In part II of our interview with Runic Games (you can check out the first part right here) we talk about what went wrong at Flagship Studios and what the future holds after the single-player part of Torchlight is released on Oct. 28.
Runic Games first title, an action RPG called Torchlight, got a lot of buzz at the Penny Arcade Expo in Sept. and a lot of positive feedback from fans that were seeing it for the very first time. A month later the game is in its final stage of development as the team races towards its Oct. 27 release date. To understand the appeal of Torchlight, you need look no further than the gentlemen working on the game and their influences and past accomplishments. Collectively the small development team working on this game has worked on such titles as Diablo and Diablo II, the indie hit RPG FATE, and the now cancelled MMO Mythos. While that list of accomplishments might seem short, it’s also very impressive.
What I learned from talking to Runic Games co-founder and CEO Max Shaefer, Art Director Jason Beck and Runic Games co-founder Travis Baldree was that these influences are helping them to build a better game and later to build a perfect extension of that game with an MMO project. In part I of my interview with this trio I learn about the first fruits of their labors: Torchlight. Read on.
Former Blizzard North president, David Brevik, has joined Gazillion Entertainment, it was announced today. Brevikhas been named the new Studio Director for Gargantuan. In this role he will lead development efforts for the company’s upcoming Marvel Universe MMO for PC and consoles, in addition to heading up the Gargantuan development studio located at Gazillion’s headquarters in San Mateo, California.
Brevik has held many leadership roles, most notably as president of Blizzard North for seven years. Brevik was responsible for creating Blizzard’s Diablo series, for which he was Project Lead, Design Lead and Lead Programmer on both Diablo and Diablo II. He also helped launched Blizzard’s online gaming service, Battle.Net, and was involved in key initiatives spanning multiple game and technology projects at Blizzard Entertainment. Prior to joining Gazillion, Brevik was a Director at Flagship Studios.
This week at the San Diego Comic-Con, Brevik will participate on a panel Q&A called The State of MMOs: A Discussion with the Developer with other game designers, including Craig Alexander (Turbine), Gordon Walton (BioWare), and Bob Ferrari (Sanrio Digital) on Thursday, July 23rd from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Redbana US, the North American development and publishing division of T3 Entertainment, today officially announced their presence in the North American market as a game development and publishing studio. Their first order of business, says this new entity is the localization and ongoing operation of the global title, Audition, a massively-multiplayer online rhythm game with more than 300 million registered users worldwide.
Redbana took over operations of Audition from Nexon earlier this year. The game was originally launched in Korea in 2004 and has since become a worldwide phenomenon, with more than 300 million users playing Audition in more than 50 countries. In the game, players create avatars to compete in virtual dance competitions. An in-game micro-transaction system allows players to buy unique hair styles, attire, accessories, faces and more.
But the more interesting fact is that in 2008 Redbana acquired select intellectual property rights from Flagship Studios, which the company says it will announce plans for shortly. www.redbana.com
The live from NYC edition. Today we learn about what one might do after leaving an MMO company like Flagship Studios, the release of Sim Animals, tons of MMO news the release of Skate 2 and so much more. Jump on in after the break.
Midway is not alone today in reducing its staff to deal with the realities of the economy. The company has cut staff at its Massachusetts and California studios, though it declined to reveal just how many were laid off. According to a GI.biz report these jobs were in quality assurance and account management. The company cited the completion of its Mines of Moria expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online as one of the key reasons for the layoffs.
“We just finished a major project with the launch of Mines of Moria and are now adjusting our resources to focus on several other projects that are in development,” a company spokesmen told GI.biz.
Turbine’s California office was launched in October of this year, and was staffed by a number of personnel displaced by the failure of Bill Roper’s Flagship Studios. Some of these poor people just can’t seem to catch a break.
While Turbine was tight lipped about the layoff numbers, it did say that it is actually hiring, and expects to grow in 2009. The company also added that it would not outsource QA or tech support duties and that it had “no plans” to lay off any more staff in the immediate future.
Flagship Studio founder Bill Roper has found a new home: Cryptic Studios. The man behind Hellgate: London will help Cryptic Studios create its upcoming super hero MMO title, Champions Online. Forgive us if we are a little bit skeptical on why this is a good move on Cryptic Studios’ part, given the abysmal failure of Roper’s last project. Cryptic is also working on a Star Trek MMO, in case you didn’t know.
Roper will focus on adapting the Champions pen and paper role-playing game into the MMO-space, though I’m pretty sure that Cryptic Studios has a capable staff of developers already in place to handle that.
Not all of roper’s past accomplishments have been as soul crushing as Hellgate London: while at Blizzard Roper helped push out the hits Starcraft and Warcraft. I hope this opportunity will put him back on the path to creating goods quality games.
