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Joystiq Streams: Wandering Wasteland 2 with Brian Fargo [UPDATE: Relive the stream!]
We are hearty rangers! We do not fear cultists worshipping the atomic bomb, mutated freaks, or roving bands of slavering summer cannibals, baking in the ceaseless southwestern sun of America. We gather our party, our band of freaks and survivors, and we walk right out into the dry heat of apocalyptic Arizona with our heads held high and our guns slung low. Then we take slow turns blowing stuff up. That's how it's done in Wasteland 2. Starting at 4PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch, Joystiq will play a complete version of Wasteland 2, InXile Entertainment's 27-years-in-the-making game. Studio founder and Wasteland mastermind Brian Fargo will join us for a veteran ranger's view of the action. Swing by if you want to ask questions or get a look at the game weeks before it releases in full. Joystiq Streams broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch, but we regularly get freaky on our channel so make sure to follow us on Twitch to know when we go live. [Images: InXile Entertainment]
Meet the live-action Desert Rangers of Wasteland 2
It's not often that a developer opts for a live-action introductory cinematic these days, but this brand new clip from Wasteland 2 is appropriately gritty and sun-bleached. For those who haven't been enjoying the game's Early Access incarnation, know that the first moments of Wasteland 2 see your character attending a funeral - the same funeral depicted in the final moments of the above video, making this cinematic something of an explanatory, immediate prequel to the events of Wasteland 2. More crucially though, this footage introduces the Desert Rangers, a hardened group of ragtag soldiers who patrol the wastes protecting innocent people. Most of the time, anyway. Wasteland 2 offers immense freedom of choice, so if you'd rather murder and loot everyone you see, that's a perfectly viable (if sociopathic) decision. Now that you're roughly up to speed on the whys and hows of the fall of mankind, you only have a few months wait remaining before you can dig into the final, retail version of Wasteland 2. According to inXile, the game will make its official debut at some point in August. [Image: inXile Entertainment]
Combat, AI, balance improvements planned for Wasteland 2
Following a month of beta testing, developer inXile Entertainment has outlined its plans for post-apocalyptic roleplaying game Wasteland 2, and it looks like the studio has its work cut out for it. Alongside the typical bug fixes, inXile hopes to focus primarily on improving the game's combat mechanics. "Destructible cover was part of this last update as a first pass with more fine-tuning to come," writes creator Brian Fargo on the game's Kickstarter page. "[W]e will likely add a crouching stance with a variety of tactical applications; we're going over a lot of the encounter design to more carefully detail tactics-changing factors like ladders or destructible cover; and we're in the first testing stages to explore adding a special attack system that'll allow you to invest AP to make specific kinds of attacks based on your weapon types and the skill levels you've achieved in those weapons ... things like spread shots or steady shots." Fargo adds that combat in Wasteland 2 is currently in the very early stages of development and that the final version of the game will feature vastly improved enemy AI, as well as additional special attacks and skills that can damage groups of enemies. Beyond combat improvements, inXile's list of goals for Wasteland 2 is lengthy. It includes "several balance passes on everything in the world," creating a new minimap, changing the in-game font, tweaking the UI seen when bartering with other characters, and adding additional, "satisfying" death animations, among a host of other changes.
MMO Burnout: Wasteland 2's early beta
The grandfather of the dynamic RPG is releasing a sequel next year, and those of us old enough to remember the original are throwing out our hips with joy. Twenty five years is a long time to wait for a rightful heir to the throne, even though we've been treated kindly with spiritual successors along the way in the form of the Fallout franchise. Still, nothing compares to the original Wasteland and how it changed the RPG genre, and Wasteland 2 has already begun to redefine gaming with one of the largest crowdfunding drives to date. For those who pledged $55 or more to Wasteland 2 during its Kickstarter campaign, a shiny new early access beta key was waiting for them earlier this week. This Steam key allowed early-access players into this very early beta build to kick the tires a bit and see how this game works. Read on for my impressions of Wasteland 2 from the perspective of both an original Wasteland fan and a modern gamer.
Wasteland 2 beta open to backers; Steam Early Access arrives tomorrow
If you threw at least $55 at inXile Entertainment's heavily-anticipated, crowdfunded Wasteland 2, your generosity is paying off: As of this morning, you have access to a playable beta test of the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game. Entering the beta is easy. If you backed Wasteland 2 to the tune of $55 or greater, you should have received log-in credentials for the Wasteland 2 Ranger Center. Visit that site, enter your information, and suddenly you're the owner of a Steam key redeemable for the beta. Keep in mind, though, this is only a limited portion of the game, including "the first four major areas ... and related minor maps, along with character creation, world map travel, and random encounters." Developer inXile Entertainment claims that new areas will be added to the beta as time goes by, but in the meantime it has offered a handy guide to all there is to see in the game's current incarnation. Those who didn't fund Wasteland 2 aren't going to be left out in the dusty, irradiated cold, however. Today's announcement also brings word that the Wasteland 2 beta will hit Steam Early Access on December 13. Access to the Steam Early Access beta won't be free, though by paying for the chance to play Wasteland 2 before its public release, you're helping to fund the game's development. That said, there's currently no word on the price point attached to the Wasteland 2 Steam Early Access beta.
Wasteland 2 delayed due to increased scope
A recent update to inXile Entertainment's Kickstarter page for Wasteland 2 revealed that the game's initial October release will instead mark the beginning of its beta testing. The delay stems from the game's Kickstarter gathering $2 million more than the requested funds. "This feature complete playable is about 6 weeks behind where I had wanted it to be but I can't be too surprised considering the increased scope," the statement reads. "We have been able to accomplish so much in so little time by our experience, fantastic team and tools." The next month will be spent implementing all basic gameplay mechanics, including the combat system, world map travel and AI functionality for all the characters you're inevitably going to slaughter in cold blood. Interplay and inXile founder Brian Fargo co-designed the original Wasteland in 1988 and is leading development for Wasteland 2. Fallout 1 and 2 composer Mark Morgan, Wasteland co-creator Michael Stackpole, and Fallout co-creator Jason Anderson are all involved with Wasteland 2. Those who donated $55 or more to Wasteland 2's Kickstarter campaign will gain access to the barren, desolate wasteland in October.
'Torment: Tides of Numenera' meets Kickstarter goal, raises over $900K
Well, that was fast. After its launch this morning, the Kickstarter campaign to finance Inxile's latest endeavor Torment: Tides of Numenera has reached its goal of $900,000. Funding will be open for potential backers until April 5, 2013.Torment: Tides of Numenera is a sequel inspired by the classic game Planescape: Torment, a single-player RPG game set in the Numenera role-playing system created by Monte Cook. Inxile's first Kickstarter campaign was a success, and the studio is currently working to produce a sequel to another classic IP, Wasteland 2.
'Torment: Tides of Numenera' is inXile's new Kickstarter
Wasteland 2 is still early, but Brian Fargo's inXile Entertainment has just launched another Kickstarter, this time for Torment: Tides of Numenera, the Planescape: Torment-inspired role-playing game set in the world of the Kickstarted tabletop RPG Numenera.Torment: Tides of Numenera is a single-player RPG in which you play a "single, specific character" joined by NPCs. As the "Last Castoff," the last incarnation of the Changing God, you find yourself hunted by the "Angel of Entropy" in a world full of mysterious, magical ruins. You can read much, much more about the storyline and setting on the Kickstarter page. Torment is being developed in Unity for release on PC, Mac, and Linux. In its first morning, the drive has already exceeded $86,000 of its $900,000 goal, with the total rapidly growing. inXile has proven to be good at Kickstarter – or its fans just that ravenous for old-school RPGs – as it raised over $3 million for Wasteland 2.
Spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment in 'very early' stages
While many have anxiously awaited a sequel to Planescape: Torment, it's not the pipe dream it once was. Brian Fargo – the InXile Entertainment founder who has the Torment rights and once ran the original game's developer, Interplay – has said a successor is in the works, though there are a few caveats fans should consider.For one, the sequel will ditch the Planescape setting for the Numenera role-playing system, the Kickstarter-funded brainchild of Monte Cook blending together sci-fi and fantasy elements to emphasize "story and ideas over mechanics." Cook should be a memorable name to those who played the Planescape pen-and-paper campaign setting, having helped design and write that series and numerous other games for Wizards of the Coast back in the day. "The more we explored the Numenera setting, the clearer it became that it's a natural fit for a Torment game," Fargo told Rock Paper Shotgun.And with the new setting, Fargo suggests that this sequel will be less so in the literal sense and more so in the ideas Planescape: Torment presented to players. "Rather than overt links, we are trying to recapture the feeling that players experienced through PST –both while playing it and after having completed a playthrough. We will remain true to the essence of PST, but we'll also be looking for ways to improve the areas in which PST could have been even better."The new Torment game is still a ways off, "very early" in the pre-production phases, Fargo says. "We have a basic story outline, design sketches of the major characters, and thematic concepts defined," Fargo said, adding that with Wasteland 2 in full production, InXile can't focus too great of resources to working on this new Torment game.However, with writers and concept artists finished their early stages work on Wasteland 2, they're freed up. "There will be some other surprise talent that I'll announce later on but I thought it important to stress the heritage of the great team we have." As for funding this sequel, Fargo is unsurprisingly considering Kickstarter.
Planescape: Torment writer ponders sequel, Fargo owns Torment IP
Planescape: Torment designer and writer Colin McComb recently had his hands full with Wasteland 2, but now that his job there is done, he's looking to make a new game in the Torment vein.McComb outlines his initial thoughts on creating a new Torment iteration in a lengthy blog post that poses the game's grand question, "What does one life matter? ...and does it matter at all?" This is a departure from Torment's question of "What can change the nature of a man?" (McComb has a degree in philosophy, if you were wondering.)McComb's new game wouldn't necessarily reside in the Planescape universe, but he says he has an "in" with the Torment IP – which is owned by Brian Fargo, founder of Interplay, RPG Codex finds. Interplay published Planescape: Torment in 1999, from developer Black Isle Studios."I have a lot of ideas about what to put into a new Torment game, but my primary goal would be to help the player tell a story that was evocative of the original Torment without aping it," McComb writes. "To be faithful to the odyssey of the Nameless One, and to recognize that it has ended, and that stories of Torment are ongoing."
Original Fallout and Planescape: Torment dev Black Isle Studios re-opens [updated]
The studio that created classics like Fallout and Planescape: Torment may be rising from the ashes – at least in name. A website for Black Isle Studios popped up with the image you see above and a mailing list signup, as NeoGAF discovered. There's also a Twitter account and a Facebook page tied to the website, and if you sign up for the mailing list, Black Isle is said to be a "a division of Interplay."InXile's Brian Fargo doesn't seem to be involved, as he tweeted, "I just read that Interplay is bringing back Black Isle. Hmmm... Not enough info for me to comment." We've already reached out to Obsidian – where many ex-Black Islers went when the studio shut down in 2003 – and have yet to hear back.Update: Interplay CEO and entrepreneur Herve Caen is behind the resurrection of Black Isle, we're told. The studio's website is also registered to Interplay, per WHOIS search. It's unclear who – if anyone – from the original Black Isle staff is involved with the studio.Update 2: Obsidian tells Joystiq that the new Black Isle, "Doesn't involve Obsidian at all." We've yet to hear back from Interplay or Herve Caen.Update 3: Obsidian creative lead Chris Avellone says on Twitter, "I know nothing about the Black Isle Studio news announcement, doesn't involve me or Obsidian... or well, anyone that I know. ;)"
Obsidian will help with Wasteland 2 if Kickstarter reaches $2.1 million
Brian Fargo's Wasteland 2 Kickstarter, having already surpassed two funding goals, has laid out a third one that will ensnare Obsidian Chief Creative Officer Chris Avellone if passed. With 17 days of funding left to go and $1.7 million already pledged, Fargo's company inXile wants to hit $2.1 million on Kickstarter, after which Avellone will agree to work directly with the design team on the project.Fargo and Avellone's relationship goes back to the better days of publisher Interplay, where the pair worked on titles like Fallout 1 and 2, and Planescape: Torment."Wasteland is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and when Brian asked if I wanted to work on the sequel, I jumped at the chance," said Avellone. "While I've worked on Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, getting the chance to work on the spiritual predecessor to the Fallout franchise is a honor."Developer Obsidian will also lend a hand in the game's creation, providing "experience they have in the development of RPG games and tools to inXile."Fargo stated, "Obsidian has an incredible library of story, dialog and design tools that they have used to create hits like Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, and of course, Fallout: New Vegas. Regardless of the tech we use to develop the game, experience with these tools will help us efficiently design the game without wasting time and resources on the tools needed for development."If you're looking to support the dream, you know where to go.
Kickstarting the future of game publishing: An interview with Brian Fargo
When I was 12 years old, my days mainly consisted of one thing: playing games on my Commodore 64. I would set my alarm early to get some gaming in before school, think about the games all day during school, then come home and play as much as I could before my parents made me stop and do homework or chores. Aside from TSR's Gold Box series, the two games that molded my childhood and my love for gaming were Wasteland and The Bard's Tale. Both of these games were made by Interplay Productions, a company founded by Brian Fargo in 1983. Fargo has always been an iconic figure to me. I regularly name my MMO characters Faran Brygo (a name he used for an NPC in the original Wasteland). I'm certainly not alone in my love for Wasteland (which I have labeled for years as my all-time-favorite RPG), but I think it's safe to say that many gamers who enjoyed Wasteland always wondered why there was no sequel. Fallout 1 and 2 were "spiritual successors" to the game, but for copyright reasons, they were never actually labeled as true sequels. Fargo tried to make a true sequel for 20 years but was always met with brick walls from publishers who weren't interested in resurrecting such an old game. Enter Kickstarter. After the wild success of Tim Schafer's Double Fine crowdfunding campaign, Fargo got the idea to try it out for himself. The timing was right with the current nostalgic gaming scene, the popularity of the post-apocalyptic genre, and the fact that most of Interplay's original fans are now in a position of making a tad more income than allowance money from childhood chores. We sat down with Brian Fargo to discuss his views on the potential of Kickstarter, the future of Big Brother game publishers, and Wasteland 2.
Wasteland 2 Kickstarter exceeds goal (and is still going)
That Wasteland sequel you've been waiting for is about to go into production, as the game's Kickstarter crested its goal of $900K while we slept last night. The Kickstarter has started to pick up some momentum, it seems, as the total currently sits at just over $967K, with another 32 days to go.As stated on the project's site, the goal is actually to raise $1 million, but inXile head Brian Fargo had agreed to put $100K of his own scratch on the line -- it's looking like that won't be necessary any more. Which isn't to say there aren't plans should the team raise even more money. If they reach $1.25 million, the extra dough will go to "making the world bigger, adding more maps, more divergent stories and even more music."If the fundraiser reaches $1.5 million, that depth goes further, with, "more adventures to play, more challenges to deal with, and a greater level of complexity to the entire storyline. We'll add more environments, story elements, and characters to make the rich world come alive even more." Oh, also, it'll come to OS X. So, hey, how about we get things to $1.5 million so your buds at Joystiq can play the game on their writing machines? That'd be just capital.
inXile plans to launch Kickstarter drive for Wasteland reboot
Developers must have Kickstarter fever right now. After one of the most successful campaigns ever with Double Fine, inXile Entertainment has announced intentions to start its own Kickstarter fundraiser.The Hunted: The Demon's Forge developer wants to use Kickstarter to fund a reboot of Wasteland, CEO Brian Fargo told IGN. Fargo, who recently acquired the rights to the classic PC RPG, is one of the creators -- apparently fans have been bugging him for a new game since they saw Double Fine achieve success. Soon after, Fargo was having meetings and mapping out a production schedule.The idea is only 48 hours old at this point, but Fargo is on board. He likes the Kickstarter model since it would eradicate publisher influence on the project, but warns that a reboot would likely need a million dollars.Fargo hopes to launch the Kickstarter campaign sometime next month.
Interview: Brian Fargo on Hunted: The Demon's Forge
Brian Fargo is no stranger to the world of video game development, having originally founded Interplay back in 1984. He's worked on titles like the original Bard's Tale and Wasteland, and Interplay developed everything from Battle Chess to Fallout to Baldur's Gate. When Interplay was acquired by Titus in 2002, Fargo left and founded InXile Entertainment, which later released an updated Bard's Tale for PS2, Xbox, and PC. Now both Fargo and InXile are moving onto next-generation consoles with the swords and scorcery co-op title Hunted: The Demon's Forge. We recently spoke to Fargo about the game, which you can find just after the break. But be warned! Just prepare yourself for the sheer about of verbiage manages to foist upon us when we asked what the initial genesis for the game was. It's quite an answer! Read on to see what he has to say about the upcoming title, including why they limited to two characters, the depth of the puzzles in the game, and boob jiggle. Yes, boob jiggle.%Gallery-92197%
Impressions: Hunted: The Demon's Forge
Clicked: The Full-sized Gallery Bethesda's undoubtedly one of the best developers in the industry; however, as a publisher, it's had its fair share of ups and down. Last year's Wet and Rogue Warrior illustrate both extremes quite well. Earlier this year at GDC, when Bethesda unveiled the clumsily titled Hunted: The Demon's Forge – a new co-op dungeon crawler from inXile Entertainment, Interplay-cofounder Brian Fargo's new digs – we immediately wondered which side of that gulf it would live on. Would it be worthy of the Bethesda name on its packaging, alongside promising shooter Brink, surefire-hit Fallout: New Vegas, and id Software's Rage? Fargo certainly thinks so. In fact, Fargo is so sure about his new game, that he wasn't afraid to recall the past glory of games like the original Bard's Tale and Wizardry at a recent Bethesda press event, and Fargo had previously introduced the concept, saying "What you're going to see here today is a reimagining of the dungeon crawler, the classic game that got me into this industry." He continued, "It was the Might & Magic series, it was the Ultima series, Dungeon Master from FTL was a bit of a breakthrough product ... that's very much the experience I grew up with." And as action games supplanted the dungeon crawlers, Fargo "felt like the core experience of that good ol' dungeon crawl, getting lost in the dungeon, had sort of fallen away. And it hadn't fallen away because the titles were doing bad. People forgot or something." While we don't know if they forgot – Demon's Souls, Torchlight, and Diablo 3 say hi! – Fargo's "reimagining" certainly doesn't look like what you imagine when you think dungeon crawl. "The gamer today has a different metaphor for engrossing themselves, which is more the action, Gears of War-type thing," Fargo explains. "So what we need to do is take today's experience and mix those two together but ... we the take you someplace very different, and in the beginning we need to get your attention." Read to to find out where your attention will be going, and to find out if inXile has been successful in grabbing our attention. %Gallery-92197%
GDC09: Joystiq lunches with gaming luminaries
From L to R: Rob Pardo, Dave Perry, Neil Young, Gary Whitta, Brian Fargo, Will Wright, and Warren Spector Story contributed by N. Evan Van Zelfden Imagine sitting at lunch with Will Wright, Neil Young, and Warren Spector. They're each eating, laughing, and talking about game design with animation and enthusiasm. On the other side of the table are David Perry, Rob Pardo, and Brian Fargo.Collectively, you have the founder of Interplay, Blizzard's top designer, the father of Earthworm Jim, the man credited with Deus Ex, an iPhone pioneer, and the mind behind Spore – guided in discussion by screenwriter and former game journalist Garry Whitta.Also at the table, a dozen of the top game industry journalists sit quietly, taking notes and typing into small laptops. And excellent food is entirely secondary: it's the conversation that matters at this luncheon.
