Tags: Adam Brennecke; Obsidian Entertainment; Project Eternity
Marceror from Sorcerer's Place had the opportunity to visit the Obsidian Entertainment HQ in Irvine, California, to chat to Adam Brennecke, Project Director on Project Eternity. Have a few tidbits:
[Marceror] We were very spoiled during Kickstarter with the daily information updates. Do you have a sense as to how regularly progress updates will be given to the community going forward? It’s great that you have so much freedom to interact and share with the fans, but I’m sure there’s a point where too much sharing might detract from productivity. How will you find the right balance?
[Adam] We’d like to do updates as often as possible. We are still working this out, but I’d at least like to provide updates to the fans on a weekly basis, perhaps bi-weekly. We love the freedom that we have with this project to share with the fans and get their feedback. I’m looking a lot at how Double Fine Adventure (another recently successful Kickstarter project) is handling this. I like their format and will probably do something similar. In fact, Josh (Sawyer) is currently working on an update that will be shared soon. We want to continue to keep in touch with the fans, and let them know what’s going on. We actually enjoy it.
[Marceror] Is there an ETA on when approximately you'll be sending out the item templates for the $1000 tier donors? How much info are we going to get alongside, since it's hard to design any item without the knowledge of the game mechanics?
[Adam]It will probably be around the time when we really get a good basis for the rules system. Before then it will be hard to know exactly what sorts of features these items will be able to have. So it’s going to be at least several months. We’ll let everyone know when we’re getting closer to that point.
[Marceror] Pathfinding... the bane of Infinity Engine games. How are you going to make it (infinitely) better in Project Eternity?
[Adam] Unity’s pathfinding is a lot better [than that of the Infinity Engine]. We’ve come a long way since 1998 in terms of computational power on computers. Doing faster and better pathfinding is something that we’re looking forward to. Right now we’re experimenting with what feels right. We’re figuring out how characters can interact with each other. If one character is blocking another’s way, can they push each other out of the way, do they side step, can they share the same space? Does it feel right if they do that? That’s the kind of experimenting that we’re working on right now.
[Marceror] Are you going for a more open feel to the game (ala Baldur’s Gate 1) or will it be more like Baldur’s Gate 2, where you basically couldn't turn around without bumping into a quest of some sort?
[Adam] We were just talking about this on Wednesday. We definitely want to have wilderness areas like in Baldur’s Gate 1. We want to encourage exploration, but it’s definitely not going to be as aimless it was in Baldur’s Gate 1, or as tedious. We want to make fewer areas, but have more content in them, and make them a bit more focused.
[Marceror] I know this is early, but do you think we’ll need a recommend button [i.e., recommend a character build at character creation] in Project Eternity?
[Adam] I don’t know. We’ll see how it turns out. We’re thinking that since we’re not using DnD we’re going to have to explain our rules a lot more clearly. So if you’re presented with a list of like 100 feats right off the bat, you won’t be overwhelmed.
[Marceror] Will there be that same level of depth, where there are a massive number of feats and other options available for a player to choose from?
[Adam] Oh yeah.
To read the interview in full, click here.
