Obsidian Entertainment Interview
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GB: Of all the role-playing games you've worked on at Interplay and Obsidian, which would you say that you're most proud of being involved with and why? Feargus: Ultimately, I think it really is Fallout, but for different reasons than may seem obvious. It was incredible to work on Fallout and I'm really proud of what we were able to do - and for the things that I personally did right (get the Hub working and the .223 pistol quest) and the things that I did wrong but learned from (the Turbo Plasma Rifle). What I'm really proud of is that Fallout seemed to really pave the way for all of the other RPGs that came out in the next four or five years. It seemed to set the stage and wet people's appetite for Baldur's Gates, Arcanum, Neverwinter Nights and Planescape: Torment.
GB: On the other hand, are there any game choices or design decisions you've come to regret over the course of your career?
Feargus: Oh, come on, I've never been wrong. Just ask everyone that's worked with me. :) If there is any mistake that I think I've made, it is that I've pushed teams too hard and just hoped that things would work out. In the past, that worked because I could even pitch in and work like a mad man to help us catch up. However, with games and teams getting larger no one person or small group of people can dig a game out of a hole. So, I've needed to really figure out how to approach development, scheduling and making games in such a way that we can get them done and get them done at a quality level we are all proud of in the end.
As for specific design elements that I wince at now, I would say that they are both in Fallout 2. The first is that we just went too crazy with inside jokes and references to real world things like South Park. What really makes me bow my head is the talking Death Claw. I have no idea why I thought it was cool at the time - momentary insanity?
GB: Give us your personal take on the current state of PC gaming and non-MMO role-playing games. As a long-time PC developer, what is your opinion on the shift to consoles, whether or not single player RPGs are being overlooked due to the growth of the MMO industry, and what role piracy plays in both of these cases?
Feargus: I think that it's a tough time for large budget PC development. There just isn't money out there for it and it's hard to justify spending your own money as a developer when you aren't sure if you are going to make all that money back. Having said that, my hope is that with something like our engine we can make PC games much more quickly and easily and try to release smaller games that people can buy through download sites. We can then offer extensions (downloadable content) for those games and then build them up to larger games for the people that want that experience.
Ultimately, I think that the PC is still a great gaming platform and I'm hoping that in the next few years, how games get distributed and how we can all at least earn back what is spent to make a game can be figured out. I do think that we are definitely on that course with Steam, since I know a lot of developers are making money and bypassing the normal retail route. But, as I said above, it's still scary to look at spending $3M or $7M of your own money to make something and then wonder if you are going to get it all back.
Until next time, Feargus!
