Let that be a lesson to ya'

[wlmartin]

Studio that Developed D&D Daggerdale To Shut Down | Piki Geek

So daggerdale didn't do well as a Videogame.. well duh!
Arcade versions of D&D titles never work well. They don't have enough umf for the non-dnd fans and they plainly dont have enough RPG for the real D&D fans.

I just hope this is a lesson to anyone out there who wants to make a D&D video game... just play Baldurs Gate, Baldurs Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II and all of the expansions without a break for food, water or sleep and then feel inspired and start programming - because anything else is just pig slop!

 

[Trolls]

Daggerdale didn't fail because it was an arcade game. That style has worked well for some other D&D games, Dark Alliance being the first to come to mind.

Daggerdale failed simply because it just wasn't very good.

 

[samursus]

Daggerdale failed simply because it just wasn't very good.

QFT

nuff said.

 

[wlmartin]

QFT

nuff said.

I think a bit more should be said - perhaps not hear but to the people that make the decisions to make these games.

It is like there is a room full of people that say "We know that D&D is popular and there are so many D&Ders that play computer games. D&D has been at the heart of computer games since there were computer games so lets make a new one.... "

Unfortunately these people recruit complete idiots to design the game, people who think they know what D&D is about but fall on their bum.

The only really good D&D game in recent history is DDO but unfortunately that is still based on 3rd edition rules and is MMO based and not offline based. An offline game with 4e rules and the graphics, playability and graphics of DDO would knock my socks off

 

[ahayford]

It makes me feel old that NWN 1, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, and Icewind Dale are no longer "In recent memory".

 

[Squire James]

It is my opinion that companies should not be so willing to change their engines completely between games. The Baldur's Gate engine worked well for several games and several more expansion packs. Before that, the "Gold Box" games spawned by the truckload, and a construction set at the end lasted several more years (partially due to what would now be called "modding").

Nowadays every game seems to be done by a different set of dudes that have COMPLETELY different ideas of how the game engine should be! Why even bother selling a D&D game license to someone if different people end up doing every game?! Frankly, I am not in the least bit surprised how the last few D&D games came out... every one was by a different gang of people with an entirely different vision.

Changing engines each time is expensive, and risky. Keep the engine the same and churn them out until one does bad. That system worked fine for Final Fantasy... until they fell into the same "change it every time" trap!

 

[UngainlyTitan]

It is my opinion that companies should not be so willing to change their engines completely between games. The Baldur's Gate engine worked well for several games and several more expansion packs. Before that, the "Gold Box" games spawned by the truckload, and a construction set at the end lasted several more years (partially due to what would now be called "modding").

Nowadays every game seems to be done by a different set of dudes that have COMPLETELY different ideas of how the game engine should be! Why even bother selling a D&D game license to someone if different people end up doing every game?! Frankly, I am not in the least bit surprised how the last few D&D games came out... every one was by a different gang of people with an entirely different vision.

Changing engines each time is expensive, and risky. Keep the engine the same and churn them out until one does bad. That system worked fine for Final Fantasy... until they fell into the same "change it every time" trap!

This may have been a motivating factor in the effort that Hasbo and WoTC went to get the licence back off Atari that was setteled recently out of court.

 

[mudlock]

This may have been a motivating factor in the effort that Hasbo and WoTC went to get the licence back off Atari that was setteled recently out of court.

I think it's the other way around. Daggerdale only got made so that Atari could say "See? We're still using it!"

Which is why they gave the absolute minimum of support to the project and released it well before it was ready (i.e., before the settlement was announced) and why they are burninating the whole thing now that the lawsuit is over and a new deal has been made.

This happens with movies too; the contract states that they have to use the license to keep making sequels, or the license goes away. So they make a crappy sequel. It's, quite literally, a way of buying time (since these things rarely prove to be profitable) in the hope they can make something _better_ with the license later.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I think it's the other way around. Daggerdale only got made so that Atari could say "See? We're still using it!"

Which is why they gave the absolute minimum of support to the project and released it well before it was ready (i.e., before the settlement was announced) and why they are burninating the whole thing now that the lawsuit is over and a new deal has been made.

This happens with movies too; the contract states that they have to use the license to keep making sequels, or the license goes away. So they make a crappy sequel. It's, quite literally, a way of buying time (since these things rarely prove to be profitable) in the hope they can make something _better_ with the license later.

Huh!, I don't follow your argument. I think you may be correct in your assesment on why Daggerdale was made and the crappy nature of it. But Hasbro has succeeded in getting the licence back and even extracted Neverwinter from the clutched of Atari. So the Facebook game aside Hasbo now has the licence back. Or am I missing your point completely?

 

[mudlock]

Huh!, I don't follow your argument. I think you may be correct in your assesment on why Daggerdale was made and the crappy nature of it. But Hasbro has succeeded in getting the licence back and even extracted Neverwinter from the clutched of Atari. So the Facebook game aside Hasbo now has the licence back. Or am I missing your point completely?

The reason why it got made and why it sucked was my only point; if you got that, you followed my whole argument.

As an aside: Atari is still going to make D&D games; but they're licensed through both Hasbro and WotC now (instead of just Hasbro). They didn't announce any other details, although I'm sure Hasbro and WotC have a lot more control over what Atari does with the license now (the old deal was basically "Sure, sure; do whatever you want, as long as you pay us.")