Chris Avellone Livestream Interview

The one and only Chris Avellone participated in a livestreamed interview with Colm Larkin, the creator of Guild of Dungeoneering from The Irish Game Makers Association. They chatted for about an hour.

The trip down the memory lane starts with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and then goes over the majority of Avellone’s impressive career. A lot of the questions focus more on the developer side of things. There is no shortage of advice for aspiring and indie developers. Some of the key topics from there: learning from mistakes, finishing started projects, familiarizing yourself with various available toolsets, and a bit of insight into how technical writing skills can be applied to video games.

On the more gaming side of things, there’s a discussion about the BioWare – Black Isle relationship, and how later Obsidian had managed to establish their proclivity for sequels. Then, a good chunk of time is spent talking about the benefits of crowdfunding and the evolution of AAA development. Near the end, there are brief mentions of Avellone’s expectations for Pillars of Eternity 2 and Apocalypse Now. The interview wraps up with Early Access and how to get it right, and romances in RPGs.

A fair warning – you should expect some minor hiccups and audio issues but nothing too major. The actual interview starts at around the 00:09:20 mark.