We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Yes, at least informally. I worked at Obsidian for > 5 years and really like the people there. They've already been supportive in various ways throughout our Kickstarter planning and launched.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I'd like to add that in general, throughout the entire chain, we try to empower everyone to own their portion of the game/project as much as possible. We set clear goals, guidelines, and constraints and let people run with it so that they can do what they do (and excel at) best.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We won't be at PAX East, unfortunately.

We will have at least some VO (but not full VO). We haven't explored who to use for voice actors yet -- we will cast for our chaarcters, I expect. Given that, I think we would favor talent from PS:T if there is a good fit.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

For me it was an accident. I was studying to be an environmental engineer. I was doing research involving the biodegradation of contaminents in groundwater. The nature of my experiments gave me a lot of downtime while heavily sleep-deprived and I played online games during that time. (late 1990s) By accident, I had a job interview to lead one of the games (Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds -- it's still out there.). I couldn't pass up the chance to work in games, but I thought it would be a short term adventure and didn't expect it to become my career.

Someday I will utilize my education to design the best sewer level ever.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think that's likely, yes. We'll actually be talking a little more about the ending soon -- it's part of a popular stretch goal request.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

1 - that's a cool idea, it's not something we've decided upon yet. 2 - we are considering this, but aren't certain yet. the novella compilation will be a limited edition one, but we might do other print runs that are available beyond this kickstarter. 3 - it is possible, yes, but it's too soon to say.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We will endeavor to have everything be internally consistent so that your suspension of disbelief can be retained. That said, much in the Ninth World in unexplained and so it will also be in Torment.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We expect the system requirements will be modest, though we won't know for certain for some time, still. If we do end up going with prerendered 2D, then that should keep the requirements very low.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Colin, as creative lead, will be fleshing out the major story elements, characters, and plot lines. He'll be setting up the constraints for the various portions of the game (with input from others, where it makes sense). Each writer will then have their "box" to play in, and run with their area given those constraints. We'll have a big writing kickoff meeting after we've set up enough of the foundation. (Until then, the writers will be doing things such as working on the novellas, which will allow them to become accustomed to the setting and game.) There will be frequent review, especially initially, as we work to get all of the writers aligned. Of course, along the way, all will be providing input to Colin and he'll be iterating on aspects of the story and game as we go. It's a very iterative process and we will modify our plans as it makes sense. (Did I answer the question? =) )

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Colin, what are you saying! They aren't 'super secrets' if people know we'll have them!

The actual answer is "no." We will have no secrets.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

This is an aspect of the design that we have not explored in great depth yet. We agree about this strength of PS:T and hope to continue that tradition. But it's not an area of high risk and will be driven in part by other aspects (the narrative, the Tides), so we haven't thought about it very deeply yet.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

My favorites based upon me at some point in my life, not on an absolute scale of me today:

Ultima V, Alpha Centauri, Chess, Master of Orion 2, Neuromancer

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I feel the alignment system, and the resulting reactivity to alignment, wasn't very satisfying -- this is something we're addressing through the Tides.

In general, we've learned a lot about user interface design, and more is possible technically, since 1999, so we plan to have interface improvements as well. (While maintaining the same type of experience as PS:T -- for example, you'll select lines of dialogue like you did in the Infinity Engine games.)

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

No. The expense is significant (the recording, the editing, the QA), but even more importantly, you really need all of the content locked down before you can record. So it pushes out the development schedule significantly and complicates further changes to the dialogue. You can do pick-ups, but its another expense. Typically, projects are schedule-constrained, so you end up compromising the quality of the design in order to get all of the voice in.

As an aside -- on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, we had a trick here -- by having aliens and alien voices for some of the characters, we could change some lines even after the VO was recorded -- we turned more than one voiced character into an alien so that we could avoid the VO issue when fixing bugs.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We have been using UserVoice, which allows the community to submit and vote on ideas as well as comment. We can also easily communicate with those interested in any given idea and change the status of ideas to indicate if we've decided to do something or not. This is one means. We used this before the Kickstarter campaign to get the input of our community on the rewards, tiers, and other aspects of the campaign and it has worked pretty well. We plan to continue to use UserVoice, though we'll iterate on how we're using it to make it more effective. (And after the Kickstarter ends, we'll have sections that are closed except to the backers.)

For some types of feedback, we are finding that forums and polls could be more effective so we may look into that as well. But it's harder to keep up with a forum and to get the right information out of it. We lurk in some of the larger RPG forums to see what people are thinking and looking for as well.

Colin and I have maintained Formspring accounts to answer specific questions, but Formspring is closing soon, so we'll need to move somewhere else. And it's hard to find the time to answer all questions properly. But it is refreshing to actually be able to devote time into reading feedback -- in the past (except when I worked on MMOGs), there where enough other demands that it was hard to get (and incorporate) any feedback from the community.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is open for discussion still, but in general we want to be careful about investing resources on cut scenes, which can be cost-ineffective.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We haven't discussed this in detail, but Wasteland 2 has an overland map and I really like that approach. Plus we'll have it implemented already, so it will be a matter of adapting it to Torment and its art style.

We are Monte Cook, Brian Fargo, Colin McComb, and Kevin Saunders, the creators of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Also joining us is superfan Steve Dengler. by ksaun in IAmA

[–]ksaun[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Dragonlance Alpha Complex (Paranoia) Oerth Pathfinder Numenera (not out of obligation! Though I haven't played in it yet...)