Editorial Wizardry's Wild Ride from West to East: VentureBeat on the fate of the Wizardry IP

[Jaesun]

The Wizardries are classic cRPG's though. Not those other games.

 

[Lady_Error]

You know, the thing is that D.W. Bradley (probably) has some free time on his hands after releasing Dungeon Lords for the third time in September 2012.

IF he wanted to go back to his old school roots, he could easily do a successful Kickstarter campaign, and he might even be able to get a Wizardry license for a new game.

Unfortunately, I think he did go full George Lucas a long time ago and still has not recovered from it.

 

[Jasede]

How would he afford the license when it's making so much money?

 

[theSavant]

You know, the thing is that D.W. Bradley (probably) has some free time on his hands after releasing Dungeon Lords for the third time in September 2012.

IF he wanted to go back to his old school roots, he could easily do a successful Kickstarter campaign, and he might even be able to get a Wizardry license for a new game.

Unfortunately, I think he did go full George Lucas a long time ago and still has not recovered from it.

He wouldn't need to acquire a Wizardry license, he could call his game "Wizards & Warriors 2"... but he doesn't seem to be interested anyways

 

[Lady_Error]

Wizards and Warriors wasn't nearly as legendary as Wizardry. And it sucked.

I think D.W. Bradley's decline started with Cybermage, which he did right after Wizardry 7. That game is like a proto-popamole Mass Effect shooter.

 

[theSavant]

I agree, but I don't think he'll ever pay the license for developing a game under the Wizardry IP. It's really a shame with all his RPG-Blobber backgrounds...

 

[Lady_Error]

He is one of the people who made Wizardry famous. If the Japanese IP holders are not complete idiots, they might find an arrangement for a new Wizardry by Bradley. But I doubt he wants to "go back" when the technology is so advanced now and you can do so much more... See Dungeon Lords, sigh.

 

[cvv]

Wizards and Warriors wasn't nearly as legendary as Wizardry. And it sucked.

Compared to Wizardry.
Compared to modern RPGs it was fucking masterpiece.

 

[Jasede]

It had its ups and downs.

 

[:Flash:]

D.W. Bradley, in his own words:
In Dungeon Lords, we have created an RPG that engages the player with the excitement and thrills of superior action elements without sacrificing the breadth and detail of a true RPG. It's the game I've always wanted to make, and it represents the culmination of everything I've learned designing both RPG and computer games for the past 25 years. [...]
And best of all, Dungeon Lords is a game totally devoid of the mindless and repetitious point-and-click or turn-based combat or fatiguing micromanagement that--to this day--continues to plague almost all other RPG games. [Source]

One of the most short-sighted RPG design flubs at the time, in Dungeon Lords and other games such as Oblivion, was having so many magic spells and only 8 hot-key slots for casting them - doh! The new action bar in DL MMXII supports 12 hot-key spells and actions[...] [Source]

Are you sure you want him to design another Wizardry?

 

[Lady_Error]

He will need to see the error of his ways first, I guess.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

 

[Overboard]

No, D.W. Bradley. You are the declines.

 

[Brother None]

Since we're talking Wizardry, are there any fans of the classics here (who know em well, particularly the first ones) who can spare like a day of their time? I need a favor of sorts. PM me, yo!

 

[Jaesun]

^ Crooked Bee ?

 

[Crooked Bee]

^ Crooked Bee ?

BN already talked to me about it but the thing he wanted me to do was so horrible and wrong that I had to refuse

 

[eric__s]

oh my god bee your avatar

 

[evdk]

BN already talked to me about it but the thing he wanted me to do was so horrible and wrong that I had to refuse

 

[felipepepe]

Hey Bee, how about if you...

 

[eric__s]

^ Crooked Bee ?

BN already talked to me about it but the thing he wanted me to do was so horrible and wrong that I had to refuse

I did it... but it's because a friend forced me to. I swear!

 

[felipepepe]

I did it... but it's because a friend forced me to. I swear!

How could you? You must be punished too!

Who else? I got fucking 2 seasons of this!

 

[Infinitron]

Here's what appears to be an alternate/extended version of this article, by the same author: http://extralives.wordpress.com/201...eryear-wizardry-crusaders-of-the-dark-savant/

Crusaders had everything that the competition had and far more than any of the series’ fans may ever had expected. Before BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins made a big hullabaloo about multiple “origins” to begin the story with, Crusaders beat it to the punch by roughly 17 years. That’s more years than some of its fans have been playing games, Mature rating or not. Sir-tech had also been doing the multiple-ending thing since Wizardry IV in 1987.

The game was published for IBM PC compatibles in 1992 and later ported over to Japan on platforms such as like the FM-Towns, PC-98, and even the Playstation. It was even re-released as Wizardry Gold in 1996 with a number of enhancements and then added to the Wizardry Archives compilation in 1998 along with the original game. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the few ways that anyone can pick it up for as it hasn’t found a home on a digital distribution service like Desura or Good Old Games yet.

Back then, however, despite sticking to its guns, Wizardry’s presence seemed to be waning. Sir-tech’s house system continued to be uncompromisingly detailed — it was crammed with classes, stats, races, and other goodies that had helped innovate a genre 12 years earlier.

Despite having that, however, and the critical acclaim it would receive from fans, Crusaders would be the last Wizardry to see the light of day until Wizardry 8 in 2001 nine years later. It was also the same year that Sir-tech’s publishing arm, the core of the company, had shuttered its doors though the Canadian branch continued on for at least two more years until it finally ended its run in 2003.

And that was it for one of the houses that had influenced an entire genre on both sides of the ocean.

Uncompromising Indifference

Though Crusaders wouldn’t be the last game that Sir-tech would release, the years between it and Sir-tech Canada’s Wizardry 8 were not kind to the company. There has been a lot of conjecture, half-truths, veiled references, and other bits and pieces that have surfaced since then to try and paint a picture of what exactly happened. All I can say is that even after going through its history, there are still many questions that might only be answered by chance such as when an enterprising Ebayer discovered that cache of Sir-tech office castoffs in an abandoned storage unit at Ogdensburg, New York.

Part of the reason may have been hinted at by Robert Sirotek in an interview with IGN in 1998 in speaking on the topic of how the industry had changed since the early 80s — of retailers’ need to rapidly shift product and a lack of respect between they and publishers who aren’t “EA”.

It’s not hard to see why. The PC space in the 90s was crammed with far more games than it had been and a new 3D craze was about to explode across genres, ushering in an arms race for hardware. Consoles were also rising to take command of their own piece of the entertainment pie, pushing right back at PCs for that shelf space real estate. There was only so much space that anyone could afford to pay out for and retailers knew it. If you wanted a place at the retail table, you had to pay the price.

As venerable as Sir-tech was, they largely continued to operate like indie developer and publisher that seemed to be increasingly lost within the shadows cast down by other, much larger, companies. If anything good can be said about Origin Systems’ absorption by EA, it gave their products the marketing moxie to avoid having to ask the same questions that Sir-tech couldn’t answer. As Robert Sirotek put it in his interview with IGN above:

“Should we have sold years ago? I don’t know. I mean, I’m an entrepreneur. Norman’s an entrepreneur. We have that entrepreneur flair, and we’re ready and willing to take reasonable risks, and we felt all along that our risks did not surpass the opportunity for reward.”

Sir-tech’s diversification strategy was also weak in comparison to a company like Origin’s who had brought together programmers and designers under one roof to explore everything from sci-fi to martial arts action titles in 80s and well into the 90s. However, they were also facing their own money crunch making their decision to go in with EA as more of a matter of survival as the Escapist notes in their piece on Origin’s downfall.

With cash in its coffers from Wizardry sales in the 80s, it’s also a mystery on why Sir-tech didn’t pursue the same direction that rivals Origin and SSI did in gathering together development talent to better widen their catalog and open up other channels of income.

The company seemed indifferent to what was going on elsewhere, satisfied that their niche would be enough to help them survive. However, the same problems that afflicted Origin Systems toward the end of the 80s may have also inflicted blows on Sir-tech whose Wizardry series was also focused on the Apple II when the platform gave way to the IBM PC.

Instead of a company like EA swooping in to help them in a potential rough spot as Origin had gone through, it’s reasonable to guess that some of that capital was used to simply keep the company afloat and independent. Whatever the reason may have been, however, the windfall from Sir-tech’s Wizardry series didn’t translate into efforts similar to those followed by competitors like SSI. Or pay the bills when it came to royalties as Andrew Greenberg’s continuing litigation shows.

Part of that weakness had probably stemmed from gambles taken on properties whose narrow appeal looked good on paper but didn’t quite catch on in North America. They brought in the Realms of Arkania trilogy from Europe, a CRPG based on Das Schwarze Auge (the Dark Eye) tabletop role playing system popular in Germany. Though it didn’t quite make the mark as a popular CRPG in North America, it had its followers and boasted a degree of mechanical detail that carried over much like how SSI had translated AD&D into its Gold Box series.

It also mirrors what THQ did years later. Drakensang was brought over by THQ in 2009 with a lot of crunch that I loved though the game also had issues of its own, especially in terms of how it handled chapter progression. It’s interesting to see how THQ had also wanted to dabble in CRPGs though ultimately, it didn’t quite pan out for them in the end. As detailed as these games were, they never quite garnered the audience in North America that either company was looking for.

Sir-tech had also dabbled with strategy and tactics by publishing Madlab Software’s Jagged Alliance in 1994. Sir-tech Canada completed the sequel and Topware was the publisher when it arrived at last in 1999. As well remembered as these games were to veterans, the RTS field of the 90s was awash with competitors ranging from Ensemble’s Age series to Westwood’s Dune II and C&C which only pushed Sir-tech’s efforts further into its own niche.

There were also a number of bizarre picks by Sir-tech, games that came out of left field. Titles like Virus: The Game in 1997 or Excalibur 2555 in the same year. No one really knew what to make of Druid: Daemons of the Mind in 1995. Fable, a point ‘n click adventure, came out in 1996, though the adventure game market was going through its own turmoil at the same time. Also, it wasn’t quite that great.

When the publishing arm of Sir-tech shuttered in 2001, effectively killing the company, people were wondering what would happen to Wizardry 8. There were even rumors of a game called “The Stones of Arnhem”, a new Wizardry game that should have followed Crusaders of the Dark Savant and then, as mysteriously, disappear in the gap between Crusaders and Wizardry 8. As an auction last year had shown, Stones of Arnhem looks like it had really existed in some form before development was killed.

Yet Wizardry 8 did come out in 2001, a game that saw Brenda Brathwaite go from writing manuals to being part of the design team much like how Roe Adams III had when he took the reigns of Wizardry IV. It was a fantastic memorial to Sir-tech’s memory with brutal encounters and a story steeped in the kind of sci-fi fantasy that the previous game had begun with complete with multiple starts and endings. And then, that was it.

From West to East

Sir-tech left behind a legacy of CRPG fantasy that not only helped to innovate an entire genre and inspire countless developers, but remained true to its roots — a rare example of a series sticking to its core without apology. While many games today “dumb down” features in an effort to broaden their appeal and keep the money wheels turning, Wizardry exists as an anachronism in that assessment.

But that’s also not to say that it was “perfect” — some of the things that Wizardry did seemed to be there if only as an excuse to make things more difficult simply because the designers thought they could. Sir-tech Canada had even continued that tradition in their own way for Wizardry 8. Its “Iron Man” mode was crafted for truly masochistic players which allowed for permadeath, tougher encounters on top of the already ridiculously frequent randoms, and no in-game saves unless they exited the game.

Sir-tech also shoulders some of the blame for failing to keep up with a changing market and for the same hard nosed indifference to similarly detailed CRPGs coming out from others with much higher ambitions — especially titles offering up the same degree of crunch immersing players within larger worlds, better stories, and without some of the repetitive frustration that Wizardry could sometimes be known for.

Today, the Wizardry trademark is apparently owned by a Japanese company (IPM Inc.) that specializes in licensing IP.

How it ended up in their hands is something of a mystery. Following the paper trail through the USPTO, it seems that in 1998, Wizardry’s trademarks (which go all the way back to 1982) were assigned to a corporation in Ontario simply noted as “1259190 ONTARIO INC.” with Robert Sirotek signing the rights over. Despite the mysterious name, according to a 2010 filing (which was one more chapter in the long running battle by Andrew Greenberg to recover royalties from the Siroteks), it seems that the company was formed (with Norman Sirotek as the president) simply to hold the rights and license them over to Sirtech Canada — the outfit responsible for the development of Wizardry 8.

On November 28, 2006, that company, and Norman Sirotek, signed over the rights to Aeria IPM with a Takahiro Shinozaki signing for the Japanese company. Of course, Wizardy games unrelated to the Western versions have been developed and published before that had happened, but now it seems that in 2006, everything had finally ended up in Japan’s court.

In the span of time between Crusaders and Wizardry 8, Japanese spinoffs bearing the Wizardry name have continued a streak that Sir-tech could only have wished for with their series in the West. Even today, Wizardry Online by Gamepot, a Japanese company specializing in MMOs, was opened to the free-to-play public by Sony at the end of January, 2013. All that may be left for Wizardry in the West are memories and abandonware, but it continues to thrive in Japan where it has seen PC, PS2, and virtual titles developed bearing the name.

Robert Woodhead and Andrew Greenberg had long since moved on to other projects that they were interested in pursuing. After Wizardry IV, Robert Woodhead dove headlong into his other hobby-turned-business opportunity — Animeigo — which he had also founded with Sir-tech alum, Roe Adams III, in 1988. Anime junkies would recognize the company’s label as one of the earliest to bring over Japanese animation en masse such as the classics Oh! My Goddess! and Vampire Princess Miyu.

As for Andrew Greenberg, he had also gone his separate way with the company and became an intellectual property lawyer. Wizardry V in 1988 was the last Wizardry he’s credited on working with. He’s also involved in a long running legal dispute on royalties with the Sir-tech Canada and Robert Sirotek after having left the company due to “irreconcilable differences“. Despite that, it hasn’t taken a toll on the pride he feels for the work that he had done with Robert in creating a series that had gone on to inspire so many others.

Overall, the series might not have been as flashy or as up-to-date when it comes to presentation, but that’s part and parcel of what made Sir-tech stand out for so many — a no-nonsense approach that stood out in the genre as serious faced dungeon crawlers that intimidated many. Once you got to know them, however, and could deal with their hang ups, they really had a lot to talk about even if they couldn’t provide all of the answers.

He has a restrospective of the entire Wizardry series here: http://extralives.wordpress.com/author/systemoptions/

Crooked Bee might enjoy this.

 

[Jaesun]

EDIT: I hope it is not Wizardry GOLD because that has a HUGE text bug (the text scrolls so fast you cannot read anything).

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Yes please!!!

I hope it is not Wizardry GOLD because that has a HUGE text bug (the text scrolls so fast you cannot read anything).

Isn't Wizardry Gold an "improved" Crusaders of the Dark Savant? That image is just for Wizardry 8.

 

[Jaesun]

scrolls so fast you cannot read anything).

Isn't Wizardry Gold an "improved" Crusaders of the Dark Savant? That image is just for Wizardry 8.

It was for the time improved to utilize the more modern Windows 95 interface, but they forgot that computers would continue to advance and one of those flaws was the text speed. There were some other changes, but I can't recall what they were off hand (it's been a while). I just always play the DOS version.

And yeah that does look like Wiz 8. I'm just assuming they would at least be able to get VI/VII/8 on GOG (so you can GET THE RING when you then play through 8). As they are a trilogy, and 8 is the final part. Or maybe they just got 8. I guess we shall see.