Obsidian Entertainment - Beyond Infinity

Silver

Silver

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RockPaperShotgun ask Obsidian about their approach to recreating the isometric art style of the Infinity Engine games.

Beyond Infinity: Obsidian on modernising the art of the isometric RPG

When Obsidian Entertainment started work on Pillars of Eternity [Official Site], the studio had two goals in mind. First, it wanted to recreate the style and tone of the classic Black Isle RPGs - particularly Baldur's Gate. Second, it wanted to modernise that style, taking advantage of today's technology, and avoiding mistakes made the first time around.

In both cases, the visual representation of Pillars' fantasy world was crucial to the success of the project. Baldur's Gate's distinctive pre-rendered backgrounds have become synonymous with isometric RPGs, and as a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, Pillars needed to evoke that look. But Obsidian also wanted to bring those static backdrops to life using modern graphical techniques: dynamic lighting, particle effects, 3D character models. It would be a blend of old and new, fusing the visual style of Black Isle with modern techniques.

To help promote the Kickstarter campaign, Obsidian released a concept image of what they intended the final game to look like. It's a gorgeous picture, depicting an idyllic pastoral landscape with verdant foliage, a lichen-covered bridge, ancient marble statues and a crystalline waterfall. It sold the fantasy brilliantly, helping to raise almost four times the funding Obsidian originally asked for.

There was just one small problem. Obsidian didn't know how to make the game look like that.

"We had no idea how the tech would even work at the time," says Adam Brennecke, executive producer on Pillars of Eternity. "The next eight months of development was trying to figure out how to actually make a game that still looked like the Infinity Engine."
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More information.
 
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Silver said:
Anyone else think Obsidian are building towards an announcement of some sort?
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You very well may be right. My feeling has been that Feargus Urquhart,is vying for this publicity in order to secure the sale of and best price for Obsidian Entertainment. A successful campaign would have the same ending as the end you expect; an announcement. Guess we'll see soon enough.

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RPGFool said:
You very well may be right. My feeling has been that Feargus Urquhart,is vying for this publicity in order to secure the sale of and best price for Obsidian Entertainment. A successful campaign would have the same ending as the end you expect; an announcement. Guess we'll see soon enough.

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There are two Fig campaigns active at the moment. One ends in 23 days so we could see a new Fig campaign launching near the beginning of October. Maybe October 6th which would place it near a weekend for those eyeballs.
 
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It's known they work on at least one other unannounced project, so I guess sooner or later they well tell us about it...
 
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New Vegas 2! :D ....well, I can hope, right?
 
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Silver said:
Anyone else think Obsidian are building towards an announcement of some sort?
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Most of the coverage is related to Pillars of Eternity (outside their early mention of "We want another Alpha Protocol" and stuff).

The first game console version just released and Deadfire beta should be coming soon(tm).
 
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Maybe the Cain/Boyarsky project will be revealed at last!
 
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So confusing; one person is talking about sale of the company while another is talking about fig campaign. Maybe the suggestion is selling the company on fig ?
 
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you said:
So confusing; one person is talking about sale of the company while another is talking about fig campaign. Maybe the suggestion is selling the company on fig ?
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Agree that it's confusing. My comment re possible sale of Obsidian stems from the current campaign to generate massive publicity for Obsidian, itself, instead of Obsidian products or for a new game. It's almost as if they are holding an open house, in the real estate sense, showing off what the company has to offer.

As to a new game announcement, I agree that is most likely in the cards at the end of the campaign. Chances are that Obsidian needs outside help to pull off any sort of major AAA game as the Cain/Boyarsky project is likely to be. So the publicity could help there.

But why focus on the company, itself, instead of focusing on the potential of the new game? Seems like best way to raise money for a new game is to show off various aspects of the new game.

Since Urquhart has said in the past that he is not adverse to selling Obsidian, seems to me Obsidian sale is one possible outcome of this publicity campaign -- emphasis on possible. IMO a new game is also in the cards, and it's likely to be of the AAA variety as this campaign would form the basis for raising boo coos of big bucks at any rate.

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Hmm, why couldn't they use engine they worked on from Dungeon Siege III?...it was their own, if I remember rightly.
Pretty good looking, ran smoothly.
 
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BoboTheMighty said:
Hmm, why couldn't they use engine they worked on from Dungeon Siege III?…it was their own, if I remember rightly.
Pretty good looking, ran smoothly.
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For POE? Their Dungeon Siege III engine had 3rd party software that they would have to get, aka pay, the licenses for to use in POE (or any other games).

They also wanted to allow modding and those 3rd party software were also in the way.
 
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Oh yeah, PoE but with turn based combat and a good story.
Another good thing would be a Larian game based on the D:OS engine, with a dark and grim setting and more camera options (changing angle -> see horizon, more zooming out). But honestly I cannot imagine a dark side to awaken in Larian land.
 
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There are thousands of possibilities. Maybe he slept with the wife of the mayor and had to leave the city for a while. Or Sawyer talked him into a personal evaluation of the meaning of Wanderlust and its secret fascination on mankind. Maybe he's digging in Alamogordo for the answer what can change the nature of men. Who knows?

It's interesting how they had to recreate knowledge about an technology the used years ago. Even for rendering there seems to be a rapid tech development you wouldn't imagine.
 
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Archangel said:
Hopefully they are going to announce a good game for a change. Long time since they had one of those.
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PoE, DS III were more mediocre-ish, but anyone badmouthing Stick of Truth will have hell to pay.
New Vegas is definitely their zenith though.
 
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Dungeon Siege 3 was yet another coop rubbish not fun if played solo.
I wish I never bought that pos.
 
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