Interview RPS Talks with Brian Fargo about Wasteland 2 and Obsidian

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Black Isle Studios; Brian Fargo; Obsidian Entertainment; Wasteland 2

Dear me, there's a lot of Wasteland 2-related news and interviews popping up these days. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you. Quite the contrary. It's just that my fingers hurt. But even though they hurt, I just can't help informing you that RockPaperShotgun's Alec Meer has had another chat with Brian Fargo, entitled "Back to Black Isle: Fargo on Obsidian Joining Wasteland 2". It's about you-know-who joining the you-know-what, and here are the highlights:

RPS: I’m really glad it worked out. So we’ve just head your news about Obisidan potentially joining the game’s development, which is pretty amazing.

Fargo: I’ve been working on it since the beginning. It’s not like that was easy for me to pull together but there was a desire for me…we’ve been wanting to work together for some time. There’s a mutual respect and of course when it comes to Fallout, that’s yet more people who helped work on that, so I’m super-happy to be working with them. And especially Chris [Avellone] in particular. He’s a real talent and he’s gonna help…

To me, I bring on all these people and they help to set the bar very high so that everybody follows. Even the concept artist you might have seen, Andrée Wallin, you get this super-talent involved and they get the bar up there and then everybody else follows.

RPS: You’ve got to hope there isn’t a weak link among all these super people, but it does sound like a hell of a team.

Fargo: It’s fantastic. And the thing about Chris [Avellone] is that he’s hyper-passionate about Wasteland. For him, it was one of the seminal products that got him into the industry, developed his love for roleplaying games, so I think it’s really kind of a dream for him too.

RPS: Do you think it’s going to work naturally or might there be a clash, in that Wasteland is about player agency and freedom, while the game he’s most revered for, Planescape, is very much a fixed, set narrative?

Fargo: No, they won’t clash at all. What Chris brings is this wonderful density to his levels. So he’ll be involved with the overall, but he’ll also be given some sections in particular that he’ll be able to put his stamp on. It’s sort of like in science fiction novels where multiple authors get involved and do their own parts, all with their own style.

To me, it’s going to be cool because it’s going to give a greater sense of variety as you move around the world. But there’s no way on Earth this is not going to be a sandbox type game.

RPS: Who’s going to handle the story element? Are you going to do that in-house or are you going to pool it like those science fiction authors where it’s a completely collaborative thing?

Fargo: It’s going to be a little bit myself and Mike Stackpole making the world sense come together. So we’ll be helping to coordinate the overarching story of it all, but the individual parts, that’s where we have different people, whether it’s Chris Avellone, or Liz Danforth, who are working on their areas.

RPS: How do the team sizes for this and Fallout compare? Have you got roughly the same headcount?

Fargo: We’re going to be contracting out more on this. There are better tools now than there were back then, so it allows us to have a lot of stuff that’s already built for us and to contract out more. And we’re a little smarter now too.

RPS: Do you know how much of Obsidian would be working on it if it came to pass? Would it primarily just be Chris and a couple of guys, or would it be the whole team?

Fargo: There’s two parts of it. They have a lot of tools also over there that they’ve built over the years that are going to help save us some time. So there’s a tool component that takes their time – historical time – and then primarily it’s just Chris and maybe a couple of the guys, but it’s mainly from a design perspective. Pure writing/design.​

Pure joy, I'd rather say.

 

[Infinitron]

Tormet is a "fixed, set narrative"?

 

[tindrli]

i was gona say the same thing..

 

[sgc_meltdown]

I was looking back at the budget for the original Fallout. That was about three million dollars, and that included a lot of audio, a lot of cinematics and some publisher overhead. Also, the salary levels were different back then. To me, if we get to something like three million dollars that really starts to…I mean, we’re going to be able to make a great game as it is, it’s not like a problem, but it provides a little more leeway I guess in terms of not having to work 12 hour days.

So do you guys think 0.9 mil is the cost saved from no cinematics, voiceacting or publisher escort fee? For cutscenes all you need is slides and excellent, cracking good ambient music, it'll work. Maybe 2.3 mil for a gravelly voiced actor to voice those.

 

[Infinitron]

I was looking back at the budget for the original Fallout. That was about three million dollars, and that included a lot of audio, a lot of cinematics and some publisher overhead. Also, the salary levels were different back then. To me, if we get to something like three million dollars that really starts to…I mean, we’re going to be able to make a great game as it is, it’s not like a problem, but it provides a little more leeway I guess in terms of not having to work 12 hour days.

So do you guys think 0.9 mil is the cost saved from no cinematics, voiceacting or publisher escort fee? For cutscenes all you need is slides and excellent, cracking good ambient music, it'll work. Maybe 2.3 mil for a gravelly voiced actor to voice those.

Don't forget that there's also no cost of distribution due to going digital ('cept for those l33t boxed copies for donors).

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Oh yeah, and no 50s music license. Dunno how much inkspots cost them.

WL2, passing the savings on to the gamer

 

[commie]

MCA HAS to write up the whole story of the CODEX shrine and everything to do with it. No greater honor can be bestowed...

 

[Spectacle]

Isn't Fargo supposed to be writing that "vision document" he promised? How come he has time to talk to all these journalists?

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

I approve of this interview. Good vibrations.

 

[Brother None]

Isn't Fargo supposed to be writing that "vision document" he promised? How come he has time to talk to all these journalists?

Hah. Well, it's more like all the core guys discuss and write it together. I hope we'll see it soon, anyway.

Apropos, I like how he lowballs Fallout's budget at 3 million, where before he told me it was 3-5 million. Without publisher and PR cost and especially with voice acting it might well down to 3 tho'.

 

[hiver]

MCA HAS to write up the whole story of the CODEX shrine and everything to do with it. No greater honor can be bestowed...

He can try... And if he comes up with something good i think we should like... consider it?

 

[sgc_meltdown]

codex shrine

also how do you guys feel about specifying that the custom npc be...MCA himself

as in regardless of what he designs he has to write himself into the codex shrine

 

[villain of the story]

RPS: Do you know how much of Obsidian would be working on it if it came to pass? Would it primarily just be Chris and a couple of guys, or would it be the whole team?

Fargo: There’s two parts of it. They have a lot of tools also over there that they’ve built over the years that are going to help save us some time. So there’s a tool component that takes their time – historical time – and then primarily it’s just Chris and maybe a couple of the guys, but it’s mainly from a design perspective. Pure writing/design.

Ah so he WILL get tools, after all, just not the Onyx game engine.

So do you guys think 0.9 mil is the cost saved from no cinematics, voiceacting or publisher escort fee? For cutscenes all you need is slides and excellent, cracking good ambient music, it'll work. Maybe 2.3 mil for a gravelly voiced actor to voice those.

Anyway, that made me think of Thief and Thief 2 cinematics. Just beautiful and stylish paintings with some layered animation with moody music and quality narration and it is one of the best shit out there. I can't imagine all of that to cost anything above $250K on its own and that's my estimation of a hyperinflated cost.

 

[villain of the story]

also how do you guys feel about specifying that the custom npc be...MCA himself

as in regardless of what he designs he has to write himself into the codex shrine

No. Papa Mole.

 

[golgepapaz]

Tags: Black Isle Studios; Brian Fargo; Obsidian Entertainment; Wasteland 2

RPS: Who’s going to handle the story element? Are you going to do that in-house or are you going to pool it like those science fiction authors where it’s a completely collaborative thing?​

Fargo: It’s going to be a little bit myself and Mike Stackpole making the world sense come together. So we’ll be helping to coordinate the overarching story of it all, but the individual parts, that’s where we have different people, whether it’s Chris Avellone, or Liz Danforth, who are working on their areas.​

.

Wouldn't this create inconsistency in the narrative? I am asking because I have no idea. Did MCA wrote the whole story of PS:T by himself? not very likely but again I wouldn't like it to be a patchwork of different narrative and prose styles.

 

[Tigranes]

MCA wrote PST's story pretty much by himself, I think, but not certain on that. But it's standard industry practice to have 1-2 writers do the high-level concept + main plot / characters, then divvy up the other NPCs, areas, etc. to junior designers. That's exactly how MCA did New Reno, and I think FNV (except for Dead Money). New Reno is controversial, of course, but FO2 had a lot less cohesion in the development process than usual, so that it was only a few weeks before release where they were able to put all the areas from different people together and see what was there.

 

[circ]

Oh. You're not an Obsidian apologist. You're just an MCA deepthroater. Look up Little Oral Annie deepthroating John Holmes in Passion Pit for a visual.

 

[Tigranes]

Thanks for the tip, I'll google that when I've prepared my crate of tissues with MCA's face custom-imprinted on them.

(Only $49.99, if anybody else wants some)

 

[Brother None]

MCA wrote PST's story pretty much by himself, I think, but not certain on that.

Story? Yes. And then half the writing. Here: http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/articles?ref=0&id=208

 

[mindx2]

Anyway, that made me think of Thief and Thief 2 cinematics. Just beautiful and stylish paintings with some layered animation with moody music and quality narration and it is one of the best shit out there. I can't imagine all of that to cost anything above $250K on its own and that's my estimation of a hyperinflated cost.

+1 The Thief cinematics are to this day some of the best I've seen in a video game. They set the tone and mood perfectly and conveyed the storyline in an atmospheric and artistic way that hasn't been repeated since (IMHO). Wasteland 2 would be lucky to even come close to this level of quality.

 

[Pegultagol]

I wish Fenstermaker also gets to contribute to some areas as well, I particularly found the areas designed by him in Fallout NV memorable.

 

[villain of the story]

Is there some guide on who made what in either Fallout game?

 

[commie]

codex shrine

also how do you guys feel about specifying that the custom npc be...MCA himself

as in regardless of what he designs he has to write himself into the codex shrine

No physical manifestation of MCA in this game. Better they milk his sex appeal for Obsidian's own KS. There should be a CODEX edition with a pewter troll, a romanceable MCA NPC in game and an autographed and framed picture of him in one of his manly poses so that the discerning Codexian gentleman can place on his bedside table or snuggle up with at night.

If they priced such a thing reasonably, at say $250, it would go like hot cakes!

 

[tindrli]

I was looking back at the budget for the original Fallout. That was about three million dollars, and that included a lot of audio, a lot of cinematics and some publisher overhead. Also, the salary levels were different back then. To me, if we get to something like three million dollars that really starts to…I mean, we’re going to be able to make a great game as it is, it’s not like a problem, but it provides a little more leeway I guess in terms of not having to work 12 hour days.

So do you guys think 0.9 mil is the cost saved from no cinematics, voiceacting or publisher escort fee? For cutscenes all you need is slides and excellent, cracking good ambient music, it'll work. Maybe 2.3 mil for a gravelly voiced actor to voice those.

they can always do some kind of user friendly music and voices situation so modders can do the rest and spend that money somewhere else.
IMHO it would be great to see RPGCODEX voiceover/music pack.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Wouldn't this create inconsistency in the narrative? I am asking because I have no idea.

It is the way the original Wasteland was done: everyone had his or her own map. That doesn't mean there wasn't an overarching design vision, of course.