Avellone asks for your kickstarter ideas

[Humanoid]

I'd be all over a PST "EE" that removed all non-player instigated combat. But I guess the balancing challenge there is finding a way to make the physical stats be worth taking.

 

But regardless, I don't believe in all the stuff said about "tarnishing" a game when debating whether a proposed sequel, whether spiritual or otherwise. I'll always back the side making the attempt, because even the tiniest chance of getting something good out of it is better than zero chance.

[nicethugbert]

"NWN10"

 

I don't care if it's FR or D&D. I want a toolset based game where I can make my own PW, in Linux. Where I can choose the rules as I please for my PW and you can choose the rules as you please for your PW.

[Wombat]

If you are asking Obsidian for it, you must be very desperate, considering that they failed to deliver other elements of NWN except some good single player experiences in NWN2. In any case, even Atari/Bioware have shifted to MMO business model, so, I think it is quite unlikely for a commercial developer going to make a game like NWN..In fact, why should they give too many tools for the players if they can make money otherwise (in forms of social games/MMO)?

 

Since Avellone seems to want to make ADV and Planescape: Torment, I think, why not make PS:T into an ADV or an ADV/RPG hybrid? Personally, I don't like point-n-click ADV but, if it is focused on character/story development through dialogues rather than figuring out puzzles from some clues on pictures, then, it should work for me. However, if Avellone is going to do even game system design, please put someone such as Sawyer to prevent Avellone from going to be too "original" in this respect. Just my two cents.

[Tale]

Chris Avellone reportedly talked with Kotaku about what he'd do for a Planescape sequel.

http://kotaku.com/5935737/the-guy-who-made-planescape-torment-tells-us-what-a-spiritual-successor-would-look-like

The important bit here, I think

Obsidian has talked about Kickstarter for some time. Not to put myself or Planescape down, but the range of ideas we've had internally for a KS are, IMO, better than doing a spiritual successor to Torment, and it involves more of the powerhouses in the studio rather than turning me into the Nameless One.

 

So even though this wouldn't be an Obsidian Kickstarter, here are my thoughts on a Torment spiritual successor:

Which says to me that they're looking at something else.

 

I also found this interesting for understanding game writing. At the end he talks about the time pressures of story writing for games. Icewind Dale 2 was written over a weekend. But with Torment and Van Buren, they had much longer than is usual.

[Mamoulian War]

After getting my hands on Pathfinder RPG, reading some of the Core books and playing the game, I now wish that Obsidian would make kickstarter for singleplayer game based on these rules

[Wombat]

Chris Avellone reportedly talked with Kotaku about what he'd do for a Planescape sequel.

http://kotaku.com/59...would-look-like

 

Some thoughts on the interview off the top of my head.

 

Similar narrative mechanics. As a classic example, there's some form of morality/personality bar that's affected by your actions, although I'd want to research some other mechanic tied to the narrative.

I wonder - one of the attractive parts of Planescape universe or something similar to it, is various viewpoints - rather than judging something from a single morality bar, I'd like to see NPCs, who have their roots in the universe, judge the protagonist from various perspectives. The single morality bar is so monotheistic by assuming the God's eye "universal" both to the modern Western world and the imaginary universe for some reason. One of the catharses in role-playing game is to let the players see things in different points of views, although I haven't come across many systems which intentionally try to achieve this. Being conscious of this aspect will enhance the gamplay below.

1) A plane-jumping universe with diversity in environments, cultures, religions, and people.

 

Related with this, some creatures may be the results of some notions/emotions in Planescape(-like) universe. Strong fear or guilt may appear as a certain creatures (The Transcendent One is a possible example) while more solid notion may result in a creature with more solid thus independent ego.

3) A diversity of creatures, perhaps not to the same extent as in the Planescape original title (would depend on budget, but just like the main cast, I'd prefer to have fewer, higher-quality creatures that allow for a spectrum of behaviors rather than a grab-bag of a thousand random monsters).

 

That said, I don't mean to deny any universality - the mortality can be a universal theme through human history and showing various points of view to such axis would be nice (And of course, themes leave rooms for interpretations). This will put focus on the gameplay below.

5) A mechanic similar to "remembrance" in the original game ? this metaphysical interpretation of your immortality and amnesia is something that can be explored in a number of ways depending on the game premise.

 

Finally about items but even materials can be "interactive" especially in such setting.

Items with stories. One of my favorite parts of Torment and the Icewind Dale series was giving them names and writing short stories for each inventory item... and sometimes very long stories (The Fanged Mirror of Yehcir-Eya). The best moment I had for Icewind Dale 2 was creating an inventory item name that used the token in the title and having a developer come into the room and accuse me of ripping off his character for the sake of a magic item. When he was done ranting, I explained to him that it was actually a scripted reference that was personal to each character playing the game. At least that's the story I stuck to.

It's just the name. I think Avellone did a better job in the opening of IWD2. "Sorrow's Tear" is an item which is only gained through a certain actions, for example. Legendary (or much more humble) items with detailed backgrounds are nice but being able to transform such items through actions and/or interaction with NPCs would be nicer so that the players can intertwine their personalities with them. Some items may just allow the players to add an episode to their stories, while some others may develop through the course of the main story.

 

BTW, now that Wastelands 2 have Colin McComb, I wonder if Obsidian and/or Avellone are allowed to use some assets of InExile.