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[Loranc]

trucane

How does it feel to have been a part of games that are loved so much and has been for such a long time? Did you ever imagine people would still love and be playing these games 10+ years later?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone shifts nervously:

I don't think I've worked on a game where I thought people would love it, I mostly get terrified before release that the game going out is going to be the nail in the coffin of my career. I definitely thought Torment would fail, and I also thought Old World Blues would crash and burn, among others, even if I thought there were good design principles and themes in both.

[Loranc]

escozzia

It's probably too early, but do you folks have any plans for this going forward (post P:E)? You've already pretty much announced an expansion pack, are you planning on doing a second? How about sequels?

On a related note, this campaign has clearly been a success, are you planning on Kickstarting any future games?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone states:

Our hope is that Project: Eternity is first in a series of titles, and we can keep expanding the lore and the world. We see this as the first step, and based on fan reaction, we may have a much brighter future than we may have first thought (we weren't sure if we'd get funding).

[JFSOCC]

How does reddit work?

 

On the right sidebar there's a button where you can register (only takes a few seconds, doesn't even need an e-mail). After that you can post, or up/downvote questions you like or dislike.

just please learn reddiquette. the downvote button is not for what you disagree with, but rather that which does not add to the discussion.

[Loranc]

FalkonSwiftblade

will the character progression be tied to the loot they find, or the skills they pick? I'm trying to figure out if all classes are basically be the same, such as if I had 2-3 wizards in a group if I could kit them differently for different strategy's or replay value.

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: Character progression will be done through skills and gear, but more on the skill side than the gear side. If you have multiple wizards, we want you to feel that you can build them differently and have them play differently based on your choice of skills/spells/gear.

[Loranc]

NudoJudo

Alongside low intelligence dialogue options, could there be low/high charisma "****" conversation choices, that say the exact thing, but are responded to wildly differently? The high charisma **** being seen as confident and charming, the low charisma **** just being an unlikable ****.

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: that's an interesting idea, and I think that Mirokunite was asking that when I did update #22 (sorry that I missed that, Mirokunite!). We are planning to support attribute-based dialog, meaning that any attribute of the character (a stat, a skill, a trait) could be used to determine a response. Most of these will be INT based (the wonderful dumb dialog) but anything else is possible too. Just keep in mind that each time we add one these responses, we have to write a new dialog subtree, and it really adds up to make a lot of these. Personally, I'd rather write more dialogs with some attribute-based responses than fewer dialogs with lots of attribute-based responses.

And by saying "I'd rather write", I really mean "I'd rather Chris write" because he is WAY better at writing than I am.

[Loranc]

hansel4150 3 points

Hi guys, just want to say I loved New Vegas. So my question is, are there any Easter Eggs the community has yet to find in NV?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: I don't think so. People are pretty thorough. Even if they didn't catch them in the main game, modders will root through everything using the GECK or FNVEdit. They found Meat of Champions pretty quickly, for example.

I always wanted to put an Easter egg in at Mojave Outpost if you brought Mutfruit or some other fruit into the station... a challenge achievement like REBEL FRUIT BEARER or something. California border stations make you paranoid about bringing fruit into the state... even after the apocalypse.

[JFSOCC]

How did this thing become so popular. Jesus, it's just a wall of text.

this is a sub-page of a bigger site.

the concept of reddit is as a news site where everyone can comment on whatever article is posted. All articles also can be up or downvoted.

the general idea is that the best/most popular news items or comments make it to the top.

[Loranc]

Himntor

How large will the Exploration/Random Encounters (By random I don't really mean random, more like mini-quests that you just run into like in Baldur's Gate) factor into the game? Just little NPC's in the middle of nowhere doing who-knows-what and stuff like that. Portalbendarwinder in the first Baldur's Gate for example, though he doesn't tie into any quest related things, having random stuff like that is still hilarious.

As a side question, what are your guys' favourite colours? (You did say I could ask you anything)

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: We are planning a healthy mix of storyline quests and side quests. We want enough side quests so that if you replay the game, there will be a lot of stuff that you didn't see the first time around, and we also want to reward exploration. If you find a high mountain plateau or clearing in a deep forest, we want stuff there for you to find (and post about!).

As for my favorite color, I am full-spectrum color-blind, so I would have to say "gray".

[Loranc]

SuperSpaze

Will the game be based around player prototypes like the original Fallouts? Tech-boy, mech-boy, steath-boy etc.

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone ponders:

That's a good way to approach some quest design, although we want to make sure we know what archetypes are present (for example, it may not fit into the Fallout archetypes), and that's dependent on the mechanics and builds that shake out.

[C2B]

How does reddit work?

 

On the right sidebar there's a button where you can register (only takes a few seconds, doesn't even need an e-mail). After that you can post, or up/downvote questions you like or dislike.

just please learn reddiquette. the downvote button is not for what you disagree with, but rather that which does not add to the discussion.

 

Dislike. Of course, it implies it, so my fault. But, I didn't meant disagree with that.

[Loranc]

DNAvenger

What can change the nature of a man? (Other than a turkey sandwich?)

Also, limited voice acting is nice and all that - but will PE feature Josh singing? I have to know this.

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Chris Avellone cites:

The high WIS option at the end of Planescape is the answer. Which is, of course, "turkey sandwich."

I'll leave the singing part of the answer to Josh. Considering he's sung for Eternity and for the Ultimate Edition trailer for New Vegas, there may be more in the future.

[Loranc]

WarderDragon

Another question, not related to Project Eternity!

The Infinity Engine games and Fallout - and Chris Avellone and Josh Sawyer in particular - were a huge influence on my decision to study interactive design which included game design at a university level - I was determined to become a game designer. However, I was subsequently warned off by friends in the industry, who told me about the atrocious working conditions and terrible job security a lot of developers have to suffer through to do what they love. Most recently, I saw a friend of mine lose his job when BHG/38 Studios went under during the Amalur fiasco.

Although I would've loved to create games, and my education still helps me with both my current job and my hobby projects (which are about gaming), I'm not sure it would've been worth the heartache and looming stress.

So, my question is: Is it worth it? And is the industry climate too harsh on newcomers?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: The game industry can be harsh, but I don't know if it's any worse than the corporate world. I guess the difference is that in many corporate jobs, you're surrounded by people who care as little about what they're doing as you do. Big companies tend to be more machine-like and bottom-line oriented, often grinding people up in the process.

Even though it sucks that so many big companies have been ditching divisions and laying people off left and right, there's been a surge in the creation of small companies focusing on PC, mobile/tablet, or XBLA/PSN games. If you're worried about going to work for a huge company that will crush you with its machinations, see if there are smaller companies nearby that can allow you to get your feet wet with focused projects.

[Gyor]

Arrggg can't take reading through all those crap questions anymore, please tell if they answer any interesting ones.

 

I'm trying to avoid the 'really' stupid ones.

 

Thanks.

[SqueakyCat]

We plan to grant XP for exploration-based quests and objectives, so if there's something like the mega-dungeon that's focused on moving from level to level toward a goal, we will award portions of XP for achieving those goals. Most players will likely use combat to get to that point, but that doesn't need to be the only solution.

 

 

Well, to me, that's disappointing. I was left with the impression in an earlier thread that there would be other ways to accumulate experience.

 

So, now I have to re-evaluate this whole thing one more time. It sure won't feel like an I.E. game with this feature (at least not to me). Oh well . . .

 

What the you talking about. How are you reading out of that, that xp-gaining options are limited?

 

He says that NOWHERE. There's no definite anywhere in that sentence.

 

Because the poster was explicitly asking about experience for kills and how it would feel 'pointless'. The answer is quite clear to me. If you read it differently, then that's your interpretation and you are certainly entitled to your own opinion.

 

You could ease off the caps -- it doesn't add anything to your message.

[Loranc]

lobotomy42

Are there any new gameplay elements from Obsidian's non-D&D games (K2, F:NV, AP, DS3) that you're considering bringing into Project Eternity? Or, for that matter, are there any elements from someone else's RPG you'd like to steal?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: F:NV's reputation system is something we definitely want to bring over in some form. We feel that it allows the world to react to the player in ways that the player understands. Instead of making the game be about arbitrary good and evil actions, the player becomes concerned (or chooses to not care) about the reactions of individual characters and factions.

Personally, I think AP's dialogue system did a lot of things very well. Specifically, I really liked the idea of tying attitudes to responses and being very consistent with rewarding and penalizing each way through a conversation in equal measure. I'd like to emulate that level of free player choice in PE.

[C2B]

There's still no certain implication of anything in his answer and its not written that way even in context.

 

No, it doesn't imply it. I would actually bet you on it.

Edited October 15, 2012 by C2B

[Loranc]

fallenninja666

Ive been following your kickstarter with wide eyed interest and one thing really caught my eye, you said that you were going to be able to include many more "mature" themes in this game, and I was wondering if you could elaborate on what exactly that means? P.S You guys ROCK for doing project eternity. I mean it.

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: by saying we want to add mature themes to our game, we are talking about issues that are commonly ignored in other games, issues that bring to mind questions of relative morality or life-and-death choices. Remember in Fallout 1 when you had to decide whether to look for an alternative water source for Necropolis or just steal their water chip to give to your Vault? That was a choice where you could decide that a lot of "monsters" would die so that your people would survive, or you could race against time to see if everyone would survive or if everyone would die.

We want more quests like that.

[Monte Carlo]

How did this thing become so popular. Jesus, it's just a wall of text.

this is a sub-page of a bigger site.

the concept of reddit is as a news site where everyone can comment on whatever article is posted. All articles also can be up or downvoted.

the general idea is that the best/most popular news items or comments make it to the top.

 

Ah so it's the tyranny of the idiotocracy?

[Loranc]

Captainbob83

Will there be gender specific dialogs/interactions with certain npcs? (For example seducing a guard to gain access to some restricted area if you're a woman).

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

 

JESawyer: We'd like to do that when it's appropriate, yes.

[Loranc]

tur22

Can we expect to see more artwork like the dwarven ranger portrait before the kickstarter ends?

There's been a lot of discussion on the forums about portrait artists for PE with names like Justin Sweet coming up often, but I would really like to see more examples from whoever produced the dwarven ranger.

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: That artist is currently working on another piece, but I don't know if it will be ready before the end of the KS.

[JFSOCC]

Arrggg can't take reading through all those crap questions anymore, please tell if they answer any interesting ones.

 

I'm trying to avoid the 'really' stupid ones.

 

Thanks.

what is it that makes you the judge of what is a good and bad question? I'd say any question answered by the team was clearly good enough to warrant an answer.

[Valorian]

I didn't see this one posted. It was one part of a three part question:

 

Question:

 

Could we get clarification on the exp system you guys are thinking about? It implies you won’t give experience for kills how does this work with things like the mega dungeon? I like using non-combat skills to glean an advantage or get something extra out of a situation not to necessarily solve everything. I feel like if i know I’m going to get the same reward for not fighting if there is a situation where i can avoid combat i probably will and it’s not because combat isn't my preferred play style but because fighting in that instance would feel kind of pointless.

 

J. E. Sawyer:

 

We plan to grant XP for exploration-based quests and objectives, so if there's something like the mega-dungeon that's focused on moving from level to level toward a goal, we will award portions of XP for achieving those goals. Most players will likely use combat to get to that point, but that doesn't need to be the only solution.

 

 

Well, to me, that's disappointing. I was left with the impression in an earlier thread that there would be other ways to accumulate experience.

 

So, now I have to re-evaluate this whole thing one more time. It sure won't feel like an I.E. game with this feature (at least not to me). Oh well . . .

 

Yeah, I find the answer disappointing as well.

This certainly isn't in the vein of IE games. I love seeing xp awarded when I defeat an enemy, which is an accomplishment in itself.

 

Before "BUT HE DIDN'T SAY THAT.." starts, I'd like to point out that the question had this line: "It implies you won’t give experience for kills ..", and it would only make sense that if they do plan to have xp for kills to clearly state it and correct a wrong assumption.

[Monte Carlo]

There's still no certain implication of anything in his answer and its not written that way even in context.

 

No, it doesn't imply it. I would actually bet you on it.

 

I read it the same as Da Cat. Sawyer is pretty dictatorial about stuff like this. I hate it, I want XP for kills. In fact of all the stuff coming out of P:E the XP system is the thing that bugs me most. And vveeeerrrryyy slooooow levelling. It's meant to be fun, not a game of bridge.

[JFSOCC]

 

Ah so it's the tyranny of the idiotocracy?

Unfortunately, sometimes, yes.

but smaller subreddits have more likeminded peolpe, and niche subreddits might be better in quality.

[Loranc]

sensuki

There was concern raised on the forums about the proposed health system based on Darklands. If a character is knocked unconscious from running out of endurance, would you program enemy AI to strike down said character, or ignore them and attack your remaining characters that are not unconscious? Would this be related to difficulty level / expert mode

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: We'll have to see, but generally speaking, spending time finishing off an unconscious foe while able-bodied combatants continue to pose a threat is not tactically wise.