Beamdog - Next Level Doco

@Gamebanshee Next Level profiled Beamdog saying they have the potential to be Bioware 2.0.

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Beamdog was started in 2009 by former Bioware employees, including an original founder. They adapted games to mobile platforms and some say Beamdog even has the makings of a BioWare 2.0.

Let's explore why that might be.
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Bioware 2.0 means phones?
I'll just roll my eyes and move on.

I somehow lost track. What is their current project in development?

Originally Posted by Morrandir
I somehow lost track. What is their current project in development?

RPGCodex seems to think it is another Planescape game.

Do they have any claim to success not based in others' work from 20 years ago?

Originally Posted by Morrandir
I somehow lost track. What is their current project in development?

Nothing announced since the PST:EE released earlier this year (outside patches).

In term of "EE", IWD 2 is out of the picture, they haven't been able to find the source code and NWN is tied up in licensing rights issues (with the name) so not happening.

On the not EE side, they haven't announced anything officially. Some stuff made it to the web (like these concept arts 1, 2, 3) and there was a screen of a 3D engine in a video interview but that and the concept arts might not be related. Beamdog was working on 3 projects as of last year: one large, one mid-sized and one small. PTS:EE was either the mid-size or small one.

Ah, so the large one is still unannounced.

With their ambitions, previous solid work (indeed based on others) and their presumable low funds they imho are a good candidate for a starting Kickstarter campaign.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Do they have any claim to success not based in others' work from 20 years ago?

Some of them are former members of Bioware and Black Isle.

Yea… The cleaning lady.

Indeed David Gaider's resemblance to Mr. Clean (at least ion hairstyle) has always been suspicious…

I need to pay them another visit and see if I can spy out what they may be up to these days……

Originally Posted by Infinitron

Planescape: Unraveled? Funny name that.

Originally Posted by rjshae
Planescape: Unraveled? Funny name that.

Unraveled, geddit?

"Next Level profiled Beamdog saying they have the potential to be Bioware 2.0."

That's meant to be a compliment?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Some of them are former members of Bioware and Black Isle.

I was talking more about the hot air regarding their "next Bioware" comment. They haven't done anything original/notable thus far as a company.

Very strange they'd choose to make a Planescape game considering the lack of financial success of the original and of Torment. I do like the setting, though.

Originally Posted by Drithius
I was talking more about the hot air regarding their "next Bioware" comment. They haven't done anything original/notable thus far as a company.

Siege of Dragonspear. Which I think was pretty great for their first original piece.

Also, their engineering chops aren't in question either. Trying to completely reverse engineer someone else's code is a lot harder than just starting from scratch.

Their business model is smart. I know it's a sore issue for many people here, and a lot will say that their Enhanced Editions aren't worth it, or it's a scam, or what have you. But it does the following:

1) Gets them extremely familiar with the old school material. It's hard to argue that they're not veterans to the genre, after remaking all the classics

2) Gets them a lot of input for what's next. Going through all the betas and feedback, and responding to a lot of their community, they're getting a good idea of what will work, and what's expected in new content or a new IP entirely.

3) Sets them up with a stable business model. If they can make a steady income from the remakes, then budgets and deadlines are less of a concern.

4) Gets a wider audience. Going mobile/tablet was a smart move. Some will cry foul, but not for any really good substantial reason. There's a major untapped market there. And if they're staying true to the original content (IE no pay to win, etc), then it only makes sense.

Originally Posted by Drithius
I was talking more about the hot air regarding their "next Bioware" comment. They haven't done anything original/notable thus far as a company.

I was just pointing out that some of them helped create the original games they made enhanced editions for. People love to claim that Beamdog is only making a buck off others' work, but ironically it's their own games for some of them.

Originally Posted by forgottenlor
Very strange they'd choose to make a Planescape game considering the lack of financial success of the original and of Torment. I do like the setting, though.

I personally don't think their big project is a Planescape game. Some stuff seen behind the scene might refer to it, but they were working on making PST:EE until last April. They probably worked on/looked at potential new content for it over the last 2 years.

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looking around for news on Beamdog I just saw that they poached 2 more BioWare devs last summer. Not as well known as Gaider though. I suspect more than half their staff is ex-BioWare actually.