Skyforge MMORPG, co-developed by Obsidian

[Rake]

No engine development means..?
That Onyx is abandoned or that they don't plan to update it/create another engine of their own/etc?

Ehh, no? Just that Allods already has an engine suitable for their needs so Obsidian doesn't have to provide one.

I thought he meant Obsidian plans in general, not only for the MMORPG.

 

[Turisas]

To me it just seemed like the plans for this project in particular, but I guess you'd need to ask Duraframe300 for confirmation either way.

 

[J1M]

Late to party, but wise man once said: First step to becoming publisher is to put your name on other people's work.

 

[Duraframe300]

To me it just seemed like the plans for this project in particular, but I guess you'd need to ask Duraframe300 for confirmation either way.

It was a general panel about the industry. They plan on abandoning engine development (it's too expensive), instead focusing on easy-to-port tools, as there are plenty of great engines for every budget class around. (As an example he mentions that Unity, Unreal and Cryengine are great to work with and already do the job)

 

[Turisas]

Ah, that's considerably more interesting then. Too bad about the tablets, though.

 

[Brayko]

They probably just need want a little extra money in their pocket and someone seems stupid enough to actually pay them for a little work. Oh well, whatever keeps them alive I guess.

 

[Kane]

http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/18/obsidian-and-mail-ru-games-announce-partnership-on-skyforge-mmo/?

Mail.ru has announced that its Allods Online team is working with Obsidian Entertainment on a new MMO called Skyforge. The news was announced yesterday during the Russian Game Developer’s Conference. Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart called the project “interesting and promising,” and feels the partnership will be “a great experience for all of us.” Announced in May 2012, the MMO is slated for release on PC in 2014. A video is below. Thanks, GI International.

 

[Duraframe300]

Some information about Skyforge

- Up to 40 km view distance at the moment
- No EXP/Levels
- 15 classes

 

[Jasede]

This is where you tell me that this is some elaborate hoax and Obsidian isn't actually a desperate m2f transgender whore sucking every man's dick they can find just to pay for the surgery.

 

[Morgoth]

​

Summary (stolen from GAF):

- He feels large team AAA games are no longer feasible for independent developers like Obsidian.

- Instead they want to focus on smaller and more innovative titles which are either free2play, Kickstarter funded, or teams working on parts of larger games for other developers.

- They have dropped their engine team (rip Onyx), and will no longer be developing their own internal engine moving forward, it is too costly and it's not worth it.

- South Park will be the last game running on their internal engine, and they will be more interested in licensing off the shelf engines in future rather than making their own.

- The tools they have developed internally will not be lost, they will instead focus on integrating the tools which work for them into the engines they license instead. For example the dialogue editor they have will continue to be developed and integrated into whatever engine they use.

- They are interested in breaking into the tablet/smartphone market if they can offer a unique experience which they are good at making and isn't widely available in the market. Doesn't sound like he has any concrete plans, but it does sound like they want to consider making serious RPGs for that market.

It's probably for the best. Also that means no Kotor 3 now it seems. Fuck you very much EA/Disney.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh boy, this is big news. I'll have to listen to this shit myself and make a newspost.

So, when's the next Obsidian Kickstarter?

 

[Duraframe300]

No, its not. That summary has several wrong points in it.

 

[Infinitron]

No, its not. That summary has several wrong points in it.

Explain.

 

[Duraframe300]

1. While he said large team AAA games, he talks about Assassin's Creed Sized AAA games. Not the games Obsidian has been doing so far. And will most likely continue to be doing (their new project is also of that size)

2. They didn't *drop* their engine team. They are still working at Obsidian and will A: Work in other positions B: Work on the engines they license (as they did before)

The rest contains one, two assumptions which aren't too bad.

 

[Morgoth]

Never trust those GAF cunts.

 

[Infinitron]

1. While he said large team AAA games, he talks about Assassin's Creed Sized AAA games. Not the games Obsidian has been doing so far. And will most likely continue to be doing (their new project is also of that size)

2. They didn't *drop* their engine team. They are still working at Obsidian and will A: Work in other positions B: Work on the engines they license (as they did before)

The rest contains one, two assumptions which aren't too bad.

What about New Vegas-sized projects? I think that was Obsidian's biggest game?

 

[Morgoth]

Alright jump to 22:00. Feargus basically says big AAA will be a privilege to Studio owned developers, while the likes of Obsidian are only going to create parts of such AAA games.

F:NV was relatively cheap to create due to a) an existing engine and b) Ninjas & tools.

So while Obsidian probably won't cease development of AAA games in the future, it means they won't take on creating one from scratch, but instead provide assistance to an other developer. Kickstarter and tablet games will be more of a focus in the future.

Perhaps a Bioware/Obsidian combo of Kotor 3 could still be possible in the future?

 

[Duraframe300]

1. While he said large team AAA games, he talks about Assassin's Creed Sized AAA games. Not the games Obsidian has been doing so far. And will most likely continue to be doing (their new project is also of that size)

2. They didn't *drop* their engine team. They are still working at Obsidian and will A: Work in other positions B: Work on the engines they license (as they did before)

The rest contains one, two assumptions which aren't too bad.

What about New Vegas-sized projects? I think that was Obsidian's biggest game?

Nah, Alpha Protocol was probably more costly.

As I mentioned on the Obsidian forums. I think they will continue pitching/doing publisher games (Of course if they find a publisher). What counts today as *big*, like Assassin's Creed or Resident Evil 6, isn't exactly remotly comparable in manpower/costs to South Park or even F:NV.

 

[Infinitron]

1. While he said large team AAA games, he talks about Assassin's Creed Sized AAA games. Not the games Obsidian has been doing so far. And will most likely continue to be doing (their new project is also of that size)

2. They didn't *drop* their engine team. They are still working at Obsidian and will A: Work in other positions B: Work on the engines they license (as they did before)

The rest contains one, two assumptions which aren't too bad.

What about New Vegas-sized projects? I think that was Obsidian's biggest game?

Nah, Alpha Protocol was probably more costly.

As I mentioned on the Obsidian forums. I think they will continue pitching/doing publisher games (Of course if they find a publisher). What counts today as *big*, like Assassin's Creed or Resident Evil 6, isn't exactly remotly comparable in manpower/costs to South Park or even F:NV.

I actually meant biggest in terms of team size, not in budget. AP was costly, but it took so long to make that there might not have been that many people working on it at any one time.

 

[Duraframe300]

I actually meant biggest in terms of team size, not in budget. AP was costly, but it took so long to make that there might not have been that many people working on it at any one time.

In that case I think NWN2 beats F:NV internally.

 

[ksjav]

Probably not many know that Allods is the original/potato name for the Codex favorite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_of_Mages

 

[Jedi Exile]

WoW was also based on Warcraft (a great game!), but it doesn't change anything.

 

[ksjav]

Just a little bit of trivia for all the wannabe critics out there. You know, more reason to harp about the decline? Who wouldn't want that?

 

[Crispy]

- No EXP/Levels

Guaranteed failure.

 

[Roguey]

Figured this would happen, Obsidian doesn't have the money or team-sizes to compete with other next-gen console games anymore. They were struggling as-is this-gen. If it weren't for Kickstarter, I would have already started a dead pool.