I think I know what part of the problem is, I mean besides general belligerence
General belligerence? Beside me and skyway (metalcraze), everyone wrote supportive posts, also expressing sincere disappointment (including me) in cancellation of Aliens RPG, not to mention that Obsidian gets plenty of pity points around these forums. You call a few posters bombarding you with skepticism as
general belligerence? How can you ever face criticism, if at all, for your work in your work environment with such an attitude, I wonder. With denial? Two people out of majority in a thread that's so far 3 pages long, you find the environment hostile.
Working at Obsidian must like a lollercoaster where no one needs to face criticism at face value and works submitted are lotteried to prevent hard feelings, which can also explain the bugs and cut content in Obsidian games :AnthonyDavis: (see what I just did there? pretty cool, don't you think?)
That, or, I don't know. Claiming general belligerence so far is downright bullshit, no matter how much you spin the disagreement label. What's next, developers coming to RPGCodex, hoping to cry and then running away in shock and fear?
Come to think of it, that's basically what Bethesda did.
Disagree all you want about design decisions and other issues,
It's not that WE disagree with what you have written here. It's that MILLIONS of Alien fans (as that's the kind of defense developers are using a lot these days) could be taken as an already-proven case:
denizsi said:
Anthony Davis said:
If you are making the game we are making where there are moments of horror, you have to give them something new.
Funnily enough, I don't remember such new wild designs from either AVP games to give "the players something new". The games just kept throwing aliens at you, and guess what: mainstream reception was very high and they sold very good.
This leads me to think that you have adapted so good to unoriginal way of thinking, you don't even realize you're being unoriginal. You have this whole angle of "gotta shock/surprise the player!" mindset. Compare that to total screen time of the alien in Alien, the best movie in the series: it is pretty insignificant. Yet, it's still a brilliant movie even after you've seen it several times and the initial shock of finally facing the alien washes off. Now, Aliens was pretty much the opposite of that and introduced a lot of new things, but apart from the queen, nothing really served to "shock/surprise the audience with new & cool stuff!"
The only matter of disagreement here is that whether it
may or
may not be good practice to introduce new, wild subtypes of Alien species. One thing is for sure, as 4 movies, 2 spin offs and several games proved: it's not even remotely a matter of "you have to do something new" regarding alien physiology, to throw something at the player. Yes, the current canon has it that aliens take traits from the host. But a sluggish monstrous variation?
So, there goes several working examples against your argument. So, being purely objective, that leaves only two options:
(1) You are a lot more prone to bad clichés of gaming industry than you're aware, as I've illustrated above. Throwing "new alien stuff" at player isn't a matter of obligation for success or quality. Yet you think so. Yet, numbers prove you dreadfully wrong.
(2) My original argument holds true. That you find this approach a lot more original, to inject your own idea to take some liberties with probably the most unnecessary aspect of the game that might need it -alien physiology/anatomy- instead of, well, since I don't know the details of the game, I can't make a comparison to whatever else was or wasn't planned. Nonetheless. You're doing it because of your own incentive to introduce something, and if the first case isn't true for you (ie. you really aren't that clichéd and ordinary as a game development studio to think such cheap tricks *are* necessary), this can only mean that you find these new designs very original, very worthy of an Alien game.
Now, at this point, whether they are really original and worthy is, by some degree, a matter of opinion and disagreements, but then comes 2 other points:
(2-a): You've really screwed the basic alien design, which is about, repeating myself for the third time:
a cold killing machine that's an amalgam of sexuality and rape in its biomachine-like anatomy and aesthetics.
This is not something I'm pulling out of my ass either. Other than that this particular commentarie has been made by every director, screenwriter and every actor and actress to have starred in either mobie, it is a prevailing theme through the whole series. There is always someone or some people in complete awe of the elegance of aliens, and some of them go deeper than that to make commentaries on their physiology and their agile abilities. You change basic alien design to a sluggish creation of monstrosity, you have lost the key to understanding Alien.
(2-b): You have contradicted yourself. You have claimed that it was a necessity to throw new alien stuff at the player. Well, I did point out why you're wrong about that. Which either takes to (2) and to (2-a) from there, or to here, which means you've made a mistake. It happens, though, and it's ok.
Oh but never mind any of that, blaming it on belligerence and simple matter of disagreements is a better cope out.