n-Space - Closing

[HiddenX]

The Sword Coast Legends developer n-Space is shutting down.

Artist Ben Leary on Twitter:

The news is out. n-Space has closed after 21 years. I won't comment on the details of the situation besides the fact that the in-house staff has worked long and hard to keep this from happening. There has been rounds of layoffs over the past few months and through it all, the team stayed focused and passionate. The fact that the news of this situation has been kept in-house all this time speaks to the testament of class, respect, and professionalism of the n-Space staff. Something I'm honored to have experienced first hand. I'd like to take this moment to publicly thank n-Space President Dan O'Leary for his efforts and transparency throughout the process. There wasn't much incentive to keep us in the loop besides making sure the staff could take steps to protect their own best interests. There are many people from every discipline here now looking for work, so if you're in need of help, please look the n-Spacers up. While Gunstruction will live on, I want to make games. It's my passion. So as I will continue full time [remote] work, I am now officially pursuing other employment opportunities and commissions. Thank you to all my new friends I've met at the studio, I wish you all the best.

More information.

 

[Dragonx]

im not surprised

 

[Saxon1974]

I think this was expected.

 

[you]

Well I would have hoped given the age of the studio and number of games they had done in the past they would be able to budget to prevent closure in case of one bad game. Oh well shame things didn't work out for them.

 

[henriquejr]

Is the Rage of Demons expansion also doomed ?

 

[Morbus]

I followed the development of Legends a bit, and I always they kind of made design decisions that went totally against who they were trying to market the game at :\

 

[Moorkh]

Aside from people regrettably losing their jobs, is there anything more that I as a Watcher ought to be sad about related to this news?

 

[Avantenor]

Maybe. SCL was built on solid CRPG mechanics. It wasn't actually D&D, but it worked quite well. With a little tweaking and/or without D&D branding it could have been the foundation for some interesting games.

 

[Silver]

For small developers the message is clear. Ignore your fanbase at your peril.

 

[Stahl33]

Sad!
I was hoping they would persist with SCL, and fix it.... won't be happening now unless they sell the game.

 

[mercy]

Good riddance!

"Poor creation tools and an aversion to genuine, interesting decision-making keep Sword Coast Legends from succeeding."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Coast_Legends

 

[azarhal]

Aside from people regrettably losing their jobs, is there anything more that I as a Watcher ought to be sad about related to this news?

Yes.

The chance of getting future D&D video games that aren't DLCs on the BG saga has gone from low positive to high negative. Nobody will want to invest to make such games anymore.

 

[Ripper]

It would be a shame if people took their failure to be a poison pill for D&D games. To me, everything about this project was just handled badly. Right from the beginning, it gave me the impression of being a piece of tacky D&D merchandise rather than a proper game in its own right. I even wondered if WotC (or whoever owns them now) had actually hired some devs to churn out a bit of product for them. The only lesson that need be learned is not to make mediocre games and then market them badly.

 

[Morrandir]

Nobody will want to invest to make such games anymore.

I'm not sure. A capable developer (Larian, Obsidian,...) could profit from a DnD licence. Of course it would restrict their freedom concerning ruleset, mechanics and maybe setting, but it'll increase popularity for sure.

I don't think that the general DnD fanboy wants an exact DnD ruleset implementation. You just need to catch the spirit. That's where SCL failed.

 

[Archangel]

Yes.

The chance of getting future D&D video games that aren't DLCs on the BG saga has gone from low positive to high negative. Nobody will want to invest to make such games anymore.

Well Beamdog said that if SoD does well there is a good chance they continue making D&D games in other engines.
They are also buddy buddy with Obsidian

 

[joxer]

For small developers the message is clear. Ignore your fanbase at your peril.

I've refused to think about or buy even at one dime Sword Coast Legends game. It was obviously not my cup of tea being obvious multiplayer (crap?) product.

However, what n-Space did there was risking. Instead of playing safe and making a clone among clones, they decided to go innovation without caring for current industry decadence where all you need is good graphics to sell a turd.

Some if not almost everyone are aware that without risking and without innovation MOBA genre would have never existed. n-Space tried to create something new, not yet seen, hoping many will accept it. Unlike Riot's League of Legends, it just didn't work.
In other words those guys didn't go eyecandy grinder Amalur clone, they tried to make something completely new.

One huge respect from me for n-Space, and here's hope those people will find a job soon. We need inventors among developers. Desperately.
I still won't buy Sword Coast Legends. Because I need singleplayer RPGs.

 

[booboo]

I
....
One huge respect from me for n-Space, and here's hope those people will find a job soon. We need inventors among developers. Desperately.
I still won't buy Sword Coast Legends. Because I need singleplayer RPGs.

Joxer, there is a single player campaign, and it's quite fun - you have a part of 4, including yourself. I hate (well, loathe) MMO's and I'm a D&D fanboi, but I found the game fun - especially since I bought it on the cheap. It;s not a deep game, and the mechanics are somewhat simplified compared to DnD5 proper, but I got my money's worth (and no grinding...or bears)

 

[screeg]

For small developers the message is clear. Ignore your fanbase at your peril.

Small devs live on the cliff edge every single day. Pretty much one bad gust of metaphorical wind is all it takes. The fact is that modern indie computer games just have too small margins, and operate in a hugely oversaturated market.

 

[Ripper]

The thing is, though, if they had delivered an updated NWN, with proper D&D rules and a real modkit, I bet they'd be making a decent living right now. It might be a somewhat niche market, but I reckon they they could've been selling modules and upgrades for years to come.

 

[Avantenor]

Nobody will want to invest to make such games anymore.

I'm not sure. A capable developer (Larian, Obsidian,…) could profit from a DnD licence. Of course it would restrict their freedom concerning ruleset, mechanics and maybe setting, but it'll increase popularity for sure.

I don't think that the general DnD fanboy wants an exact DnD ruleset implementation. You just need to catch the spirit. That's where SCL failed.

I'm a little bit biased, but atm I'm more tending towards azarhal. DnD is facing the same probleme as The Dark Eye. It's not that easy. Dnd's ruleset as well as TDE imho does not comply with modern game mechanics like in Dragon Age, The Witcher or Elder Scrolls. It's an abstraction to simulate real-time events in a turn-based tabletop environment. On the contrary, modern CRPGs (= the one's, that appeal mass market) on the other hand tend to simulate realism.

When Dnd started, there was no better, inexpensive solution to simulate realism in a group. Now there are lots of it. So, everybody, who chooses to stay with Dnd in most cases does it by will, because he likes the mechanics. Dnd turned from a progressive to a more conservative solution. Of course there are many open-minded players, but at the same time there are also a lot of narrow-minded representatives, altogehter in a shrinking market. Last but not least, why should I play a video game, that doesn't meet modern day gaming aspects and at the same time is a simplification (=inferior) of a table top situation?

Summary: as a developer you have an increasingly niche audience with strong feelings about "true adaptions". You can not depart too much from the original source, but the more old school your concept, the more you're shrinking your market. You have to pay licencing fees and in most cases you're artistic freedom is constrained.

I think that was also the problem of Drakensang. The german community was that biased. Many didn't like the simplifications, some of course didn't like TDE 4th edition at all, some of them only wanted an update of the old Realms of Arkanias. I think that was one reason (combined with dtp's fail to distribute it properly on the international market). If you reconsider, neither Interplay, nor Atari did well when they were dependent on their DnD games' success. A smaller publisher would be that dependent as well and a bigger publisher isn't interested in that licence.

That's why I guess, we won't see a game of NWN quality (adjusted to current technology) in the next decade.

The thing is, though, if they had delivered an updated NWN, with proper D&D rules and a real modkit, I bet they'd be making a decent living right now. It might be a somewhat niche market, but I reckon they they could've been selling modules and upgrades for years to come.

If you have the budget. I think NWN2 costs were rumoured to be about 7 million dollars. And they upgraded it on already existing technology.