by Design1 | Jun 4, 2015 | Game Development, TSI
Hi there – So things have been pretty quiet here news wise and that’s largely my fault. I joined up with the TSI about a month and a half ago to take over the art direction on Seven Dragon Saga. Since then I’ve read several hundred pages of community comments on the previous iteration of the games visuals along with digesting the exhaustive documentation for the games world and gameplay mechanics so I can feed all of that into our new look which is what we’re ready to talk more about today. But before we get into that I should give a little background on myself. I’m Lee Dotson, I’ve been making art for games for about 18 years now covering almost every genre of game out there including games like Anachronox, Star Trek Online, and Diablo 3 but classic RPG’s are what make me want to create games in the first place so 7DS’s open ended storylines and rich X-Com like tactical gameplay makes this a total dream project for me. Enough about me, here we have a small example of where we’ve been and where we’re going with the style and look of 7DS. The goal here is to push for a look that merges the sense of fantastic realism found in classic fantasy paintings by the likes of Brom or Easely with the rich colors and clear designs from classic dungeon crawlers like Eye of the Beholder so there’s a feast for the eyes when zooming in on characters while keeping everything legible from far away. For me this is particularly key because while...
by TSI | Sep 3, 2014 | Game Development, TSI
We’ve had a few hiccups on the social media side of things, but the majority of the team has been heads down on the game itself. We are hoping our site will offer content and greater context that will give you an idea of what we are all about at TSI. We encourage you to offer your input so, we don’t just make a game we love but one that you’ll be thrilled about as well. As gamers ourselves, we check out a bunch of game forums and see most of the comments. People have every right to wonder what kind of game we’re making and share their feelings about what they want AND expect. Our new website is up with our own forums, so now, you have a dedicated place to engage with the team at TSI and other fans excited about the old school RPG’s we’re making. Keep in mind, we’re not a large team, currently, therefore, community management is something we’ll be ramping up over time. We do, however, have a vision of where we want to go, a plan to get there and a path we’re taking. Your input is important to us and we hope you’ll be patient as we strive our utmost, to deliver. Seven Dragons Saga is an original IP: we’re an independent studio that doesn’t have to answer to a publisher or anyone else. The only thing we have to do, is meet our own high standards for a quality game and keep building on that experience to deliver the kind of games you want to...
by TSI Games | Aug 16, 2014 | Game Development, TSI, TSI games
People will ask “why aren’t you (re-)making (insert favorite here)”, instead of Seven Dragon Saga? The short answer is that it isn’t entirely up to us. We are, however, incredibly excited about the new endeavor we’ve chosen. Once our core team decided to embark on this venture, the very next question was: “what should we do for our first project?” We knew initially that we wanted to do a fantasy RPG but, we also needed to take a hard look at how the landscape has changed and what our development roadmap would look like. Fortunately, we had an immediate opportunity to work with a robust rule system and game world. The Seven Dragon Saga is the brainchild of David Shelley and Keith Brors (also an SSI alumni and veteran engineer). Both have been part of a weekly tabletop role-playing since before SSI formed. Being engineers and designers, David and Keith have created and refined their own system over the years. Licensing the game to TSI and getting to work on the computer game itself became a tremendous opportunity. TSI gained a developed system to work from, access to its creators, and the creative freedom to make the ideal game. Opportunities to work with (insert favorite game/RPG system) are a definite possibility for the future....
by TSI Games | Aug 16, 2014 | TSI
TSI is a new enterprise. Naturally, there are a lot of questions including “what took you guys so long”? Honestly, it took time for the industry to mature and for us to find the resources. Three things had to happen: 1. The technology and costs had to allow for the opportunity to make sense. The shift from PC to consoles was a contributing factor to SSI being sold, as was, PC RPG’s falling out of vogue for publishers. However, digital distribution and terrific tools like Unity3D have lowered the barrier to create quality games. 2. There needed to be a clear demand. Reaction to titles like “Legend of Grimrock” and “Wasteland 2” has demonstrated that there IS an interest for classic RPG gameplay. 3. Getting a passionate team together was vital. Like many of you, David Klein grew up playing SSI games on his Apple IIe (then AppleIIGS/Amiga2000/PC). David’s the one that raised an initial round of funding, and then set out to create a company that could recapture the classic games he loved to play. He sought out David Shelley, a lead designer on many of SSI’s games, to lead the design on TSI’s first project. David Shelley was part of a close circle of alumni friends, and he brought in Paul Murray, an engineer and designer of Wizard’s Crown, Eternal Dagger, many Gold Box games, as well as, the Panzer General series. Every member of the team is excited about creating a compelling experience. We’re fortunate to have several former SSI members and other artists and engineers contributing to the ground work for Seven Dragon Saga,...
by TSI Games | Aug 16, 2014 | TSI
TSI started out as a dream. A dream many of you seem to share. It’s the return of a company you could depend upon to consistently deliver a meaningful RPG experience. While there are many classic RPG franchises and several talented studios, SSI and the Gold Box games delivered, time and again, a new adventure using the same type of compelling, tactical experience. You knew exactly what you were getting: proven technology, a great system/setting, and strategic, party-based combat. Our company, TSI, was formed in that same spirit. While we’ve quietly been working for several months, it’s still early in the overall scheme of things, so please be patient as we role out assets and additional details for what we have planned. We are thrilled to finally be able to share information about our company and our...
