Larian General Discussion Thread

[HoboForEternity]

i still dread Kirill's loss tbh. i still have his entire library saved in my phone and i play them occasionally. divinine divinity ost is very zen to play on those straight, long drive. you can download everything on his website.

 

[LESS T_T]

1 hour video interview with Swen at China: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av56027142/

This interview was done before the announcement of BG3, so no direct mention of the game. The interviewer seems like an avid reader of his blog and Divinity Developer's Journal but 1 hour was probably too long, topic jumps here and there.

Still, pretty interesting bits there, including possible hints to BG3's combat system:

• When asked about "the very big RPG that will dwarf'em all", he describes it as a thing far into the future, farther than BG3, almost like Warren Spector-esque idealism.
• 'Are you going to publish other developers' games?': they did think about it for some time, but they realized they don't have 'mental bandwidth' to do it properly and already have so many things to do with their own game.
• 'Will things like mind-reading and dragon transformation come back in the future games?' - He can say that there's no half-dragons in the next game.
• (36:22) "Will you make 3rd person RPG like Divinity 2?': ( Swen, awkwardly) "I'm not married to a particular format. We find a formula that is interesting... So the big thing I already mentioned to you is that you have to have the systems, you have to have the narrative and exploration, and so forth, challenging combat... Well if we figure out here is a really good combat system that will work well in 3rd person, why not? I mean, with pleasure. Recently we have little bit into the turn-based mode, because we really like turn-based. There's a lot of fun, there's a lot of stuff not done yet in turn-based that we could still do. But there's absolutely no reason why we don't go 3rd person."
• The interviewer praises their decision to do turn-based combat in D:OS, mentioning the strategic quality of turn-based combat in comparison to real-time one. Swen agrees. "Yeah, the trick about good turn-based combat is making every single decision really matters. That's the player agency we talked about earlier. The game reacts to what you do and it matters. This is fundamental core unit of gameplay. Much harder, well that's not necessarily much harder, in third person. So if have to manage a party, think turn-based is much superior to real-time. Because in real-time they have to give you a pause button. That's because it goes too fast so you can't do the decision, or you have to leave it to an AI. If you leave it to an AI it's not really player agency anymore."
• "Challenging is good, easy is not good." (Talking how AI 2.0 made D:OS 2's combat challenging.)
• The interviewer mentions Blackguards as cool (encounters) but not so accessible (ruleset) tactical RPG. Swen seems to have not much say about Blackguards.
• Swen emphasizes that what they're showing with Fallen Heroes is "just a prototype," and the final game will be very different.
• Gustav, the dog, is 2 years old. (So Gustav, the project, BG3, is.)
• (53:03) MCA's role on D:OS2: they learnt a lot about player agency from him; he also came up with the idea "what you guys need is a character that is going to help explain the lore", which is where Fane came eventually.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

"Will you make 3rd person RPG like Divinity 2?': ( Swen, awkwardly) "I'm not married to a particular format.

I hope that's him just not wanting to say too much, and that we'll see Divinity 3 some day

 

[LESS T_T]

I guess this is worth mentioning too. Talking about his dead blog and communication with players (58:30):

"I think I talk to more players now, but directly, at shows like these, to learn what they're thinking about the game and how they're playing, than I ever did before in the past on the forum. The forum is a very small group of people. So I discovered that you meet much more people in these type of shows, you get much more different opinions you'll ever get on the forums online. I still go to forums and I still go to Steam community forum, I read Reddit threads and so forth.

So... the blog was an avenue to communicate to players. That one is not there anymore."

Direct communication? Well if there was a Codexer visiting PAX events.

I miss Bubbles.

 

[Jimmious]

If anything it seems more possible that they'll go TB from the subtext.
I keep thinking that Larian's TB with DnD rules is a perfect match, as long as they don't... "innovate" too much.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

I think they said a while ago that they had 3 major projects in the works. I don't know if they'd all be TB. Maybe though I dunno

 

[Jimmious]

No one knows with this god damn secrecy

 

[LESS T_T]

A highly anticipated sequel to Swen's Great Quest for Laptop is cancelled due to honest Canadians:



I was looking forward to make a box art for the sequel for a moment.

Also less important news, two suspicious job postings for Dublin's publishing team.

App Developer: https://larian.com/jobs/0ef901f1-8555-47c3-85f0-e8c3d96b4663

I imagine something like companion apps to co-op and DM mode, if it's part of BG3.

APP DEVELOPER
Publishing / Dublin / Full -time
Larian’s vast and engaged audience, as well as their dedicated team of developers, need your help to bring exciting and engaging content to mobile and web platforms. At the cutting edge of publishing and working with platforms such as Google Stadia, consoles, PC, and more in the future, Larian’s publishing team needs a creative and driven individual keen build tools that allow our players to engage with us in new and unique ways.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work with the publishing team to execute and implement creative solutions within iOS, Android, and social media tools.
• Assist in web development and management
• Create new and original iOS and Android apps from conception to fruition

REQUIREMENTS

• Long term engagement and focus within the video games industry
• Expertise in developing fully featured native mobile applications for iOS &/or Android
• Expertise in Objective-C, Java
• Swift or functional programming is a plus
• Have some knowledge of PHP
• Good understanding of web services, networking and standards (HTTP, RESTful, JSON)
• Solid software engineering skills; being comfortable with software design, coding, algorithms and data structures
• Basic UI design and UX flow are a plus
• A portfolio or examples of apps you have published to the app store
• Source code management (Git, Bitbucket)Basic understanding of game development
• Experience in game development is a plus
• Good spoken and written English is necessary

We are looking for highly motivated individuals with ever-evolving skillsets and passion for player experience. If you want to contribute to making amazing RPG experiences, we would love to hear from you.

Brand Manager: https://larian.com/jobs/5050319f-1926-4851-9aaa-bc96d8932b55

BRAND MANAGER
Publishing / Dublin / Full -time

Larian’s vast and engaged audience, as well as their dedicated team of developers, need your help to bring the games they create to each and every player in the world. We’re looking for someone to drive Larian’s merchandising efforts as well as to align and liaise with third parties working on our games.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work within the team to help provide creative solutions to brand engagement across each IP under Larian’s belt
• Push Larian’s merchandising efforts to a world-wide audience and liaise with merchandising partners
• Help to curate the brand within the team and align creatives on key asset creation
• Work with publishing partners at the cutting edge of publishing to align on marketing and key beats from a products inception to launch

REQUIREMENTS

• Long term engagement and focus within the video games industry
• Passionate and collaborative communication style
• Strong aptitude for business and analytics
• High level of empathy and understanding of games, creators and players
• Excellent written and spoken English
• Prior experience in publishing at any level (AAA, indie, etc)
• Some level of retail experience is a plus
• Experience working within a horizontal framework is a plus

We are looking for highly motivated individuals with ever-evolving skillsets and passion for player experience. If you want to contribute to making amazing RPG experiences, we would love to hear from you.

 

[Roguey]

Charlene's new gig, noticed thanks to Avellone
https://twitter.com/alphachar/status/1154406571063021568

On the way home to Copenhagen from a majestic holiday traipsing all across Europe & really really excited to announce that this day next week I'll start my NEW JOB at
@framebunker
- SO HYPE to get stuck in!!

Framebunker was founded by two veteran commercial game engine developers as the ultimate act of eating their own dog food.

The vast majority of games are utterly forgettable. Many of them are profitable and some of them are even fun, but few-if-any are the kind of games that will make it worthwhile hunting down an emulator to re-play in 20 years. We created Framebunker to combine our love of modern gaming platforms with a respect for classic gameplay in order to create the kind of unforgettable experiences that gamers deserve.

That mission started with the development of Static Sky, our love letter to 90's-era cyberpunk tactical shooters.

About Static Sky

Realtime tactical cyberpunk action
When a megacorp has a dirty job and lacks the firepower to get it done, they call on operators: freelance puppet masters who pull the strings of their agents for the highest bidder. As an operator, you'll use your tactical skills and lightning-fast reflexes to keep your cybernetically augmented agents alive and ready to fight another day for another client.

Fast Facts
Name: Static Sky
Developer: framebunker
Platform: PC, Console and iOS
Release: TBA

Seems like quite a bit of a downgrade from Larian to me.

 

[Infinitron]

"love letter to 90s-era cyberpunk tactical shooters" sounds like a non-trademark infringing way of saying "Syndicate clone"

 

[agris]

Swen should drink less while traveling (or more). How the hell do you continue to leave laptops, not small or easily lost objects, all over planes and in terminals?

 

[glass blackbird]

Charlene's new gig, noticed thanks to Avellone
https://twitter.com/alphachar/status/1154406571063021568

On the way home to Copenhagen from a majestic holiday traipsing all across Europe & really really excited to announce that this day next week I'll start my NEW JOB at
@framebunker
- SO HYPE to get stuck in!!

Framebunker was founded by two veteran commercial game engine developers as the ultimate act of eating their own dog food.

The vast majority of games are utterly forgettable. Many of them are profitable and some of them are even fun, but few-if-any are the kind of games that will make it worthwhile hunting down an emulator to re-play in 20 years. We created Framebunker to combine our love of modern gaming platforms with a respect for classic gameplay in order to create the kind of unforgettable experiences that gamers deserve.

That mission started with the development of Static Sky, our love letter to 90's-era cyberpunk tactical shooters.

About Static Sky

Realtime tactical cyberpunk action
When a megacorp has a dirty job and lacks the firepower to get it done, they call on operators: freelance puppet masters who pull the strings of their agents for the highest bidder. As an operator, you'll use your tactical skills and lightning-fast reflexes to keep your cybernetically augmented agents alive and ready to fight another day for another client.

Fast Facts
Name: Static Sky
Developer: framebunker
Platform: PC, Console and iOS
Release: TBA

Seems like quite a bit of a downgrade from Larian to me.

Depends on how high-up she is I guess

 

[Alienman]

Swen should drink less while traveling (or more). How the hell do you continue to leave laptops, not small or easily lost objects, all over planes and in terminals?

It's the whimsical thing to do.

 

[Harry Easter]

Seems like quite a bit of a downgrade from Larian to me.

Paymentwise, maybe, but Char loves Cyberpunk and is the type of person that likes a change of scenery and job once in a while. But I think this could be more her thing than Fantasy, because she likes her anarchy and dystopias to destroy. But it is nice, that she stays in writing and she isn't the only one. I mean, Devin Doyle is now leadwriter for a project at Dontnod (which can only be an improvement), it's nice to see them go places. I like those guys.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Abu Antar]

Team TB or RtwP?

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like another video is coming...

 

[Dodo1610]

Swen going to Pax West in Seattle.
As far as I know, Swen wasn't at the Gamescom could that mean something for Fallen Heroes or maybe even BG3?

edit: Larian is on the exhibitor list so they have to be showing something. https://west.paxsite.com/news/article/the-pax-west-2019-exhibitor-list

 

[Bohr]

 

[Neerasrc]

Probably a "Divinity:Fallen heroes" video..
I have no hope for BG3.

 

[LESS T_T]

To Larian, bar jokes are serious business:

 

[Bohr]

An insight into Larian's writing:

 

[LESS T_T]

Larian missing is trailers narrated by Michael the Birdman.


In other news, American programmer Bruce Shtelmakher, who was lead programmer at Techland and gameplay programmer at CDPR and Carbine, has joined Larian as gameplay programmer to work on BG3: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-shtelmakher-0325951/

Looks like his expertise lies in RPG system programming.

 

[LESS T_T]

Well, you can see the road is left-hand traffic so not China. Probably Singapore or Hong Kong.

Well it was Malaysia.



The guy is gaming Vice President of a Malaysian government agency for digital industry.

https://levelupkl.com/business/conference-schedule/

Day 1 - 7th November 2019 (Thursday)
10:00am
Keynote: Making Lasting IP Content

Swen Vincke (Larian Studios)

Also Michael, Larian's Director of Publishing, Defender of Video Games, and Protector of Content, has an agenda: