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Obsidian begins new project with Dungeon Siege 3 director at the helm

D

duckroll

Member
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/richard-taylor/3/767/634

Richard Taylor

Project Director
Obsidian Entertainment
Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
March 2012 – Present (1 month)

Project Director for unannounced title.


Lead Systems Designer
Obsidian Entertainment
Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
January 2012 – March 2012 (3 months)

Lead Systems Designer for unannounced project. Responsible for all gameplay related systems design, high level gameplay programming, and combat tuning.


Gameplay Programmer
Obsidian Entertainment
Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
July 2011 – December 2011 (6 months)

Gameplay programming development for an unannounced project. Focused mostly on UI (Scaleform) and Asynchronous Multiplayer features.


Project Director
Obsidian Entertainment
Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
June 2010 – July 2011 (1 year 2 months)

Project Director for Dungeon Siege 3. Oversaw project goals and direction, responsible for day to day project level decisions, worked with all discipline leads leads to establish and maintain a project vision, and worked with team members to reinforce expectations of quality.
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Right after the high profile cancellation of Obsidian's latest title (rumored to be a next-gen RPG for Microsoft), it seems the project director of Dungeon Siege 3 has started production on a new project at Obsidian. Could this be a quick and desperate cash grab at making Dungeon Siege 4? Would Square Enix be interested even?
 
I feel it is worth noting that they desperately needed a project to survive, and that by Obsidian's own word it normally it takes ~6 months to sign up a new project, but a sequel to an existing project would be much easier.

Joystiq said:
Additionally, Kotaku reports that the North Carolina project was to be published by Microsoft, and was intended for the still unannounced Xbox 360 successor console. Our tipster tells us that the North Carolina project was "desperately needed" for the studio's continued survival, which matches reports that Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart "choked up" while addressing his employees about the canned project.
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Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/15/obsidian-missed-fallout-new-vegas-metacritic-bonus-by-one-point/

Update:

They had a franchise road map as well:

David Hoffman Linkedin said:
• Executive Produced 'Dungeon Siege 3' for PC, PS3 and 360 including consumer and trade demos as well as robust PDLC from pre-production to release. Complete responsibility for all aspects of production – localization, QA, submission, green light meeting, franchise road-map, production.
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Source: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlhoffman
 
Perhaps following the success of Torchlight, maybe they are using the DS3 engine (and framework) to make their own loot game in a relatively quick manner?

I think sooner rather than later, Obsidian is going to have to start publishing themselves. A $15 DD title could be a good start...
 
I doubt Square Enix would accept. Considering the reception to Dungeon Siege 3, market potential for a sequel may not be appealing.
 
please dont have gender fixed classes. Thats is the number one i want from a mmo i can't stand playing as a female feels so disconnected with the world call me crazy.
 
Lancehead255 said:
I doubt Square Enix would accept. Considering the reception to Dungeon Siege 3, market potential for a sequel may not be appealing.
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The game cost next to nothing to make and shipped over 800K copies.

This time they also have the upper hand to demand whoever they want on the project.
 
DiscoJer said:
Perhaps following the success of Torchlight, maybe they are using the DS3 engine (and framework) to make their own loot game in a relatively quick manner?

I think sooner rather than later, Obsidian is going to have to start publishing themselves. A $15 DD title could be a good start...
Click to expand...

This year is not a good year for a loot ARPG with Diablo III, Torchlight II and Grim Dawn already in the pipeline, especially if Diablo III gets a console release. DSIII may be decent, but I think any effort of Obsidian with an ARPG would be easiliy outclassed and mostly ignored this year.

If they are going to self distribute (which I'm agree with you), they should do it with something that resonates among his fans and that use their strengths as developer.

Really worried to see all the info around Obsidian...
 
Which means JE Sawyer's still free to head up a Kickstarter project. NUDGE. NUDGE. WINK. NUDGE. COUGH. NUDGE.
 
Nirolak said:
The game cost next to nothing to make and shipped over 800K copies.

This time they also have the upper hand to demand whoever they want on the project.
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Well, then I hope Square Enix would find it appealing enough to allow a 'mid-tier' game make some profit.
 
I'd totally put money into a "save Obsidian" kickstarter fund where the aim was to generate enough cash for them to develop and publish their own mid-tier DD games...

With Obsidian's loyal fanbase it makes perfect sense to do something like this
 
Acosta said:
This year is not a good year for a loot ARPG with Diablo III, Torchlight II and Grim Dawn already in the pipeline, especially if Diablo III gets a console release. DSIII may be decent, but I think any effort of Obsidian with an ARPG would be easiliy outclassed and mostly ignored this year.

If they are going to self distribute (which I'm agree with you), they should do it with something that resonates among his fans and that use their strengths as developer.

Really worried to see all the info around Obsidian...
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True enough, but if they moved really quickly, they could likely still beat Diablo III to consoles, which is really their main competition. It's something they could pump out soon, as opposed to a more traditional type that suits their strengths more, which they likely couldn't self-finance.

But the big thing is to start publishing their own games sooner rather than later. This is what hurt past RPG developers a lot.

RPG have immensely long tails - they'll sell for years. Maybe not in large quantities, but they sell. But it's the publishers that have benefited. Games like Arcanum and ToEE and Bloodlines keep selling yet Troika never benefited. Same with Black Isle and so on.
 
Would it be viable to make more DS3 DLC now?

I also wonder if they will ever work with Bethesda again after the whole metacritic thing came out.
 
IamMikeside said:
I'd totally put money into a "save Obsidian" kickstarter fund where the aim was to generate enough cash for them to develop and publish their own mid-tier DD games...

With Obsidian's loyal fanbase it makes perfect sense to do something like this
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I doubt they could raise enough money through crowdsourcing to really kick that off in a significant way, but they definitely do need to get smaller, and work on smaller projects, before they can even think about doing big games.

Which is a shame because New Vegas showed what they can achieve with a "big" game.
 
Acosta said:
This year is not a good year for a loot ARPG with Diablo III, Torchlight II and Grim Dawn already in the pipeline, especially if Diablo III gets a console release. DSIII may be decent, but I think any effort of Obsidian with an ARPG would be easiliy outclassed and mostly ignored this year.

If they are going to self distribute (which I'm agree with you), they should do it with something that resonates among his fans and that use their strengths as developer.

Really worried to see all the info around Obsidian...
Click to expand...

On PC, I agree, but I think the hype around the genre this year could push the sales for another DS on consoles.
 
Last Hearth said:
Given the absurd design decisions of DSIII, why would anyone want another DS game from the same crew?
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I want one. DSIII was such a nice surprise. Wasn't expecting much going in given the negatives but I found a highly polished game with a very good narrative.
 
glad to see they've already got a new project up and running

I doubt it will be another Dungeon Siege game, the franchise doesn't really have any market value anymore. Hasbro should throw them a bone and let them work on a new D&D RPG, it's not like anyone is doing anything worthwhile with that license at the moment.
 
DS3 was ok. A different style from the usual DS games but not the best game ever. Some nice ideas and combat was pretty solid. Would much prefer if they just ported DS1 or 2 to XBLA/PSN.

Or make some smaller DD projects that won't utterly ruin them if it does not sell. They should do it more like DoubleFine.
 
Dungeon Siege 3 is the very definition of a mediocre generic game. It is derivative without standing out or offering anything unique, it is average in quality and content, and it is utterly forgettable. Worst of all it doesn't do anything better than other titles of the sort on the market, and it doesnt several things significantly worse.
 
duckroll said:
Dungeon Siege 3 is the very definition of a mediocre generic game. It is derivative without standing out or offering anything unique, it is average in quality and content, and it is utterly forgettable. Worst of all it doesn't do anything better than other titles of the sort on the market, and it doesnt several things significantly worse.
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Came here to post basically this. I hope that the title's mediocrity was a direct result of SquareEnix's involvement, and not the director's.
 
I can only assume Obsidian offered to make Dungeon Siege IV with Lightning day one DLC and SE simply couldn't refuse. Why not pack in a Verses XIII demo since this will probably come out first (but hopefully not to long before) to guarantee some sales :P

I enjoyed DS3 so I would buy a 4. Never played 1 or 2 which is probably one reason I enjoyed it. As a loot game it was terrible but as a linear action RPG I thought it was pretty good.
 
Richard Taylor was the lead programmer of NWN2's two expansion packs (Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir) and the project director / lead programmer of Dungeon Siege III.

DS3 lead designer Nathaniel Chapman is currently working at Blizzard.
 
duckroll said:
Dungeon Siege 3 is the very definition of a mediocre generic game. It is derivative without standing out or offering anything unique, it is average in quality and content, and it is utterly forgettable. Worst of all it doesn't do anything better than other titles of the sort on the market, and it doesnt several things significantly worse.
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Yep. As an Oblivion fan and loot game lover it was a huge letdown. I sold it after a few hours of play.

The engine is nice and it played well enough. For me to consider getting a sequel I would need it to be more linear (or be less confusing in terms of quests) and have a better loot system and better classes.

EDIT: More NV DLC would be awesome. I wonder how profitable the stuff that is out was..
 
butsomuch said:
Richard Taylor was the lead programmer of NWN2's two expansion packs (Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir) and the project director / lead programmer of Dungeon Siege III.

DS3 lead designer Nathaniel Chapman is currently working at Blizzard.
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I have the impression that a bulk of people left after DSIII release.
 
Corto said:
At this moment for Obsidian anything is better than nothing whatever your personal opinion of DS3 might be.
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That's absolutely not true.

Anything is not always better than nothing. In this case if the "anything" is a poorly thrown together sequel to a poorly received game then that would be the final nail in the coffin.

What they should do is find a quick make to make an easy game that doesn't have a bad stigma attached to it like Dungeon Siege so it at least has some chance of success.
 
If Obsidian dies making DS4, it'll be a tragedy. Couldn't even play more than an hour of DS3, it was just so bland.

Didn't help that it kept crashing my laptop.
 
duckroll said:
Dungeon Siege 3 is the very definition of a mediocre generic game. It is derivative without standing out or offering anything unique, it is average in quality and content, and it is utterly forgettable. Worst of all it doesn't do anything better than other titles of the sort on the market, and it doesnt several things significantly worse.
Click to expand...

i coulnt have said it better. one of the worst obsidian games.
 
Grymm said:
That's absolutely not true.

Anything is not always better than nothing. In this case if the "anything" is a poorly thrown together sequel to a poorly received game then that would be the final nail in the coffin.

What they should do is find a quick make to make an easy game that doesn't have a bad stigma attached to it like Dungeon Siege so it at least has some chance of success.
Click to expand...

When your company is close to going out of business or laying off like 2/3 of your employees to stay alive, anything is certainly better than nothing.
 
If is Dungeon Siege IV, I hope that they actually do something interesting with it. I don't want Obsidian kicking around only turning out bland reboots.
 
There's no evidence to think this game is Dungeon Siege IV so why is everyone assuming that? The guy ended up as project director probably because he did a good job managing the scope with DSIII, and the DSIII DLC team had a different director.
 
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