Codex Interview Wasteland 2 RPG Codex Interview with Brian Fargo - Part 1

[Monolith]

Tags: Brian Fargo; Kickstarter; Wasteland; Wasteland 2

If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago whether a sequel to Wasteland could become reality I'd have asked if pigs can fly or who I should point my meson cannon at for making a FPS out of it. Then suddenly Kickstarter happened to a different, also quite underappreciated genre and here we are, presenting to you the first part of our interview with Brian Fargo - about Wasteland 2, how crowdfunding could make it happen and that it "is going to be a top down, party and turn based game".

Take a glimpse:

- Being pessimistic for a moment; if the crowd funding approach fails to take off, but you instead attract the attention of a publisher and hammer out a deal, do you feel that the resulting version of Wasteland 2 would differ in terms of style? How do you think crowd funding will affect the type of game produced?

RPG Codex being pessimistic.. cmon.. never. I guess one has to ask the question if the game would have been a sales success if there wasn't enough fan support to fund it. Many RPG players love and respect Wasteland yet many Fallout players don't realize its roots. If the Fallout community truly knew then it would probably will be a successful funding. However, if we took your pessimistic scenario I think it would be a mistake to take this game in another direction other than what we have been discussing with the fans. The fans have made it clear that they want a certain kind of game and if publisher X popped up and said "Good news we are going Wasteland and its going to be an FPS", they would be incurring quite a wrath. Keeping it closer to the original game just seems right.

And a look at the full article

 

[Alex_Steel]

Damn, looking at the history of butthurt, I'm afraid to believe these things.

 

[Brother None]

Great stuff, guys.

Images appear to be broken though. Or is that just me?

 

[Lord Rocket]

Can anyone see all the 's or can you, like me, only see ? EDIT: obv. not

Anyway this sounds rad. I haven't visited the dex in over a month and when I finally do there's some good news on the front page?!?!?!?!!??! INCONCEIVABLE

 

[CrustyBot]

Hope Wasteland 2 becomes a reality. I'll admit I haven't played the original (though I will in the lead up to a potential Wasteland 2 release), but I know it's significance for the Fallout franchise and everything I've heard on the subject from Fargo, has been very positive and exciting.

BROs interviewing BROs.

Major

 

[Surf Solar]

My vision of this game is far closer to the original and will feel a lot more comfortable to the typical RPG player so what changes there are should fit comfortably with the gameplay conventions. I want anyone who played Fallout or Wasteland to feel comfortable stepping right into the shoes of this Wasteland. I have wanted to play and make a party based RPG for some time and my hopes are that the fans will also. Besides graphics the biggest element that needs to be focused on is the audio. We have some clever ideas on the use of radio communication and we are going to spend considerable time creating a mood with the use of an atmospheric sound track and sound effects. We want to build on what was done before rather than "rework" it.

Especially pumped at the hint for sfx etc - I am a huge ambience whore so he does ring the right bells on me.



OPEN THAT DAMNED KICKSTARTER PAGE ALREADY!

 

[Zed]

He always seems like a cool guy in interviews, and even when not making hardcore stuff never trying to BS people about it.

This is true. I read some old interviews with Fargo about Bard's Tale and he never bullshitted. He said it would be a different, light, kind of casual take on the original. Which it also turned out to be.
After Brother None's interview at NMA and this one, he has me convinced. I will definitely throw money at this project.

 

[Brother None]

OPEN THAT DAMNED KICKSTARTER PAGE ALREADY!

Prepping, prepping, prepping. The proposed tiers look very good, in my opinion. Lotta reasons to give your $50 or even your $100.

 

[Surf Solar]

OPEN THAT DAMNED KICKSTARTER PAGE ALREADY!

Prepping, prepping, prepping. The proposed tiers look very good, in my opinion. Lotta reasons to give your $50 or even your $100.

Well if the final product will really be like he purposes, I'd be willing to give more than the usual $50. I have been craving for exactly the game like talks about, why not give some more in that case. Hope you are right they are prepping and prepping it good.

 

[Azalin]

Great stuff, guys.

Images appear to be broken though. Or is that just me?

They seem to be broken in my case too,shit this never happened in the old Codex,now every few days I run into some broken image tags,wtf

 

[MMXI]

They seem to be broken in my case too,shit this never happened in the old Codex,now every few days I run into some broken image tags,wtf

I think they are broken because they are attachments to a forum post made in a private forum.

A little more juice on the next potential Wasteland courtesy of my interview with RPGCodex. rpgcodex.net/content.php?id…

 

[nihil]

Great first part, now hand us part two, and tell Brian Fargo to put up the Kickstarter already so I can throw money at him!

 

[felipepepe]

RPG Codex being pessimistic.. cmon.. never.

Yeah, I'm pessimistic that many fools won't see the value of this and refuse to help. So I'm saving my money to donate to Fargo and make fucking sure this game happens.

And someday in the future, when me or my son walks into a game store and buys a great, deep and innovative RPG, I will be proud to know that we all helped to make a difference, that the Codex stood for what is right, for what is real. And that thanks to all the BROS, future generations will be able to enjoy the same joy and passion I had when playing Wasteland and Fallout for the first time, so many years ago, or replaying them for the hundredth time today.

Godspeed Mr. Fargo!

 

[Roguey]

A good example of this was when we were making the first Fallout and Steve Jackson objected HEAVILY to the opening scene of the guy being shot in the back of the head with the soft music playing. I called him up and said "if you don't like that then you haven't seen anything yet" so we parted ways to use GURPS and I told the guys to use a different game system. A good producer will step up in the key moments and make sure the vision stays true.

Heh.
http://www.sjgames.com/ill/1997/ill-feb97.html

February 12, 1997

Rumor Control about Interplay

Executive Summary: We wish we knew.
I had problems with a couple of features of the otherwise very impressive alpha version of GURPS Fallout. As I corresponded with Interplay staff about this, I got handed up the ladder but their responses remained puzzling -- and that is the most detail I'm going to give for now.
Just before leaving for Europe last week, I got a call from a reporter asking me to comment on the Interplay decision to drop GURPS. I told him this was the first I'd heard of it. Calling Interplay, and talking with the last man I'd corresponded with, I got first "We haven't decided that, where'd you hear it?," then "Well, we have been talking about it and somebody must have gotten the idea it was decided," and finally "Yes, we have decided to drop it, so sorry."
The statement on the Interplay web site, to the effect that this was a mutual decision of SJ Games and Interplay, is not true. Scott Haring tells me that no written correspondence from Interplay has YET been received at our office. We are not clear what their proposal to finish and release the game without the license entails, for us or for the game, and have absolutely not agreed to it.
I can't imagine how Interplay could take three years working on a GURPS. computer game, and then be able to create and install a completely dissimilar game engine in a few months. Nor have I read (or heard) any explanation of how they might plan to do that. So "no comment" on that for now, too.
I've been invited to meet with Brian Fargo, who I understand owns Interplay, when I'm in LA in a few days. I'll be very interested to see what he has to say. I hope we will be able to announce that this was a tempest in a teacup.

February 19, 1997

...
Yes, I visited Interplay while I was on the West Coast. Marathon six-hour negotiating session with the programmer who is now in charge of the FALLOUT project. Clearly all the original problems could be resolved; I made a lot of concessions because I want to save the project. The GURPS implementation they've created is *worth* saving. But their decision won't be made by the programmers. All I can say is "wait and see."

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/1997/ill-mar97.html

March 14, 1997

Interplay Update

I just got a phone call from my contact at Interplay, telling me that they were indeed dropping the GURPS system from the project which has been going forward as GURPS Fallout since 1994. Sigh.
The stated reason was that they were "too far along" with the process of deGURPSizing the game. I asked if I could get any of this in writing. He laughed. But he said he'd talk with others there and "see" if he could send me a letter.
He also stated that Interplay was still interested in starting a new game using the GURPS system, and I replied that I would look at a proposal. But the saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" comes to mind.

Reiterating: Fuck you Fargo.

 

[felipepepe]

So? Neither statement are in conflict, Steve Jackson didn't said he or someone else didn't complain about the violence, and Fargo didn't said that he quickly told SJG that they dropped GURPS. Besides, Scott Campbell story was the same than Fargo's about why GURPS had to go.

 

[Brother None]

R. Scott Campbell gave pretty much the same account of events as Fargo did, in the sequence of events from early days to that video being refused to Interplay's side deciding to pull the plug. And we got pretty much the same story from other Interplay developers who worked on Fallout, before, though most do not bring up Fargo as a factor involved at all.

Stories like these always have multiple sides, but Jackson's perspective has, as far as I known, really only been claimed by him. I'm not believing either group's story all alone, they offer different perspectives on what was a creative/contractual conflict, but I dunno why you're singling out Fargo here when the story he told there is the version we've always heard from Interplay people. To the wayback day, from Chris Taylor: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg/browse_thread/thread/8a5d96b0f0054342/9c3bd22ecb0cfcaf?lnk=gst&q=fallout author:anarchy@netcom.com&rnum=217&pli=1

The reason for the split was mutual. I personally wish that we could have come to an agreement, but it wasn't meant to be.
(...)
Interplay and Steve Jackson Games could not agree on certain contractual and creative differences. Fallout will not be a GURPS title. This is terrible.

So uh...dunno why you're singling out Fargo for the account we've always heard.

 

[Roguey]

Major lack of professionalism/courtesy on Fargo/Interplay's side. Dropping it without telling him, giving him the runaround before finally admitting the truth, hiring people who laugh at you over the phone for wanting something in writing. Sounds like a horrible person to work with. I've heard from Ausir that Tim Cain doesn't like Fargo either.

 

[Brother None]

And some former BIS people don't want to work with Feargus anymore. Personal conflicts happen.

Also, what would it really matter if he's an asshole?

 

[Roguey]

He also ran that studio into the ground. Anyway: Nose, spite, face. If enough people fund this thing and if it turns out to be good, I'll probably buy it but I'm not going to take a gamble on anything he has to say because all he has are words.

 

[Brother None]

He also ran that studio into the ground.

Whereas, say, Ray and Greg are hugely successful. Take a guess whose portfolio I prefer!

 

[Roguey]

Whereas, say, Ray and Greg are hugely successful. Take a guess whose portfolio I prefer!

Let's not pretend that Fargo's Interplay didn't release a ton of shit worse than anything Bioware has ever put out.

 

[Brother None]

I didn't say that, I said I prefer his portfolio. I prefer a sporadic list of great works to BioWare's consistent mediocrity.

 

[felipepepe]

Let's not pretend that Fargo's Interplay didn't release a ton of shit worse than anything Bioware has ever put out.

Let's not pretend that Fargo's Interplay didn't release a ton of great games better than anything Bioware has ever put out.

 

[Jaesun]

Nice interview, and I keep liking what I am hearing from Mr. Fargo on Wasteland 2.

And huge BROFIST to Mr. Fargo for taking the time to talk to us. Looking forward to part 2!

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The only thing I'm worried about is that I'm not sure they'll have enough time to make a great game. Wasn't the original one in development for like 4-5 years? I understand that technological tools have progressed immensely, and they'll probably use Unity which allows to set up something real quick (or similar software).

But it's the balancing of everything that takes an awful lot of time and is really intricate, especially for a game where you have total freedom and there are a lot of skill checks everywhere. With a crowdsourcing model they will only be able to afford a couple of guys working for a year or maybe a little more. Will that be enough? It will probably produce an interesting but nevertheless incoherent mess full of wild but half-assed ideas like Fallout 2. And that game in spite of being produced in a similarly short period had the advantage of reusing existing assets and a fully working engine.