Iron Tower Studio - Leonard Boyarsky at the Roundtable

Iron Tower's rountable on setting, story and characters has added another developer to the impressive list, with ex-Troika-ite Leonard Boyarsky responding. Since it was Leonard's inspiration to add the 50s-back-to-the-future look to Fallout, let's take a quote on setting:

My first experience in world creation, Fallout, started from an art standpoint. I was heavily immersed in retro 40's and 50's art with a twisted edge at the time (including but not limited to things like the original Batman movie, the City of Lost Children, Brazil, the Hard Boiled comic book) and I became intrigued with the thought of basing our look on the aesthetics of the world of the future as envisioned by the culture of the 1940's and 50's. Once that initial vision was agreed upon, we knew it needed to bleed through the entire feel of the world.

On Arcanum, it definitely started from a more intellectual level. We became enthralled with the idea of an industrial revolution upending a Tolkien style world. That initial inspiration immediately started us thinking about how the politics of a world like that would play out, and how that would inform our quests, NPCs, storylines, etc. While the early heavy industrial machinery look was very inspirational to us from an artistic standpoint, it also became a fitting thematic element as it was literally crushing the magic out of the world.

More information.

Nice to hear from Boyarsky, very quite since he joined Blizzard, like his stuff.

Heh, I was not aware of these roundtable threads before - fascinating stufff, way better than a boring lecture on game design by some half-drunk guy at GDC.

However, one thing I find particularly funny: while the heavyweight guys do have great, lengthy monologues, Jeff (aka Lone Wolf McQuade of indie dev) spits out sharp, short sentences instead.
Amazing contrast, really.

Something I keep wondering about this : is Irontower Studio made of known people from older RPG teams or is it a wholly new group of game-makers?

That's a good question. As far as I can tell, they are old-schoolers who are creatively fueled by the CRPG golden age which brought us games like Fallout 1 & 2, Planescape:Torment and Arcanum. That era induces a game design approach where only adequate/fair graphics are the required visual standard, so that all resources can be put into dialogue choices, consequences, character development, NPC development, mystery, intrigue, volatility and epic adventure in an extremely challenging environment.

Originally Posted by Monele
Something I keep wondering about this : is Irontower Studio made of known people from older RPG teams or is it a wholly new group of game-makers?

It's essentially Vault Dweller (ex- RPG Codex admin - writer, designer and project lead) and Nick / Flashback (programmer) then a handful of other volunteers and contractors distributed across the web.

So, basically, it's an indie garage operation of CRPG enthusiasts lead by VD - not a "commercial" studio in the usual sense. I don't say that to put them down but to describe them, as opposed to a commercial, full-time studio with people on a payroll.

Originally Posted by duerer
However, one thing I find particularly funny: while the heavyweight guys do have great, lengthy monologues, Jeff (aka Lone Wolf McQuade of indie dev) spits out sharp, short sentences instead.

Vogel?

It's kind of weird, as I've noted before, 'coz I (and others, probably) know Vogel to be a pretty loquacious fellow. He thinks a lot about what he does and has a lot to say about it.

I guess he was in a rush when answering these questions, or something. In any case, it's not really telling of anything.

Thanks for the replies! I was mostly surprised at the amount of thoughts put into what we know of their current project and, maybe more importantly, how they got all these big names of the genre to gather at these round tables

Originally Posted by Brother None
Vogel?
I guess he was in a rush when answering these questions, or something. In any case, it's not really telling of anything.

Actually, I really love the Spiderweb way of storywriting: no endless paragraphs of pseudo-Tolkien bullsh*t. Exactly the same way as Da Man Himself speaks out his wisdom.

(Btw: check out his hilarious semi-interview series on IGN about indie RPG development!)

Originally Posted by duerer
Actually, I really love the Spiderweb way of storywriting: no endless paragraphs of pseudo-Tolkien bullsh*t. Exactly the same way as Da Man Himself speaks out his wisdom.

I wouldn't say Spiderweb avoids long dialogue more or less than other RPGs these days. They have more of it, with more character with more to say, but the lines 'emselves are just average

Anyway, he was plenty wordy here

Originally Posted by Brother None
I wouldn't say Spiderweb avoids long dialogue […] but the lines 'emselves are just average

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Yeah, it's definitely no Dostoevsky stuff. No literature here by any means.
But… it is functional: very easy to read, instantly understandable, and in some cases, genuinely funny.

A bad example of what I mean: in VtM:B, Jack says: "blood is your fuckin' heroin". Now imagine that sentence in the style of Anne Rice…

A somewhat better example: in the interview you linked in, Jeff says about RPG development this golden line:
"Then, fifteen minutes into designing the first town, I thought, 'Wow. This sucks.' And it hasn't improved much since then. It's work."

Being a games designer/whatever myself for so many years too, I really appreciate such reality-ridden sarcasm instead of some romantic nonsense about this particular way of living.

Make no mistake, I really respect the work and talent of the other guys in the roundtable (especially Boyarsky's stuff -see my VtM:B reference above, hehe). It's the contrast that makes me laugh out loud - it's like interviewing Elton John and Johnny Rotten about showbiz…

</offtopic to the extreme>