New Chris Avellone Interview

[C2B]

http://grimuar.pl/interview/chris-avellone-man-who-travels-the-planes

 

Chris Avellone: I got drafted for creative design on the next slate of Obsidian projects, and there’s a lot. We’re pitching several new games at Obsidian now that titles are wrapping up, and I was enlisted into that process. We have about at least nine proposals in the works, some with multiple stories and story arcs, which is challenging, but in a good way, it’s just a lot to juggle. It’s largely Feargus (our CEO) and I doing the initial proposals, and then senior folks get moved on to them as their time frees up. It gives me new respect for what Feargus has to juggle with projects and contracts. Things should settle down once we have the next slate of projects good to go.

In my off-duty time, I’m playing the Wasteland 2 beta and writing the Wasteland novel, doing nation design for the Accursed RPG, both of which are nice changes of pace from my game writing. Working on the FTL Enhanced Edition (which I did for free because I love FTL) was also a fun experience – Tom Jubert and Justin Ma and the devs were really fun and open to work with. I also liked a lot of the new plans they had for the game and the expansion of the lore.

I’m also slated to add narrative muscle to the Legend of Grimrock series by Wayside Creations (they did Fallout: Nuka Break and Red Star), and I’m looking forward to that since I’m a Legend of Grimrock fan.

 

 

[Labadal]

Can't wait to see what game they will reveal next month.

[Bryy]

His comments on Batman and 30 Days of Night are spot on.

[milczyciel]

Nine proposals? That's great to hear, even if half of only 1/3 of them end up being produced.

 

His comments on Batman and 30 Days of Night are spot on.

Would you mind to elaborate? I didn't heard about that before and it seems I'm doing something wrong here, because I can't google it.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

With Numenera, the strong points are twofold – one, the setting that Monte Cook established was already extremely varied, and when you add the Torment pillars to it (theme, story emphasis, companion emphasis), all of those come together nicely. When working on Numenera, I feel very much Iike I’m doing a game version of a Gene Wolfe Book of the New Sun novel, which is pretty cool. Or Roadside Picnic, except fantasy-based.

 

 

 

Now that's promising ^^

[Bryy]

When I read or watch, I tend to put things in a game design perspective, so what others might largely regard as a crappy movie, I’m always asking myself how it would translate into a game environment. So for example: 30 Days of Night, Battle Royale, Cube, Lifeboat, Crank, the Darkest Day, etc. end up being inspiring because I can break them down by system and level design mechanics. I also read a lot of comics and graphic novels, and some stand-outs are: Walking Dead (and the new Manifest Destiny by Skybound), Wild Blue Yonder, Zero, Secret, Protocol Orphans, Day Men, Black Science (fantastic), and Sex Criminals. More on Sex Criminals a few lines down.

Lastly, I keep going back to Batman. Not only do I like the current Snyder run immensely, but Batman is the ultimate example of a designer’s primary job: execution. Batman, at its core, is a stupid idea. Rich kid dresses up like a bat and fights crime and his arch-enemy is a clown. But, in the right hands, it can become so much more with context, presentation, character design, and psychology. (Side note: Sex Criminals is the latest example of this – when I heard the premise, I thought it was the dumbest one-sentence I’d ever read – the execution, however, is fantastic and now I encourage everyone to give it a read.)

[milczyciel]

@up

Thanks. Serves me well for asking BEFORE even reading the whole article.

Well... perfect example about stupidity on my behalf   

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

MCA certainly has good taste in comics.

 

I agree that Snyder's run is very good, particularly the Death of the Family arc that featured The Joker.

[exodiark]

I guess all those typings grow his biceps. Man he's so busy!