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It's been a while since we've done a round-up of developer quotes, but with no release date for Old World Blues in sight, you may be interested in reading some of these quotes we've put together from the official forums and J.E. Sawyer's formspring page.
Let's start with Jason Bergman, on Old World Blues' release date:<blockquote>As much as I like sharing info with you guys (and I really do) please understand I do not work for the marketing department here. Neither myself nor anyone at Obsidian can tell you when the DLC, patch or trailer will be out. Those announcements are entirely in the hands of our marketing folk. </blockquote>And on the upcoming patch:<blockquote>Before he does that he better fix more bugs in the game (ex. Minigun noise keeps going on even after you put it away).
Pleased to report that we fixed that one in the next patch, along with some other much-requested changes.
Stay tuned. </blockquote><blockquote>Have you fixed the never despawning ash/goo glitch :fingers crossed:
If we're talking about the same thing, that's not a bug. Fallout 3 functioned the same way. </blockquote><blockquote>Thank you!!!! I can finally use those now. Well... again.
On that note: Will this also solve the issue of the minigun not making sounds at all when fired? Or delayed sounds? <- the last one is probably lag but I figured I'd ask.
Audio drops out when memory gets especially low. We've done a lot to improve memory performance in this patch, so it should happen much less frequently post-patch. </blockquote><blockquote>will the next patch fix the glitch that causes the character to raise his hands and weapon up?
Yep! We fixed that one too. Really, really tricky, but we finally nailed it.
</blockquote><blockquote>How long does it take to fix something like that? Like, what does it require doing?
Just curious.
Obviously, it depends on the bug, but try to remember how enormous a game like FNV is, and how many different versions there are (26 at last count). We have to test every single one with every single change, which is why our patches tend to take a while and contain so many fixes all at once. </blockquote><blockquote>Edit: 26 versions of the game? Shouldn't there only be 3 (360. PS3, PC)?
Let's see...
360:
English (US/Canada), English (UK), French, Italian, Spanish, German, German (Censored), English Asia, Japan
PS3:
English (US), English/French (CA), English (UK), Italian, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish, German, German (Censored), Japan
PC:
English, French, Italian, German, German (Censored), Spanish, Russian/Polish
And I think I left out a couple. o_O </blockquote>Then, J.E. Sawyer talks Honest Hearts.
On why Obsidian didn't give the option to help the White Legs:<blockquote>Helping the White Legs wouldn't really help the Legion in any substantive way unless you consider helping Caesar clean up an embarrassing mistake to be inherently pro-Legion. It's worth noting that if you do Chaos In Zion and actually kill Joshua Graham yourself, the White Legs still aren't accepted into the Legion. Caesar just wants Graham dead and the White Legs are the scumbags to do it. We discussed doing a White Legs-oriented path through Honest Hearts but a) it would have been out of scope and b ) it still would likely have ended with you doing essentially Chaos in Zion: killing Daniel and/or Joshua Graham.
In retrospect, associating the White Legs with the Legion was probably my key mistake. Take the exact same tribe doing the exact same thing and remove their association with the Legion and people would not conclude that opposing them = opposing the Legion or that helping the New Canaanites = helping the Legion's enemies. The New Canaanites, though fundamentally opposed to the Legion, aren't really the parties in conflict. Caesar hates Joshua Graham, regardless of the lack of threat posed by New Canaan, the Sorrows, and the Dead Horses.
Sawyer, dunno why ya'll decided against being able to side with White Legs
Earlier in the thread I wrote: a) it would have been out of scope.
This is the biggest reason. Having an idea is very different from having the resources to implement that idea, much less implement and test that idea. We've had enough problems with content that comes across as half-implemented and/or buggy. Adding a separate quest line adds many more permutations and testing requirements to an area's content. I always like giving viable options to the player, but I have to treat scope issues seriously. </blockquote>On Joshua Graham characterization:<blockquote>It's not as simple as being "set on fire". After suffering a terrible failure, he was humiliated by his superior and the people he commanded. He was cast out and left for dead. His entire reason for living was gone. When your entire way of life is completely destroyed, it has a profound impact on how you view yourself and your place in the world. Because all momentum is lost, the experience causes you to evaluate and re-evaluate how you have reached this point -- and how to move forward.
There are thousands, if not millions, of examples of soldiers in history who engaged in ruthless -- often cruel -- behavior in times of war only to either return to an "ordinary" civilized life later. Some of them have no problem with what they did, others repress their memories as much as they can, and still others suffer strong crises of conscience that force profound changes in them. As Graham describes, his path to becoming the Malpais Legate was made up of many small compromises that turned increasingly sinister and brutal. At first he thought he was making the best of a bad situation and doing what needed to be done, but in the end he and Caesar had built a society on a foundation of fear and brutality. Caesar had a more grand vision for where the Legion was going, but Joshua Graham was caught up in the day to day maintenance of a tribal army engaged in bleak and often monstrous behavior. It was not until he was removed from that environment that he was able to reflect on his past. He could have chosen to blame Caesar, but in the end he blamed himself. The only people he knew in the world who could possibly accept him were the New Canaanites, so that's where he headed. </blockquote>On how they treated Energy Weapons in DLC, or, more specifically, the holorifle:<blockquote>It'd be nice to have a brand new model, but that reskin was fine. Elijah says he made it himself, so maybe he used a grenade launcher as a base. It would have been nice to have a whole new ammo type for it though.
Energy weapons are already much rarer than guns and explosives. The costs for maintaining energy weapons and ammo is also more expensive. It's not that energy weapons need to be the same as guns, it's that they should be getting as much attention. All weapons types should be, but that's another topic. Energy weapons don't have the same modability or ammo choice. I would argue that guns are by far a more efficient and cheaper way of getting the job done. The hunting rifle and This Machine can be acquired early, and stay effective the entire game. The AEP14 and Q-35 are arguably harder to get and will have to maintained much more often. And yes, energy weapons needs a grunt equivalent. </blockquote>On quest markers:<blockquote>Could u have an oval shaped mission marker to indicate "it's somewhere in this area"? cos if it says "search room for clue" I don't want the marker to lead me straight to the hiddn journal under the couch, cos we're not really searching the room that way.
The engine doesn't currently support that, but it's a good way to handle "find this" objectives. Assassin's Creed 2 used an objective pointer with either a) a radius or b) an irregular volume (e.g. the inside of a large, sprawling courtyard). I thought that did a good job of indicating the general area for the player while still making the player search for the target.</blockquote>On, uhm, the Brotherhood of Steel, right wingers, and bisexual teenagers:<blockquote>The Brotherhood of Steel faction is most appealing to right-wingers. Did you make the BoS companion, Veronica, a goofy and bisexual teenaged girl just to annoy them?
No.
Also, Veronica is a) not bisexual b) not a teenager.</blockquote>On location design:<blockquote>Is there any single person in the design process who creates the location's (eg Nipton) environment (placing fire/cucifixes, building houses, terrain shaping), populates it with items/NPCS (Vulpes, M. Steyn's comp, locker contents) and implements quests?
No. Environment building is typically handled by world builders and lit by artists. The rest of the "designy" aspects are handled by an area designer working from an RDC (Region Design Constraint doc) authored by me (or, in the case of some DLC content, Chris Avellone).</blockquote>On Fallout and its influence on the RPG genre:<blockquote>Chris Taylor and Tim Cain said that Fallout came out during hard for RPG times. Most of devs were too busy making easy jRPGs. Would you agree that Fallout somewhat saved RPG genre? Giving stimuli to other devs to try their hands at developing RPGs.
I think so, yes.</blockquote>On DLC budget:<blockquote>Your fond of repeating "budget" for DLCs nacks however the fact that money can be put aside for it rather than soley on new projects shows you do have resources at your disposal. DLC should expand gameplay, your $10 content used to be free on PC.
Money isn't "put aside" for DLCs; publishers pay us a contractually-defined amount to develop them. We're paid per-milestone delivery, just as we were on the core game. The publisher determines the price point and when to release it.</blockquote>On why For Auld Lang Syne doesn't include a Mr. House/Yes Man path:<blockquote>Why does For Auld Lang Syne have no way to say "fight for me/Yes Man" or "fight for House"? There seems to only be the option of fighting for NCR or Legion. This is kind of ridiculous, seeing as Arcade's ideal path is Independent Vegas.
Supporting NCR produces the same functional result, since really there are only two or three points in Hoover Dam where you potentially do something substantively different (against NCR), and those events do not occur outside on the dam itself.
But what if you are vilified with the NCR prior to the Dam war? Also, why would a Yes Man/House player ever tell them to support the NCR, especially when one of them doesn't like the NCR and is clear about it? It doesn't make any sense.
Because Mr. House knows that he is not personally going to wage war against the Legion with his Securitrons. His plan is to let NCR bear the brunt of the fighting and then use his Securitrons to push NCR out when the dust settles. Yes Man's logic follows this as well.
Asking the Remnants to fight on behalf of "Mr. House" doesn't make sense because Mr. House effectively has no forces in the main battle at Hoover Dam and he wouldn't want the Remnants to actively oppose NCR *during* the fight (because it would make removing the Legion presence more difficult).
Asking them to fight for an independent Vegas would produce the same functional result: help kick the Legion out, after which point the Securitrons show up and push NCR out.
Since there's no functional difference between what the Remnants do if the player is supporting NCR, independent Vegas, or Mr. House -- and since Mr. House and Yes Man see no point in having the Remnants actively fight NCR at Hoover Dam -- there's no real need to complicate the quest by adding in duplicate options producing the same end result.</blockquote>
Let's start with Jason Bergman, on Old World Blues' release date:<blockquote>As much as I like sharing info with you guys (and I really do) please understand I do not work for the marketing department here. Neither myself nor anyone at Obsidian can tell you when the DLC, patch or trailer will be out. Those announcements are entirely in the hands of our marketing folk. </blockquote>And on the upcoming patch:<blockquote>Before he does that he better fix more bugs in the game (ex. Minigun noise keeps going on even after you put it away).
Pleased to report that we fixed that one in the next patch, along with some other much-requested changes.
Stay tuned. </blockquote><blockquote>Have you fixed the never despawning ash/goo glitch :fingers crossed:
If we're talking about the same thing, that's not a bug. Fallout 3 functioned the same way. </blockquote><blockquote>Thank you!!!! I can finally use those now. Well... again.
On that note: Will this also solve the issue of the minigun not making sounds at all when fired? Or delayed sounds? <- the last one is probably lag but I figured I'd ask.
Audio drops out when memory gets especially low. We've done a lot to improve memory performance in this patch, so it should happen much less frequently post-patch. </blockquote><blockquote>will the next patch fix the glitch that causes the character to raise his hands and weapon up?
Yep! We fixed that one too. Really, really tricky, but we finally nailed it.
</blockquote><blockquote>How long does it take to fix something like that? Like, what does it require doing?Just curious.
Obviously, it depends on the bug, but try to remember how enormous a game like FNV is, and how many different versions there are (26 at last count). We have to test every single one with every single change, which is why our patches tend to take a while and contain so many fixes all at once. </blockquote><blockquote>Edit: 26 versions of the game? Shouldn't there only be 3 (360. PS3, PC)?
Let's see...
360:
English (US/Canada), English (UK), French, Italian, Spanish, German, German (Censored), English Asia, Japan
PS3:
English (US), English/French (CA), English (UK), Italian, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish, German, German (Censored), Japan
PC:
English, French, Italian, German, German (Censored), Spanish, Russian/Polish
And I think I left out a couple. o_O </blockquote>Then, J.E. Sawyer talks Honest Hearts.
On why Obsidian didn't give the option to help the White Legs:<blockquote>Helping the White Legs wouldn't really help the Legion in any substantive way unless you consider helping Caesar clean up an embarrassing mistake to be inherently pro-Legion. It's worth noting that if you do Chaos In Zion and actually kill Joshua Graham yourself, the White Legs still aren't accepted into the Legion. Caesar just wants Graham dead and the White Legs are the scumbags to do it. We discussed doing a White Legs-oriented path through Honest Hearts but a) it would have been out of scope and b ) it still would likely have ended with you doing essentially Chaos in Zion: killing Daniel and/or Joshua Graham.
In retrospect, associating the White Legs with the Legion was probably my key mistake. Take the exact same tribe doing the exact same thing and remove their association with the Legion and people would not conclude that opposing them = opposing the Legion or that helping the New Canaanites = helping the Legion's enemies. The New Canaanites, though fundamentally opposed to the Legion, aren't really the parties in conflict. Caesar hates Joshua Graham, regardless of the lack of threat posed by New Canaan, the Sorrows, and the Dead Horses.
Sawyer, dunno why ya'll decided against being able to side with White Legs
Earlier in the thread I wrote: a) it would have been out of scope.
This is the biggest reason. Having an idea is very different from having the resources to implement that idea, much less implement and test that idea. We've had enough problems with content that comes across as half-implemented and/or buggy. Adding a separate quest line adds many more permutations and testing requirements to an area's content. I always like giving viable options to the player, but I have to treat scope issues seriously. </blockquote>On Joshua Graham characterization:<blockquote>It's not as simple as being "set on fire". After suffering a terrible failure, he was humiliated by his superior and the people he commanded. He was cast out and left for dead. His entire reason for living was gone. When your entire way of life is completely destroyed, it has a profound impact on how you view yourself and your place in the world. Because all momentum is lost, the experience causes you to evaluate and re-evaluate how you have reached this point -- and how to move forward.
There are thousands, if not millions, of examples of soldiers in history who engaged in ruthless -- often cruel -- behavior in times of war only to either return to an "ordinary" civilized life later. Some of them have no problem with what they did, others repress their memories as much as they can, and still others suffer strong crises of conscience that force profound changes in them. As Graham describes, his path to becoming the Malpais Legate was made up of many small compromises that turned increasingly sinister and brutal. At first he thought he was making the best of a bad situation and doing what needed to be done, but in the end he and Caesar had built a society on a foundation of fear and brutality. Caesar had a more grand vision for where the Legion was going, but Joshua Graham was caught up in the day to day maintenance of a tribal army engaged in bleak and often monstrous behavior. It was not until he was removed from that environment that he was able to reflect on his past. He could have chosen to blame Caesar, but in the end he blamed himself. The only people he knew in the world who could possibly accept him were the New Canaanites, so that's where he headed. </blockquote>On how they treated Energy Weapons in DLC, or, more specifically, the holorifle:<blockquote>It'd be nice to have a brand new model, but that reskin was fine. Elijah says he made it himself, so maybe he used a grenade launcher as a base. It would have been nice to have a whole new ammo type for it though.
Energy weapons are already much rarer than guns and explosives. The costs for maintaining energy weapons and ammo is also more expensive. It's not that energy weapons need to be the same as guns, it's that they should be getting as much attention. All weapons types should be, but that's another topic. Energy weapons don't have the same modability or ammo choice. I would argue that guns are by far a more efficient and cheaper way of getting the job done. The hunting rifle and This Machine can be acquired early, and stay effective the entire game. The AEP14 and Q-35 are arguably harder to get and will have to maintained much more often. And yes, energy weapons needs a grunt equivalent. </blockquote>On quest markers:<blockquote>Could u have an oval shaped mission marker to indicate "it's somewhere in this area"? cos if it says "search room for clue" I don't want the marker to lead me straight to the hiddn journal under the couch, cos we're not really searching the room that way.
The engine doesn't currently support that, but it's a good way to handle "find this" objectives. Assassin's Creed 2 used an objective pointer with either a) a radius or b) an irregular volume (e.g. the inside of a large, sprawling courtyard). I thought that did a good job of indicating the general area for the player while still making the player search for the target.</blockquote>On, uhm, the Brotherhood of Steel, right wingers, and bisexual teenagers:<blockquote>The Brotherhood of Steel faction is most appealing to right-wingers. Did you make the BoS companion, Veronica, a goofy and bisexual teenaged girl just to annoy them?
No.
Also, Veronica is a) not bisexual b) not a teenager.</blockquote>On location design:<blockquote>Is there any single person in the design process who creates the location's (eg Nipton) environment (placing fire/cucifixes, building houses, terrain shaping), populates it with items/NPCS (Vulpes, M. Steyn's comp, locker contents) and implements quests?
No. Environment building is typically handled by world builders and lit by artists. The rest of the "designy" aspects are handled by an area designer working from an RDC (Region Design Constraint doc) authored by me (or, in the case of some DLC content, Chris Avellone).</blockquote>On Fallout and its influence on the RPG genre:<blockquote>Chris Taylor and Tim Cain said that Fallout came out during hard for RPG times. Most of devs were too busy making easy jRPGs. Would you agree that Fallout somewhat saved RPG genre? Giving stimuli to other devs to try their hands at developing RPGs.
I think so, yes.</blockquote>On DLC budget:<blockquote>Your fond of repeating "budget" for DLCs nacks however the fact that money can be put aside for it rather than soley on new projects shows you do have resources at your disposal. DLC should expand gameplay, your $10 content used to be free on PC.
Money isn't "put aside" for DLCs; publishers pay us a contractually-defined amount to develop them. We're paid per-milestone delivery, just as we were on the core game. The publisher determines the price point and when to release it.</blockquote>On why For Auld Lang Syne doesn't include a Mr. House/Yes Man path:<blockquote>Why does For Auld Lang Syne have no way to say "fight for me/Yes Man" or "fight for House"? There seems to only be the option of fighting for NCR or Legion. This is kind of ridiculous, seeing as Arcade's ideal path is Independent Vegas.
Supporting NCR produces the same functional result, since really there are only two or three points in Hoover Dam where you potentially do something substantively different (against NCR), and those events do not occur outside on the dam itself.
But what if you are vilified with the NCR prior to the Dam war? Also, why would a Yes Man/House player ever tell them to support the NCR, especially when one of them doesn't like the NCR and is clear about it? It doesn't make any sense.
Because Mr. House knows that he is not personally going to wage war against the Legion with his Securitrons. His plan is to let NCR bear the brunt of the fighting and then use his Securitrons to push NCR out when the dust settles. Yes Man's logic follows this as well.
Asking the Remnants to fight on behalf of "Mr. House" doesn't make sense because Mr. House effectively has no forces in the main battle at Hoover Dam and he wouldn't want the Remnants to actively oppose NCR *during* the fight (because it would make removing the Legion presence more difficult).
Asking them to fight for an independent Vegas would produce the same functional result: help kick the Legion out, after which point the Securitrons show up and push NCR out.
Since there's no functional difference between what the Remnants do if the player is supporting NCR, independent Vegas, or Mr. House -- and since Mr. House and Yes Man see no point in having the Remnants actively fight NCR at Hoover Dam -- there's no real need to complicate the quest by adding in duplicate options producing the same end result.</blockquote>
