Obsidian Leader Wants More Discovery, Less Convenience for RPGs

One of the leading developers working on the new South Park: The Game role playing game has said that the genre has evolved more towards convenience in the last few years, losing some of the mechanics that enabled the sense of discovery.

Speaking to IndustryGamers Chris Avellone, who is the leader of Obsidian and one of the most experienced role playing game developers, stated, “I’ll say 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, but, at the same time, I think it undermines the thrill of victory and discovery and a lot of what makes an RPG an RPG (exploration, notably).”

Avellone has also noticed some positive developments when it comes to the narrative structure of the role playing genre, like the addition of more consequences for player actions and the way fully voiced NPCs manage to add more depth to the world.

He added, “I enjoy the fact that role-playing game mechanics are bleeding into other genres, and the ‘genres’ aren’t as clear-cut any more. 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.”

At the moment Obsidian is working with Matt Stone and Trey Parker on the South Park video game, hoping to take the cartoon universe and turn it into a title that keeps the idea of mystery and exploration.

The company has said that the player will be cast in the role of a new kid in town who needs to befriend the main characters and the show and then align himself with a number of kid factions while also fending a number of threats.

The game will arrive on both home console and the on the PC during the second half of 2012.