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[cormack12]

TLDR
Looking at HMQ's past titles and the departure in ambition for Stormdivers, what can we expect from their AAA title? In terms of ambition, style and genre? Will it be timed exclusive etc. Can they make the step up from smaller, arcade style titles to triple-A gangbuster?


Source: Housemarque

A year ago, we announced that “arcade is dead”, at least for Housemarque, ending our long-standing commitment to creating arcade inspired games. Many thought that surely the studio must be in peril and that we’d be closing our doors soon, however this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Instead of shutting down we have made the jump to AAA development and are working on a new, unannounced IP.

The game [Nex Machina] was one of the top 10 reviewed game of 2017 and achieved a spot in Guinness World Records as one of the most critically acclaimed twin-stick shooters of all time.

Commercially, however, the story is different. We have no regrets whatsoever about taking the risk, as it taught us a great deal and we had a chance to work with our hero, gaming legend Eugene Jarvis. We also had the opportunity to film the whole process from the initial design phase to launch, the result of which is the recently released documentary, “The Name of the Game”, which is available in online video stores such as iTunes, VUDU, Microsoft movies and TV, Amazon, Vimeo and Steam.

Earlier this year we announced our new multiplayer-focused title, Stormdivers, which seemed to dismay our fans, as many thought that we were “jumping on the battle royale bandwagon”. However, we initiated this project back in early 2015 and started prototyping with a small team after finishing Alienation during the Summer of 2016.

A couple of years ago the future of the company did look uncertain. It looked like we should either scale down our development efforts significantly, letting go of great team members, or start thinking much bigger and ambitiously to survive beyond 2017. We had to make some difficult decisions and some serious changes or Housemarque would not be around for long. We wanted to continue making great games but first, we had to survive.

So, we started working on new, more ambitious concepts, but of course we had some challenges to face there as well. It took time to convince ourselves that we could be up to the task of developing a much bigger game than we have done in the past, as we were only around 50-people strong, working on two projects simultaneously. We knew this wasn’t enough people to create a AAA game, so we dug in and took the plunge. We started working on new, creative concepts to present to potential partners and eventually, we landed a great opportunity to start working on pre-production for a new, unannounced AAA IP last year. At the same time, we truly started to rethink our company culture. What is really needed to build up AAA game development capabilities, and how should we approach our overall development process and the future of the company.

What have Housemarque done?
They have a solid reputation for delivering high quality and replayable games. I guess most people will be familiar with Resogun from the launch of the PS4, the UFO inspired shoot 'em up with the circular map:

They also did Dead Nation

They also built on the fundamentals of the above with Alienation - which is currently £5 on the UK PSN store and highly recommended if you're into Diablo like games. I wasn't really into TPS Twin Stick shooters but this game hooked me ridiculous.

Then the critically acclaimed but lesser commercial successful Nex Machina

So after all that they had a bit of a detour in Stormdivers, which is yet to be released - but unfortunately might just come at a time of peak saturation for battle royale games. I have no doubt the gameplay will be there, but the audience might not be. Enraptured by something else....




Their careers page lists the jobs for the upcoming AAA title as:

Graphics Programmer
Lead Designer
Senior Graphics Programmer
3D Character Artist
Lead Artist
Writer
Houdini Technical Artist
Senior Animator
Animator


Bonus stuff
HMQ devs playing Booodborne

 

[TeamGhobad]

didn't we start a rumor that they were being bought by MS?

 

[1inthechamber_]

Not into the whole BR thing but gameplay looks pretty good and all their games have been impressive... besides Aliennation, fuck that game. Shit is hard af lol.

 

[cormack12]

I think they would be an excellent studio for a hack'n' slash game personally. Like an old GoW style game, which currently has a gap in the market due to the new direction. They seem to understand that quick action, highly replayable, seamless co-op/multiplayer experience really well. They seem like a really cool studio as well.

Of course they could go old school and make something like Predator 2 but on a triple A budget with vehicles etc. on the maps. Not a hugely radical departure but with some new mechanics

 

[cormack12]

Potentially a reimagining of this under someone like FHI?

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

ctrl + F "stardust"

Wat. No mention of Super Startdust HD? Also a very fun game from these developers.

They have the arcade chops for fun gameplay loops. As an outsider looking in (I don't play battle royale style games), I'd expect them to make traversal and environmental hazards a key part of the gameplay to set Stormdivers apart. Chaos, all around, all the time. That's the impression I get when I watch that trailer.

For the AAA title... hard to say. I'd love it if they tried their hand at a score-driven character-action game to give Platinum some good competition. I have a gut feeling it will be something a bit safer like a combat-racing game.