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D&D Dark Alliance - co-op action brawler where you play Drizzt's party

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://darkalliance.wizards.com





The studio released a top-down shooter called Livelock in 2016 (and tried to fund a mech action RPG World War Machine before that), and now building up to be a AAA studio.

https://www.tuquegames.com/games/game-2

WE'RE WORKING ON A BRAND NEW DUNGEONS & DRAGONS GAME!

We're developing a brand-new game based in the widely celebrated, enduring, and immensely popular Dungeons & Dragons universe. This yet to be announced title is steepled in classic D&D lore. We aspire to push this game to new heights for the genre. It’s an honour and a privilege to begin a new chapter for Dungeons & Dragons video games.

Tuque Games is currently hiring and looking for other talented developers to join us in our Montreal office. For more information about how to apply, please Visit: https://www.tuquegames.com/career

https://www.tuquegames.com/news/building-a-aaa-game-studio-from-scratch

Building a new AAA game studio from scratch
In today's gaming industry, where AAA studios layoff staff left and right, is it even possible for a relatively unknown developer to rise up and challenge the status quo?

As a gamer, I love playing all kinds of games; from the AAA blockbusters to the tiny independent games spanning many genres. I've played and equally enjoyed over 100 hours of both the Witcher 3 and Darkest Dungeon. On one hand, you have an 800-developer strong, multi-site studio with CD Projekt making their 3rd game in the Witcher franchise and on the other, there's a 2-person independent startup - Red Hook Studios - releasing Darkest Dungeon. It's amazing to me to see such a wide competitive landscape with developers of all sizes and backgrounds competing equally for the attention of gamers.

While independent developers like Red Hook Studios are outstanding role models for other independent startups, what kind of role models do aspiring AAA developers have?

AAA Studio Role Models
I founded Tuque Games with the goal of building a AAA independent studio from scratch. I’ve been making games in Montreal for over 20 years and in 2012 - a few months before the demise of THQ - my last “job” in the industry - I felt like the time was right for me to take on the challenge. Earlier in my career, I had learned the ropes of making quality games at Ubisoft Montreal. While at Ubi, I was in company of some of the greatest developers in the world. Indeed, we built a AAA studio from scratch back then. We went from basic licensed games with Batman, Playmobil and Disney games to Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six. I was lucky to start at Ubi when it was relatively small. Today, Ubisoft Montreal employs over 3000 talented developers and is a shining example of a AAA studio who consistently produces critically and commercially successful games. Ubisoft Montreal became a AAA quality studio when it came out of hiding with the games mentioned above. But that was over 15 years ago! The 2000s were a time that saw many amazing studios emerge into AAA status as well. There are many more but some of the studios that I looked up to then were Bioware, CD Projekt Red, Infinity Ward, Rockstar, From Software, Gearbox, Epic Games, Sony Santa Monica and Naughty Dog.

More recently, the 2010s have also seen the emergence of other outstanding AAA studios. Rocksteady, Arkane Studios and Respawn Entertainment.

Getting the training wheels off
Coming back to Tuque Games, our approach is to build a AAA studio one step at a time. We need to earn the right to take each step, one victory at a time. We’re proud of our first studio title: Livelock. I personally think the hardest step for any business to take is the first one. With Livelock we managed to ship a game and have it not be a complete disaster! The game is fun to play, has an interesting twist on the twin-stick genre and it showcases some technical expertise uncommon in most games today. Livelock was definitely a production that allowed us to get our training wheels off and set us up for the next step towards building our own AAA studio from scratch.

Building a Dungeons and Dragons Game
In June of last year, we employed 12 developers and were deep in pre-production on our next title. Today we are 45 strong and growing. We’re happy to say that we’re working on a Dungeons and Dragons game with Wizards of the Coast. We can’t reveal anything specifically about the game just yet but we can’t wait to show more, even though it likely won’t be a while until we’re ready to.

by Jeff Hattem - Founder Tuque Games, follow me on Twitter @jeffhattem

Job postings hint this is a "co-op action RPG" with quests (duh), "in-game barks and banter", powered by Unreal Engine 4.

https://www.tuquegames.com/careers/narradive-designer-writer
https://www.facebook.com/artoflincolnhughes/posts/310390779612481
https://espresso-jobs.com/en/company/18124/tuque-games-inc/

Products and services
Dungeons and Dragons CO-OP Action-RPG
Livelock (PS4, XboxOne, PC)

May or may not related to this game, from a job posting for 3D artist:

2clqXl8.jpg


Lead Narrative Designer was Lead Writer of Batman: Arkham Origins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryangalletta/
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Saerain

Augur
Patron
Joined
May 27, 2011
Messages
495
I'll take co-op ARPG with a good toolset and dedicated server support. Otherwise...
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,885
co-op action rpg?? fuck this shit. For a D&D videogame give turn based, RTWP or nothing....
It does not necessarily need to be rtwp or TB but I bet they are going to turn all abilities into cooldown versions and take liberties when converting them. Just like that MMO Neverwinter did with 4e D&D.
 

Gunnar

Arbiter
Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Messages
819
I like D&D as much as the next guy but I think it's safe to say that a Dungeons and Dragons video game that involves Wizards of the Coast is going to be shit. Anything aspiring to be "AAA" especially an RPG is strongly indicated for shit. This guy enjoyed Darkest Dungeon for over 100 hours, proof that the Founder of this studio is at least mildly retarded.
 

frajaq

Erudite
Joined
Oct 5, 2017
Messages
2,380
Location
Brazil
Cant wait for them to pick the most boring and blandest setting imaginable from D&D stuff
 

Max Heap

Arcane
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
617
D&D and action never went well together.

There are plenty of those games - from Dark Alliance to Demon Stone - and in all of them the D&D rules were nothing but unnecessary bloat, while the action gameplay tried to copy some other well established franchise. It's the typical curse of licensed games. You got your IP and you are legally bound to do something with it, but it doesn't really work with whatever you want to do, so you deliver a mediocre job on both ends. D&D, Warhammer, Realms of Arkania - there are plenty of franchises that suffer from that.
 

InD_ImaginE

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
5,365
Pathfinder: Wrath
lol either nobody wants to work on D&D anymore or WotC are dumbfucks who only license their IP to the worst companies possible.

Sword Coast Legends failed because it is not a game people who want D&D video games want to play.

Heck, the only people who cares about D&D video games are probably those who play the PnP (which more likely to prefer a turn based RPG) or people growing up on Gold Box or Bioware games (who would prefer TB or RTWP RPG) and both groups definitely want the PnP ruleset to be implemented in the video games instead of having a whatever games with D&D setting.

Trying to go for mainstream appeal to people who don't fucking care about your IP is very fucking nice idea WoTC. And then choosing random studio with no previous portfolio regarding these kind of games? Good luck. At least if they license the game to Obsidian, CD Project, or heck, even the rotting carcass of Bioware they might still be able to gather some attention solely from the name of the Studio.

This game will bomb and the company, unfortunately for those working there, will most likely go bankrupt.

At least the guys at Piazio have the correct idea licensing their game as RTwP RPG.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Former Eidos Montreal designer who worked on Deus Ex Breach and Thief 4 https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-david-tremblay-68086ab/

Senior game designer on a Dungeons & Dragons project. Designing procedural itemgeneration and spell generation, designing combat for co-op battle gameplay with multipleknown characters from the popular license.

Sounds like pre-gen characters. (Imagining something like Warhammer Vermintide but with more RPG-ish elements in the vein of Diablo model.)
 

Thonius

Arcane
Joined
Sep 18, 2014
Messages
6,495
Location
Pro-Tip Corporation.
Former Eidos Montreal designer who worked on Deus Ex Breach and Thief 4 https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-david-tremblay-68086ab/

Senior game designer on a Dungeons & Dragons project. Designing procedural itemgeneration and spell generation, designing combat for co-op battle gameplay with multipleknown characters from the popular license.

Sounds like pre-gen characters. (Imagining something like Warhammer Vermintide but with more RPG-ish elements in the vein of Diablo model.)
Oh god! We need another L4D clone but now in DnD. ( Who the heck cares about DnD lore except for PnP folks and people with CRPG background?)
 

Daemongar

Arcane
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,706
Location
Wisconsin
Codex Year of the Donut
In it's defense, there aren't enough Co-Op games, and theoretically a game where players come together and play classes in real time may not be the death of all. BUT I can safely assume this will be a co-op Skyrim clone with token D&D stats, loosely based on the D&D 5th Ed ruleset with players running all over blasting enemies, party mechanics be damned.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Lead Mission Designer, also former Eidos Montreal designer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-françois-champagne-1896624/

Lead a team in the design and implementation of the Game World, Game Structure, Main Missions and Side Content.

Design Director, Francois Lapikas, who was gameplay director on Eidos Montreal's canceled Final Fantasy and director on Project MD2 (probably the canceled sequel to Mankind Divided): https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoislapikas/

My current area of expertise is systems design as applied to non-linear gameplay.

I've had the opportunity to do a lot of things over the years, but I'm now back to pure game design -- my first love.

Design Director - Unannounced Project
Company Name Tuque Games
Dates Employed Aug 2018 – Present
Employment Duration 9 mos
Location Montreal, Canada Area


- Game Design
- Level Design
- Narrative Design

There are more developers from Eidos Montreal, but I guess it does not necessarily suggest this game's genre. It's one of big studios, with Ubisoft and WB, in Montreal after all.
 

King Crispy

Too bad I have no queen.
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2008
Messages
1,876,560
Location
Future Wasteland
Strap Yourselves In
The only thing that's steepled are my fingers while pondering the incredibly stupid decision to make this an action RPG.

What a wasted opportunity because the timing is perfect for another true D&D game. Now that Pathfinder: Kingmaker has run its course, if these guys could hurry up and release a good tactical D&D game before Owlcat can pump out what surely will be their successful sequel, they'd do very well.

Dumb.
 

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