WolfEye Studios and Weird West

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

WolfEye Studios is a new dev team founded by Raphael Colantonio, who founded Arkane Studios, along with fellow Arkane veteran Julien Roby. These devs prioritize everything that I think video games should be striving for, which is games that respond to player actions with the world reacting to your actions/decisions. From the following article [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-20-arkane-veterans-launch-wolfeye-a-small-studio-making-big-games], they pretty much say the game industry is fine with just making things look better vs making "new" games. The AI from Dishonored and Prey is exactly the same for example, both games could only have 5-6 enemies present at one time because of the AI limitations. Prey had a new engine/technology running on new hardware and the only thing that changed was the budget doubled. I'm very much looking forward to what these guys can do sans the limitations of AAA technology. Weird West is already looking really interesting just from the announcement trailer.

"I notice both as a developer and a gamer, I think it's been two or three generations of games now, I've been playing the same game. The only difference is that it's more beautiful, higher resolution, more shaders, but really the game is the same." - Raphael Colantonio

 

[Squilookle]

WolfEye Studios is a new dev team founded by Raphael Colantonio, who founded Arkane Studios, along with fellow Arkane veteran Julien Roby. These devs prioritize everything that I think video games should be striving for including, which is games that respond to player actions with the world reacting to your actions/decisions. From the following article [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-20-arkane-veterans-launch-wolfeye-a-small-studio-making-big-games], they pretty much say the game industry is fine with just making things look better vs making "new" games. The AI from Dishonored and Prey is exactly the same for example, both games could only have 5-6 enemies present at one time because of the AI limitations. Prey had a new engine/technology running on new hardware and the only thing that changed was the budget doubled. I'm very much looking forward to what these guys can do sans the limitations of AAA technology. Weird West is already looking really interesting just from the announcement trailer.

"I notice both as a developer and a gamer, I think it's been two or three generations of games now, I've been playing the same game. The only difference is that it's more beautiful, higher resolution, more shaders, but really the game is the same." - Raphael Colantonio

I agree with their sentiment, but as for innovation, I'll believe it when I see it. As you say, Dishonoured and Prey didn't really advance anything. And if these are the same people who made those, then my hopes are not high that they can break this stagnating mold.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

WolfEye Studios is a new dev team founded by Raphael Colantonio, who founded Arkane Studios, along with fellow Arkane veteran Julien Roby. These devs prioritize everything that I think video games should be striving for including, which is games that respond to player actions with the world reacting to your actions/decisions. From the following article [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-20-arkane-veterans-launch-wolfeye-a-small-studio-making-big-games], they pretty much say the game industry is fine with just making things look better vs making "new" games. The AI from Dishonored and Prey is exactly the same for example, both games could only have 5-6 enemies present at one time because of the AI limitations. Prey had a new engine/technology running on new hardware and the only thing that changed was the budget doubled. I'm very much looking forward to what these guys can do sans the limitations of AAA technology. Weird West is already looking really interesting just from the announcement trailer.

"I notice both as a developer and a gamer, I think it's been two or three generations of games now, I've been playing the same game. The only difference is that it's more beautiful, higher resolution, more shaders, but really the game is the same." - Raphael Colantonio

I agree with their sentiment, but as for innovation, I'll believe it when I see it. As you say, Dishonoured and Prey didn't really advance anything. And if these are the same people who made those, then my hopes are not high that they can break this stagnating mold.

Are they essentially complaining about themselves as well then, or that current hardware limited the scope of their games?

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

WolfEye Studios is a new dev team founded by Raphael Colantonio, who founded Arkane Studios, along with fellow Arkane veteran Julien Roby. These devs prioritize everything that I think video games should be striving for including, which is games that respond to player actions with the world reacting to your actions/decisions. From the following article [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-20-arkane-veterans-launch-wolfeye-a-small-studio-making-big-games], they pretty much say the game industry is fine with just making things look better vs making "new" games. The AI from Dishonored and Prey is exactly the same for example, both games could only have 5-6 enemies present at one time because of the AI limitations. Prey had a new engine/technology running on new hardware and the only thing that changed was the budget doubled. I'm very much looking forward to what these guys can do sans the limitations of AAA technology. Weird West is already looking really interesting just from the announcement trailer.

"I notice both as a developer and a gamer, I think it's been two or three generations of games now, I've been playing the same game. The only difference is that it's more beautiful, higher resolution, more shaders, but really the game is the same." - Raphael Colantonio

I agree with their sentiment, but as for innovation, I'll believe it when I see it. As you say, Dishonoured and Prey didn't really advance anything. And if these are the same people who made those, then my hopes are not high that they can break this stagnating mold.

No they are not going to break the mold. I would be unfair to expect them to, but then they said it. I mean the idea of a world that reacts to your choices isn't new. So many people say it at this point I think it would be daring to do a game where you had no impact on the story. Like a game where your playing a powerless character and well you have tons of stats and choices you can make, but nothing you can do will change the story because it's out of your control.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I agree with their sentiment, but as for innovation, I'll believe it when I see it. As you say, Dishonoured and Prey didn't really advance anything. And if these are the same people who made those, then my hopes are not high that they can break this stagnating mold.

I feel Dishonored blended Thief with standard immersive sim conventions well enough to stand out. Plus, Dishonored is easily the best immersive sim since OG Deus Ex. Prey was pretty much just a copy of System Shock though. Arkane is arguably the best AAA studio working and if these guys were the creative force behind Arkane, then I'm definitely looking to see what they can do without the AAA limitations.

Are they essentially complaining about themselves as well then, or that current hardware limited the scope of their games?

The AAA environment limited their games, not the hardware. It's like how every generation, gamers are like games can be 60fps now instead of 30fps but the pubs/devs only care about making stuff prettier so they up the poly counts and details so much, the games still run at 30fps. Graphics are prioritized over playability. Much like the anecdote in the article about how the AI was exactly the same for Prey as it was for Dishonored even though PS4 hardware is far better than PS3 hardware; the better hardware was used for improved graphics and not much else. They mentioned in the article (and you can see it in the reveal trailer), they don't care about graphics and poly counts but about art style and gameplay.