Wasteland 2: Obsidian's Avellone to help with narrative, area design and conversations

Obsidian's Chris Avellone will help create Wasteland 2's narrative, area design and conversation system - assuming the project's Kickstarter raises the required amount of cash.

inXile boss Brian Fargo announced last week that Obsidian will co-develop RPG sequel Wasteland 2 as long as they can raise $2.1 million on Kickstarter. At the time of publication they're on $1.865 million with 15 days to go.

Now, Avellone, who worked with Fargo at Interplay on RPGs Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment, has revealed his proposed role on the project.

"Currently, it's just me, and I would potentially be assisting with narrative and area design, as well as conversation editor suggestions and structure," he told GameBanshee. "Ultimately, we won't know the final logistics for a short while longer, but we'll keep folks updated - right now, it's solely design content work, which is one of Obsidian's strengths."

Avellone said the two designers could share information on RPG mechanics, with Obsidian providing metrics and layout suggestions for the conversation systems. But all of the programming is the responsibility of inXile. Indeed: "Brian and inXile are running the show."

"While I'm sure they'll listen and take feedback into account, nothing can kill a project's momentum than too many cooks with equal say - the only thing you're cooking up at that point is a recipe for disaster.

"In short, Brian knows Wasteland better than I, he knows the tone he wants to set. Obsidian's job and my job is to provide knowledge from our experiences with RPGs and design, and help him realize his vision in a way that meets and surpasses player expectations (it's the narrative/level designer creed and motto)."

Obsidian hit the headlines last month when it was forced to lay-off staff and cancel projects, though work continues on its South Park RPG for THQ. The RPG specialist cancelled work on a game codenamed Project North Carolina, supposedly a next Xbox title to be published by Microsoft.

Avellone said the developer was focusing on pitching projects to publishers in the wake of the cancellation, and insisted it had a lot of opportunities.