Ex-Relic, Bioware, Riot & Volition devs form Hinterland Studio, debut title The Long Dark coming to Kickstarter
The Long Dark is the first title from Hinterland Studio, a new developer formed by ex-Relic Entertainment, BioWare, Riot Games and Volition Inc members. It’s an episodic, open world survival game coming to PC, Mac, and Linux.
The project is coming to Kickstarter on September 16, and it’s a first-person sandbox survival experience set in a North America after a disaster has destroyed the nation’s technology infrastructure. You can get an overview on what the game’s about over at Hinterland’s page.
Hinterland’s first episode casts players as bush pilot William Mackenzie who finds himself stranded in the Northern wilderness along with other survivors. As players roam the new frontier, they’ll have to gather resources and knowledge to survive, while overcoming some difficult moral choices that will impact the fate of the game world at large.
Heading up Hinterland Studio is creative director Raphael van Lierop, who has 13 years industry experience across such projects as Far Cry 3, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes.
The Lost Dark will also span other media, but details are thin at the moment.
In a statement, van Lierop said of the project, “We want to be part of the incredible crowdfunding revolution, and create a direct relationship with our players. This new model allows us directly engage our community, to expand on our existing resources to help achieve our ultimate vision for the game. Through this additional support, we can add richness to the experience in line with our backer’s expectations, while also maintaining the creative independence that is core to our identity.”
How Project Phoenix hopes to disrupt the JRPG genre – Interview
Project Phoenix is the new tactical RPG from Creative Intelligence Arts. VG247′s Dave Cook learns more about the studio’s blend of Eastern and Western philosophies, as well as Nobou Uematsu’s involvement.
We’ve seen a wave of Kickstarter success stories out of Japan recently. Just last week Keiji Inafune managed to raise over a million dollars for his Mega Man successor Mighty No. 9 in under two days, and before that we saw indie RPG Project Phoenix raise $826,075 when all it needed was $100,000 to succeed.
The latter is serious business. Project Phoenix is a triple-a, tactical, squad-based JRPG developed by new studio Creative Intelligence Arts. It’s a team of talented developers from both the East and West that boasts a combined work history spanning Skyrim, Valkyria Chronicles, L.A. Noire, Diablo 3, Halo 4 and Crysis 3, as well as the Final Fantasy series at large.
Stewarded by director and producer Hiroaki Yura, the game blends JRPG sensibilities with StarCraft-inspired RTS combat that results in an intriguing hybrid. I recently managed to speak with Yura over email and I opened by asking him for some background on the project, given the scale of its global development.
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