GamesBeat interviews/previews Wasteland 2.<blockquote>The offices above Jack’s Surfboards here are an unlikely place for a video game developer, especially one who has been around for decades like Brian Fargo. But the darkened offices above the surf shop are as good a place as any to stage a revolution in games. The place is just a short walk from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
“It’s a video game company, and you can design them anywhere,” Fargo said in an interview with GamesBeat. “So we might as well set up in a place where my people want to be. My guys can walk on the beach or go surfing at lunch.”
He recently announced that the role-playing game Wasteland 2 will be delayed about six weeks and debut in October, in part because the game has become a lot more ambitious in the wake of its succcessful $2.9 million crowdfunding in April 2012. But he believes the company will make good on its goal of pleasing its backers. Just one look around the spartan office — which is littered with images created by fans — shows that Fargo isn’t spending the money lavishly.
To show how much progress the team has made, Fargo showed me the combat in Wasteland 2, which is set in a postapocalyptic era. In the turn-based game, you command a squad of survivors, known as the Rangers, who scavenge through the wastelands and fight off rivals. The combat is akin to the fighting in the recent Firaxis game XCOM: Enemy Unknown, where you can move your fighters a certain distance and then take actions such as crouching or firing. Once your turn is complete, your enemy takes a turn. The combat continues until only one side’s left standing.
The combat can emerge at any point in the landscape of the game, which takes place across deserts and places in the U.S., like an abandoned Los Angeles. It has a storyline, hundreds of thousands of lines of text-based dialogue, and a quirky soundtrack. There are some very interesting mad men ( you can see them in this 17-minute video) leading the various factions that you have to fight against. The small development team is working away on it, and Fargo is enjoying the process of rolling up his sleeves. The Rangers are constantly in a state of alert, watching out for ambushes. And each encounter sets off a new part of the story.
Fargo has called Orange County, Calif., home for decades, ever since he created Demon’s Forge in 1981 and founded Interplay Productions in 1983. He went through a meteoric rise with Interplay in the first golden age of games, battling companies like Electronic Arts for dominance. In 1994, Universal/MCA bought a 45 percent stake in Interplay, and the company went public in 1998. It grew to more than 600 employees at its peak, and it fostered small developers like Allen Adham and Mike Morhaime, who went on to create a fabulous gaming empire with Blizzard Entertainment. But Interplay hit hard times and sold a stake to a French investor Titus Software, and as the business deteriorated, Fargo resigned from the company.</blockquote>The rest includes a look at Torment: Tides of Numenera and they talk publishers
“It’s a video game company, and you can design them anywhere,” Fargo said in an interview with GamesBeat. “So we might as well set up in a place where my people want to be. My guys can walk on the beach or go surfing at lunch.”
He recently announced that the role-playing game Wasteland 2 will be delayed about six weeks and debut in October, in part because the game has become a lot more ambitious in the wake of its succcessful $2.9 million crowdfunding in April 2012. But he believes the company will make good on its goal of pleasing its backers. Just one look around the spartan office — which is littered with images created by fans — shows that Fargo isn’t spending the money lavishly.
To show how much progress the team has made, Fargo showed me the combat in Wasteland 2, which is set in a postapocalyptic era. In the turn-based game, you command a squad of survivors, known as the Rangers, who scavenge through the wastelands and fight off rivals. The combat is akin to the fighting in the recent Firaxis game XCOM: Enemy Unknown, where you can move your fighters a certain distance and then take actions such as crouching or firing. Once your turn is complete, your enemy takes a turn. The combat continues until only one side’s left standing.
The combat can emerge at any point in the landscape of the game, which takes place across deserts and places in the U.S., like an abandoned Los Angeles. It has a storyline, hundreds of thousands of lines of text-based dialogue, and a quirky soundtrack. There are some very interesting mad men ( you can see them in this 17-minute video) leading the various factions that you have to fight against. The small development team is working away on it, and Fargo is enjoying the process of rolling up his sleeves. The Rangers are constantly in a state of alert, watching out for ambushes. And each encounter sets off a new part of the story.
Fargo has called Orange County, Calif., home for decades, ever since he created Demon’s Forge in 1981 and founded Interplay Productions in 1983. He went through a meteoric rise with Interplay in the first golden age of games, battling companies like Electronic Arts for dominance. In 1994, Universal/MCA bought a 45 percent stake in Interplay, and the company went public in 1998. It grew to more than 600 employees at its peak, and it fostered small developers like Allen Adham and Mike Morhaime, who went on to create a fabulous gaming empire with Blizzard Entertainment. But Interplay hit hard times and sold a stake to a French investor Titus Software, and as the business deteriorated, Fargo resigned from the company.</blockquote>The rest includes a look at Torment: Tides of Numenera and they talk publishers
