Former Blizzard Staffers Announce New Studio

Thanks to GameSpot for their news that the key members of the creative team behind Diablo and Diablo II have announced their new company, called Flagship Studios, after their split from Blizzard at the end of June. The 9 co-founders of the San Francisco-based studio hope "...to build on a track record established by their work on the... Diablo franchise" at Blizzard North, and there's a piece of concept art and a company FAQ on Flagship's site that clarifies the fact they "intend the PC to be our main development platform", mentioning "multiplayer focused" aspects to this very early-in-development debut title.

With apologies...

[daeley]

I guess they were tired of being left out in the, ah, "cold", as it were.

concept art

[pizza_milkshake]

there's a piece of concept art and a company FAQ on Flagship's site that clarifies the fact they "intend the PC to be our main development platform", mentioning "multiplayer focused" aspects to this very early-in-development debut title.

the concept art seems to "clarify" only that they are dorky and male, which i would take to be prerequisite for the gaming industry

Re:concept art

[Kris_J]

Re: Art - *Shudder*

That said, I hope they come up with something quick, 1.10 is really starting to piss me off.

Re:concept art

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

offtopic - whats wrong with it? I'll admit I havnt played since the early days of the first public 1.10 beta -- I *LOATH* the copy protection -- , but it was nothing but great changes IMO -- Really added a challange to the game, and some variety (It wasnt just the cookie cutter bowazons wearing vampgaze, string of ears, wf or buriza, dual sojs, water walks.. etc. .09 there was only a set amount of skills/items that would work, and anything else couldnt compare).

Re:concept art

[Kris_J]

Playing against Diablo in 1.10 with a well-setup character is like playing against him with a statless, skillless, naked sorceress in 1.9. It's just too hard to be enjoyable. "Oh, hey, my merc is dead again." I don't want to have to die a dozen times to defeat a big bad -- where's the victory in that. Diablo vs Player score: 12-1.

Re:concept art

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

Ahh, Makes sense. I didnt really get that far in. I do know it helps to build a new char as the old power-builds arnt nearly as godly, but I can see where you have a point. I did try walking through act 1 hell with my old bnet MF sorc (w/ 1 occy ring.. iknow, bad and something i'm against, but she was just for mf.)
in .09 I could do baal runs easily, meph with my eyes closed (she could tank it). In .10 Even quil rats would beat her up, It was pretty pathetic. I think they're really trying to force a party no

Re:concept art

[Sarcastic nerd]

You think it's bad now (well, actually two days ago, that's when they closed the 1.10 beta)? According to Blizzard's LoD page [battle.net], ladder games in the final 1.10 will be even harder than the beta!

"Ladder Games offer a more challenging type of gameplay than players will find in Normal Games. Monster AI speeds have been increased. Reaction times increased for Ladder Nightmare and Hell games. Basically every monster acts like a super unique. Monster Hit Points have been increased for Nightmare and Hell Ladder gam

Re:concept art

[NanoGator]

"the concept art seems to "clarify" only that they are dorky and male, which i would take to be prerequisite for the gaming industry"

As an artist who may one day apply at Blizzard, I'm offended by your statement that we're all male dorks. As soon as I'm done with my IRC chat about tonight's episode of Enterprise, I'm going to flame the heck out of you!

Seems to be a recurring trend...

[I(rispee_I(reme]

I can think of at least two other instances of the most talented section of a game development company taking wing over petty differences:
1)When the developers of Contra left Konami to form Treasure.
2)When the developers of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark left Rare to join Eidos.
In each of these instances, the output of the parent company suffered greatly, while the prodigal developers released games that built on the strengths of their previous works, while seeming less constrained (or focused, depending on your perspective.) For Konami vs Treasure, compare Contra 3 to Gunstar Heroes. For Rare vs Eidos, compare Goldeneye or Perfect Dark to Time Splitters 1 or 2.
I wish the upstarts the best of luck, and hope they can further refine their work.

Re:Seems to be a recurring trend...

[nekura]

Actually, I don't think Free Radical Design (the people who developed TimeSplitters) are a part of Eidos; Eidos just published the game.

wait...

[skinnedmink]

*cough* Ion Storm *cough*

was blizz north gutted?

[fireduck]

the initial story when these guys left was that it was only a few employees, Roper and 3 original Condor guys. This release mentions that 9 people left B.North, including art directors and senior programmers. That's a bit more drastic that first reported... (or at least than I recalled). I'm sure this gives Blizzard an opportunity to encourage new talent at B. North, but I really doubt losing all the top guys there is going to help any release dates (for any of their unnanounced projects.)

Best quote in the interview with Roper, "Basically, it all comes down to spending less time managing teams and more time making games." And then of course, you go to the flagship homepage and see that of the 9, they've got a CVO (??), CEO, CCO, COO, CFO, 2 art director, and 2 technology directors. Seems odd that all 9 of their employees are managers...

Re:was blizz north gutted?

[33degrees]

I think it's simply a case of the head guys leaving, and some of the employees following. What surprises me is that none of these people had non-competition clauses in their contracts, which I thought was standard in the gaming industry

Ooops, lost my soul again.

[voice of unreason]

The flavor is a dark one (of course) that we think will really strike a chord with gamers around the world.

Not to criticize or anything, but have the Blizzard (or ex-Blizzard) folks ever made anything with a plot the isn't dark? Where you know, maybe no major characters lose their eternal souls to aliens, or demons or what not...

I think their dev team needs a hug.

Re:Ooops, lost my soul again.

[schild]

I believe that's why they have the words 'of course' in parentheses. Which is to say - they only make dark games. The world doesn't need another Rayman or Mario Sunshine. Dear god not another Mario Sunshine.

/schild

A great new concept

[erroneous]

I can just imagine that first creative meeting...

"Guys! Guys! I've come up with this great new concept."

"Yeah?"

"I call them 'tits', whaddya think?"

"They could catch on, get really popular. We should patent that idea quick."

New Stuff

[stonetoad]

I'm a big fan of the Diablo series, so I am looking forward to what and how this new project is going to turn out now that they have emaciated themselves from Blizzard. There has always been buzz about what would a Diablo 3 be like. (disregarding the idiots who think the new mega-patch coming soon for D2:LOD is #3) I wish them the best of luck.

Re:New Stuff

[rhild]

I think 'emancipated' is the word you're looking for, unless they all went on a hunger strike. Then maybe they are emaciated!.

PC focus a result of SC: Ghost?

[WinnipegDragon]

I'm curious how much Blizzard's decision to produce StarCraft: Ghost as a console title dictated their 'PC Focus'?

Seems like a good idea to me. I know that their is a community backlash against PC software houses when they go console focused or console only. Look at Jade Empires and KOTOR from Bioware... Fable from Lionhead... Angry PC users abound in both cases, so this could be a shrewd marketing manoeuver.

Soon to be vice versa?

[MMaestro]

True almost no game goes PC first then ends up being ported to a console (there are exceptions), but this may not always be the case in the future. Some games are being released on the PC before consoles now. For example:

Starcraft 64 (on the N64)
Mechwarrior 2 (on the PS1)
Morrowind (on the Xbox, was delayed for more bug fixing but not the PC version)
And for the most notable and most recent game : Final Fantasy XI

With consoles becoming more powerful than ever (read : rivaling PCs, already destroyed arcades)