Eurogamer Chris Avellone interview: Aliens RPG, canceled projects and the future of Obsidian

[WorstUsernameEver]

Eurogamer has just published an article-style interview with Chris Avellone based on a Q&A with him they had at Rezzed.

 

A few quotable snippets on Aliens: Crucible, given many here still mourn the project's cancellation:

"It was third-person, obviously over-the-shoulder [perspective], you create your own avatar in the Aliens universe, you guide a squad of - it's not like a Marine squad, it's a whole mix of different individuals who happen to be in this one location at this one time, which allows for a lot more variety," explained Chris Avellone, Obsidian's creative director, speaking to me at Rezzed 2013.

 

"If you're dealing with a ship repair mechanic who may have no combat experience whatsoever, that obviously would serve a vital function in surviving in this predicament. So it's more of a third-person, two companions with you survival game, but it had a lot of the RPG trappings in terms of you could set up your own stronghold and base and build that up over time, explore more of the environment, figure out how you get all of the resources and stuff to survive."

 

...

 

It may not have been the most up to date video of Aliens: Crucible, either. "There was a vertical slice of it and I don't know if the video that was released was the actual vertical slice that we had," he said. "One of our designers mentioned that it was actually a milestone build from like a month or two before the actual vertical slice.

 

"There was a lot done with it," Chris Avellone rued, "and man I'm really sorry that I didn't get a chance to do it, but things just didn't work out."

Also deals with Dwarves, Project North Carolina, the future of the company, publishers' interest in old-school RPGs and all the usual Avellonian stuff.

[C2B]

Yup, just came here to post it

 

Also, shame about Crucibles

[C2B]

Also, we get more information about Skyforge soon. If the end of the article is to be believed.

[Labadal]

"However, there were a lot of mechanics we were designing for Alpha Protocol 2 that could find their way into either another espionage game or another role-playing game, whether it's espionage or not, so we're kind of excited about that.

 

 

Interesting but not surprising. I wonder if we'll see their nameless game releasing late next year.

 

I wouldn't mind if they did an rpg in a real world setting, but I've been wanting a steampunk game from Obsidian for some time now.

[Aoyagi]

Alpha Protocol mentioned many times in the article and in the discussion below. Can we have AP2 yet? Can we buy the IP for Obsidian? CAN'T WE DO ANYTHING?

 

And thanks for sharing the interview. Judging by the history, Obsidian is a pretty tough studio, heh. (I didn't know about that NC thing)

[C2B]

Alpha Protocol mentioned many times in the article and in the discussion below. Can we have AP2 yet? Can we buy the IP for Obsidian? CAN'T WE DO ANYTHING?

 

And thanks for sharing the interview. Judging by the history, Obsidian is a pretty tough studio, heh. (I didn't know about that NC thing)

 

It's the march layoffs from last year. (Also the reason George Ziets wasn't at the company anymore for example). Might that ring a bell?

[Flouride]

It's good to hear that at least some of the publishers are paying attention to old school rpgs being actually popular in some circles, enough popular for them to actually get intrested in publishing one that is.

[Bartimaeus]

Interesting, thanks. Seems like MCA has been relatively media busy lately...

[Bos_hybrid]

Crime against gaming.

[Gorth]

Aliens Crucible... one of those great "What if?" games. It could have been good, it could have been awful. The idea sounds great though, a mixed bunch of people, not necessarily "warrior" types, having to survive.