Owlcat's next game is an AAA title that will need full voice acting to compete with BG3

[Swen]

Future of Owlcat

* company comprises about 500 individuals.
* they are currently developing 4 games with 4 separate teams.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can all tell exactly what the future of Owlcat is...

You know, this just reminds me of all the recent uproar over mass staff cuts. The corollary, however, to "don't fire people" isn't "screw the bottom line", it's "don't stuff your studio like a pig before Christmas." Grow slowly, build up your expertise and customer base, reap reliable, gradual returns from a stable business... But no, for some reason, that penny just doesn't seem to drop in this industry, it's all more, more, MOAR! and now, now, NA5O!

500 people split into 4 teams to make 4 mediocre buggy crpg's.


They really miss a genius and visionary like Vincke

 

[Phinx]

Instead of adding more voice acting and motion capture, they could spend a lot less in order to add a targeting limbs based system like Phoenix Point, along with the target size cover system. Rogue Trader already made the party heal after combat but maintain injuries from the fight, they should have adopted limbs damage instead.

Then add in destructible multilevel environments like Silent Storm with the W40K world and lore. You'd have yourself one of the most legendary RPG games ever made. No amount of voice acting would be able to compete with that kind of gameplay.

 

[Rhobar121]

Instead of adding more voice acting and motion capture, they could spend a lot less in order to add a targeting limbs based system like Phoenix Point, along with the target size cover system. Rogue Trader already made the party heal after combat but maintain injuries from the fight, they should have adopted limbs damage instead.

Then add in destructible multilevel environments like Silent Storm with the W40K world and lore. You'd have yourself one of the most legendary RPG games ever made. No amount of voice acting would be able to compete with that kind of gameplay.

They would end up being bought out by m$ to avoid bankruptcy.
What you mentioned has practically 0 impact on sales.
Have you seen anyone get excited about something like environmental destruction in an SP game?

 

[Infinitron]

Have you seen anyone get excited about something like environmental destruction in an SP game?

Barrels are part of the environment.

 

[Phinx]

Instead of adding more voice acting and motion capture, they could spend a lot less in order to add a targeting limbs based system like Phoenix Point, along with the target size cover system. Rogue Trader already made the party heal after combat but maintain injuries from the fight, they should have adopted limbs damage instead.

Then add in destructible multilevel environments like Silent Storm with the W40K world and lore. You'd have yourself one of the most legendary RPG games ever made. No amount of voice acting would be able to compete with that kind of gameplay.

They would end up being bought out by m$ to avoid bankruptcy.
What you mentioned has practically 0 impact on sales.
Have you seen anyone get excited about something like environmental destruction in an SP game?

No, but only because many players don't know any better. Divinity: Original Sin is a perfect example of this, seeing how they marketed the game around the environmental interactions and spell effect combinations. They came out of obscurity and created a ton of buzz and didn't need voice acting to do it.

Imagine armored units that can charge through concrete walls, or smashing pillars with a hammer to collapse the whole roof. X-ray vision or some kind of device that gives super hearing allowing the player to get a rough estimation of the enemies location in buildings. Have a flame thrower and a cabin, set it on fire and smoke them out. Or poor gasoline all over the ground before combat starts, then light it up. Enemies on the roof, throw a grenade to destroy it, or get a bazooka under them and blow a hole in the roof.

When you have a sci-fi setting in the likes 40K or Shadowrun, imagination can absolutely bring in the dollars. A sci-fi RPG with high tech destruction and pure carnage would be mint if someone could pull it off. And 40K is the perfect setting for it.

People stopped dreaming of the type of game they'd want the whole world to experience, and instead started making games they'd think people will like.

 

[ArchAngel]

Future of Owlcat

* company comprises about 500 individuals.
* they are currently developing 4 games with 4 separate teams.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can all tell exactly what the future of Owlcat is...

You know, this just reminds me of all the recent uproar over mass staff cuts. The corollary, however, to "don't fire people" isn't "screw the bottom line", it's "don't stuff your studio like a pig before Christmas." Grow slowly, build up your expertise and customer base, reap reliable, gradual returns from a stable business... But no, for some reason, that penny just doesn't seem to drop in this industry, it's all more, more, MOAR! and now, now, NA5O!

500 people split into 4 teams to make 4 mediocre buggy crpg's.


They really miss a genius and visionary like Vincke

So you are saying they should make one big buggy game instead and fill it with gay sex and bearbuggery?

 

[Nikanuur]

Owlcat founder breaks down RPG budgets and Larian’s impact on genre: “We can’t invest $200 million to make BG3”​

https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/03/18/rpg-budgets-owlcat-cannot-invest-200-million-to-make-bg3

“We made all our games with partial voiceover, because 1) it’s expensive and 2) it makes the development process extremely difficult. Especially when you have one million words,” Shpilchevskiy said. “Looking at BG3, you understand: it is becoming a must-have feature, which doesn’t guarantee you success, but if you don’t meet that bar, your game is considered one that no longer fits into the right category. So it looks like we will have to do a full voiceover for our next games.”

this guy really comes off like a whiny sore loser. Acting like BG3 is the first game to implement voice acting and he's all "THIS IS GOING TO COST ZILLIONS OF DOLLARS!"

Yeah, so focus MUCH less on bloated texts—because nothing can be truer than quantity over quality as far as texts go in your games—and shift the saved effort towards more meaningful adventuring and exploration in your games. Case solved, Owlcats.

 

[Swen]

Future of Owlcat

* company comprises about 500 individuals.
* they are currently developing 4 games with 4 separate teams.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can all tell exactly what the future of Owlcat is...

You know, this just reminds me of all the recent uproar over mass staff cuts. The corollary, however, to "don't fire people" isn't "screw the bottom line", it's "don't stuff your studio like a pig before Christmas." Grow slowly, build up your expertise and customer base, reap reliable, gradual returns from a stable business... But no, for some reason, that penny just doesn't seem to drop in this industry, it's all more, more, MOAR! and now, now, NA5O!

500 people split into 4 teams to make 4 mediocre buggy crpg's.


They really miss a genius and visionary like Vincke

So you are saying they should make one big buggy game instead and fill it with gay sex and bearbuggery?

Hardly any bugs now. Also if you encountered anything gay that means you're gay.

 

[Haba]

Then add in destructible multilevel environments like Silent Storm with the W40K world and lore. You'd have yourself one of the most legendary RPG games ever made. No amount of voice acting would be able to compete with that kind of gameplay.

They would end up being bought out by m$ to avoid bankruptcy.
What you mentioned has practically 0 impact on sales.
Have you seen anyone get excited about something like environmental destruction in an SP game?

No, but only because many players don't know any better. Divinity: Original Sin is a perfect example of this, seeing how they marketed the game around the environmental interactions and spell effect combinations. They came out of obscurity and created a ton of buzz and didn't need voice acting to do it.

Imagine armored units that can charge through concrete walls, or smashing pillars with a hammer to collapse the whole roof. X-ray vision or some kind of device that gives super hearing allowing the player to get a rough estimation of the enemies location in buildings. Have a flame thrower and a cabin, set it on fire and smoke them out. Or poor gasoline all over the ground before combat starts, then light it up. Enemies on the roof, throw a grenade to destroy it, or get a bazooka under them and blow a hole in the roof.

Imagine a game with mages that can level out entire mountains, reshape rivers, turn rain into acid. Armies turned into gore within seconds. Desperate guerilla strikes attempting to eliminate the wards of the enemy mages before they rain magical nukes upon your fortress. Fuck, imagine arch-mages duking it out in the void, throwing fucking planets at each other.

Instead we celebrate being able to move around explosive barrels.

 

[ArchAngel]

Then add in destructible multilevel environments like Silent Storm with the W40K world and lore. You'd have yourself one of the most legendary RPG games ever made. No amount of voice acting would be able to compete with that kind of gameplay.

They would end up being bought out by m$ to avoid bankruptcy.
What you mentioned has practically 0 impact on sales.
Have you seen anyone get excited about something like environmental destruction in an SP game?

No, but only because many players don't know any better. Divinity: Original Sin is a perfect example of this, seeing how they marketed the game around the environmental interactions and spell effect combinations. They came out of obscurity and created a ton of buzz and didn't need voice acting to do it.

Imagine armored units that can charge through concrete walls, or smashing pillars with a hammer to collapse the whole roof. X-ray vision or some kind of device that gives super hearing allowing the player to get a rough estimation of the enemies location in buildings. Have a flame thrower and a cabin, set it on fire and smoke them out. Or poor gasoline all over the ground before combat starts, then light it up. Enemies on the roof, throw a grenade to destroy it, or get a bazooka under them and blow a hole in the roof.

Imagine a game with mages that can level out entire mountains, reshape rivers, turn rain into acid. Armies turned into gore within seconds. Desperate guerilla strikes attempting to eliminate the wards of the enemy mages before they rain magical nukes upon your fortress. Fuck, imagine arch-mages duking it out in the void, throwing fucking planets at each other.

Instead we celebrate being able to move around explosive barrels.

There was only one BG2

 

[Harthwain]

Imagine a game with mages that can level out entire mountains, reshape rivers, turn rain into acid. Armies turned into gore within seconds. Desperate guerilla strikes attempting to eliminate the wards of the enemy mages before they rain magical nukes upon your fortress. Fuck, imagine arch-mages duking it out in the void, throwing fucking planets at each other.

Sacrifice! (well, mostly...)

 

[Hag]

Imagine a game with mages that can level out entire mountains, reshape rivers, turn rain into acid. Armies turned into gore within seconds. Desperate guerilla strikes attempting to eliminate the wards of the enemy mages before they rain magical nukes upon your fortress. Fuck, imagine arch-mages duking it out in the void, throwing fucking planets at each other.

That's Dominions in a nutshell.