Decline Sacred 3

[Perkel]

Deep Silver is probably the next 'major' publisher that will go bankrupt. Granted this sold well but a lot of the stuff they've been putting out recently is cash-grab IP milking. Derp Island, Saints Row, Risen, and Sacred. I think the Metro series is the only one fairly popular with mainstream gamers.

You forgot Homefront. But isn't Saints Row popular too?

Deep Silver is a subsidiary of a multinational conglomerate, Koch Media (no relation to American Kochs). They might be shut down or downsized, but they won't go bankrupt.

And they don't relly on one or two hits. They have whole portfolio of amazing to shit games which they sell. They won't go bankrupt.

 

[Broseph]

So, anyone play it yet? It's 64/100 on steam. Lots of by steamtards on their forums

 

[Broseph]

Does it have romance?

 

[DeepOcean]

Does it have romance?

Depends... with the way people are butthurt on the steam forums, there are quite some people wishing to romance the mother of the developer responsible for this mess.

 

[Metro]

Already a thread on this in RPG discussion (don't ask me why).

 

[Clockwork Knight]

There is no inventory/loot, you can only have two skills from a total of 4-6 depending on your character, the basic attacks are a simple 3 chained attacks combo and your character can't change weapons to a bow or something. There is no overworld either, just a map where you select a stage. The levels are absolutely linear and just a bunch of arenas with corridors in between. There is also no mouse control, you use WASD to move and your skills are used in the direction you are facing, meaning you can't use the mouse even for the skillshots.

Sounds like a beat'em up...which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, if the game was called Sacred Citadel 2 instead of Sacred 3.

 

[Metro]

People have properly deemed it Sacred Citadel 2. It's not a Sacred game.

 

[evdk]

It's not a Sacred game.

It's more of a Sacrilege.

 

[Metro]

 

[evdk]

 

[Bubbles]

I was one of the Game Designers of Sacred 3. Giving away my key.
Hi,

I was a Junior Game Designer at keen games and worked on Sacred 3. I joined the development team in May 2013. Overall development was a bit longer, as you may know.
My main tasks where design, implementation and maintenance of the enemies and the bosses.

I'm sorry for the die-hard sacred fans, that didn't get the game they wanted to have. As a developer I received a free steam key for Sacred 3, which I would like to give to a disappointed fan, who did not purchase the game already. It's not much, just a gesture.

Here the key: 3TRHM-F088L-55HJC

I've read a lot of hate against my former employer keen games, that they destroyed the franchise (on purpose)... All I can say is, that you should not overestimate the power of a developer in a "work for hire" constellation with a big publisher.

I could answer some questions but I would appreciate to not receive the full hatred package on a personal level.

- Sascha

Edit: Some people demanded proof. http://i.imgur.com/FTXrAgl.jpg?1

I actually do work on a satisfying new project with some keen veterans. We founded a new company and are working on our self-funded debut title. But this is not the place to promote my new studio or game.

I can't give you a "black or white" answer. The executive producer and creative producer were employed by Deep Silver and they did a good job. But they both had a boss too, the marketing department.
The marketing department of Deep Silver was the only one with enough power to change the direction of the franchise.

I'm sorry for the wording. Of course I'm sorry for all sacred fans. This damn "3" in the title. I suggested to rename it to "Sacred - Brawling in Ancaria" or something like that... But the "3" obviously sells better.

Mo-Fr I work on our company's PC & Console project and on the weekend I work on my mobile "one button" game. So yeah, I still love gaming, games and game development. Games occupy 80% of my awake time.
It did take me some courage to post here. The internet can be pretty merciless, so that scares a lot of other developers and that they could potentially lose their jobs if they share internal details.

--- Hi Sascha, Do you really think is this game worthy for 49.99 USD?----
- Regarding the pure development time and cost? yes.
- Compared to playtime of other titles? Probably yes?
- Regarding expectations? Probably not.

Just my personal opinion, I'm not a representative of keen or deep silver. I don't work for them anymore. I made the decision to post here for personal/moral reasons I think? Don't know if I will face legal problems for this.

I don't work on "Unbended". I co-founded a company with two former keen employees. We are 5 people and work on a self-funded couch coop twin stick space shooter with rogue like like elements.

----How many people working for keen game actually played Sacred/Sacred 2?---

Of course we played it. One of the level designers had a very deep knowledge of the whole sacred lore, but the whole story and chatter writing was outsourced (proof for that in the credits of the game I guess).

most of the sacred 3 devs still like each other. Don't want to spill the beans.

The fan outrage didn't surprise me. I anticipated some rage, but it escalated a bit more than expected. Even with this anticipation, some things did hurt pretty hard. For me personally it was Totalbiscuits WTF, RPS' Wot I Think and the steam tags of the german steam store (one tag is "Müll" which means garbage).

http://steamcommunity.com/app/247950/discussions/0/35219681839092913

 

[Infinitron]

Total Biscuit review:

 

[Shannow]

This might be the first time I see a dev openly admitting that his product is, if not "garbage", then at least not a worthy sequel and that people are more or less right in being angry.
But I also don't see the point. If it had been a case of "morals" he should have found them once it was clear what direction the game was pushed in. Now he's just causing trouble, probably most of it for himself.
But I do respect him for it. At least he has guts, which others like Obsidian or Bethesda lack.

 

[Azazel]

I imagine that working in the EU gives you slightly more flexibility to have an opinion and air dirty laundry, whereas if you pulled that shit in North America you'd be blacklisted for decades. (True story, won't go into the details).

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I can't give you a "black or white" answer. The executive producer and creative producer were employed by Deep Silver and they did a good job. But they both had a boss too, the marketing department.
The marketing department of Deep Silver was the only one with enough power to change the direction of the franchise.

bwahahaha, holy shit. Yes, leave the guys who don't have contact with the game to call the shots for the game. Gud plan. We'll make millions, guise.

I'm sorry for the wording. Of course I'm sorry for all sacred fans. This damn "3" in the title. I suggested to rename it to "Sacred - Brawling in Ancaria" or something like that... But the "3" obviously sells better.

I still prefer Sacred Citadel 2

 

[abnaxus]

I don't work on "Unbended". I co-founded a company with two former keen employees. We are 5 people and work on a self-funded couch coop twin stick space shooter with rogue like like elements.

I see, so he's just trying to garner sympathy in preparation for an upcoming Kickstarter.

 

[Metro]

People blaming Keen are morons. They're a shitty casual/mobile developer. Of course they're going to take on a AAA project if Derp Silver throws them money.

 

[Zed]

Nothing is Sacred 3 anymore.

 

[kain30]

i kinda liked sacred 1 and 2 (looking at them as action games, not rpgs...)but this third game is a big smelly piece of crap. it´s not worth more than 10€.

 

[abnaxus]

It's a wonder Deep Silver still bothers with all this Euro shovelware at all now that they have their grubby hands on blockbuster franchises like Saints Row and Dead Island.

I'd also bet money it was them who offered to buy Larian.

 

[Zed]

It's a wonder Deep Silver still bothers with all this Euro shovelware at all now that they have their grubby hands on blockbuster franchises like Saints Row and Dead Island.

I'd also bet money it was them who offered to buy Larian.

Are you saying Dead Island is anything but euro shovelware?

 

[Bubbles]

More:

As I stated before, there is no "black and white" answer for the question "who is to blame? Deep Silver or Keen?".
I don't want to create an "enemy image" or something like that. I don't want to tell internal details. It would be great for the community to have those details, but I'm certainly not the one who should give them to you. I'm not an official representative of deep silver or keen, I was just a Game Designers who built enemies and bosses for this game

If you analyze the Sacred 3 credits, you should recognize that there is always an extra "Lead Department X" entry. But not for the Game Design department. You won't find a Game Director, Creative Director or Lead Game Designer. Why? Because the project didn't have one.

Deep Silver owns the IP, they spent the whole money and had the financial risk on their own. Of course they say how it goes and in which direction. I don't have to have their oppinion, but it's their right to do so. They still paid salaries for us developers and our families, for a long time.

If a publisher owns an IP and would like to produce a sequel, he often gives other developers the opportunity to apply for this project. The interested developers then usually make a prototype, a high concept document and a production/budget plan. It's like a casting. In case of Sacred, keen did the best pitch and had the best prototype. Then they got the budget which enabled them to hire a lot of key personell and "infantry for the concent creation front". So no, the portfolio does not matter. Keen is an experienced developer with a lot of skilled individuals. Sometimes it's better to empower those people.

Sacred Legends: Which development Studio will be responsible for Sacred 3? And which Titles was the Studio involved in?
Wein: Responsible is Deep Silver. right now we can't expose who is directly working on Sacred 3. You have to be patient about that. But the people from our Team that were involved in Risen or Sacred 2 will also be involved in Sacred 3. That's the most logical thing to do. It wouldn't fit to let someone develop a RPG Game who had been working on a Spacegame or an Adventure. But we will get feedback from our developers that work on other games.

Speaks for itself.

 

[Metro]

Again, Keen's portfolio: http://www.keengames.com/keen-games/games/games/ Basically Derp Silver went with the cheapest bid.

 

[DeepOcean]

This Keen guy is full of bullshit too, the Marketing department maybe is the responsible for the retarded idea of turning the game on a beat'em up but it was his full responsability for turning it into a really, really shitty beat'em up. Sacred Citadel too had gameplay problems that appear again on this game, the reality is that Deep Silver as any other publisher is run by morons gambling with the money of ignorant investors hiring shit/cheapo unexperienced/incompetent mobile shovelware developers and kept financially afloat by the hype/day one buyers/pre order bovine crowd that makes the majority of the gamming population as you can see on the Steam forums.

 

[Overboard]

I imagine that working in the EU gives you slightly more flexibility to have an opinion and air dirty laundry, whereas if you pulled that shit in North America you'd be blacklisted for decades. (True story, won't go into the details).

Rest easy, friend, Cleve is in a safe place now.