RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Starwars]

If all the claims are true (even some of them), then I hope the owners get what they deserve. What a shitshow.

What I don't like about how some of this is done though is pulling in other employees/ex-employees into the drama. If Josh has tried to resign multiple times, if Ziets or Gonzales didn't get along with Fenstermaker, or whatever the fuck, ok, but let those people come forward with that shit if they want to. Don't just throw stuff like that out there, that's being a huge dick as far as I'm concerned. Go after the owners if you wish but don't pull other people's shit into it that they may want to keep a private thing to further your own agenda. If they want to talk about it, then let them do it on their own time and not just because you decide to gossip.

It may not be illegal, just like what some of the shit the owners are pulling may not be illegal, but it's still a dick move.

 

[Sextant]

it's often so blatant you feel puzzled as to how this could possibly be overlooked

As has been said before, bugs are always the sign of "not enough time to fix anything". No bugs are overlooked, QA usually finds 99% of existing bugs. The decision to ship with bugs is made in all consciousness. Which, again, points to management problems.
Bugs are the one thing I wouldn't attribute to programmers, however strange it may sound.

In theory, I agree. But having seen the POE gameplay bugs, there is one common thing among the bugs and its the stacking of stuff or some kind of inheritance if you wil... :>

My out of my ass theory is that the object oriented design of all kinds of objects and classes in the game is badly designed by the programmers. If it were well designed you would not see bugs like stacking attributes by putting on and taking of items or on reloads or not stacking abilities or cloth that are invisible on male chars.

Its the programmers fault.

Or is that data externalized? You should know, any insight?

 

[Prime Junta]

That's been the shared sentiment since around page 70-80, if not earlier. Multiple people, Mustawd, Prime Junta, Bester, taxalot, myself, and many more have practically said as much. It's just been a matter of Chris Avellone taking the next step. Since then, Avellone has continued to drop more bombshells, which in turn feeds more speculation.

Hey now, don't include me in that bunch. I'm assuming Chris doesn't give a shit about getting money out of Obsidian and is posting here for the lulz, and I would much rather see that continue than the whole thing shut down with a bunch of lawyers strongly advising their clients to STFU and stop jeopardising their chances in court. Court cases drag on forever and are no fun at all, whereas this thread is the best Chris Avellone production since Alpha Protocol, perhaps before.

Is it just me or are all these new past-week accounts defending obsidian?

Infinitron must've been busy over at the Obsidian forums.

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

I wonder if Chris Avellone has ever had any interaction with Harebrained Schemes.

I suspect all schemes of Feargus would qualify?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Hooo... This one is much more mainstream (they have also English division of their site called Gamepressure):
https://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp?ID=109112

The joke has just ended.

CD-Action did as well.

https://www.cdaction.pl/news-53355/...o-uciszyc-i-zakazac-mu-pracy-nad-rpg-ami.html

 

[Flou]

The shocking thing about Chris's revelations here isn't so much that they're all new, but that they're entirely consistent with stuff that's come out in dribs and drabs before. Like Josh and Adam going ha-ha about Feargus threatening to fire them the if Pillars doesn't ship by March. That made me go WTF? then but this casts it in whole new light.

That is not good management. A manager's job is to create the conditions in which the people he manages can get their shit done, and occasionally make tough calls when tough calls need to be made. This includes reassigning or even dismissing people if they're not working out, although that really ought to be a rare and sad occasion. "Perform, or else" is shit-tier.

Is there an actual well run company in the gaming industry (that isn't a 10 man team)? Seems like the industry itself is riddled with badly run companies. While they are not completely bad, most seem to be lacking in one area or more. Just by reading Blood, Sweat and Pixels you could see how even the companies people would call succesfull seem to folly from time to time.

It's not really new info that Feargus has his faults as a CEO or he has made mistakes in the past 20 years. The question is, does he learn from them?

 

[Maculo]

That's been the shared sentiment since around page 70-80, if not earlier. Multiple people, Mustawd, Prime Junta, Bester, taxalot, myself, and many more have practically said as much. It's just been a matter of Chris Avellone taking the next step. Since then, Avellone has continued to drop more bombshells, which in turn feeds more speculation.

Hey now, don't include me in that bunch. I'm assuming Chris doesn't give a shit about getting money out of Obsidian and is posting here for the lulz, and I would much rather see that continue than the whole thing shut down with a bunch of lawyers strongly advising their clients to STFU and stop jeopardising their chances in court. Court cases drag on forever and are no fun at all, whereas this thread is the best Chris Avellone production since Alpha Protocol, perhaps before.

The point being that if this were to escalate, Avellone would need to seek a local attorney or authority. I do not believe anyone said it would be easy or cheap.

DarkUnderlord is preaching to the choir.

 

[Abu Antar]

Honestly, half of what Chris has said in this thread should be said to a legal advisor and not us. Knowing about some of the stuff he talks about and not reporting it seems like it could get him in trouble, too.

I also feel like if he felt miserable over there, he could easily have screwed them over while at the studio.

Moving on, while calling the other owners cowards, it doesn’t seem to me like Chris was man enough to do anything about it.

They care about their payout, but Chris didn’t he knew about the problems of upper management for a long time. He could have quit. He could have reported them to the proper authorities. He could have showed some backbone.

Or is Feargod that fearsome?

I do feel sorry for Chris, but something could have been done while he was there, not now when he has nothing to do with them.

The timing of all of this info getting out is also awfully suspect. Don’t worry, though: I’m buying the Cainarsky game and the next Avellone game.

 

[Prime Junta]

It's not really new info that Feargus has his faults as a CEO or he has made mistakes in the past 20 years. The question is, does he learn from them?

I think we've gotten a pretty good insight into that question in this very thread.

 

[Flou]

I remember Avellone saying a few pages back that if it was him calling the shots, he would've still kept some of the owners around. Before that post I assumed he was maybe talking about Darren and Jones, but now I'm not so sure which ones he was referring to.

He probably meant he would keep them as gimps in the basement.

 

[Snorkack]

Geez, even german no.1 popamole outlet Gamestar has a news bit about it: https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/obs...vellone-erhebt-schwere-vorwuerfe,3329320.html
That might explain this:

Is it just me or are all these new past-week accounts defending obsidian?

 

[Prime Junta]

He probably meant he would keep them as gimps in the basement.

Spoiler

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

The shocking thing about Chris's revelations here isn't so much that they're all new, but that they're entirely consistent with stuff that's come out in dribs and drabs before. Like Josh and Adam going ha-ha about Feargus threatening to fire them the if Pillars doesn't ship by March. That made me go WTF? then but this casts it in whole new light.

That is not good management. A manager's job is to create the conditions in which the people he manages can get their shit done, and occasionally make tough calls when tough calls need to be made. This includes reassigning or even dismissing people if they're not working out, although that really ought to be a rare and sad occasion. "Perform, or else" is shit-tier.

It's not like he randomly threatened to sack them because he had a bad day. He threatened to sack them if they miss yet another milestone and another deadline.

Let's not forget the context here - the Kickstarter money has run out, the beta was a clusterfuck of epic proportions and the state of the entire thing was so bad, it had to be delayed additional half a year, during which they had to spend their own money to put it to finish line, money they didn't have.

It's easy to be Captain Hindsight and rant about how shortsighted it would've been to sack two people who eventually ended up delivering a solid success, but at the time PoE was anything but - it was a mess and they weren't exactly performing up until that point.

 

[CappenVarra]

Posting on page 133 (Pentium MMX) of a legendary thread.

MCA, words are not enough

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Hooo... This one is much more mainstream (they have also English division of their site called Gamepressure):
https://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp?ID=109112

The joke has just ended.

CD-Action did as well.

https://www.cdaction.pl/news-53355/...o-uciszyc-i-zakazac-mu-pracy-nad-rpg-ami.html

Fajnie, mogę uczyć się polskiego w ten sposób. Dziękuję, bro.

 

[fantadomat]

That's been the shared sentiment since around page 70-80, if not earlier. Multiple people, Mustawd, Prime Junta, Bester, taxalot, myself, and many more have practically said as much. It's just been a matter of Chris Avellone taking the next step. Since then, Avellone has continued to drop more bombshells, which in turn feeds more speculation.

Hey now, don't include me in that bunch. I'm assuming Chris doesn't give a shit about getting money out of Obsidian and is posting here for the lulz, and I would much rather see that continue than the whole thing shut down with a bunch of lawyers strongly advising their clients to STFU and stop jeopardising their chances in court. Court cases drag on forever and are no fun at all, whereas this thread is the best Chris Avellone production since Alpha Protocol, perhaps before.

The point being that if this were to escalate, Avellone would need to seek a local attorney or authority. I do not believe anyone said would be easy or cheap.

DarkUnderlord is preaching to the choir.

Assassins are cheaper and more effective. We should make a fundraiser for a darkweb hitman.

 

[Flou]

If all the claims are true (even some of them), then I hope the owners get what they deserve. What a shitshow.

What I don't like about how some of this is done though is pulling in other employees/ex-employees into the drama. If Josh has tried to resign multiple times, if Ziets or Gonzales didn't get along with Fenstermaker, or whatever the fuck, ok, but let those people come forward with that shit if they want to. Don't just throw stuff like that out there, that's being a huge dick as far as I'm concerned. Go after the owners if you wish but don't pull other people's shit into it that they may want to keep a private thing to further your own agenda. If they want to talk about it, then let them do it on their own time and not just because you decide to gossip.

It may not be illegal, just like what some of the shit the owners are pulling may not be illegal, but it's still a dick move.

It shouldn't come out as a surprise at this point that Avellone himself is as big of a dick as the rest of the partners. Those five clearly deserved each other.

This also serves as a reminder for anyone thinking about founding a company. Do it on your own, at least then you can get rid of everyone who you despise after 10 long years.

 

[Prime Junta]

It's not like he randomly threatened to sack them because he had a bad day. He threatened to sack them if they miss yet another milestone and another deadline.

Let's not forget the context here - the Kickstarter money has run out, the beta was a clusterfuck of epic proportions and the state of the entire thing was so bad, it had to be delayed additional half a year, during which they had to spend their own money to put it to finish line, money they didn't have.

It's easy to be Captain Hindsight and rant about how shortsighted it would've been to sack two people who eventually ended up delivering a solid success, but at the time PoE was anything but - it was a mess and they weren't exactly performing up until that point.

If a project is going critical, the manager's job is to figure out why and get it on the right track. This might mean reassigning people. Threatening to fire people who are sweating bullets to make it happen is shit-tier management. That mindset really says everything I need to know about him actually; Chris has just been basically colouring in the outlines.

 

[Azarkon]

Honestly, half of what Chris has said in this thread should be said to a legal advisor and not us. Knowing about some of the stuff he talks about and not reporting it seems like it could get him in trouble, too.

I also feel like if he felt miserable over there, he could easily have screwed them over while at the studio.

Moving on, while calling the other owners cowards, it doesn’t seem to me like Chris was man enough to do anything about it.

They care about their payout, but Chris didn’t he knew about the problems of upper management for a long time. He could have quit. He could have reported them to the proper authorities. He could have showed some backbone.

Or is Feargod that fearsome?

I do feel sorry for Chris, but something could have been done while he was there, not now when he has nothing to do with them.

The timing of all of this info getting out is also awfully suspect. Don’t worry, though: I’m buying the Cainarsky game and the next Avellone game.

You can't sue a company owner for incompetence, or for playing favorites, or for hiring his family and friends.

NONE of this is illegal, by US law.

It's like Chris said. It's just business. This is how US management culture is, and anyone who has been in a company for long enough to see how top management works, knows this.

Now, it could get him in trouble, in the sense that it could lead to him being black list by other company owners, or a law suit against him for lying.

But it seems he's ready for that and he hasn't said anything that he can't defend.

 

[fantadomat]

He probably meant he would keep them as gimps in the basement.

Spoiler

What is with all the retarded gay porn?! Can't you at least go for futa ?

 

[Prime Junta]

What is whit all the retarded gay porn?! Can't you at least go for futa ?

Wouldn't work for this thread. Besides, gay porn is much funnier.

 

[Rumsfeld]

someone give me a quick rundown since i dont wanna scroll through 130 pages

Best way to catch up is to just fire up the Codex's ever-reliable search function and read:
- MCA's posts, along with Fenstermaker's response to one of them
- Infinitron's spinning of the above, where Obsidian's problems are "process issues and financial mishaps", while MCA is actually butthurt because he couldn't indulge in his beloved AAA/publisher projects at a plucky indie like Obsidian (seriously, this is an impressive operation and worth a read)
- That amusing post about a thread drinking game

 

[fantadomat]

What is whit all the retarded gay porn?! Can't you at least go for futa ?

Wouldn't work for this thread. Besides, gay porn is much funnier.

You have strange taste in humour friend.

 

[Abu Antar]

Honestly, half of what Chris has said in this thread should be said to a legal advisor and not us. Knowing about some of the stuff he talks about and not reporting it seems like it could get him in trouble, too.

I also feel like if he felt miserable over there, he could easily have screwed them over while at the studio.

Moving on, while calling the other owners cowards, it doesn’t seem to me like Chris was man enough to do anything about it.

They care about their payout, but Chris didn’t he knew about the problems of upper management for a long time. He could have quit. He could have reported them to the proper authorities. He could have showed some backbone.

Or is Feargod that fearsome?

I do feel sorry for Chris, but something could have been done while he was there, not now when he has nothing to do with them.

The timing of all of this info getting out is also awfully suspect. Don’t worry, though: I’m buying the Cainarsky game and the next Avellone game.

You can't sue a company owner for incompetence, or for playing favorites, or for hiring his family and friends.

NONE of this is illegal, by US law.

It's like Chris said. It's just business. This is how US management culture is, and anyone who has been in a company for long enough to see how top management works, knows this.

Now, it could get him in trouble, in the sense that it could lead to him being black list by other company owners.

But it seems he's ready for that.

Allegedly trying to hire his underage kids and using Tyranny funds for Pillars of Eternity development sounds illegal to me. Some shady ass contracts and more. But what the fuck do I know? I’m just a guy working at a school with no real knowledge in this area.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Chris Avellone Please make an RPG with Codex as the setting.