Why Piranha Bytes Dumped JoWooD
Why Piranha Bytes Dumped JoWooD
Interview - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Fri 6 May 2011, 21:53:56
Tags: Piranha BytesEurogamer interviewed Piranha Bytes on the topic of Gothic rights and more.
JoWooD went on to attempt a fourth Gothic game using developer Spellbound Software. The results were dire: ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale was "a dry spreadsheet" of ideas that "neither mentally or materially" rewarded players - 4/10.
Meanwhile, Piranha Bytes threw together Risen, which fared only slightly better, earning 6/10 on PC and 4/10 on console.
"For us it seemed to be a win-win situation," said Hoge of the impact of ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale, "because we knew we would get the brand back.
"Currently, JoWooD has no more rights on developing any further Gothic titles, so the rights are back - they will be back I think next year. I don't have the contract here. Very soon the contract runs out and we will get the rights back. And we knew that from the start.
As an aside, Risen 2 will be better.
The project Risen 2 is by far the most expensive project that we've done. I can't elaborate on that, sorry.
We've put much more effort into the animation by using motion capture. Also, the structure of the game: in Risen 1 we had quite an imbalance in the game chapters; as the game went on there was less and less to do, and at the end you had to run through a couple of dungeons. This gave you the feeling that the game became more boring.
What we're doing in Risen 2 is mix it all up: the dungeons will not be at the end of the game but at several points in the game.
We have a completely different travelling system. We've split the world into several islands and coastal regions, so you still have an open world, which you can explore freely, but we can force the player to solve some missions before we allow him to travel to another island. Thus we can ensure the player knows certain things when he arrives.
Spotted at: RPGWatch
JoWooD went on to attempt a fourth Gothic game using developer Spellbound Software. The results were dire: ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale was "a dry spreadsheet" of ideas that "neither mentally or materially" rewarded players - 4/10.
Meanwhile, Piranha Bytes threw together Risen, which fared only slightly better, earning 6/10 on PC and 4/10 on console.
"For us it seemed to be a win-win situation," said Hoge of the impact of ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale, "because we knew we would get the brand back.
"Currently, JoWooD has no more rights on developing any further Gothic titles, so the rights are back - they will be back I think next year. I don't have the contract here. Very soon the contract runs out and we will get the rights back. And we knew that from the start.
The project Risen 2 is by far the most expensive project that we've done. I can't elaborate on that, sorry.
We've put much more effort into the animation by using motion capture. Also, the structure of the game: in Risen 1 we had quite an imbalance in the game chapters; as the game went on there was less and less to do, and at the end you had to run through a couple of dungeons. This gave you the feeling that the game became more boring.
What we're doing in Risen 2 is mix it all up: the dungeons will not be at the end of the game but at several points in the game.
We have a completely different travelling system. We've split the world into several islands and coastal regions, so you still have an open world, which you can explore freely, but we can force the player to solve some missions before we allow him to travel to another island. Thus we can ensure the player knows certain things when he arrives.
Spotted at: RPGWatch
