The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Deus Ex 3
Khavall
British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
Courtesy of Gamasutra:
Linky: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16365
So. Deus Ex one? Awesome
Deus Ex two? Pretty ok. Some stupid stuff and was dumbed down.
Deus ex three? Hell yes. Want now. Looks like it'll be a smaller team working on it, though it doesn't really talk too much about if it's going to be more like one or two, other than the release mentioning one more than two.
Also it looks like it won't be out for a long time, but that they're trying to make it worth playing.
Developer-publisher Eidos has revealed that its new studio in Montreal, Québec, first announced earlier this year, has opened its doors to the public, and the company is inaugurating the facility with the announcement of its first project: a third installment of the futuristic first person-shooter/RPG Deus Ex.
Gamasutra spoke to Eidos Montreal's general manager, former Ubisoft exec Stéphane D’Astous, about the studio's business plan and the new title.
The Studio Setup
"We’re pretty much on track on our business plan if not ahead," D'Astous said. "Right now we're almost 80 people. Our business plan is over three years – we have three phases of expansion. The ultimate goal is, by 2009 we should be 350 people."
According to D'Astous, Eidos Montreal currently has two groups -- a Q&A group that is responsible for testing all of the developer's games from anywhere in the world, and an in-house development team that D'Astous says has just passed proof of concept for Deus Ex 3.
"This game was very highly rated at its release in 2000, and we have this great huge mandate to do the third one, and everybody is very excited," added D'Astous.
So how many developers will be working on the game? According to D'Astous, teams will stay small and dev cycles will be lengthier. He stressed, "We’re only working on AAA, major titles. We’re going to be developing only major AAA games, using only next-gen technology."
Therefore, he continued, "We will want to limit our dev teams to a human-sized team of 80 people at the very highest of the peak in the production cycle. We don’t want to become a huge studio where there’s over 100 people on a title. We want a smaller, multi-discipline group that are tightly knit together. But by doing so, we will give them at least 18 to 24 months for the production cycle."
D'Astous believes that attitude will be appreciated on the local development scene and in the industry as a whole: "That's music to a lot of ears over here," he said. "Some developers are really trying to push titles out the door within 12-15 months; we're working on plans for our first few titles that will only be released after 24 months."
The Appeal Of Montreal
The development scene in Montreal has seen a lot of activity recently, most recently with French developer Cynanide opening a studio there alongside existing developers Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, A2M. We asked D'Astous why Eidos chose the area.
"I think Montreal has really a unique offering to the foreign developers," he opined. "To my mind, there aree at least five elements that are very attractive about Montreal. First, there's huge pool of talent -- people have estimated between five and six thousand people. And this pool is growing year by year. Second, we’re having successful ways to grow this pool – good schools, good universities helping us to identify what type of talent that we need for the future. So I think the schools are pretty much aligned for the future."
He continued, "The third point is we have a crowd of companies in the middleware zone -- Autodesk, and SoftImage, for example. We also have a huge film and animation industry. So that really helps to grow this industry here in Montreal."
D'Astous highlighted, "Montreal has low operational costs compared to other cities. Montreal has always been a city where the cost of living has been very reasonable, and this is also true for companies. So we can control our costs. The real estate is quite reasonable, the talent is there and that’s certainly an important point -- even though our dollar is going up, I think we are still very competitive on that side."
Finally, "The last element is that in Montreal, we're pretty lucky because it's very multicultural. I think that Europeans that come here don’t feel [like] strangers. We have this connection with the European people, but we're working at the fast-paced business style of North America. And that, I think ,is quite interesting, and I noticed that it’s appreciated from foreign developers."
Returning to the subject of his preference for a smaller team and a longer development cycle, D'Astous concluded, "We’re trying to be as transparent to our employees, as transparent to our external people of the studio – we don’t like bullshit. We want to have a clear plan and stick with it. Too often I think products being delayed several times is a disaster for morale, quality and efficiency."
Linky: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16365
So. Deus Ex one? Awesome
Deus Ex two? Pretty ok. Some stupid stuff and was dumbed down.
Deus ex three? Hell yes. Want now. Looks like it'll be a smaller team working on it, though it doesn't really talk too much about if it's going to be more like one or two, other than the release mentioning one more than two.
Also it looks like it won't be out for a long time, but that they're trying to make it worth playing.
Khavall on
0
Posts
There were 4 I think. You could just about have some kind of messy conglomeration of three of them, but seeing as one of them involves all life on Earth being wiped out in thermonuclear war except some cyborg guys, I don't think that one can really work with anything else ;-)
yeah.
SE++ Map Steam
The problem with combining the endings is that they show the long-term (hundreds of years) effects of your decisions, with endings showing futuristic utopias or barren nuclear wastelands, depending on what you choose. Not exactly something that can be combined, like the first's endings were.
Hopefully they'll pretend Deus Ex 2 didn't happen.
I hope the new game just makes you JC again. Alex (male or female) was a whiny bitch.
Also, small development team + longer production cycle =
I have faith this will be good. Its a new studio- so this is a make or break game. I highly doubt that they would ignore all the bad feed back on DX2. Most likely they looked at what made the first one so much fun and are taking that to the drawing board and not any concepts from the 2nd.
Good luck Montreal Edios.
http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/19299/Other/Deus-Ex-project-unofficial-title
Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4
Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles
On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts
Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
I would love to hear who some of the project leads are going to be. Also I find it funny that an 80 person dev team is considered a small team these days. I am interested but very much in the wait and see camp.
Oh my god.
I didn't know where it was going at first, but then when I heard the DX Title Screen music I freaked the fuck out.
Yay Eidos!
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Spector is at Junction Point Studios: http://www.junctionpoint.com/index.html, who are under Disney Interactive Studios and are working on something not yet announced.
Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4
Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles
On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts
Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
I never played either of the Deus Ex games, but I think I remember seeing generally positive reviews for DE2 when it hit.
Simplified rpg elemnts, unsatisfying combat, tiny TINY maps which were a concession to the X-Box's RAM limitations. Uninteresting story, unlikable characters. That's about it.
Really, all I want for certain is some assurance that the level will be hug and fun. And an epic if silly plot.
Let me see:
Small, confined levels with few ways to travel around them.
Unified ammo for all weapons.
Shitty story.
No real consequences for your actions throughout said story.
Annoying main character.
Simplified Augmentations and modifications.
And these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Where Madness and the Fantasical Come to Play
But first I have to go get a haircut!
Okay, I admit I'm filled with skepticism. Sort of. I want this SO BAD.
Deus Ex 1 is my favorite game of all time. Deus Ex 2 was very, very solid(as long as you ignored the fact that it was an unfinished sequel. Certain sequences were mindblowing.)
Deus Ex 3? It could be worse, or better. I'll still play it through at LEAST once, probably twice.
The original Deus Ex is my favorite game of all time (#1).
...I hope they go back to the roots and not more of a Bioshock thing. We sort of already had a Deus Ex fps ala Project Snowblind, which wasn't bad but it was no Deus Ex.
What did you not play system shock 2?
Spoilered for big and many.
Representations of religious ceremonies, enhanced citizens, some fairly obscure diagrams and a political backlash against the augmentation movement.
I'll be honest with you, I'm excited.
Oops. I mean,
Argh.
Ah ha.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
GJ, and that also got me a little more excited.
Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4
Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles
On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts
Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
It is some kind of crazy cartoon-world project. I remember hearing the words 'Looney Toons MMO' bandied about.
Do we dare say 'prequel'?
Oh man that gave me the chills. DX1 music for the win.