inXile to ‘obsess’ over Wasteland 2 fan feedback

By now you've probably heard Wasteland 2, a sequel to the 1988 top-down RPG Wasteland, is going to be created – largely due to fan support via a Kickstarter project led by Interplay founder and Wasteland creator Brian Fargo.

After nearly a quarter of a century's wait, it looks like Fargo will finally get the chance to recapture the feeling of a game "made during the golden era of computer games when creativity was king."  But he isn't doing it alone.

In the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter, Fargo tells fans, "you'll have a voice in how the game goes together."

"We will have forums up for design discussion and soliciting your ideas for what will make Wasteland 2 rock," he explained.

"This is your chance to influence the kind of game you want to see. With fan funding, you drive the direction of game design and development. If it is important to you, it is important to us."

It sounds too good to be true, which is why we asked Brian Fargo, in our recent exclusive interview, exactly how much influence fans will have over the game.

"We're going to obsess over it," he said. "We already have the fan boards set up."

He then explained, "I'll give you an example, people are saying 'What if you make it past your goal, and make it to 1.75 million, 2 million?' and in the old days, I'd say we might do this, we might do that, but now we can go to the fans, and ask them what they would like. More special effects, more audio, bigger content, an iOS version, and I let the fans vote and that way we can figure out what we can provide."

It sounds like outside of actually creating, fans will play a pivotal role on the focus of what features will make it into game.

"I feel more confident in building this product than I have pretty much any other, because of the fact that the fans were involved in the beginning on the front end to test our sensibilities and clearly they like what they've been hearing, and then we're going to deliver it to them. It's like if we say, 'We're going to have gritty writing', it's one thing to say it, but then have fans look at it and say 'This is horrible writing!' that we'll then have to tweak, so the process is really well organized."

To date, the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter has surpassed the goal of $900,000.  Fans have currently pledged $1,194,401.  It sounds like a lot, but in terms of full-scale RPG, it really isn't a lot.  So if you would like to donate toward the game's development visit the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter page.  Remember, the more that is donated, the more features we'll have!