RPG Roundtable #5 pt. 2 at RPGVault

[Spazmo]

Tags: Jeff Vogel

<A HREF="http://rpgvault.ign.com" target="_blank">RPG Vault</A> have the <a href=http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/535/535708p1.html>second installment</a> of the fifth installment of their RPG Roundtable feature. Another bushel of developers discuss multi-platform development including <b>Michal Madej</b> of CD Projekt (The Witcher), <b>J.E. Sawyer</b> of Midway San Diego (Gauntlet Xtreem Offroad) and <b>Jeff Vogel</b> of Spiderweb Software (Geneforge 3, we think). Here's Vogel.
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<blockquote>Pretty often I get fan mail asking me to port my games to Gameboy or some other console. It's not possible, of course. Even if I could thread my way through all of the licensing issues, I don't have the resources to manufacture and ship piles of plastic things.
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I'm not much of a fan of console RPGs either. Maybe I didn't play enough of them, but the combination of incomprehensible plots, frequent, grinding combat and overlong attack animations turned me off.</blockquote>
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This is why we love Jeff Vogel. Hey, J.E., quit wasting your career being Romero's bitch and go work for a real company!

 

[Reklar]

I've gotta hand it to Vogel, he really knows how to hit them where it hurts. :D That being said, I guess I should be checking out his games, although I never have liked large downloads on dial-up.

-Reklar
(a Fallout/RPG fan)

 

[Spazmo]

Hardly large. The Geneforge demo (which is the whole game, mostly locked by registration code) is only 11.9 megs. It's big for dialup, granted, but it's worth it.

 

[Volourn]

Jeff Vogel is a BIOweenie fanboy! Linch him!

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

Hey, J.E., quit wasting your career being Romero's bitch and go work for a real company!

Oh okay on what? I figure I'm pretty safe working on something that no one here gives a rat's ass about.

 

[Gromnir]

Hey, J.E., quit wasting your career being Romero's bitch and go work for a real company!

Oh okay on what? I figure I'm pretty safe working on something that no one here gives a rat's ass about.

you is not suggesting that you give a "rat's ass" 'bout codex opinions (or the opinion of game fan-addicts at other message boards,) of your career choice? btw, spazmo’s post obviously is showing just how flawed your reasonable and rational assumption is… fact that they not care ‘bout midway or midway games hardly makes you safe.

HA! Good Fun!

p.s. we is gone for a few days and fergie announces that he is making iwd2 again... what a treat. well, at least obsidian developers not have to be done by christmas.

 

[Spazmo]

Geez, Sawyer, did you leave your sense of humour behind when you left Interplay? I'm sure whatever you're working on is very rewarding in its own special way.

 

[Volourn]

"I'm sure whatever you're working on is very rewarding in its own special way."

The sarcasm is dripping and about to overflow the whole internet world!


"we is gone for a few days and fergie announces that he is making iwd2 again... what a treat. well, at least obsidian developers not have to be done by christmas."

R00fles!

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Hey, J.E., quit wasting your career being Romero's bitch and go work for a real company!

Oh okay on what? I figure I'm pretty safe working on something that no one here gives a rat's ass about.

Why dont you quite crying and get back to Gauntlet 3000.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Hey, J.E., quit wasting your career being Romero's bitch and go work for a real company!

Oh okay on what? I figure I'm pretty safe working on something that no one here gives a rat's ass about.

If Spazmo didn't sekretly care, he wouldn't have suggested you get a job making something other than Gauntlet games. Troika was hiring an office manager, BTW. You could order pizzas and stuff for Tim Cain and pick up around the place. As an added bonus, you'd get to fire people from Troika if they wanted someone fired.

Then again, as much joking as I do about Romero, he's a pretty decent guy and has always been good to and with the game communities around the games he's made. <3 Romero

 

[Surlent]

Michal Madej, Designer of Witcher talked quite well about the console games. He seemed to know a lot about eastern culture like pachinko. Any1 played that ?

Mr Sawyer, tackled right with the problem, the interface and controls are the main reasons why games have to be toned down for console gamers and leave features out, not because they are all retards or something.

btw JE, if you are reading this, do you do RPGs in Midway or what ?
I've never even heard of the company. The name sounds more like they'd do sports or car games though.

Vogel of Spiderweb Software

Maybe I didn't play enough of them, but the combination of incomprehensible plots, frequent, grinding combat and overlong attack animations turned me off.

Final Fantasy 8 ? Anyone ?

The only positive side about Romero is that he helped Warren Spector build Ion Storm's Austin studio, so that Spector with its team could do Deus Ex.

 

[Astromarine]

Okay, Saint. You like Romero AND Derek Smart? You're like Bizarro Gamer

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, I hated Daikatana, but Romero used to drop by the fan #doom channel a lot and even used to do some pick up Doom DMs with the fans. He used to even let Doom fans drop by Ion Storm to see Daikatana. Even though the game sucked, mainly because he wasn't the best producer in the world, he's a decent guy with a lot of decent ideas.

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

you is not suggesting that you give a "rat's ass" 'bout codex opinions (or the opinion of game fan-addicts at other message boards,) of your career choice?

No, what I'm suggesting is that working on a Gauntlet game results in people being dismissive and vaguely critical of my general career choices instead of hostile and insanely critical of everything I do.

Why dont you quite crying and get back to Gauntlet 3000.

Wow, you totally zinged me!

 

[Whipporowill]

Heck JE, I can only speak for myself - not being the level of fallout purist that some people are, but I certainly feel like I'd see you get to actually release an rpg. I liked the general idea of what I heard about Jeffy for istance.

 

[Voss]

The only positive side about Romero is that he helped Warren Spector build Ion Storm's Austin studio, so that Spector with its team could do Deus Ex.

You say that like it's a good thing.

Weird.

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

btw JE, if you are reading this, do you do RPGs in Midway or what ?

No, I'm working on a Gauntlet game.

 

[Avin]

No, I'm working on a Gauntlet game.

you mean XTREEEEEEEEM gauntlet 3000?

on a side note, i use to like the original gauntlet game. i tried the n64 version. for 6 minutes. then i quit. hope this one is better.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I think i only ever fully played the Genesis version of Gauntlet, and it was fine. I seem to recall dabbling in the N64 version one, too, but it didn't really hold my interest.

 

[Whipporowill]

Heh. I haven't played Gauntlet since back in the old c64 days - now that was a game I enjoyed! Didn't a recent "Gauntlet: Dark Legacy" or sumfink or other get real crap reviews?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The original arcade Gauntlet games were awesome. I wasted so many quarters playing that thing. Of course, that was way back in the 1980s. I tried playing one of the newer ones on the Dreamcast, the last console I bought, and it just wasn't the same.. Meh.

 

[EEVIAC]

Old games are like that. Good ideas removed from their historical and cultural signifigance can suck even without doing much wrong. I thought a revision for Smash TV would be awesome fun. Then I played Hunter and realized how bad an idea that was.