Incline Questions for the Codex interview with Leonard Boyarsky.

[Perkel]

Why he worked 10 years for Blizzard... with his talent..

 

[Crooked Bee]

So what are the main differences, for him, between working at Blizzard and at Obsidian? How would he compare the corporate culture at both companies?

 

[Jrpgfan]

Wasn't he and Tim working on a new game? If yes, maybe you could ask him what game is that or atleast what it is about?

 

[garren]

This is a kinda roundabout way of asking about this but...

Since Leonard and Tim are back together now, has there been any contact with Jason Anderson? Still friends, any pipe dreams of getting back together, is he happy at Turtle Rock?

 

[Kalin]

Was there supposed to be a Sabbat ending in Bloodlines? If so what would it have played like?

 

[Bubbles]

Have you played Fallout Shelter? If so, what are your thoughts?

If you had the choice between working on an Arcanum MMO or an Arcanum mobile game, which would you choose and why?

Has your time at Blizzard broadened your horizons on what a modern video game can achieve? If so, can we expect to see a different approach in your current and future projects compared to your time at Troika?

If you were a vampire, which clan would you be and why? If you were only allowed to feed on other game designers, which designers would you feed on, and why?

 

[Crooked Bee]

If you were a vampire, which clan would you be and why? If you were only allowed to feed on other game designers, which designers would you feed on, and why?

This.

 

[felipepepe]

Throw this back at him: http://www.rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=19

The hardest thing to accomplish when creating an RPG is to make an in-depth RPG that sells. Now I know all you purists out there think that what's important is the quality of the game and not how much it sells, but try finding a new contract when your last game sells less than 400,000 units. The ultimate challenge for an RPG developer is to find some kind of hook that will convince the marketing dept at your prospective publisher that this really isn't a "hardcore RPG" they're going to have to sell, it's an action RPG! (My skin is already crawling.) So not only do you, as an RPG designer, have to create a compelling RPG (which is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult genres to do right) you also have to find a way to sell it as something else - or, at the very least, an RPG hybrid of some sort. But never state it's a hardcore RPG to the marketing people - it tends to give them seizures.

The question per se would be something like this:

"Back in 2002, right after the RPG Codex was founded, you wrote an editorial on how the biggest challenge in RPG development is 'making an in-depth RPG that sells'. Now, after years working inside Blizzard and seeing the market change radically (Steam, indies, Kickstarter, etc), do you believe that's still the case?"

Also:

"Looking at companies like Obsidian, InXile and Larian, how well do you think Troika would've done in 2016?"

 

[Jedi Exile]

Why don't post on the Codex, Leon? Could play as a werewolf in Bloodlines 2 and how different it would have been compared to vampire gameplay? If you could make Arcanum again, what would you have changed? Do you still play RPGs and if yes, which ones did you like?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Does he want to work on a Fallout spinoff for Bethesda, like Obsidian previously did? If so, would he use their engine, or make a new one/ use a different one?

Is there any possibility that Bethesda would allow Obsidian to use its own engine for a Fallout game rather than using the latest variation of the Bethesda/Gamebryo engine as was done for F:NV?

Spoiler

The answer is no.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Pizza or Chinese?
Icewind Dale or Planescape: Torment?
Sandy beach or Rocky hike?
Beer or Whisky?
Whiskey or Whisky?
Salmon or Tuna?
Ice cream or popcorn?
Girlfriend or muse?
Town or country?
Country or western?

 

[NullFlow]

Besides V:TM, what other WoD IP would you like to work with?

 

[Orobis]

Um, often times my household's sponges accumulate an awful amount of buildup. - What can I do to prevent this?

 

[Fairfax]

If you could make a sequel to a Troika game right now, no strings attached and no restrictions, which one would it be?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Throw this back at him: http://www.rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=19

The hardest thing to accomplish when creating an RPG is to make an in-depth RPG that sells. Now I know all you purists out there think that what's important is the quality of the game and not how much it sells, but try finding a new contract when your last game sells less than 400,000 units. The ultimate challenge for an RPG developer is to find some kind of hook that will convince the marketing dept at your prospective publisher that this really isn't a "hardcore RPG" they're going to have to sell, it's an action RPG! (My skin is already crawling.) So not only do you, as an RPG designer, have to create a compelling RPG (which is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult genres to do right) you also have to find a way to sell it as something else - or, at the very least, an RPG hybrid of some sort. But never state it's a hardcore RPG to the marketing people - it tends to give them seizures.

The question per se would be something like this:

"Back in 2002, right after the RPG Codex was founded, you wrote an editorial on how the biggest challenge in RPG development is 'making an in-depth RPG that sells'. Now, after years working inside Blizzard and seeing the market change radically (Steam, indies, Kickstarter, etc), do you believe that's still the case?"

This is one the questions I made this thread for!

 

[Sensuki]

Have you played and enjoyed any RPGs that were released in the last 12 years? Have you finished any of them?

 

[cherry blossom]

What are some CRPGs that you didn't personally like playing because of one reason or another but otherwise respect because it does one thing or another particularly good?

Was there a CRPG that you played and absolutely hated because you thought it was just so bad? You don't have to name titles but instead, describe individual game elements and overall direction that made you think so.

Have you had to suffer any setbacks during your career due to your sexual orientation? Or have you had particularly bad times within the industry because you had to hide it for as long as you did?

edit: I mistook one for the other there, yeah. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Have you had to suffer any setbacks during your career due to your sexual orientation? Or have you had particularly bad times within the industry because you had to hide it for as long as you did?

Tim Cain==//==Leonard Boyarsky

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

 

[Jrpgfan]

Have you had to suffer any setbacks during your career due to your sexual orientation? Or have you had particularly bad times within the industry because you had to hide it for as long as you did?

Tim Cain==//==Leonard Boyarsky

You should still ask it anyway, should give an entertaining answer.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Did you watch Chris Avellone play Arcanum and die to wolves? What did you think of that?

 

[Goral]

Calling Wesp5, he should have some interesting questions to ask.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

1. What do you think the most essential way to capture the depth of older rpgs while still being competitive on current crpg market?

2. Seeing the rise of 2 polarizing political stance, far-left and far-right, and polarizing opinions regarding political content in video games: How should a game developers act in creating their game regarding political content?

3. After few months working in Obsidian, how is the work culture difference between Troika, Blizzard, and Obsidian? Any significance difference regarding work structure, creative freedom?

 

[thesheeep]

Do you think there is a too great focus on balancing everything to perfection in modern games?

And citing online competitive games is cheating. I don't think anyone wants to go back to the broken imbalance that was Red Alert.

And that is where you are wrong.

I loathe games like SC2 where everything is done for perfect balancing that removes anything of interest.

Take a look at games like Warlords Battlecry 3*. 13 races. 13! And most of them quite varied in how you play them, sure with their own identity. Add to that your hero who could chose from.. uhm... at least 20 classes if I remember correctly.
That is some interesting stuff right there, I don't think I played any RTS game as much as WBC 3.
Was that game perfectly balanced? Hell, no! Some race/class combinations were clearly stronger than others. Some races themselves were stronger to begin with.
You could impose on yourself a challenge if you wanted, or play it safe. Or you could just play Faeries, because goddamn those cute high-pitched guys are powerful when massed.

Was this good for competitive multiplayer?
It barely had a functioning lobby, so... Let's just pretend it had a functioning lobby, would it have been good for competitive gameplay then?
Nah.
But... Fuck. Purely. Competitive. Gameplay.
I am so sick and tired of inviting friends to play some RTS games for some fun only to hear "nahh, I'm not good enough" and "I don't want to invest the time to git good."
They are absolutely right. No sane person wants to spend all of their rare free time getting gud at something just to play with some friends every once in a while.
But they feel that they would have to because most companies put such a large weight on competitiveness instead of just enjoyable co-op time.
How many more people just played the campaign(s) of SC2 and maybe some fun custom maps online (like TD) than people who play competitively? 2x? 5x? 10x? 100x?
Those games are missing their audience by such a large margin it's absurd.
All they'd have to do is focus on interesting stuff and variance instead of balancing everything into the ground.

Playing most RTS games with friends who are of a different skill level than you is absolutely impossible. Playing against them is out of the question.
Playing with them means people will either be bored because the AI level is below their skill or they will be overwhelmed because it is too high.
And all of that would be so easy to solve if at least some RTS devs would put more importance on co-op and just interesting variance than competitiveness.

Seriously, the lack of creativeness of devs (especially in my beloved RTS sector) really makes me angry.
And yes, I do blame the balancing madness.
UGH!
[/RANT]

*Yeah, WBC3 had serious issues, by far not a perfect game, by some standards not even a very good one. Yet it is the one RTS game that showed what could be possible if it was done right.

 

[Don Peste]

Does Tim Cain nod in agreement when you expose your ideas to him?
And JSawyer?

Can you rank the RPGs you've worked on in order of your fondness to them (Arcanum, Diablo III, Fallout, Fallout 2, Vampire Bloodlines)?

If you had unlimited funds, what book/movie adaptation would you like to make?

What are your favourite recent & classic boardgames and P&Ps?

has there been any contact with Jason Anderson? Still friends, any pipe dreams of getting back together, is he happy at Turtle Rock?

Also other friends from Interplay like Chris Taylor, Mark O'Green or Herve Caen.