Archetype Entertainment - Drew Karpyshyn Joins the Studio

Drew Karpyshyn talked about the reasons he is joining Archetype Entertainment on his personal blog.

Archetype Entertainment

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Drew Karpyshyn

Wow. It's been a loooong time since I updated this page. The past couple years have been busy for me; I worked on a number of different projects. Some, like the Odyssey of the Dragonlords RPG campaign, were wildly successful. Other projects, like my work as a writer for the interactive narrative mobile app Storyscape, didn't pan out.

Unfortunately, Storyscape was cancelled after only a year. I was lucky enough to have my series - Edge of Extinction - get published before the app went dark, but it sucks knowing it's gone now. A lot of talented people were involved in my project and the other Storyscape titles (Titanic, X-Files, Life 2.0, Eternal City), and I thought we had something with real potential. But sometimes the video game industry is a harsh and unforgiving environment. (Maybe that's what inspired me to write Edge of Extinction?) If you want to get a sense of what we were doing and how it resonated with fans you can check out the Storyscape Reddit… but it might make you long for what was lost.

Fortunately for me, I have another gig now. I'm proud to announce that I'm the lead writer for Archetype Entertainment!Founded by James Ohlen - the creative genius behind BioWare hits like Baldur's Gate, KOTOR and Dragon Age - Archetype is a new video game studio under the Wizards of the Coast umbrella… and I haven't been this excited to work on a project in a long, long time! (Side note: I've always enjoyed working with WotC; they even published my first novel!)

I've been in the video game industry for twenty years now. When I started at BioWare, everything was fresh and exciting. It was a dream job - talented people working together to create epic games like Baldur's Gate, KOTOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But as we grew and became more successful, things changed. We became more corporate. We were less able to make what we loved, and the teams were pushed to create games based on market research rather than our creative instincts and passions. My dream job became just a job, and I lost the enthusiasm and excitement I once had.

But with Archetype, my passion has been rekindled. The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare; I can feel the magic in the air. And even though I can't get too deep into the specifics of what we're working on yet,we're already generating plenty of excitement in the industry.

I know we have big shoes to fill. With BioWare, I was part of a legacy that will endure forever. We created some of the most beloved CRPGs of the past two decades. But I truly believe at Archetype we have the talent and the opportunity to do something just as amazing!

This journey is only beginning, and I know it will be long and challenging. But for the first time in a long time, I can't wait to travel down this path again!

Thanks Farflame!


More information.

Good news for Archetype - on the writing front anyway.

I had the opportunity to meet Drew and the team in 2001 and then again in 2011. Both times it was clear he was a good story teller, but by 2011 I was pretty sure there were a few good writers in his group looking to spend time on their own passion projects.

Fingers crossed Archetype allows for the creative outlet. Everyone knows its more fun to write the story when you enjoy the content

Can we just start calling Archetype "Biowr" for short, since it seems to be Bioware without the 'E' and the 'A'?

Well good writers are one thing but remember most employees are from BioWare Austin. They focused only on MMO's, and Ohlen was in charge of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

So to me I really don't know if I want to get to excited.

What is Archetype? A new Bow ?

Originally Posted by khaight
Can we just start calling Archetype "Biowr" for short, since it seems to be Bioware without the 'E' and the 'A'?

Clever. Will see how it pans out.

Originally Posted by you
What is Archetype? A new Bow ?

A new developer comprised of BioWare Austin employees and funded by WotC.

Link - https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44541

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
most employees are from BioWare Austin. They focused only on MMO's, and Ohlen was in charge of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

True, but there's this part of the statement about Bioware morphing into EA:

It was a dream job - talented people working together to create epic games like Baldur's Gate, KOTOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But as we grew and became more successful, things changed. We became more corporate. We were less able to make what we loved, and the teams were pushed to create games based on market research rather than our creative instincts and passions.

Of course this can still mean they wanted mmo, but a different one from Destiny… erm… TOR.
But one needs to hope as games mentioned as examples were singleplayers first.

Any developer of a fully-single-player story-based game with at least some RPG elements and a decent budget gets my positive attention, and there seem to be some people who have participated in making games I've enjoyed a whole lot.

For example, there was plenty of deserved skepticism before Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order was released but it ended up being one of my favorite games ever.

I'm optimistic here, though it won't get to the level of wanting to pre-order.

Well I didn't enjoy Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order due to the platform elements.

It wasn't even an RPG.

Still we have no info about Archetype Entertainment's new game yet.

Originally Posted by joxer
True, but there's this part of the statement about Bioware morphing into EA:

Who didn't foresee that happening? I sure as hell did.

Well one concern one should have is all of these guys are 20 years older since the days of BG. While experience can help; we saw what happened with system shock 3. That's not to say these guys can't pull it off and bioware-EA did produce some very playable games but depending on what type of game they produce it will take resources. Of course then again we see some of these indie companies produce masses games of decent quality on shoestring budgets - though very few of them are USA based (think salaries).

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well I didn't enjoy Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order due to the platform elements.

It wasn't even an RPG.

Still we have no info about Archetype Entertainment's new game yet.
Who didn't foresee that happening? I sure as hell did.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well good writers are one thing but remember most employees are from BioWare Austin. They focused only on MMO's, and Ohlen was in charge of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

So to me I really don't know if I want to get to excited.

James Ohlen is not a computer guy. He ran a D&D campaign that was very popular where the Bioware founders were and they invited him to adapt his campaign to their software. The result was Baldur's gate. So basically you have a campaign designer and a writer, which are two useful compontent to creating an exciting rpg world. However, these guys are idea guys. They still need competent people to actually execute their vision.