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Tags: Seven Dragon Saga; Tactical Simulations Interactive
Shortly after we posted about Tactical Simulation Interactive's Seven Dragon Saga pen-and-paper RPG website the other day, they locked it down, password-protecting most of its pages. Tsk tsk. However, what they failed to hide was the website of their computer RPG, which was located by Codexer LESS T_T using the almighty powers of Google. Here's what it says:
The website has an illustration of one of the game's classes, a "Dwarf Knight", who is dressed in an Arabian-styled garb (and is decidely non-animesque, if you were worried about that). There's also a "Pledge Now" button, that currently just leads to Kickstarter's main page. But I guess that confirms that this is going to be a Kickstarter.
Shortly after we posted about Tactical Simulation Interactive's Seven Dragon Saga pen-and-paper RPG website the other day, they locked it down, password-protecting most of its pages. Tsk tsk. However, what they failed to hide was the website of their computer RPG, which was located by Codexer LESS T_T using the almighty powers of Google. Here's what it says:
Seven Dragon Saga allows the player to create and customize a full party of adventurers and maneuver them in detailed, turn-based tactical combat. You won’t find any rat-hunting farmers here- characters begin with a suite of talents. Rather, the characters are ‘Touched by the winds of chaos’, and destined for great successes or spectacular demises.
Explore a rich world, uncover lost treasures, deal with challenging social and political situations. The player’s choices alter the world in meaningful ways, both physically and socially. Sent by the Empire of the Seven Dragons to the minor Kingdom of Afelon, the party must uncover who is driving the land to civil war and whether that conspiracy might pose a threat to the Empire at large. What mysteries lie in the surrounding, monster-infested peaks? Who is worthy of trust and who only of death?
The website also has a news blog, which already has three posts. They're not long, so I'll just post them here:Explore a rich world, uncover lost treasures, deal with challenging social and political situations. The player’s choices alter the world in meaningful ways, both physically and socially. Sent by the Empire of the Seven Dragons to the minor Kingdom of Afelon, the party must uncover who is driving the land to civil war and whether that conspiracy might pose a threat to the Empire at large. What mysteries lie in the surrounding, monster-infested peaks? Who is worthy of trust and who only of death?
TSI started out as a dream. A dream many of you seem to share. It’s the return of a company you could depend upon to consistently deliver a meaningful RPG experience. While there are many classic RPG franchises and several talented studios, SSI and the Gold Box games delivered, time and again, a new adventure using the same type of compelling, tactical experience. You knew exactly what you were getting: proven technology, a great system/setting, and strategic, party-based combat. Our company, TSI, was formed in that same spirit. While we’ve quietly been working for several months, it’s still early in the overall scheme of things, so please be patient as we role out assets and additional details for what we have planned. We are thrilled to finally be able to share information about our company and our projects.
TSI is a new enterprise. Naturally, there are a lot of questions including “what took you guys so long”?
Honestly, it took time for the industry to mature and for us to find the resources. Three things had to happen:
1. The technology and costs had to allow for the opportunity to make sense. The shift from PC to consoles was a contributing factor to SSI being sold, as was, PC RPG’s falling out of vogue for publishers. However, digital distribution and terrific tools like Unity3D have lowered the barrier to create quality games.
2. There needed to be a clear demand. Reaction to titles like “Legend of Grimrock” and “Wasteland 2” has demonstrated that there IS an interest for classic RPG gameplay.
3. Getting a passionate team together was vital. Like many of you, David Klein grew up playing SSI games on his Apple IIe (then AppleIIGS/Amiga2000/PC). David’s the one that raised an initial round of funding, and then set out to create a company that could recapture the classic games he loved to play. He sought out David Shelley, a lead designer on many of SSI’s games, to lead the design on TSI’s first project. David Shelley was part of a close circle of alumni friends, and he brought in Paul Murray, an engineer and designer of Wizard’s Crown, Eternal Dagger, many Gold Box games, as well as, the Panzer General series. Every member of the team is excited about creating a compelling experience. We’re fortunate to have several former SSI members and other artists and engineers contributing to the ground work for Seven Dragon Saga, a classic RPG for the modern age
Honestly, it took time for the industry to mature and for us to find the resources. Three things had to happen:
1. The technology and costs had to allow for the opportunity to make sense. The shift from PC to consoles was a contributing factor to SSI being sold, as was, PC RPG’s falling out of vogue for publishers. However, digital distribution and terrific tools like Unity3D have lowered the barrier to create quality games.
2. There needed to be a clear demand. Reaction to titles like “Legend of Grimrock” and “Wasteland 2” has demonstrated that there IS an interest for classic RPG gameplay.
3. Getting a passionate team together was vital. Like many of you, David Klein grew up playing SSI games on his Apple IIe (then AppleIIGS/Amiga2000/PC). David’s the one that raised an initial round of funding, and then set out to create a company that could recapture the classic games he loved to play. He sought out David Shelley, a lead designer on many of SSI’s games, to lead the design on TSI’s first project. David Shelley was part of a close circle of alumni friends, and he brought in Paul Murray, an engineer and designer of Wizard’s Crown, Eternal Dagger, many Gold Box games, as well as, the Panzer General series. Every member of the team is excited about creating a compelling experience. We’re fortunate to have several former SSI members and other artists and engineers contributing to the ground work for Seven Dragon Saga, a classic RPG for the modern age
People will ask “why aren’t you (re-)making (insert favorite here)”, instead of Seven Dragon Saga?
The short answer is that it isn’t entirely up to us. We are, however, incredibly excited about the new endeavor we’ve chosen.
Once our core team decided to embark on this venture, the very next question was: “what should we do for our first project?” We knew initially that we wanted to do a fantasy RPG but, we also needed to take a hard look at how the landscape has changed and what our development roadmap would look like. Fortunately, we had an immediate opportunity to work with a robust rule system and game world. The Seven Dragon Saga is the brainchild of David Shelley and Keith Brors (also an SSI alumni and veteran engineer). Both have been part of a weekly tabletop role-playing since before SSI formed. Being engineers and designers, David and Keith have created and refined their own system over the years. Licensing the game to TSI and getting to work on the computer game itself became a tremendous opportunity. TSI gained a developed system to work from, access to its creators, and the creative freedom to make the ideal game.
Opportunities to work with (insert favorite game/RPG system) are a definite possibility for the future.
The short answer is that it isn’t entirely up to us. We are, however, incredibly excited about the new endeavor we’ve chosen.
Once our core team decided to embark on this venture, the very next question was: “what should we do for our first project?” We knew initially that we wanted to do a fantasy RPG but, we also needed to take a hard look at how the landscape has changed and what our development roadmap would look like. Fortunately, we had an immediate opportunity to work with a robust rule system and game world. The Seven Dragon Saga is the brainchild of David Shelley and Keith Brors (also an SSI alumni and veteran engineer). Both have been part of a weekly tabletop role-playing since before SSI formed. Being engineers and designers, David and Keith have created and refined their own system over the years. Licensing the game to TSI and getting to work on the computer game itself became a tremendous opportunity. TSI gained a developed system to work from, access to its creators, and the creative freedom to make the ideal game.
Opportunities to work with (insert favorite game/RPG system) are a definite possibility for the future.
The website has an illustration of one of the game's classes, a "Dwarf Knight", who is dressed in an Arabian-styled garb (and is decidely non-animesque, if you were worried about that). There's also a "Pledge Now" button, that currently just leads to Kickstarter's main page. But I guess that confirms that this is going to be a Kickstarter.
