The Outer Worlds “Bringing the Characters to Life” PAX West 2019 Panel

While attending this year’s PAX West, Obsidian Entertainment premiered a flashy new trailer for their upcoming sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds. But on top of that, a few of the studio’s developers sat down to discuss the art of creating engaging characters for role-playing games and The Outer Worlds in particular. If that sounds like something up your alley, you can now watch the VOD below:

And if you’d like a quick sample first, this PC Gamer article offers a few quotes that focus on ADA, The Outer Worlds’ ship AI. An excerpt:

Moderator Andrea Rene jumped in to ask if ADA could actually turn on the player. We already know that other companions in The Outer Worlds may disagree with your choices so strongly that they ditch you entirely. Starks explained how when it comes to writing character like ADA, her approach has changed over the course of her career.

“When I was a junior designer I thought it’s really funny if characters are mean to you,” Starks said. “That’s not really an enjoyable experience. So usually when I write a character that I know you’re going to be with for the entire game, no matter what your playstyle is they will actually like it for their own reasons. [I] have to come up with the motivations for why they would be okay with your choices.

“For [ADA], she needs a ship captain and a crew. If she doesn’t have that then it’s a type of death. She’s just by herself forever alone. So whoever her captain is she’s going to be loyal to them.” Starks’ explanation was more than either I or the moderator had expected, though a welcome insight into the considerations taken when creating game characters.