Tag Archives: projects
Frictional Games the creators of SOMA and Amnesia are working on two new projects
Frictional Games, the #creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Soma have #released a blog post for two new projects in #development, both part of a company-wide shift for frequent, experimental releases.
This new strategy will certainly give the veteran studio more freedom for their release strategy. Making projects less reliant on earned revenue from the back catalogue.
“For the first time in company history we’re now developing two games at the same time. This will require non-trivial changes in how we manage the team, but in the end we’re very sure it’ll be worth it all. By having two projects going at the same time, we can release games at much higher frequency. In turn, this let us be more experimental as we don’t have to rely as much on each new game being a big money generator. We’re still in the early phases of this transition, but it’s shaping up really well so far.”
The post also highlights Frictional games’s sci-fi survival horror title Soma, having sold more than 250,000 copies across all platforms, with the studio now closer to recouping their investment. Estimating that “it’ll only take 20k – 30k more until we’ve earned back our entire investment in the project.”
While no details were revealed of any Frictional’s upcoming projects, Soma‘s success has allowed the studio to pursue games of a similar scope going forward. Soma has spent more than five years in development and approached profitability in the first six months of release.
Frictional Games made their debut in 2007 with Penumbra: Overture, a first-person survival horror game for Windows PC, following by Linux and Mac in 2009. After producing a trio of Penumbra games, Frictional found big success with Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the ground-breaking horror game that has sold more than a one million copies to date.
The studio later produced a sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, with the Dear Esther creator The Chinese Room leading development. Frictional resumed development for the follow-up Soma, which hit Linux, Mac and Windows PC and PlayStation 4 in 2015.
Successful Kickstarter Campaigns on the rise in 2014 but money down
Kickstarter has chimed in the New Year with a few statistics from 2014. The general atmosphere of crowdfunding through the website is that it’s far harder nowadays than in 2013 to run a successful campaign. However, that doesn’t exactly seem to be the case as long as you have realistic expectations.
In terms of successful projects, including video, card, and board games, the figure from 2013 into 2014 actually climbed from 1,481 games to 1,979. Interest in the website has actually risen with the number of successful projects still increasing!
Multiple Metro Games from 4A Games Confirmed
4A Games, the system-frying developer of #Metro2033 and #Metro LastLight, has confirmed that it is working on more games in the Metro #universe, as well as other unannounced #projects.
A statement was sent out earlier yesterday to announce the Ukrainian developer’s expansion to Malta, which will reportedly allow an expansion of graphics powerhouse’s AAA development capabilities…
The message from 4A Games claimed that it was working on “unannounced titles within the Metro universe as well as further, unannounced projects,” all powered by its proprietary 4A Engine.
While much of the development team will remain in Kiev, co-founder Andrew Prokhorov and chief technical officer Oles Shishkovtsov will be packing their swim shorts and heading down to Malta.
“By basing our new headquarters in Malta, a member state of the EU, 4A Games will be able to better compete on the international stage,” said Dean Sharpe, 4A Games’ new CEO. “Malta offers fantastic incentives for game development, and we are confident 4A Games will be able to attract the very best talent from Ukraine, Malta and beyond.”
What do you think is next for the Metro series?
Over $200 million in Kickstarter funding over 2013 just for Games
More than $919 million in #crowdfunding was pledged to Kickstarter projects in 2013, and $200.42 million went to game #development projects.
Games was the largest category again in 2013, followed by Film & Video, Design, and Technology.
7,922 game projects were successfully funded, however, only 35.08 percent of all game projects meet their backing targets.
29 game projects received more than $1 million in funding, compared to the most common threshold, $1,000 – $1,999, achieved by 1,028 game projects.
4,933 game projects failed to achieve the backing targets, and most failed to achieve 1 – 20 percent of their backing targets.
Kickstarter launched in New Zealand this year. Previously, only creators based in the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada could post proposals and vie for funds on the site.
Scraps, a Kiwi Kickstarter project that allows players to construct a weaponised vehicle and then pit their design against those of other players, is the first local game project to be successfully funded on the platform.
At the time of writing, $28,517 has been pledged, a total that surpasses the project’s target of $23,000. There are 12 hours left to back the project.
Reblogged from: gameplanet.co.nz
A Cry for Game Programming Help!
Ok, we don’t normally do these kind of recruitment posts (don’t send us emails about that!), but for the following two FOSS game gems we will make an exception (and it is officially sanctioned by our boss Charlie 😉 ).
So which ones do I mean? Well these:
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| Link to homepage; example video |
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| Link to homepage; example video |
In recent months both games have stalled in development and people are starting to become quite pessimistic about the future (1,2).
Strangely enough (for typical FOSS projects) it is not the artists who lack (there is actually an active group of contributors for both games, who are eager to see their artwork in the game; examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all CC-by-SA licensed) but a severe lack of programmers.
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| An example of not yet implemented OD graphics |
So how can you help out and dig into the code, and why am I posting about both games the same time? Well both are actually build on a somewhat similar base, utilizing OGRE3D for graphics and CEGUI for the GUI elements. Now I have to admit, given my very much lacking C++ skills, I am aware that that is probably where the similarities end, but have a look at their developers pages (1, 2) and source-code yourself if you are interested.
Now why would one want to merge the code-base of two completely different games (the one being a strategy game, the other an ARPG)? Well surprisingly enough they would complement each other quite well, with a similar theme and the nice prospect of using the OD mechanics also as an in-game editor (which is really lacking for SumWars).
In addition to that it would open up the possibility of a really cool multiplayer/COOP game mode as I explained here. This comic sums up the idea (minus the Wii-U):
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| Copyright: Penny Arcade |
So warm up your OGRE3D coding skills and give these projects some help, preferably including a merger! THANKS in advance!
Reblogged from: freegamer
