The Dev Commentary in PoE

[Falkon Swiftblade]

One of the unique things that got me interested in this game was when they mentioned if we got a specific stretch goal it would include developer commentary in the game. We definitely made that goal, so this has me very interested in how this could be implemented. I wonder how they plan on including these in the game. Such as will it be something already in there we find a rock and click on it and it's like an easter egg, or will it be an unlockable after you beat the game, or will it be unlockables as you collect stuff, etc? What kind of stuff would you guys want them to have in there? One thing I really hope they have is the tone and fun they present in the updates. Hopefully they can make fun of themselves a bit too. I wonder if there'll be a hidden dev room like there was in some of the old NES games.

 

 

What do you guys want them to talk about? I would like The art team to discuss the evolution of how a particular set piece evolved, maybe how it started as x idea and grew into y quest chain and eventually lead to z. Or maybe monster y was stupid hard to create right but this is how we created a solution for it... And maybe Tim and Josh can describe what their meta theme(s) were for x game mechanic and how it evolved from previous projects into this one... 

[Lephys]

I actually thought the only commentary we were going to get was in the documentary "making of" sort of video. BUT, now that you mention it, it would actually be kinda cool to have a developer commentary mode, like some movies have on their discs. Or, at the very least, just have some bits of commentary accessible in-game, in context with the things they're referencing.

[Bryy]

I upped my pledge the -

 

No, that's wrong. I upped my pledge for a lot of reasons, the main one being my friendship with my writing partner, and how he spent so much money on me over the years.

 

The first up was for dev commentary.

[Hassat Hunter]

Which stretchgoal?

 

nvm, the 4M said it;

 

 

OK! After much team deliberation we have one final ultimate stretch goal. At $4.0m we will be enhancing the whole game. We will use live instrumentation for the soundtrack, add developer in-game commentary, and use every dollar between $3.5m and $4m to enhance the game. Also at $4.0m Chris Avellone will be forced to play Arcanum.

 

I prefer it being enabled on replay, give people just that extra nudge to replay the game, and see the C&C

Edited March 18, 2014 by Hassat Hunter

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Be interested to know how they're going to do this too. Perhaps different areas have different commentaries. When you enter a new area, a new commentary for that area starts?

[BrainMuncher]

I think it would be really difficult to do an in game audio commentary that didn't come out being a bit weird, awkward, or even perhaps annoying? However I can see a text-based commentary working out.

 

Imagine the devs want to put some commentary in about the main menu, or maybe the world map or even character screen. If you mis-hear the first time, and it doesn't repeat, you'll have to start all over again just to hear that little bit of commentary. If it does repeat, you'll quickly grow infuriated with the commentary playing every time you open the map. Wouldn't be a problem if it was text based - perhaps some sort of dismissible window - just read or ignore it at your leisure.

 

It would be weird to walk into a new area and have someone suddenly start talking in your ear about something in that area that you haven't seen yet. Maybe an audio commentary could work if you put enough effort into it, like having little snippets scattered about the environment, activated by clicking a little icon (or "using" the icon with one of your characters, like a door). Kill dragon, click on audio thing with humorous anecdote about the dragon. Click otherwise non-interactive statue in a city for a horror story about how the artist had to model it five times because the files kept getting corrupted or whatever.

 

Hmm, I think I've managed to convince myself that an audio commentary would actually be possible after all. It still sounds difficult to do though, especially if you tried to add it in after the fact. Hopefully the devs find a good way to do it that isn't too huge of a time sink for them.

[Bryy]

I think it would be really difficult to do an in game audio commentary that didn't come out being a bit weird, awkward, or even perhaps annoying? 

Play Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut.

 

That in-game commentary just set the friggin' bar.

[Deiser]

Maybe the "in-game commentary" could be in the form of a gag dub? Certain areas having the voice/text replaced by that of the developers, who act "in-character" but completely break the fourth wall, kind of like Seraphic Gate in Tri-Ace games.

[Azureblaze]

I'm looking forward to see how this will be done, thanks for bringing it up to remind us this is happening in some way!

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Maybe the "in-game commentary" could be in the form of a gag dub? Certain areas having the voice/text replaced by that of the developers, who act "in-character" but completely break the fourth wall, kind of like Seraphic Gate in Tri-Ace games.

 

That was kind of my thoughts too after watching part of the obsidian d&d playthrough on youtube, and the video update where Josh was bringing out the toys playing d&d with showing a game mechanic. I barely remember this game on PS2 but this was an extra scene at the end, and I can totally see something like this added into the game as an easter egg of some kind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zng5kRle4FA

Edited March 23, 2014 by Falkon Swiftblade

[EricB]

 

I think it would be really difficult to do an in game audio commentary that didn't come out being a bit weird, awkward, or even perhaps annoying? 

Play Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut.

 

That in-game commentary just set the friggin' bar.

 

I sadly haven't had the chance to play that one. Did it work like the Riddick and Valve-game commentaries? I thought StarBreeze and Valve did great jobs.

[Bryy]

No idea how those two did it. 

 

But it's your basic "Press Q for commentary" thing that you get in various sections, only the commentaries are fantastic and wonderfully in-depth. They are technical, but they still are full of life.