In the last few weeks something happened that I think deserves mentioning here in this thread, due to it's direct relevance to the topic. A number of ex-
BioWare people have been joining
Wizards of the Coasts new in-house games development studio
Archetype Entertainment, and their first project is apparently going to be a science fiction game - hopefully a space opera. The latest has been
Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer of
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and
Mass Effect. We have had former employees re-joining or joining other studios before, but still this is exciting. Here is some concept art:
What he had to say was interesting:
“When I started at BioWare, everything was fresh and exciting. It was a dream job – talented people working together to create epic games like Baldur’s Gate, KOTOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But as we grew and became more successful, things changed. We became more corporate. We were less able to make what we loved, and the teams were pushed to create games based on market research rather than our creative instincts and passions. My dream job became just a job, and I lost the enthusiasm and excitement I once had."
“But with Archetype, my passion has been rekindled. The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare; I can feel the magic in the air. And even though I can’t get too deep into the specifics of what we’re working on yet, we’re already generating plenty of excitement in the industry."
“I know we have big shoes to fill. With BioWare, I was part of a legacy that will endure forever. We created some of the most beloved CRPGs of the past two decades. But I truly believe at Archetype we have the talent and the opportunity to do something just as amazing!”
Meanwhile this may be old news to a lot of people here on the codex, but a game mentioned in the original post, which was formerly known as The New World, developed by
Iron Tower Studio, was changed months ago to
Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game. I thought I would mention this for anyone browsing the thread over time. Iron Tower have a pretty strong track record so far with Age of Decadence, so I think this is probably the most solid upcoming sci-fi project on the horizon. Here are some images:
The plot and setting:
It is the Year of Our Lord 2754…
You will never feel the sun’s warmth under a blue sky, never hear the wind in the branches of a tree, and never swim in the ocean, all because you had the misfortune to be born on the Ship, chained to a fate you didn’t choose. You have never seen Earth and you’ll never see Proxima Centauri either. You’re doomed to live and die on the Ship in the name of the Mission, like your father before you, like his father before him.
The Ship is old. She had already been twenty years in service when she was rechristened Starfarer - a pretty name for a retrofitted interplanetary freighter. No one is certain the Ship will actually reach its destination, and nobody much cares, since no one alive now will live to see it. Might as well get on with your life and try to make the best of it.
Sounds closer to no-FTL space opera like The Expanse. Right now, these two projects plus indie
Stellar Tactics and Bethesda's
Starfield are the main hopes for the genre going into the future. But the addition of Archetype's project has suddenly made the amount of upcoming science fiction look really solid. Iron Tower are a solid indie developer and the prospect of a sort of new BioWare backed by Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast, is tantalizing even if we don't know much yet. From having almost nothing to look forward to, space opera might be having a small renaissance. Who knows maybe Denis Villeneuve's Dune will do for sci-fi what The Lord of the Rings did for fantasy, and encourage a new wave of interest too - there is a certain symmetry to it - 20 years since LOTR and 40 years since Star Wars.
