Wasteland 2 - Consultancy Firm Thwacke Interview @ VentureBeat

VentureBeat has an interview with Sebastian Alverado about what role Thwacke will have
in creating this game. They also talk about what a company like Thwacke can bring to game development.

GamesBeat: What role can Thwacke’s consulting play in game development? Do you work specifically with writers and designers? Is it better if you’re involved in the process early on?

Alvarado:……..For example, in Wasteland 2 we were asked which animals that would survive a nuclear fallout and why. In this case we found specialists in environmental biology, medicine, and evolutionary biology to craft science into ideas that can be used in game design. This saves researching time for writers and allows them to focus on gameplay. This out-of-the-box approach has been able to spark new directions for narrative and gameplay that wouldn’t have otherwise been explored. In later stages of development, we usually work on easy-to-implement text-based assets. In Wasteland 2, we will be doing this for a side mission that involves pages in a wastelander’s logbook. This information is optional but adds depth to narrative and immersion for those willing to read it.

More information.

For example, in Wasteland 2 we were asked which animals that would survive a nuclear fallout and why. In this case we found specialists in environmental biology, medicine, and evolutionary biology to craft science into ideas that can be used in game design. This saves researching time for writers and allows them to focus on gameplay.

Seems like a developer who had the right stuff to be doing an RPG would benefit from thinking through their own backstory, and doing necessary research to make it plausible. Hell, they might even enjoy it. I'm not even sure what "focus on gameplay" means in a roleplaying game when story elements are considered something that can be farmed out so devs can focus on something more important. Level design? Map layouts? That's not what makes or breaks an RPG.

Confirms my earlier impressions.

Adds some information: it goes beyond validation of the science as exhibited by a video game writer, it goes to proposing ideas to create the narrative, the writer making his own sauce with the scientifically valid alternatives provided by the consulting team.

Hopefully, I dont play video games for their story.