People News Leonard Boyarsky has joined Obsidian Entertainment

[SniperHF]

Turn-based or bust.

You used the wrong one :

Spoiler

but yeah it's gonna be bust and not turn based

 

[burn_classic_rpgs_in_hell]

Bust?

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Bust?

As in 8008135

 

[Doktor Best]

Man i dont even want another Fallout in that shitty Bethesda Engine, not even from Obsidian. It would only shove money and recognition up Bethesdas undeserving dirty asshole. Heck most Bethestards and mainstream gamers believe to this fucking day that New Vegas was done by Bethesda.... its fucking blasphemy.

I would much rather see Obsidian work together with CDProjekt, license their vastly superior engine and do a new Vampire game. That cutscene simulator alone would be enough reason for that, it is absolutely perfect to make a highly reactive, choice and consequence heavy 3d Action Rpg, and we all know we want that.

 

[DosBuster]

While their engine may look prettier and does certain things in better ways Creation Kit still has better tools. Former developers from CD Projekt RED complained about the lack of documentation and the rudimental nature of the tools, which looking back at the publicly released REDKit and its mod output compared to Skyrim's there is a stark difference in what the community produced and the variety. Hell, Obsidian once tried to pitch an entirely original IP built on the Creation Engine and have spoken about its strengths publicly.

Also, for the record, CD Projekt's cutscene algorithm was only used to create a base layout of the cutscene with no animation and in fact wasn't used for a lot of cutscenes in the final game.

 

[ghostdog]

Fallout has been dead for a lot of years and Bethesduh took its corpse, mutilated it, and raped it. Trying to reanimate the remains is wasted time and effort that at most will produce a crippled zombie.

When Tim and co made Fallout, it was an original setting. Arcanum was an original setting. Just make another game with an original setting.

 

[l3loodAngel]

When Tim and co made Fallout, it was an original setting. Arcanum was an original setting. Just make another game with an original setting.

Assuming they have at least some creativity left, which is needed for a new setting. So far I am not convinced that old farts have enough juice left... And you certainly can't do it in 3 months or during KS.

 

[commie]

Former developers from CD Projekt RED complained about the lack of documentation and the rudimental nature of the tools

And that's why they are FORMER developers...they were too inept so probably went to Poland's shovelware developer City Interactive.

 

[DosBuster]

No, CDPR has huge turnover due to its unending crunch and low pay

 

[ArchAngel]

No, CDPR has huge turnover due to its unending crunch and low pay

So owners of CDRP use all their AAA money for hookers and crack?

 

[Infinitron]

Fucking finally: http://www.pcgamesn.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines/sequel-bloodlines-2

Nobody say Bloodlines 2: Leonard Boyarsky reunites with fellow Troika alumnus Tim Cain at Obsidian

In 2005, Troika Games released one of the most flawed yet shiniest gaming gems ever with Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It’s an RPG based on the famous White Wolf property, as buggy and broken as it is brilliant, released too early after a troubled development period on a then-unfinished Source engine. Troika dissolved shortly afterwards, the team scattered to the winds. Now Leonard Boyarsky, who was project lead on Bloodlines, has joined Obsidian Entertainment, where Tim Cain, who he co-founded Troika and worked on Bloodlines with - plus a little game called Fallout before that - also resides. Obsidian have a close relationship with publisher Paradox, who recently picked up ownership of White Wolf from CCP and if you’re hearing a tinny screaming sound that’s me jumping to all sorts of conclusions.

Yes, it’s probably not the case, or if it is then it’s years and years off from any of us finding out about it, but gosh, what if, eh? If you’ve never played it, VTMB is legitimately one of the best RPGs ever made, with humongous holes in it that ruined its reputation at the time. Supported by more than a decade of fan-patches, mostly produced by community superhero Wesp5, it’s easily some of the best writing, world-building, dialogue and voice-acting in games, with combat and stealth systems that just about hold up. You should play it.

Given it’s got nearly 500,000 owners on Steam alone according to SteamSpy, as well as being one of the most legendary cult hits in gaming history, it’s safe to say a sequel - produced by RPG masters Obsidian and PC heroes Paradox - would probably do alright. Chances are, both Cain and Boyarsky are lending their talents to Tyranny but it’s good to have dreams.

Boyarsky joins the company from Blizzard, where he was a senior world designer on the Diablo team for the past ten years. It’s the second member of the Diablo team to be confirmed moving on in 24 hours, with associate game designer John Yang announcing on Twitter he moved to help out on WoW six months ago. In typical fashion, there are those taking this as news that the Diablo team is being downsized and won’t be working on anything big. While it’s very possible, it seems unlikely to me.

In Boyarsky’s case, there could be any number of reasons for him to leave. Once you’re in a senior position at Blizzard, as he was, it can be very difficult to move up due to the company culture and number of long-serving employees in the higher echelons. The benefits and drawbacks of that can be debated to kingdom come, but it’s true, and we heard it from Greg Street when he left for Riot. Boyarsky had been doing a roughly similar job for ten years - an offer to go work on traditional RPGs again at Obsidian, with someone he’d known since the early 90s in Tim Cain (and, maybe, the promise of reviving one of his best games, don’t look at me like that, it could be true) is going to go down well.

As for Yang, internal movement is very common at Blizzard, particularly during the run-up to release on large projects. Almost the entire company moved on to WoW when it took off in the mid-00s, hence the delays on other projects into 2010 and beyond. With Yang being an item designer in Diablo by trade, and that being something that WoW is building upon in the upcoming expansion, specifically making its rarest items more like Diablo's, it makes sense.

Moreover, the Diablo team was literally hiring for a new game back in March, and still is according to the Blizzard recruitment site. Don’t worry, hell-fans, that multi-million dollar franchise isn’t going anywhere, though it could go quiet for a bit as they work on the next game proper.

 

[Roguey]

the only thing Tim Cain should be working on, is the Pathfinder based spiritual successor to TOEE,

Are you sure you want Tim Cain to work on an Amber Scott-penned module?

anything else is Michelangelo painting a local McDonalds.

This describes ToEE, which was a by-the-numbers adaptation of someone else's work.

 

[i.Razor]

Troika was always the better developer, they took risks, released half finished games, but the halves that were actually finished... Fuck they were glorious.

Better to burn out in a blaze of rpg glory than to continue on for years of mediocrity.

I think Leonard said in one of his interview that Troika could keep being aflot by making games. But others than they wanted to. So they decided to close the company.

 

[Rahdulan]

This describes ToEE, which was a by-the-numbers adaptation of someone else's work.

I could be wrong, but wasn't ToEE's strength in the ruleset adaptation itself? If anything original module just ended up holding it back and that's where the whole "it feels like a sidequest and the main quest you're waiting for never kicks in" impression I've heard a lot of people mention comes into play.

 

[The Great Deceiver]

Someone finally pulled the trigger.

 

[Zeriel]

Man i dont even want another Fallout in that shitty Bethesda Engine, not even from Obsidian. It would only shove money and recognition up Bethesdas undeserving dirty asshole. Heck most Bethestards and mainstream gamers believe to this fucking day that New Vegas was done by Bethesda.... its fucking blasphemy.

I would much rather see Obsidian work together with CDProjekt, license their vastly superior engine and do a new Vampire game. That cutscene simulator alone would be enough reason for that, it is absolutely perfect to make a highly reactive, choice and consequence heavy 3d Action Rpg, and we all know we want that.

Seeing CDProjekt's artists do any Vampire setting would be fucking amazing. Hell, take just about anything you like and imagine it with CDPR's artists and it would probably end up 10x better than before.

 

[Prime Junta]

This describes ToEE, which was a by-the-numbers adaptation of someone else's work.

I could be wrong, but wasn't ToEE's strength in the ruleset adaptation itself? If anything original module just ended up holding it back and that's where the whole "it feels like a sidequest and the main quest you're waiting for never kicks in" impression I've heard a lot of people mention comes into play.

That's exactly right. It does D&D3 combat and character development really, really well.

Also, it's pretty.

Apart from that though there's nothing much to it. From where I'm at it feels like an engine waiting for someone to make a game with it.

That's a shame because the engine really is pretty good -- the best adaptation of D&D 3 rules to a computer, bar none.

(That said, D&D3 rules are nothing much to shout about, so I'd rather they remade this with better mechanics. TB combat would be cool though.)

 

[DeepOcean]

Man i dont even want another Fallout in that shitty Bethesda Engine, not even from Obsidian. It would only shove money and recognition up Bethesdas undeserving dirty asshole. Heck most Bethestards and mainstream gamers believe to this fucking day that New Vegas was done by Bethesda.... its fucking blasphemy.

I would much rather see Obsidian work together with CDProjekt, license their vastly superior engine and do a new Vampire game. That cutscene simulator alone would be enough reason for that, it is absolutely perfect to make a highly reactive, choice and consequence heavy 3d Action Rpg, and we all know we want that.

Seeing CDProjekt's artists do any Vampire setting would be fucking amazing. Hell, take just about anything you like and imagine it with CDPR's artists and it would probably end up 10x better than before.

CDProjekt and Eidos Montreal have great artists, it is a pity that both companies have shitty game designers.

 

[Trashos]

No, CDPR has huge turnover due to its unending crunch and low pay

I 'd be surprised if pay were low there (for local standards). Do we know numbers?

 

[LESS T_T]

PC Gamer: http://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-art-director-leonard-boyarsky-joins-obsidian/

Leonard Boyarsky, art director for the original Fallout, project lead on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and lead world designer for Diablo 3, has left Blizzard to join Obsidian. Boyarsky is the man responsible for Fallout's unmistakable brand of retrofuturism, and the move reunites him with Fallout's lead programmer Tim Cain.

Cain hinted at the move in a Facebook post (confirmed by Tweet) which, typically, doesn't mention what Boyarsky is up to. At an informed guess, I'd say he'll weigh-in on Obsidian's newly announced RPG, Tyranny, in which the bad guys have won—and you're one of them.

 

[Infinitron]

PC Gamer: http://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-art-director-leonard-boyarsky-joins-obsidian/

Leonard Boyarsky, art director for the original Fallout, project lead on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and lead world designer for Diablo 3, has left Blizzard to join Obsidian. Boyarsky is the man responsible for Fallout's unmistakable brand of retrofuturism, and the move reunites him with Fallout's lead programmer Tim Cain.

Cain hinted at the move in a Facebook post (confirmed by Tweet) which, typically, doesn't mention what Boyarsky is up to. At an informed guess, I'd say he'll weigh-in on Obsidian's newly announced RPG, Tyranny, in which the bad guys have won—and you're one of them.

I love how all these sites are copy-pasting each other's theory about him joining the Tyranny team. USE COMMON SENSE, MORANS.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Man i dont even want another Fallout in that shitty Bethesda Engine, not even from Obsidian. It would only shove money and recognition up Bethesdas undeserving dirty asshole. Heck most Bethestards and mainstream gamers believe to this fucking day that New Vegas was done by Bethesda.... its fucking blasphemy.

I would much rather see Obsidian work together with CDProjekt, license their vastly superior engine and do a new Vampire game. That cutscene simulator alone would be enough reason for that, it is absolutely perfect to make a highly reactive, choice and consequence heavy 3d Action Rpg, and we all know we want that.

Seeing CDProjekt's artists do any Vampire setting would be fucking amazing. Hell, take just about anything you like and imagine it with CDPR's artists and it would probably end up 10x better than before.

Lol no. There are like 3 or 4 unique and interesting looking monsters in twichter 3

I can already tell what we would fight in obligatory sewers level...

 

[Space Satan]

 

[Flou]

I love how all these sites are copy-pasting each other's theory about him joining the Tyranny team. USE COMMON SENSE, MORANS.

It's the only game they know, hence it must be that!

 

[Zeriel]

Man i dont even want another Fallout in that shitty Bethesda Engine, not even from Obsidian. It would only shove money and recognition up Bethesdas undeserving dirty asshole. Heck most Bethestards and mainstream gamers believe to this fucking day that New Vegas was done by Bethesda.... its fucking blasphemy.

I would much rather see Obsidian work together with CDProjekt, license their vastly superior engine and do a new Vampire game. That cutscene simulator alone would be enough reason for that, it is absolutely perfect to make a highly reactive, choice and consequence heavy 3d Action Rpg, and we all know we want that.

Seeing CDProjekt's artists do any Vampire setting would be fucking amazing. Hell, take just about anything you like and imagine it with CDPR's artists and it would probably end up 10x better than before.

Lol no. There are like 3 or 4 unique and interesting looking monsters in twichter 3

I can already tell what we would fight in obligatory sewers level...

The majority of characters in a Vampire: the Masquerade game are either human, human-adjacent, or spend most of their time disguised as humans. CDProjekt is one of only a tiny handful of western studios in the AAA space that can model human characters that don't look hideous as fuck. That's what I meant.

PC Gamer: http://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-art-director-leonard-boyarsky-joins-obsidian/

Leonard Boyarsky, art director for the original Fallout, project lead on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and lead world designer for Diablo 3, has left Blizzard to join Obsidian. Boyarsky is the man responsible for Fallout's unmistakable brand of retrofuturism, and the move reunites him with Fallout's lead programmer Tim Cain.

Cain hinted at the move in a Facebook post (confirmed by Tweet) which, typically, doesn't mention what Boyarsky is up to. At an informed guess, I'd say he'll weigh-in on Obsidian's newly announced RPG, Tyranny, in which the bad guys have won—and you're one of them.

I love how all these sites are copy-pasting each other's theory about him joining the Tyranny team. USE COMMON SENSE, MORANS.

Come on, Infinitron. Didn't you know it's common practice for studios to hire senior artists and world designers with decades of experience to work on a game that is mostly finished?