Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis Stunned...

Wow... cool. Well, a lot of companies these days outsource so that does increase the total amount of people. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Anyways, yeah the visuals are exciting. As for the rest of the game, gotta wait for news and info from the team, huh?

And it's great that you guys are saying something on the forums. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />



Sorry for that but they filmed that on Friday afternoon and it was already on air in the evening. I think nobody knew (except Swen I guess) they were coming before we saw the camera... [/quote]

Hah... I guess it took some of you by surprise, huh?

Btw, I remember seeing a part of the video where the reporter was talking to this guy and his wall was covered with plenty of English notes...that was quite interesting 'cos that was the only part of the video I could really understand. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> Also, who was that guy? Anyone knows?

The guy is Farhang, our brilliant lead designer. Really talented guy (and funny). He's dutch hence the strange accent <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
What can I say more?

Really? Strange! I didn't notice since... I couldn't understand anything being said anyways(I'm Singaporean Chinese and am able to understand only English).

Brilliant, huh? Talented? Funny? Hmmm... *concocts an evil plot to kidnap Farhang away in the middle of the night* <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

Nah... too much work and planning involved. :P

*Purrrrrrrr*

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

I have the same opinion. I'm disappointed.

Well yeah, it's not that we are (/I am) blaming anyone,
but you can't blame us for being anxious about some news I guess...
I understand the reasons why you are not showing anything yet and I do trust the team, but that doesn't mean my curiosity is gone.
(And I think we have shown that we can wait untill you guys are ready to show us anything, since we are still checking this forum pretty frequently without any news)

Hmmm... what communication thing? You mean "communication between the team and the fans"?



Yeah... well, it's to be expected: the want to protect your assets or project so that other development teams don't try to copy or imitate the features. But at least some low-resolution/cropped screenshots could be good, right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Wow! I'm impressed. This may renew my interest in the franchise.

It's not about showing something but about building and holding up the interest. While the interaction in the forum during DivDiv was very nice for example, this time there is not really much. The website is not only not updated very regularly but also quite... dull, I am afraid. The forum software is out-dated... the flow of information is non-existent. And so on and so forth.

What you guys have to realize is the power of the internet... we live in the times of infamous Web 2.0... it's quite easy to "leak" news and create some buzz about anything without actually giving too much information about the product. I don't know if there is a communication/community manager at Larian Studios, but I do think that such a job is essential for a software company nowadays. If someone already does the job, frankly, fire him. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Visually it looks amazing...but that's all for now. I hope we'll get some more information about it soon. This character jumping looks very arcade-ish for me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Either that, or we're desperate! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Übereil

I do think Divine Divinity is on par with games such as Diablo II or Morrowind (successful games from more or less the same time of the decade). Blizzard and Bethesda Softworks didn't get the incredible sales on their admittedly fine products by being quiet. You have to create some "buzz" about the new game or I fear it will be another great game that very few people have heard of or buy (and if it's anywhere nearly as good as Divine Divinity it deserves better).

I know everyone has their noses to the grind stone with the game (and that's great). But when the faithful here in the forums started to have doubts it was even being worked on anymore there's not enough information being leaked about it.

I personally think the time to begin the big hype drive is around four to six months before release. If you start too soon, people start suffering hype fatigue long before you're ready to release, at which point you start losing potential customers because they get sick of hearing about it.

If a games company starts putting out teasers too far in advance their potential customers start thinking the game is never coming and label it vapourware, which means they'll then assume a troubled dev cycle, leading also to lost sales.

It's a lose-lose situation.

So I totally understand why we aren't being told much right now. They're working and we know that - but if there's nothing more to tell, why start stirring up excitement when the actual release date is still too far off? It's simply counter productive.

Well, you don't have to use teasers and such things to hold up the fans' interest. There are many people here on the board who are dedicated fans of DivDiv and BeyDiv for example... even if you don't give out massive news to the whole internet, you can deal with the fans at hand, on your own site a lot better. I repeat it: This was done very well in the past and unfortunately not in this case. There may be valid reasons for that but since we don't know any so far, we can only speculate.

Plus six months is a too short time in my opinion... we are not talking about an overly popular brand here but about a rather small game series. The fan base is not very big, there is no excessive community behind the title. Therefore, you (i.e. the developer and the publisher) HAVE TO start quite a time before the actual release to create the interese in the game. With fake news for example... with regular screenshots... with development diaries... with early videos... with interviews... you just have to put your company's and the game's name in the news so that people actually get to know you. I am not sure if that can happen out of nothing in just six months.

Six months is plenty of time for a media blitz. Getting the press releases & stuff out to all the web sites & gaming magazines at the start and then keeping them updated is a job in itself.

If you start the flood at the right time, everyone knows it's coming and will be expecting it when it arrives; too soon and they get bored reading about it and cease to care.

The idea of any marketing campaign is to grab and hold interest long enough to guarantee high sales. For a small and relatively unknown company that window is much smaller than for one of the big players.

Also, a small company has to take people away from one thing to do something else, so the more time the Larians spend talking to us, the less time they have to work on the game, so the slower the development work goes.

My guess is that the Larians don't feel they have any really significant developments to report, yet. More screenshots would just be a tease, and likely result in a lot more requests for info they aren't ready to share yet.

This is why I don't mind waiting. I'd rather get good info when they have it than the odd teaser released just to show us they're still here.

[color:"orange"]This character jumping looks very arcade-ish for me[/color]

On the other hand, being blocked from areas in the Dark Forest (etc) because there was a 2 or 3 foot ledge isn't very realistic (not that a forward somersault in full armour is terribly realistic either <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> ).
As long as there aren't any moving platforms or swinging blades to jump over, around or onto, I'm ok with jumping the occasional stream or crevice, or possibly stacking a few crates to be able to 'climb' into an otherwise inaccessible place (though a straight jump would look a lot better for that).


So, with the apparent skill slots in the bottom menu bar, below the health and mana bars, we may be able to cast spells using a hotkey, rather than just select the active spell/skill. These slots may be to simplify the interface for gamepad controls, or they could be required to indicate spell preparation time or a recast delay. ... or not.
I assume below the stamina bar the icons are for equipment, inventory, etc.

Yes, it is a job by itself... that's my point. Nowadays, you need someone to do that job... and to do that job well. It will eventually pay off if you invest in that.
I think we can argue about whether six months is enough time or not. In my opinion, it is not. Not for an unknown game from a relatively small company with no big selling game so far.



I think you don't quite understand what I say... nobody is talking about flooding anything. But about constant presence at least here in this forum. And leaking some news every now and then. How many screenshots do we have for example? A handful... and then look at the video shown in that TV show. It looks awesome, it's running, it's new. You just have to mention this TV show here and the people will do the rest... they will talk about it before the show, they will spread the news... after that, they will talk about how great it was and what they can get from it. Plus, they feel thankful for being told about the video.
What happened now? Only by chance, we read about the show and were lucky enough to see the clip in the internet. The quality is nice but we are also talking about the lack of new information - instead of talking about the video and the game.



I don't mind the waiting either... I know about the game, I visit the board regularly, I work in the business, I will eventually know when the game is done and get the news like many people here, too. But I am talking about more than the few people here who are really interested in the game. I am talking about the casual readers here... and the many people who don't even know about Larian yet. It's time to get into their heads and thus to create a basis for a big success.

Elgi...

I'll agree we should have heard about the vid. That was a definite slip.

The ideal media blitz time is absolutely a matter of debate, too. My six months is definitely not an absolute.

As for more screen shots... Not sure I see much point, honestly. We know it looks good. What do more screen shots tell us?

The forum knows they're working on the game. I'm not sure what else needs saying...

You and I are clearly looking at this in very different ways <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

This little thread already made it's way to http://www.rpgwatch.com and http://play.tm/wire/cluster/1737596, that's the power of the internet...

And I agree that us fans are left out in cold. I understand they don't want to lure too much attention to the game now, but why can't they give away some info for us "diehards" here on the forum. It will give us something to talk and speculate about. It may revive this forum a bit, cause frankly this place is quite dull for the time being.

I guess this is the beginning of that storm that was forcasted a good while ago.

It looks like something that would be on a playstation.