Ossian Studios - The Shadow Sun Interview, Screens

Ossian's iPhone RPG The Shadow Sun has been properly revealed through an interview at GameBanshee and screens at the official site. Here's an early snip, which promises they haven't abandoned the PC forever:

GB: First things first - why the iDevice? Do you feel that a platform shift was necessary to continue to develop role-playing games while remaining profitable? Have we seen the last of PC-first development from Ossian?

Alan: First, let me confirm that you have not seen the last of PC RPGs from Ossian, and it’s something we’ll return to down the line. The PC is a relatively crowded market for Western fantasy RPGs, and the development of one of those triple-A RPGs can take several years involving a huge team. With Ossian transitioning from developing expansion packs for existing game franchises to becoming an indie developer, we wanted to attempt a high quality RPG title that could be done by a smaller team in a shorter time, and within a new gaming space.

In creating our own new fantasy IP of The Shadow Sun (TSS), we wanted to select a popular platform that offered the potential of good sales but also had a large user base. These would help lay the groundwork for the future growth we have in mind for TSS. We think our decision to pick the iOS platform last year was the best move for us, especially seeing the recently released International Gamers Survey 2010 (from Newzoo), which showed that iOS has nearly surpassed the Nintendo DS as the most popular gaming platform in the U.S.

Click to expand...

More information.

I would like to see this survey.I have and never will play games on a phone or i-pad.I'll buy there next game when it comes out for the pc.Still I hope there game sells so it can fiance there other plans.

Oh man… Their next game will be on one of Apple's devices? What a huge disappointment. I'll (obviously) never buy one of those irritating things, so I sort of hope they'll eventually bring it to PC. Perhaps if the game was built in Unity…

EDIT: I just saw on their official website that they are INDEED building the game in the Unity engine, which should make a port to the PC a breeze. Fingers crossed.

I for one am thrilled, as I am not closed minded about gaming devices.

I would appreciate a good western RPG for the iPhone. The last one I tried, Rimelands, was a bit of a dissapointment so far, with its hamfisted storytelling…

I would be thrilled, but my gf has the iphone. Plus I have no idea how to get it here in Taiwan. She's told me that the store on the Iphone won't work........

Hopefully, an Android release is imminent or else Ossian will be behind the curve and not ahead of it. It is rather frustrating seeing game companies kowtow to Apple due to the iOS.

But will it be turn-based?

I'm hoping this turns out well. I'd very much like a crpg for my iPhone. Hope it's turn based, realtime would seem hard on a touch screen?

Lemonhead said:

I'm hoping this turns out well. I'd very much like a crpg for my iPhone. Hope it's turn based, realtime would seem hard on a touch screen?

Click to expand...

Oh realtime works OK-ish, try Dungeon Hunter (2D Diablo clone), Ravensword (1st person RPG-lite), or Hero of Sparta (God of War inspired) if you are in the mood for that. That said, TB does work better as you certainly don't have the same kind of control as with a Kb+mouse or a controller, so action tends to be very simplified, at least what I have seen so far.

txa1265 said:

I for one am thrilled, as I am not closed minded about gaming devices.

Click to expand...

Close minded?

Some of us can (barely) afford to keep their PC up to snazz and no more. I can not afford to have a DS, PS3, Xbox 360 and iPhone simply because exclusives are bandied about.

I agree some of the hate can be a bit much, but show a bit of consideration to the many who are left behind by console exclusives, rather than just dismissing it as close mindedness.

Brother None said:

I agree some of the hate can be a bit much, but show a bit of consideration to the many who are left behind by console exclusives, rather than just dismissing it as close mindedness.

Click to expand...

I know, I know ...

I do try, but it is this:

Apple's devices? What a huge disappointment. I'll (obviously) never buy one of those irritating things

Click to expand...

Sort of small-minded 'i've never used it but know better than all of you ... oh, and Macs sux!' sort of thing that typifies so many on PC-centric RPG sites. Sure it is better now than in years past, but for many, there is never a bad time to take a pot shot at Apple & their products ... so instead of congratulating Alan Miranda and his crew for a great looking game, they make implicit and explicit put downs. Instead of hoping for the success of a rare PC RPG developer, they are lamenting that it isn't coming the way THEY want it to.

Ossian has said they will continue to work on PC stuff on their forums, and they are very much tied into western RPGs. Hopefully they will have great success with this effort and will be able to continue working on great stuff like DoD and MoW on a variety of platforms in the future.


While I'm at it ... lets clear some of this other stuff up:

> For the last year (Sept to Sept) iOS controlled 99% of the App sales market. Not launching on Android will certainly NOT mean 'missing the boat' anytime soon, since the game market there is small enough to make the Mac look like a major force in gaming

> The iPod Touch has now hit lifetime sales parity with the Sony PSP in spite of the PSP launching 3 years earlier. Market share in terms of software and hardware at this point has the iPod Touch WAY ahead of the PSP, and is growing while EVERYTHING else in the gaming market is shrinking. The iPod Touch and iOS is *the* major area of gaming growth right now.

> While the iPhone is seeing serious Android challenges on other carriers, as of now the iPod Touch owns the portable multi-purpose market, and the iPad has sold more units in 6 months than the entire history of tablets combined!

> There is a ton of money to be made on the App Store - look at the guys who made Doodle Jump and the other dev who made Angry Birds - simple games, everyone involved are now millionaires.

> There is a dearth of good western RPGs on the iOS devices right now.

As for the action based versus turn-based controls, I prefer the iPad for action games because of the size of the screen and relative 'finger coverage' space. But I also have the new 4th gen iPod Touch, and am finding devs are doing a much better job with controls than ever before.

Textures look good.

I wonder if someone can port Wizardry 8 to iDevices?

kalniel said:

Textures look good.

I wonder if someone can port Wizardry 8 to iDevices?

Click to expand...

I'll be very happy if Wiz 8 comes to GoG soon!

But the multi-touch is a wonderful thing for many of these game types, so it would be great if they could be ported ...

I do hope they bring even the mobile game to PC, although, of course, I'm far more interested in a PC-centric title in their new world. Unity should make this painless, and, if so, I hope they do it, even if they wait for it to be out on mobile devices first for a while. I realize the UI will be designed for mobile devices, but that doesn't mean it won't still be fun for those of us who don't like to game on mobile devices as long as the price fits the content.

mooninja said:

the iOS.

Click to expand...

iOSSIAN ?

I have to admit that I can't really commit to playing games for very long on the iPhone or iPad. I have a ton of them and it's very cool to have them, but I don't travel that much and when I'm at home I'll prefer the big screen usually.

All the same, I'm interested in these releases and it's a sort of magical thing to have a complete RPG in your pocket. I'll probably get it and then hardly ever play it.

Not really interested, as I generally play at home, which means I prefer a stronger platform than handheld devices. If I'm on the move I bring a laptop to constantly have solid gaming available.

There are plenty, *plenty* of reasons to take pot shots at Apple, and more to the point Steve Jobs, because of business practices that take control of the computer away from the user and keep it in the hands of Apple. The things he gets away with are criminal.

Considering what a bunch of preening, self-satisfied prigs Mac fans are* (I work with two every day myself), I don't have any trouble with some PC fans throwing a few barbs around. I'm sure we can all take it without bursting into tears.

*not the wonderful and intelligent Mac fans on this forum of course

Poor Screeg. I don't particularly like Apple and I heartily dislike Microsoft, and Linux is a bitch to use and doesn't support the Applications I need. So I use all three and stopped bitching years ago.