Brent Knowles - Latest Comments

Re: In the Wild

Brent Knowles — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:08:59 -0000

Re: In the Wild

Mordi Peshkess — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:03:48 -0000

Did it growl at you or did or remember you?

Man if a book ever growls at me then I'm calling Bruce Campbell ASAP.

Re: Interesting Podcast – Irrational Interviews

Brent Knowles — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:47:41 -0000

Re: Interesting Podcast – Irrational Interviews

Mordi Peshkess — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:17:27 -0000

It's because of Drizzt. That damned Dark Elf...Tee Hee.

Re: Interesting Podcast – Irrational Interviews

Brent Knowles — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:34:12 -0000

Yeah, I don't think there was a lot of interest in the other properties, just Forgotten Realms, I suppose because it was the most popular.

Re: Interesting Podcast – Irrational Interviews

Mordi Peshkess — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:24:34 -0000

Ravenloft was very underrated by most players, like Planescape. Me and the guys that played it always felt like the outsiders. The good thing about it is that even though the portion of players who got into it are smaller compared to Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance or even Greyhawk, the people that got into it were extreamly passionate about it.

Come to think of it, no one really made an RPG outside of Faerun, right? Well Black Isle made Planescape: Torment, but other then that it's mostly Forgotten Realms.

Re: Interesting Podcast – Irrational Interviews

Brent Knowles — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:01:32 -0000

Yeah, I'll definitely look into past episodes, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I suspect that both of them have a lot more control than I ever did but parts of our process seem similar. Delegation is really important, knowing you can't do everything. Where we were quite different I think is in regards to story; I really had very little to do with story design at BioWare, other than at a very high-level (my focus being more technical and on the game design aspects). They on the other hand seem to be really involved with the writing aspect.

And I'll check the book out. Used to be a big Ravenloft fan.

Re: How to Script for Games

Mordi Peshkess — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:24:02 -0000

I've put your books in my Amazon wish list and I promise after Summer I'll buy them. Right now I am getting ready to leave for three months for work purposes so I'll have zero time to myself seeing how I am going to work 16 hours almost every day. I was meaning to get it this winter then I remembered I have Dune series t go through. So fall when I come back it's Lazy Designer time.

Re: Interesting Podcast – Irrational Interviews

Mordi Peshkess — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:19:45 -0000

Oh wow. Thanks for the mention. Kinda blushing here. If you like this one then check out the rest of Irrational Podcasts. They are kinda short but because they come so few and far in between that each one of them is gold.

Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Did you find their process close to yours or do you have your own method?

Also, I'm sure everyone here who follows you would love to hear you on their podcast, or any for that matter. Food for thought.

Finally, I wanted to recommend a book to you. it's called Carnival of Fear by J. Robert King and is set in the Ravenloft world which I'm sure your familiar with. Very unique book. The least DnD themed book in the DnD universe.

Re: Update!

Brent Knowles — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:10:43 -0000

:) Fixed!

Re: Update!

Craig Dolphin — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:05:43 -0000

Hah! I see you install the screws with the slots horizontal just like I do! I think the one on the top-left might need about 4 or 5 degrees more of a turn though ;)

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:11:57 -0000

Finally got to watch Moon. Very much enjoyed it! I thought it a pretty well done movie and had me intrigued throughout.

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:00:06 -0000

:) Maybe one day!

Re: Update!

Brent Knowles — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:59:50 -0000

Sounds cool!

Re: Update!

Mordi Peshkess — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:39:35 -0000

Home improvement are always fun.

Well, enjoy your summer with your boys and have lots of fun with home. I recommend a daily dose of castle building and Styrofoam sword fights. My daughter can't get enough of that. She just made me make her a helmet from a cardboard box.

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Pete — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:14:06 -0000

I was going to suggest kickstarter but it looks like someone beat it to me. Yes! Please do make a kickstarter, get a professional team and make something as great as DAO (or greater!). I will be your first backer :)

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Mordi Peshkess — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:19:46 -0000

Hey there.
I think you'll be interested in this podcast. It's from the Irrational Games guys and on their latest one they had Amy Hennig. Her and Ken Levine set down and had some great conversation about writing, and writing in video games. So just check it out.

http://irrationalgames.com/ins...

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:44:30 -0000

Yeah, the industry can be pretty brutal sometimes. The smaller companies have more freedom but less resources. The larger companies have more money to spend on projects but there's an increased risk of bad decisions from the outside.

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:43:03 -0000

Hmm. Maybe one day :)

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:42:30 -0000

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:29:05 -0000

My taste really varies. Nowadays its mostly games I can play with my kids (the various Lego videogames are probably the most played games in our home now).

If I had unlimited time? Then traditional fantasy RPGs with sprawling exploration and loads of customization. Pretty much equal would be RTS and strategy style games... with a preferences towards sci-fi based franchises. I like building things.

I do sometimes enjoy playing shooters and adventure style games as well. Just not as likely for me to pick them up to try in the first place.

- Brent

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

James Paten — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:04:43 -0000

True story. Not nearly as many fans of your work are interested in the game industry, but they love the work you have done while at the helm.

Make no mistake - the second you sign a piece of paper that contains the words 'RPG' and 'Brent Knowles' I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at how quick and how many fans will crawl out of the woodwork.

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Mordi Peshkess — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:39:36 -0000

I hear ya. I sometimes forget that there's another, darker, side for video games development. As someone who's in the retail industry and have to deal with companies and corporation I can't imagine what developers sometimes have to go through. Just look at what Bethesda pulled on Obsidian just recently. I don't know if you heard about it but to make a long story short Bethesda withheld a bonus payment to Obsidian because Fallout: New Vegas missed it's Metacritic goal by, you ready??? By One Point. No matter that New Vegas about 6 million units.

That's why I moved my router to the living room. I was getting Netflix over wireless but because of lower quality signal I was getting a ton of pixelation.
As far as Moon goes then last time I checked they removed it from Netflix :( but it is available through the PS3 vudu app.

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Craigdolphin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:35:17 -0000

I dunno Brent, you may not realize how your legend has grown on the Bioware forums in the aftermath of da2. DAO was much loved and as lead designer for it, you've got a lot of cache with a lot of fans who are, or were, Bioware fans. :)

Lord knows I'd not hesitate to contribute to any kick starter campaign you were part of.

Re: Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Brent Knowles — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 09:42:40 -0000

In a couple years when the kids are all in school full time I might consider going back into the games industry. In that case a project like what you suggested might of interest to me. But it will depend on a lot of factors, especially the level of control I'd have (I would want a lot :) and having royalties as part of compensation -- I'm a big fan of royalties.

So, I guess the answer is maybe.

As for Moon I haven't watched it yet. Long story short: We've moved to a new house and I've been having trouble getting Netflix to play nicely over the PlayStation's wireless. So now I'm running Cat5e everywhere so I have more wired connections. Still not quite done but when I am and I have Netflix back in my life properly I'll definitely check the movie out. For sure by end of next week!