Interview Brian Fargo interviewed by Rocket Beans TV and GameStar at Gamescom 2016

[Mortmal]

Rocket Beans TV

Ah, so this is the upper echelon of gaming journalism

Sounds very commercial and mainstream site, the shop tab is right before the forums.No wonder they are approved by techland , no risk those guys ask evil questions ever .No negativity ,politically correct , clean , dull, boring... Like the mainstream gaming industry.

 

[GuiltyofBeingTrite]

Both must be the Tier 1 websites we heard about.

We have our targets.

No our slot would've been tomorrow morning.
We need to find out who stole our slot.

So, was it NMA?

 

[jungl]

games plot is a rip off of the strain.

 

[Tom Selleck]

Also, it was a smart move on Fargo's part to slight the Codex because he probably knew it wouldn't affect the Codex slapping up every little bit of news about Torment on the front page anyway, especially the elite prestige of Rocket Beans TV. So he gets to have his cake and eat it too.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I had a feeling that would happen.

Careful there, you don't want to break some other NDA for having feelings, that nobody suspected was there :D

"Germans always dive very deep" ... bad interview.

Indeed, history shows that Germans favor deep pincer manoeuvres.

Am I the only one who isn't about this game being also for consoles? If anything it should make the game run faster the way it did with WL2 Director's Cut which is a VAST improvement over the vanilla version

I don't care either.

 

[Nihiliste]

Which cuck decided it was a good idea to give coverage to these two faced scumbags.

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession with chasing the console market, let's hope inXile goes the same way. How sleazy do you have to be to post kickstarter pitches about breaking free from "evil" publishers when becoming the next soulless Bethesda/Blizzard style corporation is clearly his big dream.

Zero integrity.

 

[Lucky]

Well, actu


Well actually, as a projects manager in real life, this shit happens all the time.
Big decisions sometimes made at the last phase of a project.

But to say the programmers didn't knew and Brian was the only one who knew about this possibility - well, that is a big fucking lie.

And to take a PC oriented game and "adjust" it to the console world takes time.
Of course, it depends on the project complexity and how "Console-friendly" is the project before the adjustments.

But when Fargo pitch it as "zero time" change.
That's the lie.
And I don't understand why to lie about it?!

"Torment was made to PC only, but after the sucsess of Wasteland 2 on consoles, I though why not bringing Torment to consoles too?"
"We know how to do it, so there's little risk, and we can make more money".
"And in the end of the day, if people think that Torment was amazing, with that extra money from the consoles we can start the production of Torment 2.5..."

Brian, just say the truth. most of us are grown-ups... Or retards... But we all know that to make games you need money!

He'd be lying because giving the impression that he didn't intend to port Torment to consoles from the start would be necessary to keep up the illusion that Technoland is fully funding the port, that the kickstarter funding was fully spent on the PC release, and that the PC release is in no way hampered by the game also appearing on consoles. In reality, it safes you tons of headaches and money to design your game from the start with the limitations of a multiplatform release in mind, which supposedly was way before Technoland got involved (unless Technoland was involved from the start, which is unlikely but would make for really bad publicity if it turned out to be true).

Note also how the kickstarter does not exclude the possibility of the kickstarter funding being spent on a console port, only that they'll "focus" on PC and that they will make the "best computer gaming experience possible": "This Kickstarter is focused on making the best computer RPG possible and we are focused on PC (Windows), Mac, and Linux. Other platforms may be possible at a later time, but all funds from this Kickstarter will focus on making the best computer gaming experience possible.".

Unless he's telling the truth and they just wasted time and money when they're already on a super-tight budget.

 

[Bester]

to design your game from the start with the limitations of a multiplatform release in mind, which supposedly was way before Technoland got involved

Yes, to make it work on mac and linux, as well as windows. But with the code being multiplatform, it also works on consoles.

I'm so tired of computer illiterate people seeing a conspiracy here. All they did was hire 1 artist who designed the console UI, 1 coder who implemented it on top of the existing game, then 1 QA guy who tested the game in its entirety. That's all the "porting" necessary in this case. They probably outsourced them too. Three people, ~ 20-30 man hours in total for the UI, then the QA guy tested it some more. That's it.

 

[J_C]

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession

I think you are mistaking him with someone else.

 

[Schizophrenic monolog]

Which cuck decided it was a good idea to give coverage to these two faced scumbags.

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession with chasing the console market, let's hope inXile goes the same way. How sleazy do you have to be to post kickstarter pitches about breaking free from "evil" publishers when becoming the next soulless Bethesda/Blizzard style corporation is clearly his big dream.

Zero integrity.

I really don't give a fuck about Brian "evil" plans.
And I don't care if he plans a game for WII or PS2.

The only thing I care about is the actual game.
If I'll enjoy the game and care about it, than jobs done.

It's Brian headache to figure out how to make enough money to keep his company alive.

All I care about is if Torment will live up to the hype.

And according the beta, the game's writing are the best I've seen in a long time.

So... That's a really good start.
And if the game's looks good with a decent UI... Well that just a bonus.

In the end of the day, I decide to buy a game only if it's good in my opinion, and not if the game have a console port or what the CEO want to do with the future of the company.

 

[ArchAngel]

Plot twist, ksaun was fired because he refused to start managing the move to consoles in addition to PC release. Remember his talk about being a Paladin and always doing right by people? Now it makes sense.

 

[Jaesun]

I was actually thinking the same thing....

 

[J_C]

Which cuck decided it was a good idea to give coverage to these two faced scumbags.

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession with chasing the console market, let's hope inXile goes the same way. How sleazy do you have to be to post kickstarter pitches about breaking free from "evil" publishers when becoming the next soulless Bethesda/Blizzard style corporation is clearly his big dream.

Zero integrity.

I really don't give a fuck about Brian "evil" plans.
And I don't care if he plans a game for WII or PS2.

The only thing I care about is the actual game.
If I'll enjoy the game and care about it, than jobs done.

It's Brain headache to figure out how to make enough money to keep his company alive.

All I care about is if Torment will live up to the hype.

And according the beta, the game's writing are the best I've seen in a long time.

So... That's a really good start.
And if the game's looks good with a decent UI... Well that just a bonus.

In the end of the day, I decide to buy a game only if it's good in my opinion, and not if the game have a console port or what the CEO want to do with the future of the company.

Wait wait wait. You are going awfully intelligent and sensible here. You are saying...*gasp* you only care about the quality of the PC version? Oh my...!

 

[Tito Anic]

From Wiki:

By 2001, Titus Software completed its acquisition of majority control of Interplay. Immediately afterwards, they shed most of Interplays publisher functions and signed a long-term agreement under which Vivendi Universal would publish Interplay's games. Interplay founder Brian Fargo eventually departed to found InXile Entertainment as Fargo's plan to change Interplay's main focus from PC gaming to console gaming failed

 

[vean]

Which cuck decided it was a good idea to give coverage to these two faced scumbags.

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession with chasing the console market, let's hope inXile goes the same way. How sleazy do you have to be to post kickstarter pitches about breaking free from "evil" publishers when becoming the next soulless Bethesda/Blizzard style corporation is clearly his big dream.

Zero integrity.

I really don't give a fuck about Brian "evil" plans.
And I don't care if he plans a game for WII or PS2.

The only thing I care about is the actual game.
If I'll enjoy the game and care about it, than jobs done.

It's Brain headache to figure out how to make enough money to keep his company alive.

All I care about is if Torment will live up to the hype.

And according the beta, the game's writing are the best I've seen in a long time.

So... That's a really good start.
And if the game's looks good with a decent UI... Well that just a bonus.

In the end of the day, I decide to buy a game only if it's good in my opinion, and not if the game have a console port or what the CEO want to do with the future of the company.

Yeah that's a very responsible, adult way of looking at things

I don't care if the taxi driver hits some pedestrians on the way as long as I get there on time.

Goods are stolen? Don't care it's cheap

Coca Cola company uses death squads in south america to terrorize workers thinking of unionizing? Dont care it tastes gut

 

[J_C]

From Wiki:

By 2001, Titus Software completed its acquisition of majority control of Interplay. Immediately afterwards, they shed most of Interplays publisher functions and signed a long-term agreement under which Vivendi Universal would publish Interplay's games. Interplay founder Brian Fargo eventually departed to found InXile Entertainment as Fargo's plan to change Interplay's main focus from PC gaming to console gaming failed

Actually there is no citation for that part, only about:

The conflict between Fargo and Titus came to a head when he submitted his resignation on January 7th, 2002. In his resignation letter, Fargo cited an alleged reduction in his responsibilities as CEO, to which Interplay responded in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Fargo had not attended to his responsibilities in more than four months. Interplay threatened to sue Fargo for the above allegation as well as unfair competition. Interplay claimed Fargo wanted to "secure a highly lucrative severance and separation package for himself," while Fargo claimed in an interview that he wanted nothing.

 

[J_C]

Which cuck decided it was a good idea to give coverage to these two faced scumbags.

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession with chasing the console market, let's hope inXile goes the same way. How sleazy do you have to be to post kickstarter pitches about breaking free from "evil" publishers when becoming the next soulless Bethesda/Blizzard style corporation is clearly his big dream.

Zero integrity.

I really don't give a fuck about Brian "evil" plans.
And I don't care if he plans a game for WII or PS2.

The only thing I care about is the actual game.
If I'll enjoy the game and care about it, than jobs done.

It's Brain headache to figure out how to make enough money to keep his company alive.

All I care about is if Torment will live up to the hype.

And according the beta, the game's writing are the best I've seen in a long time.

So... That's a really good start.
And if the game's looks good with a decent UI... Well that just a bonus.

In the end of the day, I decide to buy a game only if it's good in my opinion, and not if the game have a console port or what the CEO want to do with the future of the company.

Yeah that's a very responsible, adult way of looking at things

I don't care if the taxi driver hits some pedestrians on the way as long as I get there on time.

Goods are stolen? Don't care it's cheap

Coca Cola company uses death squads in south america to terrorize workers thinking of unionizing? Dont care it tastes gut

Brian Fargo hit vean's mother with his car.

 

[Infinitron]

I think there's no question that Brian wanted Interplay to have a console hit. But his strategy seems to have been to achieve that hit through external developers like Shiny Entertainment, not by meddling with the profitable business of his in-house RPG team (Black Isle). That's why people are mad at Herve.

 

[Schizophrenic monolog]

Which cuck decided it was a good idea to give coverage to these two faced scumbags.

Brian Fargo sunk Interplay with his greed and obsession with chasing the console market, let's hope inXile goes the same way. How sleazy do you have to be to post kickstarter pitches about breaking free from "evil" publishers when becoming the next soulless Bethesda/Blizzard style corporation is clearly his big dream.

Zero integrity.

I really don't give a fuck about Brian "evil" plans.
And I don't care if he plans a game for WII or PS2.

The only thing I care about is the actual game.
If I'll enjoy the game and care about it, than jobs done.

It's Brain headache to figure out how to make enough money to keep his company alive.

All I care about is if Torment will live up to the hype.

And according the beta, the game's writing are the best I've seen in a long time.

So... That's a really good start.
And if the game's looks good with a decent UI... Well that just a bonus.

In the end of the day, I decide to buy a game only if it's good in my opinion, and not if the game have a console port or what the CEO want to do with the future of the company.

Yeah that's a very responsible, adult way of looking at things

I don't care if the taxi driver hits some pedestrians on the way as long as I get there on time.

Goods are stolen? Don't care it's cheap

Coca Cola company uses death squads in south america to terrorize workers thinking of unionizing? Dont care it tastes gut

Did you just compared Brian Fargo and a console port to the Coca Cola death squads?!

Congratulation! You've just become my new drug dealer!!!
I want to smoke the shit you smoke!

I don't recall that somebody died from a console port.
It's not like Brian entered Obsidian offices and killed everyone (except MCA) so there will be less competition in the market...

He uses some tricks to gain more profit.
And if the meaning of this, is more Torment games in the future... I couldn't care less.

After all, he's the only one out there that even want to make this game...

 

[Tito Anic]

http://www.frictionlessinsight.com/archives/2002/06/the-saga-behind.html

Interplay's finances were intertwined with those of Fargo himself and failure to come to terms could have been disastrous for the company. Interplay's bank line of credit (their borrowing program) relied on a $2 million guarantee from Fargo. The lender used $1 million of Fargo's cash to repay that program. Fargo also made a $3 million loan to the company in April 2001 that was due in May 2002. Interplay was also owed $2.5 million by a business controlled by Fargo. That was written off as a loss. By the end of March, Interplay and Fargo came to terms, allowing a seemingly amicable split.

 

[Lucky]

Yes, to make it work on mac and linux, as well as windows. But with the code being multiplatform, it also works on consoles.

I'm so tired of computer illiterate people seeing a conspiracy here. All they did was hire 1 artist who designed the console UI, 1 coder who implemented it on top of the existing game, then 1 QA guy who tested the game in its entirety. That's all the "porting" necessary in this case. They probably outsourced them too. Three people, ~ 20-30 man hours in total for the UI, then the QA guy tested it some more. That's it.

Design, not code (which is much easier than it used to be, though not the cake walk that you're suggesting it is). It's keeping the limitations in mind of consoles while designing your game so that you don't end up with features that can't be properly ported, necessitating time and money being spent on getting it to work or cutting the feature entirely. For example: controller support becomes a necessity, which has consequences for how creative you can get with your control scheme. The earlier you do this, the less problems you'll have and the less time and effort you have to waste. The InXile leadership wanting keep the console option open and to have instructed to keep certain designs limitations in mind accordingly is what I'd expect from a company that's run half-decently - it's much easier to lift those in case the Wasteland 2 console version bombed and the port got scrapped, than to put them in place later in development. The alternative would be unnecessarily inefficient, which isn't impossible but would be surprise me when lying a bit is so much easier.

 

[Bester]

For example: controller support becomes a necessity, which has consequences for how creative you can get with your control scheme.

Absolute nonsense. It doesn't matter that you have "J" open your journal on PC. On controller, you stick some round wheel UI that grants access to a bunch of screens. Not a problem. Then another wheel for all kinds of actions you can do in combat. Problem solved. This is exactly what they showed on gamescom.

 

[Schizophrenic monolog]

Another interview.
This time with Colin too.


I really like Colin!
I really think he's the best thing that happened to games writing and story telling in a long time.

 

[Lucky]

Absolute nonsense. It doesn't matter that you have "J" open your journal on PC. On controller, you stick some round wheel UI that grants access to a bunch of screens. Not a problem. Then another wheel for all kinds of actions you can do in combat. Problem solved. This is exactly what they showed on gamescom.

It's a general example. I'm not playing this game nor watching footage until the final release is fully patched, so I can't comment on whether what they have so far suggests that the decision to port was made recently or early on. The point is that a console release imposes limits on your design that are much easier dealt with if you plan for them from the start. I'd expect any game that could potentially get a multiplatform release made by a decent company to do this on some level as it saves time and money and prevents unexpected problems down the line.

 

[throwaway]

Love how the actually geeky girl is the one most informed on the game.

Wonder what those engine limitations could have been, would 3D have made implementation easier?

Also, I had forgotten that Ziets' role was so diminished. Cmcc mentions 5 core writters of which I only know his own work on Curst (which I missed due to falling down the well too soon); Adam Heine afaik didn't do much writing in PST and the single (Roguey?) review of the his novella was lukewarm (as is the Goodreads rating of it), not to mention that he's a weebaboo; and the other 3 people* I haven't actually heard much of, and a mellon words is a lot to put on unknown quality.

*

Spoiler

Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie (Writer)
Gavin's past projects include Diablo III, Horizon: Zero Dawn, & fiction for Blizzard Entertainment.
Leanne C. Taylor-Giles (Writer)
Leanne is a Scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montréal who joined the industry with the dream of someday working on the sequel to Planescape: Torment. She has a masters in branching dialogue systems and a tattoo of the symbol of torment which, so far, hasn't been all that bad, really.
Mark Yohalem (Writer)
Mark has written the stories & dialogue for a number of computer games, including: Primordia, Kohan II: King's of War, & Heroes of Newerth. He has also published two dozen short stories & a variety of articles on game design & narrative.

Leanne sounds quite driven which is a plus. Edit: Her actual experience has unfortunately been infantile titles and circa 2009 her dream job was Bioware..

I guess it all comes down to how good that brainstorming session between Cmcc, Heine and ksaun was.