Chris Avellone Interview

Rock, Paper, Shotgun managed to corner the one-and-only Chris Avellone for a lengthy interview about a range of topics regarding a variety of role-playing games he has contributed to, including Alpha Protocol, Star Wars: KotOR II, Wasteland 2, Project Eternity, and Torment: Tides of Numenera. A sizeable sampling:

RPS: How much work have you done for Wasteland 2?

Avellone: A lot of area design. I did about four area designs. I reviewed some system documentation. The area design stuff was a little bit more complicated, because each of the areas I designed had two completely different states depending on certain events that happened in the game. So it felt more like I was designing six areas. But yeah, that was the extent of the work for Wasteland. I did some description text, but I didn’t actually do as much writing as I was expecting. I actually really enjoy area design. Having a chance to draw maps again reminded me of that whole architecture phase. It was fun to sit down in the isometric view, plot out all the encounter points, how to use the skills in each area, the monster types, the traps. It was pretty awesome.

RPS: And then on Eternity, I’m guessing you’ve mainly been doing writing and world-building? If so, I imagine those roles sync up pretty nicely.

Avellone: Mostly I’ve been focused on narrative. I’ve been working on the story, the lore, the cultures. We’ve been trying to figure out the approach we want to use with the story in the game. We’re doing something a little bit different this time around, where everyone is doing their own take on the story, and then we all pick it apart. We find what strengths we like about each one, or things we think can work with some iteration, and we can share points that we bring together. I think we’ve got about five or six different storylines that we’re constructing. We should have that resolved within about two weeks or so.

It’s actually turned out a lot better than I thought. I was worried it might be a bit chaotic. But it was really interesting to see all the different perspectives on which way the story could go once we had a few elements set in stone. We said, (Here’s our core starting point that we have to cover. We know we have a stronghold, a city, how many dungeons. Now, on top of that, knowing what we know about the spell system, the cultures, and the world, what sort of story do we think works best in a setting like that?) Then we have like five or six different submissions for that, and then we just tore those apart.

RPS: So, given that you’re already juggling those projects, what are you hoping to bring to Torment? Are you worried about overlap?

Avellone: There’s two things I’m set up to do. One thing, I’m going to be reviewing all of the design documentation for the game that Kevin and Colin have laid out. I’ll offer feedback on that for things like, (Hey, I think this development works really well.) (Have you considered iterating on this particular element to make it feel more like Torment?) I think Colin and Kevin already have a good sense of what makes a Torment game, but I think they’d want my input on the design documentation. I know Kevin and Colin would appreciate that. Also, Kevin. When I worked with him on Mask of the Betrayer, he and George really liked the companions that I wrote. I think what they’d very much like is if I took the idea of a companion in the game and just did what I did with Kaelyn the Dove and Gann, do a companion along that same structure for Numenera. I think that’ll work out pretty well.

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RPS: Oh, and of course, the usual disclaimer: you should make another Alpha Protocol why aren’t you making another Alpha Protocol hi how are you i’m good no that’s a lie because there’s no more Alpha Protocol.

Avellone: [laughs] Sounds good. We have a lot of ideas for a second one, but again, Sega just wasn’t down with it. Oh, well. We’ll move on to other projects and have fun.

RPS: What about another modern setting? You guys definitely did some interesting things there, and it’s rare for RPGs to venture into that territory.

Avellone: Yeah, they lend themselves to some cool RPG elements, just because the player can see these real-world areas, but then they can go in and modify them and basically be an action hero, or have a power fantasy in that environment. Which normally you just can’t do in the real world. But having that real world as a backdrop just makes it more powerful. I think it’s one of the reasons people like the Fallout series. Because they can see those real-world landmarks, but the world around them has changed. It’s your sort of ego power fantasy adventure, where you can explore this environment, through all these ruins. It’s something you’d never have a chance of doing in the real world. I think it’s part of the appeal.