Chris Avellone Interview

The editors at GameStar Russia talk Kickstarter, digital distribution, development expenses, RPG design, and much more in a sizable new interview with Obsidian Entertainment’s Chris Avellone. As there’s a lot of good information to glean, I can’t help but do some generous quoting, here:

So, Kickstarter. Revolution in the game industry. What do you think about this project? Are planning to command his services in future?

I think Kickstarter is a breath of fresh air for the industry. It removes the publisher from the equation, it gives fans of certain genres an opportunity to see those titles made (adventure games, old school RPG) since publishers often won’t back those titles, and I’d like to see the Kickstarter model grow and expand over time. I’d rather players be financing my game than a publisher, and as a player, I’m more than happy to spend 5 to 10x the amount of triple A game to see that happen, it’s why I backed Double Fine, inXile (before Brian Fargo asked me if I wanted to contribute, then I doubled my bid), and now the Shadowrun project… these are all games that I want to play, and I want to encourage those genre of titles.

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Is it safe to say that role-playing genre is having the second birth now? Which RPG do you consider to be the main ones in this console generation?

I think old-school RPGs are having a rebirth, thanks to Kickstarter, which I’m thankful for – between Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun, I’m pretty excited to see what these next series of games will end up as. I’m also glad that Legend of Grimrock was well-received, as I enjoy playing that style of game as well.

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What is your favorite games system of the all time, and why?

The Hero System (pen and paper game) because it allowed full customization of a character and an interesting section of disadvantages, both of which made it ideal for a role-playing game. In terms of computer game systems, I enjoyed Wizard’s Crown and Wasteland 1 solely because the skill gain and progression made me add personality to my characters in ways I hadn’t seen before. No current RPG system since Fallout 1 has impressed me or made me feel like I was role-playing more than F1.

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What, in your opinion, is the emotional component of the plot in? Is a not easy choice made by the player, leading to unexpected consequences, the death of the key character that was so loved by the gamer or unexpected turns of the history?

I feel companion death has been cheapened in the past few years that it’s tough to create an emotional reaction from it – although often that’s because it’s so heavily scripted. I feel the biggest emotional hook isn’t in an unexpected consequence, it’s in making a difficult decision that must be made, you understand what the fallout could be as a result, then seeing the misfortune happen when you prayed it wouldn’t.

When doing titles at Obsidian, we purposely try and create emotional moments – not just misfortune, but emotional ups and downs. We call them “emotional vistas”… emotional narrative moments that leave a lasting impact on you as a player. They end up being events you remember, not because of the violence or volume, but because of the insight and something occurring within the game itself that changes your perception of events. Our goal is simple scenes and realizations for the player’s experience that have the same punch as Rutger Hauer’s/Roy Batty’s lines at the end of Blade Runner, where he sums up the misery of the human condition in a few simple sentences. That’s what we strive for from our characters and the player.

For Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money, we outlined what these core moments were in the team presentation, and communicated to everyone when these moments would occur and the meaning they would have for the player.