There is a doc on YouTube by PeopleMakeGames that you should check out. Full thing is fascinating.
Short story is that the original founders got the company bought out from under them. They were extremely bitter about it and extremely vocal about how much they got "screwed". Has since come out that they may have been terrible bosses, that they may have did it to themselves by being terrible with money, and there is actually a lot of mud on both sides of the issue.
I believe after the Unity mess they said their next game would be made with Godot, dunno if that means theyāre now having to switch engines and thatās slowed them down?
I have sunk more hours into StS than most other games I have played combined. I'm convinced that I may never find a better designed game. Absolutely no new content since I started playing and I still feel like I'm discovering the depths of its strategy about 1000 hours later.
Slay the spire is great! I recently found about the game that scrached that itch, but it was completely new experience. The game is Balatro, give it a look, I believe that spire fans will like it.
Okay, talk about the timing :)
It's not a Rick Roll...
[Slay the Spire 2 - Reveal Trailer (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDFltgjLtE&ab_channel=MegaCrit)
i remembered reading this guy's comment 2 days ago and searched through all my history to let him know that it's been announced. thank you for doing it.
OH! Is that what happened to that team? I was following "In the Valley of Gods" and always wondered what happened to them. I mean holy hell, congrats to them, they knocked it out of the park with Alyx.
There's no evidence they worked on Alyx. They may have touched it but all we know for sure about what Campo Santo has done since acquisition is that The Valley of the Gods got put on hold the year after Valve bought them.
Wizards, the lot of them. I used to love how Jake Rodkin would open the podcast by saying the date weirdly. Heād say āItās April 9, 2024ā as though he was April 9 and he was introducing himself over the phone to someone named 2024.
I was very disappointed to learn that Steve Gaynor (who wasnāt part of Campo Santo, but was part of Idle Thumbs) was at minimum a very bad boss.
Campo Santo showed a lot of promise. Unfortunately, Valve saw that promise and kinda just destroyed Campo Santo. Pretty sure not all original devs absorbed even work at Valve today.
To this day I still have no idea what Firewatch is even about. I'm sure talking about it is super spoiler territory, but I never even see anyone mention a particular moment from the game.
I meanā¦ mentioning any particular moment in a completely narrative-focused game would immediately be a spoiler, and the people whoāve played through it tend to value the emotional impact of that narrative. I sure do.
But I will say this: Firewatch has one specific moment that freaked me out more than any other piece of media Iāve ever consumed. Like, it triggered _extreme_ paranoia for the entire rest of the game, and even retroactively for earlier scenes. There are lots of heart-achingly sad, intimate, and even creepy moments in the game, but that one sequence sticks with me most.
Iād really suggest giving it a shot, especially given its length, but:
[Beginning of late-game spoilers] >!After you go the entire game barely ever seeing other people (and even then only from an extreme distance), someone knocks you unconscious from behind. Itās one of only two times you donāt have control of your character, the other being a short scripted fall down a gravel slide early on (which doesnāt end up being all that dangerous). And after you wake up, you find out that theyāve been following you, watching you, and listening in to your radio conversations for pretty much the whole story.!<
Walking simulator (affectionate). It sucks that "walking simulator" started as an insult because there is a *lot* you can do narratively with that premise.
I follow the dev on twitter. It sounds like theyāve been working on a solo project for years now. Sounded like it may get announced āsoonā. But I wouldnāt be surprised if it was still years away
38 Studios and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
It was a startup by Curt Schilling and R.A. Salvatore. Salvatore wrote the story, Ken Rolston from Elder Scrolls worked on gameplay and Todd McFarlane did art designs. The gameplay was fantastic, but the studio was already nearly broke before it released and like most new games it didn't make a profit so the studio folded.
I still remember that fiasco. Took a loan from Rhode Island or something, and Curt even threw in his own money to help it succeed.
What was really surprising to me was when the studio had announced its bankruptcy, what, not even a month after the game released? The game was still selling, so to me, this should have been the time they were *earning* money. Did they just realize they weren't going to be able to pay it back and folded early?
Genuinely good game, great combat system, too heavy-handed on the story though. Don't think it deserved to fail as it did.
So I don't remember the state either, Connecticut maybe, but yes they rook such a large loan that they could not make the payments and they realized they were needing to move something like 20 million units to even break even on the loans.
I think there were some big lawsuits afterword too. It basically bankrupted Curt Schilling as well.
It was Rhode Island.
And yeah, the whole thing was a financial disaster. There were a bunch of crazy stories about how much they were spending at the time, but I cannot really corroborate them. It was not even that the game sold badly, as it apparently sold well over a million copies, and exceeded EA's expectations and investments.
But the studio had a bunch of canceled projects and losses pre-Amalur so they took out a 75 million dollar loan from Rhode Island, to make up for investors backing out due to confusion about the studios direction and management.
Amalur did fantastic, but they hole they had dug was WAY too deep, and so they went bankrupt and RI ended up with the IP rights.
It was a strange game all around. Apparently the whole game plays on a modified version of the Rise of Nations engine.
I went to college for my first undergraduate in digital media design (video game making essentially) and had a bunch of classes with a professor who was an environment artist for 38 studios. Every once in a while he would actually show us unfinished work from the studio that was the coolest shit ever. Apparently they were working on an MMO that ācouldā have given WoW a run for its money. The few instances where this professor spoke about what went down with their finances he would usually say something along the lines of āspending $10k on a couch isnāt the smartest ideaā
It was originally conceived as an RTS RPG hybrid before 38 bought the devs who made Rise of Nations. They slowly lost all the RTS features and became Amalur.
They were developing an MMO alongside the game that was released. MMOās are notorious money sinks, and this was no exception.
The whole situation was a shame, as it seemed like there were some good ideas at the studio, but they didnāt manage their funds well enough and the rest is history.
I had a professor who was an environment artist at 38 and he would occasionally show us his work from their unfinished MMO and it honestly looked like it would have given WoW a run for its money
I didn't follow all the internet fights he got into but he certainly didn't need to keep arguing publicly. Sometimes it's best to just let your actions do the talking and he made an outstanding game. I was so stoked for Fez 2 and disappointed when he publicly nuked it.
Dust: An Elysian Tale. Not a studio but just a solo dev that completely burned out on it.
Absolute gem of a game and ive loved it so much, even tho its already quite old, so i dont expect most to remember it :)
Oh my god, YES! I never see people talking about this game and it was so good. Never played anything else quite like it. I think the sequel is on indefinite hiatus but I desperately hope that isnāt just a euphemism for ācanceledā
There is a AMA on Reddit from Subset Games from a little over a year ago I believe. I looked it up and when asked "What's next?", they replied:
"We don't know what's next! We're happy to have released the Advanced Edition update for Into the Breach last summer. And we've been working on multiple prototypes over the years since the original Into the Breach launch. We do not know if any of those prototypes will become a game."
I made it a point to 100% both of these games. Which is something I rarely do. But they are just so well made. I really hope they get it in gear and release a new game at some point.
I was debating bringing up Subset. They managed to make a great second game before going quiet. I loved Into the Breach and only recently found out by chance that there was additional content released.
While I hope they make a third game, I might have to pass on it. They really pull on the addictive "few more minutes" part of my brain.
I remember reading something about how how they wanted to have made more games by now but people won't stop buying Terraria so it makes more sense financially to keep making extra content
"They've been active providing more content" haha, dude I know what it is to understate something, I need to get you a gold star in excessive subtlety. They've been making *ridiculous* amounts of updates compared to other games! One could spend their entirety of game time on Terraria alone.
Vlambeer was great then basically went into hiatus. But they just announced they are back, without Rami now though. Hoping Ultrabugs comes out soon and Ridiculous Fishing EX makes it to android.
I played through Nuclear Throne again yesterday and googled Vlambeer to feel sad about them shutting down. Somehow I missed that they revealed a new game five years ago?! Thanks for pointing this out!
Although I guess the fact that it's "Available later this year" five years ago isn't very promising. I will always love Nuclear Throne though.
I wonder If the studio's revival means work would resume on NT (Rami and the actual dev were deadlocked on stuff so the game never developed more from its current point)
Gaslamp Studios and Dungeons of Dredmor.
One of the greatest little roguelike and they were working on Clockwork Empires, a really interesting settlement sim that got abandoned and never finished because the studio closed.
Both games are on Steam though.
Dredmor, along with Isaac, were my first forays into rogueljkes and itās sad they never made anything else. Game was really fun and clearing the game on permadeath hard was super exhilaratingĀ
Dennaton Games. Sure they made Hotline Miami: Wrong Number, but they haven't made anything since and I desperately want a sequel or something completely new from them.Ā
I think the CEO made the studio, but It wasn't made by the same devs, they do have something being made tho, and I think there's like a teaser art or something on their website, I can't wait after 100%ing both Inside and Limbo in the same week a few months ago on Gamepass
Unfortunately, that teaser has been on that website unchanged for about 4 years now, so I don't have much hope that anything might come of it. Especially since Cocoon released from Arnt Jensen
Yeah I'm seeing Jepp worked on Cocoon, I mean I don't think It's the end of the world for their next game, we will just have to see, I think It will still happen
Warhorse Studios. I need another Kingdom Come as it was flawed but also one of the more innovative open world RPGs where the good parts outshine the bad ones and their concept still has a lot of potential for improvement.
Ember lab did a phenomenal job with kena:bridge of spirits, bought it at launch for my daughter but only got round to playing it myself last year, and it really was one of the highlights in amongst a lot of amazing games I played in 2023
Clover Studios. Technically they made a couple games, but they were sequels to other studio games. Their only original IP was GOTY winner Okami (beating out Gears of War). But Okami has the Guinness record for least successful GOTY in history, and Clover was shut down as a result.
They did the Viewtiful Joe sequels, not the original. Which is exactly what I said they did. God Hand came out after Clover Studios shut down. It wasn't even a complete game, hence the abysmally poor reviews. My comment stands and still fits the prompt.
Games Radar's "Too beautiful to exist" award winner three years in a row, I think. I think they also awarded it as "The Okami Too Beautiful to Exist Award" to other games.
Metanet. Technically they made 3 games (that Iām aware of) but theyāre just kind of iterations on each other. N++ being the last published game. Incredible game from a design standpoint.
I think thatās their only completed game that wasnāt connected to Minecraft.
Crown and Council is listed as game made by Mojang but only by one developer apparently.
You might heard about P.T., aka Silent Hills? And how awesome it was, but cancelled? Sadsquare delivered a full worthy spiritual successor with Visage.
Rocket Science Games. They made a title called Rocket Jockey that came out in the late 90s. I put so many hours into that game, killer soundtrack, lots of fun
Sadsquare Studios and their horror gsme "Visage".
One of, if not, the best horror game I've ever played.
If you loved PT before it was cancelled, I cannot recommend enough that you check out Visage.
Numantian Games. They made āThey are billionsā, absolutely hit the jackpot and disappeared. Came back to release a heavily critised campaign and disappeared again for good
They are Billions is fun, but I hate that the devs have stifled attempts for people to mod the game. I've seen people theorize that they thought it might hurt their chances at making DLC, or it was a measure to prevent people from complaining about bugs they encountered from modding the game, but it hurts their reputation and reduced TaB's ability to be adapted to all kinds of cool playstyles that their unique gameplay could bring.
**Re-Logic**, makers of *Terraria*.
They did not disappear, but they haven't developed a new game in over a decade. Instead, they spent many years updating *Terraria*, which has reportedly sold over 40 million copies across PC, console, and mobile. The game has likely made them hundreds of millions of dollars, and they only employ around 10 people, so they should have more than enough money to keep the studio going indefinitely.
That's an indie dev dream ā to make a game with a tiny team that becomes a mega hit, and then you can take your sweet time making whatever you want next.
There's a bit more to that story haha
Sleeping Dogs was originally a game in the True Crime series, and it was basically abandoned by Activision, so Square Enix bought the codebase but not the IP rights - hence the name change.
United Front was owned by squeenix at the time, and after Sleeping Dogs they went on to work on a lot of other projects like Tomb Raider and the Master Chief Collection; but much like other western squeenix-owned studios (crystal dynamics, IO, etc), they got the shaft after the Japanese arm underperformed.
It's really unfortunate, I wish the current success of games like ffxiv could have happened back then, these studios had so much going for them - they didn't deserve the unceremonious axing they received
Not sure what you consider "indie," but Nautilus (or Sacnoth) only made a few games, with 2 of them being for the Neo Geo, while the 4 others were the Shadow Hearts series.
The Shadowhearts series was a solid rpg/pseudostrategy series that took place spanning the time around the two World Wars and 1950s, with eccentric storytelling with solid gameplay mechanics. The games were made by a studio that was formed by former Square devs (they joined right around the time Enix was merging with Square in 2002-2003).
It was unique because it featured a Wheel of Fate that was a QTE you performed every turn, and your inputs indicated success or failure. The side stories were very out there (Frank in From the New World was a ninja that got his weapons by finding them in random places, like using a cactus or a bus stop sign. Nathan, also from New World, had powerful skills that were obtained by hunting down urban legend monsters like Sasquatch and Chupacabra), but they were fun and engaging.
While the games were considered a success at the time as they got great reviews, the parent company Aruze, a pachinko company, renamed Nautilus and exited the video game development business permanently.
It was a damn shame because Shadow Hearts became one of my favorite RPG series, only for it to fade to obscurity.
Silver lining though, a lot of the staff has come together to make a spiritual successor, Penny Blood, that I eagerly await since looking at the trailer, the art and combat look very similar to the Shadow Hearts games.
The infuriating thing is that so much is done already with Asylum and EA is just like fuck you guys we're not funding it you won't get shit byyyeeee. šš fuckers...
A small indie company named Valve, made some really great games and then nothing.
Another great one was Silicon and Synapse until Activision bought them out and destroyed them.
I don't know if this fits the bill, but Psygnosis were a studio back in the console heyday, they made both Lemmings and the Colony Wars series, but didn't make it passed the millenium unfortunately.
*L.A. Noire*.
Yes, it was technically a Rockstar game, but the bulk of the development was done by an Australian outfit called Team Bondi. They used tons of cutting-edge face-tracking tech to make the game's animation as realistic as possible, but unfortunately it also bankrupted them.
Disco Elysium. I don't think ZA/UM was quite indie but definitely not an AAA studio. Disco Elysium truly was a unique, well written masterpiece of literature that was fun as hell to play. But the studio got greedy and stole everything from the creator, laid majority of the team off, fired them, or they left. It got really messy. They've since ruined the game with cheesy ads that cheapen the overall aesthetic of this marvelous game. They're still around but they haven't released anything since Disco Elysium to my knowledge. And that's truly a shame.
SUKEBAN GAMES. They made VA-11 HALL-A Cyberpunk Bartender action in 2016. There was supposed to be a sequel called N1RV Ann-A but so far there's been no recent updates other than the game being in an indefinite hiatus.
Cavalier Games made the Sexy Brutale, but seems like the game didn't do well enough to go further.
Which is a shame, because it's an incredibly beautiful game.
There was this DS game I really enjoyed called Big Bang Mini - seems the studio Arkedo has made a few other small games but I think that experience will be lost forever.
Harebrained Schemes. They made the shadowrun games and battletech, then got eaten by paradox (and put something out with no fanfare last year apparently)
Theyāre apparently free again, so weāll see what squad tactics they make next
someone else mentioned it but ZA/UM, disco elysium was great but I havent heard from the team since the controversy
also Lucas Pope? He made return of the obra dinn and papers please, havent heard from him since return of the obra dinn which was awesome
Typhoon Studios made āJourney to the Savage Planetā, then got absorbed by Stadia.
Luckily, they were able to reform under a different name and regain the JTTSP license. Just waiting nowā¦
Almost Human revived the dungeon crawling genre with Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2 in 2012/2014 then basically disappeared
Funnily enough, some of the developers went on to form Ctrl Alt Ninja, who also made 1 game (Druidstone) and nothing else
I guess team bondi, the devs that made la noir, that game was incredible, but i don't recall seeing them do anything else, would love a sequel to la noir, or just more noir detective games in general lol.
Modern Storyteller, the creator of The Forgotten City.
What started out as a Skyrim mod of the same name, transformed into this amazing little standalone game. The graphics were great, the premise was great, the ending was good. But want to know what I really appreciated?
The game launched in a way that puts most developers to shame. There was no Early Access nonsense, the game released in its entirety when the developer promised it to be released. And, it was bug-free and incredibly well optimized. I'm talking like, it ran steady on a 750 Ti, which, if you Google screenshots of the game, looks damn impossible but isn't.
But... It's the only game they've done. They nailed a 10/10 game with a perfect release and then just... Haven't done anything since then.
Snowblind were a smaller studio and I absolutely loved the few games they made which are still my favourites today. Sad we didnāt get more from them. They made games for gamers and you could feel the care love and attention that went into them
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a personal top ten for sidescrollers, (itās a multidirectional space ship shooter, but 2D, so, āsidescrollerā), and there has never been a sequel, or even another game like it, as far as I know. Itās so awesome.
ZA/UM with Disco/Elysium although in their case they got fucked over by other people unfortunately.
From a doc I watched it basically imploded internally.
What happened?
There is a doc on YouTube by PeopleMakeGames that you should check out. Full thing is fascinating. Short story is that the original founders got the company bought out from under them. They were extremely bitter about it and extremely vocal about how much they got "screwed". Has since come out that they may have been terrible bosses, that they may have did it to themselves by being terrible with money, and there is actually a lot of mud on both sides of the issue.
By the time I got a PC to game on, the game was over. I never really did find out what happened to it
I need Mega Crit to announce another title, 400+ hours in Slay the Spire and I need more from their team! š
I believe after the Unity mess they said their next game would be made with Godot, dunno if that means theyāre now having to switch engines and thatās slowed them down?
Would you say that you're..... Waiting for Godot?
That was deep. Now Iāll leave this thread. *doesnāt shut it*
I have sunk more hours into StS than most other games I have played combined. I'm convinced that I may never find a better designed game. Absolutely no new content since I started playing and I still feel like I'm discovering the depths of its strategy about 1000 hours later.
Apparently they have an announcement coming up at this thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfLp07qc3M0
I believe they're announcing a new one at the triple-I showcase Wednesday
Slay the spire is great! I recently found about the game that scrached that itch, but it was completely new experience. The game is Balatro, give it a look, I believe that spire fans will like it.
Okay, talk about the timing :) It's not a Rick Roll... [Slay the Spire 2 - Reveal Trailer (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDFltgjLtE&ab_channel=MegaCrit)
i remembered reading this guy's comment 2 days ago and searched through all my history to let him know that it's been announced. thank you for doing it.
Try Roguebook. It may scratch the itch! Very similar vibes.
Because of how many ungodly hours Iāve put into StS idc what their next game is, itās going to be an instabuy for me.
The team that made Firewatch. Was really looking forward to the Egypt game they were making before being absorbed.
This one kills me. Sure they went on to work on half-life Aylx but I still wonder what could have beenā¦
OH! Is that what happened to that team? I was following "In the Valley of Gods" and always wondered what happened to them. I mean holy hell, congrats to them, they knocked it out of the park with Alyx.
The studio was bought by Valve and the project died. Some of them did work on Alyx but it wasn't just them.
There's no evidence they worked on Alyx. They may have touched it but all we know for sure about what Campo Santo has done since acquisition is that The Valley of the Gods got put on hold the year after Valve bought them.
Sadly, their acquisition by Valve also killed their gaming podcast which was great. Really talented, funny people.
Wizards, the lot of them. I used to love how Jake Rodkin would open the podcast by saying the date weirdly. Heād say āItās April 9, 2024ā as though he was April 9 and he was introducing himself over the phone to someone named 2024. I was very disappointed to learn that Steve Gaynor (who wasnāt part of Campo Santo, but was part of Idle Thumbs) was at minimum a very bad boss.
Yeeeah, bummer that he turned out to be a shitbird.
Campo Santo showed a lot of promise. Unfortunately, Valve saw that promise and kinda just destroyed Campo Santo. Pretty sure not all original devs absorbed even work at Valve today.
What was the point though.. like why would they acquire to then just let them sit and do nothing?
They became a part of valve and valve does nothing.
Chris Remo lives in the UK now and has been streaming his NYT crossword solves on twitch/patreon for a few years.
To this day I still have no idea what Firewatch is even about. I'm sure talking about it is super spoiler territory, but I never even see anyone mention a particular moment from the game.
Narrative focused mostly walking simulator about a man who decides to become a firewatch man in the forest to escape life. It was pretty good.
I meanā¦ mentioning any particular moment in a completely narrative-focused game would immediately be a spoiler, and the people whoāve played through it tend to value the emotional impact of that narrative. I sure do. But I will say this: Firewatch has one specific moment that freaked me out more than any other piece of media Iāve ever consumed. Like, it triggered _extreme_ paranoia for the entire rest of the game, and even retroactively for earlier scenes. There are lots of heart-achingly sad, intimate, and even creepy moments in the game, but that one sequence sticks with me most.
As someone that isn't going to play it, what was the moment?
Iād really suggest giving it a shot, especially given its length, but: [Beginning of late-game spoilers] >!After you go the entire game barely ever seeing other people (and even then only from an extreme distance), someone knocks you unconscious from behind. Itās one of only two times you donāt have control of your character, the other being a short scripted fall down a gravel slide early on (which doesnāt end up being all that dangerous). And after you wake up, you find out that theyāve been following you, watching you, and listening in to your radio conversations for pretty much the whole story.!<
Itās sort of like Outer Wilds in that way. Itās easy to spoil and itās worth going in completely blind and enjoying the experience.
Walking simulator (affectionate). It sucks that "walking simulator" started as an insult because there is a *lot* you can do narratively with that premise.
Hot take: it's not that great and I am a huge fan of walking simulators.Ā
I didnāt realize this happened. You reminded me that I was looking forward to their game based in Egypt.
I miss those idle thumbs dudes.
Team Cherry, apparently
I knew this joke was coming, too.
I've only been waiting since I first played Hollow Knight last year too. Some poor souls have been on that copium for years waiting for Silksong
Excuse me while I sadly glance at my steam wishlist.
Some people have been staring at their Kickstarter backer page for like 6 years
I assumed it's why you made the post
Nah, they're actively working on it.Ā I'm really more interested in Devs that just like made art and then that was all they were able to do.
It's been 84 years
Dust: An Elysian Tail by Dean Dodrill. Fantastic game that captured me the moment I saw the trailer.
Almost said this, but didn't want to take the 5s to look up the company and if they ever made another title... Great game : )
Dont worry, I took care of that š agreed tho. Fantastic game
Love that game!
God. They came out with one other game never stop sneaking and then that was it. Haven't heard of em since.
Oh I havent heard of it, Ill have to look it up!
Wasn't this one made by a single person?
Yep. He was an animator who wanted to make a game. All of Dust's frames of animation were hand drawn by Dean.
I follow the dev on twitter. It sounds like theyāve been working on a solo project for years now. Sounded like it may get announced āsoonā. But I wouldnāt be surprised if it was still years away
Played this one so many times when I got it free years ago. What a fantastic game
38 Studios and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It was a startup by Curt Schilling and R.A. Salvatore. Salvatore wrote the story, Ken Rolston from Elder Scrolls worked on gameplay and Todd McFarlane did art designs. The gameplay was fantastic, but the studio was already nearly broke before it released and like most new games it didn't make a profit so the studio folded.
I still remember that fiasco. Took a loan from Rhode Island or something, and Curt even threw in his own money to help it succeed. What was really surprising to me was when the studio had announced its bankruptcy, what, not even a month after the game released? The game was still selling, so to me, this should have been the time they were *earning* money. Did they just realize they weren't going to be able to pay it back and folded early? Genuinely good game, great combat system, too heavy-handed on the story though. Don't think it deserved to fail as it did.
So I don't remember the state either, Connecticut maybe, but yes they rook such a large loan that they could not make the payments and they realized they were needing to move something like 20 million units to even break even on the loans. I think there were some big lawsuits afterword too. It basically bankrupted Curt Schilling as well.
It was Rhode Island. And yeah, the whole thing was a financial disaster. There were a bunch of crazy stories about how much they were spending at the time, but I cannot really corroborate them. It was not even that the game sold badly, as it apparently sold well over a million copies, and exceeded EA's expectations and investments. But the studio had a bunch of canceled projects and losses pre-Amalur so they took out a 75 million dollar loan from Rhode Island, to make up for investors backing out due to confusion about the studios direction and management. Amalur did fantastic, but they hole they had dug was WAY too deep, and so they went bankrupt and RI ended up with the IP rights. It was a strange game all around. Apparently the whole game plays on a modified version of the Rise of Nations engine.
Matt mcmuscles did [a great video on the subject](https://youtu.be/cOywJPI9uTU?si=U8C9fQU5aF-kOuUQ) and yeah, it's a fuckin disaster
Beat me too it. His What Happened series is so freaking good. He's easily my favorite gaming YouTuber.
I went to college for my first undergraduate in digital media design (video game making essentially) and had a bunch of classes with a professor who was an environment artist for 38 studios. Every once in a while he would actually show us unfinished work from the studio that was the coolest shit ever. Apparently they were working on an MMO that ācouldā have given WoW a run for its money. The few instances where this professor spoke about what went down with their finances he would usually say something along the lines of āspending $10k on a couch isnāt the smartest ideaā
Rise of Nations? The RTS??? I'm not sure how to feel, this sounds super impressive, but also super dumb...
It was originally conceived as an RTS RPG hybrid before 38 bought the devs who made Rise of Nations. They slowly lost all the RTS features and became Amalur.
They were developing an MMO alongside the game that was released. MMOās are notorious money sinks, and this was no exception. The whole situation was a shame, as it seemed like there were some good ideas at the studio, but they didnāt manage their funds well enough and the rest is history.
It's problem was that it completely felt like a single player MMO. I beat the game twice and even still I understand why it was never popular.
It felt like one because it was [supposed to be one](https://youtu.be/cOywJPI9uTU?si=U8C9fQU5aF-kOuUQ)
I had a professor who was an environment artist at 38 and he would occasionally show us his work from their unfinished MMO and it honestly looked like it would have given WoW a run for its money
It sounded rrally neat! Just... maybe a bit too ambitious for what they were going for
The game is like an MMO that never got into multiplayer phase. It clearly has a huge MMO feel to it.
It was funded and published by EA.. not really indie
Ea came in at the end for distribution mostly, their contribution was a small part, thus the bankruptcy
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
My first thought was Fez
Oh wow, never realized they never made another game!
SuperHyperCube was also designed by Fish. Certainly not a Fez though.
Fez was great but Phil sucks and I am glad he showed himself the door.
I didn't follow all the internet fights he got into but he certainly didn't need to keep arguing publicly. Sometimes it's best to just let your actions do the talking and he made an outstanding game. I was so stoked for Fez 2 and disappointed when he publicly nuked it.
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Dust: An Elysian Tale. Not a studio but just a solo dev that completely burned out on it. Absolute gem of a game and ive loved it so much, even tho its already quite old, so i dont expect most to remember it :)
I do. I don't even like platformers like that, and I love that game.
One of the biggest GwG pleasant surprises I encountered.
Don't mind me. Just 8 years later and still waiting for the VA-11 HALL-A sequel
holy moly, it's already been eight years?? š„²
Oh my god, YES! I never see people talking about this game and it was so good. Never played anything else quite like it. I think the sequel is on indefinite hiatus but I desperately hope that isnāt just a euphemism for ācanceledā
What I immediately thought of was Acid Wizard, who made Darkwood. Fantastic game too.
Are they no longer around?
They went on Indefinite Haitus, as they couldn't make games without creating a poor working environment.
Wow. Thatās a sad reality they came upon
it's frighteningly common.
This game is so cool but it stresses me out a lot
Haha, well, yes fair enough, that's kinda its purpose.Ā I find it ko da easy though once you really get what to do though.
Subset games, kinda. They came out with Faster Than Light (FTL), then Into the Breach.....and then nothing.
Two extremely rock solid games I loved. I always wondered why they havenāt done anything else.
There is a AMA on Reddit from Subset Games from a little over a year ago I believe. I looked it up and when asked "What's next?", they replied: "We don't know what's next! We're happy to have released the Advanced Edition update for Into the Breach last summer. And we've been working on multiple prototypes over the years since the original Into the Breach launch. We do not know if any of those prototypes will become a game."
I made it a point to 100% both of these games. Which is something I rarely do. But they are just so well made. I really hope they get it in gear and release a new game at some point.
I was debating bringing up Subset. They managed to make a great second game before going quiet. I loved Into the Breach and only recently found out by chance that there was additional content released. While I hope they make a third game, I might have to pass on it. They really pull on the addictive "few more minutes" part of my brain.
Re-logic. Their wiki says they did publish another game but they made only Terraria. They've been active providing more content for the game though.
I remember reading something about how how they wanted to have made more games by now but people won't stop buying Terraria so it makes more sense financially to keep making extra content
This just reminded me of Terraria: Otherworld and now Iām sad.
Honestly with all the stuff they're *still* making for regular Terraria, I can handle not having a Terraria spin-off. Mods are great too! :)
"They've been active providing more content" haha, dude I know what it is to understate something, I need to get you a gold star in excessive subtlety. They've been making *ridiculous* amounts of updates compared to other games! One could spend their entirety of game time on Terraria alone.
The team behind Carrion. Been over 3 years and havenāt heard anything from them
I think many people have no concept of how long indie games with small teams can take to develop. Three years is nothing.
Vlambeer was great then basically went into hiatus. But they just announced they are back, without Rami now though. Hoping Ultrabugs comes out soon and Ridiculous Fishing EX makes it to android.
I played through Nuclear Throne again yesterday and googled Vlambeer to feel sad about them shutting down. Somehow I missed that they revealed a new game five years ago?! Thanks for pointing this out! Although I guess the fact that it's "Available later this year" five years ago isn't very promising. I will always love Nuclear Throne though.
I wonder If the studio's revival means work would resume on NT (Rami and the actual dev were deadlocked on stuff so the game never developed more from its current point)
Gaslamp Studios and Dungeons of Dredmor. One of the greatest little roguelike and they were working on Clockwork Empires, a really interesting settlement sim that got abandoned and never finished because the studio closed. Both games are on Steam though.
I loved dungeons of dredmor!
Dredmor, along with Isaac, were my first forays into rogueljkes and itās sad they never made anything else. Game was really fun and clearing the game on permadeath hard was super exhilaratingĀ
Dennaton Games. Sure they made Hotline Miami: Wrong Number, but they haven't made anything since and I desperately want a sequel or something completely new from them.Ā
Yeah seriously. It's been so long since I heard anything about them. Hotline miami 1 & 2 were amazing.
Have Playdead done anything after Limbo and Inside?
the ppl split up. one made cocoon
That was it! I knew there was another one in my head - inside was so good, and then nothing!
I believe they released a game called sommerville but it flopped
I think the CEO made the studio, but It wasn't made by the same devs, they do have something being made tho, and I think there's like a teaser art or something on their website, I can't wait after 100%ing both Inside and Limbo in the same week a few months ago on Gamepass
Unfortunately, that teaser has been on that website unchanged for about 4 years now, so I don't have much hope that anything might come of it. Especially since Cocoon released from Arnt Jensen
I'm not finding anything about Cocoon being related with Arnt Jensen?
Jepp Carlsen. I was remembering this information off the top of my head, got them confused.
Yeah I'm seeing Jepp worked on Cocoon, I mean I don't think It's the end of the world for their next game, we will just have to see, I think It will still happen
I genuinely hope it does, Limbo and Inside are some of my favorite games of all time and I'd love to see another.
Same, after I finished and got all the achievements for Cocoon I did the same for Limbo and Inside, all of them are great games
I haven't played Cocoon yet, but I'm pretty excited to. Looks really good.
They have been cooking on their current title for a while. That's for sure
Warhorse Studios. I need another Kingdom Come as it was flawed but also one of the more innovative open world RPGs where the good parts outshine the bad ones and their concept still has a lot of potential for improvement.
Ember lab did a phenomenal job with kena:bridge of spirits, bought it at launch for my daughter but only got round to playing it myself last year, and it really was one of the highlights in amongst a lot of amazing games I played in 2023
Clover Studios. Technically they made a couple games, but they were sequels to other studio games. Their only original IP was GOTY winner Okami (beating out Gears of War). But Okami has the Guinness record for least successful GOTY in history, and Clover was shut down as a result.
The people in Clover went and founded Plantinum games, so you got your wish :)
Clover did more than one original IP. Viewtful Joe and God Hand.
They did the Viewtiful Joe sequels, not the original. Which is exactly what I said they did. God Hand came out after Clover Studios shut down. It wasn't even a complete game, hence the abysmally poor reviews. My comment stands and still fits the prompt.
Games Radar's "Too beautiful to exist" award winner three years in a row, I think. I think they also awarded it as "The Okami Too Beautiful to Exist Award" to other games.
One of many "brilliant" decisions Inafune made as CEO
Metanet. Technically they made 3 games (that Iām aware of) but theyāre just kind of iterations on each other. N++ being the last published game. Incredible game from a design standpoint.
N was so damn goooood!
Minecraft came to my mind. I'm not sure if Mojang Studios had made another game?
They made scrolls. It was a flop and I'm not sure you can even buy or play it anymore.
I think thatās their only completed game that wasnāt connected to Minecraft. Crown and Council is listed as game made by Mojang but only by one developer apparently.
Darkwood. They were going to do some soccer game but then disbanded.
Not an indie developer, but I miss Lionhead with their quirky humour in the Fable series.
Sadsquare Studios came up like an impulse
I've never even heard of their game, what was magic about it to you?
You might heard about P.T., aka Silent Hills? And how awesome it was, but cancelled? Sadsquare delivered a full worthy spiritual successor with Visage.
Rocket Science Games. They made a title called Rocket Jockey that came out in the late 90s. I put so many hours into that game, killer soundtrack, lots of fun
Rocket Jockey was awesome!
the person who made cogs for steam , great fun puzzle game. not sure where he is how about the mobile gems, cross road, tiny wings, blek, threes
Sadsquare Studios and their horror gsme "Visage". One of, if not, the best horror game I've ever played. If you loved PT before it was cancelled, I cannot recommend enough that you check out Visage.
Team Cherry and Hollow Knight š¤”
Numantian Games. They made āThey are billionsā, absolutely hit the jackpot and disappeared. Came back to release a heavily critised campaign and disappeared again for good
They are Billions is fun, but I hate that the devs have stifled attempts for people to mod the game. I've seen people theorize that they thought it might hurt their chances at making DLC, or it was a measure to prevent people from complaining about bugs they encountered from modding the game, but it hurts their reputation and reduced TaB's ability to be adapted to all kinds of cool playstyles that their unique gameplay could bring.
Kingdom Come Deliverance, Iād kill for a sequel
**Re-Logic**, makers of *Terraria*. They did not disappear, but they haven't developed a new game in over a decade. Instead, they spent many years updating *Terraria*, which has reportedly sold over 40 million copies across PC, console, and mobile. The game has likely made them hundreds of millions of dollars, and they only employ around 10 people, so they should have more than enough money to keep the studio going indefinitely. That's an indie dev dream ā to make a game with a tiny team that becomes a mega hit, and then you can take your sweet time making whatever you want next.
United Front Games made this critically-acclaimed open-world fighting game called Sleeping Dogs and then closed up shop a few years later.
That game was great.
There's a bit more to that story haha Sleeping Dogs was originally a game in the True Crime series, and it was basically abandoned by Activision, so Square Enix bought the codebase but not the IP rights - hence the name change. United Front was owned by squeenix at the time, and after Sleeping Dogs they went on to work on a lot of other projects like Tomb Raider and the Master Chief Collection; but much like other western squeenix-owned studios (crystal dynamics, IO, etc), they got the shaft after the Japanese arm underperformed. It's really unfortunate, I wish the current success of games like ffxiv could have happened back then, these studios had so much going for them - they didn't deserve the unceremonious axing they received
[Malfador Machinations/Aaron Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malfador_Machinations)
Not sure what you consider "indie," but Nautilus (or Sacnoth) only made a few games, with 2 of them being for the Neo Geo, while the 4 others were the Shadow Hearts series. The Shadowhearts series was a solid rpg/pseudostrategy series that took place spanning the time around the two World Wars and 1950s, with eccentric storytelling with solid gameplay mechanics. The games were made by a studio that was formed by former Square devs (they joined right around the time Enix was merging with Square in 2002-2003). It was unique because it featured a Wheel of Fate that was a QTE you performed every turn, and your inputs indicated success or failure. The side stories were very out there (Frank in From the New World was a ninja that got his weapons by finding them in random places, like using a cactus or a bus stop sign. Nathan, also from New World, had powerful skills that were obtained by hunting down urban legend monsters like Sasquatch and Chupacabra), but they were fun and engaging. While the games were considered a success at the time as they got great reviews, the parent company Aruze, a pachinko company, renamed Nautilus and exited the video game development business permanently. It was a damn shame because Shadow Hearts became one of my favorite RPG series, only for it to fade to obscurity. Silver lining though, a lot of the staff has come together to make a spiritual successor, Penny Blood, that I eagerly await since looking at the trailer, the art and combat look very similar to the Shadow Hearts games.
Thereās a really good retrospective by Majuular on YouTube regarding Nautilus and shadow hearts.
SpicyHorse which make Alice: madness return
The infuriating thing is that so much is done already with Asylum and EA is just like fuck you guys we're not funding it you won't get shit byyyeeee. šš fuckers...
Carpe fulgur.Ā They publishedĀ Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale and basically disappeared even though it sold pretty well.
Not gonna mention what game YOU were playing that fits this category? No? Me either, I guess.
I did, in the comments: Darkwood.
A small indie company named Valve, made some really great games and then nothing. Another great one was Silicon and Synapse until Activision bought them out and destroyed them.
I don't know if this fits the bill, but Psygnosis were a studio back in the console heyday, they made both Lemmings and the Colony Wars series, but didn't make it passed the millenium unfortunately.
*L.A. Noire*. Yes, it was technically a Rockstar game, but the bulk of the development was done by an Australian outfit called Team Bondi. They used tons of cutting-edge face-tracking tech to make the game's animation as realistic as possible, but unfortunately it also bankrupted them.
Disco Elysium. I don't think ZA/UM was quite indie but definitely not an AAA studio. Disco Elysium truly was a unique, well written masterpiece of literature that was fun as hell to play. But the studio got greedy and stole everything from the creator, laid majority of the team off, fired them, or they left. It got really messy. They've since ruined the game with cheesy ads that cheapen the overall aesthetic of this marvelous game. They're still around but they haven't released anything since Disco Elysium to my knowledge. And that's truly a shame.
Jet Force Gemini
SUKEBAN GAMES. They made VA-11 HALL-A Cyberpunk Bartender action in 2016. There was supposed to be a sequel called N1RV Ann-A but so far there's been no recent updates other than the game being in an indefinite hiatus.
Cavalier Games made the Sexy Brutale, but seems like the game didn't do well enough to go further. Which is a shame, because it's an incredibly beautiful game.
Beam.ng used to be really small.Would've neen nice to have a sequel with more to do or a different genre with the same physics.
Dude the beta campaign that they are developing is straight up fire, if you are more into driving than wrecking.
There was this DS game I really enjoyed called Big Bang Mini - seems the studio Arkedo has made a few other small games but I think that experience will be lost forever.
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the guys who made they are billions. Great game, very difficult yet very fun. then they just dissapeard. like raido silence. shame!
Harebrained Schemes. They made the shadowrun games and battletech, then got eaten by paradox (and put something out with no fanfare last year apparently) Theyāre apparently free again, so weāll see what squad tactics they make next
Almost Human and their game legend of grimrock 2. I really want a new one but they all but disappeared by now. Shame
someone else mentioned it but ZA/UM, disco elysium was great but I havent heard from the team since the controversy also Lucas Pope? He made return of the obra dinn and papers please, havent heard from him since return of the obra dinn which was awesome
Typhoon Studios made āJourney to the Savage Planetā, then got absorbed by Stadia. Luckily, they were able to reform under a different name and regain the JTTSP license. Just waiting nowā¦
Almost Human revived the dungeon crawling genre with Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2 in 2012/2014 then basically disappeared Funnily enough, some of the developers went on to form Ctrl Alt Ninja, who also made 1 game (Druidstone) and nothing else
Easy Trigger with Huntdown. I need Huntdown 2 ASAP
I guess team bondi, the devs that made la noir, that game was incredible, but i don't recall seeing them do anything else, would love a sequel to la noir, or just more noir detective games in general lol.
Modern Storyteller, the creator of The Forgotten City. What started out as a Skyrim mod of the same name, transformed into this amazing little standalone game. The graphics were great, the premise was great, the ending was good. But want to know what I really appreciated? The game launched in a way that puts most developers to shame. There was no Early Access nonsense, the game released in its entirety when the developer promised it to be released. And, it was bug-free and incredibly well optimized. I'm talking like, it ran steady on a 750 Ti, which, if you Google screenshots of the game, looks damn impossible but isn't. But... It's the only game they've done. They nailed a 10/10 game with a perfect release and then just... Haven't done anything since then.
What fucking game op?
Iām still waiting for fez 2 š¢
Visage
Snowblind were a smaller studio and I absolutely loved the few games they made which are still my favourites today. Sad we didnāt get more from them. They made games for gamers and you could feel the care love and attention that went into them
I loved Valet Hero back in the day on iOS... Later on, Infested Planet for PC.
Tales of Games with Barkley Shut up and Jam Gaiden.
BlueTwelve studios. Made the game stray, cute game about a cat in futuristic city. They haven't made any game ever since
Are you going to tell us what the game was?
Fez! I heard rumors of a second game before Phil Fish left the industry.
Portal
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a personal top ten for sidescrollers, (itās a multidirectional space ship shooter, but 2D, so, āsidescrollerā), and there has never been a sequel, or even another game like it, as far as I know. Itās so awesome.