Larian Studios Forums General Chat RPG Chat RIP, Troika Games.

Troika is dead. Scroll down this page and read the news. The makers of Fallout 1, Arcanum, Vampire are no more.

It's a harsh world for indie developers. I wish luck to all ex-Troika employees.

Yes, I've read something on RPGDot as well (after a posting in tzhe german section).

I guess it's time to save their homepage until the downfall ...

Man, that sucks. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

EEEk. I had no idea. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

You will find that a majority of these talented folks are now working at Obsidian ( Run by Feargus Urquhart previous from Black Isle ) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> Oh and they are hard at work trying to produce NWN2 for release in 2006 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

More of that, on the 15th of february Eidos Interactive announced closure of Ion Storm (Austin, Texas).

Ion Storm was founded by such legendary people like Tom Holl and John Romero.

Ion Storm's most remarkable titles were: Deus Ex and Thief.

quite a sad news. fortunate for Obsidian that they have the talents in the team. not really a great thing but a compensation, i guess.

Egin, isn't Romero a 'big mouth'? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> quite a few game mangs mentioned about him being too cocky & all that but he just couldn't deliver in the end.

well, at least they made Commander Keen, my all-time favourite (apart from Indy 4 and Monkey Island) ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

First of all, he was the man behind Doom. He and John Carmack are probably best known figures in the gaming industry.

Anyway I understand what you are saying janggut. I think you mean that contract with Eidos, when the Dream Design Studios was created in Dallas to work on Daikatana and Dominion and later on Anachronox. Romero was leading the studios so he was one responsible for overexpenditures they had there, like renting an office on penthouse floor of one of the biggest skyscrapers in Dallas.

Btw, most of the crew from Ion Storm have moved into Midway Games

No.
Ion Storm texas was behind such *remarkable* titles as Deus Ex 2 and Thief III. Sarcasm aside, those titles were far from good.
I blame Warren Spector, the mouthy egotist.
There were 2 Ion Storm. One which made Deus Ex 1 and Anachronox, and one (IS Austion) which was formed by the people who left the former. Now Ion Storm Austin did not have John Romero or Tom Holl but it had Warren Spector, which caused many good ex-Looking Glass people to leave.
In fact, I am glad Ion Storm is no more because those people may seek better employment elsewhere.

Yes and no, but don't make it a mess DATD.

I went deeper into this and hmm, yes, there were two Ion Storms.
First - Ion Storm Dallas I described, with Romero as the head found it right after leaving ID. As Daikatana as the main project, they worked on it at least three years. They also took an RTS Dominion which by that time was lying without developer.

In 1997 Romero and Holl invited the dude you described - Uorren Spector and funded him to open new branch in Austin.

Daikatana was released at 2000 and actually shared the fate of Dominion. Because of high rotation of employees final stages of the games were rushed. Couple of last levels were drawed by Romero himself. The third project - Anachronox (Tom Holl was leading it) was a success, but by that time Ion Storm was alreay half sunk. Right after release of Anachronox Eidos closed Ion Storm Dallas offices and Romero and Holl went into Midway Games.

As for Ion Storm Austin, it's history started in 2000 with release of Deus Ex.
It's sequel - Invisible War was released in 2003 and Deadly Shadows in may of the last yer. Thanks to financial difficulties such people as Harwy Smith, Dennis Fulton and, yes, Uorren Spector left this fall Austin for Midway Games Austin.
Now I feel a bit confused as are there two different companies now as Midway Games and Midway Games Austin and what is the third project of Crystal Dynamics in San Francisco (another company owned by Eidos) besides Project: Snowblind and Tomb Raider 7?

PS As for Thief Dark Project - yes it is child of Looking Glass, but it is written that Thief 2 was made solely by Eidos. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Yes, you are right.

- Wikipedia

Anachronox (I loved that game!) was released in 6/25/2001 and was the last game by Ion Storm Dallas. Sadly it was often ignored by gamers.
Deus Ex was released in 6/26/2000 and was a success.

Note the curious fact that in the great Deus Ex 1, Warren was Producer and Project Director but in the awful Deus Ex 2, he was Studio Director. That's a pretty big difference!

Well, now that we got the history of Ion Storm and Deus Ex straight, shall we return to this topic, if there's anything else to say?

Are there any more companies that closed their doors lately? Ohh, hope not.

Look, after reading some sad news about Troyka I decided to search some more fresh info about Fallout 3. Last things I remember, was it Interplay or even Troyka who oficially cancelled Fallout 3 and later Von Buren projects.

But lately I discovered that one very well known company has licenced the rights to the Fallout franchise and is actually going to produce it. (uff am I the only one who didn't know that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspicion.gif" alt="" /> )

I was surprices when I read that this company is Bethesda Softworks - the company behind Morrowind.
They say Fallout will be produced not after but alongside with highly expected Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (they better complete one and then take another as both are too ambicious for just a computer game).
Here is official press release from Bethesda
Bethesda Softworks to Develop and Publish Fallout 3

No no no, you are all wrong !

Carmack, Hall & Romero first developed Commander Keen ...

I've been watching the progress of Fallout 3 very closely. There was a good interview with Todd Howard on Duck and Cover. It also has an point of view by DarkUnderlord (also the admin of Terra Arcanum) which reflects the general opinion of Fallout fans about this project.
Note: The site might be slow.

Alrik: We were talking about Ion Storm. Commander Keen was developped in 1990 by id software.

Thanks for the interview. It seems that we will see Fallout finally, but sadly, I tend to beleive what was sayd in the end. It is doubtful F3 with have same debth, especially in dialogues with NPC's. What I didn't like about Morrowind, all characters looked like animated speaking machines, they never looked alive as in Fallout for example. Ok let us just wait and see.

Btw, I am looking forward to see that miracle - Oblivion also <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And what a shame I still never played Fallout 1 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" /> How do you think DATD, is it worth trying F1 after playing second many times and especially knowing that graphics and game performance expectations are so much higher than F1 can offer?

Garphics are the same. F1 is basiclly F2 but smaller. And placed a little to the south (down by vault 13). It's definentlly worth trying out though, if you're used to the graphics. Enjoy it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

Übereil

Never played the first Fallout? Blasphemy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> This seems to have turned into a general "death of RPGs" thread...

Without Troika there will never be another true RPG :P

Just kidd'n.

I just think that people who created those excellent games are still there somewhere. I wery much hope that those people will find recources and possibilities to come together under the roof of one entity and create more excellent RPGs, that this genre will not be replaced by any other like MMO's or forgot.

And again good that Larians are still here. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />