Alien RPG - Job Openings

Dhruin

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Obsidian is advertising a new creative designer position for their Alien RPG:
We are searching for an experienced and talented designer to contribute to the level and narrative design for our Aliens console role-playing game. In this position, you will help shape the feel of the entire game.

For this position, design responsibilities refer primarily to content creation - this involves laying out area designs (on paper and blockouts), the ability to do area layouts in the editor, designing the pacing of quests, events and dramatic action, scripting character interactions, events, and cut scenes, all with the intention of giving characters and encounters in the game life. Excellent scriptwriting ability and writing skills are necessary. Area construction experience is a plus.

This is not a game writing position; we are looking for a designer who can script characters within a game environment and is equally proficient with area construction along with narrative/character design.
I'm not sure why they specifiy "console RPG", when it has been announced for console and PC.
More information.
 
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I do recall Feargus saying a while back that he didn't think Obsidian would have the chance to do very many hardcore RPGs in the short to medium term. Sounds like this one might be real time combat, with some limited stats, convos, and some basic choices.

Those kinds of games can be quite a lot of fun. Dues Ex comes to mind. As long as there is good NPC interaction and decent choice and consequence, actiony RPGs can still make for very good games.
 
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Mass Effect with the Aliens franchise? If so that ain't X-Com imho.
 
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Sounds to me like they're calling it a console rpg because the person they are hiring will be working on just that version. And since the position is for level & narative design that also tells me that the PC version will be a port to come later...after the "real" version is made.

Of course none of that is new, or even necessarily as bad as it sounds. That's just the way things are today...if the game is multi-platform the console version(s) WILL come first and the PC version will be a port. That no longer means you can instantly assume the PC version will suck though. Sure, a game made primarily (or only) for the PC would (well, could anyway) be MUCH better in almost every way...but that just ain't gonna happen very often (at least not from a major developer).

As for the combat, I'd already assumed the best case scenario for this game would be RTwP. Anybody who thinks they're getting a full turn-based combat in a major release is completely delusional.
 
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As for the combat, I'd already assumed the best case scenario for this game would be RTwP. Anybody who thinks they're getting a full turn-based combat in a major release is completely delusional.

Almost every JRPG features turn-based combat, and some of them are quite "major releases". Not that it makes them better or worse than western CRPGs. I wonder if there are any real grounds under "turnbased is too hardcore, realtime is silly but sells well".
 
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On the other hand, Desslock hinted the combat was more like XCOM.

Desslock also hinted we should "wait and see" and hold of on assuming Fallout 3 combat wouldn't be turn based, back in the day. I love the dude, but his analysis of combat systems hasn't been particularly sharp of late.

Oh well, we'll see how Alien RPG will shape up. I read the GI article on Alpha Protocol and boy does it look terrible. Perhaps Feargus is forced to go for his Slam Dunk! titles again?
 
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Well, I got the impression he had seen Alien and I assume the FO3 comments were very early. Anyway, I don't want to overstate it - my first personal uninformed guess was that Alien would be an FPS/RPG action hybrid (a horror-themed Deus Ex) and I take his comment to mean it's a bit more tactical. *shrug*

What was so bad about Alpha Protocol? I haven't read the article. The cover art didn't do much for me but I'm not going to base much on that.
 
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Anyway, I don't want to overstate it - my first personal uninformed guess was that Alien would be an FPS/RPG action hybrid (a horror-themed Deus Ex) and I take his comment to mean it's a bit more tactical. *shrug*

Comparison to X-Com still sounds silly. But oh well...

What was so bad about Alpha Protocol? I haven't read the article. The cover art didn't do much for me but I'm not going to base much on that.

Alpha Protocol looks like a Mass Effect rip-off in a spy setting.

Chris Parker going "And there's nothing preventing you from bagging all of the chicks." almost closed the book for me.

But I'm currently in a state of denial, pretending the GI article never happened and waiting for the real first news of the game.

But boy does it look bad.
 
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You know I think (hope) that one glorious day a major studio will do a major release of a turn-based, non-JRPG game. I think it could be hugely popular, just because it would be different.

How many decades can they churn out 10,000 variations on the same gameplay?

When will someone say "Hey! Let's take a risk, maybe we'll start a whole new paradigm (like Diablo, like Doom), instead of endlessly following the pack and sell 20 million copies!"
 
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That glorious day has to come...eventually. All the twitch ADD kiddies (and adults) can only get older. And as they get older *hopefully* their tastes will evolve and they'll see the value in turn-based combat. When that happens maybe we'll start seeing more (non-jrpg) turn-based games again.

I can dream anyway.
 
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Desslock also hinted we should "wait and see" and hold of on assuming Fallout 3 combat wouldn't be turn based, back in the day. I love the dude, but his analysis of combat systems hasn't been particularly sharp of late.

Reprint what I actually said, and what I was responding to, if you want to judge how accurate I was -- I choose my words very carefully when dropping hints like that, so exact wording and context (what I was replying to) are very important.
 
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Anyway, I don't want to overstate it - my first personal uninformed guess was that Alien would be an FPS/RPG action hybrid (a horror-themed Deus Ex) and I take his comment to mean it's a bit more tactical. *shrug*
.

No, it sounded more interesting than that - top/down, squad-based RPG, real-time combat.
 
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A real-time Laser Squad?
 
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Rather than speculating so much maybe we can get an interview with the Obsidian guys asking for a few specifics. With the constant mention of console that's clearly the direction its going which is not necessarily a bad thing in terms of game design so long as the PC Interface is PC focussed.

*considers applying*
 
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After reading the job description and the rest of the stuff at that link, I get the strong impression that Obsidian is heavily guarding its time and is unlikely to grant an interview. They're explicitly saying they don't want to enter into conversation with anyone about any of this unless and until they apply with proof of their qualifications.

I'm guessing Obsidian is overwhelmed with applicants. Otherwise, that's an odd way of trying to recruit talent.
 
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