Gameplay.pl Wasteland 2 Interview

WorstUsernameEver

WorstUsernameEver

But best title ever!
Polish videogame website Gameplay has published yet another Wasteland 2-themed interview with Brian Fargo, and luckily for us they have the English version together with the Polish one. Here's a snip:<blockquote>Szymon Liebert: Let’s talk about Wasteland 2 itself. What’s so special about this game that makes it so interesting today?

Brian Fargo: I think what makes it special is a variety of factors. Clearly people like the bleak and gritty post apocalyptic world and they are seeking an intelligently designed and written version of it. I also think people want to play a party based RPG which offers a deeper and more customizable experience. We also offer a world that does not preach morality or try to be politically correct. You play in this world the way you want. There are consequences for all the actions but we don't tell you how to behave. There was also a literary vibe that the old school RPG games had that people responded to. I just think some of these traditional RPG games were intelligent.

Szymon Liebert: Survivaealism, sandbox experience, story – which of these elements is the most important for you with Wasteland

Brian Fargo: I guess I would have to rate sandbox at the top of the list since that boils down to cause and effect. RPG players are very clear that they want their decisions to mean something. Look at the uproar from Mass Effect 3 and the ending. That was all because people felt their actions didn't really matter. And for story I find the journey to be the reward. The individual moments along the way are what people remember.</blockquote>Thanks Goral.
 
Brian Fargo: The visuals and audio all center around the most important aspect and that is mood. You don't need a 1st person camera to be immersive. You need to set the stage with ambient music and sound, combat that moves quickly when it needs to, interesting decisions for the player to make and a strong sense of discovery.
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Brilliant: easy to understand, yet most game producers nowadays ignore this.
 
I do get satisfaction seeing him slap down the "Immersive" argument about why all games should be first person shooters.
 
Izual said:
Brian Fargo: The visuals and audio all center around the most important aspect and that is mood. You don't need a 1st person camera to be immersive. You need to set the stage with ambient music and sound, combat that moves quickly when it needs to, interesting decisions for the player to make and a strong sense of discovery.
Click to expand...

Brilliant: easy to understand, yet most game producers nowadays ignore this.
Click to expand...

that is the correct description. Many tend to "ignore" it. I am would not be surprised if there are many people working in companies with great ideas which actually WANT to do what we see (eventually) with Wasteland. Making intelligent games. But they have to do what they get told. And when they tell you "make it have action!" ... then this is what you have to do, regardless how much you dislike it.
 
Crni Vuk said:
that is the correct description. Many tend to "ignore" it. I am would not be surprised if there are many people working in companies with great ideas which actually WANT to do what we see (eventually) with Wasteland. Making intelligent games. But they have to do what they get told. And when they tell you "make it have action!" ... then this is what you have to do, regardless how much you dislike it.
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Yeah, it's true, but only to some extent. It has been used as an excuse for Obsidian to fuck up New Vegas, whereas it can't explain everything. I otherwise totally agree with that, money grinding is ruining some video games as it ruins some movies.
 
well I am sure that some of the issues in vegas started because of that. I mean they HAD to use the shitty engine from Fallout 3/Bethesda - regardless how "good" the gamebyro engine can be, what we have seen in Oblivion and Fallout 3 was simply garbage which probably tells more about the company then the engine.

I don't want to defend Obsidian (this was not their first games with tons of bugs). But if I remember correctly, the quality control of Vegas was left to Bethesda.

But Obsidian is one of the better companies when it comes to story telling. I mean Vegas is the best example. They could have delivered us a Fallout 3 in Vegas. But they gave us something better then that.
 
Izual said:
It has been used as an excuse for Obsidian to fuck up New Vegas, whereas it can't explain everything.
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What are you talking about? What can't be explained by publisher interference and having to use Bethesda's crap engine?
 
I'm posting whole Interview with Brian Fargo on Wasteland 2 since this site tends to restrict articles only to premium users after some time.

Szymon Liebert: Kickstarter is a great form of funding games but there’s a lot of doubts. Like, what happens when you go over budget?

Brian Fargo: The pre-production and planning is key for any kind of games these days as we are always on a budget of some kinds. For some people it could be the money they borrowed from friends, it could be advances from a publisher or it could be monies from Kickstarter. We will always leave a little buffer for any overruns but most importantly we have to be very well organized and experienced.

Szymon Liebert: The other thing is, you want to make a great game but it’s a risky buisness. What happens if you or any other developer won’t be able to provide that kind of experience?

Brian Fargo: I find that Kickstarter makes this a less risky proposition in ways because of our communication with the fans. In the past we would guess at the importance of things but now with forums and polls we removed this from the equation. We could have thought spending money on talking heads was very cool only to find out the fans would have preferred more choices in the game. This symbiotic relationship can be extremely useful if managed correctly. I hope all my future projects are done this way.

Szymon Liebert: Lastly, people fund the project and they get some rewards. What if the game sells like crazy and you get plenty of cash out of it? Do you think the most dedicated funders should share extra profit?

Brian Fargo: Kickstarter is legal because there is no share of profits or company equity shared. The whole point of this is to have creators like ourselves deliver the game experience they we were not able to do otherwise. I am very thankful that I get to return back to making the kind of game I love.

Szymon Liebert: Let’s talk about Wasteland 2 itself. What’s so special about this game that makes it so interesting today?

Brian Fargo: I think what makes it special is a variety of factors. Clearly people like the bleak and gritty post apocalyptic world and they are seeking an intelligently designed and written version of it. I also think people want to play a party based RPG which offers a deeper and more customizable experience. We also offer a world that does not preach morality or try to be politically correct. You play in this world the way you want. There are consequences for all the actions but we don't tell you how to behave. There was also a literary vibe that the old school RPG games had that people responded to. I just think some of these traditional RPG games were intelligent.

Szymon Liebert: Survivaealism, sandbox experience, story – which of these elements is the most important for you with Wasteland

Brian Fargo: I guess I would have to rate sandbox at the top of the list since that boils down to cause and effect. RPG players are very clear that they want their decisions to mean something. Look at the uproar from Mass Effect 3 and the ending. That was all because people felt their actions didn't really matter. And for story I find the journey to be the reward. The individual moments along the way are what people remember.

Szymon Liebert: You're going for the top-down view and (I guess) simple graphics. How important is the visual & audio side of the game?

Brian Fargo: The visuals and audio all center around the most important aspect and that is mood. You don't need a 1st person camera to be immersive. You need to set the stage with ambient music and sound, combat that moves quickly when it needs to, interesting decisions for the player to make and a strong sense of discovery. Nothing beats the experience of a game that wraps you up into its world and doesn't let you go.

Szymon Liebert: Double Fine seems to go for mass audience with its new adventure game (at least they are trying to get everyone interested). What about Wasteland 2? Is it a niche game or are you trying to expand this genre and get new people involved (like with Fallout 3)?

Brian Fargo: I am not trying to expand for a mass audience in my approach. I want to make my core RPG fans happy and then let new players discover it. We are not going out of our way to make it hardcore since we want the experience to be seamless. For example we are making the UI totally customizable like WOW does. This appeals to both new or old players but it is not the priority of us to worry about a new audience. Remember how the LOTR: Two Towers movie began? They didn't bother to try and bring you up to speed as to what happened in the first film.. they just started. I know my audience is smart and will jump right in and still new players will too.
 
Beelzebud said:
I do get satisfaction seeing him slap down the "Immersive" argument about why all games should be first person shooters.
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:crazy: I also want to ask ，“why all games should be first person shooters.”
 
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