inevitably kill any larger appeal it might have had and I assume Obsidian is fine with that.

I don't think that will happen because borrowing the license would be too expensive and would go against the idea of a kickstarter project to begin with: working free of pressure from publishers and copyrights.

That's the whole point of 'spiritual' successors.

You can easily do a 'Bioshock' or simply use setting as it was without mentioning key names.

[Bos_hybrid]

PST and Icewind Dale are pipe dreams, due to rights and such. And even if they weren't, they would be 4th edition games, Hasbro would allow anything else.

 

Arcanum 2 is more likely, but would the project be worth it to Obs? I doubt it.

 

Creating a new IP give Obs complete control, and has the possibility to get funding from a publisher to create a AAA sequel.

[Horus Blackheart]

Hi All,

 

I signed up just now so i could contribute to this thread (i'm a long time lurker and RPG fan in genral. I'm also contributing to the double fine kickstarter project. I just thought id pop on here and give some support and a little feedback, I'm all for a new game in the planescape setting (thats a given) but i's personaly like to see a cyberpunk rrpg i'm thinking of a bladerunner meets shadow run vibe. I also remember a design talk chris Avellone gave a few years back whare he talked about the axed fallout 3 project. The part that intrested me most was the prospect of facing an opposing party I'd love to see that concept droped in a arcanum/ cyberpunk setting whare psysic powers/ magic colide with science and the world is caught between them.

 

Or perhaps an alpha protocal spin off with actual party members.

 

But id gladly donate to any project , because I think it is important to have alterntives like this

 

Thanks for puting up with my rambling

 

ps another bloodlines game would be welcome too assuming you guys can convince tim cane

[Junai]

Did Avellone look at the blog yet? Would be interesting to get some OE feedback on the kickstarter ideas.

 

Lots of wishes for a Plancescape followup.

Personally I'd like to see some Jefferson engine D&D stuff.

 

 

D.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Junai