Starbreeze to Publish Soren Johnson's New Strategy Game, 10 Crowns
Starbreeze Publishing signs Mohawk Games strategy title “10 Crowns”
Starbreeze, an independent creator, publisher and distributor of high quality entertainment products, has signed a publishing agreement with Mohawk Games regarding the project currently under the working title 10 Crowns.
10 Crowns is an epic-scale turn-based strategy game that lets players create the greatest dynasty in world history.
The industry veteran team behind Mohawk Games is led by Soren Johnson (Lead Designer of Civilization IV) and Dorian Newcomb (Art Director of Civilization V).
“As an avid Civilization IV fan and gamer, I couldn’t be more excited about 10 Crowns promise of refreshing the classic strategy genre. I’m greatly looking forward to working with Mohawk on the game”, said Bo Andersson-Klint, Starbreeze CEO.
“Everyone here at Mohawk is very excited to work with Starbreeze on 10 Crowns, going back to our game development roots to make a classic historical 4X strategy game with some important and radical innovations to the genre. I look forward to sharing more about the design with the strategy game community and involving them in development as early as possible”, said Soren Johnson at Mohawk Games.
10 Crowns is currently in prototyping stages of development.
So here it is, after almost five years of learning how to create a game from scratch: the final version of Ghost of a Tale will be released for Windows PC on the 13th of March.
It will be available for download on Steam, GOG and Humble Bundle at the price of $24.99. There are no plans for physical release yet (although we would love to eventually have one).
(Note that the game will remain at $19.99 for the next two weeks, until it’s out of early access)
The release date for the consoles version (Xbox One (X?) and PS4) is not yet set because I want to make sure we address everything before we start entering the “certification dance”. I have a very poor internet connection and I can’t upload huge files back and forth as quickly as I wish.
In any case, the only thing I can say for now is the final version of the game on consoles will come “later this year”.
Before you ask, there are no plans to release Ghost of a Tale on the Switch since it would most likely require a complete re-tooling of all the visual features and a fundamental re-authoring of most of the 3D assets.
But who knows, if the game is financially successful, maybe we’ll be able to afford hiring another studio to rebuild everything from the ground up while still maintaining the visual identity of the game…
On that note it will be very interesting to see how the upcoming adaption of Dark Souls on Switch is going to fare, both from an artistic and technical standpoint. It might teach us a thing or two.
In terms of the gameplay length for Ghost of a Tale (and keep in mind those are estimates) it should roughly take you around 8 to 10 hours if you don’t care much about the quests and story, but almost double that if you want to take your time and see (and do) everything.
Localization
We went with LevelUp Translation for localizing the game and they are currently hard at work on the initial languages (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian and Chinese). Paul is coordinating with them (hi Damien) on top of finishing all the remaining tweaks on the dialogs, lore and quests. Which is a huge task since GoaT is has more text than many AAA games.
You see localization is tricky with Ghost of a Tale because over the years we’ve developed a consistent world with its history and rules. It’s not an overly complex one but it’s full of puns and double entendre which cannot bear a typical word-for-word translation; it is a genuine adaptation that is required in this case.
The Past...
As I was looking for more recent screenshots to share for this update I inadvertently found a stash of old ones. I thought it’d be fun to compare how the game looked like when we showed it at Gamescom a couple of years ago and how it looks like now, in the final version.
The first comparison is with an interior shot, at the start of the game (in the jail).
The second one is an exterior shot, in Dwindling Heights’ courtyard.
It’s really nice to be able to gauge the technical progress at a glance. It’s also interesting how the artistic ambitions of the game grew to closely match Unity’s evolution as a real-time 3D engine.
Widely hailed as one of the greatest video games of all time, the definitive version of Chrono Trigger is now available for the first time on Steam. This version features:
• Two Extra Dungeons – Includes the mysterious “Dimensional Vortex” dungeon and “Lost Sanctum” dungeon that first appeared in the Nintendo DS and mobile releases
• Chrono Trigger Limited Edition - Those that purchase the Steam version until April 2, 2018 will receive the following digital bonuses for free:
- An enchanting and specially edited digital song file containing a medley of five songs: “Far Off Promise,” “Wind Scene,” “Battle with Magus,” “Corridors of Time,” and “Chrono Trigger”
- Composer Yasunori Mitsuda’s digital liner notes
- A collection of six stunning PC wallpapers in varying sizes
• Updated Graphics and Sound – While keeping the atmosphere of the original, this version features optimized visuals designed for modern PCs and a re-recorded soundtrack under the supervision of original composer Yasunori Mitsuda.
• Updated Controls - Optimized PC experience that supports both controller and mouse/keyboard configuration
• New Autosave Feature - Automatically saves while still featuring the original title’s Save Point function
In conjunction with the release of the Steam version, Chrono Trigger for iOS and Android may also receive a major update which brings all of the enhancements in the PC version to mobile devices. Additionally, Chrono Trigger is also now available on the Amazon AppStore beginning today, bringing the title to an even wider array of mobile platforms.
The mobile version of Chrono Trigger not only features the updated graphical and sound enhancements, but also brings retina and cloud save features as well as AppleTV support to this version.
Originally released in 1995, Chrono Trigger was developed by the “Dream Team” of Dragon Qeust creator Yuji Horii, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama and the creators of the Final Fantasy series. Many challenges await players in this epic quest to save the planet’s future, as long-lost secrets are revealed through time travel to different eras including the present, middle ages, the future, prehistory and ancient times.
《钢铁收割》原定于2018年发售在PC/PS4/Xbox One平台上,但King Art Games目前又打算在3月13日于Kickstarter上发起这款游戏的众筹,看起来开发状况不太乐观。
Iron Harvest First Gameplay Video - The Return of Classic Real-time Strategy
Iron Harvest goes back to the roots of Company of Heroes and Warcraft to combine classic real-time strategy with modern technology in a unique setting. The feedback of our engaged community counting over 100,000 RTS enthusiasts is helping to shape the development of an epic campaign with Dieselpunk mechs, base-building and destructible environments.
It’s the first time we are showing live gameplay. Iron Harvest is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and we will launch a Kickstarter Campaign on March 13.
We would like to ask you to release news or articles after our Kickstarter launch on March 13th.