RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[Humanoid]

I was expecting a Raul "romance" mod.

[Keyrock]

I was expecting a Raul "romance" mod.

Raul's tool box

[Lexx]

You can still screw him kind of in other kind of ways.

[Raithe]

Interview with Chris Avellone, and damn it, this really makes me curse Sega again for not going ahead with AP2.

 

http://www.thatonevideogamer.com/featured/tovg-extra-spotlight-interview-with-chris-avellone-by-gerry-martin/]ThatOneVideoGamer - Spotlight Interview with Chris Avellone

 

 

 

What issues did you find in creating your own original IP in the form of Alpha Protocol? What would you have liked to have included in the game but couldn’t and what do you pride yourself on most? (note: I really enjoyed Alpha Protocol and its mechanics)

 

Well, oddly enough, I didn’t create Alpha Protocol, there were a lot of noses – and fingers – in that pie from the outset. Halfway through production, however, I was asked to dig in and have a big, delicious helping of that pie, which wasn’t too bad because most people at Obsidian wash their hands.

 

Alpha Protocol was originally championed by our CEO and Tech Director, but neither of them had the time to carry the vision for the project full time, so it went through several hands before it was reset two years into production and was passed into the hands of our Project Director (and co-owner), Chris Parker. We had a lot of assets left over from the first stage of production, and it was an interesting challenge to take all the existing character models and concepts and use them like chess pieces in a new take on the narrative. As for the systems, a lot of the system mechanics kept getting iterated on and iterated on, which caused levels to be rebuilt and rebuilt (stealth came on very late for example), and the fact that weapon mechanics also underwent heavy iteration also caused a lot of difficulties in staging arena fights with opponents. This wasn’t the fault of our Systems Lead, as some of this iteration was dictated internally, and some dictated by the publisher.

 

BUT that said, I think the initial timer-dialogue system was a good idea (lot of urgency), the once-through conversations felt more natural than menus, and I liked the way the story provided a lot of branching, even if it wasn’t as “free” as I think a role-playing game should be.

 

Most of the content we couldn’t do we saved when we began to develop the initial vision for Alpha Protocol 2 (before SEGA canceled the idea of a sequel). We wanted the ability to do asynchronous intel sharing between agents (and sometimes disinformation to lure other players into traps in other missions or tip-offs to the bad guys or authorities, which let the spy take advantage of the chaos). We wanted core missions across the globe, where instead of a leading to a single hub, you’d go to a series of hubs encircling/affecting a core mission. There, you’d be able to unlock whatever % of them you wanted to get to the juicy center (or you could just say **** it, and go right for the central mission’s throat). The player could choose these missions based on their character build (you’d have a sense as to which missions favored stealth, diplomacy, or violence), or reactivity between missions (say, luring guards to a vice den robbery a stealth character pulled off, leaving the place the guards were formerly protecting easier to break into without a firefight).

 

The goal was you could use the reactivity of the missions orbiting the central mission to both influence the other satellite missions as well as the core mission itself. As a simple example: you could seduce a Paris Hilton-style NPC, allowing her to take you back to her mother’s heavy guarded mansion and infiltrating it easily without killing anyone – then sneak out without anyone being any wiser, or in another possible scenario, you could use stealth/violence to rob a meth house, and when the crime lord’s thugs are diverted from their headquarters to head to the scene, you can slip in to the place they were originally stationed at much easier than before.

 

Ultimately, the characters that I had the most fun with in Alpha Protocol were the ones that were a little off the wall (SIE, Brayko, and especially Heck – kudos to Brian Mitsoda for laying out the concepts and attitude of these characters, they were not my brainchild – he also designed the dialogue system, so double kudos), so we wanted to include more “quirky” Kill Bill-style villains in the second instalment.

 

 

[Keyrock]

^

 

 

I want an Alpha Protocol 2, preferably starring SIE, so badly and it's never going to happen.

[melkathi]

Kudos to Crhis for giving kudos to Brian.

 

[Keyrock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaQK7HX2CXE

I'm somewhat compelled to make a snarky comment about yet another MOBA, but that would be kind of hypocritical, as I'm having fun with a MOBA currently.  Plus, at least it seems they're trying something a little different with the genre.  I will say that the art style makes me want to 

[Majek]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKfRZ1x2nbQ

 

mmmmm 60fps

[Keyrock]

^ 60 FPS?  On PS4?  Surely that must be a misprint...  or it's running on Wii U.

 

I'll show myself out.

[Malcador]

[Keyrock]

I'm eager to try a Steam controller.  I don't expect it to be revolutionary, but I really want to try it out.  I hope they will have somewhere that I can physically hold and use it, like at a Best Buy or GameStop or whatever.

[HoonDing]

Alpha Protocol 2? lol what's needed instead is Shenmue 3.

[Oner]

 Plus, at least it seems they're trying something a little different with the genre.

You do realize that the only MOBA that didn't try to shake things up was Heroes of Newerth and DotA 2?

Every other one did something new.

[Keyrock]

 

 Plus, at least it seems they're trying something a little different with the genre.

You do realize that the only MOBA that didn't try to shake things up was Heroes of Newerth and DotA 2?

Every other one did something new.

 

Not exactly true.  For example, Infinite Crisis is essentially a reskin of LoL, it's practically identical (and coincidentally shutting down soon).  What I meant was that they seem to be making larger changes to the formula.  The differences between, for example, DotA 2 and LoL are not that great.  The basic setup is quite similar, even the map is almost identical.  Even HotS, which differentiates itself a little more with its various maps and larger array of objectives, still uses essentially the same exact formula as DotA, just in a more simplified form.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Keyrock

[Oner]

 

 

 Plus, at least it seems they're trying something a little different with the genre.

You do realize that the only MOBA that didn't try to shake things up was Heroes of Newerth and DotA 2?

Every other one did something new.

 

Not exactly true.  For example, Infinite Crisis is essentially a reskin of LoL, it's practically identical (and coincidentally shutting down soon).  What I meant was that they seem to be making larger changes to the formula.  The differences between, for example, DotA 2 and LoL are not that great.  The basic setup is quite similar, even the map is almost identical.  Even HotS, which differentiates itself a little more with its various maps and larger array of objectives, still uses essentially the same exact formula as DotA, just in a more simplified form.

 

Forgot about Infinite Crisis. :D

LoL added bushes, removed denying, lightened death punishments, puts effort into balancing, etc etc, made the genre easier to get into and play. That's plenty new and different.

Smite added third person camera (maybe other stuff, never played it). As a change, it's not a big one, even if it does affect gameplay in a big way.

Dawngate tried to innovate with jungle changes (deprive enemies from passive money by stealing their mines, etc).

Demigod gave heroes skill trees to costumize them, more than one map, so on.

Even HotS, dropped items (big thing, even if I personally dislike it), gave towers ammo, this and that.

 

I won't drop LoL for other MOBAs, but I do keep track of what changes they are proposing, and all of them offer something.

I don't know what Battleborn offfers yet apart from the perspective change (trailer doesn't even make it look like a MOBA, imo), but we'll see.

[Mamoulian War]

Desura's owner filled for bankrupcy.

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/05/desura-bankruptcy-bad-juju-games/

 

If you own games there, I think it would be good idea to download all of them in a timely manner.

[Keyrock]

Even HotS, dropped items (big thing, even if I personally dislike it), gave towers ammo, this and that.

 

 

I dislike that too.  I dislike the shared team leveling even more.  

 

I know the various MOBAs all have their own little nuances that differentiate them to some extent, but in the end, pretty much all of them boil down to the same formula.  What I'd like to see is a game try to shake up the standard 3 lanes, outer towers, inner towers, generators/barracks, base formula.  That formula works quite well, but we have plenty of games using that exact formula already, let's see something different.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Keyrock

[Lexx]

Desura's owner filled for bankrupcy.

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/05/desura-bankruptcy-bad-juju-games/

 

If you own games there, I think it would be good idea to download all of them in a timely manner.

 

I still remember how ModDB was kinda going downhill after IndieDB and Desura came into play. You could really feel how they didn't spend any amount of time anymore on ModDB.

[Malcador]

 

In game, apparently.

[Malcador]

Avellone's leaving Obsidian, it seems.

 

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/608274470768222209

 

I have officially left Obsidian Entertainment to accept a sudden opening as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts.

 

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/608274687353692161

 

(The first part is serious, but much love and well wishes to my fellow devs, good folks one and all.)

[Leferd]

Well. This is certainly random video game news.

[Serrano]

Good luck to him. I look forward to seeing what project and studio managed to lure him away.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Serrano

[ShadySands]

Microsoft officially announces Xbox One with 1TB of storage and new controller

 

I'm really close to getting either this or the Wii-U since my PS4 doesn't have any real party games that my wife is interested in

[Keyrock]

What party games does the XBone have?

[ShadySands]

Motion games mostly like the Kinect sports stuff