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Troika tried this with their Arcanum title. AFAIK its sales were a bit disapointing. I personally enjoyed it but it was perhaps a bit TOO open ended in that it was easy to lose track of the main thrust of the storyline. That and the automap sucked completely.

Troika tried this with their Arcanum title. AFAIK its sales were a bit disapointing. I personally enjoyed it but it was perhaps a bit TOO open ended in that it was easy to lose track of the main thrust of the storyline. That and the automap sucked completely.

You mean the same people who did Temple of Elemental Evil, the game that was so buggy that the community had to release a patch for it?

On the other hand, Arcanum was moderately entertaining, though it still has the merit of being the most dissappointing game I have bought.

And besides, of their team of about 30 only five or so have had anything to do with Fallout. I'd rather have Fallout 3 done by Black Isle Studios. I still get the warm and fuzzy feeling when I think about Planescape: Torment.

...Troika! You know, the people responsible for the first Fallout game.

There appears to be quite a lot of Interplay bashing. While I will very much miss BIS, which made the Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, and Fallout 1 (my first, second, and third favorite PC games of all time respectively), Interplay is doing *very* badly in the finance department. They are laying people off because they probably can't pay them if they wanted to.
Interplay has had some terrible legal problems preventing them from releasing a next-generation 3D Baldur's Gate-type game--a game 2 years in development shelved for good because of Wizards of the Coast, or whoever owns the AD&D license this week.
Fallout 2 was reportedly to be based on the same graphic engine, but after management got excited about the >1 million unit sales of the plotless, worthless, mindless action game, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and because of a number of PC failures, their management apparently became increasingly dissilusioned disillusioned with PC games.
Perhaps it never occurred to them that Dark Alliance sold because of Baldur's Gate's fine name (which it blemishes), and that Fallout: Tactics may have sold because of Fallout's pristinely good name (which it not only blemishes, but it drags through an ocean of shit in its disrespect for the founding masterpieces of the series).
Interplay has been focusing on low-quality, quick-to-develop games for their less cerebral fans, and apparently the strategy hasn't worked (hint hint Ionstorm/Deus Ex 2).
I am not happy about Interplay's woes, and some of the biggest causes were legal and not necessarily management related, but if you look at Interplay's financial statement, you would be surprised that they aren't declaring bankruptcy right now--no, that will come in mid/late 2004 when they cannot get a line of credit after defaulting on previous loans and being unable to give any clear indication of a light at the end of the tunnel.
I hope that the Fallout licence is sold to a company that has some of the original design geniuses behind it, such as Obsidian Entertainment or Troika Games

Anyone who believes Interplay's management enjoys laying people off before Christmas needs to seriously consider the concept of "hearing both sides of the story."
Never blame on malice that which you can blame on incompetance (and America's legal system)!

Several of the Fallout guys left long ago, and are working in Troika Games, the studio that released the brilliant Arcanum, and is currently working on Vampire...

Black Isle is dead.
Long live Black Isle!

Several of the Fallout guys left long ago, and are working in Troika Games, the studio that released the brilliant Arcanum, and is currently working on Vampire...

Black Isle is dead.
Long live Black Isle!

While it may have spawned innumerable teenage imitators, one fortunate side-effect of the JenniCam is the FatCam the webcam that allows you to track the daily intake of junk food consumed by the developers at Troika Games.

I love the Internet...

I make hiring decisions for programmers at Troika Games, a PC RPG developer. We get a lot of resumes, most of which don't ever get an interview. What's going to make you stand out to me isn't your college degree or your years of work in web development while you wished you were doing games. The thing that will most likely get your hired is a piece of runnable code that shows both your abilities, and your passion and motivation. A little shareware project, a graphics demo, work on an Unreal mod...you get the idea. The fact is that the people who will truly excel working on games already ARE working on games because it's so much a part of them that they can't do otherwise; they just need a salaried position on a well-funded team. :)

Speaking of which, there's an entry-level programmer/scripting position that we're looking to fill on the team for Vampire: The Masquerade. Impress me.

I make hiring decisions for programmers at Troika Games, a PC RPG developer. We get a lot of resumes, most of which don't ever get an interview. What's going to make you stand out to me isn't your college degree or your years of work in web development while you wished you were doing games. The thing that will most likely get your hired is a piece of runnable code that shows both your abilities, and your passion and motivation. A little shareware project, a graphics demo, work on an Unreal mod...you get the idea. The fact is that the people who will truly excel working on games already ARE working on games because it's so much a part of them that they can't do otherwise; they just need a salaried position on a well-funded team. :)

Speaking of which, there's an entry-level programmer/scripting position that we're looking to fill on the team for Vampire: The Masquerade. Impress me.

What were their reasons? I also wonder why twenty of the lead developers working on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault left an Electronic Arts funded studio to found Infinity Ward. Is it really the money, or is it something else? I have no knowledge in this field, so if anyone has any inside information or pertinent experience, please post, I'd love to hear it.

As far as the reallocation of talent goes, I had high hopes for Troika's Arcanum, seeing as how Troika consisted of several key members of the fantastic team which produced Fallout, but wound up disappointed at its lack of polish, whereas Inifinity Ward's soon-to-be-released Call of Duty looks by all means to be incredible even in its juvenile state. Maybe high-level-folk like doing things their way, for better or worse, without the interjections of a publisher seeking marketability. Once again, I'm only hypothesizing. Are there any game-developers out there willing to testify?

This is a good move for these guys and gamers everywhere should be very excited because when a few guys leave like this, a really cool game is around the corner. Look at Troika when they left Interplay/Black Isle. Arcanum is still a really amazing game and I can't wait for more from Troika... like The Temple of Elemental Evil (Dungeons & Dragons)

This is a good move for these guys and gamers everywhere should be very excited because when a few guys leave like this, a really cool game is around the corner. Look at Troika when they left Interplay/Black Isle. Arcanum is still a really amazing game and I can't wait for more from Troika... like The Temple of Elemental Evil (Dungeons & Dragons)

Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil.

Lots of gaming goodness coming from Troika!

Well, I suppose you could call it a rip-off if you *really* wanted ...

But check out Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil by Troika. Designed to be a faithful adaption of the original module to the computer and 3.5 edition D&D rules.

These are the guys who made Arcanum, and includes many of the principal designers and developers of Fallout and Fallout 2.

Well, I suppose you could call it a rip-off if you *really* wanted ...

But check out Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil by Troika. Designed to be a faithful adaption of the original module to the computer and 3.5 edition D&D rules.

These are the guys who made Arcanum, and includes many of the principal designers and developers of Fallout and Fallout 2.

Well, I suppose you could call it a rip-off if you *really* wanted ...

But check out Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil by Troika. Designed to be a faithful adaption of the original module to the computer and 3.5 edition D&D rules.

These are the guys who made Arcanum, and includes many of the principal designers and developers of Fallout and Fallout 2.

If there are people interested in RPGs that are willing to become free game testers in the Orange County, California area. Troika Games, LLC the makers of Arcanum, and now Greyhawk: Temple of Elemental Evil are looking for people to do in house quality assurance and gameplay testing.

These are unpaid internships, but if you turn out to be someone who isn't a total jerk, we would be more than happy to write you letters of recommendation and if you are a real asset to the company even hire you on ourselves.

So far we've hired 5 people out of unpaid internships and they are some of our best workers.

If you are interested please e-mail jobs@troikagames.com or give us a call (949)250-4933 or mail us (our address should be on our website. Please only inquire if you are willing to work in the Orange County, California area. This isn't for "Closed BETA Testing", this is an actual quality assurance position where you will work in house with the developers.

If there are people interested in RPGs that are willing to become free game testers in the Orange County, California area. Troika Games, LLC the makers of Arcanum, and now Greyhawk: Temple of Elemental Evil are looking for people to do in house quality assurance and gameplay testing.

These are unpaid internships, but if you turn out to be someone who isn't a total jerk, we would be more than happy to write you letters of recommendation and if you are a real asset to the company even hire you on ourselves.

So far we've hired 5 people out of unpaid internships and they are some of our best workers.

If you are interested please e-mail jobs@troikagames.com or give us a call (949)250-4933 or mail us (our address should be on our website. Please only inquire if you are willing to work in the Orange County, California area. This isn't for "Closed BETA Testing", this is an actual quality assurance position where you will work in house with the developers.

That does depend somewhat on the sequel. Buying Fallout 2 because you enjoyed Fallout so much is not being part of the problem for example. Fallout 2 was an improvement in some ways (interface), and a regression in others (primarily storyline), but it was quality, just like the original. Most importantly though, it bucked the trends that were starting towards realtime play (Baldur's Gate came out at around the same time).

OTOH, buying Fallout Tactics without trying the demo is being part of the problem. FOT probably sold more than Fallout 1&2 combined (in particular, it sold more at full price) but from all I've read and from my playing of the demo it's really got nothing to do with the ideas behind Fallout. It's just an isometric tactical shooter which happens to use the SPECIAL system and hence capitalised on brand recognition. People buying FOT promoted the idea to publishers that real-time combat variants were "it" and turn-based should be abandoned.

Thank goodness for Troika. Can't wait for Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil ...

That does depend somewhat on the sequel. Buying Fallout 2 because you enjoyed Fallout so much is not being part of the problem for example. Fallout 2 was an improvement in some ways (interface), and a regression in others (primarily storyline), but it was quality, just like the original. Most importantly though, it bucked the trends that were starting towards realtime play (Baldur's Gate came out at around the same time).

OTOH, buying Fallout Tactics without trying the demo is being part of the problem. FOT probably sold more than Fallout 1&2 combined (in particular, it sold more at full price) but from all I've read and from my playing of the demo it's really got nothing to do with the ideas behind Fallout. It's just an isometric tactical shooter which happens to use the SPECIAL system and hence capitalised on brand recognition. People buying FOT promoted the idea to publishers that real-time combat variants were "it" and turn-based should be abandoned.

Thank goodness for Troika. Can't wait for Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil ...

Just For The Record, the reason for the ungodly load/save times is that the save system is too complete. (This, to me, is like beer being too free.) Every city/segment that the character enters is then saved, whether or not the character has interacted with a person or object. They're saved with the rest of the area. However, and this is the important part, even if you don't re-enter an area since the last save, it is still re-saved.

This is also why Fallout (and, later, Fallout 2 and Planescape) slows down so much when there are a lot of people and objects in an area: Even if you can't see it, it's still checking the script every "heartbeat", usually every two seconds. (Obviously, this doesn't happen in areas the character isn't in -- we don't all have a new 40 TFlop system.)

As Fallout "re-broke the mold" (Fallout is a wonderful revisioning of the ancient and Mac-Only game "Wasteland" -- goofy and fun), some technical issues is neither surprising nor a reason not to play the game.

The visionaries behind Fallout have formed a new company somewhat-recently. Troika's only released game is Arcanum, a Gaslight Fantasy. Yes, the graphics are lackluster and everyone looks like they're tall and anorexic, but the RPG engine is fun and it's about as well scripted as Fallout. It makes up for it in many ways that there are gobs of side-quests and different stats could give you an entirely different path along the plot-arc and three ways to "win".

I've strayed, but I liked the game. But then, I still like text adventures.

There are other examples of a hybridisation between real time and turn based games that have emerged over the past few years. One such example is Blue Byte's Incubation, a turn based squad combat game with pretty damn good 3D graphics. There were also the Fallout games that followed this trend, one which incidentally is very much still alive. The creators of the Fallout series later split away from Interplay and formed Troika Studios, which are releasing a game called Arcanum . This will follow in the vein of the Fallout series, and to date looks amazing.