Chris Avellone Interview: Project Eternity State of Game

[PureSophistry]

Hey folks! 

Had the chance to talk to Chris Avellone on everything Obsidian!

 

Here's the link and the transcript to the Project Eternity stuff. 


“I LOVE working on Kickstarter Projects, first of all, you get to share a lot of stuff with the fanbase (design documents, how you build levels) some of that stuff when working with a normally publisher model is allowed, with Kickstarter you know take player feedback iterate on it and make them part of the process.

The other thing is, it gives you 30 days to see if your idea is something that the public wants to buy in the first place. I think that’s a much better funding model rather than building the game for two years and then trying to market it at the end. It lets you know if you’re idea is good right out of the gate”

 

[Sensuki]

These interview guys only ask him questions that other interviewers have already asked, doesn't anybody do any research before they conduct an interview ? :/

 

I suppose there's the concession that the interview is more for their readers who didn't already know that information.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Sensuki

[PureSophistry]

I already talked to Feargus Josh and 15 other people from P-E. The info is known, just wanted to see where he is right now in the process. 

Listen to the end of the interview- he talks all about the creation of NPC's and worlds- real inspiring stuff

 

[Sensuki]

I did
 
It was good to hear how 'relieved' Chris is atm creatively, words on a screen only go so far.

 

The best bit was probably where you talked about one of your experiences in F:NV Old World Blues (game I haven't played) and Chris was really excited about your experience with the specific specialized content.
 
I already had listened to the interview as it was posted on RPGCodex prior to you posting it here. I am sorry haha I misread the OP and didn't realize you were the interviewer otherwise I would have addressed you directly.

 

Your question about P:E progress was a fair one although Chris only repeated the information that had been released publicly in the last P:E update. They're all pretty good at not letting anything slip.

 

It's kinda funny actually, recently people have been going to George Ziet's formspring account to ask questions to try and garner new info, and immediately after the release of the new update more than one person (myself included) asked him about the size of P:E's bestiary that was spoken about in update 51 - this time though he deflected it rather well

Edited April 27, 2013 by Sensuki

[SophosTheWise]

These interview guys only ask him questions that other interviewers have already asked, doesn't anybody do any research before they conduct an interview ? :/

 

I suppose there's the concession that the interview is more for their readers who didn't already know that information.

I agree - what are the things you'd like to hear? I'm working for a Swiss gaming magazine and I recently contacted Josh for an interview request. Maybe he'll do it - that'd be great. But since everyone is asking the same thing our interview will be a little bit different, I guess.

[Sensuki]

Well it's more what do you want to hear? You're doing the interview

 

I did one in October last year myself I focused on mechanics and system design although back then design was more in the theoretical stage rather than the actual stage. Many (or most) of the questions I asked have been answered by now.

 

Some stuff off the top of my head:

 

How many of the characters released (Cadegund, Edair etc) will be party-joinable ?

Info about the Druid (least info so far of all the classes)

They said they were going to try a new method of creating interior environments (rather than using tiles) - what method are they using now?

Which staff members have they bought on since the prototype phase (they mentioned they bought on 2 more 'legendary' obsidian designers but haven't revealed yet)

Will Brian Menze be contributing the Project at any stage

Relative size of the bestiary compared to BG1

How are magic items being handled (instead of +1, +2 enchantment levels etc)

How are they feeling about the main story so far?

Edited April 27, 2013 by Sensuki