SD - Warchest

i know i posted a url regarding this... figured since we all play an SD game.. that a new thread regarding changes coming to SD might be helpful...

So with that said.. below is some info taken from an interview with SD and her future:


Splash Damage has unveiled big plans to Gamasutra for the future of the company, as it attempts to achieve vertical integration through the founding of two new companies.

The company also revealed that it is planning a studio-wide transition to Unreal, marking the first time in 10 years that Splash Damage has not used id Software technology for a project.

WarChest is a brand new video games publisher founded by Splash Damage, while Fireteam is the company's own online services operator. Through this trio of outfits, Splash Damage is now looking to fund, develop, operate and publish its own free-to-play games, as well as titles from outside developers.

Fireteam will supply developers with third-party integrations from backend support, while WarChest will handle the promotion and operation of online games, with the overall goal to offer gamers connected online experiences that are both high-quality and free-to-play.


Biggest news so far, NO MORE IDtech engine for SD - from now on, they are using UnReal - i felt a little drip of pee come out when i read that!!


"We're talking about games as a service," he notes. "Rather than developing games purely for their first week, we think about long-term player engagement, not just for a couple of months, but for 2-5 years, and we can continue to serve that community post-release."

"In essence, Fireteam is an online services provider for video games, that has all of the backend work that insures the servers are up, content distribution is available, player stats, profiles, storage, connectivity, plus it operates the microtransaction store and acts as the virtual currency bank."

imagine if ETQW was built with this model in mind! new maps new weapons new campaigns and so on!


FULL STORY

Also --

Better User Accounts at SD

The other thing we're hugely excited about that is that you will be able to use your account to sign into future Splash Damage games - so you'll keep your name, player data, and even friends list without having to set up new player accounts every time we release a new game. This system also provides us with ways to handle future beta tests and opportunities for creating game-related web services, which is something that has tickled us in all the right places for quite some time now.

this is a nice touch!


Interesting, to say the least.. time will tell if, goods things are coming.. or Brink 2

So more call of duty clones...

SD is Simply Dead to me.

It looks like they've seen the way ETQW lives on, and on, and on... and now they're looking to do that again, but this time have a way of monetizing it in ways the Lacktivision debacle prevented.

I wish them luck. Oh and I would also thank them for forgoing past practice of porting games to Linux. Totally saved me from giving them money for Brink.