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Creative Assembly (Total War) Making A Blockbuster (Survival Horror?) "Alien" Game

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Summary of new info:

-Made by a new team created to make console games.
-Seems to be a third person survival horror game that has multiplayer, was compared to Dead Space 2.
-Has a large budget.

---

The British government has revealed on Twitter that Creative Assembly, creator of the Total War series, is making an Alien title for consoles.

I'll file this under "Things I never expected to make a thread about."

VG247 said:
Creative Assembly hiring for Alien “blockbuster” – Vaizey

Ed Vaizey, the British Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, has seemingly just confirmed that Sega studio Creative Assembly is creating a “blockbuster” title based on Alien. The information based on the visit Vaizey mentions in his tweet is under embargo until 2.00pm BST today. ‘Bargo bustin’ stretches all the way to the top, you know. Watch for more later.
Source: http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/12/creative-assembly-hiring-for-alien-blockbuster-vaizey/

Update:

Mike Hayes draws a comparison to Dead Space 2.

Rated-Rsuperstar said:
Very exciting. I'll take anything from the Aliens universe. Found this quote over at CVG.

Creative director Mike Simpson said that he'd been given the directive to win awards by Sega, but wasn't overly pressured because "we like winning awards". Class in a glass.

"This is very much a triple-A project," Sega West boss Mike Hayes added. "We want this to be a peer to the likes of Dead Space 2."

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...or-console-will-be-peer-to-dead-space-2-sega/

If they want this to compete with Dead Space I guess it'll be a 3rd person action game.

It seems to be a third person game with multiplayer.

Nirolak said:
Well, apparently it is third person and has multiplayer.

Senior Designer Job Posting said:
Senior Designer
Click here to apply for this position
Position Overview: We are looking for an exceptionally skilled and motivated team-player with a proven track record having had experience on several projects. The right candidate should be able to demonstrate an in depth knowledge of Game Design from both a creative and technical standpoint. Key Responsibilities:

Assisting the Lead Designer in the running of a Design Team, mentoring and monitoring the work of Game Designers.
Representing Design concerns at Leads meetings.
Generating Design Documents for Game Mechanics & Resource Requirements.
Overseeing quality of Game Design from conception to implementation to final polish.

Required:

2 shipped (PS2/Xbox/360/PS3) console titles in a Design position.
At least one of the above must be 3rd person
Must have experience designing online multiplayer.

Be able to write clear and concise design documentation (will expect to see examples)
Problem solver – is as good at finding solutions as they are finding problems.
Enthusiastic individual who can evangelise the game we are making within the team.

Ideal:

Experience managing other designers & creating design schedules beneficial
Using an intranet or Wiki for design documentation.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/TheCreativeAssembly?sk=app_7146470109

Senior Designer is listed as one of the postings for the console team here.

Likely related to this:

Koralsky said:
A couple months earlier, message in CA blog:

"SEGA greenlight major console investment

SEGA have okayed The Creative Assembly to develop a major new console title. Currently in prototyping stage the title and genre are secret but will constitute SEGA’s largest current budget in internal development outside of Japan. Using technology and tools developed over the last two years the team will now grow substantially. Studio Director Tim Heaton said ‘The Creative Assembly are known for Total War and we are privileged to have a skilled large team working to deliver Shogun 2: Total War. However we have moved forward with our console team and spent a lot of time developing an infrastructure that works for them and during that process developed an incredibly strong demo. It is great that we are getting the perfect backing from SEGA – we have the time and the resources to deliver an awesome game’."

Also, apparently it isn't unveiling today.

Eurogamer said:
Total War developer Creative Assembly is making a game based on the Alien franchise.

At a press event at Creative Assembly's Horsham, West Sussex base this morning the developer revealed it is hiring for the project, which it said was for a "console core game".

Launch platforms are yet to be announced.

160 people currently work at CA in Horsham. While the studio won't reveal how many people are currently working on the Alien game, it did say it wants to staff up to 200 within a year.

Indeed development has already begun, although CA refused to divulge more information. The game will not be shown at the E3 trade show next month, either.

Gearbox's Aliens game, Colonial Marines, is entirely separate and not linked in any way to CA's effort.

Creative Assembly's last game was March 2011's Total War: Shogun 2, recipient of a 9/10 Eurogamer review score.

derFeef said:
casplashmif2.jpg
 
I said it in the UK Poligaf thread, but there is a chance that Ed Vaizey will become the new culture secretary, if he does it will be great for the games industry because he understands the games industry and what it needs.
 

glaurung

Member
Minister of Culture?

This I got to see.

Is this supposed to be just a random aliens aliens, or the Cameron movie aliens?
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Nirolak said:
The British government has revealed on Twitter that Creative Assembly, creator of the Total War series, is making an Aliens title and that it is unveiling today at 2:00 P.M. BST.

That entire phrase is so bizarre.

EDIT: Goddamnit people Cameron didn't invent fucking Aliens.
 

Darklord

Banned
Unfortunately, Creative Assembly is pretty shit aside from the Total War team. This is a strange announcement though, haha.
 

Dynoro

Member
EatChildren said:
That entire phrase is so bizarre.

EDIT: Goddamnit people Cameron didn't invent fucking Aliens.
Yeah; I know but I thought I'd use glaurung's distinction as he asked
 

Koralsky

Member
A couple months earlier, message in CA blog:

"SEGA greenlight major console investment

SEGA have okayed The Creative Assembly to develop a major new console title. Currently in prototyping stage the title and genre are secret but will constitute SEGA’s largest current budget in internal development outside of Japan. Using technology and tools developed over the last two years the team will now grow substantially. Studio Director Tim Heaton said ‘The Creative Assembly are known for Total War and we are privileged to have a skilled large team working to deliver Shogun 2: Total War. However we have moved forward with our console team and spent a lot of time developing an infrastructure that works for them and during that process developed an incredibly strong demo. It is great that we are getting the perfect backing from SEGA – we have the time and the resources to deliver an awesome game’."
 

Kyaw

Member
What kind of game could it be though?

Aliens RTS? Total War Aliens? :/

Or some generic Aliens shooter?
 
Is it too pedantic to point out it's described as an Alien game, and not an Aliens game? Probably, but some people seem to be getting confused about Gearbox, despite it mentioning it being unrelated in the post.
Interesting to see if the studio is going in a new direction or it's simply a new RTS.

Krev said:
It's probably a tie-in to Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

I did wonder, hard to say from what we know.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Graphics Horse said:
Is it too pedantic to point out it's described as an Alien game, and not an Aliens game? Probably, but some people seem to be getting confused about Gearbox, despite it mentioning it being unrelated in the post.
Interesting to see if the studio is going in a new direction or it's simply a new RTS.



I did wonder, hard to say from what we know.
Alright, I edited the title to something that should hopefully be clear.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
will constitute SEGA’s largest current budget in internal development outside of Japan.

Hope it turn well for SEGA, most of their western studio's games were huge disappointments so far.
 
It must be because of my utter lack of sleep but when i read *New Console project*, i read it as being for a NEW console...lol.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Graphics Horse said:
Is it too pedantic to point out it's described as an Alien game, and not an Aliens game? Probably, but some people seem to be getting confused about Gearbox, despite it mentioning it being unrelated in the post.
Interesting to see if the studio is going in a new direction or it's simply a new RTS.



I did wonder, hard to say from what we know.


it says Alien IP, which probably covers everything. Although the graphic is more relevant to 'Alien' than any of the other movies.
 
Very exciting. I'll take anything from the Aliens universe. Found this quote over at CVG.

Creative director Mike Simpson said that he'd been given the directive to win awards by Sega, but wasn't overly pressured because "we like winning awards". Class in a glass.

"This is very much a triple-A project," Sega West boss Mike Hayes added. "We want this to be a peer to the likes of Dead Space 2."

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...or-console-will-be-peer-to-dead-space-2-sega/

If they want this to compete with Dead Space I guess it'll be a 3rd person action game.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
EvilDick34 said:
It must be because of my utter lack of sleep but when i read *New Console project*, i read it as being for a NEW console...lol.

given the timing and the fact they're only just hiring... it might be.
 

thelatestmodel

Junior, please.
Please, please, please let them treat the IP with the reverence it deserves. No Resurrection BS, no Predators, just proper Alien.

This could provide some real consolation after the cancellation of Alien RPG - can't wait to hear more about it.
 

Lime

Member
I don't know, I think the Alien IP is kind of 'overtired' at this point. I don't see anything new being done with the concepts. I kind of expect another FPS, so I'm not that fond of CA choosing to not develop something entirely new both in concept and IP.

But who knows, maybe the game will be quite different - I just have a hard time imagining what new concepts the IP allows.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Krev said:
It's probably a tie-in to Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

Scott's already said the film is no longer an Alien themed film but basically it's own thing.
 

Ponti

Member
maniac-kun said:
Alien: Total War?
Total War is up there as one of the PC exclusive series that would never work on a console, ever.

If this does turn out to be similar to Dead Space I'll be interested. Not very confident in Creative Assembly outside of Total War though.
 
Is it definitely a shooter? They could make a pretty easy StarCraft 2 ripoff with the aliens vs. predator licence.

Predators - Protoss
Aliens - Zerg
Marines - Marines
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Well, apparently it is third person and has multiplayer.

Senior Designer Job Posting said:
Senior Designer
Click here to apply for this position
Position Overview: We are looking for an exceptionally skilled and motivated team-player with a proven track record having had experience on several projects. The right candidate should be able to demonstrate an in depth knowledge of Game Design from both a creative and technical standpoint. Key Responsibilities:

Assisting the Lead Designer in the running of a Design Team, mentoring and monitoring the work of Game Designers.
Representing Design concerns at Leads meetings.
Generating Design Documents for Game Mechanics & Resource Requirements.
Overseeing quality of Game Design from conception to implementation to final polish.

Required:

2 shipped (PS2/Xbox/360/PS3) console titles in a Design position.
At least one of the above must be 3rd person
Must have experience designing online multiplayer.

Be able to write clear and concise design documentation (will expect to see examples)
Problem solver – is as good at finding solutions as they are finding problems.
Enthusiastic individual who can evangelise the game we are making within the team.

Ideal:

Experience managing other designers & creating design schedules beneficial
Using an intranet or Wiki for design documentation.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/TheCreativeAssembly?sk=app_7146470109

Senior Designer is listed as one of the postings for the console team here.
 
The site Rock Paper Shotgun has some interesting details.

CA aren’t talking much about the game yet, not even a planned year of release or which platforms it will or won’t be on – if you’ve read anywhere else claiming it’s console only, they’ve got their facts wrong, as CA are resolutely refusing to ‘fess up anything, other than that it will be on some manner of console. A PC version in addition has been neither confirmed or denied or even hinted at in either direction. So let’s remain optimistic, given CA have in general been a PC dev and SEGA’s last Xenomorph-related game, Aliens versus Predator, definitely did see a Windows version.

What we do know that it’s described only as an ‘action’ game and will be tackled primarily by the team who made Viking: Battle for Asgard on the console toys. However, CA are staffing up hugely to tackle this game. They’re increasing their UK headcount to 200, and picking up a new 10,000 sq ft studio for the purposes of this. If you’re a UK dev looking for work, you might want to take a peek at their job listings later today.

I’m told they’re adamant they’ll take their time over it, having felt that Viking perhaps didn’t get all the resources it needed, and that they’ve been playing with the concept to varying degrees for around three years already, since Viking launched.

So, that’s that for now – it may be some time until we hear much more about the game, apparently. But we can take two things from the table today: a) it’s Alien, not Aliens, and apparently won’t be just another space mariney shooter b) it’s really bloody good news for the UK game development scene. 200 people is a big studio, and to hear SEGA are investing in an era where you’ve got Activision closing fellow UK outfit Bizarre and other local devs like Black Rock are laying people off makes for a patch of sun during dark days.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Rated-Rsuperstar said:
The site Rock Paper Shotgun has some interesting details.
On that note, one of their job postings talks about engine tech that scales up to the next-next generation of consoles, so it seems they're not sure if it will actually make it out this generation.
 
Nirolak said:
On that note, one of their job postings talks about engine tech that scales up to the next-next generation of consoles, so it seems they're not sure if it will actually make it out this generation.

Exactly, any bets it might be targeted at the Cafe and PC?
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
EvilDick34 said:
Exactly, any bets it might be targeted at the Cafe and PC?
Well, a lot of the postings also ask for deep PS3 knowledge and 360 experience, so it seems they would ultimately like to hit this generation, but are just planning for delays ahead of time.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
I fucking love Alien and I fucking love Dead Space so they pretty much have my money. I also enjoy Creative Assembly but I have never had the opportunity to play one of their action games :(
 

Lime

Member
Rated-Rsuperstar said:
The site Rock Paper Shotgun has some interesting details.

So, that’s that for now – it may be some time until we hear much more about the game, apparently. But we can take two things from the table today: a) it’s Alien, not Aliens, and apparently won’t be just another space mariney shooter b) it’s really bloody good news for the UK game development scene. 200 people is a big studio, and to hear SEGA are investing in an era where you’ve got Activision closing fellow UK outfit Bizarre and other local devs like Black Rock are laying people off makes for a patch of sun during dark days

THANK YOU BASED GOD
 
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