Kevin Saunders has joined Nexon to head a new RPG studio - SHUT DOWN

[mondblut]

All those old luminaries returning is like reunions of 70s dad rock bands. The 30+s are excited, and a tour is sold out. Yet you know the new album will suck balls, there is simply no way it wouldn't.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevindsaunders

Head of Nebula Studio at Nexon

Shattered Nebula?

 

[Bubbles]

Sounds like vapourware.

 

[Darth Roxor]

 

[Infinitron]

 

[m_s0]

nealiios

 

[Abu Antar]

Card Game

 

[ksaun]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevindsaunders

Head of Nebula Studio at Nexon

Shattered Nebula?

=)

I'll risk being presumptuous about what you may be implying. =) While Shattered Galaxy received some critical acclaim back in 2001, it wasn't exactly a financial success story. (Rather, it exactly wasn't a financial success story.) I'm not sure there's sufficient interest in a Shattered Galaxy 2 for it to make sense from a business perspective to develop.

The studio's internal name is intended as a metaphor -- a nebula being an amorphous collection of stuff from which stars emerge. (Alternately, a nebula might ultimately disperse into nothingness, creating no stars. Hopefully the former symbolism is the relevant one, though the latter being a possibility was intentional on my part.) And "Nebula" invites projects, servers, etc. to be named (internally) after stars, comets, etc. (Our first project is internally called Adhara, name courtesy of Adam Heine.)

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Thanks for the info

(Our first project is internally called Adhara, name courtesy of Adam Heine.)

Or perhaps he was inspired by the name of a popular Codexer

 

[ksaun]

Card Game

Unlikely. The card game space seems too saturated, due in part to the success of Hearthstone, for it to be of interest to us. Nexon's CEO (Owen Mahoney) does not want us to create a "commodity" product, but to innovate in some way. (See the interview here, though this article focuses on mobile game but we are currently planning to create a PC game.) Nexon is profitable, lending Nebula the luxury to focus on gameplay quality, not revenue generation (i.e., we aren't necessarily making a f2p game). But it would be nice to make games that enjoy some financial success as well.

(I'm not trying to be cagey by saying "unlikely." We are currently in a prototyping phase and the actual game we ultimately create as our first is still TBD. The idea we are currently pursuing would be considered an RPG by some, but certainly not all who dwell in Codexia.)

P.S. FYI, Neal Hallford's involvement is in developing a setting for Nebula to possibly use for our games. Regardless of the gameplay specifics, I want us to create games that are grounded in a rich, detailed, and original setting. Neal, of course, has expertise in such things and he was kind enough to make the time to explore some ideas with me.

 

[Zed]

Best of luck with this endeavor! I hope it will be very fruitful, and in the long run, rewarding for RPG fans regardless of your inevitable first chopper HD titles.

 

[ksaun]

Best of luck with this endeavor! I hope it will be very fruitful, and in the long run, rewarding for RPG fans regardless of your inevitable first chopper HD titles.

There's wisdom in what you say.
Thank you for your kind wishes.

 

[ArchAngel]

Card Game

Unlikely. The card game space seems too saturated, due in part to the success of Hearthstone, for it to be of interest to us. Nexon's CEO (Owen Mahoney) does not want us to create a "commodity" product, but to innovate in some way. (See the interview here, though this article focuses on mobile game but we are currently planning to create a PC game.) Nexon is profitable, lending Nebula the luxury to focus on gameplay quality, not revenue generation (i.e., we aren't necessarily making a f2p game). But it would be nice to make games that enjoy some financial success as well.

(I'm not trying to be cagey by saying "unlikely." We are currently in a prototyping phase and the actual game we ultimately create as our first is still TBD. The idea we are currently pursuing would be considered an RPG by some, but certainly not all who dwell in Codexia.)

P.S. FYI, Neal Hallford's involvement is in developing a setting for Nebula to possibly use for our games. Regardless of the gameplay specifics, I want us to create games that are grounded in a rich, detailed, and original setting. Neal, of course, has expertise in such things and he was kind enough to make the time to explore some ideas with me.

Sounds like some Mass Effect like game...

 

[nealiios]

Hi peanut gallery! Looks like you've found the rock I've been hiding under for a bit, and discovered why there weren't any Krondor Confidential updates on my writing/games/indiefilm blog last month (though part VIII will go live later today.) As Kevin said, I'm busy creating a universe for him which so far has been a lot of fun (or at least it has been for me). I'm sworn to silence as far as details of the Nexon game goes, but I will say Kevin's working very hard to assemble his own team of Avengers, and I'm honored to be helping out in that effort.

In other news, if any of you are in Southern California or are otherwise making arrangements to travel to Long Beach Comic Con, I'll be on a panel about Worldbuilding and Magic Systems on Sunday, September 18th. Don't know the time or room yet, but I'll try and let you know when I know.

You may now resume your crystal ball review of the game that Nexon hasn't built yet.

 

[ksaun]

Card Game

Unlikely. The card game space seems too saturated, due in part to the success of Hearthstone, for it to be of interest to us. Nexon's CEO (Owen Mahoney) does not want us to create a "commodity" product, but to innovate in some way. (See the interview here, though this article focuses on mobile game but we are currently planning to create a PC game.) Nexon is profitable, lending Nebula the luxury to focus on gameplay quality, not revenue generation (i.e., we aren't necessarily making a f2p game). But it would be nice to make games that enjoy some financial success as well.

(I'm not trying to be cagey by saying "unlikely." We are currently in a prototyping phase and the actual game we ultimately create as our first is still TBD. The idea we are currently pursuing would be considered an RPG by some, but certainly not all who dwell in Codexia.)

P.S. FYI, Neal Hallford's involvement is in developing a setting for Nebula to possibly use for our games. Regardless of the gameplay specifics, I want us to create games that are grounded in a rich, detailed, and original setting. Neal, of course, has expertise in such things and he was kind enough to make the time to explore some ideas with me.

Sounds like some Mass Effect like game...

no

 

[Abu Antar]

Any hints on the type of gameplay?

Like character action game, third person shooter, turn based combat. Anything decided?

Also, I guess this is a 2018 game or maybe even later.

 

[nealiios]

In other news, if any of you are in Southern California or are otherwise making arrangements to travel to Long Beach Comic Con, I'll be on a panel about Worldbuilding and Magic Systems on Sunday, September 18th. Don't know the time or room yet, but I'll try and let you know when I know.

Howdy, here's the updated info on ze panel: "Worldbuilding and Magic Systems: A Character of Their Own," Sunday, September 18th, 11:00am-12:00pm, Rumble Room, S7"

Sent an invite to Chris Avellone to come and play as well, but don't know whether or not he'll be able to join us yet. Will update you when I hear anything definitive one way or the other!

 

[V_K]

Card Game

Unlikely. The card game space seems too saturated, due in part to the success of Hearthstone, for it to be of interest to us. Nexon's CEO (Owen Mahoney) does not want us to create a "commodity" product, but to innovate in some way. (See the interview here, though this article focuses on mobile game but we are currently planning to create a PC game.) Nexon is profitable, lending Nebula the luxury to focus on gameplay quality, not revenue generation (i.e., we aren't necessarily making a f2p game). But it would be nice to make games that enjoy some financial success as well.

(I'm not trying to be cagey by saying "unlikely." We are currently in a prototyping phase and the actual game we ultimately create as our first is still TBD. The idea we are currently pursuing would be considered an RPG by some, but certainly not all who dwell in Codexia.)

P.S. FYI, Neal Hallford's involvement is in developing a setting for Nebula to possibly use for our games. Regardless of the gameplay specifics, I want us to create games that are grounded in a rich, detailed, and original setting. Neal, of course, has expertise in such things and he was kind enough to make the time to explore some ideas with me.

Sounds like some Mass Effect like game...

Keep it up guys, each "no" and "unlikely" gets us closer to figuring out what it is.

 

[ksaun]

Any hints on the type of gameplay?

Like character action game, third person shooter, turn based combat. Anything decided?

Also, I guess this is a 2018 game or maybe even later.

Let's assume no sooner than 2019, because you know how these things go. =)

We are in a prototyping phase, so almost nothing is decided and anything might change. It would be foolish for me to say more. So here you go: =)

We are currently exploring a cooperative multiplayer adventure RPG (light) concept. Very crudely: something like if Maniac Mansion were multiplayer or some adaptation of a board game like Betrayal at House on the Hill. I'd say the RPG part is likely to be unsatisfying to many here -- "real" RPGs have such a large minimum feature set and I'd rather us create something more modest first and then grow from there instead of being too ambitious with our first game. (For example, we briefly entertained the idea of making a 4X game in the vein of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (i.e., strategy, but with narrative depth and atmosphere) but, for me, that seems too arrogant a goal for a first game with a new team. The priority is to build a strong foundation for long-term success, not achieve a masterpiece with our first title.)

If our current concept doesn't come together, we'll prototype something else. I'd say something like 3rd person shooter or FPS is unlikely as it's not my cup of tea. But it also depends on how the team evolves. Almost certainly multiplayer in some form, as that's what Nexon does (and there's plenty of interesting things to explore in multiplayer).

Most of Nexon's games are F2P, but that's not a given and we'll figure out how it'll make money after we have a fun concept. (Secretly, I'd rather not F2P because it seems too easy for that to corrupt the gameplay.) Nexon is already profitable and Nebula's charter is to focus on things like innovation and quality gameplay, not maximize revenue. (I.e., if we make good games, the money will follow.) But we don't want to make something that's so niche that it's financially irresponsible. (E.g., we also briefly considered a multiplayer King of Dragon Pass-like game, but it seems like the audience would be too small.)

Our art director is Joe Sanabria: http://josephsanabria.com/

Leaning toward PC title, though mobile is not off the table. Not planning for console; not planning for anything VR-related. Using Unity for prototyping purposes. Could be something else for the real game, but I doubt we'd decide to make our own engine.

Whatever games we make, I want us to have a rich and original setting; the universe Neal is creating is independent of the type of gameplay and not yet tied to the concept.

 

[Infinitron]

ksaun Thanks for the self-scoop. I trust you're allowed to post these things!

 

[nikolokolus]

hey ksaun I've got a pitch. Get together with The new/old Chaosium (Greg Stafford, Sandy Petersen et al. are now back in charge again) and come up with a Glorantha/Runequest RPG. I'd love to see a d100 game translated to CRPG form.

/endwishfulthinking

 

[Neanderthal]

You know what i'd buy in a heartbeat? Game like Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, though personally i'd want Div:OS type turn based combat instead of the original type. Don't know how feasible, complicated or successful that'd be, probably too old fashioned an feature heavy, but I always remember it fondly. First time you transform into a Werewolf and gain jump ability, all them game altering spells you learn, secrets hidden around gameworld, fucking legendary voicework of Simon Templeman, dogs bollocks. Funnily enough i'd demand a lone protagonist for such a game, a party just wouldn't fit that gloomy, introspective and lonely crusade.

I liked rest o LoK series but it were a cinematic novel wi brief gameplay segments, whereas it were other way around for first Blood Omen.

Is there any money in multiplayer? All I keep hearing about MMO is that they're failing or taking down devs.

 

[Grauken]

eh, multiplayer, I rather eat razor blades

 

[ksaun]

ksaun Thanks for the self-scoop. I trust you're allowed to post these things!

Oh no, you're right! I've leaked that Nexon plans to deploy <1% of its global workforce to make a game! And ruled out a couple things that game probably won't be. EA, Bethesda, and Ubisoft executives are right now scrambling to figure out what this "Betrayal at House on the Hill" thing is so that they can beat us to market. (Surely this will be the next Pokemon Go!) Alas!

(I'm not intending to mock you -- I appreciate your concern for my well-being. =) But, yeah, it's all cool.)

 

[Darth Roxor]

and thus the codex is once again responsible for critical nda breaking