Chris Avellone recently spoke with Industry Gamers about the current state of video games and where they are headed in terms of genre and gameplay. Avellone is a veteran, having worked on Planetscape:Torment, Fallout 2 and of course, Fallout New Vegas, Avellone knows how people play and yet seems that designing for certain types of players can be frustrating.

Speaking with Industry Gamers he said that "the 'advances' have been more for player convenience - sometimes good, sometimes bad - in my opinion. Journals, quest compasses that point directly to the goal and show you the route, auto-maps, etc. are helpful; at the same time, I think it undermines the thrill of victory and discovery and a lot of what makes an RPG an RPG"

I've heard of the argument that over the past decade game designers have gotten soft on players and provide them with too much when it comes to games. I think Avellone is making a stance more on just the RPG genre itself rather than calling out flawed game design. Avellone was a lot more double-edged about the situation saying that in terms of non-interface elements he felt "the idea of morally grey choices and more focus on actions and consequences" have been great "for all RPG's."

In the past five years, RPG's have gotten a bit more sophisticated from the old Final Fantasy route of world ending, go help out. Avellone's own Planetscape Torment began to break the mould by introducing more of a grey system of good versus evil, rather than just fighting a big bad. There was another addition to Avellone enjoying new-gen RPG's with voice acting has really helped the RPG along well.

Avellone also talked about how the RPG genre is something that should really be added to gameplay more than just tacked on, for game's that do genre-bending. "Developers are seeing the worth in customization, levelling, dialogue, choice and reactivity and other elements that would normally be considered RPG mechanics and introducing them into multiple titles." Hopefully, Avellone will be working on the South Park game and making it worth it's weight in RPG gold.

Via [IndustryGamers]

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