New role-playing games with The Black Eye: Here's how to bring back the days of Drakensang:
The Black Eye had a glorious RPG past, but it's over. In an interview, Jan Wagner from Ulisses Digital has now revealed the master plan for a comeback.
by Fabiano Uslenghi, 22.04.2022 11:07 am
Once upon a time, a time-honoured role-playing system ruled the German lands and brought joy and happiness to the hearts of German fans of cultivated role-playing with some glorious PC games. The Black Eye produced classics such as Drakensang, The Northland Trilogy or Satinav's Chains. But this time seems to be over.
Where there was once light, there is now shadow. For many years, there has not been a game in Aventuria that could tie in with these high times. Book of Heroes was the sad low point.
Why DSA is struggling nowadays also has to do with how the PC market has developed. Because while games are becoming more and more expensive, the world of Das Schwarze Auge has remained a German niche market.
But not all hope is lost yet. The Black Eye is supposed to come back, just not necessarily any time soon. In the podcast, Jan Wagner, Head of Digital Games at DSA publisher Ulisses, gave us exclusive insights into the master plan for good PC games based around Das Schwarze Auge.
Jan Wagner from Ulisses Digital Games in conversation
In the podcast, Jan Wagner talks about his plan to make DSA games successful again. Simply giving the licence to external developers who have no love or vested interest in the world, as happened with Book of Heroes, should definitely no longer be the way.
For many fans, the two Drakensang role-playing games are among the best RPGs in the DSA universe.
Instead, Wagner has devised a new plan, and part of it is to empower Ulisses Publishing to develop the games themselves. This is the only way to guarantee that the necessary love and care flow into the product that the publisher and the fan community want.
But Ulisses simply cannot develop any games at the moment. This is to change in the next few years. That is why there is a "master plan":
-The Visual Novel: It will start as early as May 2022, when a new DSA "game", Wolves of the Westwind, will appear on Steam. Only this is a visual novel, with very little RPG content. It's about a story to read and with beautiful pictures. Things that Ulisses is already good at, without too much financial risk.
-An action game: The next project will be a standard action game that the studio can try out. However, without a DSA licence. Because according to Wagner, with this brand, which is loved by fans, there are only "a few shots available", and they should be good ones.
-A first role-playing game: What has been learned is then to be implemented in another game, which this time will actually be a role-playing game. But again without a DSA licence, instead another Pen&Paper work will be used: Hexxen 1733.
-The new DSA RPG: And when all these points have been checked off, the staff has been increased and trained, and hopefully the financing and the international reputation of the studio are at a good point, then a new DSA role-playing game is to be created, with an appropriate production effort.
The goal is to have a game that is internationally competitive even without the brand's traction and that satisfies DSA fans in Germany.
But one thing is certain: no new DSA role-playing game will be released soon. The plan is designed for the long term and all these games want to be developed first. By the way, Wagner almost rules out the possibility of a Drakensang 3, as Drakensang is still a separate brand name whose rights do not lie with Ulisses.
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