Project Eternity Interview

The closer we get to the end of the Project Eternity Kickstarter campaign, the more interviews we’ll get I suspect, which is not to say that Obsidian isn’t giving a respectable amount of them already, with the latest being a chat with Chris Avellone from RipTen. Here’s an excerpt:

RipTen: Project Eternity plays on the things that gamers who grew up with Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment and other Infinity Engine titles love. Obviously, there is a lot of support (hitting your $1.1 million goal in just over a day is proof). What about those games allow them to stand the test of time, and are there elements that will be upgraded/enhanced/tweaked based on contemporary sensibilities/trends?

CA: I suspect people miss having a large party of individuals (and colorful personalities) to control in a tactical encounter. Most D&D bands in the pen and paper days were approximately five or six heroes tackling a dungeon. In addition, the characters and storylines of the IE games were always strong. this, coupled with the great environments and dungeons players could explore (Icewind Dale had some of the best dungeon ideas, and we just had fun creating them for the sake of cool visuals). While making these dungeons weren’t necessarily easy, the fact you could paint dungeons and create beautiful vistas without too much worry about memory management made for some wondrous dungeon ideas.

RipTen: Along those lines, there are a lot of younger gamers that might not have experienced those titles when they were new. Any thoughts on how to get them on board and excited? Is it something that is even being considered?

CA: This is a compliment to the Kickstarter process and our target audience: We have expressly said what this game is and who the game is for. We could try to force it and sell it to players that wouldn’t naturally gravitate toward it, but that’s not our goal, and it was never part of the pitch in my mind to try and force them to care. We just want to make a great IE-style game for the backers who want it. If they like Obsidian games, there’ll be enough in Project: Eternity for Obsidian fans to enjoy, regardless of playstyle.