Leonard Boyarsky interview

[Mr. Teatime]

<strong>[ -> Interview]</strong>

As <a href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/forums/viewt ... romised</a>, here is <a href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=63">my interview</a> with <b>Leonard Boyarsky</b> of <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika Games</a> about their new post apocalyptic RPG.
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<br><blockquote><b>You've mentioned that Troika is considering a variation on the 'real time with pause' combat. Is this decision more or less confirmed, or is there a chance you may decide to make the game turn based? Can you give any thoughts about how Troika could go about implementing a real time with pause system, compared to other products such as the infinity engine games? One immediate problem I see is in a PA RPG there is a lot of ranged combat, something real time combat systems are traditionally bad at.</b>
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<br>This decision is in no way, shape or form confirmed. This will have a lot to do with the publisher we eventually team up with and whether they’re willing to publish a turn based RPG or not. To some fans, the above statement is pretty much blasphemy.
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<br>There’s been a lot of debate since I said that we were considering real time with pause over turn based so that we could get this game made. The fact of the matter is that we’re not self funded, we rely solely on publishers to fund our projects. Most publishers have flat out told us that they will not be funding any turn based games, and are not even interested in discussing them. If we can’t sell a Troika post apocalyptic RPG to a publisher, it will never get made, it’s as simple as that.
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<br>As far as our plans for implementing paused real time, we’re looking at how other games have handled it and what things have worked and what hasn’t. We are acutely aware of the shortcomings these type of systems have had in the past, and we’re doing our best to avoid some of the more common problems associated with them. I’d give you details, but I’d rather not divulge too much about it before we’ve even signed a deal.
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<br>...
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<br><b>Were you surprised at the amount of media and community interest in this game, especially since it was only two screenshots of a tech demo?</b>
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<br>We’ve been blown away by the flurry of activity two simple screenshots have caused. We even got a call or two from interested publishers because of them.</blockquote>
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<br>I'm very pleased with the interview, and appreciate <b>Leonard</b>'s willingness to give detailed answers rather than standard '<i>I can't comment on that at this time</i>' replies.
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<br>Besides the awesome '<i>spritual sucessor to Fallout</i>' quote, I think it's worth noting that, as a community, we've clearly made a difference. In the quote above, <b>Leonard</b> talks how publishers have phoned them up based on our enthusiasm, and the subsequent media coverage. So, my thoughts are, if turn based combat is something that you want, make that opinion known (as if I had to ask), and maybe it will happen. The more fuss we make about this game and attention we draw to it, the more likely it is that <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika</a> will get a publisher, and one that gives <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika</a> the creative breathing room that we want them to have. And if Troika were to make the game real time, I have enough faith in them not to go the <a href="http://www.bioware.com">Bioware</a> route, rather, take inspiration from games such as <a href="http://www.myfreedomforce.com/">Freedom Force</a>. Still, I'd much prefer turn based.
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<br>An original post apocalyptic IP from <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika</a>. How great is that? Many thanks to <b>Leonard</b> for this <a href="http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=63">DAC EXCLUSIVE!!!111!one!!one1one!!</a>

[jiujitsu]

Heh, I like how he just came out and said that publishers won't even talk about a turn based game. It is what the gaming industry has come to. We "fallout fans" are a rare breed. We are the strongest out there, but just can't fund the turn based game part of the industry alone. There are just too many casual console gamers that like to smash the x button.

[LlamaGod]

This clears up alot of stuff for me, oddly enough I said the exact words he quoted at the end. I'm a bad little LlamaGod. I ATONE.

But turn-based =

And real-time =

[Role-Player]

Good interview, Teatime. Well done

[Jimmyjay86]

Who are these publishers? Give us some names so we can inundate them emails saying, "WE WANT A F'ING TB RPG YOU TARDS!"

[Araanor]

Good read. The world deserves another game like Fallout!

Honesty, an admirable quality in this industry.

[Retlaw83]

"WE WANT A F'ING TB RPG YOU TARDS!"

How eloquent. The words flow with beauty and grace.

As for the interview: I respect Boyarsky because his vocal about the fact they might have to do something they might not want to do. Most devs in this situation would just say, "We're going to have RT because we want to and its gonna rock!" instead of admitting its not the best idea.

Good work, Teatime. We now have two DaC exclusives in 24 hours!

[Mr. Teatime]

Leonard was very candid and I was surprised and pleased at how honest he was. Maybe I'm just used to the typical PR spin that a lot of developers put on their games these days. I'm really hoping this game gets picked up by someone.

[Mismatch]

Really nice interview indeed.
I suppose there is a glimmer of hope left for turn based then.
Let's just hope that some of them publishers will stop being gloaters and allow TB.
Indeed, we all know that they're gloaters. They publish things we don't want(like realtime combat), then the arrive in packs and gloat. gloat, gloat, gloat.
Go away stupid gloaters.

[Mr. Teatime]

We're on Voodooextreme, RPGDot and RPGCodex....

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I was kinda suprised to see a DAC exclusive and it was a pretty good interview. Sometimes I like leonard more than Tim OMG.

[Briosafreak]

Great work

[Jimmyjay86]

How eloquent. The words flow with beauty and grace.

Sometimes the direct approach works best. Although I am seriously curious why some smaller publishers would not consider such a game. Considering that the market for PnP RPGs has never diminished even in these times of console dominance, there must be hope for a market share from those players.

[Franz Schubert]

Best damn interview I've ever seen. Great work Tea-dude. With a little luck, this game will be a great successor to Fallout! Troika has so much potential...

Sometimes I like leonard more than Tim OMG.

I wouldn't go that far... but he is cool.

[Franz Schubert]

Although I am seriously curious why some smaller publishers would not consider such a game.

Personally, I would MUCH rather see Troika's game published by a smaller publisher, because less funding usually means less content restrictions. And less content restrictions = Troika greatness.

[Guest]

Great job teatime. That game really does sound promising. I hope it turns out as good as it sounds.

[PiP]

Most publishers have flat out told us that they will not be funding any turn based games, and are not even interested in discussing them. If we can’t sell a Troika post apocalyptic RPG to a publisher, it will never get made, it’s as simple as that.

That's exactly what I thaught about publishers' policy these days. (at some other Fallout-related boards) I was trying to point this out and hypothesised that auto-pause is the best that we can count on in Bathesda's F3, but people seemed not convinced AFA I can remember. Shit, I'd rather be not right this time; looks like we're getting neither TB F3 nor TB RPG from Troika... bloody hell... Isometric most probably can be kissed goodbye as well - 3PP 3D with fixed camera angle option is the best we can get - so I think.
Altogether, with today's market it's perfectly clear Troika can't make a TB game, neither employ 2D iso graphics - heck, if their game looks like these two sshots and similar to that outdoors sshot of VanBuren, you can actually make it look like isometric (camers setting), only with all these fancy new graphic effects, and that's even better (given the right feel).

I'm pretty enthusiastic about a few things Mr Boyarsky said. We'll see about this in about two years, eh?

PS: good job, Tea.

[Mr. Teatime]

OK the interview is amended, I thought it was a bit dumb to make a new news post on it, so I deleted my news thread. But there are a few new questions in there, the ones that start:

Does the concept art done by artist Chris Glenn ....

Supposing a publisher asks you for real time combat ...

There's one last question that a few people have requested I ask ....

(and Leonard added more detail to his answer for) Are you planning to make the game default to a top-down viewpoint ...

[Mr. Teatime]

We've been <a href="http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/08/2 ... hdotted</a>....

[Guest]

Did thay steal that? Anonymous reader, wha?