Project Eternity aiming for M-rated fantasy story, but 'no fart jokes'

Obsidian Entertainment's recently announced Project Eternity has gotten RPG fans buzzing about the new game, so much so that the company blew through the $1.1 million barrier it was seeking a mere 30 hours after its Kickstarter campaign launched. We talk briefly with Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart about the game.

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Obsidian Entertainment's recently announced Project Eternity has gotten RPG fans buzzing about the new game, so much so that the company blew through the $1.1 million barrier it was seeking a mere 30 hours after its Kickstarter campaign launched.

The old-school RPGs get a lot of love on Shacknews, so I cornered Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart and threatened to put him in a bag of holding if he didn't answer a few quick questions for us. He said they had been thinking about the game for while, but didn't want to do a Dungeons & Dragons rule-set game this time.

"D&D is awesome and we absolutely want to make more D&D games here at Obsidian," he said. "For Project Eternity, though, we wanted to stretch again and put together a new game system that is really tied into the world. The new system is something that Josh Sawyer has been working on for a while now and he has some really great new ideas not with just combat, but, in particular, support abilities and skills."

Project Eternity is only a working title, however, and it is something the team has been mulling over, looking for a way to create a sense of a future for the series. "The Infinity Engine games created stories that felt epic and brought everyone who played them (and still plays them today) along for an incredible ride," Urquhart said. "We wanted to come up with a name that gave that same feeling and one that also let everyone know that we don't want to stop with the first game. Baldur’s Gate 2 was great in part because there was a Baldur’s Gate 1. We want to do the same with a Project Eternity 2, 3 and then some."

The world of Eternity is enmeshed in fantasy, where magic is a part of soul of the people. "That means creating deep stories that have numerous factions weaving in and out that the player can join, destroy or just ignore," he said. "We are also not going to shy away from mature themes. As Chris Avellone says, this doesn't mean dick and fart jokes –- it means themes that challenge our players and, for that matter, challenge our designers."

With the game already getting strong support on Kickstarter, Urquhart said that stretch goal are already in the works. "We have a lot of great ideas for stretch goals that we will be putting up soon. Cooking with Tim? More seriously, what's great about making and RPG is there are so many options for things that we can add in to the game. We also have one really fun stretch goal that involves bringing another friend along for the ride."

The game's focus will be PC. "It's where our roots in gaming started and we want the game to live up to everyone's expectations and fond memories," he said. They have announced that Mac and Linux are stretch goals, Mac at $1.6 million and Linux at $2.2 million.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 17, 2012 6:45 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Project Eternity aiming for M-rated fantasy story, but 'no fart jokes'.

    Obsidian Entertainment's recently announced Project Eternity has gotten RPG fans buzzing about the new game, so much so that the company blew through the $1.1 million barrier it was seeking a mere 30 hours after its Kickstarter campaign launched. We talk briefly with Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart about the game.

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      September 17, 2012 7:08 AM

      Fantasy killed my interest right there. I'll play it once it comes out but I'm not interested in being an early backer.

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        September 17, 2012 7:14 AM

        I'm not big on fantasy generally, but if it's "Dark Fantasy" or whatever the hell you'd term Planescape, I'm good with it. Here's hoping

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        September 17, 2012 7:17 AM

        By all rights I should be sick of fantasy settings by this point in my life... but for some reason they just keep working on me. I don't get sick of that kind of setting as long as it's done right.

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        September 17, 2012 7:25 AM

        The last Fantasy game I played was Skyrim, and before that I believe it would have to be Dragon Age: Origins. I generally don't get into Fantasy stuff very much, so I'm not really necessarily put off by a Fantasy setting.

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        September 17, 2012 7:26 AM

        [deleted]

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          September 17, 2012 7:47 AM

          Arcanum is more steampunk and the Fallout series totally proves you wrong about fantasy being the best genre.

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          September 17, 2012 9:27 AM

          I agree with this. "Fantasy RPG" is like "military shooter" -- they've been done to death, but there's a reason why developers keep going back to those wells. It's the best marriage of game mechanics and genre.

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        September 17, 2012 7:57 AM

        I thought that, then realized it was an opportunity to give Obsidian money for a game, so I gave Obsidian money for a game. Because what you do, is give Obsidian money to make games.

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        September 17, 2012 11:17 AM

        Did you not enjoy Skyrim or DA?

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        September 17, 2012 11:59 AM

        I hear you, post-apoc or sci-fi are the best settings for me, but still, it's Obsidian, I'd like to see what they can do unshackled.

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        September 17, 2012 11:59 AM

        I'm not a fan of fantasy but I liked the planescape setting.
        And if the game is good the fantasy setting probably won't bother me.
        I just hope it isn't too generic.

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        September 17, 2012 12:01 PM

        Kind of premature given that there are basically zero details about the game out.

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        September 17, 2012 2:13 PM

        I don't think you will find an RPG that doesn't use fantasy in some way. Games like KOTOR and Mass Effect are science fantasy or space operas. You could be thinking of fantasy in terms of tolkien-esque or high fantasy with orcs/elves/etc. There are other RPGs that were kickstarted that are going to be set in more modern times like Wasteland2 or Shadowrun returns.

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      September 17, 2012 7:42 AM

      Do you guys proof read this stuff before you post it?

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      September 18, 2012 7:22 AM

      yes! no more consolized, noob, kiddie shit!

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