This is the latest part of an interview series, “Unmasking the Gamers,” humanising the people who play video games: the real character controlling that fictional character; the person behind that First Person game. Previous interviewee(s): Brendan Stapley, Andrew Doherty, Cody Winn

This particular edition of Unmasking the Gamers features the first part of an interview with a special guest.

Mr Chris Avellone, popularly known as MCA, has been the creative mastermind behind many of the highest profile Western RPGs released, with notable contributions to the Fallout series (including the creation of the Fallout Bible with help from fans), Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) II, and the classic Planescape: Torment, oft-mentioned as featuring the best RPG narrative of all time. MCA was kind enough to take some time out during development of Fallout New Vegas downloadable content at Obsidian Entertainment to answer some questions, and in Part 1 of our discussion we’ll cover various aspects of his role in New Vegas, game writing, as well as his views on the player experience and character design and development.

WillOoi: Hi Chris, thanks very much for taking time out to participate in this interview. You’re quite the hero to many RPG fans out there and your willingness to answer questions is well documented and much appreciated. So what are you up to at the moment?

Chris Avellone: Still working hard here at Obsidian, wrapping up the last bits of Fallout New Vegas DLC, Lonesome Road. We had the last narrative tasks and voice-acting session last week (Ed: end of May), it went well, and now it’s a matter of doing more run-throughs of DLC4 to get a feel for the pacing and polish what we can. It’s been a long road from New Vegas to the end of the DLCs, and now when I go home, I’m not sure what to do with myself – on NV and the DLCs, it was easy, I just didn’t go home.

As for what’s next, we still have a number of titles in development, so I’ve been playing those builds, going to design meetings, making and reviewing critiques and working on pitches for additional products. One thing I’ll say – being an independent developer gives you access to franchises I never thought possible a few years back.

[Gamasutra Feature & Fallout Wiki]

My eyes darting around in panic as I frantically scan for a a climbable ledge or a solid, safe surface – anything at all would do – the palms of my hands react in the worst possible way by turning cold and numb with moisture; perhaps the very combination of inappropriate bodily responses that would make this awful fear of heights – and in particular, falling – a grim reality. I could understand if, say, my sympathetic nervous system had reacted in a fight or flight response by making me tense up and redirecting blood flow to my limbs should I need to use either my fists to attack or my legs to run, but this? This! What could possibly possess my brain to decide to ironically make my hands slippery when I need them, most of all, to hold on tight?!

It’s at this point that I use my damp thumb to press on the Start button of my controller to pause these thankfully fictional near-death experiences, and sit back to take into account the bodily response that had just occurred. The game I’m playing is Just Cause 2, and the situation is controlling the larger-than-life alliterative secret agent character Rico Rodriguez, hanging onto the sides of the large blimp in the game with his trusty grappling hook and looking for the remaining hidden package on the craft which has proven tricky to locate. I’m somewhat sad to report that my real life is utterly devoid of such risks and I obviously do not possess the death-defying capabilities nor tools that Rico may call upon, and yet in this virtual world where base-jumping and parachuting and grappling onto planes and helicopters in mid-air is commonplace I had not experienced any such fear or adrenaline-stimulating response until I was in that one particular moment, clinging onto that blimp, my own tormenting phobia creeping up slowly behind me to shout “Boo!”

Fear stimulus up there, past those trees…

[Gamasutra feature & comments]