Development Info Comprehensive Van Buren FAQ at NMA

[Spazmo]

Tags: Fallout 3 (Van Buren)

<b>Briosafreak</b> of <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com">No Mutants Allowed</a> sends word that NMA has put up a <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com/fallout3/faq.shtml">FAQ</a> encompassing everything that JE has said thus far about Van Buren/Fallout 3 put together by <b>NCR_Ranger</b>, <b>Briosafreak</b>, <b>Sammael</b> and <b>StillLife</b>. It is indeed a rigorously complete FAQ containing everything we know so far about Fallout 3 and the Jefferson Engine.
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So brave NMA's fearsome pop-up ads and <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com/fallout3/faq.shtml">head on over</a> to brush up on your Fallout 3.

 

[Briosafreak]

Your pop-ups are worse than ours :mrgreen:

The FAQ will have a facelift and more stuff added next time, but it already gives a good insight on how the game is starting to look and what are the main changes from the previous games.

It`s made with stuff that J.E. Sawyer, Damien "Puuk" Foletto and Chad "Briareus" have said in several places.

 

[Elwro]

Frankly, I haven't noticed any popups on NMA, and I get 2 of them each time I turn my computer on and rush to www.rpgcodex.com.

 

[Voss]

Yep 2 pop-ups to no pop-ups

Anyway, a passage:

Will the next Fallout be turn-based, or will it be real-time?

A Fallout sequel would almost assuredly have a turn-based mode and a real-time with pause mode, toggled outside of combat.

Why?

Real-time vs. turn-based combat isn't an aspect of character development, but it is an aspect of gameplay. Some people don't like playing through combat, even in a good system. Some people absolutely hate dialogue, even when it's well written. To accommodate different types of players, we do need to spread our resources

Am I the only one missing a context here? Because I'm not seeing a lot of relation between the various statements in this passage.

So, combat mode is gameplay. Fine. and not character development. Obvious.
Player A (Timmy) doesn't like combat.
Player B (Billy) doesn't like to read.
Billy and Timmy have different things they don't like.
To make Billy and Timmy happy, we're going to do several different things with our money and time, which won't affect Billy at all (since it doesn't address his lack of desire to read), and won't make Timmy happy either way (since he just doesn't like combat, having a choice of how to do combat won't matter to him).

So.... context?
And, anyway, isn't the reason for it simply because Interplay decreed "And for the new Fallout, there will be real time combat. And, yea, we shall ignore all wailing and gnashing of teeth."?

 

[Elwro]

Yep. If they were in the food business, they would try to develop a dish that would taste like plants if the consumer was vegetarian, and like a pork chop if not. Because hey, "Some people don't like meat even when it's very well done, and some eat mostly meat. We have to cater to the needs of our consumers".

But I fear this one thing. So, if some people like RT and some like TB, let's make both. But they also point that "Some people absolutely hate dialogue, even when it's well written". So what? Will we have an option for automatic talking? Press the ugly head to be mean. Press the flower to be nice...

 

[Deathy]

But they also point that "Some people absolutely hate dialogue, even when it's well written". So what? Will we have an option for automatic talking? Press the ugly head to be mean. Press the flower to be nice...

Reminds me of the moron indicators in Lionheart.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

"Some people hate dialogue" probably should be playing Unreal Tourney 2003 instead of a CRPG.

 

[Psilon]

Hell no. I like UT2003. It's good LAN fun. Illiterate types like that should be bitching on BNet about whatever they broke in the latest Counter-Strike release. (There's always something.)

 

[Skorpios]

Hmmmm, I'm beginning to agree with the term 'moron indicators' now. They do seem to do a wonderful job of bringing out morons...

You know very well that Lionheart has a fully functioning text-based dialogue system, Deathy, icons or no icons.

But hey, I'm not here to start an argument....I'm slipping away into the darkness even now...

 

[Skorpios]

Some people absolutely hate dialogue

I agree that is a scary quote coming from a designer of an RPG though, especially a Fallout sequel.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I think the problem is that they're attempting to bend the CRPG genre to be more mainstream by flushing everything they think is non-mainstream when it comes to development. It's like saying that some people hate having to navigate a dungeon, so let's just make it a long hallway filled with non-stop monsters! Some people hate dying, so let's leave lots of uber-armor around!

It just seems like if someone hates dialogue, likes action combat, and so on and so forth, then perhaps rather than bending the genre to suit them, they should be encouraged to find genres they actually like.

 

[Dan]

Well, that's excactly the problem.

Marketting probably forces a lot of these changes, so the game can have mass appeal, which is really pretty stupid.

If you make A CRPG, then you should make a CRPG. But making a CRPG that suits action players and general morons, is sad. You end up with bad crpg, and a bad action game, so what's the point?

 

[Skorpios]

I guess the point is that sometimes, very rarely, you make a game that crosses genre boundaries so well that it actually redefines them and creates a new genre that opens up a whole new market.

Because there is no 'magic formula' that automatically creates good games or guarantees good sales, publishers and designers always 'guess' to some extent. That means, unfortunately, that sometimes (most times?) they guess wrong. It doesn't always mean the game is bad, but sometimes things don't go right. Maybe it is released at the same time as another similar game so the market for both is split between them, making both of them 'failures' for example. Maybe the technology they are using can't really support the features they are trying to implement. And so forth.

It's just part of the creative process. You can't please all of the people all of the time - but it is that dream that drives most creative people. You don't put in the amount of effort required for a novel or a game if you don't BELIEVE somewhere deep inside that EVERYONE will love it. Of course, when the creative process ends and your novel or game hits the market that's when reality sets in, but by then it's too late to take back all the hard work and decisions you've made.