Dragon Commander - Interview @ Rock Paper Shotgun

Myrthos

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Rock Paper Shotgun has interviewed Swen "Lar" Vincke on Dragon Commander and on the move of Larian Studios to become self publishing.
RPS: Yes, the game does seem quite different to your previous offerings, can you explain why you went that route?
Vincke: I have this little notebook here full of game ideas that I’d like to do, and I’ve tried pitching them to publishers, several times, and I’ve never managed to get funding. Since we’ve said that we will now go completely independent it was time to take a look in the little notebook and see what we’re going to make. Out of that came Dragon Commander. It’s a blend of genres that I’ve always liked to play – my gaming education was in the Amiga times, and the C64 before that – and I remember playing this Cinemaware game, Defender Of The Crown, which was something I liked, and it was a genre that faded away. But if you put modern production values on that, and add all the innovations of the intervening years on that, then you have something appealing. And in any case I would like to play it, so we said “okay let’s bet on that”. It’s risky! I pitched it to the usual suspects and they all looked at me… suspiciously, let’s put it that way.
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An excellent interview, imho. Just like his blogs. Authentic and frank.
But - this says a Larian fanboy. :lol:

There is one interesting comment in it, of which I don't know whether it is real or not, but if it is real, then it is very interesting indeed :

Sergei Klimov says:
01/26/2012 at 13:01

We launched Divinity 2 (ED) in Russia head to head with EA’s Dragon Age.

In the few months, we sold over 70.000 copies. That was way over what Dragon Age achieved.

The difference?

Divinity had local price and was made available day one, sim with worldwide release, and had an OK localization. Dragon Age was priced almost double and had a horrible localization. It all comes down to the user experience, really.

Digital prices in Russia are 1:1 to retail prices at the moment. And yes, retail is dying off, but it will still be around for Collector’s Editions (forever) and for another 5 healthy years in general, as long as there are people with cash in their pockets who have some time to browse the shops.
 
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And in any case I would like to play it, so we said “okay let’s bet on that”. It’s risky! I pitched it to the usual suspects and they all looked at me… suspiciously, let’s put it that way.
What went wrong in this industry, that should be about creating something that's creative and fun and erntertaining? Has the idea of "unique selling point" really been reduced to the color palette of your FPS?
 
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What went wrong in this industry, that should be about creating something that's creative and fun and erntertaining? Has the idea of "unique selling point" really been reduced to the color palette of your FPS?

Color palettes are the only think the Marketing department suits can understand!
 
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I was sold as soon as I read 'Defender of the Crown'. :) Good times!
 
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