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Phoenix Labs (ex-Riot staff) unveiling their new game @ The Game Awards, teaser image

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
It's animated at the link: https://twitter.com/PhoenixLabs/status/804378704306532352

15304378_998635546908712_7959710355744163970_o.jpg


When they formed the studio, they noted the following, though they've since grown from 8 to 40 staff: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...studio_from_former_League_of_Legends_vets.php

Gamasutra said:
Newsbrief: A band of ex-Riot Games veterans have come together to form a new studio in Vancouver, with a focus on AAA multiplayer titles.

Phoenix Labs is headed up by numerous ex-producers and leads on League of Legends, including Jesse Houston, Sean Bender and Robin Mayne.

The team of eight [Nirolak's Note: they're now 40], who also have backgrounds at studios like BioWare, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, are keen to focus on online co-operative experiences with strong narratives.

Here's what the studio president has worked on (plus a huge interview from 2014): http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-09-03-phoenix-labs-lessons-learned-from-league-of-legends

And when it comes to multiplayer online gaming, Houston has plenty of experience to leverage beyond his two-year stint with Riot. While at Ubisoft, Houston worked on the Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six series, both acclaimed for their online play. When he moved to BioWare, he handled cooperative multiplayer in Mass Effect 3.

The above interview suggested the game will be for PC and probably also consoles.

Before you ask, no, I don't know where they got all this funding from.
 
When they say "the team of 8", do they mean this studio making a AAA co-operative multiplayer game with a strong narrative is only 8 people or that the management heading the team is comprised of 8 people? I don't know how an 8 person team fits in the AAA space.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
When they say "the team of 8", do they mean this studio making a AAA co-operative multiplayer game with a strong narrative is only 8 people or that the management heading the team is comprised of 8 people? I don't know how an 8 person team fits in the AAA space.

They're 40 staff today. That was back in 2014.
 

crash7800

Member
Thanks for the thread.

Community Manager at Phoenix Labs here. Could not be more excited!

Here's a bit more to get everyone pumped! Please let us know what you think.
moecMPy.jpg
 

Nzyme32

Member
Thanks for the thread.

Community Manager at Phoenix Labs here. Could not be more excited!

Here's a bit more to get everyone pumped! Please let us know what you think.
moecMPy.jpg

Very nice. Certainly the most intriguing thing in the game awards thus far.
 

C-Jo

Member
Thanks for the thread.

Community Manager at Phoenix Labs here. Could not be more excited!

Here's a bit more to get everyone pumped! Please let us know what you think.

Ooooooooooooh!

We are so, so stoked to finally share what we've been working on.

<---- Designer at Phoenix Labs
 

CamHostage

Member
Please don't take this as me being witty, but when was the last time this worked well? Serious question.

{online co-operative experiences with strong narratives.}

Well, that was their inception goal in 2014, so it doesn't necessarily mean that the team's first goal is that. But there are multiplayer games that tell a story alright, are there not? MMOs contain story in them (though people get frustrated because they are soapy stories that intentionally have no end,) and stuff like PSO or Assassin's Creed Unity or Halo 4 or Borderlands or the Lara Croft top-down games take you through story events (even though most people consider the single-player experience to be "the story" of the game.) It's a daunting challenge to make a multiplayer experience integral to the story delivery (it tends to be that you either beg some dedicated friends to party up with you on a schedule or else you wish like hell that the co-op mode adds bot support...) but I feel like it's been done well a few times, if that's where Phoenix Labs' project here is going.
 
Fantasy co-op! I'm cautiously optimistic for this.

Please don't take this as me being witty, but when was the last time this worked well? Serious question.

Cutscene time!

Scenario 1-
Player A : *presses skip button intesily - "why is this thing not working?"
Player B : *grabs popcorn
Player C : "hey guys, can we skip this?"
Player D : "brb toilet, don't start without me."
> Player A & C rage quit, team disbanded

Scenario 2-
Player A : *skips the cutscene
Player B : *watching it
Player C : "hey guys, you'd better skip this, alright?"
Player D : "brb toilet, don't start without me."
> Player A & C start ahead, team wiped
 

IaN_GAF

Member
Welp, that teaser image sure caught my eye, so mission accomplished I guess. Quite looking forward to more information.
 

Chris1

Member
Pic looks cool but I need to see more before I get excited. It's caught my attention so far.. let's see if it keeps it after tonight.
 
Dying Light was quite well received.

Hm, forgot about that one, thanks for reminding me.


There's always a first time for everything

Sure, and I wish them the best.


Well, that was their inception goal in 2014, so it doesn't necessarily mean that the team's first goal is that. But there are multiplayer games that tell a story alright, are there not? MMOs contain story in them (though people get frustrated because they are soapy stories that intentionally have no end,) and stuff like PSO or Assassin's Creed Unity or Halo 4 or Borderlands or the Lara Croft top-down games take you through story events (even though most people consider the single-player experience to be "the story" of the game.) It's a daunting challenge to make a multiplayer experience integral to the story delivery (it tends to be that you either beg some dedicated friends to party up with you on a schedule or else you wish like hell that the co-op mode adds bot support...) but I feel like it's been done well a few times, if that's where Phoenix Labs' project here is going.

Yep, I played quite a lot of MMOs, but the story most of the time was a mess. I thought about something like Borderlands / Destiny, with more story, but then I thought that they would need to nail the story in a way that it wouldn't be a problem for the grind or they would need to nail the gameplay.



Fantasy co-op! I'm cautiously optimistic for this.

Cutscene time!

Scenario 1-
Player A : *presses skip button intesily - "why is this thing not working?"
Player B : *grabs popcorn
Player C : "hey guys, can we skip this?"
Player D : "brb toilet, don't start without me."
> Player A & C rage quit, team disbanded

Scenario 2-
Player A : *skips the cutscene
Player B : *watching it
Player C : "hey guys, you'd better skip this, alright?"
Player D : "brb toilet, don't start without me."
> Player A & C start ahead, team wiped

Fake, Player B wouldn't have a mic and Player C would be screaming cyka blyat the whole time.
 

CamHostage

Member
Yep, I played quite a lot of MMOs, but the story most of the time was a mess. I thought about something like Borderlands / Destiny, with more story, but then I thought that they would need to nail the story in a way that it wouldn't be a problem for the grind or they would need to nail the gameplay.

I mean, I don't know if there is or ever will be an online game that gives you the same story experience of a SP game, something that makes you collectively say, "We did it! We fought for hours through incredible challenges and tragic losses, we killed the bad guy and saved the kindgom; we are all of us Keanu Reeves."

But I would say there have been bite-sized quests that have had meaningful story structure and design to themselves, and games with these types of quests have over the length of their play set a world and established a sense of adventure and accomplishment. There also have been games where each player serves a role in the quest (be it mixing healers and magic-users with warriors. or just something like Four Swords where you all every once in a while need to combine to progress or earn.) I don't know if/when there'll be a co-op online game that "will make you cry", but types of stories do get told in the games I've seen out there.
 

Feep

Banned
I mean, I don't know if there is or ever will be an online game that gives you the same story experience of a SP game, something that makes you collectively say, "We did it! We fought for hours through incredible challenges and tragic losses, we killed the bad guy and saved the kindgom; we are all of us Keanu Reeves."

But I would say there have been bite-sized quests that have had meaningful story structure and design to themselves, and games with these types of quests have over the length of their play set a world and established a sense of adventure and accomplishment. There also have been games where each player serves a role in the quest (be it mixing healers and magic-users with warriors. or just something like Four Swords where you all every once in a while need to combine to progress or earn.) I don't know if/when there'll be a co-op online game that "will make you cry", but types of stories do get told in the games I've seen out there.
FFXI and FFXIV just cheat: the story is told as though single-player, where *you* (and no one else) is the arbiter of all narrative events. Works well enough; we all knew it and it wasn't a big deal.
 

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
Check out the videos.

https://twitter.com/PlayDauntless/status/803764368148004864
Stay on your toes and seek your opening to unleash deadly strikes at the first opportunity.
https://twitter.com/PlayDauntless/status/803763080123453440
Targeting specific areas of a behemoth will expose weak points and alter the beast&#8217;s attack patterns. Make your mark.
https://twitter.com/PlayDauntless/status/803762234102943744
Infuse your strikes with aether and even the odds against the behemoths of the Shattered Isles.

 
Yup, looks very Monster Hunter-ish, definitely wanna check it out. Managed to sign up for the beta even with the site being a little slow at the moment.
 
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