Tactical Adventures - Developing OGL D&D 5th Edition RPG

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VentureBeat interviewed Mathieu Girard, formerly of Amplitude Studios, who has started a new RPG company called Tactical Adventures, and asked him about his open game license Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition RPG.

Girard left Amplitude in January, and now, he's ready to talk about his next adventure ... a tactical one. Today, he's announcing his new company, Tactical Adventures. It's a studio in Paris that wants to make PC role-playing games that blend the rich stories of classics like Baldur's Gate with the tactical choices you make in games like XCOM. It's working on a yet-to-be announced game, one that will use the Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Open Game License (OGL). This means that it'll use the base rules, but it won't feature any of the worlds (such as the Forgotten Realms) that belong to Wizards of the Coast.

[...]

GamesBeat: Why is now the time to start making your passion project?

Girard: Because I've learned a lot. I've made lots of different games. I've made strategy games and even Formula One racing games. I've made shooter games, management games, 4X games. Lots of stuff. I guess what I was missing was an RPG. But it can be a bit scary to make an RPG. It seems very complex. You have to build lots of environments and monsters and a huge scenario. But it's not that complex once you have experience. I want to have a more systemic approach to an RPG rather than a purely narrative approach. The idea is to bring something new to the game mechanics of an RPG on a computer.
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More information.
 
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It is interesting how many of these people that decided to go on their own after working on AAA products for a long time then decide to make a RPG.

It would seem many of these devs would actually like to be working on RPGs from the start but had to get employment/experience from where they could.
 
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And it will be turn based because it makes obvious sense for a game that follows the rules of a turn-based tabletop system to be turn-based… RIGHT?
 
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wolfing said:
And it will be turn based because it makes obvious sense for a game that follows the rules of a turn-based tabletop system to be turn-based? RIGHT?
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If only we could safely assume that. Considering that they're calling their company "Tactical Adventures", it better. :) This quote gives me hope:

Mathieu Girard said:
The foundation for us is that computer RPGs have been making -well, they're great games, but they've been doing more of the same thing for the past 20 years since Baldur's Gate. These are great games. I love them. I play them. But it's the same way of doing exploration and combat. Some of them have had turn-based combat but not all the way, not with a very accurate grid system…
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I'll take a wait and see stance until they actually show what the game looks like. So I'm neither excited or anticipating more news at this point. Might be good who knows.:thinking:
 
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wolfing said:
And it will be turn based because it makes obvious sense for a game that follows the rules of a turn-based tabletop system to be turn-based? RIGHT?
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I would be kind of bad to mention Xcom but not make it turn based :D
 
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It's always food news when there's a new studio that want to create deep RPGs. And it's DnD! I don't have any experience with 5ed, but at least we won't get something like in PoE.
I 99% sure that the first game will have turn-based combat. Perhaps we'll see some more mechanics in the overland/strategic map.

I'm really interested in the innovation part though.
 
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you said:
What AAA game did this guy work on ?
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I am sure one of these
Girard: Because I've learned a lot. I've made lots of different games. I've made strategy games and even Formula One racing games. I've made shooter games, management games, 4X games
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was more or less an AAA game.
 
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I find it encouraging he's worked on several different genres. If nothing else, it should indicate some management experience.
 
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Well it's good to see new studios arise that can fill the pending void created by corporate assimilation. One can only hope it's a decent effort.
 
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screeg said:
I find it encouraging he's worked on several different genres. If nothing else, it should indicate some management experience.
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Yep, but it's possible that he underestimates the complexity of RGPs and overestimated the potential for innovation.
 
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Good news! I mean, this has to be turn-based, right?! Tactical and XCOM and all.

God forbid they come up with some newfangled simultaneous turn-based BS.
 
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An X-Com like engine would be an almost perfect fit for a D&D game. The X-Com system of getting two actions, only one of which can be an attack or "big" action, was pretty much taken directly from the D&D rules and is still used by the most recent D&D edition today.
 
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The original Pool of Radiance (at least in my memory) was something of a tactical game, where you were offered "jobs" which usually meant going into a mission, defeating some enemies and then going on the next job. It seems this was a good fit for a rpg with a deep and complex rule system. I like Baldur's Gate type of games as much as the next player, but a tactical, mission based D&D game (x-com style if you will) seems to me like an easier approach, especially for an unknown developer.
 
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Amplitude did a lot of things very well with their Endless games, and, yes, they even managed to both innovate and keep the things that made the games they based their mainly turn-based efforts on great.
What I'm more sceptical about is how well their community-based approach works with a game that is supposed to have a strong focus on narrative.
 
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An X-Com engine adapted to D&D style would be something I could really see myself enjoying. Bring on the games, and the thought that it isn't big entitled properties behind this only makes it even more attractive to me!!
 
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I quite enjoyed Endless Legend (it also features wonderful soundtrack). Like Couch, I find its too early to get excited but will keep an eye on it.
 
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