Wasteland 3 - Brian Fargo Interview

[Silver]

@USGamer they interview Brian Fargo, starting at the 32:30 mark, where they discuss multiplayer, the Ranger HQ, the state of RPGs and more.

Legendary RPG designer Brian Fargo joins the pod to discuss Wasteland 3, his history with the series, the evolution of RPGs, and what it was like to make games back in the '80s. But first, Jeremy and Nadia go in-depth on Final Fantasy XV. Do the characters work? Is the battle system better than advertised? All of our impressions and more!

More information.

 

[Couchpotato]

He also did another interview where he talks about why he is ditching kickstarter.

This time, it’s that Wasteland 3 isn’t on Kickstarter, but a new platform named Fig. Oh yes: Brian Fargo, perhaps the most visible figurehead and advocate for the merits of Kickstarted games, has moved on.

“I like to think I’m good at knowing what the winds of change are up to,” he explains. “And I felt that they were changing as it related to backing things through Kickstarter, at least at the level we were used to.”

Although Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera and The Bard’s Tale IV each pulled in millions of backer dollars for InXile, campaign totals are diminishing across the board. UK market analysts ICO Partners found that gaming Kickstarters raised $8.2m in the first half of 2016, compared to more than $20m in the previous six months.

“Everybody was happy to get these genres back going again, because there were some categories that weren’t being addressed,” says Fargo. “Certainly role-playing games, point and click adventures. People were being denied them, so we were able to step in

Link - http://www.pcgamesn.com/wasteland-3/brian-fargo-inxile-kickstarter-interview

 

[Saxon1974]

But from what I could see you had to buy shares of the game on fig to get a return. It was 1k just to get in...unless I missed something?

 

[Deleted User]

I see what Brian is saying about having to get people "excited" again. It's kind of a shame that he has to think that way and that Kickstarter has toned down so much. Lots of factors involved there but I think the biggest being that it simply got flooded with so much stuff. All of a sudden every project started following a formula, doing same things over and over, etc. Stretch goal this, stretch goal that.

There's still so much untapped potential for RPG development, though. Kickstarter basically put Larian/Obsidian/InXile back on the map, which is great, but there are smaller developers who aren't yet able to crack into that level.

I guess going forward we just have to hope that passionate RPG developers are still out there and continue to push. The "big three" of RPG devs I just named could be joined by at least several more, IMO.

And at least traditional/isometric RPGs are back in the consciousness of gamers again, which is a very good thing.

 

[Saxon1974]

I see what Brian is saying about having to get people "excited" again. It's kind of a shame that he has to think that way and that Kickstarter has toned down so much. Lots of factors involved there but I think the biggest being that it simply got flooded with so much stuff. All of a sudden every project started following a formula, doing same things over and over, etc. Stretch goal this, stretch goal that.

There's still so much untapped potential for RPG development, though. Kickstarter basically put Larian/Obsidian/InXile back on the map, which is great, but there are smaller developers who aren't yet able to crack into that level.

I guess going forward we just have to hope that passionate RPG developers are still out there and continue to push. The "big three" of RPG devs I just named could be joined by at least several more, IMO.

And at least traditional/isometric RPGs are back in the consciousness of gamers again, which is a very good thing.

Agree, Cheers

Now it is great that the type of games I like are getting made even though I have no time to play haha

 

[rjshae]

Lots of factors involved there but I think the biggest being that it simply got flooded with so much stuff. All of a sudden every project started following a formula, doing same things over and over, etc. Stretch goal this, stretch goal that.

The fact that a number of these video game Kickstarters have either been unsuccessful or are taking much to long to deliver their goods has likely put a big damper on funding. The enthusiasm bubble has burst and I'll bet that many contributors are being more careful now. That hurts the small, independent developers the most as they are the higher risk projects.

 

[Ripper]

Very rare are the projects I would back. KS is infested with incompetent sketchy garbage, and many of these larger projects I believe could now be funded in the normal way. The companies prefer for the customers to take the financial risk, of course, but I'm not interested in cooperating with that.

An example of a campaign I do think is worthwhile is Consortium: The Tower. They're a small but quality indie, and I don't think the game would be made any other way. Copper Dreams I'd put in the same category.