Obsidian Is Doing A Thing: Project Eternity - The Something Awful Forums

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > Obsidian Is Doing A Thing: Project Eternity

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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bef posted:

ropekid what are you up to

# ¿ Sep 11, 2012 22:44

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# ¿ May 24, 2013 15:05

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Reason posted:

Hell yeah, where do I get that messenger bag?

It's a Tom Bihn Medium Café Bag.

http://www.tombihn.com/travel_bags/TB0202.html

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 17:24

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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JebanyPedal posted:

Pretty much my feelings, spontaneous announcements are always more exciting

They may be more exciting for a given individual, but campaigns like this have the goal of building discussion and momentum. It's true that momentum can be lost and more people + more expectations can mean greater potential disappointment, but obviously we don't set out to disappoint (or annoy) people. A week-long countdown seemed like a reasonable amount of time. Sorry if it's annoying to some.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 18:08

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Stroth posted:

Wait, week long? It's counting down from 4. Oh god this is gonna be an even worse wait than I thought isn't it.

Well, week minus the weekend.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 18:31

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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NihilVerumNisiMors posted:

But when people immediately start going "meh, it's gonna suck"... that isn't exactly the kind of discussion you want to build.

That is not the tone (thankfully) of the majority of conversations I've seen here or elsewhere.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 19:00

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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HotCanadianChick posted:

You're doing a terrible job at being an oldschool PC games fan if you didn't rush out and get Legend of Grimrock the moment it came out. It's even Chris Avellone-approved: http://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/st...781951840493568

I also approved, especially when they added the ability to include my own character portraits.

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# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 23:15

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Peaceful Anarchy posted:

You missed the last line where he says "It should be a hoot." So you need to work owls in there as well.

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# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 01:01

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Owls/Roosters was some damned fine TV.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 01:09

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Basic Chunnel posted:

When does the countdown update? Man wouldn't it be embarrassing if it glitched out

WHEN IT'S TIME.

(we do it manually)

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 16:42

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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5er posted:

PS:T is the gateway drug for Michel Foucalt.

Nietzsche is the gateway drug for Michel Foucault.

hope u guys liek our discipline & punish rpg ^________________^

edit: prestige class: panopticonjurer

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 17:52

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Magic and elves are cool btw.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 17:15

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Hakkesshu posted:

I'm going to pledge to this game, because I trust Obsidian to make something really cool, but they totally should have more information about the story and the world of this game upfront, because it really does just sound like generic fantasy crap. I mean, at least have something interesting to show or tell.

We'll be following up on this stuff in the near future. We did a lot of Kickstarter research and noticed that, when it comes to the pitch video and main KS page at least, there's a delicate time/information balance that works well. One of the reasons I made the blog updates I did earlier in the week was because I wanted folks to get the *~ vibe ~* of how we approach a) world-building in general and b) fantasy. If you haven't seen them, they're here:

http://forums.obsidian.net/blog/3/e...-better-worlds/
http://twofoldsilence.diogenes-lamp...s-deal-was.html

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 17:48

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Leinadi posted:

If I remember correctly, the arcade machine is actually an old-school Rogue like where you can play as the creators of Obsidian.

And I'm not even making GBS threads you. Can't remember where I read it though.

Yes. It was made by Dan Rubalcaba, a former OEI employee and cool dude.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 17:53

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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reflir posted:

By the pseudo-Gaelic and "godhammer" being a literal name of something in the game. It's the only flavor out there so far, and it's flavored like generic. I have faith that Obsidian would choose Mieville fantasy over Tolkien fantasy but the naming scheme doesn't bode well.

A reasonable point, but I will share an anecdote with you. I worked on a fantasy setting that used Syriac and Bulgarian as linguistic starting points. It was a pretty weird world in a lot of ways and the naming didn't help most people get into it. Some really loved it, which I appreciated in a vain sort of way, but the point of communication is to share an idea with someone. If the idea is clever but no one "gets" the feeling you're going for, it's hard to view that as a success.

Godhammer is on-the-nose and Eír Glanfath is pseudo-Irish, but they do communicate ideas and feelings more clearly than some other options I've considered. I know not everyone likes that. It's a difficult balance.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 18:13

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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My favorite romance in any game is still Ben and Mo in Full Throttle.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 21:08

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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the black husserl posted:

Hey rope kid, Christina's World is my favorite painting, I gave you $100 cause of this

Thx 2 u. ~*

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 21:14

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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doomfunk posted:

rope kid, is "Project: Eternity" an arbitrary name, or is it indicative of an exploration of a theme?

It's indicative of some of the themes we'll be exploring in the world and its story. Also it (hopefully) reminds people of the Infinity Engine.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 21:26

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Megazver posted:

rope kid, I do have a few question I hope you guys will eventually answer in your updates.

If the system has classes, will you actually balance them so that the magic users don't make everyone else useless (like in 3e and DA:O)?

Will the combat and inventory systems take the fact that you're controlling five-ish dudes into the account right at the basic design level, instead of retrofitting a system where you roleplay as a single character to work as a tactics game?

How detailed will the character generation be at the beginning? (I am honestly for only picking a character class/archetype, background detail and character looks at the beginning and leaving the stat/skill augmentation for when you've already had some experience with the game. Not making you second-guess what designers wanted you to pick before you even got the chance to play is just basic good design.)

I will be vague right now, but comprehensive game balance and player enjoyment are extremely important to me. I want people to feel like they can make really interesting characters in their own way without being sucker-punched by "gotchas" in the game design.

I think it's important to genuinely capture the feeling of the games we're referencing back to, but that doesn't mean we should ape all of their mechanics directly.

I put it this way to Tim a few weeks ago: I want to capture the feeling an experienced A/D&D player when he or she sets out to make a character and can use interesting combinations of choices to produce something unique, but I want to avoid the feeling a n00blord gets when he or she gets 10 hours into the game and realizes he or she has made a hopelessly "bad" character because the characters have stocked up on ten Skill Focus: Lockpicking feats.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 22:15

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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SomeChump posted:

But yeah, rope kid, for what my $35 is worth, reign in the lame gender stuff Obsidian still shows up occasionally, you read LF so you know this stuff and make the most LGBT friendly and authentically diverse grognard RPG on the market, then you folks'll be legit awesome.

This is extremely important to me and I still push for it (sometimes literally yelling at people) whenever it comes up.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 22:23

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Megazver posted:

Yeah, but I am specifically referring to the then-controversial merge of the Guns skills (as well as the others). As I recall, that's his doing.

Yeah. I made all of the system design changes in F:NV, for better or worse.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 22:29

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Megazver posted:

Also, I see "Drow" on that map? Have you actually checked that the word's not trademarked by WotC?

It's the Lake of Drowned Tombs. Sorry it's unclear.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 22:49

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Our base KS budget was intentionally "modest" (hard to really call $1.1 million modest, but...) because we weren't sure what the community response was going to be. Needless to say, we're thrilled with the response so far.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 23:05

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Megazver posted:

Oh, right. You're ditching D&D five minute workday, right? No more camping out after every fight?

I've talked with Tim about this for a while and here's the thing: camping out in the wilderness and setting watches and getting ambushed by jackasses has a great classic A/D&D feel to it, but it got pretty silly in games like IWD2. I'd like to build in reasonable mechanics that make you rest in the wilderness, but I don't want it to result in the sort of degenerate "rest after every fight" stuff we've faced in the past.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 23:13

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Leinadi posted:

This is sort of unrelated but for the love of god, have the manual include some new delicious recipe from Tim Cain. This is what cRPGs have been missing.

Don't worry. We've already discussed the stretch goal that will make this a reality.

(Tim brings baked goods to the SP team every week)

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 23:24

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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TomWaitsForNoMan posted:

I know you have a lot of people throwing all sorts of suggestions at you Rope Kid, but honestly if you have a black/non-white character who is neither a savage warlord nor a mysterious traveller from an exotic land I will be over the moon

Without going into DEETS, one of the first companions we designed fits the bill.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 23:35

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ten dollar bitcoin posted:

You know what would be cool and is almost never done? Having elves/dwarves/etc come in skintones other than white.

One of our other companions also fits this bill (and isn't a drow/duergar/svirfneblin).

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 00:01

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physeter posted:

Sorry if this got asked already, but are we going to get a real spellcasting magic system where mages play like mages

Plz explain. When I think of mages playing like mages I think of mages playing like magi. I.e. Ars Magica.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 17:04

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Stroth posted:

So, rope kid, any hints on when we'll start seeing stretch goals listed? Since it looks like it will hit full funding by this evening.

We're working on it. We already had a list of goals, but we need to go through a few *~ details ~* before we put them up.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas, criticisms, and

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 17:13

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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We're working on an update + stretch goals right now.

BTW this is the definitive Impossible Dream recording IMO.

http://youtu.be/-gIztqPlJ3w

# ¿ Sep 15, 2012 23:56

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Giggily posted:

I dunno, I think it's just kind of weird that they didn't really expect the project to be successful. Poor Obsidian, they didn't know that anyone liked them until now.

Before we launched I felt we were 50/50 on hitting our funding goal. I really had no idea what to expect. Kickstarter for funding games at the $1 million+ range is still pretty new/uncommon.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 01:12

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TheWorldIsSquare posted:

I can understand that, actually. It has the same shape as a lot of generic European medieval fantasy game worlds, Albion for example.

I've seen this concern from a number of people. This might sound flippant, but what kind of fresh cartography are you guys looking for? BTW I hope it's evident from the distance between communities/landmarks that the scale of that map is waaaaaaay smaller than Europe.

quote:

Speaking of which, I hope this game doesn't go the Fable route and try to disguise shock value as maturity.

This is what I posted at the OEI boards on this subject:

Mature themes, to us, means exploring concepts in a frank manner from many angles through the story and the characters in it. Dead Money explored obsession. Honest Hearts explored religion. Even when dealing with alien (or elven[?!?!]) cultures and magic/technology, themes should relate back to what players would understand as part of the human condition. E.g. a film like District 9 is good at triggering sensitivities to (real world) racism and dehumanization in the audience even though the aliens are fictional.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 01:19

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Merry Magpie posted:

I am curious about Godhammer Citadel though.

I can't talk a lot about the details of the world yet, but let me explain this one a little more. It's a bit of a misnomer. It wasn't a god who was killed, but a (possibly?) possessed saint. And the saint wasn't "hammered". He was killed with a bomb. Like... yeah, a really big bomb.

Okay, that's all until I have time to do a proper update.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 02:07

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Megazver posted:

Also, to be honest, "We have ideas for these, but we want to hear your opinions on what you'd like to see," doesn't really inspire confidence. It's giving the impression that you're stalling

Realtalk: we are, in fact, stalling a bit because literally none of us believed that this would get funded at this speed. I simply don't have a coherent blog update to give you right now and I apologize. I will be spending a great deal of tomorrow writing a blog post that explains fundamentals of the world, but that's not a "jot down a few words" sort of thing to be taken lightly. Again, sorry.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 02:17

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Rascyc posted:

Sounds good but don't do racism. It's been done to death.

Sure. I just thought District 9 was a good example.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 02:18

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Eiba posted:

Well, for one thing,

This is good feedback. The actual map is significantly larger; I just bored down on this section for detail. That particular section was what I worked out first. I'll try to address the geological problems (e.g. rivers) and I'll think more about the rest.

Sorry for those of you who didn't like it. I was actually trying to capture the feeling of the Dragon Reach/Dalelands, which is an area of the Realms that I always liked.

TychoCelchuuu posted:

This is fantastic if you're pedantic about geographic features but I think most people who are looking forward to this are looking forward to the mature, complex, interesting story and character interactions.

This may be true, but I don't like getting things fundamentally wrong/bad. People who are in the know see it and immediately recognize a problem.

rope kid fucked around with this message at Sep 16, 2012 around 02:50

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 02:48

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Fintilgin posted:

I sort of got the impression from the scale that the map is encompassing a smaller region, like something closer to the size of Spain then all of Europe.

Yes, Spain would not be a wholly inaccurate comparison in terms of size.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 03:08

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Don't ask me for numbers, but I'd love to work with George again. I was really bummed when our last project together didn't work out.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2012 01:27

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Giggily posted:

EDIT: rope kid please post your blog this thread is going to implode.

VVV I'm so sorry.

I won't have anything up until tomorrow at the earliest. Sorry.

BTW, I'd be interested to hear more thoughts on resting mechanics. I think overall pacing is really important in RPGs and often handled poorly.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2012 02:29

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
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Even in IWD1, regular resting and hyper-buffing were required for some of the later fights in Lower Dorn's Deep. One of the QA testers went berserk trying to get through the area without doing so and ultimately failed.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2012 04:19

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# ¿ May 24, 2013 15:05

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Hank Morgan posted:

I just blacked out and now I own an NPC. I'll call him Goku.

Goku Sephiroth Do'Urden

# ¿ Sep 17, 2012 15:17

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