Beamdog working on a new D&D CRPG (cancelled)

[Xeon]

Tried searching for the number of employees post and couldn't find it, searched this forum and nada and searched Beamdog and the search engine[?] in that site is pretty bad.

I did see this post tho, apparently they are working on 3 things.

Hello friends. As valued members of the community I can clearly hear your concerns and I wanted to clearly answer your question: What is happening to Beamdog?
The answer:
Business as usual, but with a tighter focus.
Historically we've had anywhere from three to ten projects active at any time (including ports and patches). This approach was hard on the entire team from a focus and deliverable standpoint, so we've re-oriented around fewer ongoing efforts. Right now we have three active projects, one large, one mid size and one small scale project. With the tighter focus and dedicated staff to each project, we are going to be more effective.

The Siege of Dragonspear launch was tough, no question. We launched with bugs, and ignoring the controversy around the launch, the product we shipped wasn't up to the quality standards we hoped to meet. Our patches since launch have improved the game greatly and we are much happier with Siege of Dragonspear today than we were at launch. Our key lesson from the experience is we need to take the proper amount of time and attention to ensure a high quality release.

To give us the time for our next project to meet our quality goals, we developed a new plan to ensure we can deliver products we will be very proud of. This plan is about optimizing our team for the next releases and and building strength in key areas where we can be a world leader. As part of this plan, we undertook a limited restructuring at Beamdog, parking some projects, laying off four staff and reducing some contractor expenditures. We've had to say goodbye to some good people, but by making some hard decisions now, we've engineered a scenario where we can take the time required to ensure we have a quality release for our next projects. On those next projects, at the core of our plan, we are empowering our leadership and developing top-notch narrative design, programming and art teams. We're already seeing some amazing results and we've excited to share our next projects with you.

In summary, we're committed to making great RPGs and we have a strong, fiscally sound plan to deliver the games we love to our audience at a quality level we are proud to deliver. We're building a killer team with a focus on a very bright future of excellent RPGs.

Regards,
-Trent

Link

Wonder which one is the new game.

 

[Infinitron]

I should probably pay more attention to those forums.

Tried searching for the number of employees post and couldn't find it, searched this forum and nada and searched Beamdog and the search engine[?] in that site is pretty bad.

You don't need to search, if Beamdog had 70 employees they'd have gone bankrupt three times over by now. You probably confused them with Larian or something

 

[agris]

aVENGER are you still working with Beamdog? I saw your hand in SoD's encounter design, and the game was better for it. Did you work on itemization as well?

 

[Immortal]

I would LOVE a Ravenloft setting game, but I doubt they are working on one. A FR setting is just safer.

I would love a Ravenloft game.. but the setting goes from Creepy to Cringey very quickly.. the downside of being a B tier setting. Nobody gave a shit past 3E. Half the lore out there is ripped from other settings or fanfic quality.

There are 2 or 3 Adaptions of Ravenloft to NWN2.. if you can stomach the engine.

Tried searching for the number of employees post and couldn't find it, searched this forum and nada and searched Beamdog and the search engine[?] in that site is pretty bad.

I did see this post tho, apparently they are working on 3 things.

Hello friends. As valued members of the community I can clearly hear your concerns and I wanted to clearly answer your question: What is happening to Beamdog?
The answer:
Business as usual, but with a tighter focus.
Historically we've had anywhere from three to ten projects active at any time (including ports and patches). This approach was hard on the entire team from a focus and deliverable standpoint, so we've re-oriented around fewer ongoing efforts. Right now we have three active projects, one large, one mid size and one small scale project. With the tighter focus and dedicated staff to each project, we are going to be more effective.

The Siege of Dragonspear launch was tough, no question. We launched with bugs, and ignoring the controversy around the launch, the product we shipped wasn't up to the quality standards we hoped to meet. Our patches since launch have improved the game greatly and we are much happier with Siege of Dragonspear today than we were at launch. Our key lesson from the experience is we need to take the proper amount of time and attention to ensure a high quality release.

To give us the time for our next project to meet our quality goals, we developed a new plan to ensure we can deliver products we will be very proud of. This plan is about optimizing our team for the next releases and and building strength in key areas where we can be a world leader. As part of this plan, we undertook a limited restructuring at Beamdog, parking some projects, laying off four staff and reducing some contractor expenditures. We've had to say goodbye to some good people, but by making some hard decisions now, we've engineered a scenario where we can take the time required to ensure we have a quality release for our next projects. On those next projects, at the core of our plan, we are empowering our leadership and developing top-notch narrative design, programming and art teams. We're already seeing some amazing results and we've excited to share our next projects with you.

In summary, we're committed to making great RPGs and we have a strong, fiscally sound plan to deliver the games we love to our audience at a quality level we are proud to deliver. We're building a killer team with a focus on a very bright future of excellent RPGs.

Regards,
-Trent

Link

Wonder which one is the new game.

Well this is interesting.. are they dumping the SJW bimbo's to trim the fat.. nah who am i kidding they probably fired 4 developers so they could hire Gaiders next protege.



EDIT:

The Hunt continues!

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/808359/#Comment_808359

The four layoffs could include team members other than the four losses we know about (Amber, Andrew, Dee and Bee).

They do, though I'm not sure those team members are/were particularly active on the forum, and if they were whether they'd care to discuss the situation. Amber and I both left before the recent layoffs.

Amber - Queen SJW with Safana Fetish
DEE - Cuckoid on Twitter who cried to JEZEBEL?????
Andrew - Easily offended at trans discussion
BEE -

Mad Bee 100% human Retweeted:


K...


So who was laid off ??!

 

[almondblight]

I was referring more to the fact that Beamdog has yet to produce anything of worth

Their biggest impact has been getting the original games pulled from GOG so people now need to pay twice as much to buy their enhanced editions. Pretty parasitic behavior.

 

[aVENGER]

aVENGER are you still working with Beamdog? I saw your hand in SoD's encounter design, and the game was better for it. Did you work on itemization as well?

I was mostly doing project management on SoD, but as you've correctly guessed, I did work on some gameplay design as well.

Specifically, you can blame me for the unique random encounters that sometimes occur on worldmap travel, the final boss battle, most of the non-plot related combat encounters in dungeons and wilderness areas, the Safehouse level design as well as item design and balance. I also put together the "advanced AI" player script for SoD and the BG patch 2.0.

 

[agris]

aVENGER are you still working with Beamdog? I saw your hand in SoD's encounter design, and the game was better for it. Did you work on itemization as well?

I was mostly doing project management on SoD, but as you've correctly guessed, I did work on some gameplay design as well.

Specifically, you can blame me for the unique random encounters that sometimes occur on worldmap travel, the final boss battle, most of the non-plot related combat encounters in dungeons and wilderness areas, the Safehouse level design as well as item design and balance. I also put together the "advanced AI" player script for SoD and the BG patch 2.0.

Nice. So are you going to continue working with Beamdog?

Jason Liang - Jordan is trash. The first WoT book is OK, if you're in the mood for disposable fantasy on the level of random Forgotten Realms novels. Everything else is rope worked trays, tugging braids and drawn out plots with no real resolution. Yes, I read all the books and I'm angry about it.

 

[aVENGER]

Nice. So are you going to continue working with Beamdog?

I'm working on one of Beamdog's currently undisclosed projects.

 

[agris]

Nice. So are you going to continue working with Beamdog?

I'm working on one of Beamdog's currently undisclosed projects.

This is A Good Thing(TM). I hope the itemization and encounter design goals are similar in the new project as in SoD/the IE games.

My unsolicited opinion: the two worst forms of itemization in RPGs are the boring MMO-inspired drip-drip-drip 'loot fever' random +%s tier white/blue/orange name method; and the Shadowrun Returns completely linear item system where new items are always clearly better and there are no pros/cons to weigh, and almost no situational weapons (exception being the taser).

 

[Infinitron]

 

[LESS T_T]

WotC plans to expanding digital product development and publishing: https://company.wizards.com/article/press/making-moves

Making Moves

JANUARY 12, 2017

Since joining Wizards of the Coast last summer, I've had the chance to talk to many passionate employees, partners, and fans about their experiences with our games and their hopes and dreams for our future. We're channeling this passion as we make some exciting moves to bring players bigger and better experiences. The biggest move involves adjustments to and increased investments in our digital teams that will give us the capability and flexibility necessary to fully realize the enormous potential of our games.

Here's what that means:

We are reimagining digital versions of Magic and other Wizards games. We recently created the Digital Games Studio, a group of all-stars led by industry veteran Jeffrey Steefel. Jeffrey's team includes experienced Wizards game designers and industry talent from Dire Wolf Digital, Valve Corporation, Cryptic Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Activision, BioWare, and many others. The Magic Online team is now included in this group, as well as digital art and game design. They're all thinking about how players might tap mana and prepare spells in the future, and I can't wait for you to see what they're working on.

We will bring our characters and worlds to other games and experiences. What would it be like to throw fireballs as a Planeswalker in an MMO, or quest for treasure with your friends in a D&D augmented-reality game? We want to play games like this too, so we hired David Schwartz, an industry veteran with 25 years of experience leading projects at Microsoft, Electronic Arts, THQ, LeapFrog Enterprises, and Midway Games. He is building a publishing team to explore partnerships and collaborations that will bring Magic and D&D to unexpected settings, genres, and platforms.

We will make your Wizards experiences more efficient, connected, and convenient. From getting matched in a big tournament to tracking your achievements to simply getting friends together for game night, there's a lot that goes into a good experience with a game outside of the game itself. A revamped technology team led by longtime Wizard Arron Goolsbey will be focused on connecting these kinds of in-store and online interactions so you will have cohesive and connected experiences with our games.

These are just some of the changes happening at Wizards of the Coast as we continue our mission to bring people together through their shared love of games.

Stay tuned for more updates and let us know what you think.

--Chris Cocks
President, Wizards of the Coast

At least collector's edition won't be delayed by months if WotC handles publishing.

 

[DeepOcean]

aVENGER are you still working with Beamdog? I saw your hand in SoD's encounter design, and the game was better for it. Did you work on itemization as well?

I was mostly doing project management on SoD, but as you've correctly guessed, I did work on some gameplay design as well.

Specifically, you can blame me for the unique random encounters that sometimes occur on worldmap travel, the final boss battle, most of the non-plot related combat encounters in dungeons and wilderness areas, the Safehouse level design as well as item design and balance. I also put together the "advanced AI" player script for SoD and the BG patch 2.0.

Sir, did you know you were responsible for the best parts of this game and maybe the only best parts?

 

[Filthy Sauce]

WotC plans to expanding digital product development and publishing: https://company.wizards.com/article/press/making-moves



At least collector's edition won't be delayed by months if WotC handles publishing.

Sounds like they are just gearing up a more vigorous entry into the online and mobile marketing.

 

[Lady_Error]

If it's Ravenloft, Al Qadim, or Dark Sun, . Otherwise,

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

 

[Gunnar]

If it's Ravenloft, Al Qadim, or Dark Sun, . Otherwise,

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

They hired Beamdog, they aren't known for their smarts.

 

[Cosmo]

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

FYI, what's left of Planescape has been trampled, retconned and mangled for a good twenty years now...
Sure you still want it ?

 

[Lady_Error]

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

FYI, what's left of Planescape has been trampled, retconned and mangled for a good twenty years now...
Sure you still want it ?

Can you be more specific? I know Planescape mostly through PST, but also read about the other worlds that can be visited. What was trampled and mangled?

 

[Prime Junta]

Planescape could only be a disappointment. Pass.

 

[prodigydancer]

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

A Planescape game from Beamdog? Nah. Black Isle was in the avant-garde of the industry back when they worked on PS:T. They had talent and dedication and yet they barely succeeded. Beamdog has neither. They can probably make a decent FR game if they quit cutting corners and bury their SJW agenda, but Planescape is way above their level.

ZA/UM (the guys behind No Truce With The Furies) is probably the only contemporary company that I believe has what it takes to make a good Planescape game. Doesn't mean they're interested in pursuing such a project though.

FYI, what's left of Planescape has been trampled, retconned and mangled for a good twenty years now...
Sure you still want it ?

It doesn't have to be the setting's <current year> in a video game.

 

[deuxhero]

Personally, I hope that (if they have to go for the Sword Coast) they don't try to do Baldur's Gate 3 or Neverwinter Nights 3, and go for something like Waterdeep. It's a kickass city and it will avoid too much comparison with past games, and make it something that it's theirs, and theirs alone.

I would actually like to see a NWN3 with less god-awful combat if the editor is as good. It would mean you could ignore Beamdog's terrible original content.

 

[Lurker King]

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

Yes, yes, please do another PS:T with SJW themes and gamergate jokes. IWD and BGs have already fallen. Now they need to milk and rape the last overhyped piece of Infinity garbage so that the stain can never be removed. Then, and only then, AoD will be placed in the top, as it should be. The best shall be grognard and grognard only.

 

[Morality Games]

Planescape, FFS. They're sitting on the license for one of the most beloved games and don't have the brains to figure out that it might be worthwhile to do something with it.

FYI, what's left of Planescape has been trampled, retconned and mangled for a good twenty years now...
Sure you still want it ?

Can you be more specific? I know Planescape mostly through PST, but also read about the other worlds that can be visited. What was trampled and mangled?

Planescape is heavily themed around Sigil, and Sigil got wrecked in the lore. No more factions for example (the Lady of Pain threw them out).

 

[duanth123]

Planescape

*shivers*

This thread should officially have the words "AND YOU CAN'T STOP THEM" added to its title.

 

[Gunnar]

Beamdog should start accepting donations for them not to make any more D&D games, it could be a good business model for them. Pay up or Planescape gets it, we're serious look what we just did to Baldurs Gate.

 

[santino27]

I don't want them working on Planescape, but I'm fine with more AD&D games from Beamdog, as long as they are original content. Strip out the limited SJW stuff and SoD was a decent crawl with a not-so-good plot. I enjoyed the combat more than PoE's pre-expansion stuff.