Interview: Tim Cain - Fallout, Troika, RPG Design

[lycos]

Interview: Tim Cain - Fallout, Troika, RPG Design

Another interview at RPG Codex

RPG Codex Retrospective Interview: Tim Cain on Fallout, Troika and RPG Design

Some snippits from the interview...

An interesting quote about "Games are Art"

The full quote was “I think if you’re not trying to make a work of art that is fun, and accessible, I don’t think you should try. You should worry less about the art, and more about how enjoyable it is." I was speaking directly to game developers who care more about form over function, who would rather have their game look good than be fun to play.

And of note for D&D grognards...

For the sequel to The Temple of Elemental Evil, Troika proposed using the super-module GDQ: Queen of the Spiders, which consists of seven modules from the popular Giants and Drow series, plus the special Q-series module that completed the adventure. In fact, we were going to let the players bring their characters over from ToEE directly into the QoS, so they could simply continue playing with the same group of characters. Alternatively, we had suggested using the engine to create the long-awaited Baldur's Gate 3, and Obsidian had also expressed interest in licensing the engine to make D&D licensed games. Unfortunately, Atari never followed up on any of these proposals.

Atari refused to do the Queen of Spiders series? Excuse me, I need to go and set Atari on fire...

 

[Blothulfur]

Say what you like about the Codex, they post some damn good interviews and editorials.

 

[chromie92]

Say what you like about the Codex, they post some damn good interviews and editorials.

The community may be toxic too but man they know some excellent games.

 

[Aver]

Atari refused to do the Queen of Spiders series? Excuse me, I need to go and set Atari on fire...

I wouldn't say that it was Atari's fault. Atari had really bad financial situation (and still has) and Troika's games weren't too profitable even tho they were good RPGs (but bugged as hell).

 

[Randomdrowner2015]

Art, in its most basic - and when it comes to games, applicable - form, is primarily about expressing yourself through your product (the game) and taking it and its central or carrying themes "serious". By taking it "serious" (doing your very best to integrate the various elements to a interesting whole with depth that can be explored in a satisfying and challenging way)you pretty much automatically transcend the border that defines regular/ordinary entertainment.

 

[mrowakus]

The community may be toxic too but man they know some excellent games.

Meh, it's just a bad press... well and maybe the fact that our moderators are more liberal than on other forums. It has its advantages, though - due to unconstrained, open-minded approach our community is full of freethinkers with attitude, guts, knowledge and wits to prepare more balanced, thought-out content few other sites can match.

Say what you want, but if you survive baptism of fire on the Codex few people are able to "win" an argument with you.

The full quote was “I think if you’re not trying to make a work of art that is fun, and accessible, I don’t think you should try. You should worry less about the art, and more about how enjoyable it is." I was speaking directly to game developers who care more about form over function, who would rather have their game look good than be fun to play.

Words of wisdom, but sadly Obsidian doesn't really follow them. For example, Neverwinter Nights 2 is full of unoptimised, useless features and options which are not "fun" gameplaywise and were included because: hey - it's D&D, after all. Same with Alpha Protocol and Kotor2. And I still can't tell where is "fun" in slaughtering hordes of hp bloated critters in Dungeon Siege 3.

 

[Zanderat]

Obsidian isn't perfect. But, boy did they hit a home run with FONV! Can't believe that I missed it the first time around.

 

[misho87233]

Fallout 3 was a boring game for me.. just, there was nothing to keep me playing it for more then a few hours.. but FNV was a fantastic game.. when i finished it 1st time, i had 92 hours of gameplay behind me.. and Alpha Protocol was a great game, which had one of the greatest choice + consequences systems in any games out there