Game News MCA On Wasteland 2 And Kickstarter

[Serious_Business]

First off it's a modern day setting. So, there isn't all that much to "craft".

That's nonsense, even if they try to reproduce reality, it's still going to be something that they craft - it's going to be a perspective on reality. The perspective is crafted, it's not like they give you a mirror or something. And even if they did, where do they point the mirror? How? What angle? And even if you ignore my postmodern bullshit, it's still there that this is a game and everything is crafted about it, including the choice to use a "modern day setting". I don't think this inherently removes all notions of creativity from the game, I mean come on man, try to come through this for me : if you make a painting, based on what you see before you, it's still going to be a craft right? Right?

oh fuck it

 

[Jaesun]

Someone explain to me how a modern Wasteland would be any different from Fallout

You have never played Wasteland?

 

[Shannow]

Someone explain to me how a modern Wasteland would be any different from Fallout

You have never played Wasteland?

Neither have I. Now kindly answer the question.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Someone explain to me how a modern Wasteland would be any different from Fallout

Why would it have to be radically different? It seems like a sneaky way of making a new 'Fallout' game in the style of 1 and 2 without worrying about Bethesda. Fallout itself was supposedly a spiritual continuation of 'Wasteland' so it would just be going full circle.

Yeah, that would be sweet. But would they make such a game? My guess is that it'd be more like Wasteland 2: New Vegas. Even without publishers breathing down their necks they are still a company out to make money. While this does grant them lots more creative freedom, it still doesn't mean that they will go back to their old roots.

Someone explain to me how a modern Wasteland would be any different from Fallout

You have never played Wasteland?

Nope. Keep in mind though that my question is what the difference would be between a modern Wasteland made today and Fallout. Not what the original Wasteland is vs Fallout.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Someone explain to me how a modern Wasteland would be any different from Fallout

You have never played Wasteland?

Neither have I. Now kindly answer the question.

It wouldn't be so faggoty?

The Grim Monk guy pointed it out, but those are the reasons it's potentially better setting not reasons for it to be bad. In Gamma World and old Wasteland pretty much anything goes. You had radiation angels and the cult of the mushroom that worshipped the bomb and all kinds of weird stuff. Gamma World had psionic plants, hell you could play as a plant or crystaline lifeform. You could play as a Conan-like barbarian bashing in the heads of killer robots.


Fallout is like a hollywoodized, tamer version of Wasteland or Gamma World. Fallout had good stuff but places like shady shands and the hub and boneyard suffered from being too realistic and boring. Probably more realistic but not very interesting.

Alright, well, if you guys want wacky looney tunes shit in your post apoc then who am I to step in and say no? I'll just stick to Fallout.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Keep in mind though that my question is what the difference would be between a modern Wasteland made today and Fallout. Not what the original Wasteland is vs Fallout.

Your question makes no sense, then.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

First off it's a modern day setting. So, there isn't all that much to "craft".

That's nonsense, even if they try to reproduce reality, it's still going to be something that they craft - it's going to be a perspective on reality. The perspective is crafted, it's not like they give you a mirror or something. And even if they did, where do they point the mirror? How? What angle? And even if you ignore my postmodern bullshit, it's still there that this is a game and everything is crafted about it, including the choice to use a "modern day setting". I don't think this inherently removes all notions of creativity from the game, I mean come on man, try to come through this for me : if you make a painting, based on what you see before you, it's still going to be a craft right? Right?

oh fuck it

W....What?

I may have formulated my words wrong.. I meant that its a siginificantly different process and doesn't exactly need as much "crafting" but other aspects regarding the setting (like "research").

Anyway, as I said after that. Avellone just rewrote it/repurposed Levels and Art assets and so on. So, he was constrained strongly anyway and it isn't exactly an example for how something created by him would look like.

 

[commie]

Yeah, that would be sweet. But would they make such a game? My guess is that it'd be more like Wasteland 2: New Vegas. Even without publishers breathing down their necks they are still a company out to make money. While this does grant them lots more creative freedom, it still doesn't mean that they will go back to their old roots.

Well going the kickstarter route and relying on fan pledges for a good part of their initial income I'd say they would have to make sure they stay as true to what their investors want as possible lest they piss away all the goodwill. I doubt people would forgive them for making another first person Bethesda style game when they can get that already. Besides, I can't see how going the Bethesda way would be make them more money as they couldn't compete in production values or marketing with Beth anyway. Far better to do something else, in a different way at a lower cost.

cult of the mushroom that worshipped the bomb and all kinds of weird stuff.

Well you had this in Fallout 3 along with Alien spaceships so by your logic Bethesda got it more right. Frankly I'd rather NOT have Gamma World retardation in my Wasteland/Fallout...the ghost in F2 was enough thanks. Gamma World is just an excuse to dump everything that ever existed in fantasy into a 'real' world and running with it; might make for fun PnP with a few beers but not for the rigid constraints of a computer game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Yeah, that would be sweet. But would they make such a game? My guess is that it'd be more like Wasteland 2: New Vegas. Even without publishers breathing down their necks they are still a company out to make money. While this does grant them lots more creative freedom, it still doesn't mean that they will go back to their old roots.

Well going the kickstarter route and relying on fan pledges for a good part of their initial income I'd say they would have to make sure they stay as true to what their investors want as possible lest they piss away all the goodwill. I doubt people would forgive them for making another first person Bethesda style game when they can get that already. Besides, I can't see how going the Bethesda way would be make them more money as they couldn't compete in production values or marketing with Beth anyway. Far better to do something else, in a different way at a lower cost.

But the question here isn't if they will stay true to the kickstart, I'm sure they will; the real question is what will they promise us? Who knows? Time will tell. Whatever the case is, I hope they give the kickstarter a try. They have my monies.

 

[commie]

@ Hobo Elf

Well then why ask this now? Why not wait? Simple economics and snippets of what they've said already tells me that they cannot take the same approach as Bethesda or Bioware regarding their game and just going this crowd funding route suggests that they are going for an old school approach. Why bother with kickstarter if you want to make another Biowarean 'ARPG'? Wouldn't it be better to just pitch your popamole idea to a big publisher who'd stump up the cash to actually make it a reality?

@ Knotalt

I see what you mean, but this weirdness rarely sits well in computer RPG's. I can't think of many which went all out and succeeded unless you count those fucked up Jap tentacle/dick monster dating rpgs and even they aren't exactly the same thing.

 

[Grim Monk]

Tweeted the pic to MCA and sent him on Facebook.

We got a reply:
https://twitter.com/#!/ChrisAvellone/status/172401405204762624

J_C
Make it happen Chris: http://i.imgur.com/nnSTa.jpg

Chris Avellone
i want to go inside an android's brain

 

[Captain Shrek]

MCA is one of the few writers in the Game industry that really pays respect to literature as an art-form. I would indeed give something to have a setting solely made by him.

 

[Hobo Elf]

@ Hobo Elf

Well then why ask this now? Why not wait? Simple economics and snippets of what they've said already tells me that they cannot take the same approach as Bethesda or Bioware regarding their game and just going this crowd funding route suggests that they are going for an old school approach. Why bother with kickstarter if you want to make another Biowarean 'ARPG'? Wouldn't it be better to just pitch your popamole idea to a big publisher who'd stump up the cash to actually make it a reality?

Better to ask now than when it's too late I guess. And I wouldn't put it past someone to start a kickstarter to make a game to rival Bioware's classic, Dragon Age 2. Not saying Obsidian would, but someone out there would be dumb enough to do it.

 

[Grim Monk]

And then there were 3:

Brian Fargo is apparently trying to lower the odds a against inXile.

More good Wasteland news!
The original producer, programmer and designer Alan Pavlish has also joined the team.

Link: https://twitter.com/#!/BrianFargo/status/172462693020745729

 

[Jaesun]

Nice find Grim Monk!

 

[Jasede]

And then there were 3:

Brian Fargo is apparently trying to lower the odds a against inXile.

More good Wasteland news!
The original producer, programmer and designer Alan Pavlish has also joined the team.

Link: https://twitter.com/#!/BrianFargo/status/172462693020745729

It's probably undue but I'm getting more excited about all this than I should.
I bet I'll be crushed when the Kickstarter yields 30$ total, mine.

 

[LeStryfe79]

+ mine = $30.50

 

[Brother None]

Alright, well, if you guys want wacky looney tunes shit in your post apoc then who am I to step in and say no? I'll just stick to Fallout.

Oh yeah. That's just a vibrant, promising franchise held by competent designers, isn't it?

Obsidian / inXile cooperation on Wasteland 2 would be fantasticular.

Maybe. I don't think it's going to happen.

 

[Pegultagol]

I approve of where this thing is going and hopefully something concrete will come out of it. Count me in pledging to making this happen. They should invite Boyarsky too, Diablo III development is nearing the finish line.

 

[Shannow]

cult of the mushroom that worshipped the bomb and all kinds of weird stuff.

Well you had this in Fallout 3 along with Alien spaceships so by your logic Bethesda got it more right.

What? If anything: Bethesda while calling their game FALLOUT 3 made something more akin to Wasteland/Gamma World. And that's not saying anything about the quality of the implementation.
By his logic Bethesda got Fallout even wronger than we usually say.
But it's your "logic" I sometimes wonder about...

I see what you mean, but this weirdness rarely sits well in computer RPG's. I can't think of many which went all out and succeeded

Planescape: Torment

 

[commie]

I see what you mean, but this weirdness rarely sits well in computer RPG's. I can't think of many which went all out and succeeded

Planescape: Torment

Wrong...PS:T was consistent because it was pure fantasy all the way(with a bit of steampunk) even if it took fantastic elements from different fantasy worlds. It was consistent because the entire setting worked on the premise that it was a place where all the Planes converged and nothing seemed ridiculous. Even so it didn't have 1/10th of the wacky stuff that you'd really see in Sigil so it was toned down in the interest of coherence. I didn't see US marines in PS:T or Atomic bomb worshipers or bunny men. I wonder how well PS:T would be received if the moment TNO stepped out of the morgue a helicopter deposited some GI's for a chinwag before meeting the Smurfs in the next location. It couldn't be anything but lulzy and that's the problem and what knotalt was talking about: Gamma World took itself seriously while Beth just packed in wacky elements for fun and given the response on the codex to stuff like Mothership Zeta, the idea sucked. I cannot see how throwing in disparate weird stuff in a computer RPG can work in the same was as in a PnP with the players' own imagination where a story is made up as you go along.

 

[J_C]

I don't want to brag but Brian Fargo sent me a friend request on Facebook. It seems I'm getting famous with my Wasteland 2 tweet to MCA.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I don't want to brag but Brian Fargo sent me a friend request on Facebook. It seems I'm getting famous with my Wasteland 2 tweet to MCA.

No surprise there, Matt.

 

[Grim Monk]

As I see it at present, it boils down to:

1. They keep all the plot/elements of the original, and try to once again merge "wacky elements" with "dark PA" atmosphere.
The pitfall is that it might all end up looking stupid or corny (Ears of corn, eight feet high...), something the original Wasteland managed to avoid.

2. They basically take route of the original Fallout, more focus on semi-realistic "dark PA".
The "wacky elements" would be kept in a severely toned down form, and sprinkled throught the plot to prevent the player from starting to wallow in "grim-darkness".

 

[Hobo Elf]

Alright, well, if you guys want wacky looney tunes shit in your post apoc then who am I to step in and say no? I'll just stick to Fallout.

Oh yeah. That's just a vibrant, promising franchise held by competent designers, isn't it?

I did mean Fallout 1 & 2, although New Vegas *is* my favorite game in the series. As long as I ignore Fallout 3 I'm good.