Tag: co-creator
A co-creator of the original Fallout says he modified his criminally underrated D&D videogame to work with a Department of Defense AI project in 2005
Fallout’s original co-creator has casually dropped ‘the true purpose of vaults’ on YouTube
A Fallout co-creator has been revealing heater after heater of never-before-seen RPG history on YouTube, including an early Lord of the Rings RPG demo
Diablo co-creator Erich Schaefer is making an action RPG with a studio of Blizzard North veterans
With Diablo IV set to arrive later this year, 2023 will be a big year for action RPGs. But there’s more to look forward to beyond this year. On Thursday, Moon Beast Productions – an indie studio founded by Phil Shenk and Peter Hu, two former Blizzard North developers – announced the hiring of Diablo series co-creator Erich Schaefer. In an interview with GamesBeat, the studio said Schaefer will serve as lead creator director on a new action RPG. Details on the project are sparse, but what Moon Beast shared with Schaefer was reportedly enough to convince him to come out of retirement.
“We have ideas for changing the genre with a different approach to progression and trying to solve some of the problems that are beholden to PvE games, especially games, like the Diablo franchise has dealt with,” Shenk told GamesBeat. All three men worked on Diablo II. Notably, Shenk is credited as the game’s lead character artist, and was responsible for designing the appearance of a few of the game’s character classes, including the necromancer and assassin. Lord of Destruction, Diablo II’s excellent 2001 expansion, features a tribute to Shenk in the form of a monster you must slay to complete one of Act V’s quests.
Schaefer told GamesBeat Moon Beast currently employs about 12 people, making it smaller than many of the other studios working in the ARPG genre. The good news is Schaefer has plenty of experience leading small teams. At Runic Games, he made Torchlight with a team of about 25 people. “I want to work on projects that are fun and genuinely try to do something different,” Schaefer said. “It’s impressive what the Moon Beast team has built in such a short time. It fired up my imagination with possibilities, and that’s a huge part of why I wanted to come aboard.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/diablo-co-creator-erich-schaefer-is-making-an-action-rpg-with-a-studio-of-blizzard-north-veterans-232322721.html?src=rss
Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka pleads guilty to insider trading
Yuji Naka has pleaded guilty to insider trading charges filed last fall. The Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator has admitted to violating Japanese financial law by buying shares in the game studio Aiming before its team-up with Square Enix on Dragon Quest Tact became public. Naka admitted to making a profit over 20 million yen (about $150,000) after selling his investment. He hasn’t yet received a penalty for the illegal trade.
The veteran developer signed on with Square Enix in 2018, but abruptly left soon after his one project at the company (the mobile platformer Balan Wonderland) shipped to customers. He sued the company for removing him as director of Balan six months before launch. He was still with Square Enix when he heard about the Dragon Quest Tact work.
Two other former employees, Taisuke Sasaki and Fumiaki Suzuki, were also arrested for buying Aiming shares using insider knowledge. Square Enix says it’s cooperating with investigators and has established a system that prevents insider trading. It’s not clear how well that protection will work in practice, but the guilty plea theoretically discourages developers from using industry secrets to manipulate the stock market.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-co-creator-yuji-naka-pleads-guilty-to-insider-trading-175609657.html?src=rss
Diablo co-creator Erich Schaefer joins Moon Beast Productions to make action RPG
Adult Swim dumps ‘Rick and Morty’ co-creator and star Justin Roiland after domestic violence charges
Adult Swim has cut ties with Rick and Morty co-creator and star Justin Roiland, and is moving forward with the cult show’s new season without him. The announcement comes in the wake of felony domestic violence charges against Roiland being made public.
Roiland’s presumably involuntary departure was revealed in a post on the official Rick and Morty Twitter account on Tuesday. The post was subsequently retweeted by the official Adult Swim account.
“Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland,” the account wrote in a black and white text image. “Rick and Morty will continue. The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7.”
In addition to co-creating and executive producing Rick and Morty, Roiland has provided the voice for both title characters for all six seasons of the show thus far. A spokesperson for Adult Swim’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has said these roles will now be recast.
Roiland was charged with domestic violence in May 2020, however the public wasn’t made aware of the case until he appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing earlier this month. NBC News reported that the 42-year-old has pleaded not guilty to two felonies: domestic battery with corporal injury, and false imprisonment by menace, fraud, violence, or deceit. His hearing is currently scheduled for Apr. 27.
Adult Swim ordered at least 70 more episodes of Rick and Morty back in 2018, signing a long term deal with Roiland and co-creator Dan Harmon. The show has since released 30 episodes across three seasons, meaning more than half of that original 70-episode order will now be made with a new cast.
UPDATE: Jan. 25, 2023, 12:02 p.m. AEDT High on Life developer Squanch Games has just announced it is also no longer working with Roiland. “On January 16, 2023, Squanch Games received Justin Roiland’s resignation,” the studio announced via Twitter. “The passionate team at Squanch will keep developing games we know our fans will love while continuing to support and improve High on Life.”
Released in December last year, High on Life is a first-person shooter based on a concept by Roiland, who was heavily involved in its development.