Larian Studios - The Route to the Very Big RPG

Once again, Swen Vincke has blogged about Larian's plans to make "the very big RPG that will dwarf them all", with more interesting insight into the business side. On the cost of making Dragon Knight Saga:

Here’s a break-down of what it cost us to make the Dragon Knight Saga

• 4M € employees
• 900K€ freelancers
• 270K€ outsourcing of artwork
• 200K€ hardware
• 700K€ software licenses
• 400K€ localisation

for a total of 6,5M€. That’s a lot of money and as the Dragon Knight Saga was released via co-publishing deals , it also meant that we needed to take care of the majority of this investment ourselves, since the publishers only contributed partially to the funding.

More information.

Im lovin Larian Studios. Currently playing Divine Divinity and am lost from he outside world . And after that will play DKS for the first time. Larian studios is aiming for the stars with The RPG THAT WILL DWARF THEM ALL.Bioware could have learned a lesson or two from reading this post. They know they have to cut costs for the big one but understand they must stay true to fans and creat quality games. I have faith that Dragon Commander will be a innovative and great. They have my money.

these economy statistics don't say shit. Good game design is magic, you build around your resources more or less, it's an unpredictable industry.

Originally Posted by borcanu
these economy statistics don't say shit. Good game design is magic, you build around your resources more or less, it's an unpredictable industry.

That would be true for an unknown studio. Less so (but not entirely untrue) for a proven one. I can't say more because I haven't played their games but I did buy DD on GoG I think… Will be playing in 2022

Originally Posted by borcanu
Good game design is magic, you build around your resources more or less,

Duh (sort of), but that´s actually rather "economistic" take on the issue - adapting design to whatever amount of resources is available, whereas what Lar seems to strive for, at least for that cRPG that will dwarf´em all, is this process to be the other way around - adapting resources to design.
Assuming that in both cases the design-resources relation would be as effective as possible, I´m quite sure there´s a better chance we´ll get a good game in the case of the latter approach being dominant.

From what i understand the game industry is very predictable. Companies know and aim for who they are selling to and may be suprised by the sales from a unpredictable economy.

Originally Posted by rich ruffo
Im lovin Larian Studios. Currently playing Divine Divinity and am lost from he outside world . And after that will play DKS for the first time. Larian studios is aiming for the stars with The RPG THAT WILL DWARF THEM ALL.Bioware could have learned a lesson or two from reading this post. They know they have to cut costs for the big one but understand they must stay true to fans and creat quality games. I have faith that Dragon Commander will be a innovative and great. They have my money.

They have my money as well.

I've really enjoyed their games so far, and I really like the way they focus on delivering a strong product - not focusing half of their attention on marketing schemes like Bioware (who I admit have a lot of talent, as shown by Dragon Age Origins).

Oh wow! I would have thought the art would be a lot more. Or maybe that was to help some of the artists they already have on staff?

I also love Larian after playing Divinity 2. They made a great, true-school RPG with that game and it's very underrated. I will also check out any game they release going forward.

It's great that Vincke has now announced an "unannounced" RPG.

Dragon Commander looks like an interesting experiment; however, despite being a fan of turn-based strategy games as well as RPGs, I'm honestly not sure what to make of this Frankenstein project. I hope it turns out well.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
It's great that Vincke has now announced an "unannounced" RPG.

Dragon Commander looks like an interesting experiment; however, despite being a fan of turn-based strategy games as well as RPGs, I'm honestly not sure what to make of this Frankenstein project. I hope it turns out well.

Thats how I feel to but I find myself liking the game and cant help myself. It looks interesting.

I bet the unannouced project is the next Divinity as they hinted at it last year.

Originally Posted by borcanu
these economy statistics don't say shit. Good game design is magic, you build around your resources more or less, it's an unpredictable industry.

What does your post actually mean? What "statistics" are we talking about? The cost breakdown for DKS that Lar provided? It means exactly what it says.

Originally Posted by Zloth
Oh wow! I would have thought the art would be a lot more. Or maybe that was to help some of the artists they already have on staff?

I think that's one of the reasons they spend 4M on salaries.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I bet the unannouced project is the next Divinity as they hinted at it last year.

They didn't hint at it, they actually said it was a next Divinity. It's currently labeled Project E. This because the title of the game starts with an E

I think that many developers are salivating over the huge sales of half-baked Skyrim .
I don't believe that any RPG can dwarf them all .

I'm sure there is some irony involved in the dwarfing bit

Originally Posted by Myrthos
I'm sure there is some irony involved in the dwarfing bit

Maybe it focuses on dwarves. Or giants. Or both.

Both? You mean giant dwarves? Or even dwarf giants?

Originally Posted by Myrthos
Both? You mean giant dwarves? Or even dwarf giants?

I normally don't just lol a post without saying anything, but that deserves one big LOL

I never really got into Div 2. Try as I might (and I tried both Div 2: ED and DKS), it just did not ever go from an OK game to a great game for me. There were many places where I felt there was a lot of promise in Div 2, but in the end I got tired of the combat (both melee and ranged) which I just didn't like much at all and the magic combat wasn't that much better either. And as there is so much combat in Div 2, I didn't have the willpower to trudge along despite the irritation and despite the many RPG fan "endorsements". All I can do is wonder, how so many of you really, really like Div 2 so much, when to me it is just OK. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Maybe someday I'll muster up some more mental fortitude and continue where I left (at the beginning of the second major area, right after defeating the big bad in Maxos Tower, IIRC) and give Div 2 yet one more chance to "blow me away with its awesomeness", but I doubt I'll do that anytime soon - too many games I actually like on my play list as it is.

Anyhow, regardless of my feelings toward Div 2, I'm still looking forward to the next big RPG from Larian. They did DivDiv, after all, and I love DivDiv.

I thought Divine Divinity was a great game, and although I skipped their subsequent offerings, because I'm picky and can tell I wouldn't enjoy them, I am very intrigued by this epic rpg that they are talking about. Sounds like this game was in the mind of the main developer from the very beginning, and everything is being done to lead up to the making of that game. That is rather interesting.