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GUYS! GUYS! SSI is being reborn as TSI, looking to make new Gold Box Games!

S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Radogol said:
I kind of held out hope that the new countdown is a mistake but no. To quote Kevin Sorbo: disappointed!
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14765038519_57ebdd785f_o.gif
 
A

Arulan

Member
https://www.facebook.com/TSIGames/posts/642198259211281

The entire team at TSI is tremendously excited about the work we're doing. So excited that in fact, we put a date on the calendar and launched a countdown for when more details could be expected. Unfortunately, we're not going to do that reveal tonight... for business reasons. We want to be clear about this so you understand the key considerations. There's been a lot of cool announcements lately (the return of the Sierra brand, Obsidian working with the Pathfinder license, etc...) and we want to make sure that our message gets heard.
Our project isn't behind. We haven't underestimated the work involved or hit any snags. The simple truth is that we're revamping our website with greater information so that when we provide details to the press and the public, we will have things like message boards ready to allow closer communication with the community. We feel this type of approach allows us to generate awareness and be in a better position to create the type of games you want us to make. Although it wasn't an easy decision to make, we feel it is ultimately the right one.
The TSI Team
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...

Well, it could be worse. The Pillars of Eternity beta could not be coming out tomorrow, BUT IT IS!

Seriously though, way to ruin the hype.
 
S

SRG01

Member
I don't care if they just straight-up released the Gold Box games on DOSBOX for $20 each. I just want to play them again :(
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
http://tsi-games.com/

They've replaced the countdown with the name of the thing 'Seven Dragon Saga'.

According to RPG Codex:

Seven Dragon Saga (SDS) is an unpublished paper and pencil fantasy RPG, which and I my friends have been developing for many years. I may a convert it to a single player computer game in the near future, so I thought I would talk about some of the choices we made and the reasoning behind them. I’m hoping the insight into our processes may help others who want to tweak their favorite system or even create their own.

My friends and I are all designers and engineers in the computer game industry, so we approached things from a technical perspective. The system is designed to model many of the cool effects seen in anime and wuxia (foreign martial arts) films. So the feeling is over-the-top fun, but still balanced to provide challenge and interest.
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So it's going to be based on their own P&P rule set and not a D&D licensed game. The page detailing this Seven Dragon Saga system is here.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Looks like they forgot to hide their crowdfunding site for this, scope out some details before it goes down.

http://wixmultimedia.com/tsigames/

Seven Dragon Saga allows the player to create and customize a full party of adventurers and maneuver them in detailed, turn-based tactical combat. You won’t find any rat-hunting farmers here- characters begin with a suite of talents. Rather, the characters are ‘Touched by the winds of chaos’, and destined for great successes or spectacular demises.

Explore a rich world, uncover lost treasures, deal with challenging social and political situations. The player’s choices alter the world in meaningful ways, both physically and socially. Sent by the Empire of the Seven Dragons to the minor Kingdom of Afelon, the party must uncover who is driving the land to civil war and whether that conspiracy might pose a threat to the Empire at large. What mysteries lie in the surrounding, monster-infested peaks? Who is worthy of trust and who only of death?
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Some info on one of the classes, the dwarf knight.

Stone dwelling people, rugged, warlike and suited to their harsh land, dwarfs are desirable Imperial soldiers. Knights favor two-handed swords and heavy armor.
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qB1vvWs.png


People will ask “why aren’t you (re-)making (insert favorite here)”, instead of Seven Dragon Saga?



The short answer is that it isn’t entirely up to us. We are, however, incredibly excited about the new endeavor we’ve chosen.

Once our core team decided to embark on this venture, the very next question was: “what should we do for our first project?” We knew initially that we wanted to do a fantasy RPG but, we also needed to take a hard look at how the landscape has changed and what our development roadmap would look like. Fortunately, we had an immediate opportunity to work with a robust rule system and game world. The Seven Dragon Saga is the brainchild of David Shelley and Keith Brors (also an SSI alumni and veteran engineer). Both have been part of a weekly tabletop role-playing since before SSI formed. Being engineers and designers, David and Keith have created and refined their own system over the years. Licensing the game to TSI and getting to work on the computer game itself became a tremendous opportunity. TSI gained a developed system to work from, access to its creators, and the creative freedom to make the ideal game.

Opportunities to work with (insert favorite game/RPG system) are a definite possibility for the future.
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TSI is a new enterprise. Naturally, there are a lot of questions including “what took you guys so long”?

Honestly, it took time for the industry to mature and for us to find the resources. Three things had to happen:

1. The technology and costs had to allow for the opportunity to make sense. The shift from PC to consoles was a contributing factor to SSI being sold, as was, PC RPG’s falling out of vogue for publishers. However, digital distribution and terrific tools like Unity3D have lowered the barrier to create quality games.

2. There needed to be a clear demand. Reaction to titles like “Legend of Grimrock” and “Wasteland 2” has demonstrated that there IS an interest for classic RPG gameplay.

3. Getting a passionate team together was vital. Like many of you, David Klein grew up playing SSI games on his Apple IIe (then AppleIIGS/Amiga2000/PC). David’s the one that raised an initial round of funding, and then set out to create a company that could recapture the classic games he loved to play. He sought out David Shelley, a lead designer on many of SSI’s games, to lead the design on TSI’s first project. David Shelley was part of a close circle of alumni friends, and he brought in Paul Murray, an engineer and designer of Wizard’s Crown, Eternal Dagger, many Gold Box games, as well as, the Panzer General series. Every member of the team is excited about creating a compelling experience. We’re fortunate to have several former SSI members and other artists and engineers contributing to the ground work for Seven Dragon Saga, a classic RPG for the modern age
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TSI started out as a dream. A dream many of you seem to share. It’s the return of a company you could depend upon to consistently deliver a meaningful RPG experience. While there are many classic RPG franchises and several talented studios, SSI and the Gold Box games delivered, time and again, a new adventure using the same type of compelling, tactical experience. You knew exactly what you were getting: proven technology, a great system/setting, and strategic, party-based combat. Our company, TSI, was formed in that same spirit. While we’ve quietly been working for several months, it’s still early in the overall scheme of things, so please be patient as we role out assets and additional details for what we have planned. We are thrilled to finally be able to share information about our company and our projects.
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D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Getting back the D&D license isn't such a simple thing, and I don't mind playing whatever they have cooking, so long as it's good. Right now, GOG needs to ride this CRPG revival by getting the go to publish the Gold Box games (along with LucasArts stuff...maybe in a few years Grim Fandango HD will have done well enough).
 
M

Mindlog

Member
TSI started out as a dream. A dream many of you seem to share. It’s the return of a company you could depend upon to consistently deliver a meaningful RPG experience.
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This hobby is undergoing an amazing transformation these past few years. The 'old is new again' train can not be stopped :]
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
vagabondarts said:
OMG does this mean their back catalog will come to gog as well?
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Unlikely. They aren't actually 'SSI', their 'TSI' so they couldn't even get rights to their own name (which if I remember correctly is owned by Ubisoft). Then there's the D&D license on top of that for a lot of their stuff.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Ubi isn't totally opposed to getting the games on GOG, I hope. The D&D license might be the only thing they don't want to drop money on! Might & Magic X sold well recently, and Ubi's put their Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia games up on the site.
 
H

HellBlazer

Member
Ugh, "stone-dwelling dwarves"... For fuck's sake, make up your own races! Why do fantasy devs/writers do this? Always the tired old Tolkien races. Why not do something original? It's like if every sci-fi story used the same alien races; ridiculous!

Ahem. Sorry, pet peeve.

Anyway! Tactical turn-based combat, meaningful choices with consequences, political intrigue... I'm in.
 
hemtae

hemtae

Member
Arulan said:
Looks like just under three hours now. I wonder if we'll actually get an announcement this time...
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Apparently the timer is based on timezone. So maybe not depending on what timezone you're in. Its already over for some people and nothing has happened.
 
KyanMehwulfe

KyanMehwulfe

Member
Can't believe I hadn't seen this thread...

I have a big wood framed glicee print of the Bloodstone Lands box art by Larry Elmore on my wall.

Grew up as much with SSI games as much or more than any other. Gold box games and later on Panzer General 2 was probably my 2nd or 3rd major strategy game after, I guess, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (SNES) and Warcraft.
 
R

RMI

Banned
good shit. I haven't been overly enthusiastic about a lot of the more retro CRPG revival games coming out over the past few years. This sounds promising.
 
hemtae

hemtae

Member
TSI Sparks Cross-Game Character Import/Export Initiative with inXile and HBS

This morning, TSI Partners showed of “Gateway,” a tool that transfers the characters you make from one supported RPG to another. While this system from former Strategic Simulations, Inc., developers Keith Brors and David Shelley (remember those fantastic Gold Box Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games?) is part of the upcoming Seven Dragon Saga, it’ll also work with Kickstart darlings Shadowrun: Hong Kong and Torment: Tides of Numenera.
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M

mclem

Member
I remember when really old games used to do that. Couldn't you import characters from Ultima III into The Bard's Tale?

It always struck me as something that really had the essence of P&P roleplaying to it.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
mclem said:
I remember when really old games used to do that. Couldn't you import characters from Ultima III into The Bard's Tale?

It always struck me as something that really had the essence of P&P roleplaying to it.
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From both Wizardry and Ultima 3 yes.
 
hemtae

hemtae

Member
I don't think it will be that high but out of all the kickstarters wee have and will have this year, this one makes me the most nervous.
 
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