The moment you start dictating content/themes/story vs. allowing the player to be a participant in the story and carve their own path, you're doing the player a disservice.

Chris Avellone

Categorized in : Stories Path Player

When the injustice is great enough, justice will lend me the strength needed to correct it. None may stand against it. It will shatter every barrier, sunder any shield, tear through any enchantment, and lend its servant the power to pass sentence. Know this: There is nothing on all the Planes that can stay the hand of justice when it is brought against them. It may unmake armies. It may sunder the thrones of gods. Know that for all who betray justice, I am their fate. And fate carries an executioner's axe.

fate army hands

Women were the reason I became a monk - and, ah, the reason I swi... by Chris Avellone

Women were the reason I became a monk - and, ah, the reason I switched back.

monk reason

Time is not your enemy, forever is. by Chris Avellone

Time is not your enemy, forever is.

forever enemy

I've got to be honest, I absolutely don't like designing romances. I think that you get a lot more drama and impact from failed romances, or unrequited relationships that occur in games. I think that creates more player tension.

player drama thinking

I am never going to do an Empire Strikes Back ending again in a game, even if they put branding irons to my feet.

iron games feet

I don't think I could ever stop being a game designer, that's just where my brain is going to be at until I'm in the coffin.

games brain thinking

I think actually any morality system that rewards only the extremes is a flawed system. Players don't approach life that way, they don't approach games that way, and they shouldn't be trained to approach games that way. They shouldn't be in the mode where, "I've got to choose every good option." They should just play the game. And they should get equal consequences or rewards for that, that are different from the extremes.

different player thinking

While I'm confident in Obsidian being able to deliver a quality title, it only takes one other Kickstarter developer to ruin things for everyone else and cast doubt on the donation process going forward.

confident donation quality process

I absolutely knew that I wanted to play role-playing games when I saw a friend of mine playing 'Bard's Tale 2' on his Commodore 64.

mine friend playing-games play

In 'Alpha Protocol,' right from the outset, the parameters of the game explain to you that the mission needs to get done. How you approach that is your decision. The rewards and penalties for either path, those are going to balance out into different consequences.

game you decision path

The most important thing in games isn't the designer's narrative, but the story the player creates through his experiences.

story through important games

What I like about Kickstarter is it helps games that people want to play still get made, even if you don't pump $20 million dollars into it to try and meet all the stupid bells and whistles that publishers feel must be in games nowadays.

feel you stupid people

We've pitched and even begun development on a number of fantasy worlds that have never seen the light of day. All of those worlds... It's soul-crushing to see them sputter out, one by one. Lost. Like tears. In rain.

day tears light rain

I think, actually, any morality system that rewards only the extremes is a flawed system. Players don't approach life that way, they don't approach games that way, and they shouldn't be trained to approach games that way. They shouldn't be in the 'Star Wars' mode where, 'I've got to choose every good option.'

good think life way

On my long list of hates about RPGs, one of them was, I always felt it was an unnecessary chore to make you care about a world when, in fact, what most players care about is their own personal experience.

you experience long world

A lot of the strength of an RPG world lies in its foundation: its systems, lore, and when appropriate, its magic systems. While there are elements tied to 'Project: Eternity' that at first glance seem to be classic fantasy, that's intentional - we do want to recreate some elements of a High Fantasy experience.

magic experience strength world

If there's anything I can't stand, it's the cliche of the female handler who's always talking through the radio with your player, telling you where to go and what to do with a sexy voice. It's such a horrible, horrible cliche. You just get so tired of it. It's like, is this all she's ever going to be?

you sexy tired voice

Working with franchises can be challenging, but at the same time I really did enjoy working on 'Star Wars,' for example, and I have done a lot of 'Dungeons & Dragons' games, but I still enjoy it very much.

enjoy done games time