Project Eternity Interview

Earlier this week, the editors at DigiPen sat down with Obsidian Entertainment’s Adam Brennecke to chat with the Project Eternity executive producer and lead programmer about how they determined the game’s original pitch, the challenges they faced during pre-production, how his DigiPen education has helped him through his career, and more. A sampling, as usual:

(Preproduction for us really means figuring out how to build the game. . Like, how do we actually build levels? How do we build characters?) Brennecke explains. (At the same time we have to kind of plan out the game. Like what creatures do we want to make? What weapons do we want to have?)

Brennecke’s team has two advantages. One is a wealth of legacy games from which to draw inspiration. The other is about 10 years of advanced computer technology since those games were created.

(We have some cool little tricks that we’re doing,) Brennecke says. (Our graphics programmer developed a system where . we can actually have real-time lighting on a 2D scene.)

Unlike with previous games, Brennecke and his team have adopted a policy of transparency that could be a model for other crowd-funded games. By offering weekly development updates, as well as forums for people to ask questions and provide feedback, the company is giving backers and followers of the game an inside peek into how the development team tackles everyday technical and artistic challenges. Updates have included video, artwork, and detailed explanations covering such wide-ranging topics as creating universal costume assets for different body-type characters and how in-game doors work.

(Since we make the games for our fans, it’s nice having a direct kind of communication with them,) Brennecke says. (Being able to share stuff, being able to share how games are made, just involving them more in the process is great.)