Feargus Urquhart quits Interplay

[Rob_Merritt]

http://www.rpgcodex.com/

"Rumors are true - Feargus quit ( Company news )
posted by Saint_Proverbius on Wed 16 April 2003, 20:01:11

I've just recieved additional confirmation on the rumors I reported about on Duck and Cover. Feargus Urquhart, head hancho and all around party fun guy, has resigned from Black Isle Studios. What's worse is that there might be others leaving after he does.

I'd just like to take the time to say, You're fucked now, Interplay. Congratulations, you're pissing away the only thing left that's made you money in the last five years.

Good luck to everyone involved, except you, Herve. Here's to hoping France re-institutes debtor's prison. "


In the rumor mill, it has been said that larges part of Black Isle haven't been paid. With the huge $15 million cash payment interplay got for Hunter, it was expected that some people would get back pay. Interplay has chosen to only pay team members on colsole products and pretty much and pc game (aka Jefferson) that isn't almost done is being canned.

[Sam Jones]

Fuck. There goes the slimmest hope of Fallout 3. Is this why they gave away the Fallout Editor the other day?

I'm sure the talented people at BIS will find jobs quickly enough - it's a credit to them that they stuck through this not-being-paid bullshit, and For Shame on their Evil Corporate Slave Lords.

Now would be a good time for Troika to make another offer for the Fallout franchise, or at least a license to use it.

[Rob_Merritt]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

[Sam Jones]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Gamma World was cool! That was one of the first P&P rpgs I played.

Someone should do Aftermath. It was unplayable as P&P - not enough abstraction, but with a CPU to do all the hard work it would make a good, realistic post nuclear RPG engine.

[Robert Sharp]

Well, the setting doesn't require a license at all. The post-nuclear holocaust world is a whole genre, not just a licensed idea. Gamma World doesn't really have any name recognition, despite the people on this board that have played it (I put gamma world stickers..the ones you scratched on with a pencil...all over the front of my gamma world book...it added some needed color to the B&W artwork. I was only 9!).

But I like the idea of having Troika do a game like that. The mutations of GW were cool, so it would be nice to have a system like that in place. I suppose they could use the license, if it is cheap, and rebuild it as a name. But I am not sure the first game would gain anything in sales from using that title.

[Gordon Cameron]

Gamma World, Roadwar 2000, Bad Blood, Wasteland... it seems to me that post-nuclear is the most popular RPG genre after fantasy. Though I guess there is a lot of "high sci-fi" stuff too, at least in P&P -- i.e. Traveler, Star Frontiers, etc.

[Desslock]

Interplay is dead.

[Anonymous]

The problem with Fallout is that it never made any money, and that's probably why you never saw Interplay take it very seriously. It makes me sad because some of my friends over there really wanted to make that game, and it's just been a dangling carrot.

[Gordon Cameron]

Interplay is dead.

Say it ain't so. :(

[Incendiary Lemon]

Proverbius says that the official confirmation will come thursday or friday evening.

What will Feargus go on to do though? The rest of the crew?

[Jason McCullough]

Judging by Arcanum, I don't want Troika touching Fallout.

[GMicek]

Judging by Arcanum, I don't want Troika touching Fallout.

Amen to that! I'm not sure how that game went so wrong.

[Gordon Cameron]

Troika is Tim Cain's company innit? Who better to touch Fallout than its creator...?

[Sam Jones]

Judging by Arcanum, I don't want Troika touching Fallout.

That's a bit unfair. Arcanum was a pretty good game overall, but it lacked a lot of the visual flair of Fallout or the Black Isle games. The combat was a bit inelegant and the whole fantasy/steampunk thing didn't hang together quite as convincingly as it could have - again, the graphics were largely to blame for this. I also can't recall any memorable characters or dialogue in the game, which is unusual for a CRPG. I do remember enjoying it.

Most importantly, Troika should do Fallout 3 because the world needs more games where your NPC companions regularly empty their SMG into your back by accident.

[Ben Sones]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Baggage like bring the world two of the best RPGs ever made? I can live with that baggage.

I also can't recall any memorable characters or dialogue in the game

Then you didn't play enough. Arcanum had some of the best writing and characters in just about any recent RPG--it was easily the game's strength. The combat (or at least the real-time combat option) was a bit inelegant, and the engine looked dated (though some of the art was quite nice).

Arcanum's biggest fault was that it took too long to get rolling. It was until you got through Tarant that the story really got started, and that was a good eight hours into the game (at least for me). I can certainly understand how people could have had trouble getting into it, but overall, I enjoyed it as much as Fallout 2.

[Anonymous]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Baggage like bring the world two of the best RPGs ever made? I can live with that baggage.

I also can't recall any memorable characters or dialogue in the game

Then you didn't play enough. Arcanum had some of the best writing and characters in just about any recent RPG--it was easily the game's strength. The combat (or at least the real-time combat option) was a bit inelegant, and the engine looked dated (though some of the art was quite nice).

Arcanum's biggest fault was that it took too long to get rolling. It was until you got through Tarant that the story really got started, and that was a good eight hours into the game (at least for me). I can certainly understand how people could have had trouble getting into it, but overall, I enjoyed it as much as Fallout 2.

Arcanum was an unbalanced, ugly, dull, piece of crap. But thanks for coming out.

[Tom Ohle]

Arcanum was awesome in parts. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. Not as good as Fallout, but a solid title nonetheless.

[Incendiary Lemon]

- From Gamespot

Black Isle's Feargus Urquhart is leaving the company.

GameSpot has confirmed that Feargus Urquhart, director of Interplay's Black Isle Studios department, has stepped down and is leaving Interplay after more than five years with the company. Urquhart helped create the Black Isle Studios brand within Interplay, and the division released its first game, Fallout 2, in 1998. Black Isle Studios went on to produce such popular role-playing games as Planescape: Torment, the Icewind Dale series, and the Baldur's Gate series with Canadian developer BioWare.

[Qenan]

Interplay is dead.

Very depressing news. I'm starting to think someone up there doesn't like me... or at least doesn't like the games I want to play. :cry:

[Alan Au]

Most importantly, Troika should do Fallout 3 because the world needs more games where your NPC companions regularly empty their SMG into your back by accident.
Ah yes, good (?) times. :D

Arcanum had... issues.

- Alan

[Rob_Merritt]

Yeah Arcanum had issues. Yes somehow I replayed that game 3 times. The only RPG I've done that with

[Jason McCullough]

Did you people play the same arcanum I did? There was some flashes of brilliance, plot/world design-wise, but mostly it was an ugly piece of crap with stupid clicky clicky gameplay. Buggy, too.

Mind you, it was fun enough to finish, and I enjoyed it, but it was a mediocre title, running mostly on fumes of fallout nostaglia.

[Anonymous]

The old agree to disagree on Arcanum; I think many of us will be waiting on ToEE to see what direction Troika takes.

[mtkafka]

STFU ALL YOU ARCANUM HATERS! I LOVED IT BECUASE IT HAD MAGIC AND GUNS AND FUNNY PROSTITUTES. ASSHOLES! AND YOU WOULD ALL BE LOVING IT LIKE LYING BASTARDS "IT"S SO GOOD I WAS WRONG" IF IT WAS DONE WITH THE FREEDOM FORCE ENGINE IN THE SEQUEL THEN YOU'D SEE HOW WRONG YOU WERE. MEAN ASSHOLES!

Anyway, sheesh Arcanum rocked. I liked it alot. Graphic whores need not apply. And to say that Troika shouldn't do a Fallout game is like saying Carmack shouldn't do a Doom sequel... knowwhutimsayin?!?

etc

[mtkafka]

BTW, so then what will happen to Jefferson now that Interplay (or BI ) is dead? So I guess Lionheart is the last BI game? :x

etc

[Anonymous]

BTW, so then what will happen to Jefferson now that Interplay (or BI ) is dead? So I guess Lionheart is the last BI game? :x

etc

Black Isle isn't developing Lionheart.

[mtkafka]

They aren't? Who is? I forgot...

etc

[Anonymous]

They aren't? Who is? I forgot...

etc

http://reflexive.net/

[Tyjenks]

FUNNY PROSTITUTES. ASSHOLES!

Look..I am all for funny prostitutes as one would imagine, but their poop chutes? You need to step away from the porn. :wink:

[Anonymous]

At least Feargus Urquhart won't have to put up with the shitty asshole Fallout fan community anymore. The nerve of those people...almost makes me ashamed to say that I am a big fan of Fallout.

[Jason McCullough]

Wha? What's so bad about them now?

[XPav]

I don't understand why people stick around not getting paid.

Pay cuts, one thing, but the first payday that goes by without money showing up in my account, I'm out of there.

[Kool Moe Dee]

Wha? What's so bad about them now?

We here at DAC would like to extend our best wishes to Feargus and apologize for any moments where our ranting and raving as a community might have caused him undue stress.

Fallout fans (and I mean that in the original sense, fanatics) are some of the most brutal, critical, whiny, mean-spirited, and selfish I've seen on the Internet. That's saying a lot.

-- Person Who Really Enjoyed the Fallout Games

[Jason McCullough]

You didn't answer the question. :D

[Luke M]

Wha? What's so bad about them now?

They'll unceasingly bash anything related to Interplay/Fallout devs unless it's an official product announcement for Fallout 3. Most recently they've been tearing up the yet to be released Fallout console game. Yet to be released... That about sums it up. Here, see for yourself:

http://www.duckandcover.net/

Even the pole at the top of the page is a cynical stab at Interplay. Honestly, I can't stand the fucking bastards that run that site.

[Andrew Mayer]

I don't understand why people stick around not getting paid.

Pay cuts, one thing, but the first payday that goes by without money showing up in my account, I'm out of there.

I know of 1 (one) case where the holdouts actually ended not getting screwed. They got rich, but it took almost a year. And that software company didn't make games, and it was the mid 90s, and they got bought by AOL for $300 million.

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

[Scott Warner]

Yeah, the Fallout fan community is strange predicament for Black Isle. The studio has always been very active with their message boards and have continuously talked about Fallout, because everybody at BI (including Feargus) was under the assumption that the third installment would happen one day. However, instead of give Black Isle the necessary resources to develop a new one from scratch, Interplay management jerked around with the property for years, forcing Black Isle to churn out Forgotten Realms titles while handing off Fallout to third party developers and other non-BI internal teams. And, the two that have been announced (and others that haven't) have just been completely whack, leaving Black Isle to absorb a deluge of criticism from a very active fanbase that is pissed off, knows the developers are reading/responding, and assumes they have some say in what's going on with the situation.

It sucks because there's a number of really talented guys there who have stuck around through thick and thin to make another one, and right now they are definitely in a state of WTF as Gus really gave no warning that he'd be bailing.

[Drazzil]

*dances a little jig*

WHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Ive hated Interplay ever since they sold me an empty box (where there should have been game CDs) in a game I paid 50 clams for. (and then later refused to replace them) Im glad that it seems that Interplay is finally breathing its last ragged gasp. My fondest hope is to see the Interplay execs responsible for Black Isles destruction fighting with homeless bums somewhere for a warm place to sleep under a bridge.

Again I just cant say how happy this makes me.

Oh and through many many years of dealing with my hopes and dreams for a Fallout 3 being crushed by an endless litany of other games, many that I have had the pleasure of seeing fail HORRIBLY, I can finally say, Fuck Fallout 3. I dont need it.
Fans with the Fallout 2 editor can make a better sequel (even with a six year old engine) then Interplay in its current state could even dream of making.

And before I hear people in the audience say "Oh well Interplay released the editor so they cant be all bad can they?"

I say this:

Releasing the editor for Fallout 2 was the LEAST Interplay could do to reward all its loyal fans of Fallout over the years, for the disappointment of hearing that game after game they promised to release was not Fallout 3 and even when they announced that they would in fact make another Fallout game only to announce 2 or 3 months later it would NOT be Fallout 3.

So getting back to my original topic I am glad to see Interplay go, this means that the core of Black Isle is free to go form their other company and do what they do best, make games that the *FANS* want.

They will no longer be forced to turn out Baldurs Gate 10 or Icewind Dale 40 or any other stupid sequel that they didn't want to do. I wont fool myself into thinking that Interplay will sell what used to be Black Isle the license for Fallout, however I firmly believe in the core of my being that we haven't seen the half of what these talented guys are capable of.

I believe that as we see this company and many other *French owned* companies explode, implode, or just sink under the tranquil waters, you will see many MANY other small highly motivated development companies making wonderful highly polished gems, not just popping out one badly concieved game after another just beacuase some french exec without the slightest clue about gaming or what the fuck he is talking about tells them to.

So the death of Interplay is a wonderful thing. The only thing I feel bad about is that it took so damn long, and that IMHO is the bottom line.

[Tyjenks]

Wha? What's so bad about them now?

See post above.

[Kool Moe Dee]

See post above.

Yep. Perfect example.

While I do not know him personally, by all accounts FU is quite a nice guy. Not the sort of person who should be sleeping under a freeway overpass.

[Skinner]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Ahhh, now wouldn't that be fucking cool. :)

I loved Gamma World, haven't heard it mentioned in years.

[SpoofyChop]

The best thing to ever happen in the history of sequels would be if BlackIsle signed up to do either a true sequel or a sequel-in-spirit to Darklands.

I don't really think that Lionheart is going to fit the bill.

[Drazzil]

I didn't say I wanted FU to sleep under a freeway overpass, I said I wanted those people responsible for Black Isle's death to sleep under an overpass. I hope all the guys that finally quit BI land on their feet. They are talented individuals.

[Rob_Merritt]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Ahhh, now wouldn't that be fucking cool. :)

I loved Gamma World, haven't heard it mentioned in years.

FYI a new Gammaworld is in the works and a computer game counterpart is being considered in the making so if the rights were picked up, they will not hve to bend rules like they have to with AD&D.

[Ben Sones]

Again I just cant say how happy this makes me.


Seeing people lose their jobs never makes me happy. Just me, I guess.

[Tyjenks]

Again I just cant say how happy this makes me.


Seeing people lose their jobs never makes me happy. Just me, I guess.

Bleeding heart commie. :wink:

Drazzil - your frustration and anger is understandable, but your vitriol aimed at an entire body of individuals you know relatively little about is, frankly, a little nuts. That is what most people here are reacting to.

[xahlt]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Ahhh, now wouldn't that be fucking cool. :)

I loved Gamma World, haven't heard it mentioned in years.

FYI a new Gammaworld is in the works and a computer game counterpart is being considered in the making so if the rights were picked up, they will not hve to bend rules like they have to with AD&D.

I've never played PnP, but I'd like to see a good Metamorphosis Alpha game.

[Filthy Ike]

There are other licenses in the genre that don't carry as much baggage. Like Gamma World

Ahhh, now wouldn't that be fucking cool. :)

I loved Gamma World, haven't heard it mentioned in years.

FYI a new Gammaworld is in the works and a computer game counterpart is being considered in the making so if the rights were picked up, they will not hve to bend rules like they have to with AD&D.

I know S&SS picked up the GW license, but that's just for d20 products isnt' it? Wizards still owns the IP, and therefore Infogrames owns the electronic rights, and I seriously doubt Infogrames is crazy enough to push on a Gamma World game. As awesome as that would be, there's no way it could be a mainstream hit.

[Rob_Merritt]

Infogrames does not have the rights to D20 Modern, the banner that the new Gamma World falls under.

[Filthy Ike]

Infogrames does not have the rights to D20 Modern, the banner that the new Gamma World falls under.

AFAIK Infogrames got the electronic rights to every IP Hasbro (and by extension Wizards) owned at the time, as well as any new IPs created during the terms of the license. They specifically excluded Magic from the license, but _everything_ else was included.

And don't get me wrong: if Infogrames gives up the rights I'll be first in line to buy a copy.

[Andrew Mayer]

I may be getting all crotchety over here, but beyond the extreme geeks that inhabit this board does anyone human under 30 know or care about Gamma World?

Beyond the goofy sounding name is there anything about the property that would make it a better computer game rather then just making up something entirely new?

http://www.flash.net/~brenfrow/al/al-gamma.jpg

I can hardly wait to become "trenchcoat guy" so I can fight the giant snake with arms... Hell, the snake is probably a player character too.

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

[Jason McCullough]

I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.

[Bub, Andrew]

Bah! You can't be considered at all crotchety if you're referencing that edition of Gamma World sonny! You kids, get off my radiation-field!

http://rdushay.home.mindspring.com/Museum/Images/GWcover.gif

[Rob_Merritt]

http://www.falconx.com/gammaworld/images/gw3cover.gif

How many people under 30 play pen n paper rpg? Gammaworld, while not played, is faily well known. Its also has a fairly detailed universe. Its a good well thought out setting.

/me gots to dust off my mint in box first edition rules...

[Bub, Andrew]

/me gots to dust off my mint in box first edition rules...

Sorry Rob, my pic is from before yours. Note the less professional logo. Also mine has the TSR game wizard logo, rather than the later stylized TSR (which is before the TSR with the face).

[XPav]

Gamma World? Never heard of it.

Now, Gamera World, on the other hand, would be cool.

[Rob_Merritt]

/me gots to dust off my mint in box first edition rules...

Sorry Rob, my pic is from before yours. Note the less professional logo. Also mine has the TSR game wizard logo, rather than the later stylized TSR (which is before the TSR with the face).

I know. Like I said, I have a mint in box first edition. Ofcourse they didn't use color. That was from the third printing. I used the third edition pick, just because I like it.

[Jason Lutes]

Nice, Bub. That brings back some memories. I love the colored pencil look of that thing, and that great, hideous title logo. Is that an early Trampier drawing?

I agree it would be super-cool to see Gamma World revived in a crpg format, but it does seem like the appeal of the license would be limited.

Beyond the goofy sounding name is there anything about the property that would make it a better computer game rather then just making up something entirely new?

I can hardly wait to become "trenchcoat guy" so I can fight the giant snake with arms... Hell, the snake is probably a player character too.

Dude! The gaming industry is built on that kind of goofiness. Sure it's pretty stupid stuff, but 90% of the good computer games are filled with that crap. If you have problems with the idea of playing a six-armed giant cobra man [Edit: make that a ten-armed giant cobra man], then you picked the wrong hobby! :)

[Ben Sones]

I may be getting all crotchety over here, but beyond the extreme geeks that inhabit this board does anyone human under 30 know or care about Gamma World?

Beyond the goofy sounding name is there anything about the property that would make it a better computer game rather then just making up something entirely new?

In fact, I've always felt that the original Gamma World setting (which was introduced at a Gen Con long ago, and was quite different from even the early boxed Gamma World RPG) would make a great computer game. It was designed with closed-ended play in mind, with a big secret (you think you are on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but are actually on board a giant space ship sent off to colonize another world). They had to change it in order to have a viable open-ended campaign setting, though.

Whether you are familiar with either franchise or not, I think Fallout was the stronger setting. It had a lot of character, and a great aesthetic.

[Andrew Mayer]

It was designed with closed-ended play in mind, with a big secret (you think you are on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but are actually on board a giant space ship sent off to colonize another world).
Hmmm... Sounds suspiciously like game development in general.

I guess I've just reached a point in life where I don't think that every franchise from my youth deserves to be pulled out of its musty grave, resurrected, and tarted up.

The Cold War is over. Maybe Gamma World should have gone down with the Berlin Wall and Yakov Smirnoff.
(In Soviet Union Gamma World Game-masters you!)

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

[Sparky]

Gamma World? Never heard of it.

Now, Gamera World, on the other hand, would be cool.
Well, there's always Grandma World. It's like Logan's Run, but they kill any male under 65*. I have a 13th Level Lunch Lady named Eunice (fear my +10 Handbag Of Doom - it has enough room for spare Kleenex, a TV Guide, my heart pills, three balls of yarn and your steaming entrails).

*Yes, how they would actually get a population over 65 if they killed every male under 65 first is a puzzling question, but no more difficult than "Is there a bathroom on the TARDIS?" or "How can a group of stick-tossing teddy bears take out the Empire's best Stormtroopers?"

[xahlt]

It was designed with closed-ended play in mind, with a big secret (you think you are on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but are actually on board a giant space ship sent off to colonize another world)

But different from Metamorphosis Alpha?

http://rdushay.home.mindspring.com/Museum/Images/MAcover.gif

[Tyjenks]

What the hell is that snake with wings and a horse's mane?

I thought my rotten Basic D&D box was ancient, but you guys are pulling stuff out of your wrinkled up old asses.

[Qenan]

Dig that technicolor CRT in the background... :P

[Andrew Mayer]

By 1984 things had improved over at TSR:

http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/images/sf_cover.jpg

Still one of their best covers, IMO:

This wasn't a bad game either. Rather then letting the user roll up hundreds of stats you picked a race, added a few frills, and got straight to the playin'

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

[Jason McCullough]

Oh my, I remember that Star Frontier cover.

[Tyjenks]

This wasn't a bad game either. Rather then letting the user roll up hundreds of stats you picked a race, added a few frills, and got straight to the playin'

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

Being a PnP gamer in an area with precious few like me, rolling up characters was all I had to do many days. Star Frontiers robbed me of that, too. Yes it was sad, but there was a derth of like-minded nerds in my school system.

And speaking of fun characters to roll up with which you never played and combined with some fancy cover art:

http://www.42north.org/mjm/rpg/trav/ClassicCharacters.GIF

[xahlt]

By 1984 things had improved over at TSR:


The cliffs and the woman look like an Elmore, but I don't see the signature.

[Bub, Andrew]

That's an Elmore all right.

[Ben Sones]

Hey, I played Traveller! Loved it, too. It also had great character generation (though I never understood the need for the hexidecimal notation). I played that and Space Opera more than Star Frontiers.

If I really wanted to be geeky with the vintage gaming, I'd scan the covers of my oldest set of the D&D rules (the little white box set). But when lazy and geeky clash, lazy wins out. ;)

[Tyjenks]

Hey, I played Traveller! Loved it, too. It also had great character generation (though I never understood the need for the hexidecimal notation).

I went to look for my set just now. I have kept all of that old shit through literally seven moves, but my Travellar stuff is nowhere to be found. I wish I had not brought it up. :cry: I feel a weekend long melancholy setting in and I am not sure if the prospect of diving into BCMG is helping or hurting.

[Jakub]

Fallout fans (and I mean that in the original sense, fanatics) are some of the most brutal, critical, whiny, mean-spirited, and selfish I've seen on the Internet. That's saying a lot.

-- Person Who Really Enjoyed the Fallout Games

Ah the Unwashed Villagers.

For a while, I thought they were trolls on the forums.

[Jason Lutes]

Thanks for posting those covers, guys. Great stuff!

[Andrew Mayer]

I went to look for my set just now. I have kept all of that old shit through literally seven moves, but my Travellar stuff is nowhere to be found. I wish I had not brought it up. :cry: I feel a weekend long melancholy setting in and I am not sure if the prospect of diving into BCMG is helping or hurting.

All that Traveller stuff is back in print (http://www.travellerrpg.com/Store/reprints.html). Mark Millar put it out in these huge tomes. They're double wide now... 11x8.5. Designed more for nostalgic "flipping" then actual playing.

But you get some bang for your buck. Books 0-8 for $28.

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

[Tyjenks]

I went to look for my set just now. I have kept all of that old shit through literally seven moves, but my Travellar stuff is nowhere to be found. I wish I had not brought it up. :cry: I feel a weekend long melancholy setting in and I am not sure if the prospect of diving into BCMG is helping or hurting.

All that Traveller stuff is back in print (http://www.travellerrpg.com/Store/reprints.html). Mark Millar put it out in these huge tomes. They're double wide now... 11x8.5. Designed more for nostalgic "flipping" then actual playing.

But you get some bang for your buck. Books 0-8 for $28.

Your Power Pill (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog)

Oooh...Thanks Andrew. :)