Wasteland 2 - Interview @ NMA

NMA's Brother None caught up with Brian Fargo and Chris Avellone for another chat on Wasteland 2. Here's an excerpt on consistency and their search for an engine:

Brian, between having Jason Anderson having written much of the story, bringing the old team back together, and now adding Chris Avellone, is there any "too many cooks" problem? How do you ensure a consistent vision?

BF: Wasteland 1 was created the exact same way in which I brought in a number of different designers to give their spin on an overall world. Jason provided some great ideas and detail on the world of Wasteland 2 and we will parcel out the areas to the different designers like Mike or Chris and they can design what they wish within those areas. We will detail out what we need for them to accomplish in their locale and it might be a simple set of variables like "make sure they get the proton axe, make sure they meet Mad Dog Fargo and they received a certain clue". As long as they get those points across and stay within the framework of the world then I want to see their spin on it. This keeps the world fresh and with variety throughout. This is a similar process as to when sci-fi writers collaborate on a book.

Are you looking to license the Onyx engine from them? Has inXile decided on an engine?

BF: We have narrowed it down to 2 engines (not Onyx) and are now running art tests to make sure it can accomplish the look we want. The other important factor is it needs to be set up so that we don't need high level programmers and artists to get the assets in. There will be SO many world states, quests and interactions for the player that we need to be able to throw enough scripters in to capture all the ideas and outcomes. This is critical.