Chris Avellone Quotes

Powerful Chris Avellone for Daily Growth

About Chris Avellone

Chris Avellone, a renowned American video game developer and writer, was born on August 14, 1971, in the United States. Known for his intricate narrative designs, unique character development, and immersive worlds, he has left an indelible mark on the gaming industry. Avellone's passion for storytelling was sparked at a young age, influenced by science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. This passion led him to study Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, where he honed his skills before entering the video game industry. His career began in 1994 when he joined Interplay Productions, working on projects such as Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast and Planescape: Torment. These games were critically acclaimed for their rich narratives and complex characters, setting a new standard for story-driven RPGs. In 1999, Avellone moved to Obsidian Entertainment, co-founded by former colleagues from Black Isle Studios. At Obsidian, he worked on seminal games like Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. His contributions to these games, particularly in the realm of storytelling, have been widely praised. Avellone's work is characterized by complex narratives, rich characters, and a deep understanding of the worlds he creates. He has won numerous awards for his writing and design, including multiple Game Developers Choice Awards. Today, Chris Avellone continues to make significant contributions to the gaming industry, combining his love for storytelling with innovative game mechanics. His work serves as an inspiration to many aspiring writers and developers in the field.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Storytelling is about creating moments that make people feel something."

This quote by Chris Avellone emphasizes the importance of evoking emotions through storytelling. By crafting impactful, memorable scenes, a storyteller can elicit feelings in their audience. These emotional responses serve as a way to forge connections with readers or viewers, making the narrative more resonant and meaningful. Effective storytelling isn't just about imparting information; it's about creating an experience that stirs the heart and mind of the listener.


"The best way to predict your future is to create it."

This quote by Chris Avellone emphasizes the power of self-determination and personal action in shaping one's future. It suggests that instead of passively waiting for events to unfold, we should proactively make decisions and take actions that will lead us towards our desired goals or outcomes. In essence, it encourages individuals to take control of their lives and actively create their own destinies rather than merely reacting to circumstances.


"A good story doesn't need a lot of explanation; let the audience fill in the gaps with their imagination."

This quote highlights the power of the reader or viewer to engage actively with a narrative, contributing their own creativity and understanding to interpret and fill in details left intentionally ambiguous by the author. The idea is that a well-crafted story should stimulate the imagination and invite active participation from its audience rather than overly dictating every detail, allowing for a more personal and immersive experience.


"A character without flaws is like a pancake without syrup - it's just not as interesting."

This quote emphasizes that perfectly flawless characters are less engaging and realistic, similar to a pancake without syrup being less appealing. Characters with flaws, challenges, or weaknesses make stories more intriguing, relatable, and human-like since no one in real life is truly perfect. These imperfections contribute to the character's development and growth throughout the story, allowing readers or viewers to empathize with them better.


"The most important part of world-building isn’t the world itself, but the people who inhabit it and how they interact with that world."

This quote emphasizes that while creating a fictional world is essential in storytelling, the human elements - characters and their interactions - are the most crucial aspects of world-building. The world serves as a backdrop for character development, conflicts, and growth; it's through these elements that audiences can connect with the story emotionally. Therefore, the focus should be on creating compelling characters and intriguing relationships within the context of the world, rather than just building an elaborate setting.


A lot of the strength of an RPG world lies in its foundation: its systems, lore, and when appropriate, its magic systems. While there are elements tied to 'Project: Eternity' that at first glance seem to be classic fantasy, that's intentional - we do want to recreate some elements of a High Fantasy experience.

- Chris Avellone

Magic, Some, Appropriate, Glance

Working with franchises can be challenging, but at the same time I really did enjoy working on 'Star Wars,' for example, and I have done a lot of 'Dungeons & Dragons' games, but I still enjoy it very much.

- Chris Avellone

Star, Very, Still, Dragons

What I like about Kickstarter is it helps games that people want to play still get made, even if you don't pump $20 million dollars into it to try and meet all the stupid bells and whistles that publishers feel must be in games nowadays.

- Chris Avellone

Stupid, Play, Bells, Million Dollars

On my long list of hates about RPGs, one of them was, I always felt it was an unnecessary chore to make you care about a world when, in fact, what most players care about is their own personal experience.

- Chris Avellone

Fact, Own, About, Chore

In 'Alpha Protocol,' right from the outset, the parameters of the game explain to you that the mission needs to get done. How you approach that is your decision. The rewards and penalties for either path, those are going to balance out into different consequences.

- Chris Avellone

Game, Explain, Penalties, Protocol

While I'm confident in Obsidian being able to deliver a quality title, it only takes one other Kickstarter developer to ruin things for everyone else and cast doubt on the donation process going forward.

- Chris Avellone

Confident, Other, Deliver, Ruin

I think, actually, any morality system that rewards only the extremes is a flawed system. Players don't approach life that way, they don't approach games that way, and they shouldn't be trained to approach games that way. They shouldn't be in the 'Star Wars' mode where, 'I've got to choose every good option.'

- Chris Avellone

Choose, I Think, Trained, Rewards

The most important thing in games isn't the designer's narrative, but the story the player creates through his experiences.

- Chris Avellone

Through, Important Thing, Creates

If there's anything I can't stand, it's the cliche of the female handler who's always talking through the radio with your player, telling you where to go and what to do with a sexy voice. It's such a horrible, horrible cliche. You just get so tired of it. It's like, is this all she's ever going to be?

- Chris Avellone

Voice, Through, Telling, Cliche

We've pitched and even begun development on a number of fantasy worlds that have never seen the light of day. All of those worlds... It's soul-crushing to see them sputter out, one by one. Lost. Like tears. In rain.

- Chris Avellone

Tears, Seen, Worlds, Begun

I absolutely knew that I wanted to play role-playing games when I saw a friend of mine playing 'Bard's Tale 2' on his Commodore 64.

- Chris Avellone

Play, Knew, Mine, Tale

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