Siege of dragonspear

[Cyseal]

http://www.twitch.tv/beamdog/v/40803256?t=12m29s

[Tigranes]

Very nice environments. They look very good, in fact, sometimes taking a leaf from IWD.

 

The UI, like every other Beamdog release, looks horrible, and its only redeeming feature is the few ease-of-use additions. Does their UI designer like to dress in green pants and red tops? Do they think gigantic icons that don't fit properly in their slots or bright red highlighting in a black-dominated dialogue box or any of the rest of it looks good? The best parts of that UI are the parts where they just copied the old one.

 

Writing is mediocre but that was never a huge point for BG. 

 

Combat is impossible to tell since they just Select All -> Attack all the enemies. Yeah. So jury still out on one of the most important parts.

[Jotra]

That definitely looks very promising! Noticed this on NeoGAF forums btw. David Gaider joins Beamdog!

[Gfted1]

If Beamdog can somehow bust out an all new D&D 2E game, I will squeee so hard.

[Gfted1]

I suppose. I wonder what kind of deal Beambog hammered out with WotC. Like how many future titles, which rulesets they can use, how did they cajole them into a 2E game?

[Jotra]

If Beamdog can somehow bust out an all new D&D 2E game, I will squeee so hard.

 

Well isn't SoD basically a new D&D 2E game? It should be over 25 hours long which longer than many games released these days.

[Darkpriest]

I suppose. I wonder what kind of deal Beambog hammered out with WotC. Like how many future titles, which rulesets they can use, how did they cajole them into a 2E game?

Ez to dev cash grab bringing more attention to D&D in general?

 

I mean after SCL they will choke up everything.

[Gfted1]

But isn't SCL based on 5E-lite? I always thought that WotC basically forced game developers to use the latest edition.

[Amentep]

Makes me wonder if Beamdog's plan post Seige is the BGIII they wanted to do before (but with added old-BG team members)?

[Cyseal]

Some of the original BG2, KOTOR, DA and Mass Effect team will be also joining! Now, they're really getting at.

http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/beamdog-achievements.html

 

"Second, in the metaphorical sense, we'd like to celebrate our achievements in some recent hiring and promotions. I say “recent” but in truth some of the employees mentioned here were hired over a year ago. We've been so focused on our work that we've neglected to celebrate them properly (and there's a lot to celebrate, as there's triple-A talent here). The time to rectify that oversight is NOW.

 

In September 2015 we added Brent Knowles to the Beamdog team as a designer. Brent has worked for many years on titles familiar to us, including Baldur's Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights. (His first project was BG2, so in a way coming to Beamdog is like coming full circle). We're happy to have him on the team.

 

Shawn Potter has also joined us temporarily as a contract programmer. Shawn previously worked as lead gameplay programmer for Mass Effect 3 and senior programmer for Mass Effect 1 and 2. We're excited to make use of his l33t programming skills (or should that be skillz? I'm never sure what the kids are saying these days. They're still saying l33t, though, right?)

 

"Beambard Amber Scott received a promotion to Publishing and Marketing Coordinator. That's right, she successfully finagled a raise out of goofing off on social media. Amber will be responsible for coordinating convention appearances, managing press releases and blog updates, and running events like the fun live stream we did last week.

 

Thea Kent joined us several months ago as an illustrator and immediately made herself invaluable. You might have seen her work in Dragon+ magazine recently—she did the character art for Glint Gardnersonson.

 

In November, um, 2014, Jason Knipe came on board (sorry for the late accolades, Jason). He was the lead graphics programmer on Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights, and now works for us as a graphics programmer and a fighter-tank in our D&D games.

 

Finally, Tom Rhodes has taken the reins as art director as of this month. Tom worked on all three Dragon Age games as concept artist, and he quickly made his mark here drawing an awesome picture of a high-speed unicorn chase. Note: do not attempt high-speed unicorn chases at home.

 

We also hired a writer named Dave. He seems pretty cool so far."

Edited February 9, 2016 by Cyseal

[Zoraptor]

Makes me wonder if Beamdog's plan post Seige is the BGIII they wanted to do before (but with added old-BG team members)?

 

That has to be the plan. There isn't much else for them to do which would get anywhere near the exposure and potential sales that a BG3 would; NWN3 is impractical as it would require a new engine (albeit there may well be be one for BG3 anyway), new rule set, construction/ DM stuff plus the name is already (mostly) in use for another current product and IWD/ Gold Box are less well known.

 

But isn't SCL based on 5E-lite? I always thought that WotC basically forced game developers to use the latest edition.

 

Not any more. They also (eventually) explicitly made Planescape available for T:ToN as well, so their policy has changed pretty much wholesale over the past three years. While it was an understandable policy to get people buying the latest stuff and they likely prefer it still it was also short sighted and contributed to the dearth of credible D&D products on computer over the past decade. They acted like D&D was still a premier product that it was a privilege to be able to work on for far too long after it wasn't, and were far too precious.

[Jotra]

 

Makes me wonder if Beamdog's plan post Seige is the BGIII they wanted to do before (but with added old-BG team members)?

 

That has to be the plan. There isn't much else for them to do which would get anywhere near the exposure and potential sales that a BG3 would; NWN3 is impractical as it would require a new engine (albeit there may well be be one for BG3 anyway), new rule set, construction/ DM stuff plus the name is already (mostly) in use for another current product and IWD/ Gold Box are less well known.

 

But isn't SCL based on 5E-lite? I always thought that WotC basically forced game developers to use the latest edition.

 

Not any more. They also (eventually) explicitly made Planescape available for T:ToN as well, so their policy has changed pretty much wholesale over the past three years. While it was an understandable policy to get people buying the latest stuff and they likely prefer it still it was also short sighted and contributed to the dearth of credible D&D products on computer over the past decade. They acted like D&D was still a premier product that it was a privilege to be able to work on for far too long after it wasn't, and were far too precious.

 

 

Eh what? T:ToN doesn't have anything to do with Planescape. It is based on Monte Cook's Numenera setting.

[Cyseal]

I think that BG3 won't happen but some spiritual sucessor will.

I wonder if the new team members will help the conclusion of SoD?

Edited February 9, 2016 by Cyseal

[Amentep]

I dunno, they have a brand, so I could see them sticking with BG but starting with a new cycle (either as BGIII or BG:Subtitle Part 1)

[Tigranes]

I think that BG3 won't happen but some spiritual sucessor will.

I wonder if the new team members will help the conclusion of SoD?

 

They won't, it's far too near release and content will be locked.

[Zoraptor]

 

 

Eh what? T:ToN doesn't have anything to do with Planescape. It is based on Monte Cook's Numenera setting.

 

 

Yeah, I said that Hasbro/ WotC made the Planescape setting available, not that InXile decided to use it. InXile had previously asked if it was available and was told no, hence going with Numenera, and that illustrates that WotC/ Hasbro has changed their policy along with other stuff like allowing a new 2e game.

[LordInsane]

But isn't SCL based on 5E-lite? I always thought that WotC basically forced game developers to use the latest edition.

Based on the statements made by Beamdog developers, actual new games probably have to be based on the latest editions, but Siege of Dragonspear is a Throne of Bhaal-style expansion, technically, and therefore gets to use the edition of the base game.

[Nepenthe]

I assume they'll do PSTEE or something similar next to keep the boat floating (cue inane whining about cash-grabs... I haven't been able to get the original to boot in a decade) cycling team members based on the phase between that and whatever is entirely new. Frankly, I can't see what else it could be apart from BG3.

[HoonDing]

I hope PSTEE removes all the excessive text.

[Amentep]

I assume they'll do PSTEE or something similar next to keep the boat floating (cue inane whining about cash-grabs... I haven't been able to get the original to boot in a decade) cycling team members based on the phase between that and whatever is entirely new. Frankly, I can't see what else it could be apart from BG3.

 

Seem to recall reading elsewhere that PST and IWDII would be bigger undertakings than BG 1/2 and IWD and so would require more work to convert.  Which I guess would be why Seige was more appealing as an option in terms of resource investment and return?

[Nepenthe]

 

 

I assume they'll do PSTEE or something similar next to keep the boat floating (cue inane whining about cash-grabs... I haven't been able to get the original to boot in a decade) cycling team members based on the phase between that and whatever is entirely new. Frankly, I can't see what else it could be apart from BG3.

Seem to recall reading elsewhere that PST and IWDII would be bigger undertakings than BG 1/2 and IWD and so would require more work to convert. Which I guess would be why Seige was more appealing as an option in terms of resource investment and return?

Dragonspear, albeit in a smaller format, was part of their bgee plan from a very early stage. They teased it way before bgee was released. Probably just wanted to get it finally done. That said, they might just as well be planning new dlc for bgee/bg2ee, which would justify the extra design/writing personnel. Minsc still has no personal quest in bg2ee...

[rjshae]

 

I assume they'll do PSTEE or something similar next to keep the boat floating (cue inane whining about cash-grabs... I haven't been able to get the original to boot in a decade) cycling team members based on the phase between that and whatever is entirely new. Frankly, I can't see what else it could be apart from BG3.

 

Seem to recall reading elsewhere that PST and IWDII would be bigger undertakings than BG 1/2 and IWD and so would require more work to convert.  Which I guess would be why Seige was more appealing as an option in terms of resource investment and return?

 

At least IWD2 would get them up to D&D v3 and provide a skill system. AD&D is just archaic and cumbersome.

[Amentep]

Problem with IWDII - as I understand it - is they kinda had to do a lot of workaround to get the Infinity Engine to do 3e D&D (sorta kinda) which would have to be redone to Infinity+ for them to make IWDIIee.
 
That said, I'd be okay with them ditching 3e since IWDII was originally supposed to use 2e and kits (yes, I never got over losing the Landsknecht kit ) but that may actually be JUST as problematic.

[Cyseal]

Stream 19 Feb.

http://www.twitch.tv/beamdog/v/47719171

[deveroth]

from the "great writers" who brought you Neera...

SUPER skeptical.