OBSIDIAN ON THE GAMEBRYO ENGINE FULL
OBSIDIAN ON THE GAMEBRYO ENGINE LICENSE

At this point, everything sounded too good to be true.

Hence the publishers of KOTOR and NWN, LucasArts and Atari would approached Obsidian based on their legacy and recommendations from Biowre. Bioware was in the process of a makeover themselves and would soon be focused in the console market. The first parts of KOTOR and NWN was developed by Bioware and would prove to be massive successes, both critically and commercially. Such was the case with their first two games, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords (gee that’s a mouthful) and Neverwinter Nights 2. They were known as the second go-to guys in the business. Obsidian was not always the first choice for these publishers. But this blessing would not always turn out the way everyone expected it to and there lies the curse which had been plaguing Obsidian for a large part of their life.įeargus Urquhart, CEO, Obsidian Entertainment

OBSIDIAN ON THE GAMEBRYO ENGINE LICENSE

The name and credibility of Black Isle was enough for license holders to put their faith in the small studio when they started out. I reckon many AAA studios would have liked to trade places with them while this was going on. I mean how many developers have even got the chance to work on licensed properties like these back to back? Obsidian did, and did so while the studio was still in its infancy. Hallowed and Cursed – The Journey Forwardĭungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, Fallout, South Park – Obsidian Entertainments resume is filled with popular mainstream franchises such as this. This comfy box of concrete and memories would soon go on to become one of the pillars for the recent modern crpg revival and renaissance.

OBSIDIAN ON THE GAMEBRYO ENGINE FULL

Located on the second floor of a modern building in Irvine, California is their sleek studio, full of board games, couches and old-school memorabilia. Soon after leaving a bunch of unreleased codes and their dreams behind at Black Isle, former CEO Feargus Urquhart and Black Isle’s lead designers including Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones founded Obsidian Entertainment.

Doomsday clock was ticking for Black Isle as Torment and Icewind Dale 2 failed to bring in enough revenue to keep the company afloat. On DecemBlack Isle studios officially closed its doors to the public and along with it came the death of soon-to-be titles such as Fallout 3 (original build) and Baldur’s Gate III- The Black Hound. Some of the very talented people including Tim Cain who is credited with conceiving Fallout, Jason Anderson and Leonard Boyarski had left during the development of Fallout 2 to form their own studio ‘ Troika‘, whom also made some of my absolute favorite rpgs. There was a lot of stress on Black Isle and they were forced to put out games within strict budget and time constraints. Interplay was in a large financial crisis back then due to some bad choices made in the past and the gaming scene, especially rpgs were moving towards the next generation of consoles. So it was no wonder that I was a hardcore fan of Black Isle. Two of the aforementioned games has stood its grounds as my favorite two games ever since their inception. Black Isle was the driving force behind the 90’s rpg classics such as Fallout 2, Planescape:Torment and Icewind Dale. The Current Crew From Black Isle to ObsidianĪs far as I can remember, I’ve been a huge fan of Black Isle Studios, a lsmall developer/publisher owned by Interplay Entertainment.

Obsidian on the gamebryo engine