Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[Alienman]

So much energy... lost, like tears in rain.

 

[CptMace]

15 lbs of pure muscle

 

[AwesomeButton]

Chris Avellone , I was wondering, and I thought I'd ask what your thoughts are on this problem - when a game writer is "doing too much".

I mean when an NPC/companion tells you more about themselves than you need in order to get a feeling for their personality, when the dialogue is too drawn out for the sake of that NPC getting some more characterization (which the player doesn't really need), or when the NPC feels obliged to react to way too many things in the world, and they start coming across as chatty and annoying without this being a part of their character.

I have a preference for companion NPCs which are light on dialogue and interaction, and leave me more freedom to fill the gaps with what I imagine they are like, for which purpose the minimum of characterization leads they give me will have to be very good.

On the other hand, as a kid I used to prefer companions with more content and more dialogue and reactions.

Have you encountered this problem, of needing to give laconic characterization, or of choosing what to cut and what to leave from your or someone else's writing, when it has been too much for its own good?

 

[Azalin]

Now I am questioning my choice of becoming an RPG designer, because I'm 99.9% certain I will be stalked by Roguey at some point.

I bet when you go to Roguey's home you'll find an entire room dedicated to folders filled with documents and photographs about RPG developers, completely up to date and with no detail missing.

Roguey what's Avellone's favourite ice cream flavor?

You are assuming Roguey wasn't stalking you before you became a developer,that is a mistake to say the least

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Now I am questioning my choice of becoming an RPG designer, because I'm 99.9% certain I will be stalked by Roguey at some point.

I bet when you go to Roguey's home you'll find an entire room dedicated to folders filled with documents and photographs about RPG developers, completely up to date and with no detail missing.

Roguey what's Avellone's favourite ice cream flavor?

You are assuming Roguey wasn't stalking you before you became a developer,that is a mistake to say the least

Oh fuck, better hide my porn and working copy of Van Buren. Rougey is on the prowl!

 

[HanoverF]

How many bags of candy beans is Roguey gonna need to capture Sawyer?

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

How many bags of candy beans is Roguey gonna need to capture Sawyer?

An even number of balanced chloroform flavoured beans. At least 50.

 

[Roguey]

Given MCA’s willingness to correct the record when it comes to our misapprehensions about his former colleagues, I think we should assume that silence = the most negative possible interpretation.

I believe that enough time has passed to say this is assuredly the case. After all, I've been saying some pretty potentially-defamatory stuff here, but you're not legally defaming someone if what you're saying is true.

That being said, I heard through the voices in my head that whenever Chris had to step inside Tina's sinister candy palace, Sheena Easton's Sugar Walls would automatically start playing (this is just gallows humor).

 

[Latro]

who's sheena easton

 

[Roguey]

who's sheena easton

Note: actually Scottish

 

[Latro]

Roguey can you let me in on how many women sawyer has mated with

right now I'm at 0 and I want to know if i'm competing with sawyer

 

[Tom Selleck]

Well, he abused his authority to get his infidelity boner on and sexually harass one of them Q&A ladies, so at least 2.

 

[Roguey]

Roguey can you let me in on how many women sawyer has mated with

right now I'm at 0 and I want to know if i'm competing with sawyer

Josh's first relationship was a long-distance internet one that was miserable because it was mostly based on mutual interests. As far as I know, after that it's just the two I already mentioned.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Roguey can you let me in on how many women sawyer has mated with

right now I'm at 0 and I want to know if i'm competing with sawyer

Josh's first relationship was a long-distance internet one that was miserable because it was mostly based on mutual interests. As far as I know, after that it's just the two I already mentioned.

I will treasure the day when I get round to making my dream Star Trek RPG, and a StarGate X-Com like tactics game, and Roguey can go digging through my autism and browsing history. Mostly pretentious reddit posts Informed opinions on the Codex. All hail the Kodex Kult.

 

[aweigh]

 

[Latro]

gossip is a sort of role playing game

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

gossip is a sort of role playing game

Actually, one of my dumb Up at 3AM Thinking This is The Greatest Idea Ever thoughts were making a small RPG set in one room during an office party where the only mechanics were dialogue based gossip. You had no objective other than what you made yourself and based on what you said you could either bring down one or more of the characters you didn't like or even start a full on riot. Sort of a mini Alpha protocol. Then I woke up for real and realised it's a terrible idea.

 

[Latro]

Obsidian Entertainment has started several romances. Notably, Annie Mitsoda left her previous husband for Brian Mitsoda and Josh Sawyer amicably split with his longterm (((girlfriend))) for a New Vegas QA tester.

obsidian more like FORNICATION AND ADULTERY ENTERTAINMENT

 

[Cael]

who's sheena easton

Note: actually Scottish

The funny part is that she actually looks far better in real life, even now approaching 60, than Annah ever will :D

 

[Chris Avellone]

which character that you wrote that you felt most satisfied with how it turned out in the end

Most recently, Dr. Mobius in Old World Blues, but even he has an irritating dialogue bug that I missed (if you go too deep into his conversation, I believe he traps you so you can't do anything but fight him, but I'll check). The bug was my fault. Also, as part of his character in the surrounding environment, I liked what John Lewis (who did the file cabinet storage with the letters and the shitton of Mentats scattered around) and David Lieu (who was patient with my request to have equations chalked all over the floor of the dome) did with visual storytelling in the area.

I am both satisfied and dissatisfied with most of the characters I write, so it's a long list. There are "moments" I feel pretty satisfied with, and sometimes it's not all about the character. For example, I liked Dr. 8's attempt to make a "Disney Learning Moment" at the end of Old World Blues, I liked writing Dr. Borous when he suddenly starts to feel emotion, Dala's fetish was fun to write, etc., etc. and even though it's rare you'll hear it, I loved writing the Think Tank's combat barks b/c they have no idea what their weapon systems even do, it's been so long.

Chris Avellone What writers working in the gaming industry today do you think are doing things that you aren't capable of, and what are those things?

There’s plenty of narrative designers who have better grasps of environmental story for certain (I need to get better with toolsets in order to be able to go in and manipulate game levels and props), and as far as other writers who are focused on writing (I’d spoil the work I’m doing with them if I said who they were) their dialogue, for want of a better term, I’ve found to be more “fun” as their dialogue both reads and sounds more interesting to a player – when you encounter them, their tone and word choice has a far better hook than I could ever have attempted. It may be because my headspace is trapped in prose-land. Brian Mitsoda is pretty good about this, I like the vocal and attitude hooks on his characters.

I thought Travis Stout (New Vegas) taught me to concentrate more on the fun and telling a story within the responses (I put it in the Overfall writing guide, linked earlier). It’s a principle I understand, but it never seems to come through as well as I’d like.

There’s also many writers and developers who know better how to tell stories not just in RPGs but genres like RTS, VR adventure, and so on – and that’s worth learning from.

Ask me again in 2 years (if I’m around), and if things have been announced, I can point to specific examples. If the titles get announced earlier, happy to talk about then.

 

[2house2fly]

Mention of "moments" made me remember two I thought were very strong in Dead Money

1: turning on the Vera hologram in the hotel lobby, and she pops the ghost people prowling around with death rays. Feels almost like her vengeful ghost chasing the interlopers out of her tomb

2: final conversation with Dean where he reveals what he did to Christine. "I put her in the clinic, tuned her like an instrument." That line knocked me flat on my ass, which is incredibly hard to do in Bethesda's static talking-head conversations

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I often wonder about whether Dead Money would be possible to pull off as a full game. Or maybe it's just too bizarre of a concept and it could only ever work as a game within a game, stripping away the gameplay style player has developed so far, and forcing him to approach things differently.

 

[HoboForEternity]

If the titles get announced earlier

???

 

[Cyberarmy]

 

[Darth Roxor]

How many bags of candy beans is Roguey gonna need to capture Sawyer?