Information Writing by October, Scripting by April: Brian Fargo Comments on Deadlines

He didn't mention game show stuff, which I thought would attribute more to the development time. Unless, of course, those would be part of the milestones he mention. He did put some weight on those Unity assets though - interesting.

Thanks for contacting him Bee, you da bomb. And thanks Fargo.

I must say that I doubt that they can make a complex rpg in such a short time, but, compared to Fargo, what the fuck do I know about game development.
I do have confidence in Inxile.

Someone summon Vault Dweller to comment that!

What's there to comment on?

Could Crooked Bee please post the original email sent to Fargo?

What do you think of this timeline? Does it address some of your concerns? Is it still too ambitious? Does the "Milestones" shaving off 25% seem like a lot? Do you think these "tools and user generated assets" offer them the huge benefit he seems to think? These are some of the things I would really like to hear your thoughts on. You have some experience, I don't.

I can't say anything about the timeline because I have no idea what's planned for the game (in terms of writing and scripting). My concern isn't with anything specific and isn't with Fargo/Wasteland 2, but with a simple fact that I've never seen a full-scale RPG taking less than 3 years. Maybe he can pull it off and maybe he can't, but asking questions about it right now is pointless as he can only assure people that he's on schedule and mention a distant possibility of a delay, just in case. Hope nobody expected him to say "you know what, you're right, come to think about it, we do need 3 years".

For the record, I don't buy "all RPGs take 1.5 years but them milestones, tools, and assets turn it in 3 years". Remind me of:

- But movies cost millions of dollars to make.
- That's after gross net deduction profit percentage deferment ten percent of the nut. Cash, every movie cost $2,184.

That's just make busy work, while they wait 3 years for the programmers to finish the engines and scripts. Shhh! Don't tell the boss.

Am I bad person for enjoying the occasional and well placed cutscene?

no

Am i a bad gamer for enjoying a gameplay so much I am willing to forgo all the cutscene in exchane for 50% shorter development time?

They can save a chunk of money (which is why Fargo *can* make a great game with only 3 mil budget), but not time.

Here is what Vincke says - they had 40-100 people working on the game, but only 7 worked on gameplay. Throwing all 40-100 on gameplay would only make a mess and wouldn't speed things up. It's not like the same group of people first does the engine, then the tools, then the scripting, then design, then writing, etc. It's done simultaneously (few exceptions apply). That's why dropping or outsourcing any of those things will only affect the budget.

Please do not bait the Dweller.

Programmers like that are rare, but I've seen a few in the wild. If Pavlish is as good as the guys I've seen, Brian wouldn't need much more.

ToEE used the Arcanum engine (Steam).

Wait...cinematics is 50% of the time, and having to show milestones is 25%? If we take out voice overs, publisher meetings/meddling, trade shows, etc., what are we left with, games only really need about 10% of the time to be made?

Pretty much. You can put one together in a day or two. A week if you really want to impress people.

Whats wrong Vault Dweller? Fargo's team could make AoD in less than 6 months.

Wouldn't be surprised.

What the hell. You've broken him.