The Outer Worlds – Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky Interview

Obsidian Entertainment brought their humorous sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds to GOG not so long ago, and as a result, we can now check out GOG’s interview with the game’s two co-directors Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Here’s a couple of sample questions and you take things from there:

Obsidian Entertainment is a mark of quality in the RPG genre. What is in your opinion the main reason why gamers love titles created by you? In other words, what’s the recipe for a perfect modern RPG?

Tim Cain: I think gamers like our games’ reactivity to what kind of character they make and how they act in the game world. It’s the best feeling when the game reacts to something the player does because it’s like the developers are sitting there with them, nodding and saying “we saw what you did there”. Also, our games never take themselves too seriously, so gamers know they can have fun with them.

Leonard Boyarsky: I can’t speak to ‘the perfect modern RPG’, just the RPGs we like to make. And, for us, the most important things are creating compelling worlds for players to explore with any character they can conceive of, and, perhaps most importantly, having the world react to those character’s choices.

Looking back from the day of the game’s premiere, which one of its elements makes you most proud today?

Leonard Boyarsky: For me, the fact that we were able to ship a finished, polished game that has its own unique identity, on time and on budget, is a proud accomplishment. There were of course things I wish we’d done differently, and parts of the game I wish we’d been able to push further, but, even after all this time, shipping a game with a new IP that was only a figment of our imagination 3 years before still amazes me.