Tim Cain Interview

Veteran RPG designer and programmer Tim Cain, currently working as a senior programmer on South Park: The Stick of Truth, is the latest to be interviewed by GameStar.ru as part of their Knights of the Roleplaying Table series. The questions asked are pretty much the same that were posed to Josh Sawyer and Jason Anderson, but considering the caliber of the developer interviewed, we’re certainly not out of interesting answers:

What biggest failure in RPG genre could you recollect?

Failure could mean so many different things in this context, but I think the biggest failure in the genre is a lack of innovation. Most modern RPG’s are simply refinements of systems that have come before them, and in many cases, they are simply repackaged versions with better graphics and new settings but no real innovation. I am hoping that the new wave of Kickstarter projects will breathe new life into the genre.

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First RPG’s made used board games as a prototype, where numbers and a talented storyteller mattered the most. Nowadays, have the story and action-packed gameplay become keystones in making a successful game, or do people still want hardcore games, only maybe changed a little? If they do, what are the changes needed?

Sales figures seem to support the theory that the majority of people want strong story-based action RPG’s. Hardcore games require hardcore gamers, who are in the minority.

Most games use classic scheme of Campbell Joseph – you escape, you find allies, you return in all the glory, but are there any other ways to introduce the story? What would be the craziest synopsis for a role-paying game?

I would like to explore alternatives to the standard (lowly peasant becomes a powerful hero) scheme. Why can’t the player become a villain? Why can’t the player become the quest-giver, making scenarios for other players or NPC’s to explore? For that matter, I would like to make exploration a key component of an RPG, by making a setting that is not what it appears to be, and letting the player peel back the layers of that onion, trying to reach a core of truth.