Ossian Studios - The Shadow Sun Announced

Dhruin

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Ossian Studios has announced their new project - an iPhone/iPad game titled The Shadow Sun. Here's the announcement at their site:
After working with Dungeons & Dragons and The Witcher over the past few years, Ossian Studios has turned its RPG talents to creating a new fantasy game and world of its own design. We are pleased to announce The Shadow Sun™: a dark heroic fantasy that brings together the high adventure of classic D&D, combat inspired by Fable, Zelda, and The Witcher, and the fear of otherworldly horrors of H.P. Lovecraft.

This is a world in which magic is wielded by only a few, where a cataclysm a millennium ago still fuels hostilities between the civilizations that remain, and where much of the lands beyond the fringes of human settlement remain a deadly unknown. It is also a world that has felt an alien touch upon its sun, shrouding it in ever-increasing shadow with consequences that are only now becoming horrifically apparent.

The Shadow Sun brings a full 3D, true Western-style RPG to the iPhone and iPod touch. Combining the excitement of dynamic, visceral combat with a gripping story, it will redefine role-playing on the platform. Stunning, finely detailed graphics and a captivating musical score couple to create an immersive experience to rival the best PC and console RPG titles.

Features:
  • Enter a story full of complex characters, intrigue, danger, and shocking surprises.
  • Explore the decadent imperial city of Shar and the exotic desert lands around it.
  • Battle enemies using magical powers and dozens of weapons.
  • Play as male or female with a character system that allows you to evolve your character’s abilities exactly how you want.
  • Ally with one of several companions to adventure with and fight alongside.
Make your role-playing choices wisely through dialogue or action, and become either a hero or a villain.
More information.
 
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Bleh! :( Was hopeing on something to PC, or even PS3/Xbox.
 
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My interest in I phone games is somewhere around -1000!! A phone should be for speaking to real people who are far away and nothing else!!!! Now I'll crawl back into my cave. :)
 
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Well, another thing to hope for an eventual proper PC port I guess alongside 100 Rogues, Sword of Fargoal, Voyage to Farland, Cavern....probably various others that've slipped through the cracks on me. : /
 
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iPhone games have to be written in Objective C so that's one thing that makes it interesting. However, playing around with the iPad in stores you get the feeling this thing is a console like toy with computing ability, so long as you use the wifi. For one thing it seems to integrate with other iPads smoothly and can take advantage of iPhones.

That said Zelda vs Shub-Niggarath? I'll pick the goat headed mother of a 1000 young over the two toned linear quester.
 
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Was wondering what happened to these guys after making the D&D mod. I like what they did and what they stand for.

But...and IPhone game? Wow, no thanks.

Im hoping this makes them enough money to make a proper CRPG.
 
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Not sure about iPhone, but I've thought for a while that the iPad might be an excellent platform for more traditional turn-based CRPGs. Ports of Avernum and Eschalon to the iPad? Yes, please, followed by thank you sir may I have another?
 
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Even if I had a commute in a subway or bus where I had 30 minutes I can't enjoy an RPG for only 30 minutes at a time (by contrast I could possibly enjoy a simple arcade game in that timeframe) and I'm too distracted with noise around me to get immersed into an RPG.
 
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Well, I for one have been looking for a good iPhone RPG for a while now. Ravensword looked good, but was a bit of a disappointment in all other ways, while The Quest and similar games are somewhat disappointing graphically. I am a PC gamer, but I enjoy a good iPhone game while I am traveling, or before bed, if there is not enough time for a real gaming session (which is most of the time)
 
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iPhone games have to be written in Objective C so that's one thing that makes it interesting. ,..

@luckyDay - you only need to use Objective C for the GUI side. I'm writing an iPhone game with a friend, and handling the back-end. That's all in good old C++, can use STL etc. Works like a charm.

As for the Ossian game..:-/ I'd much prefer something for the PC. I don't really like the iPhone as a gaming platform (the game is more of an experiment for some courses we are teaching).
 
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I've tried all kinds of mobile games - and they just don't do it for me… I consider it a fad that, unfortunately, isn't perceived as such :)
 
My interest in I phone games is somewhere around -1000!! A phone should be for speaking to real people who are far away and nothing else!!!! Now I'll crawl back into my cave.

Agree 100% Corwin.
 
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From a business POV I can see why they would do an iPhone/iPad game. These devices are hugely popular and the development cycle should be rather short compared to doing a PC game. Considering their MoW DRM fiasco I can understand Ossian focusing on a marked that at this point in time has a huge financial potential. So hopefully they won't land in a similar legal limbo this time around.
Personally I'm an Android fan-boi, so I won't touch anything with an Apple on it, so the effort is wasted on me.
 
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Saying that phones should only be for making phone calls is a 'get off my lawn', ignorant, and closed-minded attitude, quite frankly. The iPhone 4 is a more powerful computer than the first couple of desktop PCs I owned, is useful for all sorts of things, and a great gaming platform. The games that play to the platform's strengths can be excellent. It's a platform that encourages indies, creativity, and new ideas.

It's really sad to see people rubbishing it as a games platform just because... I don't even know why. Maybe those posts would be worth more than -1000 if they included some kinds of reason or basis for that conclusion. Either get a clue on the subject or don't post on it, imo.

Anyway, I have also been hoping for a real western RPG on the iDevices, and look forward to this release.
 
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Saying that phones should only be for making phone calls is a 'get off my lawn', ignorant, and closed-minded attitude, quite frankly. The iPhone 4 is a more powerful computer than the first couple of desktop PCs I owned, is useful for all sorts of things, and a great gaming platform. The games that play to the platform's strengths can be excellent. It's a platform that encourages indies, creativity, and new ideas.

It's really sad to see people rubbishing it as a games platform just because… I don't even know why. Maybe those posts would be worth more than -1000 if they included some kinds of reason or basis for that conclusion. Either get a clue on the subject or don't post on it, imo.

Anyway, I have also been hoping for a real western RPG on the iDevices, and look forward to this release.

If we're talking ignorant, I'd have to rank the position that you think you somehow own the right to decide what's a great gaming platform - as higher than not wanting to play games on a tiny device, created with a pure greed driven motivation - and marketed to people who don't mind paying ridiculous sums, so they can fill a void that was never there before Apple told them it was.

Not that Apple is the only company exploiting the minds of non-pragmatic consumers, but they're particularly good at it - it would seem ;)

Good games are utterly and completely platform independent. As in, it's not the platform - it's the game.

Can you create a great game on a shitty platform? Obviously, you can. Would you want to? Obviously, if you want money.

If you want to create the best game, you don't go for the shitty platform, though - which is why this thread is particularly sad.
 
Sounds fun enough as a game, but for i-platforms - no thank you. If the make a PC/DS version, they have me on board, but for now, I'll pass.

Besides, I agree - phones should be for talking, not other stuff. I'm starting to think whether iPhone users actually use it for calls :) with all the stuff there is.
 
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I own an Android phone. *Technically* it's a fairly powerful device, and *technically* it should be possible to create a decent game for it - if one only considers the CPU clock speed and memory/storage space available. Yes, it's much more powerful that the first couple of (gaming) PCs that I owned. So is my printer (it's equipped with a 200Mhz processor). ScummVM runs on the device and therefore it's *technically* possible to play really good games on it.

But it doesn't change the fact that the screen is 3.2 inches and the only input available is the touch screen. I've yet to see a single game that I'm actually able to truly enjoy on it :)
 
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Sounds fun enough as a game, but for i-platforms - no thank you. If the make a PC/DS version, they have me on board, but for now, I'll pass.

Besides, I agree - phones should be for talking, not other stuff. I'm starting to think whether iPhone users actually use it for calls :) with all the stuff there is.

Actually, I hardly use it as a phone and certainly did not buy it primarily as a phone. Its my mobile calculator, alarm clock, portable webbrowser, camera, agenda, phonebook, email-reader, gps, newsreader, mp3 player, hendheld gaming platform and a couple of other things. For that I quite like it. Yeah right, you can make phonecalls with it too, which is a nice bonus ;-) Maybe iPhone is a misnomer - it's really iGadget ;)

Wether its a shitty gaming platform I don't know. I have played a number of fun games on it (Puzzle quest, Monkey Island SE, The Quest, NetHack, Ravensword, to name a few), but obviously I don't really measure these games to the same standard as a PC game. Which at ~1/5th to 1/10th the price is probably fair. It seems to provide a good base for a fair number of Indies at the moment, which I appreciate. I certainly didn't get the iPhone for gaming, but since I have it, I am of course happy for decent games coming out for the platform.
 
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I've played and mildly enjoyed several mobile games. The Quest being one of the really good ones.

But it comes down to this:

Would you rather have a great PC game, playing to the strengths of the platform?

I think most of us know what the answer would be.

In short, iPhone (or any consumer-exploitation gadget) is as much a gaming platform as you want it to be - but it will never be anywhere NEAR a platform designed for gaming, with a good screen, input device, and a proper interface.

Maybe one day, it will happen, but it'd have to be something ENTIRELY different than a tiny phone with extremely limited battery life.
 
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